The fans that offer a ray of light in an increasingly partisan F1
As Formula 1 continues to enjoy a boom in mainstream popularity, there has been a clear increase in the level of partisan fans supporting a single driver or team. For Jake Boxall-Legge, the Japanese Grand Prix offered a rare escape from this
When this author was growing up in the early 2000s, Formula 1 was always a painfully niche sport. One likes to think that his early fandom hopefully exposed a few minds to its presence, at least, but it was always rare to meet anyone else who liked devoting their Sunday afternoons to sitting in front of a CRT television to watch gratuitously fast cars traverse around a race circuit at some far-flung location on the globe. It even had a terrestrial TV deal in the UK in those days, but stories about F1 in the mainstream news always felt so novel.
PLUS: How Verstappen’s crushing Japanese GP win showed Singapore was a blip
Share Or Save This Story
Jake studied engineering at university, as his original ambition was to design racing cars. He was bad at that, and thus decided to write about them instead with an equally limited skillset. The above article is a demonstration of that. In his spare time, Jake enjoys people, places, and things.
More from Jake Boxall-Legge
F1 Azerbaijan GP: Russell shades Leclerc in FP3 as Bearman crashes
Horner: FIA decision on McLaren, Mercedes wings will 'encourage' Red Bull to follow suit
What we learned from Friday practice at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP
F1 drivers call for rule rethink in the wake of Magnussen’s Baku ban
Aston Martin no longer "underdogs" with Newey signing - Krack
How Newey will link Alonso, Honda, and Aston Martin's engineers together for a 2026 title tilt
The Albon-matching elements of Colapinto's maiden F1 grand prix
Eight things we learned from the 2024 Italian Grand Prix
Latest news
Live: F1 Azerbaijan GP updates - Qualifying
F2 Azerbaijan: Durksen fights past debutants for maiden victory in sprint race
Exclusive: F1 teams working without normal weather radar systems at Azerbaijan GP
Red Bull: Perez will support Verstappen if team orders issued in Baku
Autosport Plus
F1 uncovered: A weekend behind the scenes with a team physio
Jon Noble: Why Newey’s myth-busting correction is bad news for Aston Martin’s rivals
How Newey will link Alonso, Honda, and Aston Martin's engineers together for a 2026 title tilt
Ayrton Senna's magic moments, chosen by his race engineers
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.