Is Netflix the reason for "fans" behavior?

[littlebigcat]

This is just a gatekeepy jibe at DTS.

[PlatinumZealot]

I started to follow F1 from the Canadian GP in 2011.
I really enjoyed it from the getgo, the sporting and technical competition on and off track.
Sure, there have been opinions and there were some heated discussions, but by far not to that radical extent which we have to witness in the last couple of years.

I thought about what could be the reason for that and I have the impression it started when F1 got a lot of attention and also became quite popular by the Netflix series.

What do you think might be the root cause?
I'm really interested in forum members' opinions that are F1 followers for already quite a bit of time.

It's not Netflix, no. IMO Netflix only accentuated it.

There was an uprising beginning with the rise of Max-verstappan and movement called the Orange Army. The bad behaviour from DTS fans actually brought a "counter" offense to the bad behaviour of some individuals in the Orange army IMO. I will explain at the end, but go through a bit of history as I recall it.

Max was very polarizing when he entered the sport. He was seen in two lights: an unbalanced child raised only to win in F1 - a Michael Jackson sort of figure basically - or, the next coming of Senna. When Max was started F1 at seventeen years old in 2015, flashes of brilliance was there but he was not really taken seriously. It wasn't until 2016 when he won his first race for RedBull in Barcelona that the world realized that this kid was the real deal. He was the "hero" for the Dutch now but the orange army didn't really start gathering momentum yet. It was after the failure of another "hero" that really triggered the explosion of the Orange army and its misbehaving offshoots.

Lewis Hamilton was always the next big thing after he routed 2XWDC Fernando Alonso. Won't go into that history, but Sebastian Vettel aka "Baby Schumi" was the man to quell this "hip-hop" threat to the sport. Things were going swell. Vettel got off to a rocky start in 2009 but was a dominant force from then up to 2014 before he was unexpectedly defeated by an upstart Aussie. The cracks showed but it was seen as only a blip in form and still Vettel was the "one" to take it to Lewis in 2017 and 2018. His efforts failed obviously. But while all that was happening young Max was blossoming.

As one star falls the other rises they say, and now the title of the "one" shifted to young Max in 2019. Everything aligned; the Dutch had their great contender, and the sport had "the one" to bring down Lewis Hamilton.

I think this huge anticipation by the Dutch of their contender taking over the sport brought more of the common person to the races. We saw that with entire stadiums full of orange shirts. The common folk like what we see in soccer obviously brings with it the hooliganism and fanfare. I am not saying Dutch people are hooligans, I am saying when you have massive gatherings of "common" sports fans bad behaviour usually comes with it. It's not really new in Formula 1, we actually saw a bit of it in the F1 mecha like Silverstone and Monza, but the Orange army brought it bigger because they were at more races and they are only supporting one single driver not a team or bunch of drivers.

That rise in the Orange army and its fringes was when I noticed too, that this very forum started to be a hostile place. Again I do not hate the orange Army, I actually appreciate the growth of the fanbase. I'm just telling what I noticed with the influx of more "commoners" that support one driver.

Fortunately and unfortunately, Netflix has brought a counter to that in some respects. We have more fans spread about instead of two axes of fans. Every driver gets a bigger share of fans now, which I think is great. It's just the pantomime built up around the drivers is a bit of an issue. But I totally separate the pantomime from the sports hooligansim that we have seen. It's two different things. I actually believe the fan-base will beging to settle down and unify within a few years.

[chrisc90]

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I really wouldnt put it down to the 'Orange Army' for bringing all the hostility in F1. No way. It was there way before Max was. Hamlton/ Rosberg was a fine example

[PlatinumZealot]

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I really wouldnt put it down to the 'Orange Army' for bringing all the hostility in F1. No way. It was there way before Max was. Hamlton/ Rosberg was a fine example

Really? nah. Rosberg didn't really have much of a fanbase. He was alienated by Germans who supported MSC, and didn't really have any Finish backing either. He wasn't all that relatable or anything. He was always the "rich snob" character role throughout his career. I can't really remember any hostilities from the two or three Rosberg fans out there.

[lio007]

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I actually believe the fan-base will beging to settle down and unify within a few years.

That would be a nice outcome!

[wesley123]

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I really wouldnt put it down to the 'Orange Army' for bringing all the hostility in F1. No way. It was there way before Max was. Hamlton/ Rosberg was a fine example

Things have happened before in the sport, but nowhere near the level that we see now.

And as someone who is Dutch himself, I know that especially Dutch people are incredibly obnoxious. Most people tend to be successfans. They literally don't care the slightest about the sport but only watch because a countryman is doing well.

[littlebigcat]

Its no surprise that the new followers of F1 coming from DTS are clashing with the latent misogyny that was present in some of the older and newer traditional fans

[chrisc90]

I wonder if we see more because of social media and a greater online 'presence' than what there was years ago.

Its the same in the news, you hear of a lot more now than what you did say 5-10 years back. Stabbings, shootings, terror attacks etc.

[hollus]

Fan toxicity has been there since at least 2007, and before that I can only assume it was there, but the internet was not big enough to amplify it and make it visible outside its local pockets.
Any Spanish fan will tell you that British fans and press become toxic in 2007 and remained there.
And British fans no doubt noticed how the Spanish fans and press became toxic from 2007 and up to today. Unrelated events, of course

If twitter had been around, there would have been Villeneuve riots in 1982 and France would have gone to war against Brazil in 1989-90.

We just have the 24-7 headline hungry microscope-megafone these days, IMHO.

[MadMax]

The online toxicity of fans and booing at race venues was present way before Netflix was on the scene, just go back a few years and you had Hamilton fans threatening to kill Rosberg, and mud slinging back and forth like it was 2022.

And going way back, I can still remember Irvine talking about how a fan offered to snipe Hakkinen's tyres so he could win the championship.

F1 fans are insane

Or Spanish fans making monkey noises when Hamilton won...

[AeroDynamic]

Fan toxicity has been there since at least 2007, and before that I can only assume it was there, but the internet was not big enough to amplify it and make it visible outside its local pockets.
Any Spanish fan will tell you that British fans and press become toxic in 2007 and remained there.
And British fans no doubt noticed how the Spanish fans and press became toxic from 2007 and up to today. Unrelated events, of course

If twitter had been around, there would have been Villeneuve riots in 1982 and France would have gone to war against Brazil in 1989-90.

We just have the 24-7 headline hungry microscope-megafone these days, IMHO.

exactly. But your point also applies the other way as well: fanbases have been provided with a megaphone in the form of the internet as a platform to speak out and project their every reaction; anger, joy, and opinions in general. In the past these things were limited to small circles of people at most.

Now everyone is contending with others reactions and opinions that are projected out there from these platforms, the media just simply stoke the fire because their platforms get more reactions which is their lifeblood.

the toxicity isn't new but the tempo and the pitch of it has changed for the worse these days for the reasons above.

there's always going to be another max and his fans, another Alonso, another dominant winner that breeds resentment sooner or later, and there will always be fans who have clashing views.

however, some drivers and parties are particularly responsible for baiting this issue, and Max and Red Bull have been particularly fanning the flames over the past years.

[MadMax]

That rise in the Orange army and its fringes was when I noticed too, that this very forum started to be a hostile place. Again I do not hate the orange Army, I actually appreciate the growth of the fanbase. I'm just telling what I noticed with the influx of more "commoners" that support one driver.

The defence of sexual abuse in the grandstands was, I think, a telling moment. Victim shaming, excuses made, attempts at reducing the issue to one person.

The occasional boo, the occasional monkey noise, the occasional nasty tweet. These are thing that the hugely well paid professionals take in their stride.

The behaviour in the stands in Austria was a new, and disgraceful, low.

[Stu]

Whilst it it is true regarding the behaviour of a particular group in Austria, it is neither new, nor any lower than any form of hooliganism that has been present on the fringes of some sports for many years.

At some level there is an encouragement into tribalism (either from teams or the media - or both), which I find disturbing.

[Wouter]

however, some drivers and parties are particularly responsible for baiting this issue, and Max and Red Bull have been particularly fanning the flames over the past years.

Sure!

[the EDGE]

I started to follow F1 from the Canadian GP in 2011.

Epic race… goes to show FOMs belief that fans prefer short races, is nonsense