#drivers market

[everybodyisaferrarifan]

jack doohan might have been promoted but is there any confirmation if pierre is going to stay with alpine??

(so after this year, is esteban officially welcomed to the alpine hating club which already includes alonso and piastri??)

toto has got options now- kimi, esteban, maybe mick too!?, seb(im still in delusion) or maybe bottas coming back??

what about carlos ?????????????????????

[tetheredbysin]

just saw someone defend their favorite f1 driver with "well, the rules are the same for everyone".

my sweet summer child, no. it's the exact opposite. f1 is notorious for the rules not being the same for everyone.

[markscherz]

a person who named a genus, on tumblr

Actually, three genera, but Anilany and Nanohyla are not as catchy as Mini. A full list of the taxa I have described is available on my website. :)

[jamminvroomvroom]

coming back just to tell you that lando breaking into fashion/fragrance WILL finish me off so actually this might be our last correspondence!

[charles-leclerc-official]

Formula 1 and Home Races - Disconnect between Marketing and Fan Expectations

Home races are a very exciting thing in Formula 1, for the fans and for the drivers. The teams make sure to capitalize on bringing attention to their driver and their home race.

But there is a problem with the way teams and fans think about home races. It leads to a big disconnect of expectations from the fans, and often leads to frustration aimed at teams or even individual drivers.

What is a Home Race?

A home race is a race taking place in the home country- sometimes even home city or region - of a driver. Not all drivers have a home race, but given the international nature of the sport there are often quite a few home races to look forward to in any given season.

For the drivers a home race is special. They get to be in front of a home crowd, show what they can do on track, make an exciting weekend for their home fans and even friends and family. These home races are usually more emotional as they are a part of a driver's journey in Formula 1. Winning your home race is often a goal of drivers who are lucky enough to have a home race on the calendar.

To the fans a home race is fun. It celebrates their favorite driver and also puts a spotlight on their country and city. Home races can really create a great sense of community between international fans and local fans. Fans also appreciate getting to see their driver have this more emotionally impactful part of their F1 journey.

To the teams a home race means two things: marketing and money. Teams do not really care about home races. Not in the emotional way they present. They use them for marketing if a driver on their team has a home race, they will take full advantage making them do more media leading up to the race, arranging special events, custom merchandise. One the surface it looks like they care, and they do, but only about the money and success than can be gained for the team. The actual race and outcome for the fans and the driver are second consideration.

The Disconnect

The final two points above are the disconnect we often see in Formula 1. Fans are very attached to the fantasy of a home race, the larger than life feeling, the emotional journey, the sense of real community. While teams are more concerned with money, they always have been and they always will be.

Teams are very good at marketing. They will make emotional videos, often filming their driver sharing their emotional journey. And fans naturally see this kind of content and believe that this emotional message from the driver to the fans is also shared by the team. When it isn't.

Teams aren't heartless, there are humans that care working behind the scenes. But the feelings are very secondary to the results and money. They are not going to do anything differently simply because of emotional impact for fans.

So what we often see is this setup of expectations from fans where a driver is “the main character” to the team for their home race weekend. And teams do a good job of making it appear that is the case on social media, they will often post more stats and pictures of the home race driver. But then teams don't give any special treatment to a home race driver on track and fans are left confused and sometimes hurt.

Because to a team it is a marketing tool. That's it. When the home race driver gets a result they lean into it more, hype of the mythology of the winning driver, the journey to winning it.

Make no mistake, regardless of the outcome teams see it as a marketing opportunity. Nothing more nothing less. Expecting more will only result in disappointment.

The biggest disconnect between the teams and fans is that there is the fan expectation a driver will get special treatment on track because it is their home race. That is not a reason to give a driver any kind of preferential treatment on track, it never has been and it never will be. The only thing that matters on track is a driver's performance, if they are fastest they will get priority, if they aren't then they won't home race or not.

Naturally this can lead to situations where a driver does not outperform their teammate during a race weekend, and fans are upset that the teammate seemingly got more support. When they didn't, teams run races the same way they always do regardless of location, the difference is the perception of fans due to the fact it's a home race.

The Press

The press also feed into this issue. They will naturally interview the home driver. They will run more thinkpieces on them, highlight their successes thus far, and naturally pull on the emotional weight of a home race. This is for entertainment. They know fans want to see the home driver so they give them that content.

And again this kind of spotlighting really skews expectations for the team's treatment of the driver on track.

All of this paints a very emotional picture that fans want to buy into, because of course they are attached to the home driver. However the fact it is all just entertainment and marketing is rarely clear.

I do not want to call fans stupid for “falling” for marketing. I do want to point out that teams never say they are going to give preferential treatment to a driver because it's their home race. The only reason they will do that is if that driver is faster. And if the home driver is faster they will say afterwards “we were happy to be able to help X win his home race that is always special” and people will think that meant special treatment was given, when again, it wasn't. The teams do what they always do.

I write all this to make people aware that this is marketing. As a fan I am emotional for my driver and their home race. I don't expect the team to care, and I try to take the content they put out for what it is, a marketing tool. It isn't a promise, it's to generate interest in the team and to sell team and driver specific merch.

Example

I want to examine the most recent example of this disconnect that has been seen with the Ferrari drivers. Both Charles and Carlos have a home race on the calendar.

In Monaco Ferrari made posts leading up to Charles' home race, he had the spotlight in the media.

On track nothing special was done for Charles. They ran the same program they intended to all weekend. Charles qualified on pole and won the race from pole. The important thing to note is that he qualified ahead of his teammate, that is the reason he got priority from the team, because he was faster, it did not have anything to do with the fact that it was his home race.

Ferrari didn't do anything different or special on track because it was Charles' home race. But because he won the perception that he got a lot more from the team is there.

Cut to Spain. Carlos' home race.

Ferrari do the same thing in the media, the attention is on Carlos.

On track nothing is different. Ferrari ran the program they had planned and no preferential treatment was given. Even the choice to upgrade Carlos' car first for a free practice session had nothing to do with it being his home race, it was about them wanting to compare data and they made the choice based on who was going to produce the best data with the older car model.

In qualifying Charles qualified ahead of Carlos. He was faster, and in the race this was also the case, Charles' pace was faster than Carlos. Ferrari did what they always do: support the faster driver. The softs they saved were for whoever was fastest. Charles was fastest. Carlos got no preferential treatment.

The only difference in these two weekends was not the way Ferrari treated either driver, they were treated the same on track. The difference was that Charles was fastest during his home race, and Carlos was not fastest during his. That's the only thing the team cares about, they do not care about the emotional impact of a home race unless the outcome is positive. If a driver wants to win their home race they have to be fastest. It's that simple.

I use Ferrari as an example here, but this applies to every single driver who has a home race. This goes beyond any one team and any given race or year.

So you can see how the media and team social marketing set up expectations for fans. They create this beautiful idea of a home race celebrating a driver. There is an implicit promise that the team care more about this driver for the home race weekend. The media draw attention to this driver, repeat over and over "how much this will mean for him" and fans believe it. Why shouldn't they? As a fan it's something people want to believe. But it is just talk. It doesn't translate to the track. And it leads to disappointment most of the time if the expectations are there.

Of course the few times a home race is won and we get that fairy tale ending the social media and press pieces feed into this idea that it's possible, that a team engineered the entire weekend to get a driver a win. When in reality the team just did what they would do any weekend to secure the faster driver the win.

It's healthy for fans to be aware of this reality. To be aware of the reason home races are valuable. And to know to temper expectations.

Conclusion

As fans have fun with a home race. Celebrate your driver's story and the country. However do not go into a weekend expecting anything special on track, that is setting yourself up for disappointment. The teams are here to win, not to fulfill narrative fairy tales. Understand that marketing does not mean anything about what a team will do on track.

[oscurl]

Landoscar in the current silly season driver market is like that one couple that started dating in highschool and never broke up and will most probably fuck off into the sunset together hand in hand

[rickybaby]

I’m so glad Daniel was back within the Red Bull family when he broke his hand. This sport is a business yes, but sometimes a little understanding and compassion go a long way …

[rowanisawriter]

wip wednesday

f1 iliad AU

.

“Pat.” Diomedes takes a seat on the edge of a bench close to the windows, right beside where Patroclus stands. He’s still completely suited up. “Vibes are fucked in this place today. Achilles might as well have killed Odysseus, he’s been wandering around like a ghost with unfinished business.”

Patroclus can’t tear his eyes away from the screens above the track, the image of Achilles and his pink cheeks, his jaw set, his hands balled into fists at his side as he and Agamemnon trade words. The headline reads, “Chosen one chooses to walk”. Diomedes follows his gaze and rolls his eyes.

“I hate this chosen one shit,” he says. “Can’t a man be good at racing without all this prophecy and destiny talk?”

Patroclus shrugs. “It sells tickets.”

“I sell tickets too. And so do you. And we don’t have media on our ass claiming we’re chosen for anything.”

Patroclus looks around for a subject change. The rivalry between drivers on a different team is none of his business. Achilles has had this talk of destiny floating around him since he was born, the son of the legendary racer Peleus. Of course the media would bestow a title like Chosen One onto him. And of course a driver as talented as Diomedes would find such a title boring and predictable.

“All this destiny bullshit is spoiling the race,” Diomedes continues. “Achilles thinks he’s supposed to win because of divine right, so he took this personally. I just don’t get it. He sinks the team and yours too probably, allowing asshole Hector and Paris to win, just because he won’t place first personally. It’s just insane.”

“It’s really Agamemnon’s fault,” Patroclus says. His words come out with more force than he intended. “First of all, what’s a team owner getting so down into the weeds for? Also, he should’ve known Achilles’s pride would get in the way of conceding a win to you. Yes, I know you’re on the same team,” Patroclus says before Diomedes can protest. “You’re looking at this from a team point of view. That’s not how Achilles thinks. That’s not why he’s here.”

[ynbabe]

Williams after ignoring Logan’s lap of legends, giving him a heavy ass car, with no updates while giving his teammate the lighter less damaged car with upgrades, throwing him under the bus for team mistakes, and generally showing no support or confidence in a driver they pulled up too early: we care about both driver equally 🥰

8 fucking posts about him re- signing not one(that I could find) about lap of legends…

Pls do not use this to hate on Alex cause even though he should be standing up for his teammate at the end of the day we don’t know if he is or not and we don’t know what the team management is doing either so…

[formulaocean]

Simultaneously being a Maxcedes son and an Oscbull daughter yet also wanting them to be teammates because Maxcar yet Gax also exists and the 0.01633 percent chance of Lestappengate is rent free in your brain and Landoscar not being teammates would just feel wrong and

[takkamek]

every time franco opens his mouth i cry out "i want to keep him"

[tetheredbysin]

watching kev's post-race interview as well as his radio from the race, I will say that I absolutely agree with him on how ridiculous his penalty is. not the getting a penalty but the severity of the penalty.

danny ric almost sent nico into the wall at high speed. 5 seconds with 1 penalty point.

kev had some contact with gasly because he locked up while entering a corner at low speed, contact which in the end didn't really affect the race for either of them and there was no damage, no real "dangerous moment". 10 seconds and two penalty points.

I'm not excusing kev or blaming danny or anything like that. kev had contact, it was on him. daniel pushed nico off, that's on him. that's that. I'm calling the FIA out on their bullshit. if the purpose of penalty points is to penalize drivers for "dangerous or risky driving", how do you excuse giving 2 points for low speed contact that really set no one at risk and 1 point for a moment that could've ended up with a driver seriously injured if nico had lost the car there. I understand that for them, locking up means he isn't in control of his car which is the "risky" part. but that is half driver, half car. if you push a driver off track, almost causing them to crash at 300km/h, is that not worse?

again, I'm not pointing a finger at any driver being like "oh you're at fault more than others". this is not on the drivers. I want some braincells in the FIA. you can't have a square shape mold for what you give penalties for and forcefully squeeze ten different shapes into it.

[helmet-hairs]

Drivers with an unconfirmed teammate for 2025: George Russel, Nico Hulkenburg, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly.

Everyone has such great pictures so why did they choose one where Yuki’s hair looks like it is standing straight up from the wind.

[tirednotflirting]

ASK ME HOW IM DOING (danny ric was basically in tears during post race interviews getting asked about the rest of the season)

[nico-di-genova]

…so…@ Alexander Rossi…contract announcement, king?

[sainzstorms]

driver market is about to kick in, watch.

i feel like it was just waiting for one of the top drivers to make a move then other teams and drivers will go from there. like the start of domino effect. but tbh alonso staying in am was not on my list. for better or worse, it got me questioning on my manifestation of sainz to am. is lance gonna stay? bc there was a retirement rumor going around, not sure whether he was joking or not. wait does it seal off kimi to merc? i feel like it is. i cant see sainz go to any other team other than am or rbr. checo said that he's basically not concerned of his seat but it's rbr and i feel like they're a lil bit unpredictable. if stake/audi wants sainz i feel like he needs to be convinced that they won't suck next year. will there be a big change from the drivers with a long contract? like a buy off perhaps. this brings on so many thoughts i just ran with the keyboards lol.