Soccer and formula 1

What is your:
1) Soccer club
2) Formula 1 driver or team

?


ok, mine is:
1) Benfica !!!:lol: we lose 2-1 with milan, but we are the best !!:D
2) Ferrari !!! any pilot that drives for Ferrari is my favorite. But i used to like Nelson Piquet, Alan Prost, Nigel Mansell, Lauda, keke rosberg. I hate Alonso and senna.
Sorry i know many of you liked Senna, he was a fantastic driver, and i agree he probably was the best in the world, but, he had a temper.... i talked with him in Portugal in 1990, and i know what i am talking about....

1. Many, but I concentrate on Juventus Turin.
2. None, I don't like motorsports, but Alonso seems more and more like a butthole to me.

I am an NFL fan since 1995, and my favorite team are the Green Bay Packers.

1, I don't like Football, but I do watch England games to support my country.
2, Ferrari.

Like you, I support Ferrari regardless of the driver, although I was a big Schumacher fan throughout his time with them. At the moment I don't really like Massa that much, he doesn't show anything unique in the car. But it would be great for Kimi to win the championship this year, but it is a long show. I think he deserves it after all of the years he has been driving. He always seems to be very under rated.

Many years ago I used to support Williams when Damon Hill raced for them, and that was the point in Formula One I enjoyed the most; his battles with Michael Schumacher being exciting to watch. 1996 was definitely one of the best years for me. I still remember sitting up early in the morning watching the final race of the session in Japan and Hill crossing the line to win the championship. Great moment.

I also used to love watching it in the 80's. There was much more drama and close battles. The danger these days is that the rules have made the cars all to generic and the same, with the pit stops being the main way for teams to win or lose a race. Not like the old days where driver skill was the main factor.

Maybe next year when they ban traction control finally we will see some excitement brought back to the sport.

I also have to say that I don't like Alonso and I never have. For me he has always seemed like a volatile child, only able to handle things when he gets his own way, and getting very annoyed when it doesn't. His actions this season have definitely impacted badly on his reputation and have turned fans and people within F1 against him. If McLaren don't keep him next year I can see many teams not wanted the hassles he brings, regardless of his talent.

McLaren, since the days when Hakkinen drove for them. I also like Raikkonen even though he moved to Ferrari, because of his attitude where he doesn't really care for the press or publicity aspects and just wants to go racing.

1. Soccer: What's soccer??? Is it any good?

2. F1: Whichever team takes my fancy at the time, dependant on: drivers; colour scheme; underdog status; sexiest hangers-on (hey, I am shallow). At the moment, it is Team Hamilton that I support, because I love it when a rookie totally turns the sport on its head.

In regard to Hamilton, I feel sorry for Button this year. Personally I think he is as good a driver as Hamilton if given a good car, but Honda just got it completely wrong this year (maybe the badly calibrated wind tunnel was to blame, who knows). Hamilton has just fallen on his feet, groomed by McLaren since the age of 12 and given a car that now turns out to of had an advantage due to the team knowing the secrets of their main rival!

Don't get me wrong, Hamilton is a very good driver, and a nice guy, plus he is English ;), but he isn't quite AS good as people have been spouting all year. Stick him in a Honda and I bet he would be performing on a par with Button and Barrichello.

I've never liked McLaren. They have always come across as a cold clinical team without any racing spirit. The only good thing about McLaren is the engines they use! In comparison Ferrari race with passion and enjoyment, and show what racing truly means. Lose Ferrari to motorsport and you lose the sport.

One wish I know many F1 fans have, but will likely never happen due to contracts, sponsors etc, is for all current F1 drivers to be placed in an identical car just so we can truly see how they compare. Trying to compare them directly with each driving completely different makes of car is of no use. It's like trying to directly compare the speed of Intel and PPC CPUs based on MHz alone.

1. Footy club: AFC Ajax, but they suck now, and have been sucking since they won the Champions League in 1995. They're way too commercial-minded now, more concerned about keeping profits high/shareholders happy rather than maintaining a good, stable team. I suppose it's partly the fault of player mentality nowadays, as well. Club loyalty doesn't really exist anymore among players ... everyone has their eyes set on playing for a big-name foreign team - the sooner, the better. Having to rebuild the team each year after another mass exodus just isn't good enough.

2. F1: I'm not an avid F1 fan, but I suppose Ferrari appeals to me the most.

It does bring back memories of when Manell went over to Indycar and people started saying that he would be outshone by the establishd drivers and then went on to win the championship in what was supposed to be one of the quickest times going (with regard to the start of the season up to the point where he was uncatchable.)

That is one of the problems I had with Williams was that when they had a Britsh F1 champion, for some reason, they never kept hold of them.

Ah well, maybe it will turn out that Alonso was in fact a spy for Ferrari all along, and was just feeding McClaren false data... :sly:

That would be a great twist, but I have the feeling that their is no love lost between Alonso and Ferrari!

And yes, Williams never treated their drivers very well. Giving them a drive until they won the championship and then dropping them. Doing that pretty much ended Damon Hills career as an F1 driver purely because there were no good seats available at any other teams the follow year.

It was a real shame that he didn't win that one race for Arrows. That just showed how good a driver he was!

I would like them to all be in the same cars too....it would make it much more interesting....then it would really depend on the skill of the driver, not the strength of the car.

Williams was very good in the 80s and early 90s....
i remember Nelson Piquet (williams) overtaking Senna (lotus) in Hungary in main straight outside... was fabulous!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harrison

In regard to Hamilton, I feel sorry for Button this year. Personally I think he is as good a driver as Hamilton if given a good car, but Honda just got it completely wrong this year (maybe the badly calibrated wind tunnel was to blame, who knows). Hamilton has just fallen on his feet, groomed by McLaren since the age of 12 and given a car that now turns out to of had an advantage due to the team knowing the secrets of their main rival!

Don't get me wrong, Hamilton is a very good driver, and a nice guy, plus he is English ;), but he isn't quite AS good as people have been spouting all year. Stick him in a Honda and I bet he would be performing on a par with Button and Barrichello.

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He was quite spectacular in the GP2 races last season (where all cars are the same) and I think he is better than Button, but he has been overhyped. He's a top driver, but not the top driver. Button is performing on roughly the same level as Barrichello who was a clear No.2 at Ferrari to Schumacher. Schumacher could be (and was) beaten by Alonso who Hamilton is competing on a similar level to.

Don't get me wrong, any F1 driver could get in a Ferrari or McLaren this season, and the worse they'd finish would be fourth such is the gap to the rest of the cars, but I think Hamilton would have the edge on Button should they both have the same car.

I rate two other drivers this year. Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri) and Adrian Sutil (Spyker) both deserve better teams as Davidson has been putting many bigger teams to shame in qualifying and Sutil has thrashed all his team-mates this season.

It's just a shame ITV has taken "Buttonmania" and amplified it because Hamilton has won races. Their over-coverage of Hamilton and the way they ignore other drivers is enough to put many F1 fans off the driver.

What about Tiago Monteiro from last year ???
He finnish 3th in Indianapolis..... ok only 6 cars running :whistle:

But with a better car he probably would do much better. The best he do in Jordan was a 8th place in Spa, not bad !! It was raining so the difference to others was not so big.

I agree about Anthony Davidson. He has been driving very well this year, and in a back marker. He showed his potential when he had a drive for a few races a couple of years back, and I'm glad he finally got a proper drive to show what he could do. Hopefully better teams will offer him a contract soon so he can go places.

There have also been some other drivers who have shown they can drive well this year. Heidfeld has been driving very well this year and has been consistently on the points, often just behind the top two teams, and currently in 5th place in the drivers championship. And Heikki Kovalainen is another driver who has suddenly shown a lot of progress and potential, out classing Fiscichella in most races.

One driver that has been disappointing this year is Alex Wurz. From the past he has shown great potential, but he hasn't shown it this year. But the worst for this has to be Coulthard, Trulli and Ralf Schumacher who all just sit in the middle of the field race after race and never shine.

I'd agree with Trulli, Ralf and Fisichella. Not so sure about DC though, the Red Bull is a definate midfield car, but DC and Webber do drive it quite well until it breaks down. Rosberg in the Williams is another driver who is definately talented and probably deserves a better drive (although Williams reckon they can match Renault and BMW next year... we'll see)

Personally I don't rate DC as a very good driver. He has only really driven well (and won) at Monaco, but that could be because he lives there so knows the roads like the back of his hand! ;) I just don't think he has shone in the same way as the very talented F1 drivers. Especially when you consider how many years he has been in the sport. And think back to the 90's. He was driving as Hill's team mate, and yet couldn't compete with him.

I also read a recent interview with DC and it put me right off the bloke. He came across as a very arrogant, egotistical, male chauvinist, and his view on women made Eddie Irvine look like a saint!

He's not WDC material, and he definitely wasted his years at McLaren but he's driving better than he has ever done now near the end of his career, in my opinion. Somehow being in a worse car has made him start to compete more.

He has always seemed to lose his fight during the middle of races. I remember when with McLaren he would always start the races quite well, but then just drive around the track for much of the rest of the race not really competing or fighting for positions.

1. Newcastle United
2. McLaren - But i do have a soft spot for Ferrari

I dont watch much F1 these days because it just isnt as good as it used to be back when Damon Hill and Schumacher were rivals. Moto GP is far more intense - Ducati all the way!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by toomanymikes

1. Newcastle United
2. McLaren - But i do have a soft spot for Ferrari

I dont watch much F1 these days because it just isnt as good as it used to be back when Damon Hill and Schumacher were rivals. Moto GP is far more intense - Ducati all the way!

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YE, in italy they say that
Ducati is the Ferrari on bikes !!!

1 - Chelsea FC.

2 - I just enjoy it for what it is, but the team I feel most strongly for is Ferrari I guess. I very much enjoyed watching Michael Schumacher destroying the whole field for all those seasons.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J T

1 - Chelsea FC.

2 - I just enjoy it for what it is, but the team I feel most strongly for is Ferrari I guess. I very much enjoyed watching Michael Schumacher destroying the whole field for all those seasons.

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Ferrari !!!!

Chelsea? You lost Mourinho.... (did you like him?) one day he will be the coatch of Portugal !! He really is arrogante, but he is good, he wins everything there was to win... only the world cup is missing for him ....

Still have the central defender Ricardo Carvalho? He is very good.

I liked Mourinho. He came and kicked ass, caused trouble but with a sense of fun and drama. Yes he was an arrogant so-and-so but he backed up his words with winning. Shame to see him go, really, but it was clear that things weren't working out. The Premiership is poorer without characters like him - even if sometimes he did take things a little too far.

What is the general opinion of him back in Portugal?

Carvalho is still here, just back from injury and about time too, the defence looks more solid with him and Terry.

I think that Chelsea is just so lame with all their potential, they struggle in every game to win. With a team like that (on paper), you should win every game by 2-3 goals. And Mourinho also is an arrogant pig, whatever he achieved. Portugal will never win a world cup anyway, whether with or without him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

I think that Chelsea is just so lame with all their potential, they struggle in every game to win. With a team like that (on paper), you should win every game by 2-3 goals. And Mourinho also is an arrogant pig, whatever he achieved. Portugal will never win a world cup anyway, whether with or without him.

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This is why i like him, he really did polarise opinion and is like a pantomime villain for some. And Chelsea did win 5 trophies under him, that's not to be scoffed at. True they are struggling a bit this year by the high standards they set themselves, but 'should be winning every game by 2 or 3 goals'? Come on.... you do watch football right? The 'strongest team on paper' doesn't always translate to results. Therein lays the beauty.

@JT - Here in PT the reaction of Mourinho leaving Chelsea was a bit surprise and people now talk about were he is going... Inter Milan ? Real Madrid?

@Demon - sorry demon, but Portugal has so many chances to win the world cup as England, Germany, Italy, or any other country has. We have so many good players as other teams, we just need descipline, thats all.
We have playes playing in the best clubs in the world, so it's just put them playing together, and for that we need a good coutch.

I'm not a Chelsea fan, but Jose was great fun and a breath of fresh air compared to the boring Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez etc.

You either loved or hated his arrogance and attitude but I don't think anyone can deny he was obviously passionate about the sport.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlexJ

I'm not a Chelsea fan, but Jose was great fun and a breath of fresh air compared to the boring Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez etc.

You either loved or hated his arrogance and attitude but I don't think anyone can deny he was obviously passionate about the sport.

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That's it !