Well, I like Ferrari but I guess they get along quit well without me sitting in a red sweater in front of my TV....
I do - I buy a fair amount actually. Sneakers, jeans, shirt, hat is a pretty common every-day look for many people - at least over here. ...and for the record, I also "dress up" at times also, so it is not all or nothing. Funny though, I'm a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan also, but have much more Scuderia merchandise. Shrug.
+1 I find that team & logo wear is a good conversation starter. Had a great chat with someone about the current state of F1, the Scuderia, Michael Schumacher & Vettel the last time I wore my Ferrari polo. Much better than small talk about the weather, politics, etc. IMO...T
Because he's the better and more talented driver. Hard to comprehend for you? Let me explain like your 5. Yes without Lewis in the other car anybody on the grid could become WDC in that car, problem is he's there. Not that complicated is it? Tell me wich driver on the grid could beat Lewis in that Mercedes? Maybe Alonso or Ricciardo, but it doubt they could beat him over a season.
Surely Mercedes knows that their car is suprior to all the others, and that raced intelligently it will deliver a title. You don't need a superstar to drive you car if it's superior to most of the field: Enzo Ferrari tried to prove that several times, and wouldn't tolerate prima dona at the Scuderia for that reason. Obviously the best car attracts the best driver, and in most cases a team with a superior car will try to sign the best driver(s), but not always.
Yup - and people who are F1 fans typically wear their team gear on F1-weekends. Same experience...you get some interesting conversations. I especially notice this in airports actually - kind of like what you see around world cup time and during champions league play.
When you wear Ferrari apparel, people assume you own a Ferrari. When you wear Mercedes AMG Petronas apparel, people assume you are Lewis Hamilton???
Really? I don't think so somehow. It's probably the opposite; most people who own a Ferrari don't feel the need to shout about it. The average age of Ferrari owners must be in the late forties/early fifties at least, so any youngster "pretending" to be a Ferrari owner by wearing a T-shirt is just displaying his lack of maturity, I think. I think that wearing sport apparel is just aggressive and in certain circumstances a trigger for violence: just look at football!
Ha! Speak for your own soccer hooligans man! ; ) Seriously, most people in the US don't get violent even in bitter sports rivalries. I mean it does happen, but it is nothing like what you see in Europe. Some of those gang brawls are insane. A lot of times the fights are between people on the same side...who have just had too much to drink. There is also a difference between being a fan of Ferrari and being a Ferrari owner.
Here again, I beg to differ ... No violence in sport in the US? Just in NASCAR brawls among drivers are common; they throw helmets at each other, start punch ups among crews, etc... What about the guy who got killed by Tony Stewart in a sprint race because of rage, not violent? I don't follow team sports in the States, I must say, but I have heard of some supporters taking guns at matches! There is violence around sport in Europe, that is true. It's in fact often outside the stadiums, and it is fuelled by alcohol too. I think that sport apparel compound the problem by allowing the supporters to identify opponents and members of other clubs; for many, those who enjoy violence, it's like waving a red rag to a bull.
You are talking about two different issues now : ) We were discussing violence with fans, not *in* sports. Yes, our sports are inherently more violent overall, but I don't think that has any place in motorsports personally. It's part of some sports and not others. I don't think Stewart ran that guy down but who knows - getting out of your car is moronic. NASCAR has now implemented huge penalties for doing so in the future. In a lot of states in the US, you can carry concealed handguns. In some states you can carry them openly actually. I don't know how that is regulated with sports venues because I don't carry. Still, I have yet to see any large scale battles like you see in Europe involving concussion bombs, stabbings, etc. You also never see dangerous things thrown on the fields here like you do in some areas of Europe. In other words, the violence you see at sporting events here is typically on-par with what you see in our culture in general. I don't think sports rivalries build additional violence in most cases. A lot of **** talking yes, but that is no big deal to most people. I agree with your bull analogy as it relates to soccer (football) in Europe, but not US sports. For example, my friends travel to Steelers games in NY, Philly, Boston, Cleveland, etc. These are all towns with violence and serious fans. If you aren't a ****, then you will get out without issue. But if words offend you, best to stay home and watch on TV : ) If it were happening here, it would be all over the news, and it simply isn't.
We also don't shoot and kill our football (soccer) stars thar miss important goals. We simply create embarrassing memes and post them all over Facebook.
South America, not Europe IIRC. Last fan almost death I recall was an SF Giants fan outside Dodger stadium in LA. In fact, I've seen more violence at Giants - Dodgers games than I've ever seen at soccer matches. And I've been to a *lot* of soccer games. The cops got serious about "soccer hooligans" many years back. The organized crime has been pretty much eliminated these days. Cheers, Ian
Back in topic (there is so much drift in this forum...) - does anyone know if the drivers get prize money at races and if so, how much?
Some threads just take on a life of their own....... I believe that these days, in general, they don't. They're paid a salary & expenses etc, but Bernie controls the "money out" column, and that gets paid to the teams. Occasionally I've read that a few are paid bonuses based on points scored, but I think that's pretty unusual these days; May be different if you're paying for your drive, but I'm not sure even then. Cheers, Ian
Interesting. So drivers are basically paid amateurs? Would surely make sense to have prize funds for the drivers? Why not do away with salaries all together and have all drivers paid prize money instead?
