Should we really be offended by whistles and boos in F1?

Facts : Since the arrival of the new generation of spectators, the F1 seems to have rejuvenated somewhat. The discipline enjoying much greater exposure than in the past, thanks in particular to Drive to Survive on Netflix, fanism has appeared in the stands of the circuits, like football stadiums. At Silverstone ten days ago, Max Verstappen had been booed by English supporters. In Austria a week later, Lewis Hamilton suffered the same reception from the Dutch fans when he finished qualifying in the tire wall. Scenes still unprecedented in F1 which have caused a lot of noise in recent hours. Should we then be offended by the whistles and boos?

YES, by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez

I have been following the Formula 1 Grands Prix closely for some time, but I was not warned that the circuit of Red Bull Ring had been transformed into a giant football stadium!

Far from me the desire to play the coy virgin. We know very well that Monza is the Temple of speed and also of sports enthusiasts. Team Ferrari just as, in its time, Hockenheim was the cradle of Ferrari fans. Michael Schumacher in the German stadium. There is therefore no surprise to see a majority of spectators encouraging a driver or a team as much as possible on their land.

What is more worrying concerns the claimed extremism of a section of his supporters. Completely obsessed with Max Verstappen, the cohort of fans dressed in orange seems to have forgotten the notion of respect and good-natured atmosphere which until then made it possible to differentiate F1 from a football match.

The smoke bombs released before departure could have obstructed the vision of the pilots; in any case they especially prevented the very people who lit them from seeing the first tricks! What is the point of such a device?

Furthermore, testimonies have surfaced on social networks. A Lewis Hamilton cap (Mercedes) was the subject of a book burning by a completely idiotic orange fan. Supporting a team can, however, be done without harboring hatred of the opponent.

https://twitter.com/Alex27Hossler/status/1546176901114482690

Whistling and booing a competitor who risks his life on a circuit is not very good, but it is not new, including in F1. On the other hand, when this behavior is directed against spectators, it goes completely beyond the sporting framework. Here again, a mountain of testimonies has grown on the networks. In most cases, it is women who have suffered these verbal or even physical attacks (touching, dress lifted). Racism is not far away either: the word “nigger” was said to have been pronounced by fans against Lewis Hamilton. In the almost majority of these examples, Internet users speak of “Dutch” fans.

In these circumstances, F1 cannot decently settle for a “We Race as One” marketing campaign and a press release. Otherwise, it is a safe bet that sport will be cut off from a significant proportion of fans due to backward people, who do not honor the historical image of a fair-play sport.

The Orange Army was present in Austria to support Max Verstappen. ©DPPI

NO, by Jérémy Satis

I have the impression that on the F1 side, we want the butter, the butter money, and a meeting with the creamer, to say the least and deviate from the rules of decency. In my opinion, there is a certain hypocrisy in seeing the various players in Formula 1 taking offense at the shouting, whistles and booing of certain supporters towards the rivals of their favorites. For obvious economic reasons, F1 is eyeing a new audience who do not necessarily know the codes of the discipline, and it would be very hypocritical to blame those for booing, whistling, or expressing their emotions, when the F1 itself decided to make spectacle and emotion the mainstays of its product.

Whistles and boos have always been an integral part of fandom. The clashes between supporters of Verstappen, Hamilton or Leclerc also make Formula 1 salt. When Verstappen was whistled when answering Billy Monger's questions by Hamilton fans at Silverstone two weeks ago, that Do not disturb me. This means that English fans still have a grudge against the Batavian after the exceptional 2021 duel that these two fought and that F1 provides lasting emotions. So of course, there are limits that should not be exceeded. When Verstappen takes 51G and smashes his car against a wall of tires in 2020 in Great Britain, there is obviously nothing to celebrate in view of the violence of the shock. It turns out, of course, that unlike team sports, the drivers stake their lives every time they enter the car, and this detail, which is not really a detail, deserves to be taken into account.

Where to draw the line, you ask me? That's the whole question. In my opinion, it is quite natural to find. When a driver makes a mistake and exits at a reasonable speed, as was the case from Hamilton in Austria, it doesn't shock me to see the orange army blithely faltering. It is simply necessary that the common sense with which every human being is normally endowed allows us to sort things out. If Hamilton had experienced the same accident in Austria as Zhou at Silverstone, I'm not sure the oranges would have been happy about it. F1 is evolving and it must accept it. 

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