#why 7? because seb wins 5 😁

[blorbocedes]

prompt: lewis' film debuting at cannes, nico only an hour away

Lewis' film is premiering at Cannes. Nico takes his daughters to go.

It's apparently in collaboration with Liberty Media, lots of big Hollywood A-listers attached as producers, and actual F1 tracks and cars in use. The story is loosely based on Lewis' life, the titular Black kid from a small town in England becoming the Greatest Of All Time. So not too loosely, the main character is named Louis Harrison after all.

It's the kind of feel-good inspirational movie that Nico thinks is important for his girls to watch. The promotion for the film went all out, inviting all F1 stars. Nico himself has been vaguely aware of this film, his social media guy told him his mentions and engagement was way up ever since the main cast included a German blonde, with some speculating it would focus on the "silver war." He clarified to the German tabloids he had absolutely nothing to do with the making of the film after they spread rumours about it being a collaboration.

His daughters, like their father, love to dress up and they walk the red carpet hand in hand in their matching floral dresses, and Nico in his organic, tailored velvet green suit; pausing for the photos.

Their seats aren't too awful, very middle of the pack. A few rows ahead Nico can recognize Lewis from the distinctive shape of his braids, and glittery jacket; talking to someone Nico assumes is the director. Nico never quite had that Hollywood fever, but it seems Lewis is enjoying his retirement.

As the theatre goes dark, his daughter appropriately chastises him for having his phone out, texting Vivian a thumbs up on when she wants the girls home before pocketing it. It starts off with Young Lewis -- or Louis -- watching Senna race, a voiceover about dreams and becoming the best. The younger actor is appropriately charming, doesn't have Lewis' gap tooth but has a mean scowl when people underestimate him. It reminds him a lot of the real Lewis. The usual diatribe about the humble beginnings, the actor playing Anthony being Louis' one man pit crew taking him to races within England, an incredible wholesome father-son racing representation, one Nico was lucky to experience in his own life.

Moving on to karting years, Louis as the only black kid getting certain looks from the rest of the boys, lily-white and jealous. One even shoves him while walking past, making a pointed racially charged comment. There is a time when Nico would've assumed this is exaggerated for dramatic purposes, that his experience on the paddock, even being around Lewis as tightknit as they were, was never that bad. But he knows better now, that there's some things he will simply never experience or flew over his head at that age, and makes a mental note to bring it up with his girls and make it a teachable moment later.

And then, a young blonde boy with the thickest German accent congratulates Louis on winning the race, and Louis' eyes go wide. "You're Julian Richter. Your family is racing legend, man."

Julian. Nico snorts. He supposed it's better than Erik or Klaus as far as stereotype go. He tries not to read too much into it, as Julian and Louis become best friends -- skateboarding on the tracks, instead of unicycling, probably to seem cooler or relating to the kids, -- and karting teammates. Something wistful in Nico aches when the scene is on a beach in Spain, and the characters in the face of their uncertain futures promise they're going to become F1 World Champions together.

The story focuses on Louis' unlikely odds, a chance meeting with an F1 team principal, nothing but a handshake promise and then the road to F1, to win on his rookie year.

And then Julian enters Formula 1. And then Julian signs with Redbull. And then Julian wins consecutive championships, in the backdrop of which his and Louis' friendship crumbles in jealousy and competitiveness, and Nico feels sick to his stomach because Julian Richter is Sebastian Vettel, and the racing legend family he comes from -- the Richters -- are the fucking Schumachers.

The regulations change, Louis starts winning, he has a famous actress of a girlfriend, there's a love story angle. It isn't until Louis wins his 4th title that Julian comes over to congratulate him, both equals again -- remember what we promised on that beach in Spain? and their friendship rekindles. If the timeline Nico's keeping track of adds up, that makes it 2016. His daughter excitedly squeezes his hand when the two characters embrace on screen, making up.

The third act conflict sets the stage for Abu Dhabi 2021, naturally. But before that, it does show Louis becoming complacent with winning, arrogant and cocky as his celebrity profile increased, a rocky relationship. And then, the Niki Lauda wise mentor older character who was there for Louis all this time passes, and it tugs at the heartstrings -- is also Louis' wake up call to change. His girlfriend ends things with him. The young Belgian villain has fully set the stage.

There's a lot of emphasis how winning this final race will match Harrison to Richter's record, the legacy of it all. And then, the controversial safety car decision. Louis Harrison has the championship slip out of his fingers. The crowd gasps, the FIA are not painted charitably, stubbornly sticking to the decision out of 'decorum' after the Mercedes team argues for it to be reversed. Someone definitely boos from the back.

One thing Nico can admit is the racing scenes are quite fun and realistic, even if Toto doesn't break headphones quite as often and once a car was in 5th gear instead of 3rd.

The Julian Richter character shows up after the race to tell Louis he's retiring to go plant trees, and that Louis needs to "win it back and match my dad's legacy, it's what he would've wanted." Nico wishes he knew where Sebastian was so they could lock eyes in this moment at this Frankenstein caricature of them, that exists only to support Louis.

'Loosely based' is correct, because this shows the next season after a lot of sulking and Louis not believing in himself, the Mercedes is immediately competitive instead of whatever the W-13 was. It's a repeat of the 2021 season, which is a repeat of the 2016 season when Julian and Louis were bitter rivals. Louis is also more outspoken now, and shows how he's changed. It all comes down to the final race. The film narrates the speech from the beginning, of believing in yourself, there's a montage of Louis ever since he was a kid falling and getting back up with dramatic music swelling, and then a shot of him slapping down his visor. Lights out and away we go.

Louis Harrison wins the race.

They got Crofty to do a voiceover line for 'This year while off the track Louis Harrison has found his voice, and on it, once again he’s found his groove, and now he finds himself alongside Richter, as top in the record books, the world championship record is equaled,' His girlfriend jumps into his arms in parc ferme. Somewhere, Julian is planting a tree and smiling at the small radio. It's hugs and kisses all around the team, champagnes bursting.

The actual crowd erupts in cheers of emotional catharsis, and it cuts to a future scene of the real Lewis Hamilton in an interview setting, being asked about how he feels about his journey in F1 and if he ever thought he would make it -- if he believed in himself, winks at the camera.

The screen goes black. A Kendrick Lamar song plays as the credits roll.

There is a minutes long standing ovation, which Nico stands and encourages his daughters to clap along, with an inscrutable feeling in his chest. It was a good movie, very awards season bait, the director and lead actors are on stage giving a speech about how much it means to be able to inspire young people with Hamilton's real life story. Nico walks down the steps with others almost on autopilot.

He hadn't realized it, he didn't know he'd been holding out some tiny shred of hope that they would watch this film and through sheer nostalgia of shared memories, he and Lewis would have something to talk about again. He didn't realise how much weight he'd held to those childhood memories until he saw it be attributed to Sebastian Vettel of all people, who was too young to kart with them. It's a piece of fiction, that Nico has no right to harbour resentment towards, he tells himself.

Nico stops for a second, and is in direct eyeline of Lewis in his glittery jacket who is conducting an interview. He feels frozen when they lock eyes.

"People are saying the true heart of the film is Julian and Louis' friendship. How closely does it mirror real life from the actual F1 scene? Like the whole best friends as kids. Would you say you guys are still close friends now, and will the driver it's based on be attending the screenings like a few other F1 drivers have?"

"Yeah definitely, man, as fans have already figured out that friendship is loosely based on my friendship with Seb -- Sebastian Vettel. And yeah, it's -- you've been racing these guys since you're in karting, you feel like you've known them your whole life. [...] No, I don't think Seb's attending, this isn't really his scene."

Lewis meets Nico's eyes for a split second, before turning back to the camera. Nico carefully plucks the emotion he's feeling for something to be discussed with a licensed professional. To be quite honest, he didn't know Lewis could still make him feel like this.

His daughter tugs at his suit jacket sleeve, and Nico guides them towards the vegan ice cream and gelato stalls. There's a PG rated animated film screening at 4.

#sometimes you have to write a 1.6k prompt you sent yourself #ohhhhhhh I needed to write this to expel the demons #why 7? because seb wins 5 😁 #please give feedback it's too long for me to starve off likes only #brocedes #f1 rpf #my fics #also 7 because irl lewis never gets that 8th 😔 so the narrative becomes equalling Michael not beating him