#lcmbe

Two of the stories that were gathered together in the book of support for Jules, was typical of him from what I can tell. Story #1: There was a signing session in Spain (it was not clear if this was 2013 or 2014), where all the drivers were in the pitlane and ropes were being used to make sure fans didn't get mixed into the wrong queues or queue-jump (signing sessions in series that are less disciplined about queue management can get chaotic). The general idea is that the drivers are supposed to stay on one side of the rope, and only sign things for fans that go to them (to avoid getting mobbed - people worried about this, even in the early 2010s when fan engagement was relatively low compared to the 2000s and 2020s). Jules apparently did not get the memo. At some point, he ducked under one of the ropes and started signing things right there in the fan area. The fan who witnessed it and shared the story had never seen another driver (in any series) do this before, and appreciated it. Story #2: Singapore 2014. A fan with a paddock pass who had received multiple signatures from Jules on previous visits (presumably this was a paddock regular as well as a fan), spotted Jules surrounded by a crowd of fans wanting things signed.

Why was this video allowed to happen this way?

Did anyone involved in making this video (apart from Zhou Guanyu) think before they contributed to putting this on the internet?!?

From what I've pieced together, this all started as an attempt to do a pronunciation guide for Guanyu's name. Perfectly reasonable, given that although he's been in F1 for several years, a lot of Ferrari's audience would have had little prior reason to listen for his name. (I don't know whether he's received accurate pronunciation/name selection from the commentators because I haven't checked, but mishearing names that use a different phonetic ruleset than one's own is fairly common, and Chinese phonetics are different from the various European ones).

This appeared to be a scripted piece feigning spontaneity, judging by how it was shot. (Had this been spontaneous, the camera would have been zoomed out a bit more, cut differently and also moving more reliably between the speakers - even Ferrari's less scripted pieces are like that). Clearly, this was planned in advance.

Although, apparently not planned far enough ahead to consider the emoji caption. It used the emoji that looks like a laugh on some phones, but on my computer looks like the cringe icon. From other people's comments, I understand the intended emoji was the laughter one, but I think my computer summarised it more accurately!

The script is awful.

Firstly, the Ferrari scripted slice-of-life approach is suited to casual, light moments. It does not take a PR expert to know that a name is neither casual nor light. Brands spend whole meetings arguing about names for their products, and products are less important than people.

Secondly, the setup is completely implausible. If someone has issues with the way their name is being handled in a professional business, it's discussed behind closed doors, quickly and discreetly. The public typically gets just the definitive correct version (if the public needs that employee's name in the first place).

The conversation itself would not be broadcast unless live TV happened to be there or something. (As far as I can tell, there was no live TV about, so nothing needed to be headed off at the pass).

The solution was simple. Ferrari establish how to call Guanyu, then tell people to do that. Nothing more complicated was necessary, although if Guanyu wanted it, more elaborate explanation could be done. It would be hard to contemplate a simpler social media video to produce, especially since Guanyu’s done pronunciation videos before.

Instead, there appears to have been some sort of attempt to turn the clip into a comedy skit. And, well, skitting someone's name is inherently unprofessional.

[0:00] <9:48>

5 lights go out Grid: Norris-Leclerc-Hamilton-Russell-Verstappen-Antonelli-Piastri.

[0:04] <9:52>

Norris nearly out of picture on left, Leclerc slightly ahead of Hamilton, Russell nearly caught up the others.

[0:14] <10:02>

Norris on left, just started braking for Turn 1 (a 90-degree right turn - the photo faces the drivers), Russell a car length behind. Hamilton 2nd column, half a car length behind Norris. Bearman is half a car length behind Hamilton. Leclerc 3rd column, slightly ahead of Hamilton, Antonelli tucked in behind left rear wheel. Verstappen right-hand side, just touching the kerb, at Leclerc's front wheel axle and slightly behind Hamilton, Antonelli tucked in behind right rear wheel Leclerc and Verstappen are inclined towards each other. Hamilton is on the same line as Leclerc, Norris is going straight ahead.

[0:15] <10:03>

By this point, the inside 1/3 of the track is empty. Norris on left, about to start turning, having pushed the other cars to his left into each other. Russell 1 1/2 car lengths behind. Hamilton in 2nd column, Front wing nearly touching Leclerc's front wheel. Pointing straight ahead, starting to brake, with no option to do otherwise. Leclerc 3rd column, slightly ahead of Hamilton. Pointing slightly left, starting to brake, with no option to do otherwise, causing tyre interlock. Antonelli a car length behind. Verstappen 4th column, slightly ahead of Leclerc. Only inside tyres remain on the track. Braking is the only way to gain more track.

[0:16] <10:04>

Norris on left at the Turn 1 apex, nearly a car length ahead of Hamilton (becoming more than a car length during this second), turning under mild braking.

Hamilton tucked behind right rear wheel. Russell 2 car lengths behind. Hamilton 2nd column, tucked behind Norris right rear wheel. Turned towards Norris to try to escape interlock with Leclerc (Hamilton is behind in this interlock). Brakes heavier than Leclerc during the course of this second, but turns tighter. No options to do otherwise, except follow Leclerc's lead. Leclerc 3rd column, interlocked with Hamilton (Leclerc is ahead in this interlock). Turning straight ahead. Brakes less than Hamilton but turns less. The only other option involves committing to leaving the track. Antonelli is a car length behind. Verstappen, 4th column, committed to leaving the track.

[0:17] <10:05>

Norris on the left at the Turn 1 exit, 1 1/2 car lengths ahead of Hamilton. Taking the natural line. Russell is 1 1/2 car lengths behind Hamilton. Leclerc 2nd column, 1/2 car length behind Hamilton but with more speed than Hamilton. Antonelli is 1/2 a car length behind. (There are only 2 lines through Turn 1). Verstappen is two car lengths beyond the track boundary, aiming to rejoin at Turn 3.

[0:18] <10:06>

Yes, I can confirm Jules was frustrated by his situation. Specifically, he felt that he was a strong candidate for a Ferrari seat in 2015, in that he and his family considered Jules to be outperforming Kimi Raikkonen - and also be much cheaper for Ferrari to hire. He felt, and again his family agreed, that Ferrari was being over-cautious in its driver selections.

However, Jules was carrying out a policy of being careful with the press to not show any of that frustration, as well as making sure Marussia (his backmarker team) was aware at every turn of how thankful he was that they'd made space for him (long story in the book summarised: Jules was turned down for a 2013 Force India race seat that he'd arguably earned and been led to believe would be his, ridiculously late in the winter (that part is *not* arguable), and only ended up on the grid that year because one of Marussia's drivers didn't pay their sponsorship fee). The result was that most of the press were complimenting him on his calm and patience, rather than hyping the possible connection.

The reasons there are few videos of Fisichella doing great stuff (and some do exist, though copyright forbids me from linking to them) are the facts that he does his races quietly and has a tidy driving style. None of JPM's wheel-locking or massive slides are in evidence unless Fisi's having a really bad day, and it's always more difficult for a camera person to convey excitement when there is no feeling that the driver is out of control. While keeping just the right side of that boundary in a dramatic way is commendable and fan-attracting, the smoother, quieter method usually generates more race speed from the car.

It's no accident that the only top-level drivers using the just-in-control driving styles are Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villenueve and Fernando Alonso. Montoya got it to semi-work in a rather understeery McLaren and messy Williams, Villenueve's not managed to co-operate properly with a car since he went to BAR and Fernando Alonso has created a new variant of just-in-control driving that nobody else has yet managed to emulate.

Picking a single definitive race is tricky because Fisi has had so many really good races. Taking just those races starting from when I paid particular attention to Giancarlo's races, anything from the the start of 2001 through to about two-thirds of the way through 2003 (apart from Malaysia 2003), USA 2003, anything in 2004 after about race three except Monaco, Australia 2005, Canada 2005, the last third of 2005, Malaysia 2006, the American leg of 2006 and the last third of 2006 will show elements of why Giancarlo is in the top 5 drivers and has been for a long time. Simply because he doesn't have ten fifteen-second-long race incidents that summarise the true scope of his ability the way Juan Pablo or any other "just-in-control" driver will have doesn't mean there is nothing to summarise. Though if I had to pick the one that best shows why Fisi is better than JPM, it would be Brazil 2003. Notwithstanding the rain factor, there was also the part where the notoriously unreliable Ford in the back of Fisichella's car had been sounding slightly off since about lap 49. However Giancarlo got the car past the red flag before the engine finally blew up. Not only would Juan Pablo not won the 2003 race, he would have induced a technical retirement. However, the cameras missed most of Giancarlo's race as they were too busy keeping up with spinners at Turn 3 and Raikkonen passing everyone except Fisi.

This also helps to explain the video situation, as having a few widely-recognised key situations forming the videos is the quickest way of building up search ranking. That helps explain why JPM's best-known incidents are always going to be very high on the video search list.

As for the the part about it being only legend that the driver must make the team work, it's a fact. Everyone in a group has to support everyone else in the group to succeed, and teams are no different. Simply because teams are usually predisposed to helping their drivers and Ron Dennis clearly hadn't recruited Juan Pablo to be an "after you, Claude" No. 2, doesn't mean that Juan Pablo didn't need to do any work to maintain that. From the F1 Racing September 2006 article, Juan never took any time to gel with the McLaren team setup, which apparently was causing trouble long before the tennis incident. Juan should have known fitting in would take work and if he wasn't prepared to do it, he should have found another berth for 2005 (there would have been plenty open to him at that point on the open market!)

That is why I hold Juan largely responsible for his having to leave McLaren in the first place. In fact this is the second time it's happened, with Juan Pablo unable to co-operate with Williams enough to extend his original contract there either. The fact that he chose the timing of his leavetaking is great, but surely it's better to do what Fisi did and put some effort into nurturing the team that's giving you the car? That's why the Renault people have bent over backwards to protect Fisi where necessary when McLaren would do no more than it usually did to protect Montoya when he erred.

Team building may not be a major factor in driver ranking, but when the raw speed statistics do not help separate Juan Pablo and Giancarlo very much, and the differences in results almost entirely attributable to cars rather than drivers, then things like the ability to become a No. 1 in a team suddenly play a major role in the decision.

It's worth saying that in the olden days when cars ran close to each other, these skills were still necessary - it was simply that they were taken more for granted because the whole motorsport community was closer-knit back then - in fact the drivers had to do more back then to get into their teams' good books. Do you think it was an accident that a lot of the drivers back then had some background as a mechanic before reaching F1?

Damon Hill was the first driver I supported - because his last name was short. Despite that unpromising selection criterion, he made me a very happy fan because of his intellectual approach and determination. The 18 months covering his time at Arrows (a near-backmarker team) and the half-season at Jordan where he scored absolutely nothing were when I learned the basics of how to handle being a fan during bad performances. Spain 1998 was when I started supporting my team. Damon Hill had retired from the race ten laps earlier when I suddenly heard myself saying, "Come on Ralf!" Followed by wondering, "Who's Ralf, apart from Damon's team-mate and Michael Schumacher's brother?" That was when I realised I'd been attracted by Eddie Jordan's bright and feisty attitude, combined with its non-nonsense racing crew. I've now supported Jordan through five name changes. Giancarlo "Fisico" Fisichella was someone I started supporting because I saw an interview after Spain 2001 that made me think he had a really interesting way of seeing the world. I think I was right :) I'm still supporting him in his Italian GT adventures and am happy he can now depend on Arthur Leclerc's help.

The following year, Dad and I went to Silverstone to watch F1 qualifying. The fan belt broke on the car but we still got there in time to watch the end of the last practise session, as well as qualifying itself. Dad participated in the infamous prediction quiz that he lost to Alex Albon (I think Dad got 1 position out of the 5 correct), and I discovered that wearing a yellow hat meant getting followed by half of Silverstone's flying insect population. None of this put us off returning for the whole weekend in 2009. In 2003, I discovered F1 forums. My first forum was Home of F1 and my second post (trying to explain why BAR's desire to present itself as perfect would annoy recently-dismissed driver Jacques Villeneuve) caused a minor flame war until I clarified that I did not think BAR was perfect. I've seen jokes about the reading standard on Tumblr; rest assured the generation of internet users before this one was just as bad. I also found a Jordan-specific forum that was much more chilled. There was one particularly gatekeepery user who looked down upon Jordan fans, but I managed to convince even that one (never learned the user's gender) to not deploy it against me or in my sight, because I always had a good logical takedown of the hole in the arguments employed for those attacks. Part of the reason I could do this was F1 Magazine, which helpfully provided practise in the form of its Tom Rubython columns. Every month, he would write a "take" on F1 and it was one's mission, as the reader, to find and pull the thread which made the entire argument unravel. (Not that Tom was ever aware that this was arguably the best use of his column).

I started supporting Tiago Monteiro when he joined F1 in 2005, because I liked his backstory; absolutely no interest in F1 until the second year of university, whereupon a friend invited him to a track day. He then substituted for an injured friend in an entry-level series. He ended up enjoying it so much that after he graduated with a degree in hotel management, he decided to take up racing and see if he could make a career of it. Which he did. Including a point at Spa of all places and being the only person who was happy at Indianapolis 2005. Now he's a regular podium-finisher in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. I started blogging in F1 (La Canta Magnifico Blog) shortly after Spa 2005, because the forum I was on split. I'd got friends on both fora and continued writing on both. The "new" forum wanted to get more people reading it. Initially there were four people writing, but I took the opportunity to start writing posts on other blogs and websites which interested me. The only ones which still exist are RaceFans.net (back when it was still one particularly devoted fan's blog) and a small forum called GP Wizard. Within six weeks, the other three had stopped writing their posts and focused their efforts on commenting on mine. Both fora sank in 2008. Although I have a number of posts from that time, it's not a full archive, rather a selection of highlights.

I spent a season as admin of the Jordan forum, the one that was Fisichella's last year in F1. This was also the year I managed to get onto the official Fisichella Forum (this was in the last years of drivers having fora they officially sanctioned). This gave me the confidence to help rescue the official Fisichella Forum when its management deleted it at the start of 2010 (apparently forgetting there were about 100 people still using it at that point and that they might appreciate at least a few days' warning to archive their writings!). I was a co-admin from 2010 until it ended in 2018, having spent the last three years as the sole admin with an audience of three people plus an ever-rising tide of spambots. I still have a penpal from that forum.