It's a soap opera. If everybody was nice, sensible, honest, friendly and easy-going there would be no story. F1 is not about consensus, it's about conflict. The rules aren't a given - the real contest is about who gets to make the rules. The back-stabbing, manipulation, bribery, pulling the rug from under other peoples' feet - that's what it's all about. For the title of master back-stabber I would propose Alonso (leaving Ecclestone to the side, obviously).
In a good soap opera, you have the goodies and the baddies. I'm still trying to work out who the goodies are in F1 - although Hamilton doesn't annoy me as much as many and I think Button is a good bloke.
Every walk of life has goodies and baddies. You just have to learn who is in which camp, and decide which side of the fence you sit on. Regarding Motorsport, every now and again, there arrives a game changer. Marquez is the latest. Vettel is just a sterile yawn.
I cant bloody stand vettel and that smug grin. and christian horner is annoying I just wanna slap him. mark webber is pure class
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I was going to write something very similar but just got annoyed every time I thought about all the supercilious twats and how they conduct themselves.
Every time I see Vettel giving his one fingered salute I want to reach for the bolt croppers and cut his finger nails a bit shorter than he'll be happy with.
You have to have baddies in sport, that's the law. And the baddies have to be good at what they do - ain't no point being a baddie if you're getting lapped every other weekend. And who are the baddies anyway? Vettel went up in my estimation when he won against team orders, and while I hate his personality I always cheered on Max Biaggi. Giancarlo Falappa was a real-life baddie, but as a racing personality he was spot-on. The biggest baddie of all in my book, Michael Schumacher, suddenly became a sporting hero when I found out he could ride a bike...
Was Falappa a baddie? Or was he just a bit mad? Whatever, he was a real personality. I always remember the superb cartoon of him in some bike rag with a guy saying "And here is Giancarlo Falappa, our factory tester" and a picture of him headbutting the factory wall. You're right, you do need a bit of needle and some baddies in motorsport (or perhaps any sport). But you sort of want them like Biaggi - likably baddie. But in F1, there is just such a sense of humour failure. Only Stefano Domenicali seems amusing. I'm sure he's a tough taskmaster, but he does seem to have an engaging personality.
Prior to his WSB career this was, and he also used to race sidecars with a local prostitute as passenger.
