planetf1.com

Let's not go there...

_________________
1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Rob Huff should have won British award, after all he won a world championship this year.

_________________
Jenson Button & Williams F1 Team supporter!

When I heard I was like... Wait, what? As much as I love Jenson, he's a bit of a shock winner.

But the fact it was down to public vote makes sense. A typical Jenson Button fan is probably older, has watched F1 for a while and subscribes to Autosport and alike.
Lewis Hamilton fans tend (or at least they appear) to be a lot younger and probably get all their F1 info off the internet, twitter etc so won't be even looking at Autosport.

Obviously there will be exceptions, don't shoot me its just my theory.

_________________
Warning: The above post may contain sarcasm.

If I had to guess, I'd say Jenson probably has a lot more fans who are into motorsport in general, while a lot of Lewis' fans might just be fans of Lewis. I base that on the length of their careers, style of driving, and popularly accepted off track personas (whether they are accurate or not). Not saying either type is better than the other. Those who are generally into motorsport are more likely to be exposed to the Autosport voting process than those who are just into their driver.

But who knows, maybe JB won by just a handful of votes and theres nothing to theorize about.

_________________

His shirt was awefull. Looks like he borrowed it from EJ.

_________________
HAMILTON/ALONSO/RAIKONNEN/VETTEL

Well thought out and conveyed theory

_________________
Multi 21 or Catch 22?!

It ain't hating just 'cause it's not love

Lol wow the only thing I read on here that reasonably suggests why button was is because he's popular, however I always thought Hamilton was popular in the UK, especially within my group of friends.

Would be interesting to see the demography of voters, because in terms of performance Hamilton had been the better driver consistently all season. And regards to maturity, he's come leaps and bound this year.

_________________
minus Vettel

Just wondering, what is your age group? does it fit well with what Ashley313 is proposing?

I'd fall into 18-25

_________________
minus Vettel

You could be right. We cannot judge a driver's popularity or otherwise just by posters on these forums or opinions in the media F1 coulmns. A lot of mature F1 fans do not bother with such things. During F1 chat with interested colleagues, acquaintances etc, Button comes across as significantly more popular than Hamilton.

_________________
Vettel / Raikkonen / Button

Thats what I get. I remember in 2007 talking in the tea room as you do it was just after before Brazil and saying I hope Lewis takes it ('Cause I didn't like Fred) . No body was a real hardcore follower but I was the only one that thought that. Despite being in the company of some hardcore "British" supporters (wink wink, if you know what I mean) no one liked Lewis.

and even though I don't know any hardcore F1 followers, any one I know who pays so much as a passing interest whether it be watching when they are in our house, into other motorsports (Rally mostly) or a passing interest as in if it's on they will watch it. Common consensus is Lewis isn't very well thought off. I actually can't think of one person in real life as it were I've spoke to who could be said to support him.

Where as most are glad to hear Button has had a decent race.

_________________
Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Its funny you say that. Because when you look at the comments posted on Jb's articles its like hearing crickets. As soon as it's Lewis de comments quadrouple. Fact.

_________________
HAMILTON/ALONSO/RAIKONNEN/VETTEL

But Emerson you are forgetting, it's a minority of F1 followers that comment on articles.

Besides here and a few off-topic threads that pop up occasionally on other forums, I don't talk about F1 anywhere else on the internet.

But if you go on Internet for facts.
twitter
LH 1257263
JB 1269037
FA 1371352
RB 1833238

Frankie Boyle 1169035
Ozzy 2311386

So Rubinio is the most popular of all. Frankie Boyle a quite disliked bloke is almost as popular as Lewis and Ozzy is almost twice as popular as Lewis.


Going on Twitter followers . FACT.

_________________
Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

You don't always follow someone on twitter because you are a fan.

_________________

And it's not just fans that comment on articles

_________________
Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Interesting to hear people's thoughts about drivers' fanbases, I am a student and my encounter of F1 fans my age would lead me to suggest that among young British fans Hamilton is a lot more popular than Button.

When I was at school in 07+08 I was amazed at the number of people who seemed to get into F1 just because a British guy was doing well, whereas two or three years before barely anyone cared about F1. So from my experiences I would say Button probably is more popular with the 'traditional' F1 demographic in this country while Hamilton is more popular with the younger but more casual audience. Also I have found it interesting that Hamilton (Possibly to do with his background) seems to be popular with football type fans. I remember being at a game in 2008 (I support Derby) just after he won the championship and there were supporters singing a song about Hamilton even though he has no connection to our club...

_________________
Support: Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Heikki Kovalainen
Respect: Alonso, Schumacher, Newey
Not so keen on: Vettel, Di Resta, whoever decides to red flag when it rains in F1

And you would be right. I am 57 years old and the people I discuss F1 with are usually in the 35 to 65 age bracket and among them Button is not only very popular but Hamilton is actually unpopular on average.

_________________
Vettel / Raikkonen / Button

It really depends on the group of people you ask, reach.
For my observations at F1 races, amongst Hamilton fans are more women/ young girls, children and people from not European countries ( India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa,Arabia, Africa)
While Button has more middle aged European, middle class fans, and more male supporters.
Just my observations. The Hamilton supporters I know from GB , have mostly ancestors from India, Jamaica, Pakistan, Africa etc.

_________________
"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

I know people don't like to talk about race/skin colour here but if what is being said holds true then perhaps more non white nationalities prefer Hamilton due to being able to relate to his skin tone more?

_________________
minus Vettel

F1 isn't a sport watched by many black guys though. It never has been. They'd rather watch football. Nothing racist there. Just a cultural preference that has lasted generations. Golf suffers from the same thing, how many black people do you see watching golf? Even with Tiger Woods.

Also the person who said a lot of young people started supporting Hamilton in 07 because he was just this new British kid doing well... Yes they did. But as soon as 2009 came along and he started doing badly and Button did well they either dropped supporting Hamilton altogether or switched to Button. A lot of youngsters don't know what loyalty is all about, they'll go glory hunting. Hamilton hasn't won a title since so he's not the good guy anymore to those people, neither will Button be now, they've probably decided to become sudden tennis fans or cycling fans.

_________________
1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Well, the people who I know who got hooked onto F1 in 2007 are still into the sport and still support Hamilton, the point I was trying to make was that people in my age group who I have met that are into Formula One have in most cases been Hamilton fans, while people who I have met who are F1 fans but are older have tended to be more inclined to support Button over Hamilton (particurly noticed that at Silverstone when I went in 2010)

_________________
Support: Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Heikki Kovalainen
Respect: Alonso, Schumacher, Newey
Not so keen on: Vettel, Di Resta, whoever decides to red flag when it rains in F1

A slightly different point but interesting to me all the same. Regardless of British motorsport fans - I spend most of my life travelling abroad and I speak regularly with those F1 fans I meet when away, to a man they ALL respect (and a surprising number support - especially in Spain - WOT) Hamilton as a driver. They cannot believe that Mclaren have lost him and not one considers Button to be in any way comparable to Hamilton as a driver.

Only in the UK do I have conversations where people actually believe Button is a better driver than Hamilton or think that their personality is relevant - if I wanted personality I'd watch "Strictly" - puke.

On the other hand everyone is entitled to their opinion - there are some football utd fans that think Rooney is as good as Messi - go figure

I don't know if you are able to say it so generally. And what about people from India?
Some of the most passionate F1 fans I know are from India, and the ones I know at GB are black or mixed race.
Maybe it's pure coincidence they are not "White", but I know them because they are F1 & Hamilton supporters, otherwise I probably would never have met/ known them.
Football is generally much more popular than F1.

_________________
"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Mate I live in London and Birmingham and I can assure you that race really does not come into it when supporting F1 drivers here, I think the whole idea that Hamilton would bring in a new demographic into the sport because he is mixed race has been vastly overplayed certainly in the UK, it may well be different abroad but from what I have seen and experienced there are not anymore Black/Asian F1 fans here than there was before, I come from a family with Indian roots and a lot of my extended family who are my age really think it's weird that I am into F1 and find Cricket really boring!

_________________
Support: Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Heikki Kovalainen
Respect: Alonso, Schumacher, Newey
Not so keen on: Vettel, Di Resta, whoever decides to red flag when it rains in F1

I made the same experiences. I love to talk with people at Gps, whom they support & why etc.
2 years ago at Monaco I stayed at a hotel with some British F1 fans. I asked a guy from Oxford, whom he supports, he answered : Of course the Brithish drivers : Button & di Resta
I asked him why not Hamilton?
Answer: "He is not really one of us "
Same with 2 Ladies ( Both between 40-50) Sisters who travel to many GPs, same answer.
Hmmmmm.
For the race I was lucky enough to have a invitation from a Ferrari Sponsor, to watch the GP from a yacht. Most people there were from Russia, a few Americans a few Brithish people
As the situation between Masa & Hamilton happened, the Brithish guys were very vocal to damn Hamilton for it, while surprisingly the the Ferrari sponsor was angry with Massa

_________________
"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

I think the people you met don't represent a good sample, I am not British and i respect Hamilton but i think they are comparable.

It represents a good sample of the people I have met

its autosport their target audience is not exactly Hamiltons demographic.

on a more positive note for hammy fans

Hamilton won the The ERA Club Trophy at the BRDC awards, also Adrian Newey picked up The Sir Jackie Stewart Award

in terms of the hamilton/ button fan demographic I also tend to find class levels subject to which fans support Button or Hamilton. If you take out the younger fans of Hamilton I tend to find the people I meet whom some would indicate as working class (manual labourers) support Hamilton and it is the Middle class people who tend to follow Button. There are obviously exceptions to these rules but this is just a snapshot of the people i meet.

"not really one of us" lol, some people... why even pay attention to his skin colour? If i was there this would have frustrated me so much, i bet he was some posh snob as well

Living in America, I can't imagine what its like to hear people talk about drivers from a national point of view. My group of F1 friends has supporters of Lewis, Jenson, Seb, Britney, Fernando, and none of them really care where they came from.

_________________

I can answer that because I am from India. My own favoirite drivers through the decades have been Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Raikkonen and now Vettel.

I don't know many people of Indian origin in the UK also interested in F1 but know many in India itself. Raikkonen was and still is extremely popular in India (you might have seen many Indians with Finnish flags at Buddh). Vettel & Alonso are both popular but Hamilton not so much.

_________________
Vettel / Raikkonen / Button