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thef1diary · 16 days

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Little Big Blurbs

— Mr. Bear & Bearman

Saudi Arabian gp 2024, Bella meets Ollie.

Series Masterlist

wc: 1.8k

Based on these requests though I kinda changed parts of the plot, aka I forgot about the sky sports broadcast part until after I finished writing 🫣

It was the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix which was one of the hottest races on the calendar.

Since you had never gone to the country before, Max had warned you about the heat that this time of year would bring. For your daughter in particular, iced cold water in reusable bottles was one of the primary items you had stocked up on in preparation.

Although Isabella enjoyed summer, the humidity in Jeddah caused her hair to stick to her forehead, a sensation she rapidly grew aware of and disliked.

She was not a big fan of the sun blazing down on her, but still wanted to support Max. Even after he had suggested that both of you could join him for the next race in Australia, she didn't budge on her decision to watch the race in Jeddah. Isabella had made it clear that would choose to go to every race that she was able to, especially since it would give her an excuse to skip a few days of school before and after the weekend as well due to travelling.

Isabella was wearing an airy navy blue dress to show her support for her favourite team. She wore a cap with Max's driver number printed on it, as well as sunglasses to keep the sun from stinging her eyes. In addition, a small battery-powered fan rested on her shoulders to keep her cool all throughout the day.

Since Max was required to be in the garage hours before you and Isabella planned to arrive, you entered the paddock on race day with only your daughter.

You held her free hand while you walked further in the paddock, glancing at her a few times and chuckling at her choice of attire which was adorably cute for her age.

With her hand that wasn't held onto yours, she held her favourite teddy, Mr. Bear. Ever since she had retrieved it—or rather rescued it—from her father's house, she hasn't gone anywhere without it in fear of losing or forgetting it again.

Although you hadn't spotted Max, Isabella quickly waved at another driver decked out in a red Ferrari polo and blue baggy jeans—her second favourite driver.

Charles bursted into laughter when he first saw her, immediately commenting on the fan, "I want one."

Isabella tilted one of the two mini fans' direction towards him and he exaggerated a sigh of relief, finding her instant response to his words cute and told her that he appreciated her action. He turned it back towards her after a few moments, knowing that it was to prevent her from excessively sweating or even getting a possible heat stroke.

Then, he looked at you, "hey, why don't I show you around the Ferrari garage?"

You thought about it for a moment, never having been in any other garages except RedBull and RB. "I'm not too sure about that, you know, considering I'm with Max," you shrugged.

He chuckled, "you have no idea how many times he's come by, c'mon it won't take long." He extended his hand towards you but didn't grasp onto your hand, letting you know that you still had a say in the matter and that he would promptly end the conversation and accept your decision if you declined once more.

"Then, I will walk you to your lovesick boyfriend," he muttered quietly enough that Isabella didn't hear.

Dropping your mouth in faux offense, you lightly smacked his shoulder with your hand. "Lovesick? I saw him a few hours ago."

He shrugged, "few hours too long."

You briefly looked down at your daughter who was silently beaming and you knew that she would love a little tour of the Ferrari garage.

You playfully clasped your palm in his for a moment, making him chuckle, "okay then, show us around."

"Great, I can also introduce you to Ollie," Charles commented as he lead you towards the garage that showcased an enlarged version of the iconic prancing horse on the building.

Furrowing your brows, you asked, "who's Ollie?"

"He's a F2 driver, filling in for Carlos because of his illness," Charles briefly explained, pointing at another person who was wearing the same team gear as him.

"Right there." Charles called him over, and you noticed that the driver looked visibly younger than any other Formula 1 driver currently on the grid.

Unfortunately, right as Ollie was introduced to you and Isabella by Charles, the older Ferrari driver was pulled away by other team members that required his presence. "It's alright, he can show you around," Charles suggested.

With a sheepish smile on Ollie's face, he nodded, "I'll show you around, but I will say, I'm still learning everything myself,"

Exploring the garage, you noticed that one of the biggest differences was the colour of the items, other than that most of the things were similar in each garage. Where the Redbull garage was filled with navy blue, Ferrari was an infamous red. Despite being close to the Ferrari drivers, it had felt like you entered a different world since you were used to staying in the Redbull garage.

Your daughter quickly befriended Ollie, mainly since he wasn't immune to her antics and cute little pout. One question led to another and he was happily answering them all to the best of his ability. While most of their conversation was filled with laughter, you could also hear some bickering between them.

In the sea of red, you spotted a man wearing the rival team colours, and even though his back was turned to you, it was easy to tell that it was Max. While Charles had said that the other team drivers can come by the garage, he failed to mention that they would get stared at oddly because of the contrasting colours that made him stand out.

Once he turns around and spots you, he quickly makes his way towards you with the corner of his lips turning downwards. "Why are you here?" He asks, panting.

"Charles suggested a tour. Why are you out of breath?" You retorted. He bends over and rests his palms on his knees. "I looked for you everywhere, I thought you were coming straight to my garage."

He had initially checked his phone for a call or message from you since you weren't in his side of the garage, but the battery died. Max underestimated the amount of walking it would take to check the entire paddock to find you because he couldn't wait after putting his phone on charge.

You placed your palm over your mouth to hide your smile. "I was, but look there," you pointed at your daughter. She was currently carried by Ollie on his back while he showed her all the little details that would be too high up for her to see otherwise.

Max walked over to Ollie, slowly getting to know him better throughout the weekend. Max liked him a lot as the younger driver reminded him of himself when he was younger, albeit a little different but the passion to race was similar.

Although, Ollie didn't need to know that since the words leaving Max’s mouth contrasted his thoughts. "Show her all the red you want, but the only red she'll like is Redbull," Max tells Ollie, catching Isabella’s attention too.

“Maxy look, Ollie got me a bear!” She exclaimed, sliding off the younger driver’s back and holding up the teddy bear. There was a small version of the Ferrari cap stitched on to its head along with a Ferrari polo as well.

“Very nice, princess, did you say thank you?” He asked and earned a nod from the little girl. While she walked closer towards you, Ollie responded to the statement Max said.

"I don't know, maybe you'll have to ask her which red she prefers."

"Are you challenging me?" Max quips, raising his brows. Ollie shrugged nonchalantly, "maybe I am."

"I’ll have you know that I am very competitive," Max added, earning a sigh from you. "Max, are you seriously arguing with a kid, that too over Bella?"

He looked at you in disbelief, "he's trying to convince our Bella to like Ferrari over RedBull, he's brainwashing her."

"I don't know about which one I like better, but I will say that I’m also going to be supporting Ollie this race, since it's his first in F1.”

Max frowned at you, then looked at Ollie, "seriously? First my Bella and now my girlfriend too? Count your days."

The younger driver looked at you with concern visible in his eyes, “he’s not serious is he?”

You shook your head, “not at all,” but at the same time Max replied, “of course I am.”

You ignored your boyfriend’s words for a moment, placing a hand on Ollie’s shoulder. "Raising Isabella has just made him a bit more protective," you explained.

"You both have a beautiful daughter, but you don't have to worry about her here," he looked at Isabella who had interrupted Charles’ conversation with his engineer but neither men minded the intrusion.

You called your daughter over, not wanting her to be a disturbance in the garage especially on a busy day like today. Before you could respond to Ollie’s comment, Max beat you to it. "You’re driving for Ferrari, that is enough of a reason not to trust you.

“He’s joking,” you added to lighten the mood, especially since Max’s humour was not obvious to many people. Ollie on the other hand, added his own cheeky retort, "you trust Charles."

Isabella returned to your side and it was time to leave the garage since Max was probably needed at his garage too. Your daughter’s hands were occupied by two teddy bears, and you couldn’t help but ask, “what are you going to name it?”

“Bearman, after Ollie.” Her response caused a sigh to leave Max’s mouth but you chuckled looking at him. “Mr. Bear and Bearman, that’s nice.”

Isabella stopped in her tracks, “mama, can I watch the race from that garage?” She asked pointing to the Ferrari garage that you just began walking away from.

You looked at Max, expecting to see another frown on his face but seeing a smile instead. He shrugged, “if she wants.”

“Are you sure?” You asked, finding the difference in his mood concerning. “Yeah, Ollie’s a good kid.” His smiled revealed that he had no ill intent regarding Ollie, he was just a little overprotective over Isabella.

Isabella spent that qualifying day cheering on Ollie while sitting along with you and his family, who were already enamoured by the little girl as well. When he returned with a good starting position, especially considering it was his first ever race in Formula 1, he hugged Isabella just as tight as he hugged his father, already considering her like a little sister.

Little Big Blurb taglist (let me know if you want to be added): @keerysfreckles @d3kstar @xjval @hc-dutch @the-untamed-soul @multi-fandom-fan221b @lilymurphy03 @shreks-best-tits @nessacarty1 @ldynblack @lighttsoutlewis @ur-fave-ave @namjoonswaifu @llando4norris

#max verstappen fluff #max verstappen x you #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen fic #little big fan fic #thef1diary fic #f1 fluff #fluff #f1 imagines #f1 imagine #ollie bearman fanfic #ollie bearman fluff

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saintescuderia · 29 days

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pancakes (pt. 3)

AKA - the story of how the naive australian rookie befriended the gym junkie F1 hospitality worker with the shoe collection - and inadvertently broke the grid's most treasured and unspoken rule: you don't go for y/n.

series masterlist here :)

A/N: don't come for me. i love daniel. it's all for plot. (also, if the timeline seems odd it’s bc creative liberties have been taken 😌)

P3 - stairmaster endurance

As you walked down the steps to the Drivers Gala in your stunning red dress, you were unaware how one Ferrari driver couldn’t take his eyes off you. Looking at you smiling elegantly to one of the reps who greeted you, Charles realised just how much of a mistake he had made. Carlos was at his side, saying something that was back ground noise. All Charles could focus on was you. Your flowing hair, your eyes glinting in the light as you smiled your beautiful smile at whoever was talking to you. You always spoke with such passion. Charles always loved that about you. He would always love every little thing about you—

The alarm went off.

You blinked and stopped the timer notification that essentially shook you out of the deep rabbit hole of F1 fanfiction you had found yourself falling into. Closing the purple app, you wondered why you still remained on Tumblr even after the 2013 hype of it died and everyone shifted to Twitter. Let alone the fact that your Tumblr had become your closeted way to fangirl about the sport you had dedicated your life to.

Then again, what were you to expect? The algorithm clearly picked up on your interests. That or the government was listening in and knew that Formula 1 was your day-to-day. That would explain how, one day, you were simply scrolling through the random, niche memes and BAM! You were met with the completely random gif-set of Arthur Leclerc and Oscar Piastri sat in an interview for Prema.

It had caught you off guard, seeing that come up on your phone screen. It had also been a while since you had seen Arthur. For the whole duration of that single and endless moment, you didn't know how to react.

So your thumb double tapped the screen.

And maybe it was your fault for liking it, for encouraging the algorithm. But you could’t help but smile at the gif of Arthur confident and proud of his 18 hour screen time. That boy had no filter and never gave a fuck about the social norm. That and he often just didn’t read the room. Even after all these years, and his climb up the motorsport ladders, that youthful element about him had remained. It made you smile. You always liked that about him.

However, with that gif-set came more stuff. Innocent stuff. More F2 bits - you really missed those boys - and then everything else. Funny bits of Max at Red Bull. Carlos and Lando. All the Guenther Steiner moments. It was a little weird to be liking gifs of a team principal, you were well aware, but if anything it just made you feel proud of how far the German-Italian had come.

Back in the old Red Bull days, Guenther would always tell you about his dreams of directing his own team. It was nice to see him finally achieve that. It was also an endless source of amusement for you.

For example: the day Kevin had shattered the door.

When it happened, though, it was definitely not a laughing matter. You had been just finishing up the lunch service at the Haas motorhome - making sure to pack up some food for the drivers and mechanics who still were in a meeting - when you had heard the loud noise. Mack, the sous-chef, had stopped and looked at you with wide eyes.

You had both exited the kitchen to walk out to the main space of the motorhome and see other Haas employees equally as confused and whispering. Not getting a clear answer, you patted Mack on the shoulder and returned to the kitchen to finish plating up Kevin and Romain’s lunch for later.

Fifteen minutes later, however, and you had gotten your answer when Guenther stormed into the kitchen fuming. “He does not slam my fucking office door! What am I going to do? Call Gene and tell him his drivers are some fucking idiot babies?!”

You had simply stared at him, blinkingly.

Guenther had then spied a plate of food sitting on the bench. “That fucking driver doesn’t deserve any of your fucking food!” And he picked the plate and dumped plate with its contents in the bin.

“Guenther," you had began in a calm voice, "that was my lunch. Kevin’s plate is in the fridge.”

“Well eat his fucking food! Or—" Guenther reached into his pocket and pulled out a credit card and slammed it onto the table in front of you. “Go to a fucking five star hotel and have lunch there on that fucking idiot baby's pay.”

And the two of you had actually done so.

Even after he calmed down, Guenther had been adamant to take you to lunch which, admittedly, wasn't the most odd thing ever. Guenther was removed enough from all the driver drama and you had known him a for long time. You were the reason he had helped in the debut in 2016 anyway.

Still, no matter how Guenther Guenther was, Kevin was still a driver. You knew how it might look.

Said driver, however, had thankfully just dismissed it when you offered to pay him back. "Make me those mini pizzas next time you're with us and we're good."

And so when you clocked on this morning to see you were covering Haas, you immediately smiled and went to make good on your promise to K-Mag.

You always loved working in the Haas motorhome. If only half the stuff you saw Guenther did and said ended up in gif-sets on Tumblr.

Pushing yourself off the stool, you pocketed your phone and grabbed the oven mitts to pull out the mini pizzas. You had made extra for the engineers since there was an issue with Nico’s PU and knew they would be up late working on the engine. It wasn’t a secret that your pizzas were a coveted snack, being low-carb and high protein enough for even the drivers to consume. You were half expecting Fred Vasseur to pop in and steal some. He did love these pizzas. Any time you were stationed at Alfa Romeo, it was a guarantee you would be making them at his request.

Though, now Fred was moving to Ferrari. So you weren't sure if he was still going to be nice to you. Mattia Binotto had always treated you like the fucking plague.

"Ah, Y/N. For fuck's sake!" You heard the German accent and felt your mouth curve up into a smile as Guenther arrived on scene. He was dressed in the Haas gear for 2023, lanyard around his neck. "You still here running the coffee when you can beat any of these idiots in the car."

You gave him a fake two finger salute. "If I drove, no one would stand a chance."

"Well maybe you could help us score some fucking points." Guenther said. Immediately, he got down to business. "Harry Kane did well last night. Scored two fucking goals."

You snorted. One of the many reasons you and Guenther bonded so well was that you one of the few people amongst this Paddock that took football seriously. Almost as seriously as Formula 1. Almost.

"Didn't see it." You said, shaking your head. Bundesliga was lower on your list of priorities when it came to games. You only paid attention to the German league when it came to teams making it into Champions League. Besides, Guenther should’ve known what game you were watching last night. Still, you reminded him. "The Reds were playing."

He rolled his eyes, though unsurprised. "Of course you're going to watch English fucking football."

"Hey, only because of Salah.” You reminded him and hit your chest proudly, “I gotta represent."

"That much is fucking obvious." Guenther said. One of the many reasons you liked working in Haas so much was that it was by far the most relaxed garage out of them all. For example, you hadn't yet taken off the hoodie you wore which had, on top, the number 10 Liverpool jersey. It looked unprofessional, having a t-shirt over a jumper like that, especially mixed with the headscarf you had tied on your head like a durag, but Guenther couldn’t care less. If anything, he was probably just offended at your choice of EPL team.

“United is fucking Red.”

"Ah, Guenther. You know my heart really lies." You reminded him.

Your uncle, a Spanish man, had brought you up following the iconic Real Madrid. He literally visited the hospital with a teddy bear and Bernabeu membership, adamant he would get his newborn niece into the sport. No matter what.

From the moment he found out your number one team, Guenther was salty. “Los Blancos.” He scoffed. “The fucking villains of football." He came round to see the circular pieces of bread covered with sauce and an array of different toppings. Guenther picked one up - and immediately dropped it. "Fuck!"

"It's hot." You said, dryly. You took out another tray and set it down. You closed the oven door and turned it off. You flipped the towel over your shoulder as you watched Guenther now at the sink, running water over his burnt fingers.

"You don't fucking say." Guenther blowing on his fingers.

“Stop being a baby.” You laughed, bringing up your hands to your head to fix your headscarf.

Guenther ignored that comment. "Fred fucking loves these things. Don't tell him you made them. I don't want him in here stealing them."

You said nothing and turned around to pretend to busy yourself with the trays of mini pizzas. It was best to just remain quiet sometimes. Bahrain testing had kept everyone occupied and at that start of the season F1 Hospitality were usually running around after Stefano Domenicali and the FIA Co. for last minute set up. It was only into the race calendar that Hospitality were eventually went around to the teams.

So, no. You hadn't seen Fred. You hadn't seen anyone. You were just grateful that your first race of 2023 was in the safety of Haas. Nico and Kevin were older and, therefore, a little more out of it when it came to driver drama. If they knew anything, they were old enough to be mature about it.

Though, that couldn't be the same of others from their generation. You were already losing sleep from the feelings that arose from seeing Daniel in Red Bull gear. It didn't help that the last time you two had spoken, things hadn't exactly been civil.

You were on the stair-master. The clock on the machine read 37:48. The sweat was dripping off you.

Your grey jumper had darkened in shades, wet from the sweat. You kept your hands on your head as you stepped and stepped and stepped and stepped. Angsty rap music blasted into your ears. Tinnitus was likely to worsen, but you would take that over the shit storm that was currently breaking all over the Paddock.

I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press statement late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract for Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.

Oscar hadn’t even yet joined Formula 1 and he was already stirring trouble. That was a problem. For you. You were supposed to lay low. The whole point of this was to lay low and not drawing any attention to yourself. The agreement was that you could still be there if only in the role of Hospitality.

And the idiot had tweeted that and then, ten minutes later, decided to follow you.

How he even found your Twitter was surprising? It wasn’t very personal - your profile picture was solid black - so no fans would be able to recognise you. But the Paddock? The FIA and your bosses? They were raising confused eyebrows that Oscar Piastri would drop that bomb and then follow you.

You could already imagine what Otmar was going to say. God, the 2023 season hadn’t fully started and you were already dreading walking into the Alpine home. And then Jos Verstappen was rumoured to be attending more races this year and who could forget about Daniel coming back to Red Bull? The universe apparently needed to give you some character development, it seemed.

Your legs ached, begging to stop. Your mind thought about pressing the red emergency button, to just end it. But you knew better. You knew this was all a mind game. Pain is an allusion. Keep going. Shit hurts but you push through. Keep going. Keep going. Keep fucking going. It's what you always told yourself. It's how you got yourself through everything. It's how you'll get through all of this. If you can push through the pain of the stairmaster, then you can push through the pain of anything. You had learned that pain was temporary and it was just a mind-game. You could always go longer than you thought possible. You just had to keep reminding yourself of that fact. So, right now, it was just practice. Each step you took right now was practicing the endurance of pain from this stairmaster fucking filling your legs. If you could get through this, you would be able to handle any drama in the future.

Unfortunately, drama walked through the door before you could make it through the current pain of said stairmaster.

Daniel Ricciardo stormed into the Driver’s Only Gym, knowing all too well that this was where you would be. He had been the one to tell you about this fucking place in the first place. Before everything, you had always loved working out and exercise was part of the reason you two ended up as you did. Now, you didn’t have the luxury you did before. You didn’t have the lanyard.

So, now, you had to workout in the shadows.

That didn't mean Daniel didn't see you. Didn't hear you. Didn't know what you were doing every single day of every weekend the both of you avoided each other at the Paddock. He knew you still wore your sneakers according to the race location. He knew you still wore headscarves when in the Middle East and covered your tattoos when in Japan. He knew you still avoided Charles just he like he knew you still avoided him. He knew you.

So Daniel knew you woke up at 4am every day to work out. And after Zak Brown told him the news, he spent the night dealing with his spiralling career through a bottle of Jack Daniels. Then he had the idea to come out from the four walls of his hotel room and see you.

Because Daniel knew you had made your pancakes for the rookie, that fucking Oscar Piastri. And Daniel was one of the few people who knew, who fully understood just what that meant to you.

Drunk and emotional, Daniel planted himself right in front of the stair master. He stared at you, caught like a deer in headlights and got right to it.

“You must be fucking happy.”

It was the first time he had directly spoken to you in five years.

So it took you a second to process what was happening.

Daniel Ricciardo was right here, in front of you, at 4:50 in the morning as you sweated your body weight out through the repeated steps you took on the machine.

Suddenly you were aware that you had rolled yourself out of bed with a little less motivation than the norm. You had been extra tired, hitting snooze more than twice. You hadn’t washed your face and you wondered if Daniel would be able to spot the stain of egg yolk on your hoodie. It had been some time since he had been this close to you and you were in bike shorts and currently on a bulk. Suddenly, you wished you were on a cut. Why did the one time he came this close to you had to be so big and puffy?

"Excuse me?" You found yourself saying, shifting one headphone off your ear. “Can I help you?”

"Did you know?" Daniel asked. He didn't give you a chance to respond. "Of course you fucking did."

Without even thinking, you pulled the red plug your mind had obsessed over and jumped down. The pain was already here so there was no point going through any more than necessary. You looked up at Daniel, panting. He, too, was exhaling a little heavier than normal. Too angry and, judging by the smell of his breath, drunk to be stable.

There was no point lying to him. Aside from the fact that Daniel was emotionally charged (and drunk - and he got super passionate when he was drunk) you knew he would immediately pick up on it. You don't spend three years with someone and not know them like the back of your hand. And, unlike him, you can safely say that you hadn't really changed since 2018. If you lied, he would know.

"I signed a NDA, Daniel." You said simply, walking to your gym bag sat on the red bench. You picked up your bottle to take a sip, your throat dry. You tried to keep yourself calm and not shaky. Do my legs look too big? God, Please don’t let me smell like BO. Your thoughts were still running rampant. Despite the extensive cardio, your body was buzzing from the anxiety of having Daniel so close.

Daniel. To think you had once been so deeply in love with the man stood before you.

"Fuck off." He spat. You recoiled. "No one gives a shit about that."

"I do." You said, trying to keep your voice from growing small. "Sorry I care about my job."

Daniel let out a sardonic laugh. You braced yourself, knowing what was to come. You had experienced this many times before during your fights. "What? Making coffee and fucking washing the dishes? Yeah, great job you got there, babe."

"Don't call me babe." You spat back. "And can you not be a dick for two fucking seconds, Daniel."

You said it. His name. When was the last time you had said it? It made you both take a second to process what was happening, to acknowledge how long it had been since the two of you had actually spoken to one another, how long since you had addressed the other as a human being that actually existed.

In that moment, Daniel finally seemed to lose a bit of anger and, instead, show a glimmer of vulnerability. "I lost my seat. I don't know what I'm going to do."

You looked down at your shoes at show of helplessness. New Balance 350s. Red and yellow. They had been on sale. You liked them for stable LISS circuits but hated the colour way. Now, they were the most interesting thing to look at.

Everyone knew that Daniel Ricciardo was always all smiles and that, no matter what, he was optimistic. Happy. He never showed any weakness.

Except, you had seen him when the smiles fell away and the laughter died. In the safety of your private hotel rooms and Daniel could just be, you saw him vulnerable, you saw him hurt, you saw him stress, worry, cry, swear and be open to how he was really feeling. Like right now.

“Daniel I—“

"You didn’t even think to fucking tell me."

You looked up at the change of tone and how he was frowning-- no, sneering at you. This made you change and any remorse, any pity, you felt for the man in front of you immediately vanished. You weren’t in a hotel room. You were in the gym. And it had been five fucking years.

"Are you fucking blaming me right now?"You snapped back. "What the fuck do I owe you, exactly?"

"I’m the reason you’re here!"

By now, your heart was racing. And not from the exercise. This, this was it. You finally had your moment to say it.

"Yes, exactly, Daniel. You’re the reason that I am, as you said, making coffee and fucking washing the dishes! If it weren’t for you, we both know where I would be right now. But you got fucking scared of Max and blamed me for it!"

This hit a nerve. "I was not scared of Max! I outperformed Max!"

"Yes, on the weeks I fucking trained you!"

"Fuck me,” Daniel was shooting straight daggers at you despite the wry grin on his face, “do you really think that was all you?"

You put your hands on your hips and squared up to meet his eyes, narrowing your own. "Considering how your teammate took me on as a trainer and then became the number 1 driver, yes, I will take some fucking credit for that." Daniel's face dropped when you said it. And you knew it was a low blow, but you couldn't help the words before they tumbled out from your mouth. "The world’s fucking moved on from Monaco 2018. Maybe you should too."

"Fuck you!" He shouted.

"Fuck you!" You shouted back. You grabbed your phone and found yourself tapping onto a recent chat and speedily composing a text. You hated how your fingers shook. You also hated how you were texting for help.

"Well, clearly you haven’t moved on from Monaco if you’re bringing it up." Daniel said, no longer shouting, but his tone still as icily. "You’re going to be mad about that until the end of time?"

You closed your eyes and willed your eyes not to think of the image of him with her, the pain you felt walking in and seeing that. Instead, you opened your eyes and stared him dead in the eye and spoke as calmly as possible.

"Jos Verstappen will be coming to the races more often this year. That means I won't be able to work in the Red Bull garage. If I'm at AlphaTauri, do not fucking come."

Daniel ignored this, undeterred. Instead, he kept grinning down at you thinking he found something. "You seriously aren't over it, are you?"

"No, the memory of you putting your dick into another woman still keeps me up at night." You rolled your eyes despite how it still did admittedly hurt. You pretended it didn’t and hoped he believed it. "Please stop thinking so highly of yourself. Remind yourself of why you're here, right now, talking to me."

Daniel's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something but the sound of the doors opening had him closing it. You grabbed your gym bag and finally made a move to turn around and escape the gym.

Ignoring the looks of one very confused Carlos Sainz as you breezed past him.

"I have to go deal with idiots who can’t tell me what’s wrong with the engine." Guenther said. You had brought forth two plates and slide two pizzas onto each.

"Here. For you and Nico." You said, knowing Nico would join the meeting about his car. "I'll bring a tray in a little bit for the rest of the engineers."

"Make me and Nico some coffee, please." Guenther said, taking the plates. "And pour in some fucking whiskey." You laughed and watched him disappear down the hallway of the offices set up. Haas' lack of financial support meant their motorhome was mediocre at best. Still, you loved being here more than anywhere else. It was the safest, really.

Wiping your hands on the towel, you went outside to where the coffee cart was situated. Another example of Haas' lack of funding was needing a Formula One coffee cart and not having an in house machine like everyone else did. You went about preparing the coffees like how you knew Nico and Guenther liked - as well as making yourself one while you were at it.

"No Real Madrid today?"

You found yourself jumping at the familiar Spanish lilt of the other Ferrari driver. Carlos Sainz was someone you never really paid any close attention to. He wasn't close enough to either Daniel or Charles' circles to ever have been on your radar. He had left Red Bull before you did and since he was Ferrari associated, it meant you never really had much to do with him.

Still, he was pleasant and nice. He always had been. He was one of those drivers that if word had spread to him - and it was very likely that it had - he didn't show it. Or care enough about it. Any time Carlos saw you around the Paddock, it was with a warm smile and a quick small-talk question about your thoughts on Real Madrid's latest match. But that was really ever it.

Until that time he had walked in at 5am to see you and Daniel Ricciardo screaming at each other.

"Uh, no. Liverpool was playing yesterday." You said, wondering if he knew you also cared about the Scouse team. Admittedly, you didn’t have the same love for them as you did for the Spanish legends, but you couldn’t have Egyptian heritage and not care about Mo Salah.

"You're Egyptian, no?" He asked. You focused on frothing the milk, unable to really look him in the eyes so soon after this morning.

"Yes." It was there in the mix, yes, but you really weren't up for explaining the complicated heritage of your ethnicity this morning. Looking at the milk circling in the silver jug, you realised your face was heating up. You were slightly surprised he even knew you were Egyptian in the first place. Unlike with Guenther or the splattering of other football fans in the Paddock, you and Carlos only ever had brief snapshots of Real Madrid small talk.

Still, this wasn't an odd conversation, you had to remind yourself. You were talking about the one thing you and him ever talked about. But, again, this was after Carlos had walked in to see you, a Hospitality worker, arguing with a driver.

"Please don't tell anyone about me being in the gym." You finally said, turning off the frother to gently tap the metal jar against the bench and settle the bubbles in the milk. "I could get into a lot of trouble since it's only for drivers."

Carlos waved a dismissive hand and shook his head. When it was clear he wasn't going to, you breathed a small sigh of relief. But then he leaned against the cart and you felt yourself starting to get anxious again. There was a quiet moment for a second as your poured the latte for Nico. Carlos' eyes followed your hands.

"I will say something if Ricciardo upset you." He said in a quieter voice.

You immediately shook your head and finally looked him in the eye. "Please don't. There's enough complication with... everything." You finished lamely.

"So I've heard." Carlos said.

You looked away. He knew.

"So then you'll know I don't need anymore complications." You said through gritted teeth, hating very much the confirmation that word had spread about what had happened.

"You haven't done anything wrong, though."

This caught you by surprise. It was the first time anyone - or, at least, a driver - had said those words to you. At the start, everyone had immediately pointed fingers at you. You were shunned and blamed. Some saw your position with the Formula One Group as part of Hospitality too light a punishment for what had happened. For the longest time, it was the confusion as to why everyone had reacted that way that did that hurt you. You hadn’t thought you had done anything wrong. Not really. You struggled to understand why no one else saw it that way. Least of all any of the drivers that knew what had happened.

Hearing Carlos say that really threw you for a short second. Carlos even caught it. He said your name and you finally looked up at him when you heard him say your name.

"Sorry it’s just - uh, Carlos, man.” You laughed a dry laugh. “You're probably the only driver who thinks so."

"I'm not." Carlos crossed his arms. "I might be the only one who has said so, but if I've understood correctly... then I'm not."

You looked down at metal jug in your hand with the extra milk you had frothed for yourself. Suddenly, you didn't feel like any caffeine. Your anxiety was already through the roof.

"Do you want a coffee?" You asked, sounding, again, very lame as that was your response to Carlos' comment.

The Spaniard looked back down at the spoon and jug in your hands. He nodded. "Have you had one already?" You asked. He shook his head and so you went about pulling down another paper cup to make his piccolo.

"You remembered." He said, laughing slightly.

"First coffee is a piccolo. Second and third are black." You recalled his order. Carlos smiled at you as you poured the milk. "I know everyone's coffee orders."

You didn’t catch how his smile lessened slightly at that.

You looked back at him and tried to ignore the thought of whether his kindness was exaggerated for your sake. A pity thing or something. Carlos accepted the coffee and then he actually offered a thank you in Arabic. You found your lips turning up hearing the marhaba on his Spanish tongue. “Es un placer.” You came back with his own native language.

You don’t work in Formula 1 without picking up a few things here and there.

Hence how you could recognise the German swears that sounded from within the motorhome as Guenther suddenly appeared.

“Where is that Y/N? Liverpool fucking tops the league and thinks she can take her time with— ah, you Ferrari fuckers!” Both you and Carlos looked to where he had come up behind the driver and slapped a friendly pat on his back. “Tell Fred he can’t have any pizza.”

“Pizza?” Carlos asked and looked down at you. “You made your pizza?”

You didn’t get a chance to respond before some Haas engineers appeared behind Guenther and called for you and him. Carlos took this as his sign - he was technically on Haas territory - and nodded at you and Guenther, holding up his piccolo in salute. Guenther had already taken the coffees you’d made for him and Nico and disappeared behind the sliding doors. You made a move to follow when Carlos called out.

"I want to try some famous Y/N pizza!” He said, turning on his heel as he walked backwards and called out to you.

You smiled and shook your head, walking back into the Haas home. You went back to the oven and set about plating up the pizzas to be a little more presentable to them. You also made sure to put some aside especially for Kevin. This was supposed to be for him.

You thought idly of saving some for Carlos when some Haas engineers you vaguely recognised walked past.

"Oh nice!" One engineer said, coming up and immediately reaching for one to stick it in his mouth. You watched him do the same blunder that Guenther did.

The other engineer, a woman with a thick Irish accent? was staring at you. Smug. "Damn, who got you smiling like that, missy?"

"What?" You asked, eyes going wide. You hadn't realised the wide smile on your face that was likely the direct result of one Carlo Sainz. Your face became hot again and it took every ounce of will to not seem affected by her words. “No one.”

"Mmm. If you say so.” She said in a sing song voice. “Well and me Mr Cool over here,” she gestured to the the other engineer trying to breathe through the hot pizza, “are heading to the garage now to see Kevin. Can we take them?"

"Yeah." You nodded. "Go ahead."

"Not saving some for anyone?"

"No." You shook your head firmly. "Take them all."

taglist:

@eugene-emt-roe @spookystitchery @vicurious28 @taytaylala12 @c-losur3 @hiireadstuff @samantha-chicago @fionaschicken @casperlikej

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theemporium · 3 months

Note

Mayve something cute wjere butterfly doesn't feel well but tries to hide it from Carlos to not worry him? And poor boy gets all worried.

enjoy some wee pre-marriage carlos and butterfly! thank you for requesting!🫶🏽

As it would turn out, hiding how you felt from your boyfriend wasn’t easy when you worked for the same team.

Usually, it was a blessing. When you started working full-time with Ferrari and travelling the world with them, any hope of having a normal relationship went out the window with your weird hours and constant travelling around the world.

But then Carlos happened. And it was like the universe worked in some weird ways to give you the most perfect person who would understand your schedule because his was even more hectic.

Yet, it only made it worse in moments like this. Carlos was a driver, and not just a driver but also for one of the top teams. He couldn’t afford to get sick, not when they were actually having a good season for once. You couldn’t afford to be the one to get him sick even if every part of you wanted to just be held by him, you couldn’t let yourself be selfish.

When you flew in with him, it was nothing more than a headache you thought would pass with time and a nap. But when you woke up from the nap a few hours later feeling like you had been hit by a bus, you knew exactly how shit you were going to feel for the next few days and you knew you needed to keep him away from you.

However, Carlos was a smart man. A beautiful, stubborn, smart man who worked out pretty fast that you were ignoring him when you didn’t come to his room on Wednesday night. And again when you went out of your way to rush off in between media duties. And again when you avoided his message to meet in his driver room in between conferences.

But you couldn’t afford to get him sick. And you couldn’t afford for him to know you were sick, so you trusted only the people you knew wouldn’t tell him (aka just yourself).

Although, what you failed to think about was the fact that your colleagues wouldn’t hesitate to slip where you were hiding when your boyfriend asked.

“You’re ignoring me.”

Your head snapped up at his voice, a small wince leaving your lips from the sudden movement. You sat up a little, though the little corner in the Ferrari hospitality wasn’t doing much when you were sitting on the floor with your laptop balanced on your lap.

“I’m not,” you responded weakly, only for Carlos to give you a look.

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something else, only to pause when he really took you in. The pale expression, the dark circles under your eyes, the red tip of your nose and chapped lips. You barely had a chance to react before he was kneeling in front of you, your face engulfed by his large hands as he frowned.

“Mi mariposa,” he murmured with a sad look on his face. “Why did you not tell me you were sick?”

“Because you can’t be near me right now,” you said as your fingers wrapped around his wrist, attempting to pull him away from you but it was useless. “Carlos, you can’t afford to get sick. Racing is your life and if you couldn’t do it because I got you sick—”

“Mi amor,” he interrupted, though his voice was soft and soothing as his thumbs traced over the apples of your cheek. “Racing is my life but you are my everything. Let me take care of you.”

“Carlos,” you said with a sigh, but he cracked a smile when he knew your resolve was breaking.

“C’mon,” he ushered as he reached for your laptop in one hand and held out the other for you to reach for. “I promise not to kiss you but at least rest in my room whilst I have a debrief with the team. I won’t let my girl sit on the floor like this.”

Your cheeks burned but you nodded, burying your face against his bicep when he chuckled a little.

“Thank you,” you murmured softly.

“Always, mi mariposa, always.”

#carlos sainz #formula one #f1 #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz x y/n #carlos sainz fic #carlos sainz one shot #formula one x reader #formula one x you #formula one x y/n #formula one fic #formula one one shot #f1 x reader #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #f1 fic #f1 one shot

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solaireverie · 6 months

Text

Solsplaining Lestappen Gate 2023: Motivations

(aka i spent a full day psychoanalyzing rich white men who drive fast cars for a living)

I'll be the first to admit it: the recent rumors of a move to Red Bull for Charles / news involving him that is just as shocking, affectionately known as Lestappen Gate 2023, is likely delusion. (Or in the words of my beloved sister, "silly season didn't deliver this year, so we have to find something else to obsess over")

However, one common misconception is that one of the main reasons why a deal like this would fall through is the perception that Charles is, and will always remain, loyal to Ferrari, and would never move to another team. However, I actually think that it's very possible for Charles to want a transfer.

Charles is a professional athlete. You don't get to the level that he's at without being dedicated, hardworking, and incredibly competitive. (You can even see his ultra-competitive nature outside of the car — just take a look at the Ferrari driver challenges on Youtube.)

Every single Formula 1 driver (with the possible exception of the man, the myth, and the legend that is Yuki Tsunoda) dreams of winning the World Driver's Championship. Charles isn't going to stay with a team that promised him victory yet keeps failing to deliver (see Silverstone 2022, Spain 2022, Hungary 2022, etc), especially when he's already proven that he can challenge for the title when given a competitive car and decent strategy.

In fact, Charles has already told us the circumstances under which he would be open to leaving Ferrari: when he no longer believes in their "project" and he doesn't feel like he's maximizing performance. (He states clearly that he won't leave at the moment, but the most reasonable estimate for a move has always been 2025, after his current contract expires.)

Now, what could possibly qualify as not maximizing performance? Maybe Charles' past four years with Ferrari?

It obviously isn't all Ferrari's fault. Charles has made his fair share of mistakes and he's paid for them (ex: French GP 2022), but at the end of the day you have to admit that Ferrari seems to make an inordinate amount of mistakes for what should be one of the most prestigious teams in the sport.

Also, not directly related to Charles going to RBR, but it's been said that Ferrari only want to keep one of their current drivers for the future due to concerns about car development since Charles and Carlos have different driving styles. They would prefer to retain Charles, and that's why Carlos has been having difficulties with his contract, but at the end of the day I think that may be another concern Charles may have.

Red Bull have proved time and time again that they are currently on top in terms of car development, pace, strategy, etc. etc. It truly cannot be stressed too much the insanely dominant season they're currently having, and it seems probable that they'll continue this streak into at least the next two to three seasons.

(And even if they do fall off after the 2026 regulations are introduced, they've shown that they can remain competitive and fight to get back to the top. Red Bull have had two periods of domination in the past decade-ish and Ferrari haven't had a WDC since Kimi in 2007 or a WCC since the year after.)

If Charles wants to leave Ferrari to get a better shot at the WDC, Red Bull would be one of his best bets.

On the other side of the equation is Max Verstappen, who has consistently praised Charles' racecraft and has even said that he thinks that they would work well together (mind you, this article is from 2019, which was waaaaaay before their relationship reached the stage that it's at now, and Max was already floating the possibility.)

Red Bull is currently Max's team. He would definitely have a significant amount of input should they decide to change his teammate. Everything he's said so far about and around Charles, as well as the way he acts with him, points to Max not being opposed to the idea. (I'd even go so far as to say that it's possible that he wants to race alongside Charles... *cough* those comments about putting Charles in a better car *cough*)

Red Bull as a team would also benefit greatly from signing Charles. Firstly, he's a great PR asset. He's a media darling and at least one of the top three most popular drivers in F1. For a team that's basically a glorified marketing campaign, that's incredibly important.

Secondly, he and Max have similar driving styles. They're both aggressive and prefer borderline "undriveable" cars. Red Bull have the same issue as Ferrari currently in that their two drivers don't necessarily share the same style, which makes car development difficult. This results in the car suiting one driver (usually the faster) over the other, which then leads to the other driver performing abnormally substandard (see post-Miami 2023 Sergio and McLaren 2022 Daniel).

There are, of course, people who think that Checo might keep his seat or Daniel/Liam/Yuki will replace him.

Checo hasn't been able to achieve a 1-2 in the championship despite having had two dominant cars. This year, if he does get it, it would be by the skin of his teeth (fingers still crossed for Lewis!!!), which if you look at Max's gap with him in the points is simply ridiculous.

He's been decent for getting in the points, but a car like the RB19 shouldn't just be "in the points". Of course, it's not exactly suited for him, but less Q3 appearances than Oscar Piastri, a rookie who had a bad car for a third of the season? Sergio has always been a driver who excels in midfield teams and dragging decent cars higher than they should go, but I don't think he's built for championship contention in a dominant team like Red Bull.

I hate to say it, but realistically I don't see Daniel finding his way back into a RBR seat. He's still a good driver, but he's getting older and his stints with Renault and McLaren really hurt his reputation. The main reason that I think Red Bull would keep him now is for marketing but they've already achieved that by first making him their third driver and then sticking him in Alpha Tauri. Moment of silence for Nyck.

Let's take a look at Red Bull's history of choosing drivers: they've always leaned on the younger side. Sebastian Vettel, Max himself, Pierre Gasly, and Alex Albon were all brought in to replace an older driver. (Which again proves my point about Daniel: Why would RBR replace Checo with a driver older than him? This sentence pained me to write. RBR Daniel you will always be special in my heart!!!)

On the other hand, both Pierre and Alex have shown Red Bull that promoting a rookie too soon can hurt both of them. Yuki, perhaps, but he's not the most stable driver, and he doesn't have the raw talent that Max possesses to make up for the mistakes he makes occasionally. (Personally, I think he'll go to a midfield team eventually.)

For Red Bull, Charles would be a fantastic addition. He's already proven himself, is a publicity powerhouse in his own right, and can compete with Max. Just... no Brocedes ending, please.

Red Bull and Ferrari are incredibly similar in the sense that they are both, at the core of their existences, a mythos, albeit in vastly different ways. Red Bull Racing is a marketing scheme that chases success above all. Scuderia Ferrari is the years of history that looms behind the name.

They're both trying to sell you something, it's just that one is an energy drink and the other is the legend of the Prancing Horse.

Eventually, when Charles is no longer buying into Ferrari, he's going to go looking for another team to put his faith in, and plenty of signs point to it being Red Bull, who in my opinion has shown that they would be more than happy to accept him.

This still doesn't explain why Ferrari would also be posting Lestappen and it's entirely possible that it's all just a ✨ coincidence ✨, but in the meantime I will choose to be delusional!

If you've read to here, I salute you for reaching the end of my ramblings. Please drop by to let me know what you think! Have a nice day and stay hydrated <3

#solsplaining #f1 #formula 1 #f1 rumors #charles leclerc #max verstappen #lestappen #lestappen gate 2023 #red bull racing #scuderia ferrari #it's 2am i have no clue if this is coherent or not #disclaimer: i'm not a professional / motorsport person take everything i say with a grain of salt blah blah blah

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effervescentdragon · 1 year

Note

Unusual Fic-Specific Asks for Authors

All To Another Heart | A Thousand Words

In The Reflection | Time After Time | 2030

Gravitational Currents | BTS

love how i literally had to google every one of these to see which fic it is xD love you <3 !!!

Main concepts in a photoset for All To Another Heart (aka girl!Charles/TP!Seb)

---

Timestamp - 2030 (ish) for In The Reflection (aka engineer!Charles)

"How you still don't know to tie your tie properly, mi amor, I will never know. It has been over ten years since you started wearing suits."

Charles raised his head from where he was fumbling with the tie and met Carlos' eyes in the mirror.

"That is why I keep you around," he replied, lines around his eyes making him somehow even more handsome than he was when Carlos first saw him, decades ago, wet in that pool in Singapore. "Now will you..."

"Yes, sí, of course," Carlos said and stepped closer, winding his arms around Charles' shoulders to help fix his tie. "I cannot have people say I don't take care of you, letting you go with a crooked on stage tonight when you receive the trophy."

Charles' cheeks reddened in the same way they always did, but the happiness radiating from him was all too evident.

"I may not even go to the stage," he tried to say, but Carlos just huffed incredulously, making quick and steady work of Charles' tie.

"You are responsible for the Championship-winning car, mi amor," Carlos said, leaning close to Charles' ear and enjoying the was it made Charles half-close his eyes. "You are definitely going on stage." He paused. "Besides, if you don't, I'm sure Arthur will just pull you up with him."

Charles' laughter was still Carlos' favourite thing in the world, second only to the feel of Charles' kisses. He counted himself the luckiest man on Earth, to have both in the span of seconds right there and then, as Charles turned around to face him, beautiful and happy and Carlos'.

---

Director's commentary for Gravitational Currents (aka TMDF sequel)

okay so. my favourite passage in this one has to be the inner monologue charles has about seb and pierre and ferrari and red bull. it's a huge italicised passage and i just remember writing it in one go, and pourin all the frustration and most of my own thoughts into it, because some things are just bigger than words, bigger than can be explained. charles is the definiton of unreliable narrator, always, and the world, through his eyes, looks much different than we would expect it to look. everything he does comes back to racing, and its so profoundly connected to ferrari that it's impossible to extract one from the other. on the other hand, we have his love for pierre, and it shows how he can separate certain things in his head, but only if it comes to outside interference. he needed seb, but he let pierre have him as someone to turn to, because he recognized that there are some things he doesn't, and will never be able to understand. his hurts are different, and he needs to seek someone who understands, but he also feels like nobody can truly understand him. for pierre, though; he went through a different path, and charles doesn't know what it's like, to be red bull. he'll never understand the ruthlessness you need to develop to survive in their young drivers' programme, and how much it takes from you, but he recognizes it in pierre and recognizes it in seb, and knows he has nothing to compare it to, so he lets them be, no matter how much he would wish to be there and to help. his pain is blood red, ferrari, and it was never anything else. he doesn't see the blue of the red bull as anything other than external, and he can't relate. so he stepped away, and it hurt him, but that hurt, he internalized, and muddled, and can now deal with, like everything else - by painting it over and making it his, in a very fucked in the head, unreliable way. idk if that makes sense :)

#okay so this got long hehehe #anyways #effervescentdragonwrites #sebchal #charlos #piarles #tmdf sequel #in the reflection ref #girl!charles x tp!seb #unusual writer asks #f1 rpf #stormy <3

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myimaginarywonderland · 2 years

Text

The curious case of one Lance Strulovitch

Ah yes. Lance Stroll. Hated by many, cared about by a few and adored by even less. A man whose career and accomplishments are among some of the most underrated across the grid (note: This is biased as I am in fact a fan if you couldn't guess it before. )

Moving on, let's get serious. This is a post I have debated doing for a long time and seeing how some of the few fans of him are getting some of the worst treatment (probably nothing that will ever compare to his) I thought it was time to finally sit down, spend my night researching and get to work.

This will be an semi analysis of Lance career with the point of proving why Lance is in fact severely underrated and deserves more recognition for his accomplishments. It will also try to paint the picture of why he is not at all the villain some of you want to make him out to be but most importantly I am doing this for the fans, the lovely few who have made me laugh so many times and stuck with me and him through some of the highs and lows. You guys deserve to have a post (even if it's by me) that you can actually use to show people when they once again try to discredit our boy. Of course there will be biases in this but I am trying my very best to try to be as objective and give as many references for the facts I am going to state as possible so it is easy for you to fact check and correct me if I made mistakes which might happen, I am just human after all.

Enough about me let's start with the beginning of Lance career aka Lance early carting career.

Lance started carting in Canada when he was about 10 years old. In his first two years (2008/2009) he won every single thing in Canada he competed in. He then in 2010 was signed as a an eleven year old to the Ferrari Driver Academy which started his move to Europe where he for example finished 9th in a series. In 2012 he won yet another championship and finished 4th in another as well. Bear in mind this was during a time where he had to adapt to a whole different continent and had way more competitors whose names you might be quiet familiar with. He raced another year in a European carting championship where he finished 6th.

https://www.racefans.net/lance-stroll/

On to his Start in the Formula categories

In 2014 Lance moved up to Formula Racing. He competed in the Florida Winter Series 2014 where he once again was behind Max Verstappen. In the Italian F4 championship the same year he won it by nearly behind 100 points while still missing the last three races. In 2015 he firstly won the Toyota Racing Series by over a 100 points over his next teammate. Then he competed in the European FIA F3 championship where he came 5th behind drivers such as Felix Rosenqvist. He was the second highest placing rookie behind Charles Leclerc. Notably this season was not great for him and he made some errors. The next year he won the championship by over 150 points. Yes we can’t ignore the huge amount of money and resources that were put into Prema that year. But can you really blame anyone? Every parent would do what Lawrence did especially when you have seen the way your kid can perform while doing what he loves even if it seems immoral to some. There are rumours he got some places because of team orders but nothing has ever been proven and frankly you don’t get that huge advantage with just orders. He consistently finished in the top 10, only 2 times not in the top 5.

Now, it is important to mention that just like Verstappen he immediately went to F1 after his win of F3. Once again Lawrence contributed to him moving but looking at stats you really can’t argue that Lance was bad or did not deserve it. I mean you don’t become a Ferrari junior driver at 11 purely by being some wealthy guys son. I have said this already for Max whose career at that time looked even more promising than Lance but it still applies the same: Both should have done 1 or 2 seasons in F2. They were both still inexperienced when they came into F1 which is why I think Lance rookie season is both quiet impressive and yet to be taken with a grain of salt and more treated like an extension to his Formula career.

https://www.autosport.com/fia-f3/news/prema-orders-to-help-stroll-ruining-european-f3-russell-believes-4991939/4991939/

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a1857276/report-lance-strolls-father-spent-80-million-get-son-f1-seat/

Let's now move on to his F1 career which I will divide into the seasons

The start to Formula 1 aka 2017

His start wasn’t great. His first race he had break problems. But immediately in his second race he got into Q3 only to be taken out in the race. Next race the same thing with a different car. In his fourth race he was one place of from being in the points. Fifth race still bad qualy which equals bad race. Monaco crash happens, this time his fault as he pushed to hard. By now people are mad at him even though his bad start was entirely not his fault.

And then comes Canada. After what probably to Lance feels like his worst qualy yet, finally he gets point in the race with a P9. Sure there were DNFs but Lance did great overtakes and we finally got to actually see and experience why he was chosen so early by Ferrari. You can hear the relief in his voice. Now follows Azerbaijan arguably one of his best races. He just drove and kept cool. Hell, he nearly would have gotten P2 had it not been for the last seconds. A podium, the last real podium for Williams since years (nothing against George but Spa was a joke) and the only podium of that season by a rookie who until last race was completely butchered by everyone for his bad performance in qualy especially. Next race there’s not really an attempt to score points since Lance has a penalty for a gearbox change. Next race he qualifies right behind his teammate and gets P6 in the race. Next race another small penalty and bad qualy lead to P11, two positions behind his teammate. Another bad qualy+ suspension problems lead to no points. In Malaysia he is just about 3/10 of and finishes P8, one position above his teammate. Singapore is quiet crazy and even though it’s another bad qualy it’s P8. Lance in Italy not only finishes P5 but also due to penalties becomes the youngest front row starter at P2 and gets P7 in the race. Next race it’s P11. The Hungarian GP is bad all around as is the British without any real result. The Austrian GP sees him finish P10 just behind his teammate.

His season is bad but considering his poor qualifying some of his results are genuinely impressive. As is the fact that he was just thrown in there. The reason he looks so bad is truly due to his qualy and the fact that many compare him to Max who was hyped as a prodigy since day one yet had the same path say in skipping F2.

2018- a season to forget

Williams had a big performance drop. So there’s barely any hope of Q2. The first three races are P14 which are bad qualifyings but semi good races. Azerbaijan sees both drivers in Q2 and Lance finish P8. The next raced are uneventful expect the Canadian GP where Lance’s car gets loose and he takes out Brendon with him on accident and Monaco sees him just of the points. France sees his tyre poop. The British GP saw him not set a time in qualy yet still finish P12. Italy once again good race, sees him qualify P10 and finish P9. The rest is unsuccessful because of the poor car performance and still the lack in consistent qualy pace.

Not really a bad season as much as a bad car and therefore lack of performance.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/06/10/369966/

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.williams-strategy-in-france-optimistic-stroll.2DQi6GCUlay0sie64KwqSw.html

2019- The first real competitive season

The first race sees Sergio qualify higher yet Lance finishes higher. Next race Sergio finishes 4 places ahead of Lance. Next qualy Lance is once again behind but only 3/10 behind Sergio and the next it’s 4/10. Azerbaijan where he was 4/10 of has Lance in P9. In the Canadian GP Lance is just 1/10 of Sergio and finishes in P9. The most remarkable has to be Germany where he finishes P4 in a crazy race. In Belgium he finishes P10 even though he has an engine penalty making him start at the back. In Monza Lance out qualifies Sergio with P9 but finishes P12 behind Sergio and his P7 in the race. Japan has Lance out qualify Sergio yet again and in the race finishes P9.

Sergio generally outpaces Lance by 3-4 positions which definitely gets closer and closer towards the end as well his qualifying pace improving (obviously excluding any retirements/DNFs). Considering his teammate was one of the best drivers the two seasons prior that wasn’t in a top team I think this season was pretty impressive towards the end.

2020- What could have been

The first race Lance was only 2/10 of Sergio’s pace but suffered a lose of the engine in the race. The second race Lance out qualifies him and finishes just behind Sergio. Third race Lance once again out qualifies Sergio and gets 4th. When Sergio is absent because of Covid Lance qualifies P6 and scores P9 in the race. He also qualifies P6 the other race Sergio is absent and finishes the race in that position. When Sergio is back Lance qualifies behind him in P5 and finishes the race in front of him. The next race he is once again just behind Sergio in P9 and finishes the race in that Place in front of Checo. Italy sees Lance 3/10 of Sergio and finish in P3.

The Tuscan GP sees Lance half a tenth of Sergio just behind him until a picture took him out of the race while has was in P4, potentially on the way to another podium. This is where his bad luck kicks in. First lap in Sochi, taken out by Charles. Then he misses Germany for Covid. Portugal he and Lando crash (I would say racing incident.) Imola is uneventful.

In Turkey Lance obviously takes pole but people don’t realize how impressive that is. Beside Max the closest is his own teammate who is over a second and a half behind him. He lead the race for over 30 laps until a wrong pit strategy that he openly disagreed with put him 9th where he eventually finishes the race which could have been at least a top 5 or podium finish (he was in the top 3 before the pit stop and came out 4th), most likely would have been a double podium for the team. Bahrain saw him being taken out (though again in my eyes no fault of himself since Daniil made a risky move too late.)

In Sakhir after another mid qualy he takes third! Coming from 10th to 3rd but this is obviously overshadowed by Sergio’s win (even though they were the only non top team to get both drivers on the podium at the same race if you consider RedBull a top team) The last race where he finished tenth.

So now, let’s truly look at his performance. In the races where both participated, Lance outqualified Sergio four times. The other times he was within four spots of Sergio or in 4 instances were he performed badly up to 9 behind which puts him an average of about 4.3 positions of Checo which is including penalties and stuff.

Now let’s look at the actual result. He did not participate or rather finish 6 races in comparison to Sergio’s 4. 4 of those (accidents and Covid) are completely out of his control. In terms of race finishes it’s also very impressive. From the 8th races they both finishes Lance has scored better in 3 by around 1.5 points. Lance scored around 4.6 worse when Sergio was better yet again one was butchered strategy. They were very much behind each other when they both performed which everyone ignores? Lance also looks bad because his qualifying was and still is not good Hut he definitely improved and at some points was on pare with Sergio. He could have only been like 30-40 points off which with Checo’s win is not that bad once again.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-tuscan-grand-prix-puncture-causes-massive-stroll-crash-at-mugello.1687519877478116194.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-russian-grand-prix-sainz-and-stroll-crash-out-in-chaotic-sochi-race-start.1687515300528811143.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-portuguese-grand-prix-stroll-and-norris-collide-at-turn-1.1687510148078074772.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2020-bahrain-grand-prix-stroll-flips-and-crashes-after-kvyat-contact.1687510862145773128.html

2021-the fight against a world champion

The first race Lance qualifies P10 and finishes in that position why above Seb. He once again gets P10 and finishes P8, above Seb the next race. The next race Seb is above Lance and neither finish in the points. The story off Lance out qualifying continues and Lance finishes just out of the points. It switches the Seb outqualifying and both finish in the points, with Seb P5 and Lance P8. The next race sees Lance struggle all weekend, eventually out with a tyre failure while Seb gets a podium. The next race sees Lance once again not set a qualy time yet still finish only 1 place behind his teammate in P10. In Austria he once again out qualifies Seb in P10 and finishes P8. In the Austrian GP he qualifies 10 and finishes 13. The British GP eventually sees Lance P8. In Hungary Lance is 1/10 off but crashes into Charles so he doesn’t finish. The Dutch GP sees him 12th since Qualy. The Italian GP sees him finish 7th. In the Russian GP he qualifies 8th and finishes 11th, just outside the points and in front of Seb. Turkey sees him qualify and finish 9th. In US he is 12th, two places behind Seb even though he started further back. In Mexico he starts from the pit lane duo to gearbox change and finishes 14th. Brazil seems him collide with Yuki (in my opinion more Yukis than Lances fault.) We move to Quatar where Lance is 3/10 of Seb and finishes 6th, clearly one of his better races. In Saudi Arabia the Aston Martin pace sucks ass and yet Lance is only just outside the points. Abu Dhabi he deserves any credit for managing the cluster fuck that the FIA decision was which he was in the middle where neither he nor his engineer fully knew what was going on and he rightfully complained.

So, that means that there were 4 times Seb qualified better than Lance yet in the races where both finished, Lance finished ahead of Seb more often and was only about 2 places of expect for 2 times. That is impressive and if it weren’t for Sebs podium Lance might even be ahead. The car was shit yet that was the season Lance was closest to any teammate with maybe his most consistent qualies against a 4 time WDC.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-hungarian-grand-prix-stroll-crashes-into-leclerc-at-race-start.1706897442128904725.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK5SbgqcjIA

So now, what's our conclusion?

Now look at all these years and some of the bad luck and tell me how Lance is so mid/bad. He had an incredible rookie season that most didnt expect after his bad start, he was really close to Checo in the second season racing against him and he has pretty much been on pair with Seb a former WDC since day one. Lets not forget that Seb has had a world champion.

Lance has had a world championship driver, Sergio (one of if not the best mid field driver since 2015) and a guy who for a few seconds was world champion to go against when he was put way too early into F1 in machinery that most of the time was less than ideal.

When you discredit him remember who he was against. There’s drivers like Pierre who are rated better than Lance yet someone like Pierre has had an equal performance with less challenging drivers if you exclude Verstappen who no one expected him to beat. He’s been against Hartley who was not highly rated in F1, Kyvat who is mid and a rookie that wasn’t really hyped. Meanwhile Lance with less experience almost managed to match his formerly highly experienced teammate.

This isn’t meant to discredit another driver but people need to realise that Lance has had anything stacked against him since day 1. That is crazy. And yet if you truly look at it besides his admittedly still often bad qualifyings he has done great and matched a lot of teammates at one point if not beaten them through pure skill.

The only reason why he truly is as bad as some of you claim is his qualy which you also can see clearly improved even if it's still not ideal.

You also have to realise that Lance might have been regarded as a direct Verstappen rival would he have grown up in Europe. Many people don't want to admit this but F1 at it's core has a direct link to Europe and it's very much harder if you are from any other continent to ever be regarded as highly as someone who has grown up here and whose junior career has been watched since day one. Yet still people tried to compare him to Max who had a direct road to a top team since his junior career. It's just not possible. They are similar in some ways but completely different in most.

Lance is as deserving as everyone else in his F1 seat. He's also underrated because people refuse to see him when he actually just does his job. The media only pays attention to him when he makes mistake but even then compared to some of the most beloved drivers who get defended every time his mistakes in terms of racing incidents have been rare and often not his fault. People refuse to admit his talent and the potential lying within him.

Some of you are so focused on why certain drivers are so good that you forget that for those drivers everything had to align just right to actually make them show their talent and that that can't happen to everyone.

Some drivers are like Max who had a top team promised to him since the beginning. Some drivers like George have proven themselves over and over again. Some drivers like Charles have an aura of natural talent. Neither of those applies to someone like Lance. He also doesn't have the natural sweet charisma of Lando or the redemption story of Pierre.

Lance is just performing to the best of his abilities and it's quiet enough if you ask me. He has steadily improved and there have been more than a few occasions where we saw the flashes of brilliances that have gotten him a seat.

Maybe you read through all of this. If you did thank you. I really tried to be honest and objective until the conclusion. I get that I might not even change anyone's opinion but I had this one my chest for a long time and felt like sharing it so yeah.

#f1 #lance stroll

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leqclerc · 2 years

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What hurts the most is that in Austria, when Charles managed a broken throttle to the checkered flag and won despite Verstappen hunting him down, Binotto told him via radio: "Hai fatto la differenza che fa un campione" aka "You made the difference a champion makes".

He KNOWS, like everyone else, that Charles is wdc material. But he won't commit to it and at this point it feels like he's filling Charles's head with dreams and promises, calling him champion and telling him he did a good job in the sprint (while he said nothing to CS), just to keep him at Ferrari, because otherwise he would have joined another team by now.

Charles was offered a contract by Merc and RB during his rookie year (I mean that's insane, all the top teams offering a rookie a contract). RB made him a new offer last year. In 2019, Marko said he's the biggest talent without a RB contract. After Austria, Wolff said any team would want a Charles Leclerc and in the past he said Charles is wdc material.

Everyone and their mothers is telling/suggesting/hinting at Charles that he should change teams. So of course Binotto is scared. But instead of committing to helping Charles, he uses empty words to keep him compliant.

Charles is so loyal to Ferrari because they raised him. Binotto can play all the games he wants with him and Charles won't leave. CS has no loyalty whatsoever and defies orders left right and center. And he gets away with it thanks to his sponsors worth billions of dollars.

Exactly!! 👏🏻 No because I love this ask, you put my thoughts into words so well. That’s exactly it.

It’s why I’ve always disliked Binotto. He just seems incredibly disingenuous. One hand he’s been praising Charles and promising him greatness for years now—I mean, the promise of 2022 was largely what got Charles through the disappointment of the past two seasons. He always spoke about wanting to “help bring Ferrari back to the top where they belong” and was fully committed to the team. Yet Binotto can’t afford to fully commit to him. You’re absolutely correct, “empty words” and largely empty gestures are unfortunately his modus operandi. On one hand he wants to project this image of a chill, laidback, almost paternal TP who has such a good relationship with his drivers, but on the other that falls completely flat when he backpedals on his public statements, doggedly defends poor strategic moves, and has no qualms about throwing his drivers under the bus. I’m so glad the cameras caught that damn finger wagging moment and he was later pressed to explain himself (not that his explanations seem believable.) Like, maybe it won’t change much but seeing him actually face scrutiny for that was gratifying. He’s really not as smooth or clever as he believes himself to be and the faster that notion is dispelled the better.

I’m using him as an example because for all intents and purposes he’s the public face of Ferrari and also because we don’t know how high this goes. If it’s a decision coming from the very top and Binotto’s merely executing orders “on the ground” so to speak, or if this is largely his own initiative. Which…the first option would be incredibly concerning if true. If this is largely Binotto’s doing then there’s at least a chance he’ll eventually be removed from his position.

Anyway, like you said, the sad part is Binotto doesn’t even need to do that. Charles is still committed to this team, even when they let him down. Which is what makes the whole thing that bit more tragic: CS acts recklessly and often selfishly because Ferrari, for all their history and glory, is really just another career stepping stone for him. He’s a product of the RB academy, had short stints with Renault and McLaren to “remake” himself after those ties were severed, and as far as I can remember, he never really expressed any real desire to join Ferrari specifically until the opportunity came knocking on his door. (It still amuses me, though, that one of his biggest “selling points” was the fact that he’s allegedly a team player. Well…) For Charles these are people he, in a way, grew up with. I mean, if he was brought around as an FDA driver to learn the ropes then he’s probably known at least some of these engineers and mechanics and other personnel for years now. Then there’s also the more personal motivation; fulfilling his dream and honouring Jules’s legacy. It’s so much more than just a team to him and it’s incredibly twisted to see that used almost against him in a way.

Everyone knows Charles is champion material, but the question is, how do you turn potential into fact? He’s been doing everything he can this year, but it’s not a solo sport, and the team and car still make a huge difference. He can’t try to fend off both Red Bulls and deal with an internal team crisis at the same time, that’s just not conducive to winning titles. It’s like the foundations they established in the last few years have been shaken. It’s just sad that they clung to him in their poor seasons, but when things finally come together, when he needs them to rally around him the most, they’re nowhere.

#replies #anonymous #discussions and predictions #wait no bc i tried to google if cs mentioned anything about his dream being ferrari or whatever #and got hit with two quotes: ‘leclerc eternally grateful for dream ferrari f1 chance’#and a quote from marko about how ‘ferrari didn’t ask for carlos – that was in the dreams of carlos sr’ from like 2017 😭😭😭😭#tells you all you need to know really

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sempatri · 1 year

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I've encountered a tiktok doing their top 5 drivers of 2022 and now i want to do it so here it goes:

Max Verstappen. No explanation needed, my boy dominated this year, made like 3 mistakes in 22 races and won by a mile even spining.

The rest of the list may be controversial so idk it's my opinion, not facts, you can have your own and that's great.

2. Lando Norris. I had Leclerc here but i changed it because this kid has carried the entire team on his own to a 4th position very close to apline. I love Ricciardo but this year he wasn't there and Lando has been consistent all year doing very good races and even getting the only podium for a team outside of the top 3 this year. So, yeah, second best.

3. Fernando Alonso Díaz. I had to. My man is 41 years old with a tractor that broke 6 times and still was competing against Norris for being the best of the race. He got a front line starting in Canada.... his own mecanics couldn't believe it. I love this man so i can't be objective and that's why he's third.

4. Charles Leclerc. As i said i had him P2 but i lowered him because he's made too many mistakes... yeah, ferrari is ferrari and they ruin everything from car to strategy but he has made mistakes that have cost him wins without strategi being a factor... just look at Paul Ricard. I'm sorry but he has to fix this mistakes if he wants to win a championship because i'm sure he can do it if ferrari gives him a good enough car.

5. George Russel. It's mister consistency. I don't now what to say, he's been great, he's shown he can adapt pretty quickly to a new car and he has been there to take every oportunity he could get. Although i'm still angry about his torpedo side showing and him making fun on the radio of drivers from little teams (aka Mick). But i can forget it because my last memory of him is him winning interlagos and crying and then not getting any atention because everyone colapsed and decided to fight.

Honorable mentions to Carlitos Sainz whose second half was great but i still think he hasn't got the edge to get to Leclerc's level. Also I have to mention Hamilton whose second half was better than george's but i didn't put him higher because i was a little disapointed with his attitude. I mean, he's used to winning and having the best or one of the best cars and now that he didn't have it i felt like he didn't care until the car started being competitive again and then he started being more like the hamilton we knew and beating Russel.

And that's it, a good season, a boring season. I hope we see more of a title fight next year but idk i will watch and enjoy the same because i love the sport with the cars that go very fast and turn.

#i had to let it out of my chest #I love talking about F1 can you tell?#i don't want to bore my friends because none of them watch f1 #f1 2022 #max verstappen #lando norris #fernando alonso #charles leclerc #george russell #carlos sainz #formula one

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slow-button-off · 2 years

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I've seen some people speculate about why Ferrari didn't try the same strategy of today (aka use the penalized driver to help the other) in Canada, and wanted to ask your opinion.

Option 1 is that Ferrari knew that in Canada Sainz had no chance vs Verstappen anyways, even with tow from Charles (since it doesn't make much of a difference)

Option 2 is that Ferrari is trying to redeem their image after all the criticism because the team screwed up Charles's races so much (I mean literally under every picture of Charles on the Scuderia's ig, there are people commenting "how will you screw up his race next?", "how will you sabotage him next?", "tomorrow his engine will explode", "they'll puncture his tires at the pit stop instead of giving him fresh ones", "he should leave this team before it's too late", etc.)

Option 3 is that something happened behind the scenes, and that even though officially Ferrari won't establish a hierarchy, they know that Charles is their best chance and are FINALLY trying to help him, not only on track through Sainz (since again, tow made almost no difference) but mostly morally. Charles couldn't stop smiling and thanking Sainz after quali, even though his help wasn't needed. He possibly doesn't even know that Binotto has made a decision, because they're still trying to spare Sainz's feelings and appease the sponsors. So he was genuinely grateful that Sainz helped him.

About option 2, Charles hyping up Sainz so much just to sway the public's perception of him and the team seems a bit fake and uncharacteristic of Charles.

My heart wants option 3 to be true.

Option 1 is probably the most likely 😂

Hiya!

Those are some good theories but it's sadly option 4:

Canada had a wet qualifying. DRS is disabled when it's wet because the cars are much harder to control and making a tow work when it's wet without compromising eachother is pretty much impossible. Had it been dry then they might've done it.

But also Canada doesn't have as long of a straight without DRS as France does and that's where the RB was so much better.

The tow this Quali might've been a little bit for the public. Maybe they thought it would've been closer than it ended up being. Max did fuck up his last lap.

But they are making a really big deal out of the tow so they are definitely using it for good publicity whatever it's actual reason was. Charles I think was and is genuinely grateful just because that is who he is.

I do find it a bit funny that a minimal tow is getting more thanks and praise than a driver holding up 2nd and 3rd for multiple laps.

#📨

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lariaz · 6 months

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Trying to sneakily start a questions chain so we can all get to know each-other a bit better in the F1blr univers

Name (or what you want to be called on tumblr)

Where are you from?

Where do you live?

Any pets?

Favorite driver(s) currently on the grid, and why?

Favorite driver(s) not currently on the grid and why?

Favorite romantic driver pairing(s) (e.g. Maxiel, Carlando)

Driver you’re most attracted to physically

Driver whose personality you like best

Favorite driver friendship(s)

Favorite team principal

Favorite team

Least favorite team, if any

Driver(s) you dislike, if any

If you’re a fic writer: if you could only write about one f1 pairing for the rest of your life who are you choosing?

Please send this to 10 (or more!) other F1 tumblr users that you love and want to get to know better 🫶💜

Oh, nice, thanks Jo! 🥰

Laura, but mainly Laria online, which is a combination of my first and middle name.

Spain.

Medium sized city in the south-west of Spain with my sister.

Not really, but my parents have dogs and cats in the bit of farmland they own and I consider them a little bit mine.

Fernando will always be my one true love, he's the reason I first got into F1 in the first place. Always liked Carlos too for obvious reasons (Spanish, duh?) but since I properly got into F1 this season (aka it completely took over my life), I became a huge fan of his too, as well as Lando and Max. I don't mind and support many others but these ones I'm always rooting for.

Idk probably Shumi or Kimi? I'm not the most nostalgic about past drivers but I'm a bit of a Ferrari fan (I know, tragic) and both of them are leyends.

Carlando will always be my number one but I'm truly a multishiper at heart and I really love a lot of different ships, Lestappen, Maxiel, Charlos, Landoscar, Norstappen...and don't even get me started on poly ships 🫣

At this moment in time Lando all the way, closely followed by Charles and Carlos (I know, I'm basic af). Also really like Max too, even though I used to not find him attractive at all.

I find this one hard as we can only know so much and sometimes the lines between their real persona and them as fanfic characters get a bit blurry but I would say Fernando, Lando and Max maybe? Mainly because I think they're the most genuine ones.

Definitely Carlos and Lando, their friendship makes me so soft, I love them! I also really like Max and Daniel and Alex and George.

The only ones I feel I really know and have a formed opinion on are Christian and Toto and between them I have to pick Christian, he's so bitchy and passive aggressive. I can't stand him, I love him.

Ferrari, unfortunately. But I've always had a soft spot for Mclaren as well. I know, kinda contradictory teams but here we are.

I'm kinda always against Mercedes, don't ask me why cause I don't really know, I just really love to hate them sometimes. Also, Alpine, idk, they're french and treated Nando bad so fuck 'em.

I have a few drivers I like to root against but dislike is maybe too much? Idk maybe Checo or Hulk because of sexist comments they've made, or maybe Pierre, he just gives me the ick sometimes.

Wow, this was fun! and long too! Hope someone finds this interesting, thanks again for the tag @jolandax13 🧡❤️

#ask #tag game #about me #f1blr

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scarlett-hamiltonf1 · 3 years

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could you do a pierre gasly one where you fight in front of some other drivers and it’s kinda awkward but then you make up? Xx

*Unedited*

So, when you have two people with demanding careers having a relationship can be hard. Being in the same field makes it even harder. Now, try being to Formula 1 driver in a relationship. It's a recipe for disaster.

Everyone knows about the 2019 drama with Redbull Racing. You were a driver for

Everyone knows about the 2019 drama with Redbull Racing. You were Kimi's replacement in 2017 (pretend he took a few years off before Alfa Romeo). Driving for Ferrari was the dream, but you were a Redbull girl at heart. You drove with Max at Toro Rosso at the same age before moving to your respective teams. You also happened to have two WDC under your belt from 2017 and 2018. With you, Max, and Lewis in a head-to-head race for the 2019 Championship you made the biggest switch of your life.

Christian Horner came a talked to you about switching to Redbull you thought why not and signed the agreement. Charles would take your place and you would take Pierre's who also happened to be your long-time boyfriend.

"Y/N!" Max exclaimed as you walked into the Redbull garage a few minutes after the announcement.

You had already talked with Sebastian who was over the moon for you, being that he was a former Redbull driver himself.

"You're going to be my partner in crime!" he exclaimed.

I smiled as he hugged me tightly.

"Might as well get married while you're at it!" Pierre muttered as he walked past.

"Is there a problem Gasly?" Max snapped, but I patted him on the shoulder before following Pierre.

"How could you?" Pierre whispered. "You betrayed me, by coming here!"

You rolled your eyes. "God damn it, Pierre, that's life. If you could've handled driving next to Max why are you being kicked out from the team then?" I yelled. "They picked me because Max and I started our careers together and we know how to handle each other."

Pierre huffed. "So now you're calling me a bad driver?"

"No! I said you couldn't handle being second to Max. Many people couldn't handle that, because believe it or not Max is insufferable, but he's my insufferable friend."

"You say that like he's your boyfriend."

You let out a loud groan. "Well at the moment he's better than my own boyfriend who's tearing me down for living my dream. At least Max is happy that I'm at Redbull!"

"Yeah, but I'm you're boyfriend and you betrayed me!" Pierre yelled. "I hope you have a horrible accident today in the race."

"You would rather have me dead than see me live my dream," I whispered as tears started to gather in my eyes.

"A nice and firery accident like the place you're going to." he spat before storming off.

You turned around to see pretty much the whole grid staring at me in shock. You just shrugged before Max led me into the Redbull garage. My body started shaking as tears rolled down my face violently.

That hurt like a bitch. Pierre's words struck you down to the very depths of your soul like a sword had pierced through your heart.

Soon you were in your Redbull speeding around the track in an intense battle for first with Lewis as you lapped George Russell who at that moment spun into your car.

The car flipped in the air, as you screamed loudly not being able to comprehend anything besides the fact you were not crawling out of the car and lying on the gravel.

Surprisingly you weren't in any pain just extremely shocked, when suddenly you felt someone pull you back before there was a loud bang and you watched as your beloved car aka Zephry blew up before your eyes.

"Are you okay?" the medics questioned as they gave you a check-up.

"yes, yes of course!" You chuckled and waved to the helicopter with the camera to prove it.

By the time you were released from medical, the race was over and Lewis won. Yet, he handed you his trophy as he knew you would've won if it wasn't for the accident. George ran up to you, but you quickly brushed it off and told him nothing to worry about.

Last but not least, Pierre walked up to you as you walked back from the podium with a distressed look on his face. The tension and awkwardness could be cut with a knife.

"Strawberry ice cream and milk chocolate." You stated with a smirk. "And never wish for me to die again."

Pierre smiled softly at you, "Yes ma'am."

It wasn't the most conventional way to make up, but it worked for both of you. After finishing third in the standing above Max and Pierre managed to wow the F1 world, he proposed in Abu Dhabi. Life was just as it should be, and everyone had their fairytale ending.

#pierre gasly #f1 #formula one #formula x reader #f1 x reader #f1 fandom #torro rosso #charles leclerc #lewis hamilton #sir lewis hamilton #sebastian vettel #max verstappen

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formulinos · 3 years

Text

Hyperfixation Corner | The 2005 United States Grand Prix, or How Far Do Rivalries Go in Formula 1

I’ll tell you a story, not so long ago. This is a write-up of the technical and political aspects that led to the infamous “Tyregate” that took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. To make it more comfortable, I split it in 5 parts after the cut:

part 1: the context behind the scenes part 2: the 2005 formula 1 season (so far) part 3: the indianapolis motor speedway part 4: the 2005 united states grand prix part 5: the aftermath

So, get comfortable and hop in! (disclaimer: yes, there are more professional texts and videos on this. but i also worked on this really hard and tried to give some technical explanations according to what I try to learn in uni every day, so please, will you just read and reminisce with me?)

PART 1: THE CONTEXT BEHIND THE SCENES

2004 was a very busy year: the Cassini probe took the first pics of Saturn’s rings, Motorola released the cultural icon cellphone RAZR V3 and Shrek 2 dethroned Citizen Kane as the greatest movie of all time. Most importantly for us, Ferrari was shaping up to break F1 records with their 14th constructor’s championship while their #1 dilf driver Michael Schumacher got his 7th (taking 16 years for another man to even come close to him both in WCCs and dilfism).

That was very cool and fun for me, an 8-year-old. But for the big wigs at Formula 1, it was boring and dumb and they hate dilfs, so they needed to make something about it. Under the guise of “bringing the grid closer to one another to make sure the sport remains competitive and therefore, entertaining,” the technical regulations were certain to get tweaked. Now, there is a number of ways they could fuck around and find out and we’ve seen that over the years with a lot of #choices, but their masterstroke for the 2005 season would be their tyre bullshit.

QUICK TECHNICAL BREAK

Back in 1998, the FIA had reintroduced grooved tyres as mandatory for races. These are the ones we see day-to-day on common vehicles because the patterns on their surface - the slits and how they’re distributed - are able to deal well with rain, inundations, etc and evacuate water, what explains why wet-weather tyres in F1 aren't slicks.

Grooves, however, mean that there is less contact surface between the rubber and the road. For a regular road driver, this means nothing as we’re not supposed to go beyond 120 km/h on the street anyway and therefore, we don’t need specific stuff. If anything, we need a tyre as adaptable as possible since we’re not supposed to change tyres every other week. However, the amount of rubber that touches the road (aka the “contact patch”) determines the grip, and that translates in speed. The more grip you have, the faster you can go both in safety terms and in physics terms - the tyres will be able to respond to the acceleration you give it. Thus, for the Fastest Cars In The World™, grooved tyres meant that they would have to slow down one way or another.

END OF TECHNICAL BREAK 1

If that only stopped there, then maybe the FIA would have been sexy and the girls would have wanted to hook up with them, but they didn’t. So, they got lost in the sauce and the teams got lost in the game (that is a whole post of its own). Since grooved tyres made no difference in creating competition between the teams, for the 2005 season, they decided that tyres couldn’t be changed during a pit stop.

Not only that, but the same tyres that were used during qualis would have to handle the entire race, which basically meant one set had to be hard as all fuck to be able to last through Saturday and Sunday. Like, you just know Bernie Ecclestone and that nazi bitch Max M*sley were on that cocaine high that makes you think you are invincible when they came up with that. What the fuck. Cycle paths.

PART 2: THE 2005 FORMULA ONE SEASON (SO FAR)

Up to the task of dealing with that mess were Bridgestone and Michelin, the two tyre suppliers. Michelin were hooking up with everyone: BAR-Honda, Renault, Williams, Toyota, McLaren, Sauber and the debutants, Red Bull. Bridgestone, however, kept it more niche-y and cute with only three teams: Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi. I mean, they already had the main girl. The prom queen. What did they need anymore? Turns out, making decent tyres apparently.

The Ferrari season was a mess and, even with decent aero and a nice engine, their race pace was way off in comparison to the Michelin tyres. The Scuderia weren’t 100% blaming it on their tyre supplier yet - but we all knew they were because in May, their then president Luca Di Montezemolo had said: “It’s more of a world championship for tyres than for cars. We have a very competitive car but we have a big problem with the tyres.” The two other Bridgestone customers suffered greatly too, ending the season in the bottom two positions. Out of 19 Grand Prix, only 3 had a Bridgestone fastest lap, 10 out of 57 possible podium appearances and one single win (guess which one. go ahead). It would have been overall a brilliant year for Michelin, if it wasn't for that pesky...

PART 3: THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is probably the most relevant track in the United States. It holds the Indy 500 race on memorial day, the Americans go wild over it, whatever. Back in 2000, track owner Tony George decided it was time to put some Freedom back on the F1 calendar for the first time in 9 years and tbf, the idea was good. F1 had never properly broken into the motorsport overcrowded US market but the feats of big names like Mikey S and Mika H had them curious. Put that together with the infamy of the IMS and you could hit the jackpot.

Indeed, jackpot they did. The track (with the proper adaptations for grade one standards) was a major hit. There was some flavour too, as part of it merged with the outer oval from the exit of turn 12 right through the finishing line, passing by the well inclined turn 13 (9˚11’. that’s hot come on). With a contract lasting until 2007 and the success of this F1 venture alongside the other major competitions, the IMS administration felt secure to their first track resurfacing project in 30 years.

QUICK TECHNICAL BREAK (AGAIN)

It might sound weird, but sometimes, to make a road…. you have to break it [david caruso csi miami gif here]. So, track resurfacing consists of removing the pavement that is already set and replacing it with a new one. The substitution is a way of dealing with degradation caused over the years by a bunch of high performance cars going about at bizarre speeds and, most importantly, the weather.

When it comes to engineering, a major point of concern is the dilation and contraction of materials. If something decreases in temperature, then its dimensions will follow suit and it will get smaller. Similarly, if something gets hotter, it gets bigger (which is why I am so thicc). Elasticity means that your material can afford to suffer stress (like hotter-bigger-colder-smaller) without significant damage and it will return to its normal like it’s no biggie even if these cycles are relatively fast. Asphalt, however, as well designed it is to handle that, no it isn’t <3 and therefore, it cracks over time (like my stretch marks). IMS in particular suffers a lot of this due to the freeze-thawing nature of Indiana winter: things freeze and get defrosted very quickly and that leads to the quicker appearance of cracks.

The strategy used by the good people at IMS was: let’s get some smooth asphalt so we can make sure the surface will suffer less degradation and therefore last longer. While we’re at it, let’s diamond grind that bitch so that it gorilla grips those tyres when necessary. Diamond grinding consists in flattening the laid asphalt with diamond saw blades, smoothing the surface to the naked eye. However, If you look closely, there are very small vertical grooves, closely done to one another, that just like the tyres, allow the track to be usable in wet conditions and increases friction when necessary. You can actually see the results of this process on the IMS in the next gif courtesy of Martin Brundle’s gridwalk:

END OF QUICK TECHNICAL BREAK

PART 4: THE 2005 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

We’re finally in June 2005. At this point, it was clear that Michelin was that bitch and that someone in Bridgestone was going to get fired. The struggle that Ferrari was in + the expectation of a battle between Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen meant that people were frothing for that sweet grand prix at the brand new asphalted IMS. Nothing like a good all-american weekend in Indiana with 100k fans holding cans of beers in their hands huh.

Track resurfacing meant that both tyre manufacturers were, of course, super attentive to how they’re supposed to set up the tyres for the teams, as we saw this year at the Turkish Grand Prix (🤡). A key piece of information you need to know is that Bridgestone wasn’t limited to F1 in motorsports, since their baby brand Firestone had stuck their claws pretty deep in IndyCar as their sole supplier since 1999.

Indy 500, as i already said before, takes place in Memorial Day weekend, aka the last weekend of May. Before the race itself, teams spend the whole month doing a series of tests just to make sure every single g-spot will be hit when the time comes and in 2005, they even had extra testing due to the resurfacing. This all leads to Firestone knowing all about how and where and when and why tyres got worn out on the track and giving Bridgestone the tea so that they could set up their tyres to handle the diamond ground asphalt.

Now, I don’t even think that Bridgestone were wrong either in using the data that was rightfully theirs. If anything FIA were the ones caught slipping in this by not closing the loophole that wasn’t even very loopy to begin with. But Michelin, to be fair, didn’t have the extensive scoop that Bridgestone did. They did, however, had two eyes and they could have easily seen the indy practices and thought “hm. i could learn something from this”. bUt ThEy DiDN’t.

Friday comes, everyone is hyped, things look great and…. Ricardo Zonta suffers an incident. Right after that, on the same day, Ralf Schumacher crashes. Hard. Crashes happen often and in fact, Ralfie had done it in the same turn the year prior - he got super pissed over this. This time though, both major incidents in the practice sessions happened to the same team, Toyota. They look it up hard, but there’s nothing to conclude besides a left-rear tyre failure in both cases.

Michelin tries to point the finger back at them and say that they’re the ones who bottled the air pressure, but once other Michelin teams start displaying the same sort of vertical tyre degradation that Jarno Trulli (the last standing Toyota car) did, the vibe was officially off. Their factory crew started running tests on the US GP batch to verify if there was some sort of production issue while F1 teams got the Spanish GP sets as a precaution manoeuvre. This was useless, as they turned out to have the same bloody issues.

On the next day, the Michelin representatives sent FIA's Charlie Whiting their conclusions. It went somewhat like this:

Basically, they found out that it wasn’t a batch issue after all. The friction between the tyres and the diamond ground asphalt together with the extra load in the y-axis due to the track banking meant that the tyre sidewall was compromised and that Michelin was in fact, a bitch. From that point onwards, the discussion rested on what could be done to ensure that the Grand Prix would still take place.

The first recommendations Michelin sent out were for teams to attempt to wear their tyres out as least as possible: run fewer laps on practices and qualis, go easy on fuel and try to keep the pressure right up. The cars were pushing themselves to work in the limit so that they could still go through the whole weekend and that sidewall was still getting damaged, girl! Damaged! Also, somehow in all of this a Toyota still managed to get pole position while the Ferraris were in P5 and P7 with their cool Bridgestone tyres, like, did you need to get embarrazzed like that for what. There are 7 teams that are as good as done and the other 2 are nearly bankrupt anyway. Get yourself together.

Ron Dennis got a private jet for some Michelin engineers to take a few sets of tyres to their factory in France where they spent all day and night working on them, to no avail. After much discussion between Whiting, the Michelin folks and the teams, they all decided they would sort this out… on Sunday morning. I hate men. By that point, it was already clear that the FIA and the teams had different proposals:

1) Creation of a chicane at turn 13 (teams): a tyre chicane would be set up at the heat of the action in order to reduce the load and speeds while still keeping all teams at playing level and avoiding accidents caused by people brake checking each other. This was basically a compromise accepted by the majority of the teams but not by the FIA, who believed that it was too late to fuck around with the track and its homologation.

2) Slowing down (FIA): sincerely, I shan’t comment! FIA and FOM really said “just go slower <3” to the Michelin teams. This is me reading this:

3) Creating an exception to penalties (teams): maybe tyregate (or whatever you’d like to call it) wouldn’t have been that bad if just two races prior to it, at the European Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen hadn’t lost a win on the last lap when the tyre he had flat spotted and wasn’t allowed to replace gave in. Considering that, someone tried to suggest that specifically for this race that the rule would be voided and that tyres could be replaced as they pleased OR that they got new spec tyres. The FIA’s response? “What if you do that and then we subject you to the penalties anyway? <3”. Which leads us to:

4) An unofficial Grand Prix (teams): first, logically, they proposed to reschedule the GP, opposed by the FIA because they were there. then they proposed again some of these previous options and the FIA threatened to remove themselves out of the narrative if they did that. Teams were like “cool, so what do we need you anyway?” and started to discuss amongst themselves the possibility of replacing the FIA officials with other capacitated personnel, going as far as throwing names to substitute Charlie Whiting and our Safety Car King, Bernd Mayländer. Once they got wind of this, Bernie and Max were full on hoes mad territory. Threats were thrown, friendships got hurt and I think Tony George legit was thinking about selling IMS at this point.

I feel that I need to emphasize two things at this point:

Michelin were down for anything that meant that those tyres would remain calm and, most importantly, they wouldn't get sued because American law stated that if anything happened from that point onwards, it was on them. They were just randomly shouting anything at Charlie Whiting’s face, who sincerely was like [Cartman voice] “screw you guys, I’m going home”. This was an old man and he wasn’t paid enough for this shit tbh.

The drivers’ stance wasn’t that relevant. They weren’t capable of setting their feet on the ground and demanding stuff like we’d expect them too, but teams were in deep and in the majority committed to find an agreement. EXCEPT FOR ONE

Remember how the regs had been changed because Ferrari were that bitch? Well, Ferrari also happens to have clout in the form of a veto as established by the Concorde Agreement. They don’t use that often though, not because they want to keep things democratic, but because they want to be able to rub in other people’s faces when they need to get back and get even. The time had come, and they were the sole thing standing between saving the US Grand Prix.

Naturally, they chose violence and said “well, this is unfair to us, the teams that actually had the sense of choosing a decent, professional tyre company for this year, so we would like to race normally, thanks :)”. Minardi and Jordan were like “but we also chose Bridgestone and we still agree with the Michelin gang,” to which Ferrari replied “do we look like we give a single droplet of a fuq?”. When it came to the drivers, Barrichello and Schumacher actually attended some of the meetings but aligned with Ferrari’s views and said that they would do as established by Jean Todt, their TP, who was busy being petty.

note: I would also like to highlight that Schumi was one of the GPDA directors back then and had previously attempted to rally the drivers to race under yellow flag conditions during the first two chicanes of the Italian GP of 2001. His motivations were: 9/11 (that had happened earlier that week), the passing of a track marshall during a practice session one year before at Monza and the serious accident of former F1 driver Alex Zanardi that had also happened recently. Jacques Villeneuve refused to agree and, later on, Flavio Briatore threatened his drivers with serious repercussions in case they also slowed down. Sadly enough, there was a lap 1 incident with one of the Renaults and Michael never forgot Villeneuve and Briatore’s actions. We’ll get back to it shortly.

Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley “attempted” to negotiate super hard with Jean Todt, but there was nothing really to negotiate as they were all in agreement that everyone else could go fuck themselves. Apparently Flavio Briatore tried to convince them only for it to backfire on his face. I don’t feel bad tbh he even abandoned the kid he had with Heidi Klum. Scummy man. After much discussion, many threats and a lil bit of pizzazz, the decision was that all drivers would line up for the formation lap, but at the end of it the Michelin teams would get back into the pit lane, while the Bridgestones would race. The drivers’ reactions during the grid formation says it all:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jenson Button so upset in my life tbh

note 2: A particularly amusing thing about that was that Kimi and Fernando were having a one sided Mexican standoff as, since they were fighting for the championship, the orders were that if one of them decided to ignore the deal, the other one would have to do the same. Kimi was ahead in the grid and probably didn’t give two shits, but Fernando was genuinely tense.

During all of that, no one had bothered telling the 100k+ fans that were there in Indianapolis that the race would basically not happen. Naturally, when 14 cars headed back to the pit lane, people got a bit miffed. You could hear booing all through the race (more muffled after a while since the grand majority of the crowd just left after all of that) and at some point Whiting was genuinely concerned he would have to call it off anyway due to the beer cans and water bottles being thrown in the track. People were livid, there were posters calling for the FIA and Michelin’s heads everywhere, it was a mess.

PART 5: THE AFTERMATH

Well, the race itself wasn’t really eventful. Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello still tried to pull some shit after a pit lane exit, but Ferrari won in a one-two (their only win of the season). The Jordans got lapped once and the Minardis twice, so that must have been fun to the masochists that stuck around. Particularly speaking, my favourite part was the pettiness of one of the Ferrari radios:

If the crowd reception was warm during the race, the podium was even better. The only person who genuinely celebrated was Jordan's Tiago Monteiro, since it was the first time a Portuguese driver had reached the podium. He celebrated hard though, didn’t give a single fuck and tbh? I stan. Not my problem either.

The following days were filled with accusations thrown from every single side. Ironically enough, the most comprehensive account of everything was released by Paul Stoddart, the Minardi team owner, on June 22nd. The FIA summoned all teams and Michelin for a meeting, discussion came and went but the damage had been done. The attendees were offered compensation for their tickets by Michelin, who also gave away 20k tickets for next year’s GP. Besides that, attendees were also offered free tix to the Champ Car World Series Grand Prix of Cleveland that took place the following week, but that wasn’t relevant.

F1’s reputation in the US was tarnished and the IMS decided not to renew their contract after 2007, taking another 5 years for a Grand Prix to return to the United States at the Circuit of the Americas (note: i don’t get why they call it that when Interlagos is the superior American track). The grooves (hah! full circle biitch!) had also been created in Michelin’s relationship with F1 and they also withdrew their participation from 2007 onwards. Max Mosley still managed to get reelected as FIA president in 2005, but then in 2008 he got caught in an orgy kinning a Nazi and his days were counted after it after pics got leaked to british tabloids (by one of the thousands of enemies he had made between that and Spygate).

This was a tale of pettiness, unprofessionalism and toxic masculinity, but a tale that ended nevertheless. I would like to leave you, faithful reader that managed to stick with me until the end, with the amazing words of Michael Schumacher after the race. See you next Friday and Happy New Year!

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