I think it was on one of F1 Fanatic's recent posts that readers were asked to state which team they were supporting this year. I dutifully ticked the box for BMW and then had a look to see how the poll was going. And what struck me was that Brawn GP were way ahead of anyone else - I think the team were running at 44% at the time (BMW were doing particularly badly - perhaps the Poles had not arrived yet).
Nick Heidfeld
Now, we need to remember that Brawn is the team that was called Honda F1 last year, one of the most ridiculed and despised teams in the paddock. Toyota have always been the least popular of all the teams but I should imagine that, if a similar poll had been conducted late last year, Honda would have been vying for that dubious honor. It seems that a lot has changed in just a few short months.
In a way, I should not have been surprised. Everyone loves a winner, after all, and it looks as though Brawn GP is going to be the big winner this time around. Then there is the nationality factor, bringing in hordes of rejuvenated Button and Barrichello fans from their respective countries.
I say "rejuvenated" because many had lost faith in Button over his years of driving for uncompetitive teams and Barrichello has been expected to retire at any moment, thanks to his long service in the sport. It was clear that large numbers of ex-supporters had changed their minds again, now that the two had decent cars at last.
This all makes perfect sense but I was left with a question in my mind: whatever happened to good, old-fashioned loyalty? Maybe I have missed the point but I thought that, once you decided which driver or team appealed to you most, you stuck with them through thick and thin. I can see that years of disappointment might make a supporter give up and transfer affections elsewhere, but the sudden rise of Brawn GP in the popularity stakes does seem to indicate a fickleness amongst F1 fans that I had not suspected.
The most loyal fan that I can think of is Alianora la Canta, La Canta Magnifico indeed. A Jordan fan from the beginning, she has stuck with the team through name change after name change and is now the most staunch defender of Force India imaginable. Such loyalty is admirable and I can only applaud the fact that it looks as if her steadfastness will be rewarded in the next few years.
I am not quite so loyal myself. For many years I had no particular affection for any of the teams, perhaps mourning the demise of my beloved Brabham and still shaking my head over the defection of Gordon Murray to McLaren. Then, a couple of years ago, I noticed how pretty were the Saubers in their new BMW colors; I began to take more notice of them.
When Dr Mario Theissen squeezed out Jacques Villeneuve in favor of Kubica, I was at first disgusted, wanting one of the last flamboyant characters in the sport to remain. But time and Robert proved me wrong and I accepted the change quite quickly. The matter also made me more aware of Dr Mario and, as the months passed, he earned my respect with his realistic, sensible and efficient leadership of the team. By the end of the year I had to face the inevitable - I had become a BMW fan.
That made me look more closely too at Nick Heidfeld, a driver I had previously dismissed as competent but boring. In time I came to think of him as the most underrated driver on the grid, his excellence disguised by his quiet manner and driving that was smooth and undramatic - yet quick. He is not the type of driver I usually admire (I disliked Prost) but the efficiency of his overtaking moves and an uncanny ability to bring the car home won me over.
So I am stuck with BMW as my favorite and the amazing rise of Brawn GP has no effect on my loyalties whatsoever. I am happy for the team and my respect for Ross Brawn goes up another notch (I never doubted Button's and Barrichello's talents anyway) but I am not about to transfer my support to them. The Beemer boys are mine now and, whatever the future holds, they will remain so until they produce a car too ugly to look at.
And what of the fair weather friends Brawn GP has gathered so instantly? Will they still be there if the team fades away through the coming season and ends up in a disappointing third or fourth place in the Constructors Championship? Will Button be crucified in the press if he fails to become WDC, will Barrichello have his Brazilian passport withdrawn if he does not win at least one GP this year?
My present mood suggests that is exactly what will happen if Brawn, both team and man, do not produce the goods, having promised so much. Some supporters will remain, no doubt, those who can see beyond mere fleeting success to the hard work that creates it, but the majority will depart for other shores, won over by the suggestion that they can share in the glories elsewhere.
Everyone loves a winner, we say, but that is not the whole truth. Some of us root for the underdog and persist in our preferences whatever the weather. And, perhaps, there will come a day when we can grandly refrain from saying, "I told you so" as our favorite scoops the prize - for a part of our creed is to allow others to remember our loyalty, rather than point it out ourselves.
So here's to the underdog and may Quick Nick bring home that championship soon!