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coco-loco-nut · 8 months ago

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Miami

Pairing: Logan x reader

Summary: Logan finally asks the girl he has seen around Williams out

A/n: I kinda hate this, but here it is😬

requests open masterlist

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“Y/n!” You boss calls your name from a few cubicles down. You were new to Willams, having just moved from America and the Baseball industry into Motorsport.

“What’s up?” You ask, leaning against the frame of her cubicle.

“Erica is out sick, can you do her sponsorship activation in an hour?” She asks, looking a little frazzled, holding out a folder with some papers to you. You nod and take them, reading the summary sheets on your way to the car.

Your first assignment working with the drivers, thankfully you are used to ad shoots. They were relatively easy, taking pictures for the portfolio, schmoozing the sponsor, and helping marketing keep things in order.

“Coffee?” One of the sponsorship interns offers you, and you furrow your brow.

“Mark, that’s not in your job description, you don’t have to bring me coffee,” you take it anyway.

“BOGO deal. Figured you would like it since you weren’t planning on being here,”

“Favorite intern, right here. I’ll hook you up wherever you want to go after this,” you laugh, navigating through the site. Mark reads the briefs you brought along as you introduce yourself to the media team and the sponsors.

“Hi, I’m Logan,” One of the drivers introduces himself to you, his American accent making your ears perk up.

“Y/n, nice to meet you,” you extend your hand, your mother taught you manners.

“Georgia?” He shakes your hand, curious on placing the accent.

“North Carolina born and raised,” you smile, ignoring the pleasant warmth of his hand.

“Not many Americans around here. What do you do?” He asks. It’s a relief to you, everyone assumes that you are a sports journalist or work in marketing, but he had the decency to ask.

“Corporate partnerships. Getting the team money so you can race,” you explain briefly.

“That’s so cool, I wish I could ask more, but Albono is calling me over,” he waves goodbye.

“You’re in looooove,” Mark teases, standing beside you.

“Shut up. Offer rescinded,” you blush slightly as the blond driver glances back at you.

A few months later you are in America for the Miami GP. Williams did a competition with one of your accounts, so you flew in a week ahead to make sure everything was set, and the working remote was a plus. One day you took advantage of an old connection and got a free ticket to the Marlins game, and got to tag along with them as they worked. The real bonus was the better food and suites, but you didn’t expect to see a certain blond driver throwing the first pitch.

He wasn’t expecting to see you either. Ignoring the marketing intern, he jogs over to where you and your friend are talking.

“Logan! Hi,” You smile, quickly turning to introduce him to your friend, but Logan is one step ahead of you.

“You are here early,” he smiles back at you.

“My account is sponsoring a VIP trip to Miami contest for Williams, so I’m making sure everything is ready to go,” you explain and he nods.

“Have you seen your family?”

“Yeah, they flew down the other day, I got them grandstand tickets,”

“What are their names? I can get them a paddock pass for FP1 and FP2,” Logan says and the marketing intern looks antsy beside him.

“Here’s my number, text me,” you hand him your business card and apologetically smile at the intern.

For some reason, it didn’t take a second thought to accept Logan’s invite. You had the day off tomorrow, your parents were busy, and there was really no reason not to. Your bag was packed and you were in Logan’s pickup truck before you knew it. The radio is on the top 100 station, and the windows rolled down slightly on the highway, the ocean air washing over you both.

“What do you miss most about America while in England?” Logan asks and you pause for a second.

“Peanut butter and jelly’s, they don’t taste the same. What about you?”

“That’s not what I miss most, but it’s a valid answer. I think I miss the Florida beaches, especially at dawn,” he says, letting a calm silence settle in.

“I would agree with that, but make it North Carolina,”

“Thanks for agreeing to come with me, the house feels so empty,” Logan looks at you. You nod, pushing some stray hairs out of your face.

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be shown around by a local,” you grin, locking eyes briefly with him.

“I know this great place for dinner,” he says as he turns off the highway. You learned about him on the drive, including that he owns a beach house and doesn’t live with his parents.

You both walk into the small restaurant, his hand instinctually going to yours before he quickly stops before you notice. You don’t see the way his heart races when you smile at him. You don’t realize that he’s noticed you around the track and sponsorship events, and how he finally built up the courage to introduce himself. He is so excited to take you to a restaurant that specializes in southern comfort food.

“Logan, you didn’t,” you gasp as you look over the menu, your heart swelling.

“I thought you probably missed a taste of home,” he smiles sheepishly.

“You are the best,” you quickly decide on your childhood favorite. The both of you get to know each other more over the meal and flirt a bit while you’re at it.

“I forgot how good that restaurant is,” Logan says as you both walk out of the restaurant, his arm gently going around your shoulder. You blush, but make no attempt to move it. The ride to his house is short.

“Get changed, Logan, we are going for a beach walk,” you tell him after he shows you the guest room. No more than five minutes later, you are both barefoot on the beach, you in a Williams hoodie and shorts, Logan in an unbuttoned shirt and shorts.

You don’t really know when your hands first brushed and connected, but you didn’t attempt to stop it. Logan admired you against the moonlight and soft crashing waves.

“Lo?” you ask as he seems elsewhere.

“Can I kiss you?” he asks softly, turning towards you. All you do is nod, his soft lips brushing against yours as you pull him closer, properly kissing him.

“Wow,” you breathe, a blush covering both of your cheeks.

“I guess I’m not immune to your southern charm,” he teases, causing you to giggle.

“I guess not,” you agree. The walk back to the house is comfortable, and he kisses you goodnight outside your bedroom door. You wake up early for a run, quietly heading downstairs only to find a shirtless Logan doing the same thing.

“Morning run?” He asks with a smile.

“Yeah, you too?” You ask back and he nods. You both finish tying your sneakers and put on headphones. He leads your morning run, knowing the streets better than you. You both stop into a coffee shop a few blocks away for breakfast before heading home.

“I’m gonna shower then head out to the beach if you want to join me later,” Logan tells you before heading to his room. Once you finish your coffee, you do the same. There are two towels out on the beach in front of Logan’s house, Logan occupying one. After grabbing your book and applying sunscreen, you join him.

“Blue is a good color on you,” he compliments your light blue bikini.

“What are you reading?” You ask him as you lay down.

“The Great Gatsby,” he observes your book cover.

“Good choice,” you hum as you get immersed in the book. Fifteen minutes later, you see Logan set his book down out of the corner of your eye. He rolls over and you quickly bookmark your book.

“Do you know how hard it is to read while next the a beautiful woman?” Logan asks and your lips quirk up into a smile.

“How hard?” you ask, smiling as he pulls you closer to him, happily kissing you.

“Logan, look at this,” you show him your phone, as you lean over the kitchen island. He sets down his water bottle and takes a closer look.

“I’m surprised they even care about me,” he says, brushing it off. There is a public beach a few houses down, so it isn’t uncommon for someone to stray off it.

“I didn’t think about what would happen within Williams,” you sit on one of the stools. Logan moves to sit beside you, grabbing your hand.

“It’s fine, we can fill out the necessary paperwork. There isn’t a conflict of interest, we are in the same department, it will be okay,” he reassures you. You peck his lips and sigh.

“I’m sorry someone saw us, that makes it harder for you,” you frown. His hand moves up to your cheek, rubbing soft circles with his thumb.

“I’m not. I’m happy to be seen with you,” he smiles before going to start lunch.

“I’m glad I met you,” you tell him, happy to be with someone who isn’t afraid to be in public.

“Me too. Would it be too early to call you my girlfriend?” Logan asks, finishing the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you both have been craving.

“Normally yes, but with you, I would be more than happy to be your girlfriend,” you squeeze his hand. Logan kisses you briefly before starting to eat.

A few hours you make your way back to Miami, Logan having a team meeting that evening. The two of you didn’t see each other much the rest of the week until free practice.

You lead your parents into the Paddock area, taking them to Williams hospitality. You had told them about Logan and they were very excited to potentially meet the driver.

“Hi Babe,” Logan hugs you when he enters hospitality, stopping to say hi before grabbing coffee.

“Hi Lo, ready to meet the parents?” You ask nervously, he kisses your forehead. The rest of the weekend flies by, he charms your parents, you meet his parents, and before you know it you are in England again.

By the time Austin rolls around, you both are inseparable. The team finds it cute how Logan will follow you around like a puppy dog when you are at the GPs and he is free.

“I’m so glad I saw you at the Marlins game,” Logan whispers, his arms wrapped around you.

“I love you,” you whisper back, tilting your head to kiss you.

“I love you too,”

#logan sargeant #logan sargent x reader #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 imagines

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thebirdsareafterme · 2 months ago

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People need to be so fucking for real right now. Please think critically about the whole situation and use your brain for once. Why would VCARB replace Daniel before the season ends with Liam? What value would Liam bring to the team that Daniel cannot? If it’s points, then let’s look at the facts. Daniel has finished ahead of Yuki at the last 4 races. His race pace and tire management is consistently equal to or better than Yuki. With only 6 races left on the calendar, would it make sense to replace him if there’s no large disparity in performance? It would be understandable if Yuki had been beating Daniel at every race and qualifying, but that is not the case. There is no guarantee that Liam would perform better in that car, and VCARB would be taking a big risk in public image by doing a driver swap so late in the season.

Furthermore, COTA would certainly not be the place to do it. Can one of you Liam glazers tell me who his personal sponsors are? No? Well, a team that has Visa (a US based company) as a title sponsors would certainly not oust their driver who has Visa a personal sponsor right before one of the most marketable races of the year, and if they do, it would cost them a lot of money.

The idiots who are saying premature and unnecessary goodbyes to Daniel, even after all the people who are primary sources have confirmed that he will finish the season have spoken, are just asking for attention or are genuinely lacking media comprehension. Please stop posting nonsense when the decision has clearly not been made yet. Do you really think that a single qualifying position in Singapore will determine the outcome of the team’s decision? Obviously there are greater influences at play that the teams need to consider when making a switch during a season. If you think it’s as simple as looking at race results and qualifying results, then you are wrong on so many levels. Yes, performance is key in the sport, but so is money, sponsorships, marketing, publicity, developmental feedback and so much more. Nothing’s been confirmed yet, so stop acting like it has been. Yeah, keep listening to the pundits and commentators who are literally paid to stir shit up, instead of the people who run the teams and have the power to make those decisions. You look real stupid right now.

#daniel ricciardo #f1 #visa cashapp racing bulls #vcarb #formula 1 #liam lawson #yuki tsunoda

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boxboxblog · 1 month ago

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In Depth: Liberty Media Acquisition

Hello, this post is a response to an ask about what changed in F1 after Liberty Media took over. Great ask, let's dive in.

So in early 2017 the F1 world went through a massive change when it was announced that Liberty Media (LM), an American mass media company, would be taking over. This was an $8 billion acquisition, and they purchased it from Delta Topco, another US company, which was in large part owned by Bernie Ecclestone. The biggest management changes right away were that Ecclestone stepped aside as manager and Chase Carey became the new CEO. Also, Ross Brawn returned to F1 to manage the sporting and technical aspects.

But other than administration, what else changed in F1?

Business Strategy

So, one off the major things LM set out to do was really bring F1 into the digital age. Up until that point F1 had been rather slow to get involved with social media and streaming platforms, but LM knew that modern popularity would stem from there. So they started having a presence on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. They launched F1TV, a streaming service for all content. They created an app dedicated to news, updates, and tracking standings. All of this helped bring more attention into F1.

Another part of their new strategy was increased fan engagement. Previously the barrier between fan and paddock was much stronger. But LM introduced things like fan festivals, grid-walks, behind-the-scenes content, and other such fan-focused content. They wanted the sport to be extremely accessible to fans, as this is what the younger generation often expects. Nowadays fans can pay to be in the paddock even, or take a tour of a team's garage and see their car's. While the previous management sometimes had special events like this, LM took it to another level.

The final major business strategy that they changed was their sponsorship connections. They renegotiated a lot of the old deals and changed revenue sharing model to get the smaller teams a larger chunk of the sponsorship pie. The goal of this was to make F1 more competitive, as fans tend to not enjoy complete dominance very much. They also connected with some more modern and new sponsors, where previously F1 tended to stick with the old. This allowed them to reach a newer demographic.

Regulations

So, when LM took over they brought with them sweeping regulation changes, but of the major ones started to get introduced only recently in 2021. The biggest of this was the budget cap that was introduced for teams. This limited how much each team could spend per season, also in an efforts to level the playing field. One of the other major changes introduced in 2021 was the car design overhaul. The aerodynamics of an F1 car were changed significantly in order to make overtaking a little easier. As always, this was to make races more exciting.

Beyond those regulations, LM also altered how race weekends worked. They added sprint racing on certain weekend starting 2021, in an effort to make championships tighter and draw more public attention with faster and more eventful races. While the basics of the weekends stayed the same, tighter media scheduling was added in as well and they shifted some race times around to suit a more global audience.

Race Calendar

LM also altered the race calendar when they bought F1. As an American company, it was clear that their major goal was to expand F1 in the US. So US races were brought back, with Miami, Austin, and Vegas being added to the calendar. They also added a lot more races in previously untapped markets like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While the push was mostly led by a wish for globalization, it also has to do with increasing revenue through hosting fees.

Environmental Concerns

One of the hottest topics in F1 is the environmental concerns that the constant racing creates. This led LM to set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030. As of right now, they are still working on innovating more sustainable fuel, hybrid engine development, and reducing the sport's overall carbon footprint. This stems from a wish to align F1 with the rising trend of sustainability, making it more attractive to more sponsors and fans.

Audience

Of course you cannot mention the LM changes without mentioning the audience changes. Since 2017, F1 has exploded in popularity. efforts to raise global popularity have worked, and especially in the US F1 is becoming a popular sport. A lot of this stems from their increased presence globally, but a large chunk is from the amount of access LM has given fans. One of those major things was the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive, which started its first season in 2018. While a bit of a controversial show, it gained an absolutely massive amount of attention, especially among younger American demographics, and led to F1 kind of explode in recent years.The previous demographic for F1 tended to lean more on the older side, to they really opened the doors when they gained this much younger audience.

Alright, so those are the major changes that occurred when Liberty Media took over. At the core F1 is still the same, but this acquisition definitely launched it into the modern age and is responsible for it's current popularity. I hope I answered any questions.

Cheers,

-B

#f1 #formula 1 #f1 politics #f1 history #f1 details

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ultralightpoe · 28 days ago

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The Hex Hold - Art Donaldson

Authors Note: Part 10 of the halloween weekend event. Gahhhhhh

Warnings: curse mention.

Word Count: 781 [Minor Blurb]

Requests: OPEN

~2024 Halloween Event Masterlist

[Thank you for the gif @ljutefisk ]

ENJOY!

Out of everything you could have expected from your day seeing Art Donaldson walk through the doors of the small witch shop you worked at was never one of them.

You knew him from school, everyone knew one of the future stars of the tennis world, but it was safe to say you both ran in very different crowds. You, who studied writing and publication, often stuck to the other side of campus and sometimes attended games for your silly reporting class. You worked at a small end witch shop for extra cash while he got sponsorships from high end brands.

Now here he stood, looking around with scared doe eyes as you glared from your spot at the counter, tapping your nails on the surface of it while he bends to look at the small rodent skull in the case that is usually kept locked. It’s almost like he visibly pales at the sight before looking around wildly until he lands on you.

“Bones normal in this world?”

If someone had told you that THE Art Donaldson's first words to you had been that you would have laughed. Right now you had to come up with a proper answer since you couldn’t really be disrespectful to a client.

“Bone Magic has been a respected form of witchcraft for years. Bone Scribing, Casting and Reading have been proven to work. Thumbs tend to work best but it is illegal for us to sell those,” You explain, watching him gulp. “And I don’t recommend going on the black market if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not!” He rushes, shaking his head and looking to the door like police were going to dash in and catch him. “I…. I was sent here by my coach?”

“We don’t sell any sports supplements-”

“I’m here about a curse…. Or hex.. One of those?”

“You want to cast a hex?”

“No, I need to break a hex.” He shrugs, stepping up a little bit. The red stanford shirt with white undershirt combo was a cliche but he still made it look good. “I have lost 6 matches in a row and one of the coaches- well he is this wacky guy that believes in all this stuff- and he thinks that I have a hex on me. So he sent me here…. To get it broken.”

“I can do that.” You nod, hopping off the stool and nodding your head for him to follow. “Come on,”

The back room of the witch shop was one of your favorites. Purple walls and easy colored lanterns with drapes and crystals strewn about. The table in the center was a bit of a cliche but you loved it nonetheless and you showed him where to sit before moving around the counters to grab the supplies you needed.

He watched you closely which was a bit unnerving but you worked anyways, bringing everything over to the table and setting it out.

“First things first,” You begin, turning off the light and sitting down to strike a match, lighting the seven candles that were strewn out. “Can you think of any reason someone might try to hurt you?”

“Because they…. Want me to lose?”

“Wow. Real thinker there.”

“You go to Stanford, right?” He asks, completely ignoring your movements as you light a cleansing incense. “I see you around at some of the games.”

“I work on reporting sometimes.” You answer back, pushing some of the smoke towards him.

“Right. You did the match against that yale brat…. You made that name-”

“You should probably focus on the hex you know…” You try to lead the conversation back, and he seems a little embarrassed but nods while you work.

“The best way to start this process is if you begin thinking happy-”

“You ride the bike.”

“I need you to focus.”

“How long have you worked here?”

“Why do you think you have a hex?” You blurt, giving up on the incense as you glare at him. “You lose a couple games and what? You are that great of a player it MUST be a curse or hex?”

“Maybe?”

“Seems cocky.”

“I was going to go for confidence.”

“You’d be wrong then.” You laugh, shaking your head. “Maybe you are just in your head.”

“I…. maybe I came to ask you out.” He blurts back and you stare back shocked. “Maybe it wasn’t the best idea but it was worth a shot.”

“Not the best plan. Especially since you owe me 40 dollars now.”

“Worth it.”

You shake your head, reaching to grab one of the protection amulets and packaging it up. “Win your next match and we’ll see.”

“You’re on.”

[Thank you for the gif @roranicuspond ]

#art donaldson imagine #art donaldson smut #art donaldson angst #art donaldson fluff #art donaldson #art donalson x reader #art donaldson fanfic #challengers imagine #challengers x reader #challengers 2024 #challengers smut #challengers movie

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theimpoliteone · 2 months ago

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currently trying not to throw up at work bc of the danny news…

literally what sense does this move make? even if danny wasn’t performing up to the standards VCARB had, why switch him with lawson now when there are SIX races left??

VCARB is 52 points behind Aston Martin in the constructors. there’s no way they could make up enough of that gap for it to matter in just SIX RACES

not to mention Danny is marketing GOLD. hell, his management team was the one that got VCARB the Cash App sponsorship in the first place!

at the very least, they could have been respectful about this and let him finish out the season and then signed Lawson for next year

danny is a man who is an impeccable ambassador for the sport — literally the first driver we meet on Drive to Survive — who always has a smile on his face even when he’s trying not to cry. after everything he went through at red bull, renault, mclaren… we thought him coming back to the red bull family would only help him

i hope his life becomes much easier now that he doesn’t have to deal with red bull’s bs

#vcarb #vcarb when i catch you vcarb #f1 #formula 1 #formula one #dr3 #liam lawson #daniel ricciardo #danny ric #visa cashapp rb #motorsports

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coimbrabertone · 3 months ago

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Bottlegate and Cola Wars, I Can't Take it Anymore!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blogpost about the Viceroy rule in NASCAR, and one thing I cut from it was a brief discussion of the Cola Wars in NASCAR. This week, I'm tackling that issue, along with its sports drink offshoot: the bottle wars between Gatorade and Powerade.

So, to review from the Viceroy blog, while NASCAR banned sponsors that clashed with series sponsors, it did not ban competing sponsorships among different teams - in fact, it encouraged it. Thus, Pepsico got involved with Hendrick Motorsports quite famously, initially with a number of Jeff Gordon Pepsi cars, and more recently with Mountain Dew cars from the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott.

That came to an end after 2020, and come 2023, Chase Elliott would be scooped up by the competition: the Coca-Cola Family of Drivers.

Peaking in the late 90s/early 2000s, the Coke family once consisted of (circa 2003/2004) Steve Park, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, John Andretti, Kyle Petty, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett, Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Burton.

That's the entire three-car lineup of Dale Earnhardt Inc., both JGR cars, both Petty Enterprises cars, both Yates cars, the Wood Brothers car, Kevin Harvick who succeeded the late Dale Earnhardt at RCR, and 60% of the Roush Racing lineup.

Coke wasn't fucking around.

Unfortunately, Pepsi had Jeff Gordon.

Well, they also sponsored Jeremy Mayfield with Mountain Dew at this time, plus Pepsi/Gatorade had deals with Jeff's Hendrick Motorsports teammates (most prominently Jimmie Johnsons) as well as the other two Roush drivers in the form of Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin, plus Ryan Newman of Penske, but Jeff Gordon is the most relevant one for the first part of this story.

That's because the Cola Wars in NASCAR came to a head at Daytona International Speedway on July 3rd, 2004 for the Pepsi 400.

Coca-Cola was promoting their new Coca-Cola C2 (essentially a soda halfway between Coke and Diet Coke by the sounds of it) brand, and they sponsored an armada of cars in this race:

John Andretti in the DEI #1 Chevy,

Greg Biffle (who won the 2003 Pepsi 400) in the Roush National Guard #16 Ford.

Tony Stewart in the Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot #20 Chevy.

Ricky Rudd in the Wood Brothers #21 Ford.

Kevin Harvick in the RCR GM Goodwrench #29 Chevy.

Kurt Busch in the Roush Sharpie #97 Ford.

Bill Elliott in his self-owned #98 Dodge.

and Jeff Burton in the Roush #99 Ford.

Coke had eight bullets in the gun to steal the thunder right out from Pepsi's flagship race - in what Pepsico pointed out was a blatant marketing stunt - however, like I said...Pepsi had Jeff Gordon.

John Andretti would crash out, Greg Biffle would end up a lap down, Jeff Burton in twenty-sixth, Bill Elliott eighteenth, Ricky Rudd seventeenth, Kevin Harvick fourteenth, while Tony Stewart in fifth and Kurt Busch in fourth were closest to pulling off Coke's marketing upset.

Unfortunately, none of them could stop Jeff Gordon from winning from pole in his DuPont/Pepsi #24 for Hendrick Motorsports.

It was the biggest moment of the Cola Wars, but 2004 had another Pepsi vs. Coke battle going on at the same time: Bottlegate.

You see, despite the Viceroy rule normally stopping this kind of stuff, in 2004, NASCAR decided to have Gatorade (Pepsi) sponsor victory lane, while Powerade (Coke) bottles would be placed on the roof of the winning cars. How the hell was this allowed to happen? Well, despite the France family running both NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation, at this time, NASCAR had a deal with Coke and ISC had a deal with Pepsi - the same people in the guise of two different companies signed deals with two rival brands. Of course this was going to cause issues.

Pepsi did not want their drivers in their victory lane photographed with bottles of a Coca-cola owned sports drink.

Thus, Bottlegate began.

Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson were all sponsored by Pepsi, thus, as soon as they got out of the car in victory lane, they would punch and/or sweep the bottles off the roof, instantly getting Coke products out of the pictures...which pissed off Coca-cola a lot.

They were paying good money just to see drivers knock over their product!

So, after the Pepsi 400, with the aforementioned embarrassment of Coca-cola, NASCAR made a rule banning drivers from punching the bottles off the cars.

Coke drivers won the next two races with Tony Stewart winning at Chicagoland and Kurt Busch winning at New Hampshire.

But then Pepsi's Jimmie Johnson won at Pocono on August 1st.

Well, instead of punching the bottles, Jimmie calmly got out of the car, received a giant cardboard Lowe's sign from someone on his crew, and placed it in front of the Powerade bottles.

I love this stuff, this is generational pettiness over here, the Coke guys and the Pepsi guys each trying to make the other brand look bad, it's great!

Unfortunately, Coke and NASCAR didn't seem to think so, because Jimmie Johnson was fined $10,000 over the sign incident.

So yeah, this was NASCAR in the 2000s, where corporate money was everywhere and there were enough sponsorships going around that the drivers, the tracks, and the series all had separate deals to have to worry about. Hell, three Roush drivers were with Coke and the other two were with Pepsi - compare that to nowadays where the vending machines at RFK Racing are from Fastenal.

How the hell am I supposed to drink a wrench?

#motorsports #racing #nascar cup #nascar #coca cola #pepsi #coke #powerade #gatorade

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bodybeyondstories · 2 days ago

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story prompt: a brand of jockstrap quickly becomes the gold standard amongst college and professional athletics because the competitive price structure that makes them cheaper to buy in bulk than any other brand. The fit is different than everything else on the market too. These jockstraps keep their butts so high and tight it's almost as if they're bigger. Are their butts bigger? That could explain the number of pants-splitting wardrobe malfunctions that are afflicting athletes across all sports. Say nothing of the guys who like the little lift and have started wearing the jocks under their street clothes too

Ok I've actually been thinking about a similar thing for a while because occasionally my Insta feed is inundated with these ads for perky butt pants, which look like low quality chinos that are just well fitted in the back I guess, but I always feel like the algorithm is being shady.

1239 words

_______________________________

[Nadir: I left you a gift on the entry table, try 'em on 😛]

[Carlos: Are these those perky butt jockstraps I keep seeing ads for?]

[Nadir: Yeah probably lol. A friend of mine got a sponsorship deal or whatever and they basically threw a case of these at him. I think they kind of work, they're all over my socials]

[Carlos: All of those guys already have nice asses, this is Marketing 101. You flood everyone's social media feeds with athletes and fitness influencers who are already stacked so you can make the claim that *your* special jockstrap has some cutting edge butt lifting technology. Then every faux butt model follows suit, it becomes a ubiquitous gay fashion piece, and the money rolls in until the next fad]

[Nadir: Ok, fair enough. But in the meantime would it hurt to look a little more caked up?]

[Carlos: You're not wrong 👀]

Carlos sighed at his phone, then at the pile of individually packaged jockstraps on the coffee table that his roommate left for him. It wasn't like he cared all that much. He was more so just annoyed at the progression of ads and sponsorship deals preying on queer men's perpetual body image crises. What looked like a regular jockstrap with tighter bands seemed to suddenly be everywhere. Of course personal trainers and athletes with huge followings were ripe for sponsorship deals to build out a market, but now he was seeing random dudes with generally unremarkable figures post in these things like they were life changing.

But they do look good, he admitted to himself, thinking about a friend of his who for years was incapable of putting on any mass, yet suddenly his private stories featured him in nothing but these jocks framing a delectable bubble butt that came seemingly out of nowhere. He held the packaging in his hands. And they seem functional. And I've been needing to re-up on gym gear for a while. And and and... he thought to himself, finally relenting and ripping open the plastic cover.

They were cute, higher quality than expected, but mostly resembled every other jockstrap on the market. He whipped off his underwear right there in the living room and slid on the jock. It was surprisingly comfortable, so much so that he didn't know why he'd been wearing any other underwear all this time.

Not to mention his ass looked great. He had a pretty dedicated workout routine and was so stranger to some heavy deadlifts, but as he turned toward the full length mirror, he almost gasped at the bubble that stood out behind him. He didn't even know he had that much ass to work with. He gave it a shake just to make sure it was real.

"I knew you'd like it," said Nadir, beaming as he entered through the front door.

And he did. He wore them to the gym the next morning, and the next, and the next. They immediately became a staple in his workout gear, and he was having some of the best leg days he'd had in maybe ever. The only issue was keeping himself from leering at his own dump truck in the mirror, or at the other gymgoers who had obviously also gotten the memo about these booty enhancing jocks. He was more than happy to let go of his previous cynicism and learn to love this new fad for however long it lasted.

The way they lifted his butt made a statement, his ass becoming the main attraction in any pair of pants he wore. After a while, he couldn't shake the feeling that his derriere was holding on to some of the added umph even without the jock. He chalked it up to the added confidence producing serious gains in the gym, confirmed when, in the middle of a set of deep squats, he felt an unexpected breeze across his butt cheeks.

He'd been noticing how significant his progress had been, but didn't think it was enough to blow out the seat of his gym shorts in broad daylight. He didn't even know that was a thing that really happened. He tried to cover his ample posterior as his face flushed with embarrassment, but after a quick glance around, realized that everyone around was largely unconcerned. In fact, there were a few others casually finishing their workouts with split seams. He did the same.

"Don't sweat it," said Nadir later that day. "It's been happening to me all the time." He had always had a shapely bottom, carefully constructed through his budding career as a personal trainer, yet in recent weeks Carlos couldn't help but notice it inflating well out of proportion, his follower count and engagement inflating along with it. "At my gym, these are basically optional now," he added, pulling at the hem of a pair of gym shorts that strained for dear life across his comical bubble butt, the bottom third of his cheeks spilling out, framed by the straps of his jock.

It was a look coming back in style, booty shorts that looked woefully incapable of full coverage. Carlos had just donated a bunch of old pairs that he could've sworn fit fine just a few months ago, but now dug into his cheeks halfway down.

Nadir's pants optional policy had been catching on across the more professional, private, influencer-heavy gyms, a pragmatic way of extending the longevity of gym shorts that didn't stand a chance against the juicy pumps emphasized by these now ubiquitous jockstraps. It wasn't uncommon, and was slowly becoming fashionable, to see people walking around with their cheeks exposed, seat of their pants fluttering in the breeze like accidentally assless chaps.

Unfortunately, many day jobs weren't yet so lax with their dress codes, producing a menswear crisis of over-stressed seams, constant tailoring, and increasingly frequent instances of catastrophic failure. It became obvious who had been influenced into wearing these jockstraps not just at the gym but in their day to day, their disproportionately round butts bursting through the fabric of slacks and khakis whenever they bent down too fast, or more often encased in much more forgiving spandex or very loose sweats. A serious bubble butt had basically become the norm, to the point where navigating through the crowd at circuit parties meant risking being crushed to death by a gauntlet of jock-encased oversized glutes.

Carlos, with a blessed work from home gig, had taken to wearing mostly nothing below the belt for the sake of comfort, his massive globes spilling out over the edges of the stool at his desk as he plugged away on his laptop. His phone pinged with a text from Nadir.

[Nadir: Can you check for a package? I'm expecting some new product they asked me to demo. Feel free to check it out, I think they sent extras!]

Sure enough, there was a package on the porch with a thank you note for Nadir and some guidelines for the kinds of posts he should make to feature their product. His fitness career had really taken off in recent months, which Carlos was glad to see. He opened the packaging and pulled out a stretchy tank top that promised to "Lift, frame, and enhance your pecs!"

Again with this, he scoffed, turning the fabric over in his fingers. Might as well take it for a spin. It is push day.

#male tf #butt growth #ass expansion #ask #prompt

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bright-and-burning · 8 months ago

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yuki got the seat at AT because of his honda ties. alex flopped hard at red bull but - surprise! - he got another chance, which no drivers ever get, because he had red bull thailand plastered on his helmet in 2022. call me racist if you want but zhou is the same way. the difference is they’re all there BECAUSE of sponsorship money, whereas other drivers get sponsors because of their talent. it’s not racist to point out the influence money has on f1 and how eastern companies are trying to grow in the western market. it’s not a moral failing it’s just a fact.

“he got another chance, which no drivers ever get” my brother in christ i am quite certain it is impossible for you to have missed daniel riccardio in the last six months

i think it is incredibly odd (and yeah! racist actually) to call yuki and alex and zhou pay drivers while not mentioning (and this is said with love bc i don’t actually think anyone on the current grid is a pay driver) lance, or lando, or anyone else with wealthy family (hint: it’s very nearly all of them)

how could you even prove that only the asian drivers are in f1 because of sponsor money, and everyone else has sponsors because they’re good? like what kind of chicken and egg ass bullshit?

every single driver in f1 is there because they had the money to get there, whether through wealthy family or sponsorships or what have you. it’s probably the most wealth-skewed sport i’ve ever seen (and i say this as someone w experience in sports in the united states, which tend to be quite. pay to play)

i mean, jeez dude. look up logan’s family! i’m doing this on my phone so i can’t link to rissa’s excellent primer unfortunately but it’s out there. (EDIT: thank u @alpinelogy for tracking down the link here you go) lance’s dad owns the fucking team. lando’s dad is quite rich. oscar’s dad’s company sponsors him. etc etc. this is the nepo rich kid sport bruv nobody is safe out here

also alex very publicly did not have funds lol. i can’t speak terribly confidently on yuki or zhou but i KNOW there’s a post out there about how red bull had to pick a honda athlete and picked yuki because he was crushing it

#again im white but it is incredibly sus to be like mm asian drivers are the Only pay drivers #ask

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bunnytalksf1 · 4 months ago

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Driver Market post-Hungary (on Haas, Ocon, and Magnussen)

So!

Prior to the Hungarian GP, Haas announced that Kevin Magnussen will not be renewing with them. Since pre-season, even before his performance in Jeddah, Oliver Bearman was looking like a pretty sure thing for Haas, and then the P7 in Jeddah for Ferrari when Sainz was out with appendicitis cemented it. Ferrari and its driver academy have vested interest in seeing Bearman in the sport, and this was always going to happen in 2025.

When it was announced that Hulkenberg was leaving Haas for Sauber (to become Audi) I was of the opinion that Magnussen was out. The only driver I expected Haas to renew would have been Hulkenberg, who has always outperformed both Magnussen and the car. And I was ultimately right.

I don't think Magnussen will find a seat elsewhere in the sport. I think he's probably done. I also think Sargeant is done, and potentially now Zhou also. Bottas is looking a little stronger given his pre-existing relationship with Vowles.

So, let's do this driver-by-driver, with the ones at risk:

SAINZ: ??? no clue

Still annoying. Still the cork in the bottle. Anything could happen with him, but one thing is clear: teams aren't waiting forever. I am still unsure of what he wants in a contract, which makes him incredibly hard to pin down. He is reportedly still considering / has rejected options from Audi (long-term, he will be at the center, long line of motorsport prestige, but questionable competitiveness in the near future), Williams (long-term, potentially competitive in 26 with Mercedes PU), Alpine (short-term to allow him to re-evaluate in 25 or 26), Mercedes (short term, likely one year, also unlikely because he's a second option to Antonelli). Mercedes and Wolff have been hot and cold given Antonelli's performance, and the offer was much earlier in the year, the door reportedly closed and then reopened just before Antonelli won the F2 sprint at Silverstone. Reportedly he was offered a 1+1, and rejected it because it was too short term. But then rejected Alpine for being too short term. Honestly no idea what this guy wants from a contract, what his management are doing, and where he's going to end up. My money's still on Audi, but I would no longer be surprised to see him seatless in 25.

BOTTAS: Williams

Reportedly an option for Williams, and has had meetings with James Vowles. Unsure on whether he wants to be here in a midfield team, might just pack up and retire, but he also has some interest in the Audi project. That being said, Vowles thinks highly of him and having another good driver alongside Albon will help them out.

ZHOU: ?

Has a hand to play at Haas and Williams, but mostly in terms of sponsorship money since his performances haven't been catching anyone's eyes. For a team like Haas or Williams, or even potentially Alpine, I think this could give him a leg up. He's not as bad as Sargeant, and he's okay across a weekend, mostly being hindered by an awful Sauber. That being said, I think he's most likely to end up out of the sport.

OCON: Haas

Reportedly, he was almost cleared for a mid-season swap to Williams to replace Sargeant, and even had a seat fitting. Then according to different reports was too tall and/or Briatore veto-d it. That door at Williams seems to have closed now, and given the extensive rumours that he's already signed with Haas, partnered with Magnussen being not renewed, this seems like the most likely destination for him.

SARGEANT: Out

I can't see him getting a seat anywhere. Still consistently off the pace of Albon. Lacking confidence and having issues, and Vowles just does not like him. If any other driver had been available in 24, I think he wouldn't have even gotten another year here. Probably going to IndyCar or endurance racing in some capacity.

MAGNUSSEN: Out

Same reasons as above, on top of aging out of the sport, and too many rookies being available, and his antics this year being less than desirable.

RICCIARDO: RBR or Out?

Might get the RBR seat off vibes post-summer break, as Perez is gone and there's not a lot of options, and Horner and Verstappen both like him and he'll be willing to play second driver. That being said, RBR tested Lawson in the RB and found him quicker than RIC, and with his performance v Tsunoda, his seat is at risk. If they promote Tsunoda or Lawson to the RBR and Hadjar wins in F2, he could be back to being a reserve, out of the sport entirely.

PEREZ: Out

Not officially at risk, but you'd have to live under a rock to be unaware of Perez's recent performance blues and the clauses in his contract. Came to light recently that the contract signed has a clause where performance clauses come into effect sooner, which might have made sense as to why they announced him so early. RBR are going to lose the constructors' unless they do something drastic, so Perez is out after Spa. That's Red Bull!

So, rookies (or not currently in the sport):

I think Alpine is going to take a rookie also. Reportedly, Mick Schumacher emerged with promising times in tests, but seeing him back in the sport would surprise me. Then there's Jack Doohan, current reserve and Alpine Development driver, who has also tested well.

Antonelli is going to either Mercedes or Williams. Toto doesn't want to lose him. It very much depends on his performance in F2, and on what Vowles wants for Williams, and whether Toto wants to get Sainz or Verstappen.

There's also Hadjar, leading the F2 standings at present, who could come up into RB if Helmut Marko has his way, and also to prevent losing him.

Williams could take a punt on Aron if he wins F2 as a rookie, also, but I doubt it.

Ok that's a lot, logging off and I'll come back when Sainz finally announces or Haas announces Ocon

#bunny talks f1 #f1

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f0point5 · 11 months ago

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I am late to the party but I just wanted to add that I don’t think it’s okey to claim that Bianca got the sponsorship based on her looks and then to go ahead and claim that there will be other women a lot prettier than her. It wasn’t you that said that but in general I think she definitely messed up and deserves to be criticised for it and for her to pull the autistic brother card is a new low for her PR but people shouldn’t go for looks imo especially not compare women’s looks in motorsport (or in general) like we can compare their driving as we should I mean it’s a competitive sport but looks shouldn’t have to do anything with it. No one goes: ”oh there will be a new driver like Max in a few years who will be more handsome“ yk

I do agree with you though that Bianca isn’t the strongest driver and there were other women that deserved the sponsorship but if we consider that she was very present and hyped on social media then it makes sense that McLaren chose her simply from a PR/ business perspective yk.

Well, someone said in the ask said she got it because of her looks, which I found out of pocket and a comment that didn’t respect the nuance of the situation and I said that.

That said, I do think her social media following bought the McLaren sponsorship, and I own that. And yes part of that is down to her looks, but also to what was a VERY smart social media strategy, and even if it was her looks, no one should take that away from her. However she got the following, she knows/knew her audience.

I’m not sure how much we can really talk about her driving though, considering she was statistically incredibly mid, and yet the first/one of the first sponsored F1 Academy drivers to be signed/announced, by a team known for liking a young marketing juggernaut. I don’t know who could argue her driving is what makes her employable at this point.

People don’t say that about Max, because Max has proven himself as a driver.

But people do say that about Daniel Ricciardo, not about his looks specifically but his marketability, that there will come another funny/popular driver and he will get dropped.

I think the focus on “looks” is misogynistic but even with male drivers, if they’re not paying for their place with driving but with marketing, that will be talked about. “Looks” alone has nothing to do with it but marketing massively does and has in her case.

I mean, she has a bee in her bonnet about Lance being a pay driver but he did better in an F3 car than she has.

On the other hand, I don’t agree that anyone deserve the sponsorship more than her, because at the end of the day the people making that decision was McLaren. Maybe she didn’t “deserve” it if you’re only going by driving stats but that’s not all that’s taken into account.

Tbh I think she probably had a lot of people waiting in the wings to hate her because her social media presence is indisputably pretty cringe and imo she’s never come off great in it. So people are probably taking this opportunity to be a bit bitter now that it’s suddenly allowed

#f1 #formula 1 #bianca bustamante #f1 academy #lance stroll

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beardedmrbean · 6 months ago

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The Justice Department and 30 states filed a major antitrust lawsuit Thursday seeking the breakup of Ticketmaster owner Live Nation Entertainment over what they allege is the company's unlawful dominance over the concert ticket sales industry.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, accuses the company of creating a monopoly over the live entertainment market that has harmed music fans, artists and promoters around the United States through higher prices and frustrating consumer experiences.

"The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "It is time to break up Live Nation."

"For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have unfairly and illegally run the world of live events, abusing their dominance to overcharge fans, bully venues, and limit artists," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "When companies like Live Nation control every aspect of an event, it leads to bad blood -- concertgoers and sports fans suffer and are forced to pay more. Everybody agrees, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are the problem and it's time for a new era. Today, we are taking this important action to protect consumers and force big companies to stop abusing their influence and get in formation."

The sweeping lawsuit is a product of a more than two-year-long investigation into the company that has come under growing public scrutiny since late 2022, following a fiasco over presales for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

Ticketmaster, which controls more than 70% of the market for ticketing and live events, crashed during the first day of sales, leaving millions of fans out of luck or seeking higher-priced tickets on the secondary market.

The Justice Department's lawsuit accuses LiveNation of seeking to lock out competitors to protect what the company dubs its "flywheel," described in court documents as "a self-reinforcing business model that captures fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorship, uses that revenue to lock up artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then uses its powerful cache of live content to sign venues into long-term exclusive ticketing deals, thereby starting the cycle all over again."

Live Nation did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment on the lawsuit, though its president, Joe Berchtold, has otherwise defended the company's business practices -- including during a contentious appearance before Congress early last year.

Live Nation released a statement Thursday following the lawsuit, saying, in part, that it's "absurd to claim that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are wielding monopoly power."

The lawsuit "blames concert promoters and ticketing companies -- neither of which control ticket prices -- for high ticket prices," Live Nation said. "It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary tickets cost. It blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for high service charges, but ignores that Ticketmaster retains only a modest portion of those fees. In fact, primary ticketing is one of the least expensive digital distributions in the economy."

"The defining feature of a monopolist is monopoly profits derived from monopoly pricing. Live Nation in no way fits the profile. Service charges on Ticketmaster are no higher than elsewhere, and frequently lower. And even accounting for sponsorship, an advertising business that helps keep ticket prices down, the company’s overall net profit margin is at the low end of profitable S&P 500 companies," Live Nation said.

"It is also clear that we are another casualty of this administration’s decision to turn over antitrust enforcement to a populist urge that simply rejects how antitrust law works," Live Nation later wrote, in part. "Some call this 'anti-monopoly,' but in reality it is just anti-business."

MORE: Justice Department to announce lawsuit against Live Nation over ticket prices: Sources

Among the practices singled out by the DOJ are allegations Live Nation exploited its relationship with the company Oak View Group that the lawsuit says describes itself as a "hammer" for Live Nation and has avoided bidding against the company for exclusive agreements with artists and major venues.

The company, according to the Justice Department, also allegedly carried out a pattern of threatening potential competitors seeking to enter the concert promotions market and creating a climate where venue owners would fear entering into contracts with Live Nation-Ticketmaster's rivals.

Live Nation-Ticketmaster is also accused of using lengthy exclusive contracts with venues that the lawsuit claims prevent them from switching to better or cheaper ticketing systems, and, in certain instances, allegedly blocked venues from even being able to use multiple ticketers for events.

Live Nation was already under a consent decree with the Justice Department after it approved its merger with Ticketmaster during the Obama administration in 2010 -- under conditions that included prohibiting the company from threatening concert venues that opted to use competing ticket firms. That decree was extended in 2019 after the department found the company violated its conditions.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of aggressive antitrust efforts by the Biden administration, which has brought similar enforcement efforts challenging companies like Apple, Google and Amazon over what it alleges are clear anti-competitive practices that have served to harm American consumers.

#nunyas news

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onboardsorasora · 10 months ago

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The way that f1 wants to enter American markets but is doing the exact opposite of what most Americans like in their sporting events — competitive and accessible.

F1 already competes with football, basketball, etc during the weekend, but by making tickets so expensive and having a convoluted schedule that makes each day a competitive session they’re just furthering the average, casual American sports fan from entering f1

they're trying to make the sport accessible while literally creating a new way to gatekeep. The amount of time I've seen, read, heard people ask 'is it quali?' 'wait, whats happening today?' in terms of sprint weekends is painful. and these aren't casual fans that ask these questions (no shade to casual fans, but if people who have been watching from they were young can't even grasp the new changes, I can't imagine how confusing it must be to new people)

you'd think they'd do some market research before attempting to plop a track in every major city right?

and its looking more and more like the US races (outside of COTA) are being initially funded BY Liberty and theyre then hiking the prices to recoup all the money they put in. thats why Miami and Vegas are so fucking expensive. youd think that the money theyre getting in sponsorship and rights and all the other stuff would offset some of it. but at the end of the day its all about profits and to be able to say that the attendance was x hundred thousand and it was super popular and profitable!

onto the next city!

I don't think theyre realizing that they've already passed the level of oversaturation. And i don't just mean in the US. In general. The season is too long, theyre doing too much with the sprints that don't reasonably make sense to the championship as a whole. Theyre introducing way too many new tracks, street tracks, instead of bringing back OG tracks that maybe haven't been on the grid since lockdown and before.

I'm sure we wouldn't be this upset with the new addition of all these tracks if instead of Vegas, Miami and Madrid it was Hockenheim, Sepang and Kyalami. Bring back race tracks built for racing! Stop making civilian life hell because you want to block off every street in the world and have drivers go vroom around them. Do you know how annoying it must be to randomly all of a sudden wake up to the noise of racing (and those bitches are LOUD) if this was never something you ever had to experience before?

Sorry this became a proper rant but yeah, I don't think they're truly thinking about the fans. theyre only thinking about the spectacle and even that is taking a backseat to the profits. We don't even need to go into how shitty the tv direction and actually just how poor some of the overall product has been.

#phew this was a rant. sorry anon #answered #anonymous

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boxboxblog · 2 months ago

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In Depth: Funding

This post is a response to an ask about funding needed for drivers to get to F1 and stay there. Great ask, let's go!

As we all know F1 is beyond expensive to get into. Most drivers come from either legacy racing families or rich families, and so people tend to call it an elitist sport. But what are the numbers, exactly? And how do sponsors play in all of this?

Karting

Professional karting runs between the ages of five and sixteen, and is the first real foray into spending the big bucks. A single season can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 per year so you can see why only the rich tend to venture in. The more you spend, the more successful the racer is, as more expensive karts and series yield higher results. Most karters who want to get into higher level racing will do it up to ten years, so can spend up to $1M+ in total.

Junior Single-Seaters

This is feeder series like F4, F3, and F2. Like anything, it gets progressively more expensive as series raise in level. F4 can cost between $200,000 to $500,000. F3 can be $700,000 to $1M. F2 is a pretty big jump, and can cost between $2M to $3M. This cost level tends to filter out more and more kids compared to karting. Like in karting, more money means better teams, better cars, and better series. Sponsors start playing a big part during this time.

Formula 1

By the time they hit this level, most drivers can afford the costs fine due to sponsorships, but the F1 cost is still extremely drastic. A F1 season can cost anywhere between $8M to $11M. This is even higher if a driver pays their way onto a team, which can cost $10M to $20M per season, not including other costs. To be in F1 without a sponsorship is impossible. Interestingly, once driver start to get personally successful and are maybe able to afford the season more themselves, you sometimes see them dropping sponsors. Lewis Hamilton, for example, has dropped a few of his long-time sponsors.

Sponsorships

So, how exactly do drivers afford this? Sure, many of them are rich, but not the kind of rich to drop a clean couple million a year, no problem. The answer lays with sponsorships.

In the early stages of karting, most kids are supported by their families, towns, or local small businesses. These small businesses might give the racers a loan or a stipend in exchange for having their business advertised throughout the child's karting career. Sometimes they help out of kindness and hope for a local driver to make it big, but usually it is to reap marketing benefits. Some young karters can be so impressive that they draw big name attention before they get into single seaters. Things like the Red Bull Junior Team or the Ferrari Driver Academy will support young racers in exchange for contractual promises to work with Red Bull or Ferrari once they get older. While things like these programs and small business support lower costs, it does not entirely cover it (usually only about 25%) so base capital is still necessary.

Feeder/Junior series are where big name sponsors actually start to get involved. Sponsorships are crucial at this level, as the cost has gone up significantly. Corporate sponsors will give up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to place their logos all over drivers and their cars. Academies and junior programs up financial support, but have drivers sign more serious contracts. Even governments and national sports organizations get involved. Without massive backing covering the majority of costs in junior series, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible, to continue. For extreme talents, up to 100% of costs can be covered. Most often though it doesn't get that high, and drivers still have to be supported by their families and private investors who expect financial payback. Having one big sponsor is usually the best way to go about it at this level. For example, Sergio Perez found a sponsor in Mexican millionaire Carlos Slim and his company, Telmex, during this time. He would have not been able to afford it without them.

In F1 it is even more amplified. It is point blank period impossible to be in F1 without massive sponsor support, unless you come from a family of billionaires, but even then. By this level it is large sponsors like energy drink corporations, car manufacturers, luxury fashion brands, and technology companies that are involved. They expect product placement and their logo everywhere on their drivers, and in return usually cover the full cost of a season. But they expect even more during F1, so things like attending events and being part of the companies marketing is often expected. Max Verstappen, who is sponsored by Heineken, has been in several commercials for them, for example.

To be clear, the amount of money sponsors give at all levels relies entirely on results. I don't want people looking at this post and thinking all of their favorite drivers are pay drivers. You have to be talented to attract attention and sponsors, and you have to give results to keep them and get the money needed. In order to get into F1 you must be good, period. But I won't deny that having financial backing, whether from family or elsewhere, contributes heavily to F1 success.

Before I finish please remember that the numbers I tossed out are just estimates. Season costs vary and so do sponsorship payouts. I have just provided a basic range based off the information readily available online. Who knows, maybe everyone is lying. But the thing I know for a fact is that it is extremely expensive to get into F1 and sponsors are a necessity.

I hope all of this was helpful, and answered all of the questions.

Cheers,

-B

#f1 #formula 1 #f1 details

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air-rising · 1 year ago

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‘Irreplaceable’: meet the Matildas’ other bonafide superstar

Ellie Carpenter, one of the world’s best footballers, was playing in the biggest game of her career when her knee gave way. One year on she’s chasing an even bigger prize – a home World Cup.

It’s the biggest game of her life but Ellie Carpenter is being carried off on a stretcher. The replay is a sickening sight, causing groans among the 32,000-strong crowd. Her left knee has buckled beneath her, leaving the 22-year-old thumping the ground in agony. Her Women’s Champions League final is over and maybe so much more.

Waves of pain from her ruptured ACL make it hard for the young Australian to think clearly as she is lifted off the field after only 13 minutes playing for her club Lyon against Barcelona in Turin on May 21 last year. And yet, at this moment, she is focusing harder than she has ever thought before. The girl from Cowra, the former child prodigy of Australian soccer, wipes the tears from her eyes and stares straight up at the sky as if in a trance.

“Count,” she tells herself as her stretcher makes its way out of the stadium to the applause of the sympathetic crowd. “Count the months.”

“I was thinking, ‘Oh shit, what month is it?’ Carpenter recalls. “It’s usually a 12-month recovery [from an ACL injury] and I needed to count the months until I could play again. So in my head I was going like ‘June, July, August’ and then I’m like ‘YES, YES, YES, I’ll make it. I’ll recover in time for our World Cup.”

Almost exactly 12 months later Carpenter, now 23, bounces into a cafe in central Lyon, France, with her blonde hair in a bun, wearing a T-shirt and shorts and a grin on her face. It’s a wet spring day, but the sun is rising again for Carpenter after a horror year. She is back on the field, playing again for Olympique Lyonnais, the best women’s team in the world. Off the field, she is happy and in love. She has bought a house just outside Lyon with her partner and teammate, Danielle van de Donk, one of the best footballers on the planet, who also plays for the Netherlands national team.

If the rapid-fire ticket sales are any guide, Carpenter may be underestimating the reception that awaits her and the Matildas.

The World Cup, to run from July 20 to August 20, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will see an estimated 83,000 watch Australia’s opening match against Ireland at Sydney’s Accor Stadium – more than double the Matildas’ previous highest attendance of 36,000. The opening match was moved from the 42,500-seat Sydney Football Stadium to the 83,000-seat Stadium Australia (known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes) to meet the surging demand for tickets. At least 1.5 million people are expected to attend the games in Australia and New Zealand with an estimated worldwide audience of two billion. FIFA predicts the World Cup will encourage up to 400,000 girls to take up soccer in Australia.

“It’s crazy now, women’s football,” says Carpenter. “I’ve seen it go from here to here,” she says, moving her hands towards the sky.

Marketing surveys show the Matildas have overtaken the men’s Wallabies rugby union team in popularity, something that would once have seemed unthinkable for a team that only formed in 1978 and for years had to play on substandard ovals. The small crowds that came to watch them play in those days were mostly family and friends.

“It’s incredible to see where this team has come from to be one of our biggest sporting brands … so many players have paved the way for this moment,” says Heather Garriock, who played 130 games for the Matildas between 1999 and 2011.

Ellie Carpenter's FIFA World Cup mission

For years Matildas players were paid a pittance, having to hold down second jobs while playing for the national team. In the early days one player recalled how a teammate called the coach before an international match to say she would be late because her shift at Woolies didn’t finish until 5.30pm. In the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the Matildas were so desperate to secure sponsorship and public support that 12 of them posed naked for a calendar to get attention. Fast-forward to today and the Matildas are a household name, and Kerr is arguably the most recognisable Australian sports star in the world. In May, wearing a sharp black suit, she carried the Australian flag into Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III.

But it will take more than Kerr’s soccer royalty for the Matildas to realise their dream of winning a home World Cup.

On a cold spring evening in London on the eve of the coronation, Kerr is playing to script, slamming the winning goal for her team Chelsea against Liverpool with just minutes to go. As she leaves the ground I ask her what she thinks about having Carpenter back with the Matildas for the World Cup. “Ellie is one of the best players in the world,” says Kerr, who described Carpenter as “irreplaceable” when she injured her ACL last year. “We’ve missed her and she’s a great personality to have on the team … I’m feeling good, I’m feeling excited [about the World Cup].”

A few days later, Carpenter is sprinting up the right wing, weaving the ball around her teammates during morning training near the Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium on the outskirts of Lyon. It is just over two months since she made her comeback from her injury and the previous weekend she was one of the team’s best players in their 3-0 win over Dijon.

She calls out to her teammates in French and jokes with them in French, but if she makes a mistake on the field, the word “shit” rings out across the ground in an Aussie twang.

Her bilingual world in Lyon, a French foodie capital crammed with UNESCO World Heritage sites, is a reminder of just how many lives Carpenter has squeezed into her 23 years. “It all started here,” she says, pointing to a tattoo on her ankle that shows the outline of Cowra, her hometown of 12,500 people in the Central West of NSW. “It��s like one main street, two sets of traffic lights, a place where we knew everyone and everyone knew the Carpenters.”

Looking back, Carpenter’s unlikely rise from the streets of Cowra to international soccer star was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because she lived the real-life sporting fairy-tale. This was the tale in which a determined young country girl becomes a prodigy of the game, shattering every barrier in her path to find herself playing for Australia at the age of just 15 and then at the age of 16 at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the youngest ever female footballer in the world to compete in an Olympics.

The curse was that she was so good, so early, that she was a kid playing among adults, being thrust into the spotlight ahead of her time, before she was ready and before she had time to grow up. “I hated it sometimes,” she says. “I was always the youngest. People would say, oh, you’re the youngest ever Olympian or you’re the youngest ever to score a goal, the youngest this, the youngest that. I was playing with people who were 10 or 15 years older than me and you had to mature very quickly. It was hard with the pressure, the spotlight, the critics … I wasn’t prepared for that at the time.

“I’ve been in the public eye since I was 15 and now people think I’m 30 but I’m still just 23, one of the youngest in the team.”

Belinda Carpenter still scratches her head about how her daughter fell in love with soccer. “She was highly energetic, she never sat still but she did all sports – a bit of athletics, AFL, soccer, cricket, even triathlon, cheerleading and trapeze,” she says. Belinda and her then husband Scott, who were Physical Education teachers in Cowra, encouraged Carpenter and her older brother Jeremy to dabble in any activity that took their fancy. “Ellie also did ballet, so she would play football in the morning and then go to ballet with muddy knees under those pink stockings,” Belinda recalls.

“I think I always knew I would be a sportsperson, because ever since I could walk I was running,” says Carpenter. “I think I could have done any sport really because I was also good at swimming and athletics. I was a tomboy. I didn’t really have a normal childhood. I never went to parties like other girls, I just wanted to play sports.”

She played soccer from an early age but her path as a serious player began by accident when, at the age of about seven, she watched her brother Jeremy train with the NSW country soccer team. “I was just on the sidelines waiting for him, juggling the ball on my own, when the coach came up and said that I could join their next session. I was the only girl and the boys were much older than me. I don’t remember this but apparently I was, like, really good, smashing all the boys.”

Belinda and Scott decided to give both Ellie and Jeremy the chance to compete in competitions across the state. This required a brutal schedule of long drives for training and games. “Honestly I can’t believe they did that for me,” Carpenter says. “From Cowra we used to drive to Canberra every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which was more than two hours there and back, and then sometimes we would play in Sydney which was four hours there and back on the same day. I would spend so much time in the car, doing my homework or making up quizzes and things just to pass the time.”

By the time Carpenter was 12, it was clear that she had a natural talent that could no longer be nurtured from Cowra. So Belinda quit her job and moved with both the children to Sydney so they could attend Westfield Sports High School in Sydney’s west, which had a specialist sports program.

It was a big school in a big city, a culture shock for a country girl. “It was a huge change, I became this small fish in a big sea,” she says. Not long afterwards, her parents divorced, a time which she describes as difficult and sad.

The following year, aged 13, Carpenter went to watch the Matildas play in Sydney. “I think there was a maximum of 1000 people there but I watched the national team play and I was like, ‘Oh, sick, I want to be that.’ Then two years later, I was on that team. It was crazy.”

Carpenter’s precocious talent turned heads in the soccer world at that time, and things unfolded quickly. She broke into the “Mini-Matildas” under-17 team at the age of 14, and when she turned 15 signed her first professional contract with the then W-League club Western Sydney Wanderers. The coach was so impressed with her that she didn’t even need to trial for the team.

Carpenter’s ambition was such that although she began her career as a midfielder, she volunteered to be a defender when the Mini-Matildas said they needed defenders only because she didn’t want to be cut from the squad. “I was like, I want to be in the team so I will play wherever.”

In March 2016, when she was still just 15, Carpenter made her debut for the senior Matildas, playing in a 9-0 victory over Vietnam.

Not long afterwards, she was playing for Australia in the Rio Olympics, the first of the string of “youngest ever” firsts that she would soon tire of. “Obviously I was so young – I think I was the youngest in that team by five years,” she recalls. “So I guess I was kind of on my own. Some players were 30 years old and some of them were a bit like, ‘Who is this 15-year-old who has come into the team?’ and some people don’t want you there because you might take their spot. So some didn’t like me being there, but you’ve just gotta keep going.”

After the Rio Olympics, Heather Garriock, who was then coaching, says she noticed that the 16-year-old Carpenter was struggling. “I could see that she wasn’t doing well with the massive comedown after the hype of the Olympic Games. So, you know, I just put my arm around her – and since then I’ve always put my arm around her and taken her under my wing. She just wanted to be the best and to get better every day.

“She is so driven to win and yet she’s got such a nice nature, a very humble kind of girl who will always give you her time.”

Carpenter says she was forced to grow up quickly, but with the help of people like Garriock she eventually found her rhythm and adapted to the ever-growing public glare of being a Matilda. “I think it took me a couple of years, until I was about 17, to come out as Ellie,” she says.

In Year 10 Carpenter dropped out of school to pursue her dream of being a full-time footballer. “She wasn’t at school very much anyway,” says Belinda of her daughter’s busy soccer schedule. “I just told her, ‘Go do it, because if it fails and you don’t get to where you want to go in soccer, we will go back and figure out the education route’.”

When Carpenter was 17 she was pursued by the US National Women’s Soccer League team Portland Thorns, in Oregon on the US west coast. She signed with them but, in those days, women were not allowed to play until they turned 18. The club was so keen for her to play that she signed a contract literally on her 18th birthday, and played the following week, racking up yet another series of “youngest evers”. “That’s why I was the youngest ever player and the youngest ever person to score a goal in the NWSL at that stage,” she says.

Carpenter says life in the US was a shock “because it was so different to Australia”. Belinda recalls that her daughter would often FaceTime her during dinner just to have a companion to speak with. “Until she found her feet I would often hang out with her on the phone while she was having dinner at a restaurant or something when she didn’t really know anybody.

“Even though Ellie is really outgoing, with a wicked sense of humour, I think she is also a bit guarded about who she lets in.”

Even so, Carpenter says she enjoyed her two years in Portland where she regularly played in front of crowds of 20,000. By this stage she had become a fixture of the Matildas team, playing in the 2019 World Cup in France where they made it to the round of 16 and then the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where the Matildas made it to the semi-finals.

By the time she turned 20, Carpenter was being pursued by the strongest women’s team in the world, Olympique Lyonnais. She recalls the moment she learned that Lyon wanted to recruit her. “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ It was Lyon and I was like, ‘Are you sure they want me?’ I mean, if Lyon calls, you go to them wherever you are because they are the best in the world.” This is no exaggeration – the team has won eight Champions League finals in the past 12 years, including five in a row between 2015 and 2020.

But Carpenter’s arrival in 2020 wasn’t so easy. “It was the time of the Covid pandemic so the city was shut. I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t know French,” she says. So she began her life anew yet again, throwing herself into French lessons and making friends at her new club. She impressed local fans by trying to speak French at press conferences, albeit with an Aussie twang. She also fell in love with Lyon itself. “I love it, it’s beautiful – not as nice as Sydney, but it’s still beautiful.” As soon as she arrived, she also saw why her new team kept winning championships. The fitness, the training, the skills were next-level, even for Carpenter. “She called me up and said, ‘Um, Mum, these players are really, really good’,” recalls Belinda. Initially she found it hard to break into her new team, and she won her first European Championship with Lyon in 2020 without taking to the field when she was on the team as an unused sub.

“I don’t think many people understand what it really takes to be a football player,” says Carpenter’s teammate and partner Danielle van de Donk. “You win trophies and everyone thinks it is a high but no one really knows about the lows.” Van de Donk, who has been going out with Carpenter for about two years, says she has the rare ability to lift the team’s morale single-handedly. “She is the most energetic person I know, she is very, very positive, and off the pitch she just brings a different kind of energy to the room – even when she was injured the coaches were saying to her, ‘Bring your energy to the team, we need it’,” says van de Donk. “She is already a star but she is just going to get bigger and bigger. She is only 23.”

Van de Donk says she’s attracted to Carpenter because they are “similar people in life”, adding: “It’s kind of wild, she is from Australia, I’m from the Netherlands and we are buying a house in Lyon – it’s very cool.’’

After that tricky start at Lyon, Carpenter became a regular in the team – until the 13-minute mark of last year’s Champions League final. “It was just sickening to watch her go down,” recalls Belinda, who was watching the game live in the middle of the night from her home in Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast. “I actually said when I watched it, ‘She does not go down and she does not stay down’.”

Carpenter’s injury came in two parts. The first came when she was tackling an opponent near the corner post and her left knee twisted in the tackle. Carpenter hobbled off in obvious pain. But she was desperate to come back on, and tested the injured knee in front of the team’s medical staff. “I remember being on the sideline and they were testing me and I was like, ‘Is it strong, can you feel my ACL?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah I think it’s fine, so you want to go back on?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s the Championship Final.’ So I ran back on and then I was like, ‘Oh, something’s not right’.”

Back in Wamberal, Belinda was horrified to see her daughter run back onto the pitch. “We were like, ‘No, no, no, don’t do it’,” she recalls.

Moments after returning to the field Carpenter moved to intercept a long pass. But as soon as she changed direction her knee gave way completely, severing her ACL and sending her to the ground.

Van de Donk, who was watching from the sidelines as a substitute, had torn her own ACL as a teenager and knew what lay ahead. “I saw her go down and instantly I knew it was wrong,” she recalls. “It was horrible to watch.”

But once Carpenter counted the months and realised she could still potentially play in the World Cup in Australia, her mood lifted. Lyon won the match 3-1, giving Carpenter her second championship medal and yet another first as the only Australian to win two Champions League medals. After the match, despite having her injured leg in a splint, Carpenter joined her teammates in the celebrations on the field, swinging precariously on her crutches and then hopping on her one good leg as she held up the Champions League cup. She then flew back to Lyon with the team and continued the celebrations. “I was in so much pain, so I just took lots of painkillers but we went to a restaurant and partied in Lyon drinking champagne until 5am.”

The next morning Carpenter woke with a hangover to the bad news she had feared. She needed a full knee reconstruction and would be out of the game for up to a year. Recalls Belinda: “The first thing she said to me on the phone was, ‘I’m getting an operation, I’m going to get better and I’m going to play in the World Cup’. It was all about the World Cup.”

That has been Carpenter’s singular goal ever since. In those early months after her injury when she could not run, she followed her rehab plan like it was Holy Writ – long hours in the gym keeping the muscles working followed by swimming, physio, massage and the hardest task of all: patience.

“I had to learn a lot about patience because I am impatient,” she says. “When I finally was able to take my first jump again I actually cried with happiness.” At times Carpenter wondered whether she would be the same player when she returned, but mostly she says she kept her mental demons at bay.

“It was a long journey for her and she was a bit insecure in the beginning, she struggled for about three weeks,” says van de Donk. “But after that she was OK, she just powered through – and now I think she’s much stronger than she was.” Carpenter, for her part, puts a gloss on the whole saga, saying she believes it gave her a much-needed break from the game she’d been playing almost non-stop since she was a child.

Today, Carpenter’s football routine is very full-time. She goes into the club from around 9am to 4pm most days to do a mixture of training, gym, recovery and sponsorship work. Then she plays on weekends, often travelling. She works with a nutritionist and also a psychologist. She estimates she gets one day properly off each month. Such is the profile of the team in Lyon that she now gets recognised in the street, and after three years here she says she is now fluent in French.

“Ellie has always known the path that she wanted and she has just followed it completely. That is pretty incredible for a 23-year-old,” says former Matildas player Garriock. “She is already one of the world’s best players and her energy and leadership are crucial for the World Cup. She has achieved things at 23 that others wouldn’t achieve in their whole career. I have no doubt that she will be the captain of the Matildas in the future. She has all the leadership qualities and the big game experience.”

Carpenter is now on the home stretch of her quest, hoping to stay in form and avoid injury until the World Cup begins in three weeks.

Although she loves playing for Lyon, she says there’s nothing like going home to play with the Matildas. “It’s like going back to your family,” she says with a grin. “We’ve all known each other for years. Everyone is so close. We can all laugh at ourselves and we look after each other. It’s such a good, strong group. I don’t know how to explain it but I have a special passion when I play for the Matildas, it’s unique. For me, this World Cup is the top of the top, it’s probably the best thing I will ever experience.”

So how far can Carpenter and the Matildas go in this World Cup?

“We’ve never seen an Australian team like this,” says Garriock. “This core group of players like Ellie Carpenter, Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord have played together in World Cups and big tournaments since they were 16 years old. They are in their prime and this is their moment. It is written for them.”

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