#Crashgate 2008

[yesterdayiwrote]

Honestly, F1 journalists need to stop framing Massa's potential lawsuit as him 'targeting' Lewis or his championship because it feels like a massive misrepresentation to deflect from the actual issue at hand.

This is about Bernie being held to account after getting cocky and admitting he knew that a race was demonstrably fixed and then failing to follow the procedure to rectify that. He's admitted to misconduct that essentially changed the season outcome. If Stefano came out and made a similar admission about AD21 in 15 years time, I'm sure people would encourage Lewis to do the same.

I'm not sure he's even after the results being changed, it feels more likely he'd look for financial compensation from Bernie himself?

[blorbocedes]

fernando alonso speaking to his team principal flavio briatore after winning singapore 2008, aka crashgate

if you as my boss, manager, and lover won't fix a race for me and risk a lifetime ban from the sport then I don't want you!!!!!!!

[schumigrace]

fernando alonso | 1st place | singapore 2008 | podium no.50

[thepotentialof2007]

Thinking today of how Lewis Hamilton had his Spa win taken off of him in 2008, when the stewards decided to create a new rule after the race, then penalize him 25 seconds for not obeying it.

His championship rival Felipe Massa inherited his points, the official results having Hamilton finishing third.

[lewisinho]

felipe massa and the championship that got away: an analysis

prompted mostly by massa pissing me off so bad with his campaign of misinformation (like bro sue the weather while you’re at it); this involved rewatching absolute disasterclasses and a few snoozefests during my free wednesday (the weather was terrible as well so took the time to refresh my memory on some of the less memorable 2008 races and compile this mess) and my eyes were bleeding so please show some love

ok, so on a more serious note, he wasn’t absolutely dreadful (apart from in the wet); my biggest issue is that we probably don’t know just how good that 2008 ferrari really was; in the hands of someone with much better quali/race pace it could probably have dominated much more strongly; i think his performance was quite average considering the potential the car had; he had some brilliant weekends as well, but i think they are quite significantly overshadowed by the dreadful ones; then again, 2008 wasn’t lewis’ best season either, and this analysis isn’t really to compare the two, it’s mostly to showcase that massa’s assertion of it being a ‘perfect’ championship isn’t quite true…is all this necessary? ofc not, but i’m going to have some fun with it anyhow; 

i also made this because the concept of ‘deserving’ something is one i deeply deeply despise in sport; the only thing you can bring to the table with such discourse is your own subjective opinion; you win or you don’t, end of; you can, of course, be robbed of something when a rule is indeed broken, but the concept of ‘deserving a championship due to how you performed over the course of a season’ is frankly stupid; and do i think massa was robbed? no. he can’t prove that crashgate was the very thing that cost him the championship because it conveniently ignores everything else that happens afterwards. there’s a clear break in the chain of causation. he neither ‘deserves’ it in my opinion, nor was he robbed of it and i also don’t like the historical revisionism he’s campaigning for either so here’s a full rundown of felipe massa’s season (i tried to be as impartial as i could in this):

top 2 in the driver’s standings (included only for the sake of completeness, please don’t cite toto’s 'wikipedia statistics' quote at me):

some background information:

the 2008 championship comes right after the spygate shitshow of the previous season; fernando alonso leaves mclaren for renault after one year; heikki kovalainen replaces him to drive alongside lewis hamilton at mclaren; felipe massa and kimi raikkonen (the reigning world champion) are teammates at ferrari (kimi’s 2008 season is also interesting to revisit considering the internal ferrari politics at play but i’ll save it for a different time); it's an eighteen race season, and for this season traction control has been banned! (it's important to mention considering the ban had been brought up several times over the season as a reason to explain some of felipe's performances considering he had never driven a formula one car without traction control before);

moreover, the fia’s decision-making this season was questionable to say the least; this is obviously not felipe's fault ofc, but there were a few decisions which he had certainly benefited from at lewis’ expense (spa comes to mind…);

2008 scoring system quick refresher: p1: 10 points, p2: 8 pts, p3: 6 pts; scoring only up to eighth place;

for the race results i will only include the top 3 as well as lewis if he finishes off the podium; for the championship standings i will include the top 3 in the championship as they were after every race (+ HAM/MAS/RAI if they were outside) and on how many points they were after every race;

australian gp (0 points, dnf)

bit of an embarrassing start tbh…massa qualifies p4 but spins in the first corner of the first lap all on his own and hits the barrier; he manages to get back into the pits though and get a front wing change; however, on lap 26 he collides with DC when trying to overtake him; DC retires, but massa continues only to retire from an engine failure a few laps later; pretty shit start to the season

race result: lewis hamilton p1, nick heidfeld p2, nico rosberg p3 (the infamous brocedes podium btw)

malaysian gp (0 points, dnf)

much better qualifying, ferrari clearly has pace as massa qualifies on pole, with raikkonen in p2; however on lap 31 felipe spins off and gets trapped in the gravel; this race was a masterclass from kimi btw, he won by nearly twenty seconds from kubica in p2; also before massa crashed, kimi also managed to get ahead of felipe in the first round of pit stops after pitting a lap after felipe by producing a brilliant in-lap

race result: kimi raikkonen p1, robert kubica p2, heikki kovalainen p3 (lewis p5- qualifying penalty for impeding drivers in quali and had started p8 + slow pitstop by mclaren in the race)

championship standings: HAM (14 points), RAI (11), HEI (11) + MAS (0)

bahrain gp (10 points, p1)

it’s kubica on pole (who i also need to mention because he arguably was the best driver of the 2008 season) and massa starts p2; felipe overtakes kubica in the first corner and then maintains the lead for the rest of the race; very good performance for him and good bounce-back from the first two races

race result: felipe massa p1, kimi raikkonen p2, robert kubica p3 (lewis p13- bit of a disaterclass from him this time around, as he went into anti-stall at the start due to going into a wrong engine mode and dropped positions; he then drives right into the back of fernando’s renault and had to get a nose change, dropping him to p18)

championship: RAI (19), HEI (16), HAM (14) + MAS (10)

spanish gp (8 points, p2)

ferrari are dominating the past few races and the same happens in spain; kimi pole, felipe p3; massa overtakes alonso at the start and it's a ferrari 1-2 procession to the end basically; the race was basically sorted with the overtakes made at the start; also a literal snoozefest;

race result: kimi raikkonen p1, felipe massa p2, lewis hamilton p3

championship: RAI (19), HAM (20), KUB (19) + MAS p4 (18)

turkish gp (10 points, p1)

actually a pretty good race from massa; starts on pole and wins the race; lewis comes in second, executing a three-stopper (arguably this strategy cost mclaren the chance of fighting for the win but they were worried about tyres…still i think, a bit on the conservative side from mclaren in terms of strategy and considering lewis’ amazing pace relative to massa bit of a missed opportunity)

race result: felipe massa p1, lewis hamilton p2, kimi raikkonen p3

championship: RAI (35), MAS (28), HAM (28)

monaco gp (6 points, p3)

wet monaco and absolute chaos! (great race to rewatch btw); massa qualified on pole, but then lost the lead because of a mistake in the wet; lewis wins, and also brilliant race by kubica;

race result: lewis hamilton p1, robert kubica p2, felipe massa p3

championship: HAM (38), RAI (35), MAS (34)

canadian gp (4 points, p5)

massa qualifies p6, ferrari fuel rig problem in the pit lane meant he dropped down to p17; he fights back to p5; and because hamilton crashed into raikkonen in the pit lane, he managed to outscore the both of them that weekend; also robert wins! relative to the others, a pretty good weekend for massa;

race result: robert kubica p1, nick heidfeld p2, david coulthard p3 (every time i remember DC raced in 2008 it’s like a shock to my system)

championship: KUB (42), MAS (38), HAM (38) + RAI, p4 (35)

french gp (10 points, p1)

again, ferrari are pretty much dominating in quali; kimi takes pole, felipe p2; it was kimi’s race to win and he was comfortably leading however he then had to slow down due to his car suffering from an exhaust pipe breaking and hence, loss of engine power; felipe therefore, inherits the lead and wins the race;

race result: felipe massa p1, kimi raikkonen p2, jarno trulli p3 (lewis- p10, he had to take a grid drop for the incident in the pitlane in canada when he ran into the back of kimi; in the race he has to serve a drive-through penalty for cutting a corner and gaining an advantage)

championship: MAS (48), KUB (46), RAI (43) + HAM, p4 (38)

british gp (0 points, p13)

eyeee think this race is best summarised with pictures? allow me:

an all-timer of a race, lewis hamilton masterclass;

race result: lewis hamilton p1, nick heidfeld p2, rubens barichello p3

championship: HAM (48), MAS (48), RAI (48)

german gp (6 points, p3)

massa qualified p2 alongside lewis; this is one of lewis’ best drives of the season i think; he was leading the race comfortably in the beginning stages, pulling away from felipe like crazy (he gained 1.8 sec in the first lap, had a 3.7 sec lead by lap 4, 11 sec by lap 18, clearly on a mission); mclaren don’t pit him under safety car when everyone else around him does, so he has eight laps to build a large gap before having to eventually pit himself; he does on lap 50 and overtakes massa and piquet jr for the win (some really nice overtakes btw); massa really just didn’t have the pace to compete;

race result: lewis hamilton p1, nelson piquet jr p2, felipe massa p3

championship: HAM (58), MAS (54), RAI (51)

hungarian gp (0 points, p17/dnf)

this one was bad luck because massa suffered an engine failure when leading the race; it would have probably been his best win of his career had he not dnf'ed- good overtake on lewis at the start

race result: heikki kovalainen p1, timo glock p2, kimi raikkonen p3 (lewis- p5, suffered a tyre puncture on lap 40; tbf the early seasons also show lewis is still learning about tyre management and that he’s still prone to overcooking his tyres making them vulnerable to punctures)

championship: HAM (62), RAI (57), MAS (54)

european gp (10 points, p1)

qualifies on pole and wins the race; he nearly manages to crash into sutil when released into the pit lane after his pit stop; the team is charged with 10,000 euros after the race but felipe keeps his win (it would be dealt with so differently these days lmao but can’t really blame him)

race result: felipe massa p1, lewis hamilton p2, robert kubica p3

championship: HAM (70), MAS (64), RAI (57)

belgian gp (10 points, p1)

this race still makes my blood boil; funnily enough felipe wins after not leading a single lap in this race! lewis gets handed a 25-second penalty by the stewards and gets demoted to p3; quick recap: lewis tried to pass kimi at the bus stop chicane, but he cut the corner and got into the lead; he allowed kimi to re-pass him because he gained an advantage by going off track; but smartly, he passes kimi again at la source; post-race he’s handed a penalty; mclaren then appeal and say that charlie whiting himself said that lewis had given the place back to kimi completely legally; thing is, charlie isn’t the stewards, who say that lewis didn’t give kimi enough of an advantage; it causes a bit of a storm in the media, niki lauda goes off and calls it the ‘worst judgment in the history of f1’; thing is, it's a really grey area, to some extent i can understand the stewards’ reasoning, but the severity of the punishment is absolutely ridiculous and also points to how inconsistent the fia is...handing him 25 seconds just doesn’t fit the crime at all; (also the last four laps are just pure drama in general! worth a watch);

(if i had a nickel for every time felipe massa got handed a lucky win in 2008, i’d have two nickels. which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice)

race result: felipe massa p1, nick heidfeld p2, lewis hamilton p3

championship: HAM (76), MAS (74), KUB (58) + RAI, p4 (57)

italian gp (3 points, p6)

bit of a disasterclass, qualifies p6, finishes p6; but funnily enough, he still finished ahead of both kimi and lewis as the both of them were sent out on the wrong tyres in qualifying and only managed to qualify p14 and p15; btw beautiful overtakes by lewis (he finished p7- just one place behind felipe); also seb wins!

race result: sebastian vettel p1, keikki kovalainen p2, robert kubica p3

championship: HAM (78), MAS (77), KUB (64) + RAI, p4 (57)

singapore gp (0 points, p13)

crashgate! he gets pole (quite an impressive pole lap i must admit) and leads the race until piquet jr crashes, and felipe pits, ferrari release him too early and he drives off with the fuel hose still attached to his car…to that i say, maybe sue your pit crew as well 

race result: fernando alonso p1, nico rosberg p2, lewis hamilton p3

championship: HAM (84), MAS (77), KUB (64) + RAI, p4 (57)

japanese gp (2 points, p7)

now this one is a disasterclass on all fronts, but if you want drama i recommend watching it; felipe qualified p5; he managed to crash into hamilton and got himself a drive-through penalty; he also tangled with bourdais when attempting to overtake him on lap 50; bourdais was blamed for it and got a 25-second penalty after the race; thing is, i don’t see how it’s only bourdais’ fault tbh? massa squeezed bourdais as he attempted to pass him going into the first corner and bourdais couldn’t just disappear…anyway the decision to penalise bourdais was criticised a lot, also considering that penalising him went against charlie whiting’s pre-race direction that the car exiting the pit-lane has the right of way (which bourdais was); 

race result: fernando alonso p1, robert kubica p2, kimi raikkonen p3 (lewis hamilton- p12, bit of a disasterclass from him as well)

championship: HAM (84), MAS (79), KUB (72) + RAI, p4 (63)

chinese gp (8 points, p2)

qualifies p3, behind lewis and kimi; lewis comfortably leads the race and wins it fifteen seconds ahead of p2; massa finished second after raikkonen is instructed to let him through (ferrari team orders, bit of a deja vu)

race result: lewis hamilton p1, felipe massa p2, kimi raikkonen p3

championship: HAM (94), MAS (87), KUB (75) + RAI, p4 (69)

brazilian gp (10 points, p1)

ahead of the last race of the season, massa could still win the title if he wins the race and lewis finishes p6 or lower; massa did all he could: he got pole and won the race; mclaren opted for an incredibly conservative strategy in the race (they only needed to secure p5, and considering how they lost the title only the year before, it’s explicable): for e.g. waiting for a relatively long time to get lewis off the inters when it began to dry during the first part of the race; 

race result: felipe massa p1, fernando alonso p2, kimi raikkonen p3 (lewis- p5 and world champion!)

championship: HAM (98), MAS (97), RAI (75); shoutout to robert kubica who had an absolutely amazing season and who also finished on 75 points, but ended up p4 on countback.

hope this was somewhat informative :)

[remapped-soul]

f1 - a journey through the years. 2008 season

So, because I have nothing better to do, I have decided to watch every single race starting with the 2008 season because of Sebastian Vettel. I have completely forgotten Nico was in F1 back then and I let out a squeal of joy when his pretty face popped on my screen. Shame on them for showing only Seb's eyes.

Anyway, this is going to be a live-blogging of sorts, hopefully not too spammy. I will watch interviews and press conferences for full effect too.

My first thought: what were f1 producers smoking when they put that intro into the world? I want it too.

[sempatri]

My delusional mind is exploding at the possibility that Massa could win the 2008 title 15 years later

[classicrubberduck]

need an alonso scandal primer BAD

Oh Lord, I am tired after work so I will just give a very quick summary:

The Really Big Ones are Spygate 2007, when McLaren were found to have possession of stolen technical information from Ferrari. Fernando had his own mini-scandal within this scandal, when he deliberately held up Lewis during qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix (for which the FIA penalised McLaren and basically told them to get their drivers in line). The next day Fernando attempted to threaten Ron Dennis by sending evidence confirming McLaren knew about the stolen Ferrari information. Which led to Ron Dennis running to the FIA President, Max Mosley, to tell him that he knew nothing about the emails, which led to the FIA re-investigating the whole saga, which led to McLaren getting a $100,000,000 fine, the biggest in sporting history.

Oh, 2007 F1 Season you will always be famous.

Also in the 2007 season, Marc Priestley wrote in his book that Fernando was going around giving his mechanics brown envelopes of cash, which is, how you say, a wee bit scandalous.

Then there was the 2008 Crashgate scandal, when Nelson Piquet Jr deliberatly crashed in order to ensure that Fernando won the race. Who knows if Fernando knew about it at the time, but it's yet another weird scandal he got caught up in.

Then in 2010, there was the Fernando Is Faster Than You incident (yes that video involves Christian Horner being an enormous hypocrite but that aside) in which Ferrari gave a team order for Felipe Massa to move aside for Fernando, even though team orders were illegal at the time. And it was in particularly bad taste given that this was at the Hungarian GP, the race where one year earlier, Felipe had suffered a serious head injury.

In 2012, at the American GP, Ferrari deliberately broke the seal on Felipe Massa's engine in order to give Fernando an advantage on the by moving him to the clean side of the track.

In 2013, Fernando was asked at the Hungarian Grand Prix (what is it with Fernando and Hungary) what he would like for his birthday, and he replied "someone else's car" (valid tbh) and the boss of Ferrari called him on his birthday to yell at him.

Jenson has said that when they were at McLaren, Fernando used to pretend there were problems with the car and retire if Jenson was ahead of him in a race.

And then, when it was announced that Fernando was going to Aston Martin, Otmar said he hadn't spoken to Fernando because he was on a boat with no signal. Literally later that day, Fernando posted a selfie of himself in Barcelona, making it extremely obvious that he was just ignoring Otmar's calls because he wanted to.

I'm absolutely certain there's other things I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that came immediately to mind. As you can tell, not all of it is directly Fernando's fault, but the man's just a magnet for scandal and drama. It says a lot that I said this was going to be a quick primer, and I spent the best part of an hour writing and researching eight paragraphs worth of stuff.

[keepthedelta]

what would you consider Rosberg's best race? (wanna hear people wax poetic about their special interest)

it's going to be a list because i am weird about nico

singapore 2016. an absolutely dominate weekend for him, fastest in every single session, outqualified lewis by 7 tenths (and danny ric by 6) setting what was (at the time) a track record. spent the entire race managing brake and engine issues, got screwed over by merc strategy when they were trying to get lewis back onto the podium after he got overtaken by kimi, had to make his tyres last an extra 20 laps with danny ric chasing him down 2-4 seconds a lap faster than him. won the race and then posted a slutty shirtless photo of him being cooled down by a fan in what could be considered the ancestor of the ice bath videos that teams post now.

canada 2014. a real contender for my favourite ever nico race even though he didn't win. both merc cars had mgu-h failure about 20-30 laps in thereby losing half of their power. nico switched brake bias to the front brakes so that less strain would be put on the rear brakes because on the lack of power and potential overheating. about five laps later lewis dnfs with rear brake failure. nico should have been overtaken by just about everybody, but instead he spends the next 30 laps using all of his power and speed in one specific sector (the one with the drs detection point) so that checo (now in second) is too far behind to get drs, and then, even though nico's car is barely alive for the rest of the lap, he can never overtake him. it literally took checo's car breaking down and allowing danny ric (now driving the best car in the field) for nico to lose the win. the mechanical masterclass of modern f1 (and yes it might not have worked at another track or i f someone other than checo had been in second, but i firmly believe that the lowest nico could have ever come given the circumstances was third) and it is not appreciated enough.

china 2012. i rewatched this recently and literally no one believed that nico was going to win until about five laps before the end. he was driving one of the world's shittiest mercs (i promise every single merc pre-2013 was worse than any car since then), got pole by half a second, got a perfect start, flawless tyre management, cruised to victory while everyone else was fighting for their lives behind him (the battle for second was absolutely insane, and nico was just minding his own business about 15 seconds ahead of them all).

singapore 2008. crashgate has entered the building. back then cars refuelled during the race and so another factor in the strategies was fuel load. nico and a number of others were running low initial fuel loads, so they would have to stop relatively early. except, just before they were going to stop, nelson piquet jr binned it into the wall (on purpose) and the stewards closed the pitlane for safety reasons. however, nico and the others on similar strategies needed to refuel so they had to enter the pitlane anyway which earned them a stop and go penalty which had to be served within three laps. nico did those laps as fast as he possibly could, meaning that after he served his penalty he only lost a handful of places (i think 3). robert kubica who also took a stop and go penalty on the exact same lap for the exact same reason (and was in a better car) lost far more places and i don't think he even finished in the points. nico spent the rest of the race rising up the field and finished second only to fernando (who got there by cheating) with lewis in a distant third (tbf i don't think he needed to try that hard by the end as he got a massive points gain over felipe massa his championship competition due to the ferrari pitlane incident).

malaysia 2016. casuals will tell you that this is the race where lewis lost the championship because of his dnf (and if you're a lh hater i recommend watching it because the level of conspiracy that emerges from lewis and sky sports is genuinely quite funny) but i think that's very misleading. in the very first turn seb crashed into nico, spinning him around and leaving him in dead last by the end of the first lap. nico fought through the field, pulled off a rallycross overtake on kimi, got a penalty for it, and was already sitting in fourth when lewis's engine blew up. he then pulled a ten second gap over kimi so that he kept his podium place, got danny ric to make max do a shoey, nearly threw up when he did one himself, told a room full of reporters that he didn't want danny ric to win another race (that year) and filmed one of the funniest ever post-race vlogs where he fidgeted with the neckline of his t-shirt while describing how seb had apologised to him for the crash and that was nice but it didn't get him any points back. truly iconic.

there is definitely a running theme in these choices i think. mostly that i think nico was at his best when he was fighting against the potential capabilities of the car/circuit/circumstances rather than other drivers 🤷🏿‍♀️

[formulinos]

sam raimi's rules of horror: don't make a boring picture!

1. the innocent must suffer 2021 abu dhabi grand prix | 2008 brazilian grand prix | 1999 italian grand prix | 2019 canadian grand prix 2. the guilty must be punished renault and their crashgate | michael schumacher's 1997 disqualification of the championship | mclaren and their spygate 3. you must taste blood to become a man 2010 turkish grand prix | 1990 japanese grand prix | 2016 spanish grand prix | 1998 belgian grand prix

[forzasedici]

not crofty saying that only one f1 race was won from 15th and that was alonso at singapore in 2008 my brother in christ that's crashgate

[summerblueringo]

I was watching this interview with Felipe Massa, and here is some trivia about Kimi:

Felipe says Kimi is one of the strangest guys he’s ever met, but that he was a very fair and honest teammate. He wasn’t the type to insist on having things his way, and they could move on easily from any situation.

A big reason why Felipe thought Kimi was strange is that while he was usually quiet and spoke very little, after two glasses of anything he would become extremely chatty and touchy-feely, to the point that you’d have to shut him up if you wanted to get a word in! To quote Felipe: “It happened a lot of times, after a race, seeing him at night at a party and he, damn, he��d stick to you and wouldn’t stop hugging you and talking and telling stories and talking and talking and talking! And you’d be like, ‘Dude, let me talk too!’”

In a separate interview he says that when Kimi joined Ferrari, Jean Todt told him that he could drink if he wanted, but that he didn’t want to read tabloid stories about him falling down drunk in clubs like at McLaren. According to Felipe, Kimi respected that request and the team and no such stories were heard during his time there.

During January 2008 at Madonna di Campiglio, Kimi arrived to dinner a little tipsy, and continued drinking there. Michael Schumacher was also there at the same table (full of F1 and MotoGP drivers), wearing boots, leather trousers and a big metal belt buckle that made him look "like a cowboy" in Felipe's own words. A drunk Kimi decided to mess with him and started calling him “Texas Ranger.” At first Michael ignored him, but eventually pretended to find it funny because everyone else was laughing.

That same night, presumably after the dinner, Kimi cut the queue for the cable car. The trip down the snowy mountain took about ten minutes, and at the end he got out of it… naked. In negative 5/6 degrees Celsius. The man operating it (a ~70 year old Italian man), upon seeing the newest Ferrari world champion naked, exclaimed “Mamma mia! Mamma mia!”

Felipe says that Kimi mellowed out a lot after having kids, and that he’s a very hands-on father. One time Kimi’s son was playing with Felipe's son, and Kimi was keeping an eye on him by himself.

Some other tidbits I found interesting:

When Felipe was a child, Ayrton Senna refused to give him an autograph. That stayed with him for the rest of his life, and he has never been able to refuse a child an autograph. One time he was in a car with Michael Schumacher and there were a lot of people asking for autographs outside. One of them was a little boy, tapping on the car window. After a while of Michael not reacting, Felipe couldn't stand it and eventually nudged him and asked him to give the boy an autograph. Michael did so (and gave more people autographs in the process), and later when Felipe shared his experience, Michael told him he'd been right.

Felipe believes that Fernando Alonso knew about Crashgate. He doesn't have any proof and Fernando denied it when he brought it up (jokingly, Felipe said something like "that time you fucked me over"), but just from knowing him as a teammate Felipe is sure he knew.

One time Felipe peed in Jacques Villeneuve's drinking bottle.

[everythingne]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ➛ breaking point (out of the woods, ls2)

Dhanishka runs to the medics tent to find Logan, to kiss his wounds better and cup his face in her hands. What she finds is not her boyfriend, but a scared boy hardened by misplaced anger. Aka a look back to the breakup.

tws/notes: vague mentions of injury, a break up, cursing, its fun guys dw!!! (so much angst.)

As soon as she was done, as soon as she pulled to the boards, Dhanishka disregarded every protocol. Shoving past Trident employees, she hastily and earnestly apologized, nearly body checking a cameraman on accident. Her hands flying up in a shouted 'sorry!" as she hustles through the crowd formed.

Her hands shake as she's ripping off her helmet and the balaclava underneath as she dodged questions from media around her. Nothing mattered right now.

Nothing other than her boyfriend, who she'd seen nose dive the wall.

Logan had crashed, bad, and even with sweat dripping down her neck and her hair matted down, she needed to find him. Her feet carry her out of the little cooldown area, dipping past a concerned Oscar as she comes out on the other side.

"Dhanishka!" Oscar shouts after her when he spots its her, and when she whips around, running a hand through her hair to try and tame it he continues, "He's in medical!"

"Thank you!" Dhanishka shouts, raising a hand in thanks to him and the Prema employee who's obviously the one to have told him. She whips around and this time, takes off running.

When she gets to medical, they redirect her to the paddocks, saying Logan had gone back to HWA after. And technically Dhanishka's not allowed in the garage but, at this point, she was already breaking rules so who the hell cared? Her feet hurt from the aggressive way she sprints on their not so supportive bottoms, warm wind in her face making her eyes water. Or maybe it's the adrenaline and the panic?

Probably the panic.

She runs into Viscaal, quite literally, before she can get into the HWA paddock. She goes to apologize, to shove past him, but he grabs her by the arm, tucking her off to the side.

"Viscaal!" She gasps, "I'm sorry but I have to--!"

"Dhanishka!" He shouts, grabbing her other arm and she rips out of his grasp, going to run to HWA. Her teammate wastes no time, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back as she sputters,

"Logan crashed! Like, really really bad, and I need to go see if he's okay!" And she goes to keep babbling when Viscall shouts over her, trying to keep her focus on him for one god damn second.

"Listen! Just, Dhanishka! Listen to me!"

She finally sucks in a breath, and looks up at her teammate. Immediately, her eyebrows furrow and she gasps, “Aren’t you supposed to be in medic? You crashed! Are you okay?!"

“That’s not important. Listen,” He breathes, hands tight on her wrists and Dhanishka nods, slowly, before he says, “Trident just pulled a 2008 Renault.”

She blinks. “Huh?”

Vascaal whispers, a sharp hiss, “Crashgate. I’m Nelson Piquet Jr, you’re Fernando Alonso.”

And it’s like Dhanishka’s world begins to crumble under her feet. Her hands tremble as Viscaal is called away by Trident. The workers look a little worried and try to grab Dhanishka too, but she quickly ducks under a barrier and now sprints. She's stumbling on almost doe like legs, nearly dropping her helmet twice, jamming a nail when she goes to catch it. She slips behind a HWA employee and then finds herself smack in the middle of the garage, eyes on Logan. His blonde hair matted from sweat, face flushed and red as a cold towel is wrapped around his neck and he softly thanks whoever it is that bustles away after doing so.

"Logan." She says, though it comes out more of a breath. His shoulder is in a sling, the medic carefully explaining the extent of his injury to his trainer. Dhanishka takes another step, almost closing the distance before he turns to see her.

She expects the broken look. The sad, tired eyes, the shortness of breath. The way he's curled in on himself with a sour look of frustration. And when she sets her helmet down on a nearby table, it thunks, and his head snaps aside.

She doesn't expect the tight jaw, the narrow eyes, the way he immediately stands to meet her. His trainer goes to grab his arm but pauses when he sees the reason Logan's stood. Dhanishka takes a step forward, wanting nothing more than to hug Logan, but she's stopped when Logan takes a hard step back.

"Dhanishka, what the fuck?" He hisses, and she freezes. A deer in headlights as his eyes narrow at her and his lips almost, almost, curl in a snarl.

Her heartbeat is in her throat and she swallows, whispering, "What?"

"Viscaal told me," Logan hisses, stepping closer, and Dhanishka knows Logan. He's not a fighter, he doesn't shout, hes calm and and he's respectful, and this is.... this is something she's never seen from him.

"He told me too, I just don't understand why Trident would think it's a good idea and--wallahi, are you okay?" Dhanishka begins to sputter, big wide eyes as she steps forward to gently check on her boyfriend.

"You won, why do you care?" He steps back, a hand swatting hers away, and Dhanishka feels herself freeze.

"Why do I care?! Lo, you crashed!" She tries once more but this time it's Benny who places a gentle hand on her shoulder, nodding his head to urge Dhanishka back. Logan steps forward as she moves back, raising his voice.

"Because of your team's fucked strategy! All that matters to you is a win, not anyone else, not even me!" his voice cracks with emphasis, Benny turning helplessly to try and calm Logan, but he can't do anything before Logan shouts, "How could you do this to me?!"

"I didn't know that was gonna happen, I had no idea!" Dhanishka defends herself, hands flat on her chest, eyes beginning to bubble with tears, "If they had told me they were going to do that, I would've told them no! That's a dishonest way to win!"

"Oh, don't try and defend yourself now." Logan sneers and Dhanishka just looks at him.

"I... Logan, I didn't know!" Dhanishka shouts, voice shattering into a broken sound that almost makes Logan's heart hurt. But he just sucks in a breath and narrows his eyes.

"You've talked about wanting to win this race for so long--"

Dhanishka cuts Logan off by stepping closer, and the majority of HWA realizes theres no stopping the two drivers as they continue to shout, "Honestly winning it is different than this! This is a disgrace, I--I don't want a stupid trophy for this!"

"Then why did you do it?" Logan's voice drops to almost a whisper, the garage falling hush. Every eye settles on Dhanishka and her skin crawls, and she swallows the lump in her throat.

When they're this close, Dhanishka can see all the little faint sun spots she'd trace with her thumbs, feel the warmth of his plush cheeks under her hands, still losing their baby fat. She recounts every night in the past near decade she's spent staring into his eyes and watching them crinkle up in joy.

Logan watches the tears in her eyes he's used to causing from making her laugh so hard. The faint, smudged makeup he's helped her take off after long nights sneaking out of hotel rooms to run amuck in the halls. He can feel her breath inhaling sharp and can almost hear her heartbeat like it's through the sweaters shes usually wearing when he's napping on her chest.

But despite that, despite every ounce of love she feels for him,a nd he feels for her, this wedge thats digging in just goes deeper. It splinters and tears, ripping apart who they were, and making something horribly new.

Something not them. Not yet. Something they'd grow into.

"I didn't fucking have a thing to with it!" Dhanishka suddenly screams, shocking even herself, "How dare you accuse me of such a thing?!"

"You're telling me you didn't have part in the plan that led to your victory? Oh, fucking please," Logan scoffs, "Y'know, I thought my own girlfriend wouldn't try and fuck me over."

"Logan, listen to me!" Dhanishka goes to gently reach out to him again, but a harsh slap to her wrist knocks her aside. And when she glances back to the face she's grown to love as easy as breathing, she finds it's completely changed.

"No." Logan hisses. but its desperate. He's afraid, Dhanishka realizes a second too late. And he stares her down with a trembling anger, born from something misplaced, "No, you know what, no. This... this--"

He makes a motion between them, then his hand dips under his fireproofs. Against regulations, he's wearing a tiny beaded necklace, once Dhanishka has matching. Just their initials on shitty drugstore beads on barely strong enough string. Before he can say it, Dhanishka knows what he's going to say.

"This is done. I'm not letting you get in the way of what I've got set up for me."

And Dhanishka's throat goes dry and Logan yanks the necklace, a loud 'pop' signaling it's break. His hand holds the beads tight, keeping them from clattering to the floor.

"Logan." She pleads and he points behind her, to the open garage doors, and Dhanishka swears she can see tears in his eyes before he blinks.

"Go." He doesn't even seem to want to say it and Dhanishka slowly steps back, watching as his hand opens and he almost dismissively shakes the beads to the floor. Tick, tack, tick, they clatter down at her feet. Two little letters, DD, staring up at her. Then, and only then, does she break. Thin tears trickle into bigger ones, rolling down her cheeks and she muffles a sob into her hand before she's turning on her heel and snagging her helmet off the table. Her balaclava falling to the floor of the HWA garage, knocking the beads into a grate.

Only then does Logan feel guilt start to eat at him.

And when Logan looks behind her, he sees not just her trainer, but Oscar, Liam... a bunch of familiar faces poking out and he swallows his guilt.

"Isa!" Logan shouts, but she's gone, barrelling past her trainer Kylie in a ball of tears. He grits his teeth, turning back to the eyes that watch him, and he feels so small. And so he keeps his chin up and turns on his heel sharply, shoving past curious voices as he slips off to a corner to hide the emotion trying to fight through his face.

Dhanishka stumbles to a stop, two hands on her face, cradling her. She can't hear who's speaking, big eyes blinking up as she muffles her sobs into her hands. The arms pull her in, tight, and she sees a flash of her father's watch that has her trembling.

"Hush, Babli." Her father soothes as best he can, cradling her like a baby. And Trident employees stagger around them, trying to judge if its safe to move in, but Dhanishka's father holds her tighter. To keep her safe.

She feels something ebbing in her heart as it shatters. Something sharp and cold fixing her up. Like ice freezing in her veins.

She doesn't question it now. She can deal with it later.

thank u to all on the tag list <3

@nichmeddar @shineforever19 @d3kstar @chasing-liberosis @justsomejess @struggling-with-delia @daemyratwst

[backmarkerr]

please....can u speak on the conspiracy

So the conspiracy (more like a theory, really) is that Kimi was pushed out of the team starting in 2008 to make way for Fernando, who was more appealing to the big sponsor coming in. Before you click out thinking "Max, that's stupid, no team would throw a championship for a sponsor." I agree! But keep in mind that they didn't throw the championship, they fully expected to win the WDC with Felipe (and almost did) and did in fact win the WCC in 2008 with Felipe and Kimi despite everything. But there were really suspicious things going on. So with that in mind...

It's 2008. Kimi has just won Malaysia, the second race of the season. Three days after his win, there's this:

.

Ok, kinda weird, but whatever. F1 runs on rumours, right? Suggesting that Kimi might retire when he's doing so well is silly. And in the article they seem to be pretty ambivalent over whether it would be Felipe or Kimi to leave.

Fast forward to Spain two races later. Kimi scores his second win of the season and takes the championship lead. The season is shaping up pretty well for the defence of the title, you’d think this would be a good time for him, but again, the story du jour is Ferrari wanting Alonso in Kimi’s seat for 2009.

[x] I guess now we know at least Massa's seat is secure...?

If you’re like me, that sounds stupid. The reigning champion just won the last GP and his contract runs until the end of 2010, so this media narrative makes no sense. Something pretty catastrophic would have to happen for that to ever come to fruition, right?

So anyway, he gets a first row start in Monaco. Great, that's almost a surefire win/points, right? Wrong, he got a drive-through penalty due to the team not fitting the wheels to the car on time before the race start. Not a great race and he ends up outside of the points. Lewis is now ahead in the WDC by 3 points. Not really a disaster, but...

[x] what on earth...

[x] again the talk of retirement.... I mean, it's weird, right?

Zero points in Canada due to being rear-ended in the pitlane, which the team can’t control. Then he’s back to being neck to neck with his teammate and Lewis by the time the British GP is done in early July, with all three drivers on 48 points. Good news, right? Just gotta stay on track and not fuck it up somehow.

[x] sigh... (this one's a little harder to source as it was printed media, but I've seen this exact interview quoted in different pages)

So anyway, they change his front suspension for the next race in Germany. Kimi has always been very sensitive to changes in the car, so he knew something was wrong. Ferrari (via Michael, who was then head of development) say he's just not adapting well to the upgrades. Maybe, sure, but why aren't you bringing upgrades that are geared towards your world champion?

(an interesting remark from Mark Hughes here if you scroll down to the comments, which adds weight to Kimi not being listened to when it came to car development in 2008)

Bar a podium in Hungary, Kimi scores 0 points in 4 out of the next 5 races. It takes until either Monza or Singapore (hello crashgate!) for Ferrari to put his suspension back as it was.

He proceeds to get 3 podiums in the remaining 3 races but it’s not enough to catch up. By Singapore he was already 27 points behind his teammate (reminder this is the old points system) and very much expected to play the supporting role. In the penultimate race in China he very obviously gave up P2 to his teammate:

"I know what the team expects." [x] / [x]

Yet the narrative in the media and from Ferrari themselves is that his motivation is bad and he's not assertive. It was so pervasive that to this day people still parrot it and say he just didn’t care after 2007, despite Kimi always stating he was fully committed and clearly getting annoyed whenever journalists asked about his motivation even years later.

Montezemolo at the end of 2008 even 'joked' that "Kimi in the recent races was replaced two or three times by a friend, but next year he'll be back." Basically saying that Kimi wasn't really present, you know? An interesting thing to say when this absent driver scored 18 points in the last 3 races (three consecutive P3s), while the one who was amazing and had the team's full backing scored 20 (P7, P2, P1).

A whole 2 points' difference, maybe someone should hire that "friend"...

So why did they do this?

Well, the theory is that Santander (I promise this isn’t like the dumb Sainztander takes) wanted a Spanish-Brazilian lineup due to financial interests (Spanish bank, big market in South America with a looming IPO in Brazil), so Kimi was basically being pressured out of the team from early 2008 onwards. Like I said at the start, the team weren’t really throwing away 2008, as they expected to win the WCC with both drivers (they did) and Massa to be able to win the WDC, which would of course be beneficial for their new sponsor. And he almost did. Almost.

[x] they're not in charge of driver selection but this specific driver line-up would good for them. (this archived copy of the article is from 2010, but the text makes it clear it's from 2009)

Of course at this point we have to wonder if a team like Ferrari would bow down to a sponsor's demands. I can't tell you what the internal considerations were or how much money was on the line, but it's also not like Santander were telling them to get rid of Kimi for a bad driver, you know? Fernando is a great driver, so from Ferrari's perspective they were just trading a great driver for another great driver who also appealed to this huge sponsor, and an Alonso-Massa line-up would be solid. And with the previous talk that Ferrari and Alonso had already inked a deal in 2008... It's just difficult to believe there isn't a grain of truth here.

So the alleged initial plan of having Alonso in 2009 was foiled when Kimi activated the renewal option in his contract. It was then that he was bought out of his last year (apparently paid for by Santander).

[from the book The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen]

As we can see, by the end Kimi was also fed up with what was going on, especially people pointing the finger at him and at his motivation, and his frustration is very clear in interviews like here at 2.35 and here:

Publicly, Ferrari said they wanted someone more in line with how Michael used to be (ironic since Montezemolo allegedly didn’t like how Michael made the team his), who could communicate with the team and give better feedback (ironic when Todt, Dyer, Stella and others said Kimi was very clear and precise.) Kimi himself has always stated that he wasn’t the issue, that his motivation was never lacking and that the real reason he was pushed out was politics and money.

[x]

[x]

If it had only been the mechanical stuff, I’d be willing to chalk it up to just bad luck and incompetence. Shit happens. But with all the rumours around it even before things went bad on the track and Kimi stating that his work and performance weren't the reason he was let go it becomes impossible for me to think there wasn’t an actual push going on to replace him.

Hell, even famed Ferrari fanboy Sebastian Vettel didn't think it was realistic for Kimi to return to Ferrary in 2014 precisely because Kimi isn't one for "bullshit" and "politics". Why would he choose to say that specifically? And according to Finnish media Kimi’s 2014 Ferrari negotiations included Montezemolo personally apologising to him. Now why would he apologise if they hadn’t done something wrong?

Personally I think Kimi's "certain people did certain things" refers to this. He never trashed anyone and always said he had no ill-feelings. And I believe him. But it doesn't mean nothing happened, lest we forget how well he handled Lotus not paying him.

The thing that really bothers me is that Kimi got the reputation for having low motivation and not caring about what he was doing (I heard that take just last month from an F1 youtuber, how Fernando was hired in 2010 because Kimi had mentally checked out 🙄), when obviously someone who wasn’t motivated and didn’t care would have simply called it quits under these circumstances. Instead he got P3 in the standings in 2008 (I know he’s talented, but he must have been trying at least a little), trained hard to lose enough weight to use KERS in 2009 (why would he do that if he didn’t care) and took the team’s only win that year despite the car being shit. Interestingly, pundits acknowledged his good performance complicated things when it came to Ferrari’s rumoured hiring of Alonso. So imagine how much more complicated things would have been had Kimi done better in 2008?

Anyway, this is long, but if you want something longer then I definitely recommend this post here. You might not agree completely with the original authors (there are parts where I wish there was more info), but I think they offer a lot of good research and information regarding the overall situation back in 2008/2009, and it's a good jump-off point for your own research.

But yeah. 2008 could have been everything. Or at least better.

[blerb-f1]

"Let them talk" - 2008!Sebastian Vettel x Engineer!Reader (platonic???)

This one is again based on another Song called "Lasse Reden" (Let them Talk) by Die Ärzte. I really like it so give it a listen if you want to.

Let em run their mouths 

Did you do something that normally no one does?

Are you wearing high heels or even a hat?

Or did you wear too skimpy of a dress,

Without asking your neighbors for permission first?

Sebastian flipped the newspaper open, staring disgruntled at the articles badmouthing him. For some reason, German Media weren't a Fan of him. A young, overly confident upstart they could step on easily is what he was to them. 

Of course, now you'll be treated with contempt

You're a disgrace to the whole neighborhood

You don't even know their names

And they're already running their mouths about you. 

You just stared at the awful stuff they said about him. Just where exactly did they get that stuff from? What made them get those ideas? Were they so miserable in their own boring little lifes? 

You leaned forward, comfortingly holding Sebastian's right hand. 

"They don't know you Seb, that's why they're able to pull shit like this" 

Sebastian looked at another article, eyes scanning the rude words laid in front of him. 

"I know that THEY don't know me. That's why they are so rude. I mean, I've just joined Red Bull properly. Taking over after David Coulthard won't be easy but what do they expect? If Horner wants me to be Driver 1, I have to become Driver 1. That's how the Business works. Bashing Me because they wanted Mark to get the spot is idiotic. It's not like we two have that many choices to make in that regard"

You eyed a smaller article, reading the insults that were hurled at you. Being Sebs' equally young and inexperienced Engineer at Toro Rosso was already pretty special but Christian Horner invited you to follow him to the Main Team. Like a Buy one get one free deal. Pretty nice money and friendship wise but pretty bad gossip wise. 

Let them talk, and don't listen to them

Most people just don't have anything better to do

Let them talk, day and night

Let them talk - they always have, anyway

Apparently, something you didn't know about yourself,was that you were the lover of Helmut Marko and got Sebastian into this position by fucking said old fart on top of the RB03. Interesting. Another, even meaner comment, had implied that somehow Sebastian was a paid driver that got in thanks to Flavio Briatore and you had planned Crashgate. Considering that you were just a little engineer at Toro Rosso, that seemed very outlandish. Furthermore, something about Briatore always irked you the wrong way so there was no way in Hell you'd be caught dead around him. Being the same age as Sebastian, you didn't think that people were taking you as capable of stuff like that. A 21y.o. planning something like Crashgate? And even if you somehow were that big brained, in what manner would Fernando Alonso winning the Race benefit Sebastian? You just shook your head at the brainfarts that managed to get printed. 

You've certainly robbed a bank

How else could you afford your rent?

And you've been banned from the United States

Because you're Osama bin Laden's lover

Seb sighed as he read another news out loud: "Michael Schumacher reveals: Vettel too cocky for his own good. The 7x champion despises being around the moronic Rookie". As he finished reading and slouched back into his seat, you just stared in shock. Michael liked Sebastian. He appreciated him as a driver, a young fresh talent and as a fellow German. He treated him more like a son than anything. He was a better not dad than most of those so-called journalists must have had growing up.  You stood up from your own booth seat, sliding over to Sebs Side, bumping into his side while sending him a Comforting Smile. You both sipped the bad Coffee they served in Hospitality, trying to form fictional race tracks out the stains the mugs left on the table.

Do you shave your women's-beard daily

Or do you have a few corpses buried in your garden?

The neighbors surmised as much

So don't be surprised when the detectives drop by

You pointed at another article. "See this one?". The young man moved his eyes to the next page, gazing upon the article squished between ads for most likely racist books and lawnmowers. "Fernando Alonso actually deceased, replaced by a driver that got plastic surgery."

He chucked at the thought of someone learning to be like Fernando Alonso. Some poor bloke forced to do that bunny dance on top of an F1 Car. How even would one imitate a Driver?  "Imagine getting someone to look like Coulthard? Would they put new bones into that chin?" you joked while pointing at your chin. You then hollowed out your cheeks, stretching your face. "Or imagine someone looking like Mark. Like, how do you initiate that?”

Seb started laughing along with you while pretending to give himself a longer chin:"Sebastian Vettel imitates Michael Schumacher. Has this rookie gone too far?" 

The laughter coming from deep down your stomach was so loud that some of the other people in hospitality turned around, staring at you two. Normally you’d hide away in some empty office, eating your cold food there while racing against Sebastian on your two PSP’s that he won in a raffle.

Let them talk and just don't listen

Most people don't mean anything by it

It's their monotonous life that bothers them

And the day becomes much more interesting when you tell stories

Mark, who'd heard your imitations, while walking in, came over and scooted into the booth you sat in earlier while giving you two a comforting smile. "That's the correct way to deal with those stupid fake news" he stated, while stretching his legs under the table. "They'll always think of something stupid to talk about. What are they supposed to report, if not stupid shit like that? You think normal people buy the headline 'Red Bull Racing' s new Talent Sebastian Vettel is a kind bloke'?" 

Seb seemed to tense next to you for a second before relaxing again." You mean, this will go on forever? "

" Yes", Mark answered bluntly. "That's how it's always been and always will be." 

And they probably don't feel ashamed

They lack discretion

And repeatedly prove: [that] they are petty,

inescapable, xenophobic

"Look at the stuff they write about Lewis Hamilton, for example" he said while smiling sadly. "Your slander is just normal slander, he's getting hate simply because his skin colour isn't on their approval page. Formula 1 features people from all over the world, so they pick the easiest target who could be someone who's from a minority group like Lewis or a young fool like you. Those people can span from idiots to hyenas. You gotta learn how to ignore them and especially, not feed them. Fake articles can be fun for a hot minute but blow up and grow into some massive thing "

Did you hear, and say, did you already know?

That is to say, you earn your money through prostitution

You work the corner by the bus station

The colleague of a brother-in-law saw you the other day

"So my Advice for you two: Don't run with what they say about you in public. Be so kind that it hurts. Y/N, don't mention that Crashgate stuff anywhere. The Brazilians won't be happy with your jokes and the media will spin it like you're actually involved and somehow hate everyone from there. Seb, don't treat Me different just because People hate Christian Horner putting you in this position. That's on them, not you. Just be polite and let your racing do the talking. "

His statements were the whole damn truth, leaving you and Seb too stunned to speak. Mark took this chance to take the newspaper away from you, just to chuck them into the trash bin." Let me resolve those issues for you. Drivers need to look out for one another, don't they? Someone gave me the same advice back then so i’m giving it to you now," Seb nodded in agreement, watching the tall man leave catering while the newspaper quickly got covered by leftover Spaghetti. 

Let them talk, just laugh it off

Most people get their information from Bild*

Which consists of, who knew,

Fear, hate, tits, and the weather report

Let them talk, because this is how it is:

As long as they talk, that's the worst they do

And you can afford a little hypocrisy

Stay polite and say nothing - that annoys them the most.

Seb stared at you for a short second before getting up and holding out his hand towards you like a knight to his princess. 

" Y/N, may I invite my strategic Genius to play an evil round of Gran Turismo 4?"

You grabbed his hand, pretending to flip your skirt. 

"Of course, Mr. Evil. But you take the Mad-Catz Controller" 

Seb stared at you with fake shock. The audacity. The Mad-Catz Controller was reserved for poor younger brothers around the world normally. You lost your other proper one during the move to Red Bull though and this one was the one Horner had gotten you after asking you for a new one.

"How dare you make Christian Horner's secret Love Child take the shitty Controller?" 

You stuck out your tongue towards him. "I'm sorry Sebastian Horner, I think having Helmut Marko, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone on speed dial makes me the instant winner of the original Controller." 

While Mark had told you to not make fun of that stuff, doing it once or twice won't be too bad, will it? 

*Bild is like a shitty german newspaper with clickbaity titles known to stir hatred, show lots of nudity and general stupidity.  Also yes, i'm having Seb Brainrot rn.