Formula One/Tropes N-Z

• New Technology Is Evil: The controversy around such devices like active suspension and traction control where most people think it takes away from the skill of the drivers. Williams used such devices to dominate the 1992 season. Thankfully very much inverted with the HANS device, which has saved many lives since it was included and has left drivers with only light injuries when the accident could have been much worse.
  • Whenever a team discover a way of putting something on their cars that the rules don't specifically forbid, the other teams will kick up a fuss and claim that the device in question is against the spirit of the rules and demand that the device in question be banned. Of course it's really just jealously that they didn't think of it first that usually motivates such protests. Recent devices to stir up protests include mass dampers, double diffusers, blown diffusers and, most recently, Mercedes' blown-with-bleed-air-from-the-DRS front wing.
• Nitro Boost: Although F1 does not actually use nitrous, the 2009 season had the Kinetic Energy Recovery System as a boost mechanism. The KERS converted kinetic energy from the wheels into electrical energy during braking, stored the energy in batteries, and released it at the press of a button for an ~90hp power boost for 6.67 seconds per lap. It turned out to be a Power-Up Letdown, though, since it's price meant that only a few teams could develop it to a useful degree (sacrificing aerodynamics and other factors in the process), and even then, the KERS ended up being heavy enough to adversely affect the car's handling and weight balance to a degree. It had it's moments though, and KERS cars were notorious for storming off the start line and gaining a few places with ease, and then defending them by power-boosting whenever an opponent got close enough to attempt an overtaking move. Kimi Räikkönen's 2009 Belgium victory was basically dependent on this, boosting his way from 6th to 1st and holding on the rest of the race. Still, the disadvantages of KERS outweighed it's advantages to the point of it getting abandoned for 2010 but has become more helpful and important from 2011 onwoards..
  • 2011 also saw the introduction of DRS, a system that allows the driver to "stall" the rear wing of the car and gain an aerodynamic advantage at the cost of downforce. It can only be used on the straights for obvious reasons, and its use during an actual race is far more tightly regulated than during qualifying (you can only use it at 1 or 2 designated DRS zones, and only if you're within about a second of the car in front).
• No One Could Survive That: Robert Kubica's accident at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix^[1] - he came back in the second race after the crash. And the only reason he didn't come back immediately was because the doctors didn't want to risk two concussions so close together. Felipe Massa got hit in the face by a kilogram piece of metal while doing 160mph. He is competing this year. Another story to mention is Mika Häkkinen's 1995 crash in Australia, where they had to perform an emergency tracheotomy on the side of the track just to get him to breathe. This was before his two championships.
• Number of the Beast: Lampshaded during Sky's coverage of the 2012 Monaco GP which was the 6th race, which had each had a fastest lap by 6 different drivers from 6 different teams. The commentator wondered if it was an omen.
• The Obi-Wan: F1 drivers that move on to management or some other role after retiring. Keke Rosberg and Gerhard Berger, for example, have gone on to manage other drivers; Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Jack Brabham and Alain Prost had their own F1 teams.
• Off with His Head: In the 1974 US Grand Prix, Austrian Helmuth Koinigg crashed into an armco barrier. The lower beam wasn't properly secured and buckled as the vehicle struck it. The car passed underneath the top portion... which was very firmly bolted on. Yikes.
• Off the Scale: Engine outputs in the turbo era. Engine designers would plug their new engines into 1,000-horsepower dynos and watching in disbelief as they ran out of numbers. After that they just guesstimated their power output from intake manifold pressures, with BMW coming up with 1,300 to 1,450 horsepower!
• One-Hit Wonder: Brawn Grand Prix are the only constructor to have won 100% of the championships they competed in as a result of this trope and a buy-out by Mercedes-Benz
• Only I Can Make It Go: Michael Schumacher during his Benetton days invoked a mild version of this. Other drivers who tried out his preferred setup were astonished he could control such a nervous, tail-happy car.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: It pretty much sucked if one of your competitors was Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet Sr., Nigel Mansell, or Michael Schumacher. The list of victims of this trope is extremely long for F1, perhaps even larger than most other sports.
• Part Time Driver: Generally very common in ages where F1 driving was not a full-time job. Jim Clark is one of the most famous examples for this.
• Patriotic Fervor: Ayrton Senna used to wave a Brazilian flag while driving his victory laps. Also, Brazilian TV plays a fanfare whenever a Brazilian driver wins. Generally very popular in all nations with a longer F1 history.
• The Pete Best: Jean-Pierre Wimille. Has a hugely successful Grand Prix Career and got killed in his peak, a year before the FIA introduced this new thing called the World Champíonship.
• Pit Girls
• Porn Stache: Nigel Mansell ^{[dead link]} and Keke Rosberg amongst others.
• Precision F-Strike: Radio conversations between team and drivers are frequently aired during the race. However, they often contain sensitive information that the teams would rather the others not hear, especially as they're watching the live broadcast during the race for that reason. Supposedly, the best way to keep their messages private is to throw in an f-bomb or two, keeping the TV crew from broadcasting it.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Sure, the people involved in the 2008 Singapore GP race-fixing got punished, but now there's the knowledge that it DID happen. And sure, Nelson Piquet Jr. was granted immunity from punishment in exchange for testimony, but his career's now suffered a huge blow he might not ever recover from. It's also hard to think of Ferrari without remembering some of their horrid moments of team orders, switching the winning driver with the second.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ferrari being the Red Oni while McLaren is the Blue Oni. Many rivaling drivers have demonstrated fitting in this trope.
• Retired Badass: Technically speaking. Retirement from Formula One doesn't necessarily mean retirement from racing: many drivers move on to another racing circuit.
• Sadistic Choice: 2005 United States Grand Prix: Tyres provided by Michelin were failing all throughout practices and qualifying (including a crash by Ralf Schumacher), and the tire company advised their customer teams that it would be unwise to race with them. FIA refused all sorts of compromises to keep them in the race, including constructing a chicane at a difficult curve, saying it was unfair on those with Bridgestone tires (notably, Ferrari, a team long accused of being favored, was among the Bridgestone racers). So the teams running on Michelin tires had this choice: race and risk the lives of the drivers, or withdraw from the race altogether and risk sanctions by the FIA. They chose not to race, leaving six cars on the grid. They were indeed charged and convicted for their refusal to participate, but the ruling was overturned. The story was it was overturned because had they allowed their drivers to race, they would be prosecuted under Indiana state law for knowingly putting others at risk. Of course, all of this led to a "race" that was an utter farce, the fans were enraged, and Michelin's reputation was torn to shreds and they were out of the sport altogether a little more than a year later.
• Save Our Team: usually when one team is running out of money and seeks additional sponsorship or for someone to buy the team. A trend in the 90's was to employ pay-drivers with more money than skill to try and stay afloat. Most of them didn't last more then one or two races when they ran out of funding, another driver came in or they were just plain awful.
• Scandalgate: Crashgate, and before that, Spygate. Lampshaded by "Hulkenbergtweetingwhiledrivinggate"
• Screwed by the Network: In the UK, F1 has always had the best slots on the BBC (shown fully without any adverts) excluding the brief time it was shown on ITV. From 2012 to 2018 only half of the races will be shown - that is not including qualifying. All the races and qualifying will be shown on Sky Sports (Pay-TV): UK fans are not amused.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Senna was well known for racing to win at all costs. Second was never good enough for him. Generally averted though, because the most wins does not necessarily mean the most points, i.e. sometimes having more second places is more valueable than a win.
• Selective Obliviousness: Pretty much the only ones that believe Mark Webber is at fault for a collision that cost Red Bull a one-two finish in Turkey are Sebastian Vettel, Christian Horner (RBR team boss) and Helmut Marko, even in the face of evidence and overwhelming opinion from Webber, other drivers, team bosses, reporters and fans that Vettel is at fault.
• Serious Business: Felipe Massa was threatened with jail time should he deliberately concede his position to Fernando Alonso in the 2010 Brazilian GP^[2]. Technically, this goes for any driver or team, but considering the team orders controversy in Germany and that Alonso could theoretically clinch the title in this race, the threat's directed specifically to Massa.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis was famous for employing this style of speaking, to the point where it even received its own name, "Ronspeak".
• Seventies Hair: Just take a look at the trope image.
• Sibling Rivalry: Somewhat averted. Granted, the rivalry between Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf was there, but the press didn't play it up as much as, say, his rivalry with Hill, Villeneuve, or Häkkinen, depending on the year.
• The Southpaw: Ayrton Senna, for example. Being able to keep your dominant hand on the wheel while shifting gears is a pretty good advantage. Now, however, gears are shifted by controls at either side of the wheel, canceling out the advantage. This is still true in other forms of motorsport, though.
• Spanner in the Works: What's the one thing above anything that screws with everyone's strategies? Bringing the safety car out which can both work against and for a team.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Intentionally invoked by Nelson Piquet back in his karting days, misspelling 'Piquet' as 'Piket' to avoid detection from his disapproving father. (Also, 'Piquet' was his mother's maiden name.)
• Spin-Off: usually when teams threaten to break away from F1 and form thier own series. So far been averted every time, with the latest being during the 2009 British Grand Prix.
  • The GP2 series can technically qualify as such, as it had been created by Ecclestone to serve as a feeder series to F1. (Note: all five rookies this year were former GP2 racers, as were Kovalainen, Buemi and Kobayashi. Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, and Nico Hulkenberg were all GP2 champions before graduating to F1.) This year, the GP3 series was started to serve as a feeder to GP2.
• Start My Own: FOTA's proposed Grand Prix World Championship which was thankfully averted.
• Stage Mom: Some people have this opinion on Anthony Hamilton, Lewis's father and now former manager. Except, you know, genderswapped. Other driver's family members are not quite as often seen so they get spared from such a public adjudgement.
• Stop Helping Me!: Every so often drivers do get sick of the teams talking to them on the radio and tell them more or less subtly to shut up.
• Surprisingly Good English: Considering only a handful of drivers came from English-speaking countries, it's surprising how good their English is.
• Take That: Done by the Williams team and Barrichello to the Stig and the other F1 drivers that went on Top Gear: at the German GP, Barrichello was presented with a shirt that said 'I Beat The Stig'. Barrichello then gave Button, Hamilton, and Webber shirts that said 'I Didn't Beat The Stig'.
• Thirteen Is Unlucky: There's no car #13.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Bernie Ecclestone, who's wife towers over him by a fair bit.
• Took a Level in Badass: Force India, having become regular points scorers this year.
• Translation Convention: Pretty much every driver these days speaks English (and very well, one should add).
• Transplant: Some of the older circuits were brought over from Formula One's predecessor, the European Championship, including Spa-Francorchamps, the Monaco circuit, the Nurburgring, and Monza.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Webber currently is playing this straight. Eddie Irvine very nearly did when Schumacher broke both his legs in Britain in 1999 forcing Irvine into the number 1 spot. Unfortunately he lost the championship to Häkkinen.
• Unexpected Successor: In some ways, Damon Hill becoming team leader after Senna's death and carrying the team to the constructors championship and to within 1 point of the drivers championship in 1994, which was similiar to how his Dad carried the Lotus team after Jim Clark's death.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Any time a driver shows rather unsportsmanlike conduct on camera or a team does an unfair strategy or treats his drivers unfairly.
• Women Drivers: Played straight, there have been only a handful of female drivers in F1, none too successful: the last woman to attempt to drive in F1 was Giovanna Amati who failed to qualify in the three races she attempted before being given the shove for Damon Hill. This was down to being unfamiliar with an F1 cars gear shift system and not having much test chances. This is also compounded by a bit of a Stay in the Kitchen mentality in Europe: when asked if she considered a move to F1, NASCAR driver Danica Patrick said no, citing an incident when she was driving in British racing when a driver was being berated because she set faster laps than him. It doesn't help that F1 has a number of personalities with chauvinistic attitudes, among them Bernie Ecclestone, former Mclaren boss Ron Dennis (despite letting Indycar racer Sarah Fisher do a lap in the Mclaren car before the race in the US Grand Prix), and more famously Jenson Button, who made this tongue-in-cheek quote on GQ magazine:

A girl with big boobs would never be comfortable in the car, and the mechanics wouldn't concentrate. Can you imagine strapping her in?

• • To be fair, the first part of the comment was simply noting the mechanics of 5g lateral cornering forces being applied to a sensitive part of female anatomy. Given how painful jogging without a sports bra is, he may have a point. The second part of the comment isn't so easily handwaved though.
• What Could Have Been: In terms of the death of Ayrton Senna, a book is being written that examines what may have happened had Senna survived his crash, and subsequently taken the championship fight to Michael Schumacher in 1994. And it may be extended to take into account the rest of the 90s as well...
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: To promote the British GP, Mark Webber and the Red Bull mechanics did a pit stop...in front of the Houses of Parliament.
• Xanatos Roulette: Every pit stop-strategy, but especially those used at rainy races.
• Yoko Oh No: When Senna was killed, his then-girlfriend Adriane Galisteu managed to get media prominence, in a Paris Hilton-y kind of way. F1 fans regard her as a self-serving vulture. Nicole Scherzinger, Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend, has drawn negative comments for drawing attention to herself and showboating.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: In the wake of the German GP scandal, while everyone else was quick to judge Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, two people sided with them: Michael Schumacher and Nelson Piquet Jr. - the guy whose team-ordered victory caused the ban on these things in the first place and the guy who screwed over Felipe Massa for Alonso the first time.

1. ↑ It's said that this was the same crash that killed Aryton Senna, hence this is credit to the safety features of modern cars
2. ↑ Which is technically plausible, there is a statute that protects the rights of fans to see honest competition, meaning Massa and others on the Ferrari team could be charged with fraud if team orders are issued in Brazil