Revealed: The most talked about drivers on the F1 2023 grid

Thomas Maher 25 Oct 2023 3:00 PM

F1's most-talked F1 drivers on Reddit, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez.

New data has revealed which drivers are the most talked about on social media platform Reddit, but are there any surprises?

With 3.4 million users (correct as of October 2023), the F1 subreddit is the largest community of Formula 1 fans on any social media platform.

New research into the habits of users on the platform has shed some light on which drivers are the most popular in terms of generating conversation, as well as the ones propping up the rear of the grid…

Who are the most talked-about F1 drivers?

A sentiment analysis of the subreddit over the course of the US Grand Prix weekend,carried out by OLBG, revealed that the top three talked-about drivers command almost 40% of the entire conversation in F1.

Unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton command the very top of the table. Verstappen by himself is responsible for 20% of fan discussion on the subreddit, over double that of Lewis Hamilton.

It’s Sergio Perez in third place, with the Mexican driver striving to hold on to second place in the Drivers’ Championship as he struggles for on-track form. Perez garnered eight percent of user sentiment, 1.98% behind his championship rival.

Lance Stroll was in fourth place for Aston Martin, due to the Canadian being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the moment, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the returning Daniel Ricciardo.

The least-talked-about drivers are Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen, with the Alfa Romeo driver scoring 1.07% and the Haas driver 0.82%.

Max Verstappen 20.37%
Lewis Hamilton 10.07%
Sergio Perez 8.09%
Lance Stroll 6.75%
Charles Leclerc 5.70%
Fernando Alonso 5.44%
Daniel Ricciardo 5.19%
Carlos Sainz 5.11%
Lando Norris 5.07%
Logan Sargeant 3.90%
Alex Albon 3.57%
Valtteri Bottas 3.26%
Esteban Ocon 3.06%
George Russell 2.98%
Yuki Tsunoda 2.88%
Oscar Piastri 2.69%
Pierre Gasly 2.59%
Nico Hulkenberg 1.37%
Zhou Guanyu 1.07%
Kevin Magnussen 0.82%

Who are the most popular F1 drivers on Reddit?

Aside from generating conversation, OLBG also carried out research to see which drivers generate the most allegiance. Reddit allows users to add ‘flairs’ to their profiles in order to show support for any given driver or team, with this data scraped to see which drivers were the most popular.

Unsurprisingly, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was once again at the top of the list, with 17.66% of the subreddit showing allegiance to the Dutch driver.

Fernando Alonso was second, with 13.71% of the fandom, with Lewis Hamilton in third with 11.58% of the subreddit’s support. The least popular was Lance Stroll, who claims just 0.32% of the fan’s support.

Finally, OLBG also carried out an extensive analysis of the tone of the comments surrounding every driver, in order to evaluate a positive or negative sentiment about each.

Unusually, Esteban Ocon finished with the most positive sentiment, with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris also gaining plenty of positive support. Verstappen was sixth on the list for positive sentiment, with Hamilton in 11th.

The drivers attracting the most negative sentiment are Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez.