Do British Formula One fans follow teams, drivers, or both? Plus – opinion of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move
The 2025 Formula One season is underway, and it has already been packed with incident. So far, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are leading the pack – with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen still firmly in the mix – but with the majority of races still unrun, it’s all to play for.
It’s as good a time as any to explore who Formula One fans are, what they think, and how they think about drivers and teams using YouGov’s profiling and survey tools. We also take a look at what fans think of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari at this early stage of his tenure with the Italian motorsport giant.
F1 fans skew slightly younger and more male than most sports fans
YouGov data shows that 23% of Britons are at least somewhat interested in F1. This group is more likely to be male (67% vs. 63%) than sports fans on average, and more likely to skew younger (27% are aged 18-34 compared to 23% of sports fans). In terms of income, they’re a bit more likely to be higher earners taking home more than 200% of the median national wage (25% vs. 21%).
In terms of their favourite drivers, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton is in pole position (47%), with British compatriots Lando Norris (40%) and Mercedes’ George Russell (27%) behind in second and third respectively. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (20%) and Charles Leclerc (16%) complete the top five.
Speaking of Hamilton and Ferrari…
F1 fans think Hamilton joining Ferrari was a good move
We ran a poll asking British F1 fans what they think of Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari. Half (52%) think it was a good idea, while just 18% think it was ultimately a bad move.
In terms of his performance so far, Hamilton has received some unflattering reviews for his early races, but fans are more likely to think he has done well (40%) than poorly (22%), with just over a third saying his performance falls somewhere in the middle (36%).
The Hamilton move also provides an opportunity to ask fans about whether they care more about individual drivers, or specific Formula One teams. Almost two-thirds say they’re likely to follow both equally, nearly a third (31%) say they favour individual drivers, and just under one in ten (9%) say they’re more likely to follow specific teams.
When asked what they’d do if their favourite driver left for another team, 58% say they’d follow both the driver’s old team and the driver’s new team, while 25% say they would stop following the driver’s old team and start following the driver’s new team. Only 6% say they would continue following the old team, and cease following the driver.
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Methodology
YouGov polled 900 British F1 fans online on 16-17 April 2025. The survey was carried out through YouGov Surveys. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, region, and social grade. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Self-serve.