Favourite/Least Favourite

[FB]

So who do love and who do you loathe? Here's a thread for you to post your 2 favourite and 2 least favourite drivers and teams but there are a few rules:

1. One driver must be current the other retired
2. One team must be current the other now gone
3. You may justify your choices but you don't have to
4. You may NOT comment on other peoples choices and justification

Here's mine:

Favourites

Jean Pierre Jarier - the greatest driver never to win a Grand Prix. I loved his column in Grand Prix International.
Sebastien Vettel - for his sense of humour

Osella - because they tried so hard and achieved so little
Williams - as they won the Drivers and Constructor title the first year I watched F1. So sad to see them today

Least Favourites

Nelson Piquet snr - he just annoyed me
Jarno Trulli - some drivers just don't know when to give up

BAR - for being so smug when they entered F1 and achieving so little
Force India - I have no reason to justify this but I don't like them. Maybe it's the colours, maybe it's the fact that the only thing Indian about them is the owner.

 

[Gert]

Favourites:

Ayrton Senna - For his outright speed, commitment and passion for Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton - For his aggressive, never give up driving style.

McLaren - Never used team orders on a wide scale so I respect them for that
Brawn GP - Amazing story of no one in the factory and somehow they won both titles in 2009

Least Favourites:

Jarno Trulli - Same as you FB not knowing when to give up
Jacques Villeneuve - For not knowing when to shut his mouth.

Ferrari - Mainly because of the use of team orders so often in there team
Mastercard Lola - Stupid Effort and waster of time

 

[teabagyokel]

Favourites:
Kimi Raikkonen - Doesn't suffer the media, just drives fast!
Jenson Button - Perhaps the most amiable World Champion for 20 years.

Team Lotus - seem to be doing things the right way
Stewart - made 1999

Least Favourites

Michael Schumacher - give it up, old man
Jacques Villeneuve - somewhere your father is crying

Ferrari - for the FIAt days
Honda - the perfect storm of idiocy

(new category - special mention) Flavio Briatore - for simply being Flavio Briatore

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Favourites:

Lewis Hamilton - First driver I've ever supported and I love the excitement he brings and love the fact that he only operates at one speed, flat out.
Takumo Sato - Gret value for money entertainment who could embarrass drivers in superior cars.

McLaren - They have a great history behind them and are currently one of the most 'fan friendly' teams. And must support us Brits.
Jordan GP - A great team that at one time were winning races and nearly challenging for the championship, years by they became that plucky underdog at the back of the grid.

Least Favourites:

Fernando Alonso - No doubt he is a great driver with a lot of skill. But the way he conducts himself ruins all that, he's simply been caught up in too much now to claim he is innocent in it all.
Nelson Piquet Jr. - Although treated badly at Renault he still performed horribly and then there's Singapore.

Williams - I can't quite place my finger on why I dislike them but I'm sure many would disagree with my decision here.
Honda - Another manufacturer who thought they could come in, throw money around and think they would dominate. The earth car showed how little they knew, and once the money dried up they upped and left F1.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Favourites:

Gerhard Berger- Practical joker

Lewis Hamilton- Grit determination, desire to win, all the signs of a great champion

Team Lotus- The spirit is there for me and I have a soft spot for them, 2012 they'll be midfield

Stewart- Cuz of Sir Jackie

Least Favourites:

Fernando Alonso- I don't like the cut of his jib

Heinz Harald Frenzten- Taking Damon's seat!

HRT- Waste of petrol in my opinion

Toyota- For what I would call their money parties!

 

[mjo]

Favourites:

Felipe Massa - generally a nice guy
Martin Brundle - what a legend! (as a driver, not just his commentary)
Sauber - Young, up-and-coming, what more could you want?
Minardi - who didn't like them?

Least Favourites:

Lewis Hamilton - like marmite, a bit too arrogant for me
Jaques Villeneuve - random, just didn't particularly like him
Williams - The same reason as no-FIAt-please, can't put my finger on it
BAR - arrogance

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Favourites

• Lewis Hamilton - brings excitement even to the most boring of races and is the raciest driver for as long as I can remember

• Ayrton Senna - as above

• McLaren - only team of front runners with an equal driver policy, even if it trips them up from time to time. Prettiest cars too

• Sauber - Peter Sauber rescuing his legacy from BMW and introducing us to Kobayashi

Least favourites

• Fernando Alonso - climbs over people to get what he wants. Would steal you lifebelt if you were drowning.

• Sebastian Bordais - Cried too much

• HRT - screwing drivers regularly because of thier other shortcomings

• Honda - for thier shortsightedness

 

[Dario Resta]

Favourites

• Kamui Kobayashi - I love the way he drives.

• Alessandro Nannini - cigarettes and coffee in huge amounts. I was gutted when he had the helicopter accident. Nannini and a B188/189/190. Perfect!
• Felipe Massa - As MJO says, a nice guy. How can you not like him?
• Benetton (from 86 to 90). Flamboyant, colourful, occasionally inept, but beautiful.
• Jenson Button, because he's from Somerset, and that's all that matters.......

Least favourites

• McLaren. I just can't stand them. Corporate, self important and all round arrogant.
• Ferrari - see McLaren above.
• Nigel Mansell. Did he really have to moan the whole time? Good driver though!
• Jacques Villeneuve - see McLaren and Ferrari, without the corporate bit.

I have five favourites. Sorry.

 

[Galahad]

I must admit, this is a lot easier for me if I pick non-F1 teams and drivers! Still here goes:

Favourites
Alain Prost
Sergio Perez
Williams
Leyton House March

Least favourites
Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli (I can't think of anyone current that I actively dislike - this really is a 'least favourite')
Jaguar
Virgin

The second list was very difficult!

 

[Road of Bones]

Favourites:

Jenson Button - for showing us that nice guys can finish first
Graham Hill - I wish he was still with us

McLaren - for not being as corporate and inhuman these days
Jordan GP - the best underdogs ever (narrowly shading the Brawn GP team for what they did in 2009)

Least Favourite:

(tricky for current drivers, as I can't think of any I actively dislike - I used to loathe Schumacher, but even I'd like to see "Der Alte" stage a bit of a comeback these days)
Jacques Villeneuve - never liked him, frankly.

Force India - for not being Jordan GP anymore
Arrows - for never achieving their potential, and for fitting that crappy seal to Damon's car at Hungary '97

(dis)Honourable Mention:

Todt-era Ferrari - for almost killing the spectacle and failing to recognise it at the time

Nice thread FB - made me think quite hard for my answers!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Most Fave

Current - Rubens Barichello (though it seems like he's been around forever !!)
Past - Ayrton Senna
Team Current - Williams - Struggled really hard over this because in all honesty there isn't really a current team that I give two figs about, I enjoy the sport more as a whole these days rather than any particular individual team.
Team from yester-year - Hmmm now let me think, there was one, who could that have been erm.... ah yeah I remember Lotus.

Least Fave.

Current - Lewis Hamilton. - Sorry about this but there is just so much around him, about him, and with him that it leaves me feeling cold about him. Maybe it's not the man but the image of the man and all that goes with it. Thrilling racer on his day, yes but with more baggage than Radley.
Past - Nigel Mansell - I was tempted to go for Prost because of the boo hiss pantomime aspects of the Prost / Senna years, then I thought about Piquet Jnr for actually doing what he was told in Singapore but then when I think back to when I really got into F1 it was Mansell that always wound me up. Just didn't like the bloke. Shame as a Brit that I've gone for two British drivers but there you go.
Current Team - Torro Rosso, Should still be Minardi, pointless junior team with rubbish branding. Bring back the Minardi name and the black and yellow colours!!!
Past Team - BAR - Have to agree with MJO on this one. The team that thought they could spend their way to the top and do it with Jacques Villeneuve. Doomed from the start and then if possible made even worse with Honda. Finally, the greatest laugh of all being when the whole lot walked away leaving Ross Braun to hold the baby after having done enough to take the title at a canter. Now the history books will forever say Braun GP. They came, they saw, they made the whole BAR/Honda thing look very stupid indeed.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Favourites:

Lewis Hamilton : A proper racer who drives likes he's playing the xbox, a bit like a kid who's living his dream and just having fun. The way it should be. Also seems like a nice guy.

Ayrton Senna : If you needed a guy to do one lap to save your life, you'd trust him 100% to deliver. Fast, aggressive, went for gaps most other drivers wouldn't even see were there, not afraid to stand up to the establishment.

McLaren : Mainly because of Senna '92 at Monaco. Always produce very pretty cars and have always seemed to have had a driver i've liked driving for them at one point or another.

Stewart GP : Always loved Jackie Stewart and followed his son's F3 team, so loved seeing them in F1. High points - Barrichello's 2nd at Monaco, Herbert's win at Nurburgring.

Least favourites:

Fernando Alonso : I could have chosen any one of 3 or 4 drivers but have chosen Alonso as he's driven for my favourite team, McLaren and currently drives for my least favourite, Ferrari.
Unquestionably fast, but seems too focused on ensuring that circumstances are in his favour. Prone to tantrums, accepts no responsibility for his actions, always quick to blame others.

Nigel Mansell : whinge whinge whine moan moan complain. Then go back and whinge some more. Dull, boring, a voice that could put you to sleep. The Nick Faldo of F1.

Ferrari : The constant complaining when things don't go their way. Threatening the FIA to leave F1 and go to Indycar in the '80s, when everyone knew they were bluffing. The fact they get paid more than anyone else, even if they don't win the title. The Schumacher/Todt era. The way they looked down on the independents, whom they called 'garagistes', who then went and beat them. Luca Di Montezemelo, for christ's sake get a hair cut mate.

Jaguar : Eddie Irvine, couldn't stand him. Bobby Rahal, thought he could bring stone-age American Indycar engineering into F1. Just an absolute joke all round.

 

[RasputinLives]

Favourites

- Pedro Diniz - The pay-driver who would be king! Is there another pay driver who proved himself so much that he was hunted by other teams for his skills? no - Only Pedro. Also responsible for my fave F1 headline ever "Diniz in the oven"

- Kamui Kobayashi - Rise of the underdog again. It wasn't even 2 years ago that people were joking that Timo Glock was suffering from Kobayashi fever and that why Kamui got to drive the Toyota in Japanese practice. The suggestion that he was a nothing driver and only involved in the Toyota team because they were Japanese was completely blown away when he was given his shot in Brazil and grabbed it with both hands. I like him not because he's brave, daring and exciting but because he completely understands race strategy and when to pick his fights and not pick his fights.

- Gerhard Berger - Vastly under-rated and in any other era would be a multi world champ I'm sure of it. Has to be remembered at the time he was racing most cars were not set up for drivers as tall as him. Especially struggled in the 1990 Mclaren that was far too small for him - still produced some awesome drives that year though.

Dislikes

- Ron Dennis - a self-serving, smug, self important cheat in my opinion. Can't stand the way he uses 13 words when 2 would do, used to show blatent favouritism to his drivers which is bad management skills. He's also incredibley dull. I remember they went over to get his view from the pitwall during the Hungarian Grand Prix once and I nearly fell asleep whilst his dull monotone told us absolutely nothing we couldn't have figured out for ourselves using words that were completely pompus despite the fact that we were watching DC crash his Williams on screen.

- Sakon Yamamoto - Go away Sakon! you came and had a go and you were off the pace - stop wasting your money!

- Paul Di Resta - Really been trying to keep an open mind on this one but I couldn't stand the pre-hype we had on him all last season. I don't think DTM is the 'top class' series his PR company have been telling us and I don't think he's this future world champion that he's being hyped up to do. I think he's a decent enough driver who may or may not have made it into F1 under normal circumstances but has been proppelled in due to being Dario Franchetti's cousin and having his PR company behind him. His drives haven't been amazingly impressive this season yet he is still being hyped up for the Merc drive. Paul just proves to me that F1 is still about who sponsors you rather than who has talent. Justin Wilson would beat him hands down but where is he huh?

 

[mjo]

Sakon's like the flu, isn't he? He keeps coming back, and coming back, and coming back...

 

[siffert_fan]

Favourites:

Kobi--always fun to watch, no matter where he is running.
Mike Hailwood--the bravest man to ever grace Formula 1. BEst motorcyclist I ever saw as well.

Williams--I keep hoping for them to return to their winning ways. Unfortunately, I think they are on a Titanic trajectory towards oblivion.
Rob Walker Racing Equipe--the ultimate privateer who managed to beat works teams, and employed some of my favourite drivers-Moss, Brabham, Rindt, Siffert, Hailwood and Alan Jones

Least favourites:

Alonso--too much dirt has surrounded him for him to be truly innocent
Senna--quick, but originated all of the dirty moves which Schumacher is reviled for, yet escapes the same treatment himself (actually, it is the hypocracy of his supporters I loathe, not Senna himself).

Ferrari--have blocked too many ideas supported by EVERY other team, and which IMHO whould have been good for the sport

Ensign--a true waste of space on any grid

 

[Slyboogy]

Favourites:
Kimi Raikkonen - The guy just drove flat out and couldn't care about off track topics, and gave us one of the best grid walk moments ever.
Felipe Massa - Don't really support anyone on the current grid but I have a few that I like, Massa comes out on top, reall impressed me in 2008 from his comeback after 0 points on the board after two races, he kept calm when the fuel hose happened and the engine blowing up in Hungary, in Brazil, drove the perfect race, didn't put a foot wrong, lost in a sad fashion, took it like a man.

Toro Rosso - Used to support Ferrari but after 2008 just went off them, but this team the ex-Minardi is just one of those you have to support and cheer whenever they get a point, they are even currently beating Williams!

BMW Sauber - A great team shame that they left, their rise to the top in the space of 3 years is rarely ever talked about, but it was really impressive, they achieved/exceeded their goals every season bar 2009, I was not happy with what they did halfway through 2008, but I saw the logic, hindsight now shows that they should have went on. Disappointing season in 2009....then quit

Least Favourites:
Mark Webber - Just for his 2010 season bad mouthing the team, and the wing-gate, for a wing which he didn't even want as he liked the old one, created a big fuss over nothing. Then has the cheek to come out in Brazil saying the team are not backing and should back him fully, he should be thankful that his car hasn't been breaking down when it's leading unlike his team-mates.

I can't find a least favourite from the past, most of the least favourites are current ones...

Nigel Mansell - whinge whinge whine moan moan complain. Then go back and whinge some more. Dull, boring, a voice that could put you to sleep. Overhyped...

McLaren/Williams - I can't quite place my finger on why I dislike them, think it's the major hypocrisy displayed by both, yet they are loved, while the others are hated.

Toyota - Don't know why I am putting them here is not a past team that I disliked, so I kind of randomly plucked this team up as they seemed dull, could have won races in 2009 if they had front running drivers, failed to deliver, first time when I saw this team in the build up when they first joined, they looked promising, their livery was nice, but...heh....meh

 

[Jen]

This a very interesting thread

Favourite drivers:

Current: Alonso, not a complete success judging by comments above - but I like him because he drives the nuts of any car he is given, irrespective of it's capabilities, and has faith in his own abilities.

Past: James Hunt - a man who got into a car one day and discovered he was actually rather good. He didn't take it too seriously, still got results and enjoyed himself in the process.

Favourite teams:

Current: Hard call on this, there are negatives to all current grid members - but have gone with McLaren, if only because under MW's stewardship they are not as anally retentive as they were when Ron was in charge.

Past: Hesketh Racing, for much the same reasons as my JH nomination, despite the fact that Alex Hesketh's addiction to motorsport helped to fritter away the family fortune.

Least favourite:

Drivers:

Current: Schumacher - I have often wondered how many WDCs he would have actually won without assistance from various quarters.

Past: Jacques Villeneuve, don't know why, just didn't really rate him.

Teams:

Current: HRT - should I explain?

Past: Ferrari in the Schumacher days and McLaren when RD was about

 

[teabagyokel]

Did I mention Flavio Briatore for least favourite?

 

[Jen]

Did I mention Flavio Briatore for least favourite?

Yes, indeedy.

 

[teabagyokel]

Did I mention Flavio Briatore for least favourite?

Yes, indeedy.

Great, only 25 more mentions and a couple of posts in nonsense, lunacy and general stutterings to go!