Italian Grand Prix

[zebo]

I can't recall other podium presentations and interviews which were so ruined by booing from the partisan local fans.
do the Italians seem to think that Ferrari have the God-given right to win and show their hatred of everyone else? Being a loyal fan is OK, but they need to accept that Ferrari is a spent force compared with Red Bull.
Wish Vettel and Webber had walked off the podium.

[boysinblue68]

If you watched it you will have noticed that the boos are targeted at Vettel only. He has been consistently booed at all GPs since his childish behavior in Malaysia.

[sir.prize]

Good comment boysinblue68. Nice to see you in the Sport forum.

[jomifl]

What happened in Malaysia? I missed it.

[boysinblue68]

The Red Bull cars were 1 and 2 after the last stop with Webber leading and the team orders/strategy was that there would be no more overtaking between the 2 of them. Vettel ignored these orders and overtook Webber, nearly taking both out of the race. Most people felt Vettel's move was childish.

[sir.prize]

Vettel was running second to team-mate Mark Webber with 10 laps remaining when Red Bull's team principal, Christian Horner, instructed both men to hold their positions. But Vettel ignored the command and went on to win for the 27th time.

[Frank97]

And then came up with a pathetic excuse for why he'd done it.

[Mattk]

Vettel is a fast driver of that there is no denial but as a racer he has still not proved himself despite being 3 times (soon to be 4) world champion back-to-back.

[jomifl]

Thanks for the replies re. Vettel, he's obviously learnt from the Ferrari book of racing strategy. So far I'm unconvinced about Vettel but at least he can now drive alng an empty straight without crashing :-)

[BRIGHT SPARK]

If you follow F1 you will notice that the Italian booing is targeted not just at Vettel but towards any driver who beats Alonso and threatens his championship position.It just happens to be Vettel who does the threatening most of the time.
Its going to be a Red Bull 4x4 this year :-)...If you think it was bad in Monza you should have heard them in Spain when Alonso won!

[boysinblue68]

Bright spark, I agree that anyone who beats a Ferrari is less than popular with the Tiifosi especially at monza, but this episode of booing is specifically directed at Vettel because of what he did in Malaysia. It has happened at every race since Malaysia when Vettel has been on the podium irrespective of where Alonso finished. It also happened when Vettel failed to finish at silverstone, though he was cheered that time!

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Vettle can take it..he's not afraid of the green eyed monster!

[boysinblue68]

I don't think it's anything to do with jealousy, more to do with his childish behavior. When he grows up, he might just turn into a decent driver.

[grumpy01]

Cannot for the life of me understand why people get excited by this most boring of sports.Surely if you have these so called "team orders" then motor racing is no better than athletics with its drug cheats influencing results and horse racing where some horse are laid to lose by those "in the know".

[boysinblue68]

Definitely don't agree with any form of drug related cheating, people who do this should be banned for life. However, it's difficult to compare F1 with athletics and horse racing. The latter are both individual sports whereas F1 is both an individual and team championship, so team orders are inevitable and it's better to have them out in the open rather than how it used to be when they were banned but still "existed".

[BRIGHT SPARK]

So boysy do you think Vettel would attract so much booing if he were standing next to Max Chiltern in the points?...Grumpy...try telling that to the 150000+ fans at many F1 meets.

[boysinblue68]

After what he did at Sepang, yes, which is what I've been saying. The booing is because of what he did in Malaysia, not because he beat a Ferrari.

[New Judge]

Yes, Brightspark is quite right. Vettel’s behaviour in Malaysia has absolutely nothing to do with Ferrari or their fans. I have been following F1 for more years than I care to remember. The Scudaria fans have always been a rum bunch and have absolutely no time for any other teams or drivers. I can recall in the late 1970s and early 80s. In those days between stunning seasons when they’d win the title they’d have a season or two when their cars were lucky to last half a race. Most amusing was the sight of (I think) Didier Peroni suffering a blown engine on the parade lap in Germany. But I also recall pictures of the fans of the red cars streaming out of the track when both their drivers were out of the race. They are not fans of motor racing - they are fans of Ferrari. They do not go to watch motor racing - they go to see Ferrari win.

It still persists today and their behaviour in Monza was nothing unusual. As for Monza - it’s a terrible track (not much better than four corners and four straights) and should be dropped from the calendar. But of course it won’t be, because it’s in Italy.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Mark Webber is a good driver but never a great driver...he loves to be the underdog and in my view will always be so.Vettel denied understanding the multi 21 order from the wall at Malasia and Webber came out as the poor soul in second place.If Webber is such a big team orders man then why did he try very hard to maintain the position.We all know that F1 is driven by big money and big sponsorship and I did'nt hear Infiniti complaining about all the added publicity...and behind the cameras gave Seb a big kiss.

[boysinblue68]

I agree that the tifosi are just fans of Ferrari and not really fans of F1. But it is not just the tifosi that are booing Vettel, it is fans at all tracks since Malaysia. Monza is by far, not the worst track in F1 currently, at least you can get some overtaking action there unlike places like the Hungaroring, but they won't get rid of that as its Bernie's track!

[boysinblue68]

Vettel knows he's the blue-eyed boy at Red Bull and can get away with almost anything. You only have to hear how different Horner is when he congratulates Vettel as opposed to Mark. And the admonishment Vettel got for the Malaysia incident from Horner was laughable.