Do drivers really (want to) consider F1 a Team Sport, psychologically speaking?

[RevMaxPower]

The Constructor's Championship is the root of the problem with F1. It gets in the way of the "head to head" driving/racing. The good of the "Team" over-rides the aspirations of the individual driver, which in turn leads to one-sided radio instructions and have and have not(or different) upgrades and/or modifications given to the two seperate drivers. At this level, Fi is more a business than a Sport. The Company is everything, the driver merely an employee.

To me a top class racing driver is NOT a Team Player. He alone is in the cockpit and human nature being what it is, he alone wants to win - by himself - on his own terms. He is basically a Fighter Pilot on a mission.

Just watch the Indy 500 for proof of this... Life on the edge.

 

[teabagyokel]

I think the dynamic between team and driver is fascinating. Some are more willing to sacrifice themselves for the team than others. I tend to think certain drivers have historically had no intention of playing second fiddle.

The likes of Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Mansell, Prost, Senna, Piquet...

 

[RevMaxPower]

TBY - the very names that prompted my post. Personally I don't see how ANY driver can play second fiddle. They must be just pretending, or acting, because why would you expose yourself to the dangers and sheer exertion unless you intended to go for it at all costs? Basically, "to heck with everybody else - I'm here to WIN the race, the glory, the kudos, the money!" must surely be the mind set of every Formula 1 driver, for if not, why is he there?

 

[Fenderman]

There is a difference between not being a team player and having a team leader mentality. I would suggest that more than in any other era, being a team player is a critical requirement of todays F1 driver. The relationships between drivers, engineers, technicians and tacticians, etc, require teamwork skills and abilities such as negotiation, leadership, assertiveness, patience, understanding, intelligence, etc. etc. That is quite different to the willingness or otherwise to play second fiddle to a fellow driver. Whilst I wouldn't want to cast aspersions on the drivers who find themselves in the unenviable positions of "No.2's", the first priority of an aspiring champion in top class motorsport is to beat his/her team-mate into abject submission. Failing that his/her priority is at the very least to ensure that he/she has equal respect.

A driver who isn't a team player will not make it to F1 let alone stay in it.

That's only my opinion, mind!

 

[Sarinaide]

Without getting into any "who is a team player" debate, many factors need to be considered when assesing such position.

I to an extent agree that all drivers enter the sport with some drive to be the best, but this is not always evident, while some drivers have displayed a degree of winning dominance and somewhat ruthlessness to be the best, others tend to be a little more passive in their approach. I would not say that the constructors or drivers championship is any more or less important than the other, but in the sport the teams need the right drivers to be successful, invariably this ends up in a prima facie number 1 and number 2 position.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Until such time as a driver designs, builds and races a car that no-one else has any hand in I think that F1 is a team sport.

 

[FB]

The Company is everything, the driver merely an employee.

At the end of the day the driver is merely an employee, albeit quite an important one. Bernie had this attitude towards drivers when he ran the Brabham team and, to and extent, I can see his point. If you can hire a top designer and engineers and produce a car which is faster than the rest there are probably half the grid who could win and twice as many drivers in lower forumlae, touring cars, sports cars etc. who could win a race.

I think most of the top drivers are hyped beyond belief. Yes the drivers input is crucial but don't believe that because Webber can't beat Vettel (most of the time) or Massa can't beat Alonso that a Glock or Sutil or Heidfeld couldn't beat them. Sorry if this is a bit off topic but let's not make these men out to be supermen. Yes, they are amongst the best drivers in the World but the key world here is amongst.

On topic - it's a team sport and a business and if the teams feel that the Constructors Championship is more important that's their prerogative. If the drivers don't like being part of a team they can vote with their feet.

 

[Flood1]

Team orders disappoint me as a fan. I do agree that F1 is a team sport and the team is much more than just the driver. Some fans are team fans regardless of the driver, but many fans are driver oriented. I focus on what is good racing for the public, for me, even if that is naive, rather than focus on what is good for the team/corporation/business entity. I only get giddy for those teams/corporations/and business units that I invest in. With F1, I invest in entertainment and honest racing, true competition, not contrived, but true. To quote Elvis Costello, "My aim is true."

In American racing no team ever tells a driver not to race. The culture is different. Each car has it's own box and crew. Often the sponsorship is different on cars within the same team. No sponsor would tolerate his car being told not to overtake another team car even if it were better for the team overall not to. The drivers, crews, and sponsors are not the same from car to car within the team. If team orders are in play, the public and the sponsors never know of it.

I agree that team orders should be allowed. But, I just wanted to see the two blokes race without interference.

I guess that is an old fashioned concept, and if so, I am guilty.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

How does a guy like Kimi Raikkonen fit into this?

 

[Sarinaide]

I think most of the top drivers are hyped beyond belief. Yes the drivers input is crucial but don't believe that because Webber can't beat Vettel (most of the time) or Massa can't beat Alonso that a Glock or Sutil or Heidfeld couldn't beat them. Sorry if this is a bit off topic but let's not make these men out to be supermen. Yes, they are amongst the best drivers in the World but the key world here is amongst.

Well in sport some people are better than others or more talented, it is a way of life. These "supermen" you refer to have earned their right to have smoke blown up their rears, because frankly they are better than all the other names mentioned, that is undisputed.

It is very clear that RBR, Ferrari and McLaren have a defacto number 1 and this becomes very problematic to the "fairness" crowd, maybe the gap isn't as wide between Button and Hamilton and to an extent Vettel and Webber, but in Ferrari's case, whichever way you slice it Alonso is country miles ahead of Massa,......Strewth.

 

[sportsman]

On topic - it's a team sport and a business and if the teams feel that the Constructors Championship is more important that's their prerogative. If the drivers don't like being part of a team they can vote with their feet.

And that is the problem with the F1 business model.In cold hard cash winning the WDC gets the team nothing.
WCC points however bring many millions of $ in prize money.

 

[Sarinaide]

Invariably winning the WDC goes hand in hand with winning the WCC, that said winning the WCC means having a WDC calibre driver.

 

[RevMaxPower]

I've just watched the movie "SENNA". Totally justifies my original thread post - in spades...!

A quote from Ayrton - "Do it well or forget it."

Absolutely!

 

[Theo_55]

F1 as a sport is extremely difficult to break into, all drivers want to be the person in the racing seat first and formost, after that comes the need to compete on the track with your team mate and gain the upper hand, the next level is to beat the competition.

In all of these steps in being an F1 driver, first you have to be driving for a team, thus, the team is more important than the driver. Drivers who are not willing to play the team game would be marginialised by that team.

In the sport of F1 some drivers are more capable that others, the teams would on most occasions favour their most capable driver, unless of course there are other imperitives in play, ie, a driver could have loads of money from his sponsors in the team.