#THIS IS LESTAPPEN SHARED EXPERIENCE

[slythereen]

advancing the conspiracy theories to the next stage: whoever is sabotaging charles is conveniently sabotaging max on the same weekends

[maxcuntstappen]

i loved you before i knew i was supposed to [30k] [COMPLETED]

Relationship: Charles Leclerc/Max Verstappen

Tags: AU - Soulmates, Happy Ending, Light Angst, POV Alternating, 2019 F1 season

Chapters: 16/16

Chapter Name: charles and max; show and tell

Summary:

established relationship bonus chapter for you.

charles and max do their own little version of show and tell <3

Read on Ao3

[loquarocoeur]

This is a service I am more than fucking happy to provide. Here’s Charles, Max, and Lestappen edits, but I might send a few more later that are others that are too good not to share.

—

Charles Edits:

BEST - MONACO/MONZA

https://x.com/lvrstappen/status/1830780611893526755?s=46

Back to the Kitty :3

https://x.com/irisscuderia16/status/1824506472287662439?s=46

Monaco <3 Alchemy

https://x.com/luatslt91/status/1794846013469118826?s=46

Maranello’s Sun (cutie)

https://x.com/leclercgarage/status/1773800639161626688?s=46

Max Edits:

Maneater Max

https://x.com/irisscuderia16/status/1820944952400228462?s=46

BEST - DNA

https://x.com/mercsogyny/status/1818224437423931838?s=46

The Max Edit

https://x.com/vers_150516/status/1800870396817993899?s=46

Is this your villain?

https://x.com/ferrarihive/status/1746991059253473494?s=46

Lestappen Edits:

How was your (racing) as a youngster?

https://x.com/irisscuderia16/status/1824247914211786898?s=46

BLUE

https://x.com/hamilberg/status/1792568925995065523?s=46

BEST - That’s My Best Friend (THE EDIT THAT STARTED IT ALL FOR ME)

https://x.com/ferrarihive/status/1736825966528221492?s=46

End Game (oldie but it literally ruined me)

https://x.com/lecreputation/status/1726204679028449602?s=46

—

I literally scroll through and watch all of these over the course of 30 minutes whenever I’m overcome by the urge. I now humbly share that experience- to you. I hope I pull some more people into insanity with me :)

- ⭐️🥣

Ahhh thank you so much!!<333

[thearchercore]

Lol lestappen is absolutely not PR. If they were we'd be seeing 'pap' shots of them hanging out in various places, and there would actually be a clear benefit to both of them out of this.

Instead, the only time we've seen them hang out is playing padel, and none of that is on their social medias. They don't follow each other. They don't post about each other. They basically ignore each other unless they happen to both be in the top three after the race or quali. And most importantly, there's nothing to gain (probably more to lose) to their public reputation by being in a PR friendship.

What they have right now is a tentative friendship based on convenience and a shared hobby.

fr, lestappen outside of work hangouts look like bigfoot footage sometimes lol. other drivers tend to hire a photographer when they play padel with max but that one time we know they were teammates we got one group picture and a video in a quality of a potato.

plus, as i mentioned before, neither max or charles really gain anything out of it. sure, max recently got more positive pr because people look at him and charles and go "oh, charles wouldn't be so fine with hanging out with someone who's an asshole". so in a way, charles humanizes him because people no longer see their own projection of the "mad max" persona the media created. charles doesn't benefit at all - ferrari doesn't vibe with max, the tifosi do not vibe with max. his friendship with max is not important for these people at all.

"What they have right now is a tentative friendship based on convenience and a shared hobby" -- i partially agree, their friendship is definitely stronger than in the past. i think also their shared history and experiences help. but because they're also very private people, i wouldn't be surprised if they talk more than they show in public spaces. they never make any noise when they hang out outside of the paddock, so there could have been moments that we just don't know about and if so -- good for them!

but also one thing i want to note, they are adults with busy schedules so i wouldn't expect them to hang out like besties or teammates because as someone who very much knows the friendship in adulthood experience, hanging out once in 1-2 months is very much the rough reality lol.

[lestappenforever]

I love Lestappen dynamic. I love how similar and different these two are at the same time. they literally complement each other perfectly.

I kinda see Max as a person who has found one thing for himself and is only moving in that direction. yes, he has other interests, but they are not that much.... pronounced? his love of racing and cars is just overwhelming (take one look at his garage or how he spent his summer break or how much time he spends in sim). it's like he doesn't know there's something else exists but in fact he doesn't really need it. moving in one direction is satisfactory for him.

when otherwise Charles is very open to new experiences. his experimentation with music, golf, football, other sports and even fashion (heck I'm not even mentioning the fact that he can draw with a pencil and has taken plane flying lessons) make him very versatile. i believe that this is a man who had a huge amount of opportunities in front of him and just chose what he was interested in. he has huge potential and from personal experience i know that people like this need to do different things to keep from trivialising burnout.

these two are so different off the track but when they get on the race – wow. their driving style is very similar, they take every chance, they are both number one. (by the way, that's why I think it would be VERY interesting to see them both on a red bull car. the car is built for the preferences and style of the pilot and on this basis it can be said that Charles would feel pretty comfortable in red bull. but two numbers one and in a team with Max – it's just scary. they can take each other out and can not coincide with their own ambitions. the number one driver plays for himself, number two – for the team. but for both of them the second option is alien.)

Max is driven by rationality, he's a very down-to-earth person, while Charles is all about heart and dreams. he values tradition, he really is a people pleaser when Max doesn't give a fuck. and that's how they will always complement and help each other. Charles would open Max up to new experiences and show him that you can enjoy yourself even if you are bad at something. while Max could help Charles realise that chasing some dreams at the moment is not wise (yes, I mean winning the championship with Ferrari. no hope for coming years).

despite all this, they have the same goal - to win. And to beat each other. in a proper battle (like Bahrain 2022, still one of the most beautiful races when the cars were actually dancing around each other (like these idiots for years ffs)). and their love of racing is what will really keep them together for the next how long..... 15, 20 years like Max said? The fact that he doesn't even see it as a possibility, he's sure of it... well help, I'm drowning in Lestappen.

maybe it all sounds stupid I don't know I just wanted to share its 6 in the morning I didn't sleep I was reading demons roll the dice for a third time so yeah just thoughts about dynamics cause I can talk about it for hours but kinda tired of typing so

love ya cheers

Babe. Honey. Darling.

Just, this. Everything you said, a million times over. You've truly hit the nail right on the head.

Also, I love you and thank you so much for reading my work. ❤️

[red-prince]

LESTAPPEN MOMENTS FROM ARTICLE:

Charles Leclerc could watch his former karting rival Max Verstappen claim his third drivers’ championship in Qatar this weekend. But ahead of the on-track action, the Monegasque driver shared his memories of their time together in karting – and reflected on how Verstappen has changed since then.

Leclerc and Verstappen were fierce rivals back in their karting days – a clip of the pair’s heated words after a crash having gone viral once they had both ended up in Formula 1 together.

Last year, meanwhile, saw Leclerc challenge Verstappen for the title, while this season, he's faced a tougher time on track as Verstappen has romped into what looks to be an unassailable lead in the drivers’ championship – the Dutchman able to claim the title as early as Saturday’s Sprint.

Reflecting on Thursday evening in Qatar on how Verstappen had evolved since their days together in karting, Leclerc joked: “I think he calmed down quite a bit!

“I remember our karting days and we were going for it. Obviously then with experience, you calm down and now he’s an adult. When we were together [in karting], we were kids. But it’s good memories.

“He’s done another exceptional season. He definitely deserves everything that’s happening to him at the moment, and I guess it’s only a matter of time before he wins his third title.”

[laura1633]

With Lestappen, the bias toward fics that center on taking care of Charles in some way, shape or form probably stems from the fact that, historically, he’s the one who has suffered more at the hands of his team and had obvious low points to base stories around while Max has been finding more success. Of course we’re seeing Max experience some of those familiar struggles now, but I know there are a lot of fics out there that are “fix-it” types that focus on Max supporting Charles through Ferrari’s bullshit in various ways, be it hurt/comfort or just fucking him about it lol

I also totally understand wanting to have a rant about not being able to find more of what you want to read, but I don’t think it’s totally fair to pick on a whole fandom’s worth of authors for writing a dynamic how they want to. Fanfic authors share their work for free and aren’t obligated to appeal to anyone. It will always be more productive to take the time to show the work you like a positive response than to criticize what others are doing!

Ferrari definitely do like to make their drivers suffer don't they 😂😆

Although I think it's fair to say that Max has not always had things easy in F1 both in terms of the car and media perception. Max having a dominant car was a short lived and recent thing, he just really made the most of it 😂

I totally get what you mean though, there have been some very significant Ferrari screw ups over the past few years that have very understandably been the basis of some fics and of course some nice hurt/comfort. I know I have definitely written about this type of thing before.

In terms of 'picking on a whole fandom's worth of authors' I don't think that is what the anon was getting at. Or at least that was not the way I read it. They likely have seen on my blog that I love omega Max and bottom Max and so felt it was a safe space to have a discussion. I don't think they were saying the bottom Charles fics didn't have a space or were poorly written or anything like that.

As for myself, I have always said that there are so many talented writers out there and would never criticise anyone.

My comment about not liking fics that are written by people who clearly don't like one of the ship is just a personal preference of mine. It most definitely stems from starting to read some "Max" fics and realising the author most definitely doesn't like him and writes him as this awful person. I don't comment on the fics though, I just skip them and move on ❤️

[blamemma]

what you said about maxiel fanfics with endgame lest4ppen, yes, I agree. someone mentioned this before, but maxiel is slowly dying on ao3 while it seems to be thriving more and more on tumblr.

for me it's 50/50 because I don't mind where I'm reading, but here we have more one-shots and pieces of WIPs (which is good because it means authors don't feel the pressure to turn everything into a 50k story, so they can just post their ideas even if it's incomplete), but I personally LOVE longer stories, so I would love to read more and more about every single one of them.

and personally I just don't like lest4ppen at all. I understand the need to tag maxiel because daniel is the bad guy and the "shitty boyfriend" or whatever, but I just don't like seeing those stories 😬

will always preface asks like this by saying people can like what they like and find joy in whatever, i ain't gunna turn my nose up at anyone or anything, lestappen just doesn't make sense to meeee personally, but honestly whatever butters ur bread!!!

as someone who has dabbled here and there in this writing lark, for me there is a distinct difference in ao3 posting and tumblr posting....ao3 to me is formal, ur presenting something perfect, a fully-fledged story, a beginning a middle and an end (not in all cases but i just mean in general). most stuff i read on ao3 is fully-fledged nuanced ideas that the author has obviously spent hours of time crafting and experimenting with.

tumblr fic is inherently fun and blase and easier to throw out there into the ether and forget about really. tumblr fic doesn't need to follow grammatical rules or structure etc etc....it can just be a fun prompt game response or a quick lil fic that you had fun writing and wanna share with ur people?? both have purposes and both are enjoyable to write imo, just depends on what ur feeling and how much u want to expand on said idea??

when it comes to the maxiel of it all....idk how rude or pointed i can get here without getting into shit....so i'll try and word this gently....you have to keep the eco-system alive....i think comments and kudos are GREAT but honestly, if someone reblogs my fic with a fun few tags, i love that more, because in a selfish way, i might get 1 or 2 more readers from that because its going out to an even wider audience?? but its more than that!! engage with ur writers, message them on here and shout at them about their ideas, send them prompts, recommend their fic to ur friends...but i will stand by i think one of the best things you can do, if they make a fun lil post or graphic for their fic...reblog it...ur not only spreading the maxiel gospel, but ur also supporting that writer?? too many times on here i see people's fic graphics flop yet big blogs are leaving them comments on ao3 and look, EACH TO THEIR OWN and also i can sometimes be a bad reblogger dont get me wrong, but LIKE, there are some wildly talented authors on here who just need to be pushed into the limelight a little bit more??? idk if im wording this correctly, but sometimes there are fics that fall through the cracks because no one engages with them, and if ur an author who has put blood sweat and tears into that fic, ur not exactly going to be motivated to post another maxiel fic if u dont think ur going to get engagement from it (again, fic writing isn't necessarily about engagement or response, but let me tell u when i get a fun little comment or someone messages me about a fic i published, it inspires me to write more????)

maxiel is definitely alive and kicking, i follow some stunningly good maxiel authors, but at the same time, its about pushing forward those smaller writers as well and not thinking ur too cool for them???????????????

and so with that, this flufftober, kinktober, spooktober or whatever tober u are a part of, reblog the fic, talk about the fic and enjoy the fic

[antspaul]

8 and 16!!

8. Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

I enjoy writing the end of stories! Not just because it means the task of writing has come to a close lol, but I think (especially with shorter fic where there's less loose ends to tie) writing the end of a story is a strength of mine. i enjoy using parallels & wordplay, and experimenting with what an ending means for the rest of the story! like, if an ending comes before the natural conclusion of a scene (this esp applies to sex), that casts the purpose of the fic in a different light. so it's fun to me!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

a few weeks ago i had NOTHING. now i have like.... at least three wips actively in motion. with two more that need to be added to the list because of holiday-related exchanges LOL. and infinitely more that exist in all corners of my mind....

the least developed of the three is a f/f lestappen fic that takes place in the same universe as the f!george/toto fic i posted last month. the tl;dr of that fic is as follows: australia 2022. stone butch max fucks femme charles in a nightclub bathroom with her strap. i'll probably be writing that one for the F1 Femslash February event!

thank you for the ask ren <3

[ninetqs]

can you share more about your lestappen social media wip?? loved the one you recently posted!!

[twitter.com] > the way even the ferrari updates account went from “omg charles is washed” to “CHARLES LECLERC GOAT” in less than 2 tweets… why does nobody have faith in him jfc

> i feel like that gif of the dude with the pizza walking into everything being on fire because why is everyone arguing over whether ferrari is doomed this year because they got… 2nd and 3rd in fp1 >> like ignoring the fact it’s just fp1 and nobody gaf, are we acting like p2 and p3 is bad????

> did anybody seriously expect this year to not be dominated by mclaren. i’m sorry y’all bought into the hype but let’s be realistic here

> mercedes being a literal millisecond off of ferrari but nobody talking about them because they’re all too busy arguing about charles vs lewis is the true f1 twitter experience

[toppamplemousse]

hello! i hope you have good day! :) i just have finished reading “there you’ll stand (next to me)” and i just want to thank you for writing this masterpiece… it was a whole long journey we’ve witnessed and every word, every paragraph meant something. i support lestappen just for 5 months and this fic was the best experience i’ve ever had!!! i laughed, cried, smiled and i was hot most of the reading LOL and idk but i just felt love(?) my stomach was twirling during their fight scenes!!! AND I SHOULD SAY THAT I LOVED THEIR confession scene… I just can talk about this fic and how happy made me for a long time but its time to take a deep breath and go for a second-run 🤭 Thank you for sharing this magical experience with us, I love your sense of mind (like how max’ and charles’ characterization were on point and they were sooooo similar to real life-iwasdelighted)! anyway i highlighted a lot of sentences from the fic and i guess i will go back to read it all over again whenever i miss lestappen😍 have a good day, keep writing for the sake of our lives xx 🙈

thank you SO SO MUCH!!! ❤️❤️ comments like this mean EVERYTHING, it’s so nice to hear that you loved the fic. especially the characterization, we tried so hard to make the dialogue and their reactions to things realistic (as realistic as the ideas of them we have in our minds are 🤪)

you are so correct that every word meant something. when we wrote it, EVERY SINGLE LINE had so much meaning hahahah. if there’s something happening off screen, we discussed what it is. if an unnamed character is doing something, we discussed who it is. if george russell is in any way shape or form in a scene or talked about, we dissected every word he said and action he did.

anyways, thank you again, it means the world — and you should send us your favorite sentences haha because we have favorite sentences and we are dying to know what yours are 🥰

[maxemilianverstappen]

lestappen headcanons

Under the cut, my dear:

Max isn't an angry asshole who can't regulate his emotions. He actually is a master at picking them apart and distancing himself from them if they hurt him or affect him negatively. He also fully embraces the positive ones and is not ashamed of doing so.

Charles sometimes has trouble distancing himself from the negativity that his brain whispers to him. He is also quite reserved in the way how he indulges himself in the positive ones. Maybe, he even gets afraid of them.

My biggest headcanon about them is Max came to terms with his adoration/love/affection very early and fully shouldered the burden of carrying it and displaying it when he knew he might never get reciprocated, let alone acknowledged. Max was brave while Charles was afraid.

Max knew that establishing contact with the people he saw as "worthy" of his attention would boarden his horizon and help him change himself for the better. Meanwhile, Charles thought that opening up to his competitors, laughing with them, sharing parts of himself with them would make him weak, would change him for the worse.

Max likes getting up close and personal with the passion of his life and everyone inloved with it, because he is aware that unless he gives a little bit of himself, unless he becomes a little bit more vulnerable and human, he can't take all the enjoyment, all the satisfaction a d all the experience out of it. And he can afford it, because as i said, he knows how to distance himself from his emotions when they are detrimental to him. Charles is the opposite. He prefers a sterile approach, he prefers to keep a.sort of invisible distance, he tries to find that emotional safety valve by treating everyone and everything as an obstacle that he has to jump over or move around. Getting closer is detrimental. Acting flirty and amicably is easy. But actually doing them is unthinkable.

They call him the sun, but for me, he is the Cold/Ice/Night/Water/Blue Oni of this ship. He is cool, calm, detached, unapproachable, impenetrable, distrustful. The color he is wearing is just the irony of the fate.

Likewise, Max is actually the Sun. He is Hot/Fire/Day/Red Oni. He is like a fire cracker. He is bursting with energy, joy, approachable and unafraid of showing his vulnerable side, ready to trust you.

I don't know how most fanfic authors get this completely in the reverse. Of course, they have their moments of being the opposite. But for me, it is Max who takes the initiative, it is him who is patient, who is persistent, who wants this to work and them to become something because he can feel they are destined to become something. While Charles might have thought that that "something" was them being bitter rivals that would reenact prosenna, Max was the one who shrugged and went, "fuck it, we will be rivals but we will look into each other's eyes and smile at each other while doing that." And convinced Charles that he just wanted to enjoy it "with him".

Yes, I am one of those people who thinks Max fell first, but Charles fell harder.

[drivestraight]

the best part of you might’ve been the "leave no space" series (which, to me, it was for a year or so), but then i followed your blog, and now, the one thing i truly admire ab you is your ability to be unapologetically you. and your honesty is admirable.

also anything you write is straight out of the bible (of cooler things than the reluctant homosexuals *jesus' disciples*)

your writing has inspired me time and again, and even if i don't actually rate some of the ships you write otherwise or irl, the way you write them makes them so, so much more thrilling and i'm always hooked. the way you write relationship dynamics will always be super cool and super fascinating to me.

idrc if you ever write any lestappen fanfiction again, and prev anon can deal with it, but as long as we get to experience your writing, we're *or i am* really grateful you choose to share it w us.

<3<3<3

thank you ❤️❤️ i'm an unapologetic landofan fr...

it really means a lot to me to know that you still read my fics even though you don't like the ships sometimes haha, and that i can be a source of inspiration!! of course i wrote a lot of lestappen which is pretty mainstream so obviously there was a super big audience for that, but exploring other relationships is really neat also, especially because i feel like there's so many interesting things you can do with other ships that you just inherently can't do with lestappen, or with the same 2 people in general.

❤️❤️ ty for this lovely ask :)

[lestappenforever]

Im having so much trouble enjoying lestappen lately. I love their dynamic and I think there's something quite poetic about their lore. But why does almost every Lestappen fan I know always have to push this horrible narrative of "Max is the winner, Charles is just happy to be here".Or some posts ive seen this weekend calling him an idiot that Max has to explain things to (all this from lestappen accounts mind you). It has lately made me struggle to tolerate some blogs I used to enjoy. Theyre always treating Charles second driver to Max and it's idk, it's actually so out of Charles to view him that way. I truly rate Charles high, like I genuinely with all my heart think he's a generational talent. So seeing all this attitude lately threw me off.

I've never come across a single Lestappen fan who portrays their dynamic the way you're describing, anon. I follow so many Lestappen blogs and not a single one has ever portrayed their relationship the way you're describing it, so you must have gotten super unlucky with the people you're following, and I'm sorry that's been your experience recently.

My advice to you? Block and ignore every single person who shares that take. You are responsible for your own experience on Tumblr, and you need to do your part in avoiding blogs and takes you don't want to see. Tumblr isn't going to do that for you, so you need to filter out blogs and posts you don't enjoy to make your experience more enjoyable for yourself.

[valyrfia]

https://www.tumblr.com/valyrfia/753339300734812160/guys-if-i-reblog-a-post-to-add-an

honestly going to sound bitchy when I say this, and while I don’t think OP should be getting hate for their takes, I also think it’s unrealistic to expect something that’s posting on a public forum to never break containment. Especially when their takes either make them sound like a hypocrite or like they honestly believe that any ships are happening IRL and not just a bit of fun within the fandom.

I personally don’t give a shit if someone finds my takes on Lestappen delusional, because let’s be real-it is. The same way all RPF is, no matter the ship. Because we don’t know these people. So I find it hard to judge others for their shipping because at the end of the day you’ve got to take a step back and realize this is all for fun, if we’re reading too much into an interaction, so what? If we’re pook-afing a grown man, what’s the hard? There’s a difference between RPF/shipping and the actual person going out to race every weekend. And personally, I’m more concerned with people that have trouble understanding and distinguishing between the two.

There is probably a less than 1% chance that Charles and Max are interested in each other in a romantic way, which is why all of my “theories” are simply for fun. And I can understand not wanting to interact with some of the more die hard fans, for any ship/fandom because they do tend to get a little too defensive of their favs. But I’m not okay with the suggestion that, Lestappen is somehow less morally okay than Carlando or Galex or whatever other ship because we’re Ken-afing a man. As if we any of the other ships are somehow more realistic.

Eh idk. I think we're all on tumblr to escape something and enjoy, and people have different boundaries to keep their peace that deserve to be respected. Just because someone criticises a certain ship and then requests that their opinion not be spread because they just don't have the mood nor the energy to discuss it doesn't make them a hypocrite, it just means they want to log on and enjoy what they enjoy without having to engage too critically with it. I don't think OP was saying that Lestappen is less morally okay (let's get one thing straight: all RPF is morally grey as hell but that's a different discussion), rather sharing their opinion of the ship as formed by their experiences–as I think they're entitled to do. OP didn't post it in any tags, and it only reached us because people sent it in.

Yeah I disagreed with their take, and expressed that and I stand by my points–but I have deleted and will delete my takes if it means sending discourse anons to a person who doesn't want it. I explicitly asked at the beginning of my reblog of thearchercore's original anon not to go send anons to OP because they set a boundary in their meta that they didn't want them, so it's just a bit annoying that then anons flood this person's inbox anyway and I get contacted and my username gets attached to all this disrespect and boundary breaking and I'm the one who has to apologise and I feel a little mortified. Just please respect people's boundaries, it makes everyone's lives much simpler.

[laura1633]

first times lestappen...

like the first time they kiss, the first time they tell each other i love you, first time they get a silly jealous scene, first time charles makes loves to max...

if you ever write something like that i think i will end up crying hard

So I have them kiss for the first time in a lot of stories but it has never been the focus of a full story. I do have some stories of the first time they have sex which I suppose kind of fits :

My First time - Virgin Charles has sex for the first time with Max.

You play the role so well - Virgin Max has sex for the first time with Charles.

Curious - Charles' first ever gay experience

Maybe it would be nice one day to write a fic of all the firsts that they have shared together <3