Red Bull and Vettel’s Booing Problem!
I’ve been considering writing about this for a few weeks now and I’ve always put myself off, thinking that writing about it just brings more attention, and the over-attention is fuelling the fire.
But Although its clear that the booing is not particularly nice, surely it is just a part of modern sport. Go to a premier league football match (Or soccer if you prefer) and you will regularly see rivals being booed, sometimes even supporters booing their own team in cases of a string of disastrous results or animosity against the manager.
Fans will argue that they pay a premium to go to an event and are entitled to have an opinion, whether elation and celebration or boredom and disappointment.
So why is the booing happening?
The main explanation being splurted out by the worlds media is that its the relentless winning machine that is Sebastian Vettel, Winning more weekends than not, most often running around in the lead from the very start leading to a seemingly processional grand prix.
Personally I don’t buy this excuse. Michael Schumacher won 5 world titles on the trot in a Ferrari but was never booed on the podium (Austria 02 aside!)
Maybe its because the Ferrari fans are at every track, they have been since day one, they have a history and an unbelievable following. Red Bull are a johnny-come-lately operation that changed from the fun loving party hosting new boys to the clean and clinical operation they are today. They are a serious business, a serious racing team. Gone are the fun days and now it comes down to business, a business they have become very good at.
But I’m going to say something slightly controversial….They don’t have a lot of fans do they? If you look around a track you will not sea a see of blue. You may see the odd banner / flag supporting the team or drivers but nothing on the following that Ferrari / Mclaren have.
Red Bull are perceived in a lot of quarters to have bought success, in buying Newey, standing up against cost controls and going their own way. Having a junior team in which they have been able to gather lots of data, being on tyre performance, driver performance etc. A lot of the way they go about their business smacks of arrogance in the face of sport struggling financially to put 11 teams on the grid.
A second excuse points to Vettel’s ignorance of team orders in Malaysia, and of course its understandable that a few people might not like that, however its got nothing on parking on the racing line at Monaco to stop other people from having a chance at qualifying. Or shoving a driver off the track to gain the world championship when your car is already damaged beyond repair. So is it worth booing? Simply No. In fact if it were Webber we would have been patting him on the back saying ‘Get in mate’.
Why does Webber not get booed?
Ok so Mark is a Red Bull driver, he helped develop the team into what it is today starting before Vettel even had his chance in a Torro Rosso! But he has, since Vettel arrived at least always played the outsider, the guy on the other side of the Austrian / German alliance, the fly in the ointment of the Vettel regime! – and on some levels it is too true, remember the fallout in 2010 with Turkey and the front wing at Silverstone. (“Not bad for a no.2 driver!”) – lets be honest, the public love an underdog, and the public sympathise with him.
Formula One is a sport.A game. It needs hero’s and villains. For a long time Alonso has been the pantomime villain thanks to the controversial past events but things have changed. Almost metronomic success in a team that doesn’t have the following / support have led to a new villain of F1. Sebastian Vettel
