formula evie

It seems like every day I stumble across at least 1 TikTok account specifically created to hate on a Formula 1 driver’s girlfriend. I usually just block them straight away, but sometimes I can’t help but open up the comments to call out the absurd behaviour I am having the misfortune of seeing. Never, in my 19 years of being an avid hater of many things and people, have I ever felt the need to create an entire social media profile with the sole purpose of spreading vitriol about complete strangers. I wanted to talk about how crazy I find this behaviour, and I am unfortunately not a psychologist or anything even remotely close so don’t take this as fact, but I really do think it is something worth exploring.

The first thing I want to say is that this is a somewhat sensitive topic; I am somewhat hesitant to criticise female F1 fans for liking the drivers, because that would be extremely hypocritical considering the amount of edits I have saved in my phone. But there is a difference between finding a good-looking millionaire attractive and feeling genuine jealously over his romantic partner that manifests itself in hatred. I add that last part because I fear we all feel genuine jealously towards Alexandra Saint Mleux– she is impossibly gorgeous with an insanely beautiful wardrobe, a Pinterest board for an Instagram feed, an adorable dog, and a similarly gorgeous boyfriend who she still manages to outshine in every single picture. My first instinct, and that of many of her millions of fans, is to endlessly compliment her. Not scour her likes on social media or dig up every detail of her past to conduct a vicious hate train.

I think this stems completely from the dreaded concept of parasocial relationships.

In case you’re not familiar with this term, parasocial relationships are defined as “one-sided relationships where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other person is completely unaware of the other’s existence”. They are not inherently bad; I will comfortably say that I have many parasocial relationships that are fulfilling and contribute positively to my life, but they can be very damaging and lead to things like making an TikTok account called ‘povkellypiquet’ (all those who remember that Instagram post from Kelly herself, please raise your hand).

When you spend all your time consuming media about a celebrity, or athlete, or really any public figure, and learning about their lives, its natural to form a sort of bond with them- this is the foundation of fandom, people wouldn’t grow the loyal following that they do without parasocial relationships experienced by their fans. As I said before, they are not necessarily bad. They’re not necessarily good, either: they kind of just are.

Researchers Giles and Maltby categorised parasocial relationships into 3 categories:

• Entertainment-social – This is the majority of parasocial relationships. You’re just a fan, you’re interested in the celebrity’s life and might join fan clubs or online communities, and you’re completely comfortable with the fact that the relationship isn’t real and you don’t really know them.
• Intense-personal – This is the second most common category, described as “intensive and compulsive feelings about the celebrity”. You check their social media every hour of every day, you talk about them constantly as if they’re a friend or family member- you feel like you would be best friends, or that they’re really your soul mate, but you ultimately understand the realtionship isn’t real.
• Borderline-pathological – This is the least common type, and is what many would simply refer to as being a stalker. This might include actually stalking the celebrity, like that time Lando Norris was involved in an involuntary car chase across Monaco as he was followed by fans. People with this type of parasocial relationship might genuinely believe that the celebrity is in love with them and they can’t control their thoughts, feelings, or even behaviour.

I’m not trying to say that every die-hard fan of an F1 driver is a stalker, but I think it’s interesting to consider the levels to a one-sided relationship like this. My point is that most parasocial relationships don’t make people act crazy.

When it comes to driver’s romantic partners, people with stronger parasocial relationships might feel inclined to hate WAGs because that’s their man, right?

They view these other women as competition, and what better way to win than dragging your opponents through the mud by their glossy, perfectly curled hair? Perhaps this is why these accounts are being made- metaphorical mud dragging. If you are the one bringing these ‘issues’ to light, doesn’t that make you better than them? And if you’re better than them, shouldn’t he pick you? I understand the logic, and this isn’t to say that these women are perfect and their only faults are falsely constructed by jealous 15 year olds, but if I’m being honest I find it embarrassing for the posters. Formula 1 drivers are grown men, they are more than capable of making their own decisions about who they date. And I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s not you.

Is it extremely disappointing to see a driver you like be in a relationship with somebody who’s values or politics you don’t agree with? Yes, of course it is. I am a firm believer that you are the people you surround yourself with, and being in a close or romantic relationship with somebody holding those beliefs means that you very, very likely share them. And this is disappointing, especially when its a driver that you love and support. When you have a parasocial relationship and the celebrity does something you don’t agree with, its ok to feel let down. But you don’t know them. They’re not your friend, you can’t change their mind or make them break up with their partner just because you, a stranger on the internet, doesn’t like them.

A current example of this is that of Lando Norris and Magui Corceiro. Everytime a new picture or video of them together emerges from the depths of the internet, his more intense fans start steaming from the ears and flocking to social media to let everybody know how much they hate her, saying that she’s ‘ruining his reputation’ and that Lando is going to ‘lose all his fans’ because of her. I hate to break it to them, but the majority of F1 fans don’t care about the driver’s romantic lives that much. Nobody should care that much about the romantic partner of somebody that they don’t know. The people who do are so deep in their parasocial relationships that they’re starting to drown in their own hatred, waving their phone above the waves with their Tiktok hate page open on the screen. And taking to Quadrant’s Instagram comment section to call a new merch drop a ‘PR stunt’ to make up for (checks notes) … Lando being seen in Monaco with his girlfriend? Tagging his dad and tagging his ex-girlfriend?? So beyond normal fan behaviour.

At the end of the day, these are Formula 1 drivers. Their primary job is to drive a race car around a track. Support them in that, watch them drive and don’t get so overly-invested in their personal lives that you can’t even enjoy the sport in a healthy, fun way. You don’t have to like their partners, but your issues with them are completely your own- that multi-millionaire athlete is not your boyfriend and that beautiful, talented woman he’s in love with is not your competition, nor is she your enemy. She’s actually a real person who deserves to be treated with respect, and not have every aspect of her life up for debate by fans who would turn violent at any chance to take her place.