F1 race drivers and their superstitions

[raceman]

Well, this topic deserves its own thread; so here it is

We are all aware of superstitions and many would indeed follow. F1 race drivers are also humans, so obviously they will be superstitious too. After all, it's their bread and butter!!!

So, let's get started with driver-wise superstitions - boy, let it be any kinda.....


BTW, ex-drivers will also get a place here!

Nico Hülkenberg - gets into the car always from the left side Nico's superstition

Michael Schumacher - wants to race with odd numbers Schumacher's superstition


phew, I currently got these two only..... I have a bad memory and am lazy at searching, but hey, this thread is for entertainment only.....!

so pls, contribute and have fun knowing these wicked superstitions.....

[marcush.]

wasn´t Coulthard not the guy only driving in his lucky undertrousers?
and quick nick wearing two wristwatches-but only in F3000 when at prost they did not bring any luck..
Wurz always wearing two diffrent coloured shoes in the racecar...

[ernos5]

Well i don't know any Formula 1 drivers rituals, i know Valentino Rossi has some.

Quoted from wikipedia:

"On a race day, he will always watch the beginning of the 125cc race (though this is actually to see how long the starting lights remain lit before going out at the start of the race). Prior to riding (whether racing, qualifying, or practice), he will start his personal ritual by stopping at about 2 metres from his bike, bend over and reach his boots (thus the 2004 TV spoiler "Are you ready boots?"). Then, when arriving at his bike, he will crouch down and hold the right-side foot-peg, with his head bowed. In an interview, Rossi said "It’s just a moment to focus and ‘talk’ to my bike, like moving from one place to the next." He adjusts the fit of his leathers by standing straight up on the foot-pegs, whilst riding the pit-lane before the start of race or practice. He also revealed in an interview with MotoGP.com that he always puts one boot on before the other, one glove on before the other, and he always gets on the bike the same way. He also gets off the bike in the same way, swinging his right leg over the front of the bike."

[xpensive]

Carlos Reutemann kept track of Cosworth block serial numbers, he would never race one which ever had a failure.

[Fil]

Webber apparently gets in & out from the left side of the car..

His superstitions should be to do everything the exact opposite of what he's done in his F1 career thusfar..

[Pandamasque]

Maybe MS just wanted to get a better numebr (i.e. #1 within the team).

[Richard]

As noted in the "silly season" thread .....

He prefers odd numbers?

There we were thinking that he forced his team to give him the lead driver status. In reality he simply liked the shape of an odd number. Its rather sweet.

If I was Nico, I ask for surname alphabetical order

I wonder if Lewis will have a sudden affinity for odd numbers and ask Jenson if he'll be a sweetie and do a swapsie with him? That'll work in Jenson's favour because Lewis has always been terrible in a car with number 1 on the nose.

[Ciro Pabón]

Great thread, thanks, raceman.

I have to start with the oldest guy I know, the one that used superstitions in reverse: Barney Oldfield.

Barney Oldfield, took this Ford 999 to achieve one mile in less than a minute for the first time in the history of mankind. When he retired in 1918, he had all the speed records in the world: just imagine someone trying to beat that feat in these days.


Why in reverse? Well, he liked the number 13 in his car. I read once that he raced, at 55, in an "old cars" derby, on a Friday the 13th, in a field of 13 cars, on a racecourse of 1,300 feet, crawling at 13 mph. I swear I'm not making this up! EDIT: here it is, isn't the Net wonderful? Besides, now I see that his real name (Berna Oldfield) has 13 letters. Compared with this, all superstitions seem... well, amateurish.

[Scotracer]

Speak of the devil....

Michael Schumacher has taken Nico Rosberg's #3 at Mercedes GP for the coming season.

Rosberg had been listed as #3 on the FIA's entry list before Schumacher came out of retirement, but he will now change to #4.

"Ross [Brawn] knows that I like odd numbers," Schumacher was reported as saying by German newspaper Bild.

A Mercedes GP team spokesperson told Reuters: "Michael has a preference for odd numbers. He asked if he could be the odd number and we were happy to accept."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80987

[Giblet]

Most religious drivers pray at the right front wheel of the car directly before the race, or kiss a crucifix they wear around their necks. A religious superstition, but one that is never missed.

[flynfrog]

When I raced MX you would get an armband after you signed in. I have never lost with a smiley face armband

I also have a stretching sequence I preform but one cant forget the most important
racing ritual

the after race party

[dumrick]

Most religious drivers pray at the right front wheel of the car

So, there's where the God of Racecar sits... Good thing his spiritual nature doesn't increase any additional mass there.

[Ciro Pabón]

Oh, c'mon, Dumrick, this is a Formula One technical forum, please; you have to be precise. Where is the logic in that?

Everybody knows where the god of European racing resides. I quote (for the umpteenth time, you guys!) Pausanias's Guide to Greece:

"The race-course [of Olympia] has one side longer than the other, and on the longer side, which is a bank, there stands, at the passage through the bank, Taraxippos, the terror of the horses. It is in the shape of a round altar and there the horses are seized by a strong and sudden fear for no apparent reason, and from the fear comes a disturbance... Therefore the drivers offer sacrifices and pray to Taraxippos to be propitious to them."

So, puh-leeze, next time you better pray at the main straight, not at the right wheel of your car.

You only pray to your right wheel when you drive in american series: if you turn left, the right wheel is the one that will blow first, but as I said, this is a Formula One technical forum, not a NASCAR one.

[raceman]

Schumacher and Coulthard

Schumacher is known for his superstitions. He liked to carry a toy hairbrush his daughter gave him in his overalls pocket and he also had an amulet from his wife he liked to carry. Other drivers have had their superstitions too; for much of his early F1 career David Couthard had a pair of lucky underpants he wore – until they wore out.