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The Roar

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Formula One drivers are robots, but don't shoot the messenger

Jules Bianchi was a shining example of how to endear yourself to fans. (Photo: AFP)
Expert
21st July, 2015
1

As we mourn the loss of Jules Bianchi, I’m reminded of some comments he made before entering Formula One about the need to perfect his English were he to stand a chance in the driver market.

When complimented on his above average English skills he modestly replied, “Yeah… but it’s not perfect.”

Apparently his hard work had paid off, because former Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo has admitted that, “[Bianchi] was the driver we had chosen for the future, once the collaboration with Kimi Raikkonen had finished.”

Whether you’re breaking in to the Formula One drivers’ market or struggling to keep your place in it, what you say and how you say it has never been more important.

There is speculation that Raikkonen is about to be booted from Ferrari, despite topping the recent Formula One fan survey as the most popular driver and posting some respectable performances this year.

Unfortunately for Kimi, his monosyllabic grumblings, especially when things go pear-shaped, are interpreted as a lack of motivation and focus. His critics believe the Iceman had thawed and they may well be right, but his unemotional behaviour hasn’t changed since he first turned a wheel in the sport.

Former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi recently bemoaned the lack of personality on display in the Formula One paddock. Far from a criticism of Raikkonen, he was pointing the finger at the media for scrutinising drivers too closely and discouraging them from openly speaking their minds.

Brilliant drivers have come and gone throughout the decades, but the characters are the ones we remember most fondly. Fittipaldi may consider modern drivers “robots”, but the ones that manage to endear themselves to the fans (as Bianchi had) at least have a fighting chance.

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Button is the very model of a modern Formula One driver. When he started with Williams in 2000 he was viciously quick, a formidable presence on the track and popular with the ladies. The press loved him, as did the fans. But as the sport attempted to clean up its public profile he has settled down as a loveable goof who is more likely to settle a dispute with a nipple tweak than a fistfight.

Despite outperforming his younger teammate last year, the decision to reward him with another season at McLaren was made at the eleventh hour. Against him: his age, waining motivation levels and the fact that Fernando Alonso knows perfectly well how to set up a car for a race weekend. Favouring him: media nous, an existing relationship with Honda and popularity (particularly in Japan).

Essentially a driver is a brand, a walking advertisement in an environment where every square inch of precious real estate must be monetised at all costs. Importantly that includes the space between a driver’s ears.

Fittipaldi is right that drivers shy away from controversy and negative publicity, but the media are not to blame. Drivers are more concerned with damaging their personal brands and selling less hats, losing lucrative endorsements and eau de cologne cross-promotions.

When Formula One’s biggest personal brand Lewis Hamilton was denied entry to the Royal Box at Wimbledon for not wearing a jacket and tie some were quick to compare his situation to the swashbuckling figure from yesteryear James Hunt, whose plain spoken demeanour often upset the establishment.

Hamilton was the victim of a clash between an aristocratic establishment and ‘brand Hamilton’ that worships designer fashions and millennial appeal above all else. The fact that Hamilton has a stylist, publicist and public relations manager but no drivers’ manager speaks to his priorities. Suggesting that someone as rough and tumble as James Hunt would approve of such things is difficult to swallow.

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