The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix has unleashed a wave of bitterness upon the mid-field outfit, Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Team Stake, following its latest partnership with world-renowned streaming service, Kick. To be even more specific, the growing hatred doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the partnership itself, but with the leading representatives of the newborn platform, including xQc.
During Friday’s outing at the scenic Spa-Francorchamps, the Alfa Romeo onboards captured the halo sporting four unique names, xQc, Deepak, Westcol, and GMHikaru alongside each other. Subsequently, a handful of motorsport fanatics were seemingly enraged and spilled their frustrations on Twitter.
xQc on the F1 broadcast, smh 😅 pic.twitter.com/ubQsES8Uk0
— Tommo (@TwommoF1) July 28, 2023
One fan even suggested that the latest Alfa Romeo livery was an absolute “crime” while another fan claimed it was “insulting” to witness such a collaboration. Subsequently, one might wonder what the reason could be behind such storming reactions from the Formula 1 community.
Who is xQc and why do Formula 1 fans hate him?
While the name xQc hardly rings a bell across the world of motorsport, it certainly is one of the most popular names to exist in the rapidly evolving streaming community. Felix Lengyel, aka ‘xQc’, is a Canadian streamer who has been gaining recognition since his e-sports debut in 2016.
The 27-year-old was initially an Overwatch player which helped him acquire the much-yearned attention from the viewers. The content was fairly new to the audience and the element of ‘gambling’ only played a much more crucial role in luring them. Ultimately, his primary streaming platform, Twitch, decided to ban Lengyel indefinitely after the Canadian breached multiple norms despite warnings.
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According to Game Rant, xQc even publicly acknowledged his addiction to gambling following the antics with Twitch. But, despite the apologetic statement, the fact that Lengyel streamed such explicit content to viewers majorly aged below 21, caused massive outrage and provoked Twitch to break ties with the supposed star of streaming.
Not to mention Lengyel’s numerous debacles with fellow streamers which caused even more controversies. Eventually, xQc signed a $100 million deal with Kick, rivals of Amazon-based Twitch.
The truth behind Alfa Romeo’s special Kick livery for Belgian GP
Prior to the much-awaited Belgian Grand Prix, Kick and Alfa Romeo together unveiled a special livery that featured neon green designs along the front wing with a mild jab at the rival streaming platform, Twitch. Following the official announcement, Kick wrote on Twitter, “Oh my lord! To celebrate Kick’s recent success, Alfa Romeo will be running a special Kick themed livery this weekend at the Belgian GP.“
OH MY LORD.
To celebrate Kick’s recent success, @alfaromeostake will be running a special Kick themed livery this weekend at the #BelgianGP 💚#kickstreaminglivery pic.twitter.com/e6iFyXaFxM
— Kick.com (@KickStreaming) July 24, 2023
But, is that necessarily true? Although Kick has proven to be one of the most successful streaming platforms in the world, Alfa Romeo’s motive behind the tweaked livery revolves around the gambling ban in Belgium. The title partners of Alfa Romeo, Stake, were disallowed from featuring on either of the cars, meaning the Swiss-based outfit had to look for counter options.
Therefore, Stake-backed Kick replaced the empty places on the livery for the one-off weekend in the scintillating Spa circuit.