#Bahrain Grand Prix 2015

[racingliners]

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are interviewed by BBC F1 presenter Lee McKenzie ahead of the 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix.

[blorbocedes]

i was always curious about this picture of nico seemingly upset on the podium and lewis trying(?) to comfort him so I dug up the lore.

here's nico looking gorgeously upset on podium. now let's set the scene:

it's bahrain grand prix 2015, and lewis hamilton has won 3 out of 4 races this season. the other race win? sebastian vettel. you have to realise in 2014, nico took it to the last race he was the clear title contender and now lewis and seb are above him in the standings. everyone's giving him the full checo in 2023 treatment, is rosberg a second driver now is his career OVER!!! brocedes are also beefing in the previous race, china 15

is the rosberg flop era imminent?!

hamilpole, vettel 2nd and nico 3rd in quali. race start and nico gets fucking Punted into p4. everyone thinks it's joever.

nico spends this entire race fighting for his life, battling vettel for p2 and is on his ass, forcing him into mistakes. it isn't until vettel damages his front wing and needs to pit letting nico pass. however! 14 laps to go and kimi has pitted for softs is when nico's breaks start failing. these mercs are fast but they're not reliable. kimi starts gaining a second a lap and with 3 laps to go, he overtakes nico to p2.

on the podium and after, nico is upset even though he's now second in the championship -- overtaking vettel by 1 point.

but you can see the gap to lewis, and it doesn't matter how good a race you have or what issues your car has when you're compared to thee teammate of all time.

toto tried empathy simulator

thanks lewis, very helpful

nico's upset on podium because it is hugely frustrating to earn that p2 and lose it in the final 3 laps. he writes in his column:

the next race in barcelona, nico would go to win the race from pole, his first victory in the 2015 season 🏆

anyways I think of that moment where nico's miserable on the podium and lewis nudges his shoulder like chin up, bud a lot

[lewisarchive]

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel giving interviews at the Bahrain Grand Prix (2015)

[anastasiamrauclaire99]

INTRODUCTION POST !!!

[This is going to be a long one so be prepared to read!]

Right, so. I have created (yet another) sideblog for my characters/stories. This story is a multi-yearlong fic centred around Formula One and my OC, Anastasia Manon Rue-Auclaire! (Yeah, it's a mouthful, I know.)

All about Anastasia/a brief overview of her story:

Anastasia Manon Rue-Auclaire was born in Monaco on the 15th of November, 1999. Before she was born, her father died which led her biological mother to fall into a deep depression. Early life was hard for Anastasia as her family had basically no money and her mother turned to drugs and alcohol abuse. When she was 4, she was put up for adoption, but her grandparents (mother's side) quickly found out and adopted her to become her legal guardians. She considers them her parents. At a young age (like 6-7) she discovered karting and it quickly became young Anastasia's passion. She put all of her energy and time into the sport and quickly moved up in levels, resulting in travelling around the world as her [grand]parents continued to support her dream. Formula Three whizzes by by the time she's in her early teens, which is unusual in itself, but much more impressive as she is a girl in motorsport. In 2014, she tests for the competitive Formula One team, Red Bull, and they tell her to come back in a few years if she is still interested and any good. In 2015, they sign her to their team, even with no Formula Two experience. Anastasia is a fifteen year old female in Formula One, which breaks all kinds of records in itself. She truly proves herself when she wins her debut race, the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, by four seconds over world legends such as Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton. Years and years later, Anastasia has proved herself countless times. A fair share of crashes, luxuries and a somewhat scandalous relationship still fail to shake this formidable woman. 2021 is when this story takes off, halfway through an intense but legendary season. Anastasia has cemented herself in the motorsport world with hundreds of points under her belt, countless records broken and Billion Dollar Man himself, Lewis Hamilton, as her boyfriend, Anastasia continues to give her all to the sport she has dedicated her life to. Many consider her to be a future World Champion contender, but only time will tell is Anastasia gets her hands on that trophy.

☆ Follow 20 elite athletes over the world in their shiny cars and million-dollar mansions. Follow the roar of engines, the fire and the trail of champagne, diamonds and sweat from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi year after year. Follow the tears spilt in secret. Follow their dreams and see how far they will go to achieve them. ☆

This book will have plenty of mature scenes/topics and will go through/cover some pretty heavy themes. I'm still brainstorming at the moment, but I'm aiming for a pretty realistic representation of celebrities, racers in particular, so it's going to be stuff real people deal with in the real world. When it does finish, it will have a happy ending, but the characters will have to go through plenty of suffering to get there or else it wouldn't be a fun story, would it?

Some mature/heavy themes may include: mental health [issues], injuries and hospitals/medical procedures, sex, body image, alcohol, addictions, depression, death, basically most uncomfortable real-world issues that people face.

More coming soon including facts about characters, Anastasia's faceclaim/aesthetic, and more about her in general!

[coimbrabertone]

Suzuka in April Feels Wrong

So, this weekend F1 will race at Suzuka. Suzuka is an amazing circuit, the esses at the beginning of the lap, trying to take Degner 1 as fast as possible but knowing the gravel trap is right there at the edge of the circuit, and then hard on the brakes for Degner 2, under the bridge, and up and to the right into the hairpin where Kamui Kobayashi seemed to overtake just about everyone in 2012. Spoon curve, the infamous 130R, and the Casio triangle at the end of the lap, Suzuka really is something special.

The only problem is, Raikkonen's 2005 charge (admittedly I was too young to properly enjoy that but it's literally the back to front challenge meme in real life), Kamui's 2012 podium as a Japanese driver, even Vettel's heartbreaking sparkplug failure in 2017, not to mention the historic Prost and Senna collisions...all of those happened at the end of the season, or close enough to it anyway. This year, Suzuka is in April, the fourth round of the 2024 Formula One season.

Now of course, there's a reason for this - the geography of an increasingly bloated F1 calendar - but first, let's just establish why the Japanese Grand Prix being at the end of the season is so important.

The first Japanese Grand Prix, held in 1976 and 1977, marked the first time a world championship race was held in Asia, and it was the finale too, the place where the championship would be decided. The 1976 race in particular, covered in the excellent 2013 movie Rush, saw Niki Lauda pull into the pits in dangerously wet conditions - this was the same year as his Nürburgring crash - which allowed James Hunt to charge up the field and seal his only world title.

The first Fuji trip would only last two years, but in 1987, F1 would find its home in Suzuka. It was the penultimate race - Adelaide, Australia was now the finale - but nevertheless, Suzuka was still the place where titles were decided. In 1988, Senna came from behind in the wet to beat Prost, in 1989 Prost would close the door on a charging Senna in the Casio triangle on lap 47, taking Prost out. Senna cut the chicane rejoining the track, got disqualified, and handed the title to Prost. In 1990, Prost now in a Ferrari, got a better start than Senna's polesitting McLaren, but Senna's wouldn't give an inch, and they didn't even make it past the first corner this time. Senna would seal the 1990 title. And it continued, Senna over Mansell in 1991, Hill over Villeneuve in 1996, Hakkinen over Schumacher in 1998...it was the track where history was made.

That being said, it's position in the calendar started to change as F1 expanded its Asia-Pacific presence from just Suzuka. From 1987-1995, it was paired with the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide, in 1999 and 2000, it was paired with Malaysia, and from 2004-2008, it was paired with China. After that, the calendar more or less formed two flyaway blocks, with Australia-Malaysia-China-Bahrain at the beginning of the season, and a Singapore and Suzuka towards the end, paired with an everchanging host of flyaway races that included Abu Dhabi, Brazil, South Korea, and India. In 2009, Suzuka was the third to last race, come 2011, it was fifth to last.

The real blow to Suzuka as an end of season race, however, was the emergence of an American block of races late in the season. It started with Austin in 2012, and by 2015, we had Austin and Mexico back-to-back followed by Brazil, making for three western hemisphere races in a row. Las Vegas in 2023 made a fourth, with Abu Dhabi having long ago bought the season finale slot. All of this means that, in 2023, there were a whole two months of racing after Suzuka.

Thus, figuring that history is dead, F1 has decided to move Suzuka to April, so that, much like 2004-2008, it's back-to-back with the Chinese Grand Prix. Which means F1 will now have Baku and Singapore as a doubleheader in 2024...yeah.

For something meant to cut down on F1's travel related CO2 emissions, they really did just decide to make the entire circus fly over the entirety of the Asian continent in a week. Good job.

What the race does succeed in, however, is reminding us of the last time F1 raced in Japan in April, the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grand Prix. A rare moment of two races in the same country for F1, when in addition to the end of season trip to Suzuka, there was an early season trip to the T1 Circuit in Okayama. It's a pretty neat track, I've raced it on Ride 4, probably better for bikes than cars though.

So yeah, not much for the environment, but it does remind us of an obscure race nobody has ever heard of, so there is that.

[herohimbowhore]

On This Day in F1: Masterlist

On This Day in F1 takes a look back into time at events that occurred on days relevant to the 2024 Formula 1 Season. Posts will have a brief description of the current day's events and then take a look into Formula 1 history.

_______

Feb. 1: Lewis Hamilton Signs with Ferrari + 2011

Feb. 2: Haas Car Launch + 2007

Feb. 5: Williams and Sauber Car Launches + 2015

Feb. 7: Alpine Car Launch + 1960

Feb. 8: Visa Cash App RB Car Launch + 2006

Feb. 12: Aston Martin Car Launch + 2020

Feb. 13: Ferrari Car Launch + 1995

Feb. 14: Mercedes and McLaren Car Launches + 2013

Feb. 15: Red Bull Car Launch + 1929

Feb. 21: Testing Day 1 + 1975

Feb. 22: Testing Day 2 + 2012

Feb. 23: Testing Day 3 and DTS Season 6 + 1958

Feb. 29: Bahrain Day 1 + 1932

Mar. 1: Bahrain Day 2 + 1992

Mar. 2: Bahrain Grand Prix + 2010

Mar. 7: Saudi Arabia Day 1 + 2004

Mar. 8: Saudi Arabia Day 2

Mar. 9: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Mar. 22: Australia Day 1

Mar. 23: Australia Day 2 + 2016

Mar. 24: Australian Grand Prix + 2013

Apr. 5: Japan Day 1 + 2009

Apr. 6: Japan Day 2 + 1930

Apr. 7: Japanese Grand Prix

Apr. 19: China Day 1

Apr. 20: China Day 2

Apr. 21: Chinese Grand Prix

May 3: Miami Day 1

May 4: Miami Day 2

May 5: Miami Grand Prix

May 17: Imola Day 1

May 18: Imola Day 2

May 19: Imola Grand Prix

May 24: Monaco Day 1

May 25: Monaco Day 2

May 26: Monaco Grand Prix

Jun. 7: Canada Day 1

Jun. 8: Canada Day 2 + 2014

Jun. 9: Canada Grand Prix

_____________________________

More dates to be added as the season goes on

[chibrary]

every time charles and pierre have interacted on twitter source: twitter season(s): 2015 - 2022

April 9th, 2015 - Charles has his first race for the Formula 3 European Championship; Pierre has his second season in GP2.

April 12th, 2015:

December 22nd, 2016:

June 20th, 2017:

December 2nd, 2017 - Pierre competes in Japanese Super Formula and makes his F1 Debut with Toro Rosso that year; Charles competes for Prema in F2.

June 13th, 2019:

November 17th, 2019 - Brazilian Grand Prix. Pierre gets his first podium; Charles and Seb both have to retire from the race after making contact with each other.

September 6th, 2020 - Pierre wins the Monza GP; Charles crashes out.

February 10th, 2021 - Off-Season:

June 8th, 2021 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix

June 27th, 2021 - Styrian Grand Prix; Charles makes contact with Pierre during the first lap, forcing Pierre to retire.

March 20th, 2022 - Bahrain Grand Prix:

[moonvisi0n]

2015 F1 Rounds 3&4.

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CHINESE GRAND PRIX & failing Renault engines

My fear of speaking too soon jinxed me, I was prematurely praising this grid's Redbull & toro Rosso lineup srry yall 😬🤞

It was funny Cause at the beginning of this race, they even praised Verstappen and his boy genius kid Wonder excellence, and immediately commenting on how poorly Kvyat started his season—ONLY for Max to stop his own race LAP 54/56. Both by an engine problem happening for the team and sister cause it got Ricciardo, SAINZ, and Max again !! in Bahrain !!

Look at this magnificent photo though, the marshalls desperately trying to roll the Toro Rosso corpse of rookie Max Verstappen into the pit before the pack crosses the final lap led by LH (& boo sc) !!

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX & Räikkönen on Rosberg

Something switched in Rosberg and Räikkönen for this race because the Mercedes, Ferrari, Mercedes, Ferrari quali result lineup at the start was really pit dancing & havin' great ol' battles at all moments ;D

Unfortunately, Vettel eventually lost it at some point cause he ended up closer to Bottas & sometimes Massa. WILLIAMS UP FRONT. well rather up the grid Claire Williams miss u

Fortunately, the dog in Räikkönen (& bc of break problems for both Rosberg And Hamilton) was able to get 2nd, And look at LH and KIMI here tho, fav races fr 😎 (prob) Too much AURA, I've been charmed, impressed, I'm never not thinking of them and their lore>

Promise these blogs won't just be about big names and P1s, P2s, P3s hehe & IK wins are both bc of racer AND team, Loved loved seeing that George's win in Austria was equally celebrated with (and sometimes because OF) their home team efforts, In this race Toto Wolff was asked if "Nico's mistake" cost Mercedes a 1-2 but he immediately refuted this, saying it was "ours" and things the team will look into 💪💪 Big balls, big bucks sport I guess

2015 Mclaren here for a good time not a long time <3 & I'm so ready for Jenson Button to button it up in 2009 F1 but just know so far every time they get to him in the starting grid I go ☹️ he's been so far back ☹️ It’s rough out here for my guy (Drivers with only 1 championship year)

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[jnleeo]

🇰🇷 !! WAG: N/A 🔓.

. . . ⌨️ ☆ 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐀 𝟏 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐑: 𝐉𝐄𝐍𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐄, 𝐍𝐎. 𝟏𝟔. ♘♛

born in incheon, south korea on april 23rd 2000, jeno lee began racing karts at the age of five. he was best rookie in his debut season in Formula 3 in 2015, when he raced for van amersfoort racing, finishing fourth in the championship. in 2016, jeno became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and won the GP3 series with ART grand prix, at that time run by frederic vasseur. the following year he won the Formula 2 Championship at his first attempt. in 2018, he made his Formula 1 debut with the alfa romeo sauber team, scoring 39 points. shortly before christmas, scuderia ferrari announced that it had extended his contract up to and including the 2024 season. In 2022, he took nine pole positions, which put him third on the all-time list of ferrari drivers behind michael schumacher and niki lauda and he also won three times, in bahrain, australia and austria, finishing second. on january 25th, scuderia ferrari announced it had extended its contract with Lee for several years and is planning to stay with them for the long road ahead.

[f1]

Home favourite Piastri on the Daniil Kvyat connection behind his previous visit to Albert Park

Oscar Piastri is gearing up for his first-ever race at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit this weekend, but while he has never tackled the Australian Grand Prix venue, it will not be the 21-year-old’s first experience of F1 Down Under. Piastri, who grew up near the circuit in the suburb of Brighton, explained in Thursday’s driver press conference for his home event that he was selected as a ‘Grid Kid’ for the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, the year in which he raced to third place in the KF3 Australian Kart Championship. READ MORE: Home hero Piastri describes ‘special feeling’ ahead of maiden Australian Grand Prix Daniil Kvyat, then driving for Red Bull, was the driver Piastri was paired with ahead of the race, only for a gearbox issue to prevent him reaching the grid – and thus meaning no exchange between them. Sharing some memories from his previous visits to Albert Park, Piastri said: “I was here last year as reserve driver [with Alpine], and I was here [in] 2015… I was a Grid Kid, actually, for Daniil Kvyat. “I was holding Daniil Kvyat’s flag and he broke down on the lap to the grid, so I never actually got to see him! It’s pretty special to have someone holding my flag this time, but hopefully I have better luck.” Piastri has been busy meeting and greeting fans ahead of his first F1 race on home soil He added: “The last time I raced in Australia I was still in go-karts, I think it was seven years ago now, so it’s nice to get out on a race track in Oz.” As for what Piastri can achieve at home, the former F2 and F3 champion took confidence from his performance last time out in Saudi Arabia, which included a run to Q3 in qualifying. BEYOND THE GRID: Oscar Piastri on his F1 debut, dealing with the pressure and bringing back McLaren’s glory days He was keen, though, to avoid the first-lap drama that saw him pick up car damage and dive into the pits for a new front wing, with team mate Lando Norris having to do the same after running over the debris. “I think compared to the previous two tracks, here should be more like Saudi, I hope. The tarmac is quite similar, the layout is a bit more similar to Saudi compared to Bahrain, so hopefully that is good for us,” he said, with McLaren one of two teams – alongside AlphaTauri – yet to score a point this season. “I think in Saudi we showed we can get into Q3 and fight for the back end of points on our good days, so hopefully we can just have a clean race and my front wing doesn’t wipe out Lando this time! We’ll see what we can do.” Piastri and Norris were both caught up in Lap 1 drama in Saudi Arabia Norris was also keen to focus on the positives after McLaren’s point-less start in 2023, saying: “I should have scored points in Bahrain and I should have scored points in Saudi. “We’ve been a little bit unlucky with certain things like the debris in Saudi, but if I didn’t make my mistake in qualifying [when Norris hit the Turn 27 wall] I wouldn’t have been in that position and I wouldn’t have hit any debris. ANALYSIS: McLaren hit the reset button in a bid to revive their F1 hopes “Some ‘shoulda’, ‘woulda’, ‘coulda’, type of things, also reliability hit us in Bahrain, so definitely not as bad as everyone, [the] media, headlines are saying. “I have confidence that if we have a clean weekend and perform to where our performance should be at, we can score some points.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[ummick]

Mick Schumacher Confirmed At Haas F1 Team

December 1, 2020

Formula 2 Championship Leader to Graduate to Formula 1 in 2021.

Haas F1 Team has signed Germany's Mick Schumacher as part of its all-new driver lineup for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship and beyond in a multi-year agreement. Schumacher gets an early start on his preparations as a full-time Formula 1 driver – driving the team's VF-20 in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Friday 11 December, before participating in the end of season young driver test at Yas Marina Circuit, Tuesday 15 December. Schumacher (21), a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and the son of seven-time FIA Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, leads the Formula 2 title race heading into the final round of the season at Bahrain International Circuit (R12 4-6 December). Schumacher holds a fourteen point advantage at the top of the points table – his sophomore season with Prema Racing netting ten podium finishes to-date, including a pair of stand-out feature race victories at Monza and Sochi. "I'm very pleased that we're able to confirm Mick Schumacher in our driver lineup for next season and I look forward to welcoming him into the team," stated Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1 Team. "The Formula 2 Championship has long served as a proving ground for talent to showcase their credentials and this year's field has undoubtedly been one of the most competitive in recent seasons. Mick has won races, collected podiums and excelled against some pretty exceptional talent in 2020. I firmly believe he's earned the opportunity to graduate into Formula 1 based on his performances. We have an opportunity ahead of us, as a team, to evaluate and nurture a new driver, given our familiarity with our race package heading into 2021. We are putting in place our building blocks for the continued long-term growth of the team and I look forward to Mick's contributions both on and off the track in that process." Schumacher joins Haas F1 Team with six seasons of open-wheel racing under his belt. Starting his journey in the 2015 ADAC F4 Germany series, he progressed to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, winning the title in 2018 courtesy of eight victories. He was appointed to the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2019 as he made his Formula 2 debut. Schumacher had his first taste of contemporary Formula 1 cars in April of that season, participating at the in-season test in Bahrain, testing with both Scuderia Ferrari and Alfa Romeo Racing across the two days. "The prospect of being on the Formula 1 grid next year makes me incredibly happy and I'm simply speechless," stated Schumacher upon his confirmation. "I would like to thank Haas F1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari, and the Ferrari Driver Academy for placing their trust in me. I also want to acknowledge and extend my love to my parents. I know that I owe them everything. I have always believed that I would realize my dream of Formula 1. A huge thank you must also go to all the great motorsport fans out there who have supported me throughout my career. I will give it my all, as I always do, and I look forward to going on this journey together with Haas F1 and them."

[identifying-f1-in-posts]

[1] 20th March 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Podium

[2] 25th October 2015 United States Grand Prix Post-race Conference

[3] 13th November 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

[4] 31st October 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

[5] 3rd July 2022 British Grand Prix Podium

[6] 25th November 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

[7] 10th September 2011 Italian Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

[8] 25th August 2018 Belgian Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

[9] 27th June 2010 European Grand Prix Podium Champagne Celebrations

[10] 27th October 2012 Indian Grand Prix Post-qualifying Top 3 Photo

Lewis & others matching icons part 2

like or reblog if save/use

give me the credits if you repost

[digitalminhajalam]

Bahrain Grand Prix: Esteban Ocon equals unwanted record with three driving penalties before retiring

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon endured a miserable Sunday at the Sakhir circuit after being penalised for three driving infringements in one race; it equalled the mark previously set by Pastor Maldonado at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix Last Updated: 05/03/23 8:08pm Esteban Ocon was handed three penalties by the stewards at the Bahrain Grand Prix Esteban Ocon equalled an unwanted record in the…

[wafact]

What Time is Bahrain Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying, Race?

Ferrari at the 2015 Bahrain Gran Prix It’s finally time for the first round of the 2023 Formula 1 Championship, which kicks off with the Bahrain Grand Prix. In season’s past, particularly last season, the event has been pretty entertaining and dramatic. Last year, even after looking very much like it was going to win, Red Bull had a few reliability problems and Ferrari came out on top. It was…

[style-of-princess-beatrice]

A Royal Recycling (part 10)

Saloni

[formula-what]

Brocedes time line for a very patient anon

Lewis quotes in orange, Nico quotes in pink, everyone else is blue.

okay first some background knowledge:

Nico is rich as fuck. only child, born in Germany, brought up in Monaco. son of world champion Keke Rosberg

Lewis was born on a council estate in Stevenage and his dad had to work multiple jobs for him to start karting

Honestly I think the difference in their backgrounds is one of the things that pushed them together, they were both isolated from the rest of the kids, but I’m keeping this purely facts rather than speculation.

2000

They’re both 15 years old and are karting teammates for MBB (Mercedes Benz McLaren) in Formula A

Robert Kubica: “there was always competition. But they didn’t fight. It was friendly competition. There was always laughing afterwards.” // “they would even have races to eat pizza”

They often shared hotel rooms at the races which was a “scene of many wrestling matches between them”

Dino Chiesa (their karting boss) – “many times I was called by reception about some problem in the room. It might be noise, or they might have broken something. They would never sleep so they were always tired the next morning”

“they both liked ice cream so much, particularly vanilla. During the night they wanted to eat ice cream always, so I had to go out everywhere to find some and keep them happy”

Lewis would often persuade Nico to buy him sweets

They would have competitions over LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Lewis: “we always had great competition whether on the racetrack or computer games or playing football”

“probably the first bit of competition we had was when Nico used to ride a unicycle everywhere so I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn how to ride this unicycle. Ive got to be better than him.’ I spent all my time outside the go-kart learning to ride this unicycle”

Apparently it only took Lewis 2 hours to teach himself how to do it

In maybe 2013 ish (when they were still friends) Lewis reflected with– “I have never laughed so much than when we were racing together. Nico was kicking everyone’s butt at that time. We had so great races together and built a great relationship”

“we were just arriving and enjoying go-karts and eating pizzas every weekend, fighting all the time and just having fun, whereas now it’s all business.”

many times they would talk about what they would do when they got to f1, made plans hoping to be teammates and become world champions together.

“Nico would say ‘when I’m in formula one’ and for me it was always ‘if I ever get to formula one’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a formula 1 driver- he knew he was going to make it.”

F1

Nico joined f1 in 2006 with williams, Lewis 2007 with McLaren. And man I WISH I knew what went down with this two when Lewis nearly one his rookie season (missing out by one point to mr fernando alonso) and then WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP in his SECOND SEASON (again by one point thank you mr alonso)

2008 Australia

Nicos gets his first podium, and ofc Lewis is there (he won it) and they are jumping around in the cool down room. Just, two kids who are literally living the one thing they have spent their whole lives dreaming about together. Lewis won the championship that year and oh wow I can only imagine their celebrations together.

2013

They’re teammates in Mercedes!!!

Nico: “every other day there are moments or things that pop up and I can smirk and thing, ‘that’s exactly the same as it was 15 years ago’”

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix gets an honourable mention. This is the race with red bulls good old multi 21 but merc also had their own team orders, stopping nico from fighting for his first merc podium, but Lewis disagreed with it so it didn’t really spark that much tension between them- more the team.

2014

the start of the turbo-hybrid era so y’all know this was good in terms of performance.

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

They were both fighting for the win and had a collision which prompted a “mock fight” in parc ferme after the race (which I really hope there’s a video of).

Turns out, Nico won because he had used engine modes banned by Mercedes to get a power advantage in the closing laps. which kinda pissed Lewis off

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis’ fourth win in a row and took lead in the championship. They were fighting till literally the last second and Lewis crossed the line 0.6 seconds ahead of Nico, who says he could have passed him with one more lap.

Lewis defended using the same banned engine modes that Nico had used in Bahrain. Yeah.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

This is IT. This is peak petty bitch. This is the one people still cry about.

It’s the end of Q3, both of them are out on a lap, Nico ahead of lewis. Nico’s already on provisional pole but Lewis is pretty close.

And then,, Nico just,, parks his car?? He says he made a mistake but the guy doesn’t even crash he straight up just,, rolls to a stop into a slip road. So the yellow flags come out forcing Lewis to abort a lap that was in the makings of pole.

The stewards say it was a-okay but Lewis was convinced it was intentional (and let’s be honest, yeah it probably was) and he even claimed that merc’s data proved it. (low key surprised he didn’t just tweet out the telemetry but I guess he got a stern telling off from mclaren last time)

But *this* is when Lewis tells the world that they aren’t friends anymore. An iconic interview.

Nico then wins the race too, ending Lewis’s four win streak and putting Nico in the lead of the championship.

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis has an engine failure in quali meaning he starts from the pit lane, but he does good to make his way up the pack but THEN there’s a safety car which puts him ahead of Nico but on a different strategy.

Nico asks if Lewis can let him past as he needs to pit again before the end of the race, which will give him the place back anyways. Lewis straight up refuses, he’s on a role here. He started from last, and Nico started from pole, why should he slow down to let his title rival through.

Mercedes strongly suggest that his blocking fucked up Nicos race but Niki Lauda is on Lewis’ side so he doesn’t get punished (We stan a supportive father figure) even though he did blatantly refuse to be a team player.

And guys, this is the last race before the summer break so you know Nico was left seething for four weeks.

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Second lap, Nico attempts a clumsy move and there’s contact, giving Hamilton a puncture and knocking him out of the race.

There’s a lot of controversy but basically it turns out he crashed with him intentionally, not backing out of the corner to “prove a point”. Nico ended up finishing second but was punished by the team, forced to apologise, and even booed on the podium.

2014 Abu Dhabi

For some reason it ran for double points?? The first time in History??? But idk???

Lewis had a perfect start and went on to win it and take the title, Nico had a problem and was told to retire the car but he kept going anyway and finished 14th. Nico went into the cool down room to congratulate Lewis on the championship win, which. cute.

Lewis claimed his second championship. Which not only was huge because of the inter team rivalry, but also because of the large gap between his first win. This guy had lost out on winning the championship in his ROOKIE season by ONE POINT, and then WON it in his SECOND season, and then there was like a FIVE YEAR gap before he won it again.

2015

Damnnn this car was fiiiinneeeeeee.

They do more laps in testing than any other car AND do it on a single power unit. And then. Australia. They take a one-two THIRTY FOUR seconds ahead of the third place Ferrari.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix

Nico is second in a one-two but claims that Lewis kept backing him up into Seb, trying to compromise his race (and help out his boyfriend).

Lewis gave zero shits: "It's not my job to look after Nico's race, it's my job to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible. That's what I did."

2015 U.S. Grand Prix

If Lewis wins here he could also claim the title with three races to spare (you have to remember back then the title fight often went up to the last race so this was pretty cool)

Lewis very aggressively forced Rosberg wide at Turn 1 to claim the lead, and then there was some sexy fighting between the Mercs and Redbull all race. Nico led in the closing stages but made a mistake, running deep into a corner and letting Lewis past with only a handful of laps to go.

Nico finished P2 and had not only lost the race but the championship title. Nico was fuming, saying Lewis’ move at the start was “one step too far”.

This is the infamous cap throw in the cool down room. Lewis throws Nico his P2 hat, Nico straight up yeets it back at him. I tear up just thinking about it. They grow up so fast.

2016

Nico had came so close to winning and I guess this was just, the last straw. All or nothing. This year he literally gave it everything he had. Lewis and him stopped speaking, Nico gave up literally the rest of his life and even stopped sleeping in the same bed as his wife and taking care of his kids, instead spending every moment trying to get into Lewis’ head. Honestly, I think he might be the only one that could beat Lewis. Just because he knew him *so well*. He literally threw away like 16 years of friendship. But also it’s like, he had to be world champion. He *had to*. His dad was champion and his whole life he’s been preparing to win it too. Tough luck that he raced in the same era as Mr. Best Driver The Sport Has Ever Seen.

Nico won the last few races of 2015, and the first four races of 2016. Lewis had a couple car problems and Nico had a good lead on him in the championship.

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Gentlemen. A short view back to the past. Nico had made a switch error on the formation lap causing the car to go into the wrong engine mode. So he was running a lot slower than Lewis, who was fighting to claim back the lead.

Nico closed the door to keep him back, and Lewis lost control on the grass, and spins into Nico and taking them both out of the race in the first lap. This is probably one of the most iconic crashes. I’m pretty sure there’s a clip of this somewhere in black and white with the titanic music over the top.

Niki Lauda blamed this one on Lewis (I guess even a supportive dad has to be critical sometimes) "Lewis is too aggressive. It is stupid, we could've won this race".

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

Nico had been struggling with a brake issue all race but was still on the way to win it. But in the last lap Lewis had caught him up and gone in for the overtake.

Typical Nico not taking any shit, refusing to be the guy that backs out and they collide. Lewis took the win and a damaged Nico dropped to fourth. From first. In the last lap.

Both of them blamed each other and tired dad team boss Toto Wolff threatened team orders in future races.

The stewards blamed Nico for the incident, issuing him two penalty points for failing to allow "racing room" and causing a collision.

2016 Abu Dhabi

In the final laps of the race, Lewis ignored team-orders from his race engineer and the technical director.

He deliberately slowed and backed Nico into the pack hoping they overtake him, and there would be enough of a points difference to win the title.

Nico finished second and won the title by five points.

And then,,, Nico announced a surprise retirement during the FIA prize giving ceremony.

Lewis’ response:

"This is the first time he's won in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop.” (We stan a petty king)

“But he's also got a family to focus on and probably wants to have more children. Formula One takes up so much of your time."

“In terms of missing the rivalry, of course because we started karting when we were 13 and we would always talk about being champions. When I joined this team, Nico was there, which was something we spoke about when we were kids. So it's going to be very, very strange, and, for sure, it will be sad to not have him in the team next year."

And now they are kind of on speaking terms but not really, they are both pretty private but I think they are at the ‘awkward small talk when we run into each other at the supermarket’ stage of the break up.