Thanks to social media … and specifically Twitter, today’s Spanish GP had a human face that pulled at heart-strings. While track events themselves did not disappoint, a few off-track events, all involving one young Ferrari fan, gave the event a massive social media boost that set Twitter on fire across the world. Here are countries where #SpanishGP trended across the seven continents:
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South Africa (Africa) – 6th spot
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Australia – 2nd
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Malaysia (Asia) – 7th
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France (W.Europe) – 6th
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Poland (E.Europe) – 6th
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Italy (W.Europe) – 4th
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Dominican Republic (North America) – 4th
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UK (W.Europe) – 4th
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Venezuela (S.America) – 7th
Briefly about Spanish GP 2017
Today’s tussle between Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Botas and Daniel Ricciardo has created expectations that this Grand Prix season will go down as one of the best in many years. The predicted fierce rivalry is already being compared to the early 2000’s between Schumacher, Senna, Baricchelo, and Hakkinen.
Yes, my favourite driver – Hamilton – snatched the win from Vettel’s hands earlier in the day, and I am over the moon :)
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The off-track events that added to the social media spotlight
Here is where it all started: the picture of a young fan in tears after Kimi Raikkonen collided with Botas and crashed out of the Spanish GP race on the very first lap!
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) May 14, 2017
Kudos to the F1 Social Media Marketing team for their alertness and ability to spot great user-generated content (UGC). Hardly 3 minutes after the original post (and I believe it is the one I embedded above), the F1 reposted the image on the official Twitter handle and it went viral.
LAP 1/66: Agony for Kimi (and one of his young fans) 😢 RAI is out after damaging front left of his car #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Zjwrx6bJGU
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 14, 2017
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The young fan bursts into a joyous mood…
I love this #SpanishGP #ForzaFerrari pic.twitter.com/xLK0itlIV0
— ö (@VintageBastii) May 14, 2017
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… when Vettel overtakes Botas on lap 25.
LAP 25/66: A thrilling battle is finally won by VET at Turn 1 – great stuff to watch 👏 #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6rkram8nD5
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 14, 2017
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Thanks again to social media’s ability to distribute messages widely and quickly, Raikkonen got the wind of how the little fella reacted when he [Raikkonen] crashed out of the race, and he reached out.
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Well done Internet! #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Vaiwi2dNEa
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) May 14, 2017
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Sweet memory we’ll keep from here #Kimi7 #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qudMmZV8db
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 14, 2017
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As they say, social media can make you an accidental star!!
Today’s most famous Kimi fan is having a great day! Big 👏 to @F1 & @ScuderiaFerrari for inviting him in!#SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/sjS0RqjO51
— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) May 14, 2017
Raikkonen has earned himself a fan #4Life4Sho.
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