Hi guys, new member to the site and feel I have a question to ask. I've been reading the F1 forum on here for a while before becoming a member and I can't help feeling that there's not much genuine support for the team. There seems to be an awful lot of people posting who make statements along the lines of: "If Ferrari hire Alonso then I'll be giving My full support to McLaren and hope they kick Ferrari's A**e!", or "LDM is such an d*****bag, I hope Ferrari fail to win a race next year!". I appreciate that people have differing opinions but here's my thinking when it comes to Ferrari: If they work or drive for Ferrari then they get My full support, 100%, regardless of who they are or who they previously worked/drove for. As soon as they leave for another team, then I hope they get their a**ses kicked by the Scuderia!. I've supported Ferrari since the age of 11, watching Gilles Villenueve dragging his car back to the pits on three wheels at Zandvoort in '79. I put up with Prost, I managed to give support to the miserable, whingeing " I can't win so I'm gonna quit" Mansell. I have fond memories of the Berger/Alesi era (even though wins and podiums were few and far between), and I cried when Schuey crossed the line at Suzuka in 2000 (and I don't care what any of you think of that because it mean't that much to Me!). I never liked Senna, I just couldn't take to him (and not just because he kept beating the Ferrari drivers, there was just something about him (ramming prost off at Suzuka 1990 didn't help though!) ). However, had he joined the Scuderia, I'd have supported him 100%. Over here in the UK we have a Government Census every few years to register our details and for religion I put "tifosi" because that's what Ferrari is to Me, a religion. I'm not so stupid as to believe that Ferrari can do no wrong or are always right on everything they do but they get My full support and where required, My forgiveness. so what I want to know (we got there eventually), is, Where are all the real Ferrari fans, the true tifosi on this site?
Welcome Phill, as long as you don't wear the red blinkers your ok in my book, and it appears you don't. The main problem this year has been the dog of a car, I find on the whole post's don't bash Ferrari. I think the problem is that Alonso has not gone down a big hit with a good few posters, nothing wrong with that, although the same could be said when MS joined Ferrari. All I want in F1 is it to be a open book and it to be fair and transparent...hence Mosley must go!! and be bound and gagged and kept out of F1 period. But I keep forgetting F1 is a business they’re in it for the cash, not the righteous.. So watch this space...
Cheers Steve, maybe it's just My interpretation of the posts I've read. Some posts though seem to be the equivalent of saying: "If Man Utd sign Michael Owen then I'm going to support Liverpool!". Like I've said, I support the team through all the good and bad times (Jerez '97, boy did I take some abuse despite acknowledging it was wrong. At one point I thought it must have been Me in the car hitting Villeneuve!). I can admit when their in the wrong, but place My support against them, NEVER!. Anyway, lets hope for some better weather this afternoon ( qualifying was a real endurance test, not just for the drivers but for us TV viewers too!). Should be a real interesting race this afternoon I reckon.
Part of being a supporter is being willing to admit when the team has made a turn down the wrong path. I have never liked Kimi, and if McLaren hadn't been told to lay down post-investigation he wouldn't have won in 2007. I do not like Alonso, I think he's a team wrecker. In both cases I think the Scuderia made mistakes in signing these drivers. This doesn't change my support for the team, it just means I don't have Rosso Corsa blinders on.
+1 on all counts. Kimi is not ice but hot and cold. FA is trash passed from team to team who is highly talented. Felipe is better than we thought(certainly myself) and the team seem to gravitate to him. No rossa blinders here either. The best team harmony now and in the near future is Mclaren. I give them the nod next year and Im not a fan.
Phil that was a wonderful post, I share your feelings about Ferrari and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The true Tifosi on this site are unfortunately few and far between. The spouting of extremism, vulgarity, barely disguised racism, and insane prejudice accompanied by the absence of any loyalty to the Ferrari team are what characterize far too many posts. The neverending and ridiculous fistfights between Massa and Kimi supporters have been a clear demonstration of the level of maturity that can often be expected here. The endless and rabid responses of a few to the hiring by Ferrari of the best current F1 driver (MS dixit), Fernando Alonso, are also an impediment to any serious discussion. FA has been a jerk many times, as have many other F1 drivers (all of them?). FA has bent the rules many times, as have many other F1 drivers (all of them?). But now he drives for Ferrari (I have known that was going to happen since more than a year), and he deserves and needs the full support of the Tifosi. It is perfectly legitimate to dislike him, even to hate him. Say it. But do we really need an avalanche of posts from one person who thinks it the height of litterary imagination to call him "Alonsohole"? - It's pathetic. Finally, few seem to have any awareness of F1 history and character. F1 is a REAL SPORT, not a GAME. In F1, which I have been following directly since 1971, EVERYBODY TRIES TO CHEAT. ALL THE TIME. From the arranged result of the Tripoli GP in 1936 (pr-F1), to FA benefitting from a fake crash at Shanghai (of course he knew!), there has been nothing but cheating. MS parking his car, LH blatantly lying to stewards, McL stealing documents, Senna ramming Prost... The greatest cheater of all, of course, was the divine Enzo, and his most glorious creation, the 250 GTO, is the direct result of blatant fraud. A close second in the cheating ranking would be the greatest driver of all time Michael Schumacher. There is no honour code in F1: There is just WINNING. At Shanghai last year FA was brilliant: A team cheat, a win, and finally a whitewash that has left him officially and legally out of the picture. And nobody would ever have found anything out if it hadn't been for young Picquet's hormonal problems. Some think F1 is just a dishonest and manipulated farce. - Fine. They might be right. But why don't they go watch NASCAR, baseball, cricket, badminton, or other "pure and honest" games? This is the Internet. Frustrated adolescents, bored firemen, ignorant moralists, real experts, and true fans are all mixed up in one big democratic and shouting free for all, and this is the result. My advice would be to make a very abundant use of the "ignore" function. The children and the rabids are easily identified, and can very easily be made to dissapear, leaving many gems of insight and F1 knowledge from people who have a lot to share about the greatest of sports. This does not mean that we should wear red blinkers. We can certainly recognize and vehemently criticize Ferrari's weaknesses, ****-ups, and mistakes. We can also criticize their choice of drivers. But at the end of the day, there remains but three things to say: Forza Massa! Forza Alonso! FORZA FERRARI!
From what I've read in the past on here, I might need to circle the wagons and hope Big John comes to My rescue now and again!
Just a stab in the dark, which is what you'll be getting if you don't agree with that Viz dog... He don't scare me tho..
Thanks to all for the welcome. I'm looking forward to sharing My passion. The race coverage has just started on the BBC, so gotta go for now. Fingers crossed for a great race today, should be interesting!. I'll catch up with You all later. TTFN!
I've been a Ferrari F1 fan since 1986 when I saw the Detroit Grand Prix in person (Alboreto and Johannsen), and I just want the Scuderia cars to win---I don't care a bit about the drivers! All of the drivers are egotistical, childish mega-millionaires who absolutley do not deserve the kind of money they get! I've never had a favorite driver--I basically think they are all weenies and snivelers, but I've ALWAYS just wanted the Ferraris to win regardless of who drove them! I would never switch teams because I don't like the current drivers for Ferrari---I love the cars and the venues, who cares about which spoiled brats are driving the cars next year! Now NASCAR is the complete opposite, where every fan has a favorite driver and very often doesn't even know what kind of car he's driving nor what faceless team he's driving for in a given year! I hate NASCAR because the cars are all clones of each other and the driver's are all ass-kissing dorks----" I just wanted to thank God, Clorox detergent, Pepsi, and my wife Betsy Lou for all the support they have given me in my win here today at.....uh, where are we at? Is this Kansas or Texas? Yuk, yuk, I guess it don't matter no how!" Dr. E
Being a team fan doesn't mean you have to accept everything they do. That'd be just wearing pink glasses. I can't stand Massa and am delighted that they finally made the right move in hiring Alonso who will propel them forward towards becoming Championship contenders again. Whether his influence will be enough to overcome all the other obstacles, remains to be seen.
