F1 Extra: Does F1 have a problem with tribal fan culture?
Added 2025-01-31 15:30:17 +0000 UTCOn the latest episode of F1 Extra, Edd Straw is joined by Ben Anderson for a final session of answering questions submitted by audience members at our recent live shows in Birmingham and London.
As ever, the questions covered loads of subjects, but perhaps the meatiest in this episode relates to the topic of F1 fan culture, and whether newer fans have brought a tribal element to F1 fandom that's at odds with the way many longer-term fans follow racing.
Take a listen and let us know what you think in the comments.
If you'd like to listen to an edit of the London live show, it's available to purchase here (free for Champions tier members): https://www.patreon.com/posts/live-show-race-121105739
Comments
The toxicity at the track comes and goes and depends where you are. I used to go to Silverstone every year (11 times) but after 2021 that was it for me. It was bad enough when people spit at/on me when Vettel won (I have Ferrari gear on) but 2021 was the clincher. The whole stand (Stowe) was cheering when Hamilton knocked Max into the wall. They didn’t know if he was dead and they just kept cheering. Very sickening. Though I had many good years there without issue. Austria was horrible with the drunk Dutch fans. We saw most of the bad behavior and it was as bad as was reported (I think it was 2022). Worse even. Oddly at Zandvoort, at home, the Dutch fans were polite and very well behaved (it’s like a festival). I even got free sympathy beers when Sainz binned it a couple of years ago. Anecdotally I have heard non-Ferrari fans having a hard time at Monza from way way back. Canada was one big party at the track and at the hotel with zero tribalism that I could see. Bahrain is always calm. Anyway, lots of different experiences and it comes and goes. I travel to races with a combo of two Merc/Hammy fans, a McLaren fan, and a Red Bull fan. The s**t talking is non-stop but I think we all see that some people take it too seriously nowadays, more so than in the past
Fatboy
2025-02-02 13:29:32 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed the chat about the title question of this pod. I last went to a GP in 2023 and was struck by how much the audience there had changed since I first went in 1997. Back then it was fathers and sons and not a lot else whereas in 2023 there were families, gen-zers, girls and boys mums and dads, grandparents etc. in other words a real slice of life. Now while there is a part of me that misses being the only F1 fan in my class apart from the boy who wore glasses with an elastic strap for sports (not that there is anything wrong with that) I can’t deny that F1 is so much richer for broadening it’s fanbase since the late 90s and most of those fans really are quite nice people from what I can see. Twitter is the problem, not F1’s new fans.
Chris Parrott
2025-02-01 11:42:44 +0000 UTCA really interesting discussion. I liked how you allowed more time to dig into it, even getting as far as Charlie Brooker and David Baddiel. Most F1 fans I know who are new have maybe a very slightly more tribal edge than previously, but not a huge amount. I’ve known fans over the years be exceptionally tribal, well before social media and more. My sense is that it’s the social media part that just creates an outlet for the outrage. One thing that is worth thinking about is whether F1 via Drive to Survive might add a pinch of false rivalry to it. For the show, much of F1’s tension is over amplified, leading I think to Max’s comment about it being “fake” or something. This was specifically to do with the way it created non existent rivalries in his eyes, if I remember rightly. So perhaps F1 itself is pitching the sport as a gladiatorial fight, which then gets amplified via social media and so on. Just a smaller point that could also play into what the guys said here.
Steve D
2025-01-31 20:01:52 +0000 UTCI think the tribal behavior in sport is the result of people trying to make it binary. My player/team/driver vs yours, good vs bad, etc. Because why would the tribe stop at merely supporting the same team when they can also oppose everyone who isn't, and further "connect" with each other through the communal construction of an echo chamber. But despite all this, I still believe most people are actually pretty nice, it's just the loud dummies on social media who lack critical thinking skills that make you think people aren't. As both you Ed and Ben keenly pointed out.
Zach Buchowski
2025-01-31 18:20:35 +0000 UTCThis is every sport. Way too many people will pin their happiness on the results of a team, which doesn't even know he or she exists. As stated before social media is now just a medium that allows these people to go apesh*t on the internet or worse without the consequences.
Joseph P Herbias
2025-01-31 18:12:43 +0000 UTCSadly the answer is YES - Tribal Culture in sport has existed for a very long time but in this day and age Social Media has exaggerated this to levels unseen. It’s okay for it to exist but there’s a fine line that gets crossed into the realm of danger when there exists a minority of senseless nuisance-mongers who can’t appreciate the other side winning graciously (to put it mildly).
Xerxes Balsara
2025-01-31 16:25:09 +0000 UTCI love that this topic has come up. Some of the insanity you see online about the sport is ridiculous. Following drivers family members or trying to interfere with other fans personal lives because they support a different driver is quite something
Andy
2025-01-31 15:50:43 +0000 UTC
