Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana suffered an early embarrassment in their 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest by conceding the first goal in hilarious fashion, something which has amused both football and Formula-One fans.
The Cameroonian hasn’t had the most ‘perfect’ start to being the successor to David de Gea in the Manchester United no.1 position. He has already conceded four goals in three games, but the way he conceded to Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi within the first 100 seconds of the game against Steve Cooper’s side has gotten him to be the butt of many jokes.
Onana could not anticipate Awoniyi’s finish for the goal after being in a 1v1 situation within the first few minutes of the game. The goalkeeper ended up being embarrassingly faked by Awoniyi, who forced him to commit to an early dive before coolly placing the ball into the back of the net.
Andre Onana sparks F1 memes
Fortunately for the Cameroonian goalkeeper, his error was redeemed by his teammates – who came back from being 2-0 down to win the game in the second half. However, with the Manchester United goalkeeper role being among the most criticized in the Premier League, Onana has been savaged by rival fans.
A weird trend that some fans noticed was the position in which Onana was seated when Awoniyi faked him out before scoring. In a split second, it almost seemed like the goalkeeper sat down with his knees laid down, almost like a frontal seating position. Some believe that he perfectly mimicked the posture of a Formula One driver with his position.
That is why a lot of memes have been created showing him seated in an F1 car, like he is set to race in a Formula One grand prix. Over the decades, the sitting posture of professional F1 driver has changed to ensure that they are totally comfortable to sit through high-octane races that sometimes can stretch to up to two hours.
How do F1 drivers sit in their cockpit?
In the current day and age, an F1 driver sits with backs reclined to about 30 to 40 degrees with their legs out in front of them. Their feet are placed higher than their hips and their backsides are as low down towards the car as possible.
Drivers tend to sit as low as possible because that allows them to reduce the centre of gravity and avoid issues with their helmets being too high in the air flow. The modern-day aerodynamics are so advanced that an F1 car could realistically be driven upside down.
Why do F1 drivers sit like that?
An F1 racer normally sits at around 70mm above ground and that can go lower when the car is forced to go downforce in high speed. The drivers are now made to sit comparatively more forward than before so that they can perform and drive their cars at an optimum pace for a lengthy time before becoming exhausted or developing serious physical issues.
With that being said, not every F1 racer is delighted with the changes in their sitting posture over the last few seasons. Multi-time F1 champion and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said of it: “[sitting that far forward] changes the attitude of the car and how you perceive its movement, and it makes it harder to predict compared to when you’re sitting back, more in the centre…”
Irrespective of that, Formula-One fans and football supporters have seemingly united in their mockery of Onana and his meme-like error against Forest. Some F1 fans have even implied that the Red Devils’ goalkeeper appears to be a perfect fit for the motorsport and that he could be fit to replace under-pressure Red Bull F1 driver Sergio Perez.
Fortunately for the Cameroonian goalkeeper, he doesn’t seem the type to get rattled by internet memes or social media mockery. He will probably look to learn from his mistakes in the previous game and silence his doubters going forward, as well as proven why he’s meant to thrive in football rather than seek a career in Formula-One.