Charismatic racing drivers extinct ?

Brother Michael

Brother Michael

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I have been discussing this issue with my father for dozens of times: is there a clear reason for the complete disappearance of charismatic drivers with actual personalities?? Formula 1 is especially bad, but also other racing series are seeing the same destiny. WRC has always had great driver personalities with charisma but now they are seemingly nowhere to be found.

Formula 1 these days has Alonso and just about it now that Coulthard and Barrichello have both retired. Why ?? I miss guys like H?kkinen, Salo, Irvine....even Schumacher had more flare and persona than R?ikk?nen, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa and the rest of today's grid; that's saying a lot...

WRC has always had many great drivers. Sainz, Kankkunen, Gr?nholm, McRae, Burns...And now there is perhaps Sebastien Loeb and that's it. Hirvonen is boring as hell, so is Latvala. Where are guys like Solberg ? I miss Gr?nholm's rants and ravings when his car doesn't work properly, I miss Kankkunen and M?kinen for their quiet zen -like analysis the lenght of 4 words: "I gotta go faster".

For example tennis has always had great characters: McEnroe, Agassi, Safin, Nadal. Even golf and snooker have got Tiger Woods and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

But where the hell are these people when it comes to racing ?? I don't know a single guy who enjoys watchin R?ikk?nen's press conferences. Mika Salo has been banging on about this for years: you need more action on the pitlane, let the drivers shout and fight with each other. People like Agassi and Nadal bring fans to the courts and I would assume that is one of the reasons for the decline in the popularity of F1 - there is absolutely nothing for the average fans, people who don't know and don't care that much about the aerodynamic settings or tyre temperatures.

Surely I can't be the only one noticing this ? I am very curious as to WHY this has happened, because I see no clear reason for this kind of development. And I sure as hell can't be the only who is bothered about the fact that the most charismatic guys in the F1 are not found in the cars at all: Flavio Briatore, Luca Di Montezemolo and Ron Dennis are all on the other side of the wall and now that Dennis left there are only two and Briatore is soon to follow. It's not just the racing that's become boring, it's the whole sport.
 
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It's all about the sponsorship obligations and the obsession with political corectness that dominates today's world. That's why the drivers can't live their life as spontaneously as, let's say, the drivers from the '50s/'60s/'70s would.


It's a different world altogether. We can all wave goodbye to James Hunt, to the Jackie Stewart captured in "Weekend of a Champion", to the overall flair of those guys.


EDIT: I tend to agree about the lack of charisma of today's drivers. I mean... even Nigel Mansell, with the monotonous tune of his voice, was 10000% more charismatic than these guys. Maybe also because of his moustache and the excitement about his actions.
 
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That's one of the reasons that i like motorcycle racing.. The racing is epic and there's the occasional fight to spice the action!
 
Yeah, all the charismatic drivers changed to motogp.
The doctor alone is worth 10 F1 drivers.
 
I think you're mistaking "charismatic" with "dramatic".
 
All racing drivers are unique people, they just don't show it to the camera, and I think that's a shame. You have to be a deviant to be a racing driver.

What about Helio Castroneves? I think he proves you can be interesting and still be hugely successful.
 
For some reason I still find Raikkonen extremely charismatic even with his mumbling.

What other recent F1 driver has been photographed Dancing on a stage with strippers?

Photographed passed out outside of a strip club?

Video'd being so drunk he tried to throw a pole off a yacht and fell over onto the lower deck straight on his head?

Went to a boat race in a gorilla suit?

That's good enough for me.
 
The last one I can really think of at the moment is Henning Solberg, and Petter too but his consistent run of bad luck has dampened his spirit somewhat.
 
Dogbert said:
Seconded. Raikkonen is hilarious to me.
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Haha on the SPEED forums we used to count how many times he played with the mic stand during the post race interviews :D
 
yeah, I consider Raikkonen something of an enigma, and generally refer to him as "The Alcoholic". He's exceptionally quiet and contained at the race track, but he's obviously a complete legend away from it. The only glimpse of the real Kimi we get during a race weekend is the hearty swigs of champagne he takes when he's on the podium.

He does seem to be a lone beacon of personal interest on the F1 grid though. I largely blame Michael and his success for this issue. Companies all probably desire such a sterling posterboy. I think it also has to do with how organized and professional lower levels of racing are getting. Lewis could hardly partake in hooligan activities as part McLaren from such a young age.

They're still alive and well in NASCAR, though
 
motogpboy said:
For some reason I still find Raikkonen extremely charismatic even with his mumbling.

What other recent F1 driver has been photographed Dancing on a stage with strippers?

Photographed passed out outside of a strip club?

Video'd being so drunk he tried to throw a pole off a yacht and fell over onto the lower deck straight on his head?

Went to a boat race in a gorilla suit?

That's good enough for me.
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I third that. The bloke's interesting!

The only other people I can think of that are rather interesting (maybe not charismatic, but just substantially more interesting than the rest) are Mark Webber and DC.
 
I find Kimi interesting and funny as well, Mark Webber can come up with some good material at times as well.
 
motogpboy said:
For some reason I still find Raikkonen extremely charismatic even with his mumbling.

What other recent F1 driver has been photographed Dancing on a stage with strippers?

Photographed passed out outside of a strip club?

Video'd being so drunk he tried to throw a pole off a yacht and fell over onto the lower deck straight on his head?

Went to a boat race in a gorilla suit?

That's good enough for me.
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Plus this classic

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HHUkHbgAtM[/YOUTUBE]
 
We should just have a Christian Motoring leaque... let's see how charismatic or dramatic can that get! Put May on the front row. Phew
 
It's not just racing drivers, but all sportspeople in general these days. They're all dedicated to the sport, they either spend their time training or advertising some brand of footwear. They haven't got the free time to socialise and develop their own personality.

That's my theory anyways.
 
It's because the sport as a whole has also changed totally.
 
PaperBiro said:
It's not just racing drivers, but all sportspeople in general these days. They're all dedicated to the sport, they either spend their time training or advertising some brand of footwear. They haven't got the free time to socialise and develop their own personality.

That's my theory anyways.
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Could be. But racing drivers have a lot of time to their own. I find this helps develop a personality which is different and interesting, because they come to their own conclusions about things. All racing drivers are somewhat introverted, at least the ones I've met and come to know well. They just need a little prodding and they'll come out.

So maybe it's down to the reporters? Ask better questions guys (and girls)! Plus they always have to answer the same questions over and over again. How slippery is it out there? What tire are you using? What's your race strategy? So naturally they'll be bored with it.
 
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