#brocedes is its own different thing

[wisteriagoesvroom]

just watched the senna (2010) documentary as it’s available in my region… like, this documentary was a lot of things (hero worship, an ode to a brazilian symbol, a question mark essay about idolatry and dedication)… AND it’s also the way prost haunts the narrative… insane actually

[ladysomething]

this is a bit random but I was wondering if you had any other rpf ships from formula 1 that you like (other than brocedes) that overlap with the drivers making up lestappen.

I’m a big charlos lover and wygig is probably the only lestappen work I really like and that’s 100% because of your amazing writing and nothing else (in terms of finding that driver dynamic alluring) because I’ve been trying to get into lestappen for a while and it just isn’t happening.

I think one of the reasons for this is that in the charlos that I read, Charles plays a very different role and is presented often much more masculinely and assertive and morally grey in comparison to a lot of lestappen. therefore, I feel like it’s difficult for me to shed the perception of him I hold in that ship and move over to lestappen works where his role in relation to max is largely unchanged no matter the AU or scenario.

so that brings me to my question, going through your bookmarks I noticed that you read some Maxiel and some Pierre/charles also, is it difficult for you to perceive the characters of ‘Max’ and ‘Charles’ outside of the traditionally lestappen framework? and when I say traditional I don’t mean things like who bottoms and who tops because it’s very diverse in terms of that but just generally the ‘magnets/opposites attract/one true rival/inexplicable obsession since childhood’ vibe that they seem to have in most fics. or do you largely restrict yourself to lestappen because other dynamics with those drivers are just not as interesting?

unrelated note- loved the latest snippet <3

hm. well I suspect that probably you and I have a very different starting point on this anon, and approach it from fundamentally different points of view. not to say either one of is either correct or incorrect, I just think it's probably not necessarily going to help you get into lestappen.

but I guess I'll tell you my journey, because it might shed some light.

so I got into f1 last year, resisted rpf for a while, eventually decided I'd give it a go, and pretty much just ... went to the highest ranking ship for f1. at the time, it was maxiel, so that's how I ended up there.

I didn't feel a particular draw to maxiel irl, but I adored the fics! some of them were absolutely phenomenal, and even though I didn't/don't ship maxiel, a couple fics have really stuck with me and even define how I write Max in lestappen.

when I went through the entire maxiel tag, I went to the second highest ranking ship: lestappen. now, I confess, I had intended to just do what I did with maxiel, which was consume everything and then move on, but as you can tell .... well. that did not happen.

its from fic that I learnt the lestappen lore, and its how I expanded into my actual interest of the real lestappen friendship. now the reason for this is pretty simple: I love their lore. I love their history. I fucking love the idea that these two guys grew up hating each other, and now have so much respect for each other that they're so weird about it. it's just a dynamic that really scratches an itch for me.

there are certainly other pairings that vaguely interest me: I've dabbled in some max/lewis, some Charles/seb. if I like the setting, then I like the pairing.

but, honestly, it sounds to me that the reason you're not so sure about lestappen (the 'rivals to lovers' aspect, if I've understood your ask correctly) is in fact the very core of it. lestappen authors explore it so much because it's what defines their entire relationship.

but it's not for everyone, and that's totally fine. if you don't see the allure, you don't see the allure. if I'm being honest, I don't see the allure of Charlos at all, but that's for my own reasons and there is no fic I could read or long essay on it that will change my mind.

now, I think what you're also asking me is ... if I see Max as a rival to Charles, can I also see him as having had a boyhood crush on Daniel? and tbh for me, the answer is yes. I don't always agree with characterisations (just as I don't always agree with them inside lestappen either), but I think ... people aren't all things all the time, right? a person can be multiple things at once.

some ships just bring out different sides of people. e.g. Charles is a giggly mess with Max and for some fucking reason says that he wants to win the WDC but not if it means something bad happening to Max, while also at the same time be the person that happily brushes off Lando, while also the same time joke about adopting Oscar, while also at the time wanting to square up against Lewis to prove he's better than him.

the way I would write Charles with Max is very different to the way I would write Charles with .... Lewis, for example, because he feels different things and acts in a different way and has different motivations. it doesn't make him an inherently different character, it just makes the dynamic different.

anyway, I'm not entirely sure I really answered your question tbh, but I hope you got something out of it anyway!

[yesterdayiwrote]

Some of the takes I see about George online are actually insane.

I saw someone saying basically the issue with the W14 is that mercedes followed how George felt about the car in development and not Lewis, therefore it suits George and that mercedes should not have taken georges opinion in development as seriously as Lewis's. That they should have focused on making the car suit Lewis and have George adapt.

Its like people aren't aware that these cars are a different era of cars to what lewis won his championship with. Plus it isn't like the engineers are gonna go sure we will go with George in this even though what Lewis says will be faster. They go with what they feel the fastest concept will be, they don't just decide to go with George because they like him more than Lewis.

Plus it ignores the fact that George was working in the Mercedes simulator all the way back from the brocedes era. It was his work in the simulator which gave him opportunities to test drive cars and do free practice sessions and tire tests. Surely he must have some abilty in the sim and the engineers have alot of trust in him. They are always praising his technical knowlege. Just look at last weekend. Lewis even admitted that George chose the better set up and strategy, even though on paper it shouldn't have been.

Honestly I feel for the lad. People insulted him last year because apparently he didn't do enough for development for the car and lewis was doing all the experiments and it cost him points and now because the cars a bit crap its all his fault because they put more weight into what George has said about development. Both cannot be true. You can't say George didn't do any development last year but also blame him for the car being bad this year because of what he said in development last year.

Okay, I’ve been trying to think of a way to answer this since I got it, and I’m really struggling to find a way that covers ALL the nuance of the situation whilst simultaneously airing my frustration and trying not to be a biased dick about it. I do genuinely like both of them.

This creeping narrative that everything that goes wrong is because of George and everything that goes right is because of Lewis really does fuck me off big time because it’s just such childish bullshit and I can’t be dealing with it. That said it’s so ridiculously childish that it’s barely worth giving much credence to. The people know what they’re doing and sometimes you just have to let people have their copium and just… laugh?

I think people need to allow Lewis to be vulnerable and this aching need by some people to paint this picture that he is a perfect, fully rounded driver with absolutely no flaws or weaknesses does no one any favours. Sure we haven’t seen them as much, because success has a tendency to conceal these things, but even the GOATs have areas that need improvement. Merc have no responsibility to treat him as a first priority in all eventualities, and doing so would do Lewis more harm than good? If they had insisted on switching the cars in Jeddah like some people wanted, it surely would have been ten times more humiliating for him when he got passed by his teammate five laps later going quicker on the harder tyre?

George has a really solid eye for strategy. He can call strategy in the car while he’s driving a race and that’s no mean feat. Personally, I feel Lewis is weaker in that area. He prefers the team to lead his strategy and he puts his full faith in them to get it right and that’s fine, plenty of drivers do that. It’s not a glaring void in his arsenal, but in times when things go wrong it gives George an advantage he can draw on. People get angry at him doing it, because he’s ‘putting himself first’ but equally sometimes you’ve got to control your own destiny.

The whole situation with the car design is getting a bit ‘He said, She said’. Lewis said no one listened to him and he had all the right answers. George said they all agreed the direction together. We’ll never know who is telling the truth. Chances are it’s somewhere in the middle. Some teams do design their cars to suit one specific driver over another. I don’t know that I buy into any theory that suggests in Merc it would be George, even if he did come out on top last year. I said before I was a bit disappointed with Lewis’ comments and I think they were ill advised and borne out of frustration, as did he in the press conference, and then effectively doubled down and said something just as contentious in the post race interviews 🤷🏼‍♀️

We know George has done car development. You can’t joke about him being locked in the Sim and then simultaneously accuse him of not assisting with development, and then simultaneously accuse him of driving the entire development direction to suit himself. Like any sane person knows all of those things can’t be true cos the maths ain’t mathing?

Lewis isn’t ultimately responsible for his fans and the things they say, that being said I do feel like he sees more than he lets on and he knows when to give a crafty stir of the pot. They all do? This is purely his fans doing it though, not him, even if Spinz hasn’t helped matters in the past 😒

I think it’s a shame it’s got to this state though. I feel sorry for George and I do feel sorry for Lewis as well. It is a tougher situation for him in light of 2021. None of this is George’s fault though and it’s sad to see the online discourse getting so… tribal at times.

[jjustcallmejuliett]

2020 creators wrapped

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020.  (Thanks to @laeana for tagging me)

Okay, it’s kind of hard for me to top them, so without any specific order, here I bring you my favourites fanfics...

♦ Heaven is a place on earth with you (Sewis, Carlando and more...)

This is by far, my longest and most elaborated work. It’s an Angels and Demons AU, with different relationships and where every character plays his part, and makes you empathise with all of them (almost). It’s dramatic, fluffy, and has a surprising ending. I very proud of this.

♦Je t’aime (Sebchal)

This was my very first Sechal. Wasn’t very elaborated, in fact I wrote it in two hours, and posted it without being sure of it. But had a very good reception! more than any other of my works, and definitely more than what I could ever expect. This work is special because reassured me to keep writing and trying new things.

♦Because you live in shades of cool, your heart is unbreakeble (Sewis, past brocedes and Jenson/nico) 

Well, this is a very heartful saga, short but emotional... or at least, that’s what I tried. It’s not very popular, but it’s fluffy and one of my favourite plots: love letters, music inspiration, and moving on from a past relationship in good terms.

♦ Something about the boy (or poor little Charles) (Sewis, one sided Sebchal and Piarles)

Okay, this started as a joke, a big joke, after seeing those popular videos about Seb and Lewis being in their own bubble and making everyone feel like a third wheel and thinking “poor charles, he def. loves Seb but he only has eyes for Lewis”. But I ended up having the time of my life writing about a jealous Charles sabotagging sewis and failing over and over again (but he gets his happy ending of course)

♦Carlando Christmas Special (Carlando)

Okay, my first NSFW work. Again, I wasn’t very sure of this one. I thought it was a bit too much, and the fact that the person refused the gift didn’t help... but I’m happy with the result and the acceptance it had. This work inspires me and gives me confidence to write more of this stuff (which I def. will next year)

♦I'm your Biggest Fan (Follow you 'till you love me) (Sewis, hinted Piarles)

Okay, I had to mention this work because it took me a lot to write it, and I’m very very very proud of it, because I wrote it entirely for me, not for hits or kudos, just to please myself. The plot, eventhough its very specific, it’s a cliché: A Ferrari Academy Student Seb who’s in love with  pop star Lewis and with the help of his roomie tries to meet him in the stadium where he’s giving a concert. It doesn’t work, but their luck changes when they invite a model friends with Lewis to dinner and he’s willing to make the favour.

Well, that’s it. To be honest I don’t know who to tag, but if you read this and want your fav creator to do this, reblog and tag them^^

Happy Holidays.