Quote:
Originally Posted by Born Racer
Because people cannot conclusively say who did the best job of the drivers, they often vote for one of their favourites when they did a very good job, because they see the evidence to support that.
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In-group bias...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Born Racer
For what it's worth to point this out, Hamilton didn't win a single Driver of the Grand Prix poll last year on Ten-Tenths, despite winning more Grands Prix than any other.
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Out-group bias...
In-group Out-group bias is a common phenomenon in sports fans, and will always influence polls of 'who did the best'.
Alonso and Ricciardo both seem to have generated a high level of support, and as a result those who feel a connection to them (fans, in-group) make a sub-conscious decision that anything preventing them from a perfect performance must be a fault of something outside of their control. They will also compensate for the driver, and therefore see them as having performed better than any others.
On the other side, Hamilton and increasingly Verstappen seem to be the 'rival' or the enemy to their support, and so people who are not fans and feel disconnected from them (out-group) make a sub-conscious decision that anything they do well must be a part of someone else making the situation easy for them (perfect car, money, officials) and so find it difficult to give them credit.
Hamilton gets this especially so having been the most successful driver over recent seasons. Every other drivers' fans see him as a rival because they want to see their favourite win the championship. Therefore, if Hamilton is the predicted winner, the majority of other fans will find it difficult (sub-consciously) to vote for him.
During the RBR/Vettel dominance, how many times did Vettel top the DOTR poll?
[Edit:] In 2013, Vettel took 3 race wins, but only 3.5 DOTR's.