Where are the real men from Formula 1?
Text: Danya Golubtsev
Right now passing Formula 1 races the noble part of the female audience is chained to the screens - it is believed that this is the most masculine sport in the world. In men participating in the "F1", a girl unfamiliar with the world of competition usually attracts the brutality of its participants and the eternal victory. Professional riders still seem to be strong, real men who playfully fly three hundred kilometers on the track in an hour, and then immediately go to drink beer in the nearest bar. However, the situation began to change: Susie Wolff, the first woman driving the car for a very long time, will participate in Friday's training sessions. Moreover, the myths about the brutality of male pilots are also being tested for strength. We understand how the winners behave in the most masculine sport.
Four-time Formula One Champion Sebastian Vettel
year 2013. Grand Prix Formula 1 in Malaysia, the race is coming to an end. Then only three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel is second, and his team mate Mark Webber leads. Cebu at that moment is only 25 years old, and Mark is already 36. Both riders receive by radio an order to keep their positions to the finish line in order to save rubber and engine life. Such a tactic of the team is quite understandable - both of its riders will still be on the top steps of the podium, what could be better? However, the young champion decided a little differently: he violates the order of his own team, which raised him and in which he got all his titles, overtakes a more adult partner, who, according to the same command, rides in an economical mode, and wins the race. The childish “I want, I want, I want”, probably pulsating in Vettel's head at that moment, turned out to be stronger than years of training and psychological training. As a result, we could observe one of the saddest podiums in Formula 1 in recent years:
On the podium from left to right: Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton
For those who do not see anything terrible in violation of the instructions of the team, should be explained. The pilot is told the whole race over the radio: what exactly should he do, how to go, how fast, when to go for overtaking, and when, on the contrary, to miss. More or less everything depends on the strategy of motor sport, therefore a decent pilot is simply obliged to obey the orders of the team. After the incident in Malaysia, Vettel publicly apologized, and then publicly took back his apologies. The team forgave him, Mark Webber forever left the “Formula 1 ″ at the end of the season.
One can find many similar examples of the desperate childishness of pilots hung with titles and records. World champion Lewis Hamilton will easily post on Twitter screenshots of his team’s closed-line telemetry to prove his fictional superiority over his partner. This is in addition to recording rap albums, desperately cosplaying black gangsters and is the only person in the world who has a pass to the F1 paddock for his dog. And in order to justify another mistake on the track, you can always safely say that this is all "because it is black."
The same Vettel, despite the horrific number of cups, is still sometimes quite deservedly called Baby-Shumi, and with an emphasis on the word "Baby." Sebastian is very expressive, much stronger than other pilots, rejoices in his victories: sings German children's songs and is able to shout "Yuhuuu!" Eight times in a row or, for example, to sob so that any decent lady will want to adopt him. He hides his personal life from the public’s eyes with all his might, like a teenager ñ porn from his parents, and every year he gives nicknames of his cars, which are extremely interesting to any psychoanalyst, for example, “Lustful Mandy”. Seb already has four titles, but it seems that in his quest to be the youngest, he always and everywhere will give two hundred points to anyone.
5 seconds of Sebastian Vettel reaction to his victory
Other titled members of the club of the fastest pilots in the world are not far behind the leader of recent years. Even Fernando Alonso, in spite of the carefully maintained super-musculine appearance and two champion titles, quite often breaks into real hysterics, and even complain about his hard life, where every day is fraught with another cause for truly royal discontent - in general his standard behavior.
The favorite of Russian speed fans, Kimi Raikkonen, is widely known for his reputation as a pilot partially frostbitten by Finnish snow. Our hero’s combat recruitment includes laconic interviews, constantly missing facial expressions, as well as a unique superpower to drink alcohol in any incomprehensible situation - for example, 15 minutes after taking off the track. At first glance it seems that here he is a real man, he thumps when he wants, speaks little and does a lot. But after watching Kimi a little longer and more closely, you quickly come to the conclusion that all this behavior in the style of the Lapland lumberjack is in many ways just a game for the public: once a year he gives a normal interview with detailed and logical answers, besides, the ever-swirling reason would never I could not perform so well and consistently in modern races. Kimi is like a teenager, desperately screaming to the whole world: "Leave me alone, I'm already an adult."
It is possible to endlessly search through the pantheon of modern Formula 1 pilots on the subject of puer aeternus. Roman Grosjean? This infant smile owner communicates with his race engineer, it seems, with extremely loud cries of the offended child. Pastor Maldonado? A Venezuelan with the appearance of a murderer is always ready to write off his own blunders on everyone in a row - from team managers to engineers - except himself. Having followed the image of any pilot of the highest level, it is easy to find Peter Pan syndrome in the advanced stage.
The pilots of our day may well burst into tears from defeat
And against the background of such luminaries hysterics and other serial teenagers, the real youth in “F1” looks almost an example of masculinity. For example, the Russian pilot Daniil Kvyat, who is only 19 years old, but he already has a public image for all 30. His discreet serious interview, focus on work beyond his years and the commander’s loud voice at least companies could envy the best machomen of the peloton. But even in this case, we can say that Quat didn’t just turn around in full force, and who knows what kind of nicknames he will give his race cars if he ever becomes a champion.
So what's the deal? Where from the races all these James Khanty disappeared, smoking a cigar and drinking champagne in an embrace with each time a new half-naked beauty? After all, the main difference between the current pilots and the heroes of the past is precisely in the absence of all these attributes of a playboy of international class. The pilots of our days do not allow themselves frivolous behavior towards the other sex, but they may well burst into tears from defeat. Do not smoke cigars, but they play video games for days on end. Do not drink, and eat ice cream. And whoever drinks, he either hides, or, on the contrary, does not make it too convincingly to show the image of a tough guy.
The answer is simple and boring: "real men" disappeared from everywhere. Times have changed, society has changed, and the race, initially a lot of brave men and desperate men, ready to take the deadly risk of wearing a helmet without taking it at all, gradually became show business. Today, Formula 1 is a world-class sports entertainment show. Yes, there is sport, technology, rivalry, speed, and even danger has not disappeared anywhere. But modern racers no longer have to be "men", correspond to a certain myth about their own exclusiveness and innate coolness, just as ordinary men in ordinary life do not have to be. Modern racers can afford to be just people and perform normal human actions, although they are located behind an almost impenetrable bastion of political correctness and marketing departments. And now look around and count the number of thirty-year-old men who hang a favorite superhero's poster on the wall, watch children's cartoons about colored horses and ask the wife for Han's birthday ship from Lego for their birthday. Surely you will find many of these. Our society has nothing against adult boys, so why shouldn't Formula 1 racers keep up with the times? In the end, even the great ones could sometimes relax.