#but then it ended up being about mick and prema

[holllandtrash]

fragile line | daniel ricciardo

pairing: daniel ricciardo x driver!reader

You and I walk a fragile line I have known it all this time But I never thought I'd live to see it break

what happens when the driver daniel falls in love with, ends up being the one who brings his career to a screeching halt? word count: 7.7k (im so sorry) warnings/tags: fluff-ish, plot with implied/very little smut, angst, mclaren danny, zak brown (gross), some incorrect f2 stats but whatever, time jumps, really just a lot of angst, its a rollercoaster

“What do you know?”

“What do you know?” Daniel repeated the question back to you, the emphasis making it clear as day that you both carried the same career-altering information. 

His signature grin and comforting optimism were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Daniel’s expression could be described in a variety of ways. Solemn, disappointed, hurt. 

“What was I supposed to do?” You asked, going straight to the defensive. You couldn’t be helpful in this scenario, you just needed to explain yourself. He wouldn’t understand it from your perspective, but you had to try. 

“Not take the seat,” he offered a solution, as if it was that simple. “My god, I mean, they’re cutting my contract early, Y/N. For you.”

“For the sake of the team,” you corrected. You had no say in this. McLaren had plenty of driver options for the 2023 season. There were rumours of Daniel’s contract coming to an end a year early anyway, everyone heard them, everyone ignored them. The only thing that remained uncertain for a while was who would replace him should the rumours be true.

You. 

“You don’t even like McLaren.” You told him, voice raising a little as if that helped get the point across. “You’ve struggled with this team since day one.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to stop racing.”

“McLaren is not the team for you and you know this.”

Daniel scoffed, eyebrows twitching, “Did Zak tell you to say that?”

It was a rhetorical question, but Daniel noticed the way your bottom lip quivered. He caught the way your eyes dropped from his, even just for a split second. There was something unspoken between you, something that weighed on your mind and Daniel stepped forward, wanting to know what exactly it was. 

“Zak-” you started, reluctant to even say this. “-he doesn’t know I’m here. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to talk to you or anyone about it, not until your announcement comes out.”

Here meaning Daniel’s flat in Monaco. The place you spent more nights at than your own. You played it off by saying his view was better but that was such a bullshit answer. Daniel’s flat always felt more like home than yours ever did. 

You had formally met the Australian driver a few years ago, but god did time fly. It was at a race in Monza. You could pretend you didn’t know the date but of course you did, you had it memorised. September 3rd, 2020. There was no way you could forget the day your life changed for the better. 

Or possibly, for the worse. It was up in the air at this point. 

You were new to the Formula 2 series. The only female driver on the grid as you raced with Prema alongside Mick Schumacher. F3 proved to be quite a successful stint for you and you had your eyes set on the coveted Formula 1 series. You wanted to be in the big leagues. 

Daniel saw that. He saw how determined you were to not only make waves in Motorsport, but to make something of yourself. You trained just as hard, if not harder than the other drivers in the junior series and Daniel had seen that for a while. He was often surprised to see you at the hotel gym, already working up a sweat when he walked in at a little after 6am. He would be even more surprised when he saw you there in the evening when other drivers went and called it a night or even went and celebrated. 

Your race weekends were the same as F1 weekends, but you just had limited ones. It was a shorter season, less intense, but whenever you were there. Daniel saw you. He saw you and he paid attention. He even rooted for you, very publicly as well whenever he could, despite the two of you never having exchanged a word. 

The first time you heard about Daniel cheering you on was after the Monaco race, quite early on into your first season. You qualified 7th, not ideal for a track like Monaco where the opportunities to overtake were far and few between, but somehow you did it. And then you did it again. And you could say it was luck but it was really smart strategy and an insane amount of driver skill that had you finishing fifth. In Monaco. 

Those were Daniel’s words. He was asked pre-race if he watched the F2 run and he said of course. He said he “wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” wanting to see what you could do this weekend. 

“It’s not luck, she’s incredibly talented,” Daniel had told the Sky Sports reporter. “She’s doing big things in the series, and I’m rooting for her. Truly. It’s rare a driver comes around with such raw natural talent, where you look at them and you know racing’s just in their blood, but it’s in hers. I would love to see her in Formula 1 one day.”

You watched that interview clip about twenty times. Daniel Ricciardo, the Daniel Ricciardo who had won Monaco a few years back, was complimenting you. He was rooting for you. 

It wasn’t until Monza, nearing the end of your season that he finally approached you. 

“I want to work with you,” Daniel said, straight to the point. You were in the middle of stretching in the hotel's fitness centre. It was only Thursday, the race weekend itself had barely started but Daniel knew he’d find you in there. 

You pulled your airpods out and looked up at him in the mirror, “You what?”

“I want to work with you,” Daniel repeated, this time sitting down on the floor next to you. He kept your stare in the reflection. “I’m not a trainer by any means, but I want to work with you. I want to see you in Formula 1.”

You were flattered, honoured really, but you didn’t know what that entailed. “Work with me how?”

“Well, regular fitness training for starters,” he said. “But managing, really. I want to help you with everything that it takes to move up. Media training, mental preparedness, finding sponsors, getting you in touch with the right people. Let me help you, Y/N.”

You weren’t sure what brought this on. Part of you was convinced it was because he knew this would look good on his behalf. If you did make it to Formula 1 and Daniel’s name was attached to yours, he’d look like a genius. A hero. He would be known as the first person from F1 to publicly support you. 

But that wasn’t what it was at all. When you agreed and accepted his help, you soon came to learn that Daniel didn’t want to be in your spotlight at all. He found the opportunities that you needed and then stepped back. He didn’t mention to the media at all that he was helping you, he didn’t see a need to. He saw your potential and he truly wanted to help you make something off.

So there he was during the off season, meeting you in London where you resided. He trained with you, set you up with the right people, did weekly check-ins, he really was like a sort of manager. 

He was there during pre-season testing the following year, literally. He stood in the Prema garage like he was just another member of the team. No one really questioned it, not when you said he was acting as a mentor to you. Everyone loved Daniel’s presence there and he was told he was welcome whenever. 

He was there during race weekends whenever he could find time in his own busy schedule. He was never there during the actual race, needing that time to prepare for his own, but he always watched from his drivers room or had someone in his ear updating where you were and what was happening.

He was there in Silverstone, when you crashed during Saturday's Sprint Race.

It was one of the last sessions of the day, Daniel had already finished qualifying and he was standing in the back of your garage, arms crossed over his chest, eyes glued to the screen. 

He was the first voice you heard when you spun, losing the breaks in mere seconds and all you could do was brace yourself for the impact of the barriers. 

“Tell me you’re okay.” Daniel’s voice came through your radio. Not your engineer, not your team principal. Daniel. “Say something, sweets, tell me you're okay.”

Sweets, he called you. But only ever in private, or in front of close friends. What started as a joke when you complained about him not having any sweets in his flat the first time you visited in Monaco, stuck. 

But everyone had access to the team radios. It could be heard by other engineers, other teams, fans even and those watching at home should F1TV choose to broadcast it.

Of course they did. They aired the exchange for everyone to hear and it spread like wildfire. It was all anyone on social media could talk about. 

“Say something, sweets. Tell me you’re okay.” 

“I’m okay,” you sputtered out, hands shaking as you unclenched them. It was an instinct to pull them off the steering wheel and tuck your arms to your chest, physically bracing where you could. 

“Good,” Daniel breathed out a very obvious sigh of relief. “Good.” He paused, and then with a quiet chuckle added, “What the fuck was that then?” 

You laughed in response, needing the humour at such a traumatic time. You had crashed before, but this was a bad one. You didn’t even need to step out of the vehicle to know you were lucky to not feel any immediate injuries, but there was a ringing in your ear and the adrenaline was preventing you from really understanding the damage your body had sustained. 

It wouldn’t have helped, though, to have gotten an earful, not like it was your fault anyway. It also wouldn’t have helped if you were asked again and again if you were okay. The more people asked, the more stressed you would grow. Daniel knew you needed a bit of lightheartedness at this time. 

“No brakes, Danny,” you answered through a soft laugh.

“That just sounds like an excuse to me,” he muttered, the sarcasm evident even through the crackling radio.

“Are you going to continue to question my driving abilities or are you going to send medical out here to help me?”

That whole interaction went viral. From the radio message, to the clips of Daniel accompanying you to the medical centre, to the photos of the two of you smiling in the paddock despite the bruising on your body, the concussion you were diagnosed with and the instruction from the doctor that you were not stable enough to race on Sunday.  

Which sucked, to put it plainly. But you were with Daniel. He made the situation bearable. With his arm around your shoulder, he walked you to the car at the end of the day, having waited with you the whole time. 

People speculated, of course. Questions were asked. 

Why was Daniel Ricciardo paying such close attention to you? Why did he get over the radio when he crashed? Why did it sound so flirty? Had he been in your garages the whole time and no one noticed? Was he a mentor? A friend? More?

You had put out a statement when you got to the hotel, thanking everyone for the kind words and well wishes. You shared that you would not be driving on Sunday and you also shared that you were thankful for the support of Daniel Ricciardo, your mentor, who reminded you that even the best of the best crash out sometimes. 

Mentor, you publicly called him That’s what he was, right? Or trainer. Or Manager. Or friend, really. There were a lot of words to describe his relationship to you. 

People online didn’t believe it. They thought there was more because, who looks at each other like that if they’re not fucking? 

But you weren’t. Honest to god, that line with Daniel was never crossed. You never even considered it. Always content with his companionship and his advice, you didn’t want anything physical or romantic. 

At least, you thought you didn’t. 

Daniel dragged you into his room instead of letting you go up to yours because you were under strict instructions to not be left alone for the next twelve hours should the concussion worsen. 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, handing you a glass of water. “I know I joked over the radio, but I was worried. It wasn’t a pretty crash.”

“Are any crashes pretty?”

He sat down next to you, closer than normal considering when he rested his arm over the back of the couch, his fingers were within the distance needed to play with the strands of your hair. 

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, “I guess it depends on the driver. I make the crashes pretty.” 

The comedic gasp you let out as you clenched your chest had him laughing. 

“Daniel Ricciardo, are you calling me ugly?”

“Don’t twist my words!” He exclaimed, eyes squinting as his smile widened. “I said I was pretty.” 

You hummed, “You pretty much said I made the crush ugly.” 

“I didn’t say you were ugly,” Daniel playfully tugged on a strand of your hair. “You’re not- I mean, you-”

And then the humour faded. He met your eyes, his hand fell to your shoulder. He was still smiling but it was the sort of gentle smile one wears when they figure out the answer to a question that had been eating at them for a while. 

Something clicked for Daniel. At this very moment. 

He wasn’t going to let it escape him. 

“Pretty doesn’t do you justice,” Daniel told you, voice lowering. “You’re breaktaking, Y/N. On the racetrack, at home, at events, you put everyone around you to shame. And it’s not- it isn’t just your appearance, it’s you. Everything about you. Your heart, your charisma, the way your eyes light up when you smile but only if you’re talking to people you like,” he chuckled, having experienced it first hand and having seen the way you don’t look nearly as pleased when someone you dislike approaches you. 

You were speechless, though. Frozen where you sat as this admission came out of seemingly nowhere. 

And Daniel was attractive, that was an undeniable fact, he was everything anyone could ever want in a man. But you never allowed yourself to look at him the way other people would. He was your trainer, manager, mentor, friend. 

You had no words to explain the way he was staring at you now. Nor could you explain why it made you feel more alive than driving a racecar at inhumane speeds ever could. 

Daniel took another breath, eyes never leaving yours. “You are unlike anyone I have ever come across and I know, in my lifetime, I will never find someone who could ever compare to even a fraction of who you are.”

There was no way you could continue to be just friends after those words passed his lips. 

You kissed him. You had to. It wasn’t like there was anything you could say that would match what he had already said, nor could you even find the words. 

You kissed him and Daniel pulled you onto his laps, your legs moving to straddle either side of his hips. His hands roamed your body, sliding up the Prema shirt you still had on as your tongue roamed every possible inch of his mouth. 

His hand gripped your waist, rolling you over top of him so you could feel in a matter of seconds how this conversation had now taken a turn. His cock started to harden, constricted by his pants, but you still felt it underneath you each time he shifted, each time you grinded against him. 

When you reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off, Daniel leaned back, both of you taking that second to catch your breath and question if you were really going to do this.

“Is this a mistake?” You whispered, your thumb gently tracing over his lips. Your working relationship was perfect. This could ruin everything. You had fears, doubts, worries. One night could lead to dozens of complications. 

But Daniel shook his head and all of those thoughts vanished.

“No,” he said, sounding so sure of himself with that one syllable. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life but you are not one of them.”

That was the only validation you needed. You kissed him again, more lust, more passion, than before as Daniel stood up, carrying you towards the bed at the back of the room. He dropped you down on the edge of it, smiling at the squeal that escaped your lips.

Daniel wanted to worship you every way he could. He was gentle with you, with your body, as he dipped his head between your thighs, making you feel a wave of euphoria that no one had ever brought you too before. 

It wasn’t until you were begging for more did Daniel realise he didn’t need to be gentle the entire night. He slid two fingers past your folds, lifting his head and hovering his body over yours, wanting to feel your desperate breaths hit his face as he rapidly thrusted his digits in and out of you, your walls clenching around him.

When he attached his lips to that spot on your neck, his teeth pressing against your skin, you saw stars. Daniel’s motions didn’t let up as you came around his fingers, loving the way your legs shook and how you dragged your hand through the hair on the back of his head.

He was cautious about doing anything else, knowing you were injured, he didn’t want to overstimulate you or cause any more pain. 

But you needed him. You reached for the zipper of his pants and tugged it down, telling Daniel you wanted this, as if the way you looked up at him didn’t already make that perfectly clear. 

He was careful when he entered you, patient. The tip of his cock slid past your folds slowly and he kissed your collarbone so gently you almost didn’t feel it as you adjusted to his size, quiet moans emitting from the back of your throat. 

He had praised you before, but only ever at the race track, so there was something so familiar yet so foreign about the way he whispered against your skin. It lit a fire within you.

“You take me so well, sweets,” he fought back a groan as your walls tightened around him when you clenched your legs. “So good for me.”

It was safe to say the dynamic between you two changed after that night. 

Daniel adored you already, admired you greatly for your achievements and growth in the sport. But now he fought with himself every weekend, knowing that he couldn’t touch you how he wanted. He couldn’t show you the attention he so desperately wanted. He couldn’t kiss you when you got that podium in Belgium, despite finding a way to sneak out of the pre-race duties for a second to run to the barrier to be there for you with the rest of the Prema team. 

Whatever was going on between you, it was unlabelled and it was private. The rest of the world didn’t need to know you were sleeping with the man you looked up to, the one who helped you become a great athlete in such a short period of time. 

People continued to speculate. You were private, sure, but you weren’t overly careful. 

You were seen landing in Monaco over the summer. You were spotted hanging out with Daniel on plenty of occasions. Even though you kept your hands off of each other and refused to act like anything more than friends out in public, you were different when you returned after the break. You both were. Everyone noticed. 

Daniel was, if it was even possible, happier. And you were less stressed it seemed. While you were still fighting a constant battle of being the only female in F2, it no longer seemed as heavy because the weight of it wasn’t just on your shoulders anymore. Daniel was there too. 

It wasn’t just physical, what you had. The emotional connection you shared was undeniable. Daniel was always there for you, and you, him. During the bad days, the good ones, and everyday in between. 

When you finished the season 5th in the drivers championship, the only person you wanted to celebrate with was Daniel. He was so proud of you. He watched you go from finishing 13th last year to 5th. He played a huge part in that, but when you tried to tell him that, he only brushed it off, saying that it was all you, he was just happy to be there for the ride. 

It was his idea for you to test drive for McLaren at the end of the year, too. ‘We’ll get you in a real F1 car’ he said. And you didn’t question it when the offer was brought forward to participate in a few practice sessions. It was exhilarating and terrifying and you cried tears of joy when you stepped out of his car because this was what you dreamed of. Driving a Formula 1 car. 

Now you just needed a permanent seat and Daniel wanted that for you too. He was your biggest supporter, and you only grew closer as the days went on.

You met his family over the holidays. He spent New Years Eve in London with you. 

When the season started again, he spent more time with you and Prema. When there were no scheduled F2 races during F1 weekends, you accompanied him in the McLaren garage. 

At this point, quite a few people knew you were together, or at least they assumed it.

You didn’t post about it, you didn’t want to, you didn’t need to. Daniel didn’t need to show you off, nor did you feel obligated to let everyone know you were with him. What you had was private, it was sacred, it was only for the two of you. 

But of course whenever you had a good performance, whether it be from a practice session, qualifying or a race, he’d share your celebration picture to his Instagram story. 

“Would you ever do a shoey?” Daniel asked you one Tuesday night, zooming in on a photo of you, more specifically on the smile on your face as you clenched your second place trophy from Imola on Sunday. 

You rolled your eyes but the smile was impossible to hide as he came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, tugging you into his chest. 

“Next time you win,” Daniel suggested with a laugh. “I expect a shoey.”

“I’m not Australian.”

“You’re dating one, sweets.”

You never actually discussed what you were. The term boyfriend-girlfriend seemed so childish. Dating was, in a sense, accurate, but again, there were no labels. He had your heart, you had his. That was the only thing that mattered. 

“The world doesn’t know that,” you pointed out. 

“They kind of do,” Daniel kissed your cheek, giving your side a squeeze as he stepped aside to help you prepare dinner. 

You weren’t even sure when you fell into such a domestic lifestyle but there you were, practically moved into Daniel’s place in Monaco at this point  and he was at your side, chopping carrots for the salad while you prepared the chicken breasts. 

“A shoey would confirm it,” you glanced up at him, but the smile on his face told you he wasn’t completely against the idea. 

Daniel stepped behind you, fingers playfully pinching your waist, “Just think about it. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I just reckon it would be entertaining for everyone.”

He didn’t bring it up again, not even when you got third in Spain and didn’t do it. It was your first time getting a back to back podium since you started racing and of course it was something to celebrate, but the idea of a shoey made your stomach churn. You weren’t sure if you were ready for the world to know about your commitment to Daniel. 

You walked a thin line, being with him. And while you enjoyed every possible minute spent with him, you knew the world was cruel. The second you officially went public, you’d lose respect in the motorsport industry. 

The only female F2 driver dating an F1 driver? How scandalous.

Despite the rumours, the correct rumours, you were still in a bubble with him. You could pretend you were just friends, close friends. The tabloids had nothing to go off except your polite interactions and maybe a little too friendly smiles and so what if you were there in the McLaren garage cheering him on? 

You were his biggest supporter and he was yours.

But it didn’t help that while your performance was improving, his was rapidly declining. While you had less races than his, already your stats were better. You qualified in the top 5 for the first three races. You finished second in Imola, third in Spain, already better than how you started the season last year.

Monaco was next. Daniel loved Monaco, you both did. Everyone did, it was the pinnacle of Formula 1. 

It was unfortunate that your weekends ended up so drastically different. 

Daniel qualified 14th and then finished 13th. He wasn’t proud of it, but he did his best to hide his disappointment for you, especially since you were starting on the front row, P2, for the feature race. 

And somehow, you won. 

After trailing behind Drugovich for the majority of the race, you were starting to believe you would finish behind him too. And you probably would have, had there not been a safety car almost six laps after he boxed for fresh tyres, giving you the advantage of newer tyres and less wasted time. It was a strategy your team was banking on, waiting for a safety car. It was risky, but it paid off. Overtaking was nearly impossible with Formula 1 cars, but you had a better chance in your series and somehow, by the grace of god, you did it. You pulled ahead and swiped the lead from Felipe. 

You made history that weekend. The first female F2 driver to not only podium, but to win at Monaco. You gripped that first place trophy so tight your hand turned red. 

Usually, F2 didn’t draw nearly as big of a crowd, but this weekend was different. Everyone was a fan of the series after that performance, a fan of you. You saw people in the crowd wearing Red Bull gear, Ferrari merch, McLaren hats, and they were all applauding you. 

Of course, you were blown away by the support. Hearing your national anthem play was an incredible sound. There were tears in your eyes and your entire body was trembling, yet somehow you managed to find Daniel. Right in front, with your team. 

He was so proud of you. 

Despite his shitty qualifying, despite knowing he had such a low shot at earning points at his race that was in just under an hour, he was there for you. You couldn’t tell if he was cheering the loudest, or if you were just so prone to finding him in a crowd that you couldn’t process anything or anyone else. 

You weren’t sure what came over you, but once you grabbed the champagne bottle, you found yourself taking your shoe off as well. As Felipe and Théo started spraying their bottles in celebration, you poured the bubbly liquid into the sole of your racing shoe and lifted it up to your lips, pointing directly at Daniel who couldn’t believe what he was watching. 

It was rancid, as you figured it would. It was champagne out of a sweaty shoe, you knew it wouldn’t taste good, but it was a shoey and it was for Daniel. Felipe patted your back, laughing at your reaction and muttering something about how Daniel would get a kick out of that. 

He was right, but Daniel wasn’t the only one who found it entertaining. 

Your name was once again trending following the Monaco Grand Prix. Not Checo’s, even though he won the F1 race. Your name. 

Not that you really cared that night. How could you care about what the internet was saying when the man you were with told you that he loved you for the first time? Nothing online mattered, not when Daniel took your face in his hands and told you he was madly in love with you. He was proud, he was happy, he was in love. 

And you knew you loved him too. You had known this for a while. Monaco was just the perfect time to say it. 

After going about as public as you could without physically coming out and saying you were dating the Australian driver, Monaco was the perfect place to tell him you loved him. You were on cloud 9, you were making history, you were in love. 

You continued to deny, or at least ignore, the rumours that followed, still. You both did. You were in love with each other, not the whole world. Things would get complicated if you announced you were dating. You were vying for a Formula 1 seat and you wanted it without Daniels’ influence. 

But at the following race in Baku you were asked similar questions. 

“Your shoey last week, did that have anything to do with Daniel Ricciardo being there to cheer you on? You two have gotten pretty close in the last few months, he’s one of your mentors, isn’t he?” 

You shifted your weight to one leg, wondering what the fuck kind of post-qualifying question that was. You had just completed three back to back podiums, you were on a hot streak now, starting third at this next race and the reporter only cared about what happened at the podium celebration last weekend.

“Sorry, did you have a question about this week's race?” You asked, and when he stammered over his words, you just nodded and walked away, a tight smile on your face. 

Daniel’s conversation went a bit differently. 

“Y/N’s shoey last week, we all saw it. Was that your influence?”

“Yeah I never thought she’d actually do it, it was sweet,” Daniel laughed. “It was great though, I happily pass the tradition onto her.”

“She’s really come along in Formula 2 since she started back in 2020, do you think she has what it takes to be Formula 1’s first full-time female driver?”

“Absolutely,” there wasn’t a shred of doubt or hesitation. He was happy to talk about you, to explain to the rest of the world why you were up and coming and should be taken seriously as a real contender for a Formula 1 seat. He probably would have continued on if his PR rep hadn’t pulled him away, reminding him of other duties.

The next few races were similar to your first ones. A couple more podiums, some outstanding qualifying sessions, more history being made. Your phone was blowing up weekly, everybody wanted to talk to you now and you knew Daniel had something to do with it. Him constantly sharing the faith he had in you did wonders for your reputation. 

You might have been on top of the world, but you were well aware you were alone up there.

Daniels’ performances were anything but newsworthy. He had gotten a few points in Austria and France, but nothing to be extremely proud of, especially when he compared his 9th place finish at the Red Bull Ring to your first place podium, making it your second one this season. 

He never let his disappointment for himself and McLaren stand in the way of your achievements. In fact, you didn’t often speak about the races when you were together. You were aware Daniel was having issues with the team, with Zak, with the car, but he didn’t want to weigh you down with his own problems, even though you assured him time and time again you could handle it. 

Really, if Daniel had come to you with his struggles, you would have thought twice when Zak Brown approached you prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix. You probably would have slammed the door to your drivers room in his face if you knew how Daniel was being treated at McLaren. 

But Daniel held his cards close to his chest while Zak laid his all out on the table.

“If a spot opened up for you,” he said, after spending the last ten minutes talking about the rich history of the team and praising your accolades. “Would you consider it?”

It wasn’t an official contract, just the start of a conversation that could lead to one.

Of course you thought of Daniel. And Lando, having grown close with him simply through Daniel. 

“For 2024?” You asked, knowing both of them were set to continue driving through to at least the end of 2023. 

“No,” Zak shook his head. You didn’t like how harsh his tone had turned, having no remorse for what he was about to say. “Daniel’s contract would be ending early.”

You leaned back in your chair, fingers tapping the table as you tried to recall Daniel ever telling you that he was leaving McLaren. “Is he- he wants out?”

“It’s mutual,” Zak assured you. “He knows we can’t give him the car he wants and unfortunately, he’s not delivering what we need. We had high hopes with Daniel, but the working relationship isn’t what any of us thought it would be.”

It’s mutual. Those two words was all it took to convince you that Zak Brown and Daniel had already had a conversation about this, about terminating the contract a year early. 

It didn’t help that Zak brought up your test sessions in the McLaren from last year, pointing out that you had better times than Lando, even. He went on to praise what you were doing this year at Prema and said, multiple times, that you would be an asset to McLaren should you choose to go that route.

And who were you to turn that down?

A team principal of a Formula 1 team wanted to sign you. Was it unfortunate that it was Daniel’s seat? Yes, obviously this situation was less than ideal, but he wanted out. You were convinced he wanted out, that he was done with McLaren. A 45 minute conversation with Zak Brown convinced you of that.

You should have been wary when at the end of the conversation he said, “Don’t tell anyone about this, yet. You know how the public can be, let’s just keep this to ourselves for the meantime.”

“But I can talk to Dan, right?” You asked. 

Zak knew you were dating Daniel, it was a little harder to hide that from his team than it was the rest of the world. Maybe that’s why hesitated before answering, knowing that keeping a secret, something as big as this, from a partner had the potential to cause chaos.

But he shook his head, “Between us, yeah?”

And you listened to him. You wanted that Formula 1 seat so of course you followed orders. 

You desperately wanted to talk to Daniel about it, but you knew you couldn’t. And either he sensed that something was off, or he was dealing with his own problems again and wouldn’t share, you really couldn’t tell when the summer break started and things just seemed…different. 

You didn’t go to Monaco for starters, even though Daniel invited you to. But there were so many meetings with Zak and the board at McLaren that it made more sense for you to stay in London for the start of the break. 

Daniel didn’t call as often and you wanted to give him space, knowing that this break was probably needed for him. You expected he was out with friends, letting loose, getting the weight of a horrible season off his back even if just temporarily. 

The plan was to go to Monaco for the last week and a half and then travel to Belgium together. You had to delay that plan, however, when Zak called you and said it was official.

The 2023 seat was yours. 

You wanted to celebrate, with Daniel, but how could you celebrate with the person you were replacing?

It was strange that Daniel had said nothing to you about leaving the team during the summer break, especially since Zak had said time and time again they were on the same page, that Daniel was ready to leave. The only thing that crossed your mind was he was given strict instructions to not say anything to anyone either, at least until McLaren went public with the news. 

But with it being official, with you having just signed on the dotted line, you were tired of keeping it to yourself. You may not have been able to share the news with anyone else, but you had a right to have a conversation with Daniel about it.

You didn’t know how he would react. Surely he’d be happy for you, right? You were getting a seat in Formula 1, something that both of you desperately wanted to happen. And again, you were under the impression the departure from McLaren was mutual. He would be happy that someone he loved was taking his seat, right?

Right?

You had to tell yourself that the entire ride over to his place. You unlocked the front door to his building and took the elevator up to the fourth level. You didn’t think to knock, knowing he never locked it when he was home so you pushed open the door and stepped in, your suitcase trailing behind you.

You were happy to see him. He was always a breath of fresh air, despite the odd distance between you, you still loved him. You always would. He muted whatever was playing on the screen and stood up from the couch when he heard you walk in.

Usually, Daniel would greet you with a kiss.

Usually, he’d be smiling so hard his jaw would be hurting.

Usually, he was happy to see you.

You left the suitcase by the door and met him halfway, only he stopped walking when there was about a foot of space between your bodies. To you, it felt like you were still miles apart.

“Do you have something you want to tell me?” He asked, arms crossed over his chest. 

Your heart sank. 

You had convinced yourself, Zak had convinced you, the whole back of house team had convinced you, that Daniel was aware of this upcoming change. That the termination was mutual. You taking his seat might have been a surprise, but it was never supposed to be a blindside.

“What do you know?” you asked. 

“What do you know?” Daniel repeated the question back to you.

You were both fully aware of the exact same information. Daniel was leaving. You were taking his seat. Only, you had been informed this much earlier than he had.

“What was I supposed to do?” 

“Not take the seat,” he scoffed. “My god, I mean, they’re cutting my contract early, Y/N. For you.”

“For the sake of the team,” you said and then added, “You don’t even like McLaren. You’ve struggled with this team since day one.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to stop racing.”

“McLaren is not the team for you and you know this.”

Daniel scoffed, eyebrows twitching, “Did Zak tell you to say that?”

“Zak-” you started, finding it difficult to hold his stare. This wasn’t the Daniel you knew. “-he doesn’t know I’m here. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to talk to you or anyone about it, not until your announcement comes out.”

He rubbed his hands over his face, taking a few steps away from you. It hurt, watching as he tried to physically distance himself from you. Like being in too close of proximity would set him off.

“I struggled with the team, yes, but I’m not ready to give up racing. You have now left me without a seat.”

It was easy for Daniel to blame you, you were standing right in front of him. You were quite literally the driver set to replace him.

But the real villain was Zak, for not having opened up this line of communication earlier. For making you believe everyone was on the same page. It was Zak’s fault for rushing to end the contract with Daniel instead of putting in the effort to work with him. He saw the shiny new toy that was you, that Daniel helped create, and he wasn’t going to let someone else take it first.

Daniel wanted to blame himself too, but he wouldn’t let himself think about that until much later. He was the one who did everything he could to help you grow in this sport. He was the one who introduced you to Zak and the rest of the McLaren team. He was the one who got you in the car for the practice sessions, his car. Foreshadowing at its finest.

“You are unbelievable,” Daniel spoke quietly, heated with anger but his words were like ice as they sunk deep into you. “After everything I’ve done to help you for you to betray me like this, I just- I don’t think-”

You knew where this was going and you wanted to put a pin in it before he could finish any of his thoughts.

“Don’t finish that sentence, Daniel,” you whispered. “Please. Please, we can figure something out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” his mind was made up. “You took my seat.”

“Wouldn’t you rather it me than someone you don’t know? Someone you don’t trust?” You tried to turn this around, have him look at the positives, if there were any. “Daniel, everyone on the grid loves you, you’ll find a new team. One that helps you grow and get to where you want. McLaren isn’t that, we both know it.”

“I think you should go,” was his only response. 

“If I hadn’t signed that contact, someone else would have,” you pointed out, grasping at straws here, painfully honest straws, but straws nonetheless. “Piastri, O’Ward…McLaren had options, Dan. Aren’t you at least happy for me that I out-qualified all of those guys?”

Daniel actually laughed, “You want me to be happy for you? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Dan-”

“Leave.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“You need to,” he was stern. He was angry. He was done. With you, with the team, with everything he used to love and cherish. He was done. 

You thought you knew Daniel. You thought you knew how this conversation would play out. You figured it would still be rocky, but god you now realised how naive you were to believe you could still make things work. 

“I love you,” you told him, because what else could you say except remind him that you were so hopelessly in love with him, that he was all you would ever want in life. 

Except, that wasn’t exactly true, was it?

You wanted a seat in Formula 1 too. You just never thought you’d have to sacrifice one dream for the other. 

Daniel’s stare was cold. He only looked away for a second to nod his head towards the door behind you, “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have done this.”

You stepped forward, desperate at this point because how could he do this? How could he throw away what you had, over a seat?

Or was it you, who had ultimately thrown away what you had when you sat down with Zak Brown all those weeks ago?

It pained you to think about the strong possibility of that being the case.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, because you were. You were sorry about how this turned out, how he was betrayed, how this was coming to an end. You grabbed hold of your suitcase and nodded, backing up towards the door, “I really am sorry, Dan.”

He didn’t believe you. Why would he? In his eyes, Formula 1 was more important to you than he was. A career decision that benefited you, but ruined him, mattered more than your relationship. It was a bold move, a cold move, one that you didn’t think would lead to this.

Neither of you could have predicted this. On September 3rd, 2020, when Daniel first said he wanted to work with you, neither of you thought it would end like this.

Just as you grabbed the handle of the door, Daniel opened his mouth, wanting to get the final word in. And you really wished he hadn’t because those final words destroyed you. 

“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, but I never thought you would turn out to be one of them.”

You said nothing. You walked out of that Monaco flat with your head low and your heart even lower. You couldn’t even be excited about the next season, or the remainder of this one where you had the potential to finish in the top three. 

You weren't happy, you were empty, you were defeated. And painfully so, you were also still in love.

Despite what was said, you knew it would take a while to get over Daniel. He was your rock for so long, he was always there for you and even though he could disappear without so much as a second thought, your feelings couldn’t, the memories couldn’t. It would take a long time until you felt whole again.

You didn’t know it yet, but the decision to take that McLaren seat would haunt you as you moved forward in your career. 

This was not going to be the last time you ever saw Daniel. 

part 2 haunted

[fuzzylichu]

saw your f1 driver prompt list can you make one with "can we get married already" ft. your choice from logan/mick/oscar (yes i love prema) please i love your posts

Only about love.

Mick Schumacher x reader

Walking into your shared home after a long month, he was greeted by Angie. "Guess who's back!" He yelled as he chuckled.

"hm.. German accent? is it Seb?" You yelled back from the kitchen jokingly. You opened the oven letting smell of the freshly baked cake rush out. After taking the cake out, you run to find Mick and pounce on him.

"holy crap! You scared me" he hugged you tight "I missed you so much Mick"

"aww me too" you could feel his smile lighting up even brighter. "Are you baking something?" He said in excitement. "I made banana bread for us" you said giggling."it smells so nice" he cupped your jaw and looked at you.

He pecks your lips a few times before going in with his toungue. After a few hot minutes you stop and giggle. "Let's do this later, we haven't seen eachother in ages"

"you want to go to lake?" He took of his hoodie.

"sure I'll go and change then"

"no need, let's go" he pulled you up and dragged you to the lake.

"seriously Mick? Skinny dipping?" you said, Blushing.

"what's wrong? We used to do it all of the time, and no one's going to see us anyways" he tugged on the waist line of your pants. You pout at him and unzip your pants.

__

You two undress and chat.

It starts getting more. Intamate. You somehow end up being held by him. You had your arms around his neck and he held you by the thighs. "I missed this." He let out a deep breath.

"me too"

"you know"

"mhm?"

"let's just get married already" he laughed. " I realized, I really can't live without you Schatz" he hugged you tight.

At perfect timing, Angie comes running out, hyper and full of energy. "We should go back inside, it's getting cold." He said getting up slowly. Everything felt like a dream. The Schumacher mansion, your boyfriend being a formula one driver, and him just indirectly proposing to you.

__

"I was thinking, how about Greece?"

A/n: I'm so sorry all the commissions are taking so long 🥲 I had problems and I'm going through them now so dw

[russilton]

sometimes i get a bit annoyed by people saying "they are all nepo babies" when people try to criticise this issue in f1 (to be fair a lot of it isn't productive or just mean spirited) when lewis and esteban and their families had to work their way up from the very bottom. no they aren't ALL nepo babies and even if they were, it still isn't a good thing.

or even when people say "lawrence stroll's only being a loving father" when there are literally drivers like george on the current grid who had been snubbed in the past and almost lost it all because of him. like okay fine he loves his son but stop pretending its some great and noble act when he has hurt so many people.

You and I are very similar anon, every now and then I hold in complaining about this for too long and end up getting very grumpy about it. Just last night poor @jamesvowles got this text and then I ranted about this exact topic

I also get very rankled by ‘theyre all nepo babies so you can’t critique mine’. One- I sure as hell can, and I will rightfully critique all of the ways they were given privileged access to a sport. Two —There are also different levels of privilege— things like Carlos and Checo and Mick having parental connections that helped them get a seat are the definition of nepotism- but are still less than Lando’s dad buying his seat (while he did still preform fairly well in f2), or Lances dad buying an entire team for him.

And then theres the fact that some drivers got very very lucky to get access to support from outside funding- they had to get it on their talent providing them opportunities for connections and without it, they would’ve had to stop racing entirely. Lewis, George, Esteban, questionably Alex, and I’m sure theres several others I haven’t done the appropriate research on to site all had this. Lewis getting support from Ron Dennis, George getting support from Toto- these are privileged connections that allowed them to get to F1. They deserved that help, their parents gave everything to get them to that point.

What annoys me a bit about ‘theyre all nepo babies’ and ‘lance’s only crime is having a loving father’ is… those other drivers had loving parents too. Lewis’ dad working something like four jobs so they could afford his karting, George’s dad selling his small business and working two jobs and night shifts for George’s, Esteban’s family selling their home for him— I have opinions about how f1 pushes children and families to chase possible bankrupting and questionable parenting for the chance at being millionaires on the backs of young, young kids.. but you cant argue their parents didn’t fucking love them when they were sacrificing everything in their lives for their son to have a chance at their dreams.

The argument isn’t ‘lance’s dad shouldn’t have supported his children’s dreams’ its that these drivers with connected parents didn’t have to jump through extra hoops to get to f1, they had it paved for them, and the money they brought with them keeps them in their seats, while other drivers didn’t have that, and had their performance dropped, they would have been dropped too. They didnt get a chance to rest or make mistakes or risk losing a sponsor. The argument also isn’t ‘nepo babies can never be wdc’s’. Whether I like it or not, Max’s 3 questionable wdc’s amount to at least one total, your parents dont denote your talent. The problem arises when those parents directly hinder or harm the careers of other drivers in order to push their kid forward. Stuff like Esteban being kicked from racing point to give lance a seat forcing him to go a year without one, or George being kicked from PREMA with very little warning at a time he’s talked about desperately struggling with funding.

Those parents should not have had the opportunity to do that, it shouldn’t have ever happened. But where people get actually upset is when the fans of drivers who get that help don’t acknowledge that privilege, or the drivers themselves (like lando in particular) don’t acknowledge the privileges they’ve been afforded. Stomping your feet and going ‘you’re just mad you didn’t get that’ never diffuses a thing. I, and George himself even, have both said that even as a poorer driver, he got more opportunities as a white man than someone else would have. Both George and Lewis talk about how because they were men they had less to fight against than a female driver. Acknowledging your own benefits kinda kills the resentment you could hold against them for getting that help. Nobody should be expecting 24/7 grovelling realistically, but a mention every now and then would be nice, or just understanding those reasons are valid reasons not to like a driver. I can argue all I want that George doesn’t have a posh accent.. but for some people him being British is too much of a reason not to like him, and thats fine. On god, more George and Lewis left for me.

Yes this is the millionaire tax evader sport. Yes they could still be doing more to better the chances for less privileged drivers. Yes they are racing in countries with horrible human rights records with so little complaint… but ‘everything is fucked so what’s the point’ is a nihilist way of thinking, where as I would rather point at drivers like Lewis and George and going ‘if they can do it, so should you.’ Because that incremental change is what will lead us to a better over all

I am- MORE than sure there are nuances to this discussion I’m not covering here in my very subjective personal opinion on the matter at 11 am on a Monday morning, but rambling about it made me feel lighter and more chill about the whole thing, so I don’t really regret doing it, lol. This isnt a call for action, just a longwinded whinge. I’m British, I think everyone should have a whinge every now and then and they’ll be a lot happier.

[dear-ao3]

good morning, good evening, and good day. welcome back. outs our second race of the triple header and we are in austria at red bull ring. its a sprint weekend. and everyones haters are in absolute shambles. shit is heating the hell up at the front of the grid. today is july 2, 2024 and lets get right on in

first of all. rude of them to throw a sprint smack in the middle of a triple header weekend. i already have enough things to write about. im going to try not to speed run it and do a proper update though cause oh god this weekend needs it. but regardless.

we start with everyones favorite poor little meow meow, logan sargeant.

now, i didnt include this bit on the last update. but logan aparently did say at the barcelona race that he was going to score points in barcelona next year. which is Intriguing. because as we know, hes not really performing.

admittedly yes hes been dealt a bad hand of cars this season (if you remember all the problems williams had at the beginning with the overheating and the steering wheel and then alex albon raced his car and then he was in alex's chassis that wasnt totally speced to him and then he had old parts and wasnt given the updates and kevin magnussen crashed into him and he finally, finally got the same parts but they didnt work As Well as alex's and yeah. bad time for him overall.) alex albon said in some interview, actually, that logan is actually doing a good job, which is nice to hear especially because the press have been absolutely destroying him. reguardless. we have some logan news.

first and foremost. there are rumors afoot that he is going to go to indycar next year. which is another racing series. specifically that hes going to race with prema in indycar. (i dont know a lot about indycar at all other than that its racing)

now. this all became all the more interesting when logan announced the launch of his own app at the beginning of the week.

now. few things to note here.

the app is called LS2 (two being his f1 number)

its in the williams colors

as someone pointed out on twitter (@ mo_vroom), the app is run by fan capital which is a subsidiary of williams/dorilton. meaning the company (not his brand) is tied to williams

this raises several questions.

first, if logan is moving to indycar he wouldn't be keeping his f1 number, so why did he center the whole branding around specifically LS2 if hes leaving f1? second, the app is in williams colors and is tied to a williams brand. austria is race 11/24. were nearly half done with the season. why go through all the trouble of creating an app for a driver that is centered around his f1 and team branding if hes in fact leaving f1 at the end of the season????

all good questions and unfortunately i have no answers for you. logan did say thought that he is exploring options in and outside of f1 at the moment though

but, we do have contract news.

pierre gasley has re signed with alpine on a multi year deal.

and to the surprise of no one, lance stroll has also re signed with aston martin.

so, there is now one more seat open at alpine for jack doohan and mick schumacher and maybe even carlos sainz to fight out. aparently flavio briatore (who we talked about last week) is interested in carlos. but carlos said during the press conference that the middle of a triple header is a bad time to make a contract decision, especially when it seems like he really doesnt know where hes going. aparently, netflix had a whole extra crew in the paddock on top of the drive to survive crew because they were told that there was going to be na announcement that carlos was going to williams. this obviously did not happen and many people were aparently confused. this is reportedly because flavio is at alpine now and he must have said Something to make carlos reconsider.

theres also rumors about the alpine engine supplier. they might break away from renault. pierre has stayed neutral on it.

the max to mercedes rumors are also back and they are back with an absolute vengeance, mostly because jos verstappen has been talking to the press again.

aparently, jos was going to drive an older red bull, the RB8 at the legends parade event thing in spielberg but he withdrew because according to him (jos) "i heard from several sources that christian horner did everything he could to not let me drive. then i thought: say it to my face. i find it very disappointing." in a separate interview he also said "im completely finished with horner, its like a kindergarten here."

jos then came out and told the press "there is so much going on, so i dont want to say too much about it."

the press then clarified "so a switch to mercedes is not out of the question?"

"correct" said jos.

max is terribly not impressed with all of this. "its not fun," he said. "not for myself, not for my father, not for Christian and not for the team. you dont want these things to happen."

christian also put in his two cents on the Mercedes rumors saying that "the driver who has created all the movement in the market (lewis) had all the information about the engines and 2026 regulations and chose to leave mercedes." meaning max would be insane to go there.

christian also said, "if toto wants to have a verstappen in the car next year, then jos might be available"

toto, unsurprisingly, also had things to say. "horner said that he will stay. lets see, he leave him with this idea...we'll see if the w15 will be a car that can convince max. i think its max who wins the races and not red bull. the rb20 is solid, but perez isn't doing well. its max who makes all the difference."

max though has squashed the rumors of him going to mercedes saying that "we're working on next years car and the thing is that when you are very focused on that, it means that you are driving for that team."

so it seems that max is staying at red bull, but tensions are still high. remember this later :)

kimi still seems likely for mercedes, though lots of people think thats insane because just cause max came into f1 young and succeeded doesnt mean that everyone will. i think ive talked about this tho

and then we also had helmut marko once again being insane and self contradicting in the press.

first, he said that liam lawson is going to sign with vcarb "soon" which we've heard several times now. aparently the shareholders have said that "this is a junior team and we have to act accordingly." marko also said that "The aim was for him [daniel] to be considered for Red Bull Racing with exceptional performances. This seat now belongs to sergio perez, so this plan is no longer valid. we will soon have to put a young driver there [at Racing Bulls]. That would be Liam Lawson.”

the bit about daniel is interesting because it sparked some speculation that daniel might night even be finishing the season at vcarb. will buxton said as much during the race weekend. this weekend was daniels 250th race start. but also, helmut is not to be trusted, as we know. and as evidenced by what he also said below

then he later came out and said that liam would join audi as daniel would be staying at vcarb until 2025. daniel has also said that he has no other options for 2025 other than vcarb

meanwhile, zhou has said that if there is not an open seat for him in 25, he is happy to become a reserve driver because “I think to be a reserve driver would be interesting if they can promise a seat is available for the coming seasons."

i think that that about does it for the contract talk.

so here are the open seats as they stand:

red bull: 0 ferrari: 0 mclaren: 0 mercedes: 1 aston: 0 alpine: 1 sauber: 1 williams: 1 vcarb: 1 haas: 2

moving on. the shenanigans of the week

the first two are actually from last week cause im decently sure i forgot about them. if not i apologize you had to read this twice.

so, last week:

the schumacher family was blackmailed by some criminals saying that they would release sensitive information if they did not pay the criminals 50 million euros . michael schumacher as you may or may not know was involved in a skiing accident in 2013 (14?) and is still alive but the family have chosen to keep any further information about his condition to themselves and out of the spotlight (which is respectable) and for the most part people have respected this, until now. the criminals were aparently caught and arrested.

and second some fans started a petition that leo leclerc (charles dog) is not receiving proper care from charles and his girlfriend alexandra. frankly, idk what the purpose of this was. i think people were concerned that he was only being used for pr reasons? aparently alexandra responded and was annoyed about the whole thing.

but back to this week

first up we have mark webber. who the hell is mark webber? he is an ex formula 1 driver, he was on the grid from 2002 - 2013 and raced for minardi, jaguar, williams (where he was nico rosberg's teammate and was the one to start calling him britney (98% sure) and red bull (where he was terrorized by young sebastian vettel winning his world championships). hes a self proclaimed "proud heterosexual," world endurance championship winner, and oscar pastry's manager.

so george russell posted this video on his instagram

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its of him, his girlfriend carmen and his trainer aleix working out. and low and behold, who commented on this but mark webber:

first, yes, that is his real account handle and yes, he did call carmen a bride. carmen and george have been dating for i think five years, but they are not engaged. so at first everyone was like. hello. mark webber? are you announcing george's engagement????

but no. turns out bride means girl/girlfriend or something along those lines in australian slang (im not australian and i cant find the actual definition anywhere so either correct me or just take my word for it) (actually update on this, i asked my tumblr following what the hell he meant and y'all said that bride just means bride in australian. so idk what the hell mark was talking about, what the hell sir)

this is not the first time mark webber has left cryptic comments on people's instagrams though. just earlier this month he left this one on jenson button's instagram:

whatever that means.

anyway, speaking of george (discussion of food and dieting and that stuff ahead if you dont want to read it skip to the next colored heading) i believe it was last race that george's race engineer told him that he had gotten heavier and george in response aparently made his diet a little more strict. drivers as you may or not know, have to stay at a certain weight in order to compete. george is tall, and taller drivers always suffer due to this because they are taller so naturally they weigh more. george was already on a stricter diet to begin with and hes already incredibly slim. this is also not the first time that stuff like this has happened at mercedes. in 2015/2016 nico rosberg did all kinds of crazy stuff in order to cut weight in order to beat lewis hamilton (cut the paint from his helmet, cut his socks, took bits off of his seat, stopped cycling to loose some muscle in his legs etc etc) though im decently sure he was the one to initiate that (?) and bottas also aparently faced similar things from the team itself when he was at merc and now george is as well. which is not great. at all. (all of the drivers have a trainer and then at least one additional person who does their nutrition and meals and stuff so they are still supervised in what theyre doing and get weighed pre and post race but still its not a great comment to make and it clearly had effects)

oscar piastri's mom nicole was back at it again on twitter

kevin magnussen and nico hulkenberg watched the euros together

mercedes posted more throwback pics of nico rosberg and toto talked about the time mercedes put their logo on the red bull bull at the red bull ring

logan and alex were menaces in the paddock with a ping pong ball

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someone from williams, fred vasseur and another person from williams (?) all raced to the track on either practice day or media day i think it was practice day and went too fast through a police speed trap and had to meet with police about it. james vowels talked about it in his usual unserious manner

and i cant find the source but aparently lewis called sebastian to ask him about his old race engineer, ricciardo, who lewis is aparently considering to make his race engineer when he moves to ferrari next year.

max was late to the press conference by quite a lot (15 minutes) and was aparently sprinting through the paddock to get there

logan was aparently called the "slowest driver" by an interviewer and said in response "thank you very much"

logans bad parking job from last week was also debunked. it was not logan who parked the car badly, it was alex and logan took the blame for it because david coulthard assumed that logan had done it.

and charles was talking about who he would form a band with in f1 (he said himself on the piano, lewis singing and lando on the guitar). when asked what the band should be called, carlos said "just an inchident"

alex albon continues to be insane on the team torque podcast, saying this week that if he had a tattoo it would be random like a duck making eggs or something. logan seemed concerned about him.

and lando is aparently still sick. he was kinda sick last week and it hasn't gotten better. he said that it is not hindering his ability to drive, he just doesnt feel great. i think he might ave actually said that it makes him drive better?

and with that. we're into sprint qualifying.

for the sake of the fact that the rest of this weekend is bonkers insane and i have a lot to cover, were going to keep the whole sprint brief. sorry. also not sorry.

so i didnt watch the practice session. sorry, i was at work. aparently max had a car problem, thought this theme isn't new cause he complains all weekend as of late and then pulls out a pole and a win.

this is also the shortest time length track on the calendar (meaning lap time not lap distance) which makes qualifying difficult due to traffic. despite this. everyone still wanted to step right on each others toes during qualifying.

and no one was more upset about this than ted kravitz, the pit lane commentator.

"the session starts! i'm all excited!" ted exclaimed over the radio. "ive geared myself up! im standing in my styrian wood bird watching hut at the end of the pit lane waiting to count them out. we've got a green light right in front of me. and then nothing! what am i gonna do? my julie andrews impression? give you a round of the hills they are alive with the sound of music? *singing* ah ah ah ah! anyway. well. nothing to do."

the cars did eventually come out.

mclaren had brought an upgrade to their front wing and suspension, which was unsual to do first in a triple header and second in a sprint, but they were confident. vcarb also had a "hodgepodge" of new and old parts on their car as they tried to sort out their upgrade problems from last week in spain.

two interesting things happened in q1. first, logan sargeant got out of q1 which is fantastic news and the second time hes done this during a sprint qualifying. alex albon, his teammate did not get out of q1. for the second time this season, logan out qualified alex.

second, yuki had an insane spin and then save right at the end of the session

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logan ended up out in q2 in p15. and both alpines got through to q3 yet again.

q3 was between both red bulls, mercs, ferraris, mclarens and alpines all battling for the top 10 spots. naturally the best way to go about this was to wait in the pit lane until the absolute last second to get out of the pit lane and hope that you have no problems and set one really flying very fast lap.

well at 3.5 minutes to go and still no cars out george russell said what everyone was saying: 'lets get cracking mate, everyones gonna send it out."

pretty immediately the mercs came out at the 3 minute mark, everyone else followed.

now. you have to do one whole lap (your our lap) before you can start your flying timed lap. as long as you finish your out lap before the end of the session, you can start your flying lap. ideal time for an out lap was one minute 30 seconds. and it was very tight for some people.

too tight for charles leclerc. heading out of the pits he had an engine problem and had to pull to the side, allowing checo and i believe the two alpines to go to the side as he tried to literally restart the car. he got it restarted but did not get to the line in time to start his flying lap. so he did not get to set a time and would start in 10th.

"what the hell happened guys?" charles asked over radio.

"we fixed (took?) the anti stall" the team said.

"uh, thank you but the anti stall kinda stopped the engine. the engine switched off, i dont know if you noticed. there was no engine. the ignition went to off. i had to redo the whole thing."

so charles was not pleased and it was seemingly yet another ferrari goof. it couldnt possibly get worse for them, could it? idk stay tuned.

the main thing we saw in qualifying though was that checo was pretty consistently half a second off of max's pace. which isn't fantastic. especially considering hes re signed a contract with them.

and so they lined up for the sprint the next day:

max on pole followed by lando and oscar. then george, carlos, lewis, checo, esteban, pierre, and charles rounded out the top ten. then we had kevin, lance, fernando, yuki, logan, daniel, nico, valtteri, zhou and alex started from the pit lane due to set up changes.

there was an aborted start at the beginning, meaning they did an extra formation lap and the race was reduced by one lap. this was due to photographers behind the barriers at turn 1 aparently.

right off the line the mclarens were fighting. well. sorta. not like fighting fighting like spain 2016 fighting, but definitely racing eachother. they kept swapping spots 2 and 3 back and forth and even were racing side by side at a few points.

this was fun to watch of course but as the announcers said "mclaren must hake sure they do not loose time fighting eachother" because they had to still get past max before he blew past everyone.

fortunately, max was only half a second ahead and the mclarens had drs.

lando managed to pass max on lap 5, but then max passed him back and while max was passing lando, oscar also managed to pass lando and take second. and oscar managed to stay within DRS range of max until lap 12.

and while that fight was happening, we also had a battle between the two alpines. they were not even fighting for points, they were down in 11 and 12 and going absolutely toe to toe. so much so that our friends the announcers said that "i hope we dont see any confetti made out of carbon fibre between these two." alas. we did not. yet.

back up at the front, oscar was being hard on his tires and lando was gaining on him. he wanted to make a lunge on him. but he already had two strikes for track limits and had to be careful so he didnt get a penalty. oscar stayed in the front and in the words of our friends the announcers "piastri seems to have found his mojo again."

back in the back, alex albon had somehow ended up in 18th and ahead of both sabers despite the fact that he had started in the pit lane. he had not managed to get ahead of logan though, who was in 17th.

and also, fernando alonso, who got shoved off the track by nico hulkenberg and ended in 16th, had not managed to find pace in the car once since he had resigned with the team. aston Martin was absolutely nowhere.

so the race ended. max, oscar, lando, george, carlos, lewis, charles, checo, kevin, lance, esteban, pierre, sui, nico, daniel, fernando, logan, alex, valtteri and zhou.

checo ended up finishing 18 seconds behind max. mclaren were five seconds behind max.

"that was spicy, but good," max said.

"a good race between us...can definitely give them a fight tomorrow" lando said

martin brundle also said to "give that boy a honey lemon drink or whatever" about lando when he got out of the car cause he looked a little more dead than usual

"will definitely take the points, its a good haul between us compared to the other teams." oscar said, ever the shade monster. he was of course talking about red bull, who only took 9 points between max and checo, whereas mclaren managed to take 13.

george also said in his own post interview that "norris and verstappen always get their elbows out. i'll sit back and watch."

i know were zooming but i promise you it will all be worth it. lets talk about real qualifying now. and again, we're speeding.

as we know, its a short track. i dont think if i said this already, but there are also a fuckton of gravel traps. meaning that if you go off the track you go into the gravel. this is to enforce track limits and also make things spicy.

there were also many many zooms on jos verstappen. hm.

q1 showed some disappointments. like when lewis put on a fresh set of soft tires and only managed to go 6th fastest when martin brundle rightfully pointed out that "on fresh tires lewis should be electric on this track....[this is] worrying on fresh tires."

another disappointment was checo down in 12th and just barely scraping through to q2, "on brand spanking new soft tires." again, worrying!!! especially with mclaren slowly closing on red bull in the championship.

and to no one's surprise, williams. they had changed around the set up of the car a little, but ultimately didnt have the pace because alex and logan were both out in q1.

"we did a good job with the car, we just dont have the pace," alex said.

"we know our limitation and this just isn't it, its such a shame man" logan said.

q2 also brought out more disappointments, like aston martin who managed to get both cars out in q2. "what is going on at satin martin?" martin wondered. "theyre the 8th fastest team, ahead of sauber and williams." yes. haas and alpine are both faster than aston.

and the french civil war continued because esteban got through to q3. pierre did not

and daniel missed out on q3 by .01 seconds

q3 started off pretty boring. but let's check in with the pit lane.

"ted! what had you got for us down in the pit lane?"

"I've got no cars."

eventually the cars did come out, and they didnt all wait until the last possible second this time.

continuing with our trend of disappointments, charles decided to take a trip into the grass for funzies. "i think i broke everything under the car," he said.

also oscar had his fastest lap time deleted for track limits. mclaren tried to appeal it because oscar didnt gain an advantage from it. but the appeal was rejected. had his lap not been deleted he would have started 3rd.

to no one's surprise, max was back on pole position. lando was four tenths behind him.

"been awhile since we've been on pole" max said jokingly in his interview. I think it's been 2 races since hes been on pole, lol.

"max is in a league of his own...ill take [second]" lando said in his post race interview. "i'll do a better job than i did this morning."

and george rounded out the top three. he was thrilled. "3 races in a row where we are in the top 3 with me and lewis," george said. though he didn't try to oversell the team, who still has a lot of ground to make up "our race will be behind us," he said. meaning that he would have work to do to keep people behind him.

and during all of this, yuki said a slur over the radio. it was r*****. the stewards took note of it and he recieved a 40,000 euro fine for it. however, upon it being explained to yuki what the word meant, he was apologetic and felt bad, saying that english is not his first language (its not, and hes also not fluent in english, he just speaks it, which is different. this is also not the first time that this has happened with yuki i think there was an instance when he called christian a motherfucker awhile ago cause he didnt know what it meant) and he offered to issue a public apology. this reduced his fine to 20,000 euros if he didnt do it again this season. this is not the first time that a driver has said a slur over the radio but i think that this was the first time they were held accountable for it.

so. the moment we've been waiting for. the race.

but first! a brief look into the recent past! it's relevant i swear!

lets look at the 2019 Austrian gp.

it was the final few laps of the race. charles leclerc was in his maiden year at ferrari and was hunting down his first race win, it seemed very possible,

it was lap 68. charles leclerc was leading the race and max verstappen attempted to pass him in turn 3. somehow charles was able to maintain the lead.

on lap 69 charles was not as lucky. he did not defend the inside line and max took advantage of that. he forced charles wide, almost shoving him off the track and they both banged wheels. fortunately there was no damage. unfortunately max was able to take the lead from charles and won the race. charles would not get his first f1 win until 4 races later in belgium.

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ultimately, max did not think that he had been at fault or done anything wrong at all in this incident. (remember, this was still in the years of mercedes dominance, max had no championship titles yet but was getting slowly closer and closer towards the top of the pack)

after the race max said:

-“It’s hard racing otherwise we have to stay home. If those things are not allowed in racing, what is the point of being in F1? "

-"I don’t think we should get a penalty for that. I never opened [the steering wheel] but the problem is that in that corner there is a crest, so when you then go a bit deeper at such a tight angle you just understeer because of that crest."

-"The car on the outside he has to wait a bit because we went quite deep. I never opened the steering wheel. I was in front. He just had to cut back on me but he tried to go around the outside which is not possible."

charles was not in agreement with any of this.

-“I’ll let the stewards decide but for me, it was pretty clear in the car. I don’t know how it looked like from the outside.”

-he was also asked if he thought what max did was fair and he said “I don’t know. I was on the outside, like the lap before, the lap before was completely fine, he left the space for a car width on the exit of the corner but he didn’t on the other lap so we touched and I had to go wide, and then obviously I didn’t have any chance to pass back so it’s a shame.”

the key thing here is leaving space. it comes up a lot. you are supposed to leave a cars width of space so that you dont force people off the track and/or they have room to pass.

max did not get a penalty.

this is also what caused charles and later max to unfollow eachother on instagram. they have not followed eachother back.

so with that in mind. lets also take a brief look at the 2021 abu dhabi gp.

this race was insane for many reasons, not all of which i will get into. but what you need to know is that it was the last race of the season and the title fight between max and lewis came down to this last race. lewis was fighting for a record breaking 8th world champion title. and max was fighting for his first. heading into the weekend they both had exactly 369.5 points.

and boy, was it an insane race.

max was on pole position, lewis started p2.

lewis immediately took the lead from max, but max attempted to regain the lead in turns 6 and 7. he braked late into the chicane and under the braking moved from the inside of the track to the outside of the track to overtake lewis. lewis got forced off slightly and said as much over the radio. he came back on track further in front of max than he had been before. red bull argued that lewis needed to give the position to max, saying that lewis left the track and gained an advantage. this did not happen as the stewards ruled there was no further action necessary. hamilton pushed ahead, still in p1, to extend his lead. max did not get a penalty.

max pitted on lap 13 and lewis pitted on lap 14. checo perez had pitted a few laps before and was out in front when lewis and max rejoined the circuit, with max still a considerable distance behind lewis. checo was told to hold up lewis as much as possible to give max time to catch up. by lap 20 max was only 1.3 seconds behind lewis (instead of the 11 that he had started at), though max was still unable to pass and lewis extended his lead again.

there were a series of crashes and retirements a few laps later, kimi raikkonen crashed into the barriers, george russell retired due to gear box issues and and antonio giovinazzi also retired due to gearbox issues. that caused a virtual safety car. red bull brought max in for fresh tires and did not lose track position. lewis was not brought in for fresh tires. the gap between max and lewis reduced from 17 seconds to 11 seconds.

then the chaos ensued.

a safety car came out on lap 53 due to nicholas latifi's crash. hamilton stayed out. max pitted for soft tires. checo retired under the safety car.

there were notably, five lapped cars (lando norris, fernando alonso, esteban ocon, charles leclerc and sebastian vettel) between lewis in first and max in second. there were other lapped cars further back in the pack. sometimes when this happens during a safety car, the lapped cars are allowed to overtake the safety car and go back to the back of the line to resume their order. they were initially told not to do this. then, the stewards said that only the five lapped cars between hamilton and verstappen could overtake the safety car. the rest of the cars had to stay lapped.

the safety car came in just as vettel unlapped himself for the final lap of the race.

this is where we get the very angry toto throwing his headphones picture from.

on the final lap of the race, max passed lewis at turn 5. lewis tried to overtake him again but ultimately failed.

max won his first championship title. lewis came second.

there are a lot of back and forth radios in this race between toto, lewis, max, christian and race control. both teams were literally trying to do everything to get their driver through to the lead, especially towards the end.

toto was understandably pissed about the lapped car call (if that had not happened lewis would have won) and tried to get race control to reinstate the order that was originally behind the safety car. in response, toto was told by race director michael masi (who called for the safety car unlapping) "toto, its called a motor race, ok? we went car racing."

there were a lot of protests from mercedes about the safety car procedure (all of the lapped cars should have been able to unlap or none of the cars should have unlapped is what they called for, basically because thats what's in the rules) and all of that which is interesting but unfortunately not relevant for what we are talking about. if you want to read about then, they are here. ultimately, mercedes was not successful in getting the result of the race turned over. many if not all of the drivers were in support of hamilton and thought that the safety car decision was ridiculous. michael masi ended up being forced to step down as race director and several changes were made to the rules because of this race. but ultimately, nothing was overturned and max won. this was the end of the mercedes era of dominance as the next year was the introduction of the cost cap and their car was absolutely shit.

now. with all of that said. lets get into the 2024 austrian gp

as im sure you might have already speculated. it was really something.

but it did not start out that way.

(as a very irrelevant aside i want you all to know that i am waiting to board a train right now and it is massively fucking delayed because of course it is so ive whipped out my laptop and my handwritten notes and hunkered down in the train station to bang this thing out. a bitch (me) is committed)

so. Importantly. this race can be won or lost in the pit lane. it's a 20-21 second pit normally, and drops to 10 with a safety car. remember this. its a surprise tool we will need later.

so right out of the gate in lap one charles and oscar had contact, causing charles to loose most of his front wing. charles had to pit and it was a stupidly long time he spent in the pit box (12.8 seconds). logan sargeant also pitted for some reason, i never figured out quite why. but charles came out in 18th and logan came out in 20th. upsetting on all accounts. this absolutely fucked charles's race as he was almost 40 seconds off the lead before lap 10

while that was happening, the mercs were fighting. well. sorta. george was running in 3rd and lewis was running in 4th. on lap 3 lewis passed george but then george passed him back. lewis complained over the radio that george was holding him up. they did not swap drivers.

then we had lando, pretty immediately, get fastest lap. he was 2 seconds behind max and hungry for redemption after the sprint race.

alex albon managed to pass charles leclerc. yes. alex albon in a williams, the second slowest car on the grid, managed to pass charles leclerc in a ferrari. it would appear the monaco curse is getting revenge on the fact that it didnt strike in monaco. martin brundle was beside himself. "this is not representative of the ferrari," he said.

anyway. we had both of the haas drivers pit on lap 11 to get out of a drs train that had been forming (remember its a short track, sometimes you have to pit to get out of traffic). immediately after exiting the pit lane, kevin started fighting with nico, who was right in front of him. they managed to pass eachtohter 2x in a lap. kevin was pretty instantly told to save his tires over the radio. he retaliated asking if nico had also been asked to save his tires or if it was just him. he was told that both of them were told this. "fuck that" kevin said.

by lap 17 max was in lapping distance of charles. charles came in to pit. this was his second pit stop already.

fernando shoved zhou off the track on lap 21, shoving his front wheel into zhou's back wheel. he later got a 10 second penalty for this. "what the fuck is he doing there?" zhou asked over radio. albon and ocon managed to get past zhou for 13th and 14th position.

lewis pitted on lap 22. he was right in front of oscar who snitched on him on radio. "i think hamilton crossed the white line on entry," oscar said. and he was right. lewis got a 5 second penalty for this.

carlos and george pitted on lap 23. lando and max pitted on lap 24. leaving oscar in the lead, but he still needed to pit.

lando argued over the radio that max nearly drove into him in the pit lane. "he launched right into me....i couldnt turn into the box." the stewards ruled that this needed no further investigation.

oscar pitted on lap 26.

so by lap 27 after everyone had done at lest one pit we had this order:

max, lando, george, carlos, lewis, oscar, nico, checo, kevin, daniel, fernando, alex, pierre, zhou, yuki, lance, valtteri, charles and logan

toto decided that this would be a good time to come on the radio.

"lewis theres everything to play here, everything to play."

whatever that meant.

ferrari were very delusional optimistic. and by that i meant that they told charles over the radio that all was not lost and he would get into the fight for points eventually. he was still in 18th. and he made another pit stop (his third!) on lap 34.

"he's not going to get into the points like this!" martin said, making fun of ferrari

"he's on plan z martin said," also making fun of ferrari

while charles was getting his hopes and dreams crushed for the millionth time, we also had the french civil war heating up once again.

there was a proper drs train forming from 10th to 13th spot. we had daniel, fernando, esteban and pierre all running very close to eachother. pierre, at the back of the train, was not pleased with estebans driving.

"he's gotta pass fernando faster, we're loosing time now," pierre said on lap 34.

perhaps this was relayed to esteban, perhaps it was not. either way, both of the alpines managed to pass fernando on lap 36. it was a clumsy pass because pierre, as he was going around fernando was also trying to get past esteban.

in any case. fernando was impressed. or perhaps feeling sarcastic.

"wow!" he said, over the radio.

pierre was less than impressed. "what the fuck what was that? why did he just run me off the track?" pierre said about esteban

fernando then pitted and served his time penalty.

and in the middle of all that, checo got a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

by lap 40 max was complaining about the tires. "i dont know what's happening but the tires are suddenly very bad" he said. this would continue for awhile, but remember its a short track. so unless he wanted to come out in the middle of a ton of traffic and lapped cars, he was going to have to deal with his shitty tires.

a few more people had pitted, putting esteban into 8th and pierre into 9th. on lap 41, pierre finally managed to get past esteban in some very very classic, french on french violence.

"a little bit unnecessary," martin said. "but great fun for us."

"what's bruno going to do?" ted said, still being insane. (bruno is the alpine team principal. "sack ocon again?"

pierre was entirely unbothered

alex albon was under investigation for....something. not sure what cause i forgot to write it down. but he got a 5 second penalty for whatever it was! probably crossing the white line or pit lane speeding,

meanwhile, max verstappen was wondering very loudly why he had not pitted yet on lap 45.

"i cant hold this for much longer, mate, behind" max said on lap 48. he was referring to the two lapped haas cars behind him, which were 8th and 9th.

in the meantime, other people had already started to come into the pits, including pierre, george and carlos. george took the fastest lap on lap 49, really getting some good use out of his new tires.

"tires are shit man," max said on lap 51. and maybe they were tired of hearing him complain because they brought him into the pits.

lando, who was still in second in case you forgot, also pitted.

remember when i said that the race would be won or lost in the pit lane?

max had a lead on lando of i think about 7-8 seconds at this point.

max had a slow stop. one of his rear tires got stuck coming off. he was in the pit box for 6.5 seconds.

lando was in the box for 2.9 seconds.

"ooooooooooh my god," max said as he pulled back onto the track. the gap between him and lando was now under 2 seconds. and there were no lapped cars between them.

around the world, everyone sat up a little straighter. shit was about to get far more interesting.

so it was lap 53. and here was our order.

max, lando, lewis, george, carlos, oscar, nico, kevin, daniel, checo, pierre, esteban, alex, lance, yuki, fernando, valtteri, charles, zhou and logan

lando took the fastest lap on lap 54.

lewis pitted and served his 5 second penalty.

lando had DRS on max. he was .7 behind and lets remember that there are not one not two but three DRS zones on the track. it was time to go racing.

and racing they went. at points they were driving through the traffic of the lapped cars, but they were still going for it.

max was beside himself on the radio. aparently his car was acting up. "its like theres something wrong with the car man," he said.

15 laps to go.

max and lando were still battling.

you might be asking, where the hell is checo in all of this??? why is he not trying to help max??? well that would be because he was stuck further down the order, battling with kevin magnussen in a haas. yes he was battling a HAAS.

max's race engineer tried to give him suggestions for engine modes and gears. max said no.

lando was .4 behind on lap 58.

on lap 59 lando was given a black and white flag for track limits. meaning that if he went off the track one more time he would get a penalty. a 5 second penalty. lando's best option was to get around max now and hope he could build a 5 second gap so that he could still maintain his lead.

on lap 60 lando managed to pass max, but he went off the track so max went back through to the front. this could have been landos final track limits strike. he could get a 5 second penalty now. and he likely would.

lando was .5 behind. he was noted for track limits. he was on track to get that 5 second penalty.

10 laps to go.

lando was running out of time to pass max.

he tried to pass him on lap 63. max went off the track trying to hold the position.

lando thought that that meant he should get the position because max had left the track and gained an advantage. max was not of the same mindset. "he forced me off again!" max said. "thats not how we overtake!"

is anyone else starting to smell abu dhabi 2021? no? well maybe you will in a second because on lap 64 max and lando had contact. max didnt leave a car length of space and moved while braking, sliding to the outside of the track. lando got shoved off and both cars ended up with a puncture.

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are we smelling abu dhabi 2021 now??? what about austria 2019???

people were insanely divided over this. who was at fault? was it max? he moved under the braking which is against the rules! was it lando? why did he go for that line and not take some curb? did max even see him? was it just a racing incident?

in the post race show, jolyon palmer had some interesting insight into the incident.

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he is right. the no moving under braking rule was created For Max because max was consistently doing it. and since hes been consistently 20 seconds ahead of everyone its been awhile since we've had to see him drive this defensively.

in any case. max ended up doing a slow lap on basically 3 tires, came into the pits for fresh tires, got a 10 seconds penalty and came back out in 5th. lando also made it back to the pits but ended up retiring because he would have lost too much time.

we had some insane quotes from the both of them after this.

first, max was told over the radio that he had been given a 10 second penalty for the incident. he was not impressed with this.

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after the race, max said many things. including but not limited to:

-"its stuff you dont want to see happening. its as simple as that."

-"yeah, of course we'll talk about it. at the moment i think its not the right point, its better to just let things cool off ideally."

-("you could have let him by. you are leading the championship") "i could also stay hoe. im here to win. not finish p2."

max also though, did not put the blame on lando at all.

christian horner though, did. "lando was due to get a penalty and it felt like he was over ambitious" he also thought the 10 second penalty was harsh for max.

the post race show also speculated why red bull didnt tell max to cool it with lando on the track because lando was set to get a 5 second penalty anyway and wouldn't have been much of a concern.

later, max got 2 penalty points on his super license for the incident.

there was also talk from will buxton about how "what does it say about f1 if max is resorting to gray areas to keep the lead?" however, as jolyon pointed out, max still qualified 4 tenths ahead, won the sprint and had pole in the sprint and the race.

lando also said things after the race that included but were not limited to:

-"i gave a fair, respectful, on the edge battle, but thats not what i got in return"

-"if he says he did nothing wrong then ill loose a lot of respect for that. if he admits to being a bit stupid and running into me and being a bit reckless...then ill have a small amount of respect for him"

-"he was doing things youre not allowed to do and not getting penalized. i expected a though battle against max. i expect aggression and track limits and that kind of thing, but all three times hes doing stuff which can easily cause an incident. it seemed a bit desperate from his side."

hilariously. most this was all said while they were standing within like 3 feet of eachother doing their own interviews.

and, even more hilariously, toto said later on to sky sports germany that lando was going to be flying in max's jet with him after the race.

so, you might be wondering, if lando and max crashed into eachother, who the hell won the race?

well, someone was running in third. and that someone was george russell.

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toto said that while george was under a heavy braking zone, at over 300kph and later george said he almost crashed hearing toto's voice come through his radio.

so on lap 68, here was our new order:

george, oscar, carlos, lewis, max, nico, checo, kevin, daniel, pierre, charles, esteban, lance, yuki, alex, valtteri, zhou, fernando, logan

gorge was also a very safe 3.1 seconds ahead of oscar.

and he won! george russell won the austrian gp! the last time that mercedes had won a race was in 2022 in brazil, which was George's maiden win! (lewis, btw, has not won since 2021)

"it's fallen into his hands, but he made sure he was ready to scoop it up!" martin brundle said.

his post race radio was a tad insane:

"YES! YABADABADO!" he shouted. "its not over till its over!"

and of course the intro pose returned

the cool down room was as chaotic as you might think it was.

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and george, the insane bastard practically manifested this win himself. "i knew lando was pretty fired up after yesterday," he said. "and you have to be there to pick up the pieces."

oscar was also pleased with his podium, as was carlos. they also accidentally told oscar that silverstone was his home race which he quickly denied. this is hilarious because he has made nearly every race his home race, but somehow draws the line at being british.

haas also, very surprisingly, managed to equal their best ever f1 finish, p6 and p8. and in the post race show they were talking about how insane it was how well the two of them, nico and kevin, are working together and how exactly opposite it is to pierre and esteban.

and there was a general consensus that checo was being absolutely no help to max all weekend. he battled a haas pretty much the whole race and ended in 7th.

max, by comparison, did a slow lap on three tires, had a crash, had a 10 second penalty and a slow pit stop, and still managed to finish 17 seconds ahead of him. checo has scored 8 points in the last 3 races. max has scored 81.

does he deserve the contract he got? could we still see a swap? is daniel going to get his shot or is he going to leave vcarb? whos to say.

in any case. we've now had 5 different race winners from 4 different teams only 11 rounds in. the gap between p1 and p2 every race is closing from upwards of 20 seconds to under 5 seconds. and charles is back having the worst luck known to mankind.

we've got ourselves a proper championship fight that is only going to heat up next week in silverstone.

goodbye and good riddance, stay groovy, and ill see you all next week o7

Sorry i tried to scroll past but, i know nothing about f1 other than max verstappen is fast, my dad doesnt like lewis hamilton, fast car goes in a loop and sometimes expodes. Could you give me a crash course in f1 drama? Im very intrigued. Whats the tea as it were?

a terribly loaded question, but i will do my best. i’ve talked about some of the drama before like the red bull second seat and the chronicles of haas but allow me to briefly try my hand at explaining the nightmare that is the upcoming silly season

under the cut we go

silly season is when the drivers go through contract renewals, extensions and switches. usually it’s confined to the first half of the season (march-july) but it has been known to extend all the way to the last race of the season and they like to switch people around at random sometimes. driver contracts are complex, there’s a lot of money involved and basically You Are The Face Of The Team so if you have a shit season then you make the team look bad. but at the same time you could have a shit season because you have a shit car. it’s sticky stuff.

so. there are only twenty seats in formula 1. 10 teams. each team gets two drivers. (there’s also reserve drivers but we’re not going to get into that). who ends up with a contract is largely up to the teams, they can pull the contract out from under people they can also cut you mid season. they’ve done it before.

of the 20 drivers on the grid, 14 of them have contracts expiring at the end of the year. yes. 14. you see how this could get complicated.

so let’s meet the teams.

red bull racing. they came first this year (and last year) in the championship. like aggressively first. like they won the championship by over 350 points. they are definitely the team to beat. but if you end up with a seat at red bull, you do have to deal with max verstappen being your teammate and he won all but three of the races last year. he’s the golden boy. red bull are also notoriously silly when it comes to contracts and famously swap people mid season who aren’t performing.

mercedes. merc is home to 7 time world champion lewis hamilton and they have won the championship a great many times, though not since 2021. they are kind of in their flop arc and their car the last 2 years has been pretty garbage, but they have still made it work because they were able to come in second last year.

ferrari. god help the poor little meow meows with a ferrari contract. ferrari is a notoriously great team and they’re trying to get back to the top again but their strategy every single time has fallen short. to the point where their drivers are the ones doing the strategy in their cars while driving. they came in third last year and have been decently consistent at getting first in qualifying and then getting beat by max verstappen on race day.

mclaren. they’ve definitely worked their way up over recent years. they ended fourth last year and have had some championship wins before but not nearly as many as say merc and ferrari. their team ceo (owner? director?) is a little interesting and their car started out a pile of flaming hot garbage at the beginning of the year but they did manage to get their shit together.

aston martin. they are owned by canadian billionaire lawrence stroll, father of lance stroll (one of the drivers for the team). they’ve undergone several name changes over the recent years (force india, racing point, etc). they positively slayed at the start of the season and then one day they sucked. they finished fifth in the championship.

alpine. the frenchest french team. they’re (i think?) still partially owned by the french government. both of their drivers are french. (their drivers also hate eachother but we’ll get to that. just know they’re in the middle of a modern french civil war). they had the opportunity to have a good rookie driver (oscar piastri) this past year but in a thrilling twitter battle, he publically flamed the shit out of them and went to mclaren instead (and slayed). they're usually solidly middle of the pack. they ended sixth in the championship.

williams. williams has been one of the back of the grid teams for the last many years but they have finally started to get their shit together and don’t quite suck as much as they used to. all of the points this year were scored by only one driver though (except one but we’ll get there). they came in seventh.

alpha tauri. they are the sister team of red bull. so technically redbull owns both teams (meaning they can swap drivers between teams. they like doing this.) they’ve just kind of been There for awhile but they did slay towards the end of the season when one of their drivers led the race for several laps. basically tho, this team is the gateway to redbull. they came in eighth.

alpha romeo. recently renamed to stake f1 team (but sometimes they are going to be called kick sauber. this is a whole other drama post and i’m not getting into it). they’re also just kind of there. generally unproblematic. seems that really great drivers who get ixed out of a contract for a younger driver end up here or young drivers who are in their early years are here before they go to a better team. they ended ninth this year.

haas. oh haas. goofy team. they suck. point blank they suck. they keep loosing sponsors because they suck, they don’t win ever (one time they came first in qualifying last year). they cursed themselves in australia in 2018 by not tightening their tires and its been downhill ever since. they came 10th. their team principle got let go (fired?) who’s to say today.

so those are the teams. it is important to note that:

-there is a cost cap. each team is allowed to spend no more than 135m per year.

-not all cars are equal. some things are standard. they all undergo the same testing. but the cars are all very different. so you can be a good driver but stuck in a shitty car. which makes it impressive if you are doing well in a shitty car.

let’s meet our drivers!!!

starting with the guys who’s contract is not ending in 2024:

max verstappen. 3 time world champion. 26 years old. general beast on the track. he dominated the whole season. he’s currently racing for red bull and has a contract with them through 2028.

lewis hamilton. 7 time world champion. 39 years old. he drives for mercedes. he will not leave mercedes until he retires. he really really wants to win an 8th world championship and is willing to stick it out a few more years as long as merc still believes in him. his contract expires in 2025.

george russell. the other merc driver. 26 years old. hes aggressively british and says thinks like blimey unironically. walking meme. got his merc seat in 2022 right when they entered their flop arc by getting his tractor of a williams to finish second in qualifying in the middle of a rainstorm. his contract expires in 2025.

lando norris. mclaren driver. 24 years old. he has notably never won a race in his five years of formula one (mostly because right when his car finally was good enough max verstappen was 20 seconds ahead of anyone) but he is regarded as Very Good. he has only ever driven for mclaren. and even though there is another year left on his contract there is mass speculation that he will not renew his contract with mclaren after it expires and he may move up to one of the top teams (red bull, merc, ferrari) (tho i think he doesnt hate himself quite enough to go to ferrari). his contract expires in 2025.

oscar piastri. the other mclaren driver. 22 years old. this was his rookie season and he positively slayed. like people compared his rookie season to lewis hamiltons rookie season. he also had the positively funniest start to his rookie year because alpine announced that he would be driving for them (he had been their reserve driver and in the alpine academy) and he posted a tweet that basically said yeah thats false i never singed anything with you and im going to race with mclaren instead (he dodged a bullet) and then alpine tried and failed to sue him for $4m USD. he signed a contract extension with mclaren this year and his contract expires in 2026.

lance stroll. aston martin driver and son of the aston martin owner. hes doing ok, tho there was conspiracy that he wanted to quit and have a tennis career awhile ago. but basically since his dad owns the team it seems that hes guaranteed a seat for as long as he wants one.

so now. moving onto the good shit. the people who have contracts expiring in 2024. hold onto your hats people.

charles leclerc. (everyones favorite slutty little soup can). 26 years old. he is currently at ferrari and he has been since 2019. notably, he was given the longest contract in the history of ferrari after a stellar rookie season at sauber (renamed to alpha romeo, renamed to stake f1) where he got the tractor of a car consistently into the points. having the longest contract in the history of ferrari was a flex at the time, but now its likely how he will introduce himself at therapy sessions. ferrari have fucked this man left right and center up the ass with a plastic lunchroom spork. hes talented, he can drive, and he can drive well. but the strategy that ferrari has absolutely sucks. either something is wrong with the car (see him blowing out his gear box on the formation lap in monaco, his car completely crapping out and spinning into the barrier in brazil before the race even started) or they fuck up his pit stops or put him on the wrong tires and honestly its just frustrating. but will he leave??? likely not. you'd have to pry ferrari out of his cold dead hands and at this rate that might be where this is headed though there has been some minor speculation of him going to another team like merc or red bull, but merc doesnt have any open seats and red bull is a whole other dumpster fire of drama. ferrari are going to have to pay him a boatload of money to make him stay.

carlos sainz. the smooth operator. 29 years old. ferrari driver. previously carlos was at toro rosso (renamed to alpha tauri), renault (renamed to alpine), and mclaren before signing with ferrari. he has been at ferrari since 2021 and has voiced that he would like to stay with them for however long he can. there is speculation that lando might replace him at ferrari (but landos contract is not up until 2025) and there is also some speculation that alex albon might replace him. while charles is clearly the golden boy at ferrari, carlos is slightly slower but also definitely consistent. he was THE ONLY non red bull driver to win a race this past year, in Singapore after max verstappedn was knocked out of qualifying by alpha tauri reserve driver liam lawson (more on him later) and because he basically came up with his own strategy in the car while he was driving.

sergio perez. aka checo. red bull driver. 33 years old. and oh boy here's where we open the can of worms. checo was previously at racing point (renamed aston martin) and it was very near the end of the 2020 (?) season and he was out of a contract. he had a bonkers race where he was knocked to the back of the grid and then overtook everyone and somehow ended up winning (there is more to that story but just trust me) and christian horner, red bull team principle, mr ginger spice and definite disney villain called him and said congrats sir you have a seat at red bull! well. fast forward. hes been causing problems. problems as in crashing a lot, generally not doing great and pissing the crap out of red bull. it is basically guaranteed at this point that he will not be getting a contract extension. there was actually talk this year of him losing his seat mid season to one of the alpha tauri drivers, because remember, red bull owns both teams and they can switch them whenever they want to (and they have!) but ultimately this did not happen. even though checo has a seat at red bull until the end of 2024, its mass speculated that he is going to get switched with an alpha tauri driver, probably daniel ricciardo (more on him shortly) mid season because there is a speculated clause in daniels contract that says that if checo isn't performing well in the first few races daniel is getting his seat.

daniel ricciardo. 34 years old. alpha tauri driver. man oh man what a guy. outside of being the prankster of the paddock, he has one of the most batshit careers of anyone currently on the grid. he started out at red bull and was showing real talent and skill and was on track to win things (and was!) and was there until the end of 2018 when max verstappen (his teammate) started getting preferential treatment and also red bull started having a lot of problems with their engines (which were being outsourced from Renault (now alpine) and another team on the grid) and well very very long story short he made the surprise move of the century and decided to sign with Renault (which makes no sense they're the one with the engine problems) and was there for 2 years before moving again to mclaren where he was reportedly not treated very well and had a hard time driving the car so they mutually ended his contract with them early and he basically retired at the end of the 2022 season and became a red bull reserve driver. then halfway through the 2023 season alpha tauri ixed one of their drivers, nyck de vries, because he wasnt doing well and promoted daniel back up to a full time driver at alpha tauri (which we know is only a step down from red bull) but then he broke his hand in a crash in zanvort (?) and then he was replaced for a few races by formula 2 driver liam lawson (who we will also talk about) and then he came back to finish out the season in alpha tauri after he was cleared. daniel has admitted openly that he never should have left red bull and he was given bad advice to do so. hes towards the end of his career at this point and its well known that he Really Really wants to finish out his career at red bull again. he and max have already been teammates before and they do work well together and daniel is great driver (see his comeback in texas (or maybe it was brazil?) this year). so. Pretty Sure that daniels going to get either an extension at alpha tauri or go up to red bull. thats what we all want. get this man in a red bull we need him there biblically.

liam lawson. now technically liam is not actually a formula 1 driver. hes a formula 2 driver, but he was daniels replacement for five races and there has been some speculation and some confirmed news about him so hes getting included. when he was racing for f1 he was at alpha tauri. hes 21 and looks like he belongs in the movie grease. no one was expecting him to slay in formula 1 and he positively knocked everyones socks off. the scene: Singapore. which, if you'll recall, is the one race that a not red bull driver won. this was largely because liam lawson slayed the absolute game in qualifying. the qualifying part of racing determines what order the cars start in on the grid for the race and theres three parts, the first two parts the bottom 5 drivers each time get knocked out and then the top 10 complete for the last 10 spots. liam lawson knocked BOTH max verstappen and checo perez out of qualifying in the second round by going very slightly faster than them, effectively fucking up red bulls race and allowing carlos to win. and he also scored points in that race, which no one was expecting. now thats all fine and dandy, but here's the speculation: hemlut marko (im pretty sure) (who is somehow decently involved in the decision making at red bull though i couldn't tell you how) said that he thinks that liam lawson will be in an f1 seat no later than 2025. meaning that he will probably get offered a contract this year. and hes already raced for alpha tauri. red bull have sunk a good amount of money into him. they clearly want him. so if he gets offered an alpha tauri seat in 2025, that means theres a good chance danny rics is going to red bull. do you SEE how the plot here is THICKENED

yuki tsunoda. age 23. currently at alpha tauri. and fun fact, the only alpha tauri driver to race there the whole year. he had three separate team mates. he is slaying and hes often slept on. he has a bit of a temper and likes to shout on the radio and also hates working out (they had to force him to move to italy or something to work out, long story) but hes been kinda killing it. he led several laps in the abu dhabi race this year and hes decently consistent. people think theres possibility that he could get moved up to red bull on account of the fact that he is younger than daniel and clearly has more years in him,, but there is also possibility that he might not because red bull like to make stupid decisions. and if he doesnt get moved up to rebel, will he stay with alpha tauri? we don't know.

alex albon. age 27. currently a williams driver. alex albon is another one with a batshit career. he started out his rookie year in 2019 at alpha tauri then got moved up to red bull halfway through the year when red bull decided that pierre gasley wasnt doing a good enough job (more on him later) and stayed with red bull for a solid year and a half until he lost his seat in 2021 to checo. he has been with williams for the last two years and is basically carrying the team. like. williams as a team scored 28 points this year. and alex albon scored 27 of those 28 points. and as we know, williams is still kind of in their shit arc (though they are doing much better. they didnt score any points for a solid 2 (?) years. so this is an improvement.) and if you can get a shit car to perform you catch the eye of bigger teams. now, alex has already been a red bull driver. and he was on the cusp of podiuming two separate times when lewis hamilton ran into him. this (among a few other things) basically killed his chances at getting resigned at red bull because he wasnt ""performing"" and red bull are bitches who love to win. but some people think that red bull should give him another shot. like daniel, hes already been max's teammate and he can definitely drive. but theres also talk he might go to ferrari because ferrari think that he might compliment charles's driving style (or something). but going to ferrari at this point is kind of suicide. so.

logan sergeant. age 23. the only american on the grid. the other williams driver. he just finished his rookie year. he scored a grand total of one single point this season, in texas, and it was because charles leclerc and lewis hamilton both got disqualified because the floor of their car had more wear (by literally less than millimeters) than it was allowed to, bumping him up from 12th to 10th. he has never done better than alex albon. he was also the very last driver to get a contract for 2024, with williams waiting until i think december of 2023 to announce his contract extension. clearly, hes on thin ice. but people have also said that he needs time to get used to formula 1 (other people have pointed out that oscar piastri slayed his rookie season this year and this statement about needing time is largely false). where logan ends up next year though will largely depend on how well the 2024 season goes for him.

fernando alonso. 42 years old. many people like to point out that oscar piastri is actually younger than fernando's racing career. he won tiktok creator of the year (somehow) and is also a 2 time world champion. he retired a few years ago, just to show back up again and slay. during the first half of the season when aston martin had a zoom zoom car he killed it, and then they had problems on top of problems and he didnt do well. except for that one race in brazil where he came in third, beating checo by literally .05 seconds. he hasn't really made any hints about retiring a second time and he is kind of carrying aston Martin right now (he scored 205 points this season, coming in 4th and tying in points with charles leclerc, lance stroll only scored 74 points this year.) and they did have their best year yet this year. (though they are relatively new).

pierre gasley. 27 years old. french. drives for alpine. the french team. previously he raced with toro rosso (now alpha tauri), then got promoted to a red bull driver in 2019, then halfway through the season they decided he wasnt doing a good enough job and he got demoted back down to alpha tauri. then he won a race with alpha tauri just to stick it to red bull. after the great oscar piastri contract twitter war, he was signed as alpines second driver, with Esteban ocon being the other driver (more on him soon). estie bestie and pierre (both french) were childhood friends and now hate each other for unknown reasons and basically feuded on the track for most of the season. french civil war at alpine. he scored 62 points in 2023 and came in 11th. not really sure where he will end up, it is possible that he will stick it out at alpine.

esteban ocon. 27 years old. also french. currently driving for alpine. another one with a silly bonkers career. he started out at force india and had a baller few seasons there but his teammate at the time was checo, and checo didnt really cooperate with him too much and caused some drama that cost estie bestie some places and some points. max verstappen also beat him up in the garage once. thats not really relevant but it did happen. anyway, after the owner of force india was arrested for .... i don't remember what maybe it was embezzlement or bankruptcy or something money related, the team was backed by lawrence stroll and became racing point. but all of that happened mid season and lawrence was basically like look ill back you guys for now but next year my son gets a seat (lance) so one of you two (checo and estie bestie) have to go. and ultimately they let estie bestie go even though he was more consistent because checo had more sponsors and they needed money. so he was out of formula 1 for a few years (but was a merc reserve driver) and then went to Renault, which then became alpine. he did come in 12th though overall this season, just behind pierre. so. will alpine keep both him and pierre and keep the civil war going? whos to say.

nico hulkenberg. 36 years old. haas driver. in his 200+ f1 races he has never been on the podium and he really really wants to be on the podium. unfortunately this will never happen in a haas because haas fucking sucks. and everyone knows it. he is getting towards the end of his career though. though! stake f1 will become the mario Andretti and audi team in 2026 (don't question it) and they have supposedly voiced interest in nico. so we will see if he hangs on that long to end up at audi. for now tough, hes definitely hating it at haas. though, haas are going to have a different team principle next year so maybe that will change things. i have a sneaky feeling through that haas will probably end up with another 2 rookie drivers because everyone else is smart enough to not race for them.

kevin magnussen. 31 years old. haas driver. hes another deeply interesting character. he has had one podium. in his rookie season. in his first race. and none since. kevin started at haas in 2017 and then left at then end of 2020 when he basically got kicked off because the team needed money and they wanted to bring in drivers with more sponsorships. these drivers were mick schumacher and nikita mazepin. so kevin basically was forced to retire after the 2020 season. this went decently well for haas. until russia invaded ukraine right before the start of the 2022 season and, well, nikita was Russian and it was never distinctly proven that his dads company (who was sponsoring the team) wasnt also funding the invasion. so nikita got fired and they were literally like 2 weeks out from the start of the season, down a driver. who are you gonna call? kevin magnussen! and hes been back ever since. but hes clearly getting annoyed with haas. there was one great clip from this year where his car caught on fire and he kind of just stared into to, clearly hoping it would burn for a long time. so the likelihood of him extending his contract is looking slim.

valtteri bottas. 34 years old. currently a driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo, kick sauber, whatever you wanna call it). previously, he was a mercedes driver and notoriously helped lewis hamilton win a great many championships, until he lost his seat to george russell in 2022. there was a rather awkward part of the 2021 season where valtteri knew that he was out of a merc seat the following year and kind of just chose violence. he slayed. then he went to alpha romeo, grew a mullet and made a calendar of his ass. quite the glow up if you ask me. hes also very interested in cycling. honestly though, i have my own personal speculation that hes going to retire at the end of this year.

zhou guanyu. 24 years old. driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo/kick sauber, etc etc). hes doing alright. he just finished his second season, in his first season he was majorly out qualified by valtteri but this past season he managed to out qualify him a good 6 times. which is decently good for the tractor of a car hes driving. its possible that he could get a contract extension, but like logan, its probably going to depend on how the 2024 season goes for him.

and thats all the drivers. theres also a few others i didnt talk about, like some other f2 drivers who want seats and mick schumacher, who is currently a merc reserve driver, all of which could be contenders for f1 seats. but one things for sure. this is going to be the silliest fucking silly season.

feel free to add on and peer review me

[lesbianracecars]

MSC47 It didn’t look like this three years ago

orange show speedway part I

(part II)

[windsofregretandmistrust]

I read the ninth chapter and I OBVIOUSLY have some thots to share:

"He thought of things that he would perceive as a turn-off. Old people, Mattia Binotto, even Guenther, for fuck’s sake."- HEAFGZSKYDUV HAHAHAH STOP IM DYING and it didn't work as well💀 princess's powers are unmatched😌💅

"The Brit licked the Spaniard’s lips and, without wanting to, realised that the taste of Mick’s lips was much nicer."-Nothing to see here, just ✨teammate tings✨ honestly I cant blame him

"Callum fell in love with avoiding problems, and that was the problem. Even more so, when you don’t precisely know what the root of your problems is. Or, at least that’s what you tell yourself."- Callum is me, I'm Callum... 🤧

I HAVE to ask because of typical twitter callum's response (which was so good honestly): what do you think mick smells like?(at least in the fic I don't want to sound like a creep lol)

Your descriptions of the landscapes and Barcelona in general were just so beautifully written I'm in awe

WHEN CALLUM PUT THEIR PIC IN HIS PHONE CASE I DIED PLSS( needless to say I 100% believe this to be an actual thing between them irl)

I also need to acknowledge the fact that you included some schulott shoulder touching moments🙈 IT IS THEIR LOVE LANGUAGE so when I read it I was like: yeah that has definitely happened irl too👀

and although I am a sucker for intimacy and all that I appreciated the fact that you kept it realistic and made them be awkward about it rather than turning it to smut💕 (let us burn slowly with a few intimacy crumbs until the real deal queen, it's more enjoyable like that🤧)

and LASTLY the metaphor at the end-- I SWEAR YOUR MIND IS BRILLIANT you are 100% a natural at writing and I want you to know that 💖💖

This was a super long ask and I'm so sorry! But Im really stressed lately and these fanfics are really helping me escape a bit, I'm off to study now, thank you again for this beautiful chapter and i can't wait for more! Love you soulmate🥰

HI bestie! thank u so much for reading!! 

• YESS princess’ power is indeed unmatched, unparalleled, unrivaled and all that 😍 callum is so DOWN BAD for mick, trust me. i can’t wait to write the parts of when he will finally express it (because he will ;) yeah this is a spoiler, sorry lol)

• AHAHAH ALL CALLUM CAN THINK OF IS MICK and i wanted to make tht clear, even with a hot (milf) person all over him, mick just occupies and lives in his head rent free. in a way, it becomes overbearing for callum, because he didn’t anticipate himself to be this down bad at all 😳

• ME TOO i relate to my fic’s callum as well, big time. fun fact, the first sentence of that quote, “Callum fell in love with avoiding problems. And that was the problem.” was actually stolen from this song in my schulott playlist (47 + 53) titled “come on mess me up” by cub sport, and omg bestie, i swear that song is one of the best, if not the best (mr perfectly fine by taylor swift being the exception), schulott anthem, EVER, period. 

• MM WELLL in my fic, i imagine mick smelling like strawberries. at least, most of the time. to be honest, i can’t really give you a specific answer bff buttt, think of comfort, like the season fall, LMAO. he smells like comfort, and like someone who just got out of the shower (except not only does he smell like this post-shower, but all the time). 

• THANK U UR SO SWEET

• RIGHTT i can sooo see it happening irl as well LMAO like smth thatd happen during their prema teammates era or smth HAHAH. polaroid taking, it’s always such a cute headcanon (i’m considering make this a frequent thing in this fic, maybe polaroids could be their thing AHHH)

• YES YES YES omg, im a sucker for like small physical contact like that that may seem meaningless to many ahaha. and shoulder touching is DEF their “love language”. that’s it, you worded it perfectly. it IS their love language omg omg omg (cue my mind playing all the schulott gifs of them making contact)

• bestie, i’m a sucker for intimacy too and affectionate moments in fics but thank u sm for understanding and appreciating the slow burn approach! 

• THANK U THANK U THANK U ur the sweetest PLS, MWAH 

I’m so so happy to hear that these fics are helping you!! reading these fics and engaging in fandoms, like our schulott one, comfort me as well so i understand you big time lmaoo. good luck on your studies!! dont forget to take care of yourself, love you so much more soulmate ❤️ have a good day :)

[yootaesowlwrites]

Requested by: Anon

Request: Hello! I was wondering if I could request something with Mick Schumacher? Possibly they are related to Lando in some way and are always around races, because of this they know Mick and have a very public friendship with him. They get asked questions from reporters alot speculating that Mick and her are in a relationship? I'll let you decide how it ends up but I thought about it as I sore a picture of Lando and Mick sharing a podium in possibly f4 or f3. Anyways thank you :))

A/N: Hello, Anon, I had a little trouble coming up with a plot, but I hope you like the idea I went with.

Warnings:

Word Count: 1.7K

【 • Primary Masterlist • Drivers Masterlist • Mick Schumacher Masterlist • Fan Fiction Masterlist • 】

【 • Prompt List • Smut Prompt List • Scenario Prompt List • Alternate Universe Prompt List • 】

【 • List Of Characters & Drivers I Write For • Rules & Request • 】

(Y/n) and Mick stood in the paddock laughing when (Y/n) caught sight of a reporter taking a video of them.

“Oh my gosh, I wish they could just leave us alone.” (Y/n) says, Mick glances over his shoulder at the reporter.

“Another story about us.” Mick says, (Y/n) was Lando Norris’ niece, and she went to most of his races during his time in F4 and F3, becoming friends with Mick Schumacher along the way, and ever since reporters have been videotaping them and taking pictures of them, with the headline ’Lando Norris’s niece dating Mick Schumacher?’ “I’ve gotten so many tweets about our relationship,” Mick adds air quotes around the word relationship.

“Lando’s fans have been asking him if you and I are dating as well.” (Y/n) says. “Can boys and girls no longer be friends without them dating?” A mischievous smirk appears on Mick’s lips.

“Well, why don’t we give them something to talk about?” Mick asks, (Y/n) slightly tilts her head in confusion.

“And what do you mean by that?” (Y/n) asks.

“Let’s give them a show.” Mick says, (Y/n)’s eyes slightly widen as she covers her hand with her mouth trying to hide the smile appears on her lips, Mick didn’t have to say the words ‘kiss’ for her to know that’s what he meant.

“Are you serious?” (Y/n) asks, she pulls her hand away from her mouth. “Do you want them to freak out? Do you want them to go mental?”

“Oh come on, it’s innocent fun,” Mick says, (Y/n) looks around her as she thought about the idea.

“Oh my go- I can’t believe that I’m about to agree to this.” (Y/n) says. “But we deserve to have a little fun.”

“So, do you want to do this?” Mick asks as a wide smile tug at the corner of his lips.

“Mhm, okay, let’s have some fun.” (Y/n) says. “At least when they gossip about us this time, it won’t be a lie.” Mick cheerful chuckles.

“Haha, you hope,” Mick says. “All right, are you ready?”

“Am I ready? Probably not.” (Y/n) says. “I mean, we haven’t had any practice, what if it doesn’t look natural enough?”

“Don’t stress, it’s going to be fine,” Mick says. “Remember, it’s just a little innocent fun.” (Y/n) nods her head.

“All right, all right, um, let’s do this then.” (Y/n) says, for some reason she felt nervous about their kiss, he takes a step closer to her

“Just tell me if you’re uncomfortable and I’ll kiss your cheek instead,” Mick says.

“I’m good, I’m okay.” (Y/n) says, As he leans closer she held her breath and glanced down at his lips, they seemed to be soft and warm, she looks back into his eyes as she felt her palms becoming sweaty before she could back out his lips brushed against hers, her eyes fall close as the kiss felt warm, deep laced with a little passion, it felt like they were kissing for a long time but was only a few seconds when Mick pulled away, she slowly opens her eyes took look at him and saw him staring back into her eyes.

“I uh.” Mick begins, he takes a step back and looks over his shoulder seeing the reporter’s mouth hanging open with their eyes wide open in shock. “I think it worked.” Mick looks back at (Y/n), (Y/n) snaps out of her daydream and looks towards the reporter, she would’ve giggled if she wasn’t so starstruck by their kiss.

“It appears so.” (Y/n) says, Mick would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if his mind wasn’t replying the kiss over in his mind. “Um, don’t you have um practice to get to attend?” Mick looks down at his watch.

“Right, yes, I do,” Mick says. “I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” (Y/n) nods her head.

“Yeah, definitely.” (Y/n) says, Mick smiles at her before walking past her towards the Prema garage, (Y/n) glances at the reporter before going towards the McLaren building they had built for the weekend, her mind swirling with thoughts about the kiss, unknowingly she lifts her hand to her lips and runs her finger over her bottom lip as a faint smile grows on her lips before it faded away, they could never… could they?

(Y/n) sat at a table inside the McLaren building sipping on a cappuccino, but her mind was still at the kiss she and Mick had, sure it was only to make the media go mental, but it felt right, Lando rushes towards her holding his phone.

“Explain!” Lando says, (Y/n) looks up at him as he turns the phone around to show her a picture of herself and Mick kissing.

“Oh, that.” (Y/n) says.

“Yeah, that,” Lando says as he sits down across from her.

“We decided to have a little fun.” (Y/n) says, not understanding why Lando was freaking out.

“Fun? What does that even mean?” Lando asks.

“Lando, you know us, Mick and I aren’t dating, and we got annoyed at the media for always posting that we are, so we just decided to give them something to talk about.” (Y/n) says, Lando nods his head seeming like he doesn’t believe her.

“And you expect me to believe you?” Lando asks, (Y/n) rolls her eyes.

“Believe what you want.” (Y/n) says.

“CARLOS!” Lando calls out as Carlos enters the building, Carlos walks towards the table.

“You called,” Carlos says.

“Yes, look at this!” Lando says, he shows the picture to Carlos. “Does this look like it’s fake?” Carlos examines the picture before looking at (Y/n).

“Oh, do you have a boyfriend? And you didn’t tell us?” Carlos says, (Y/n) lets out an annoyed sigh.

“We were just trying to stir the pot a little, all right?” (Y/n) says. “It was just innocent fun, if I had known you two would come and tease me about it, I wouldn’t have agreed to do it.”

“So, you are saying, that this was fake?” Carlos says, he takes Lando’s phone from his hands and shows the picture to (Y/n) again. “That neither of you was enjoying it?” (Y/n) looks at the picture, a moment frozen in time showed her just how much it appeared they were enjoying it, (Y/n) looks back up at Carlos.

“It was planned.” (Y/n) says. “On the spot, yeah, and now they actually have something to gossip about instead of making a story up.”

“Mh hm.” Carlos hums, he didn’t believe her either.

“You guys are children.” (Y/n) mutters.

“You’re younger than us.” Lando points out.

“And apparently more mature.” (Y/n) says as she crosses her arms over her chest feeling defensive, something Carlos quickly picked up.

“If it was supposedly so innocent as you claim, why are you being so defensive?” Carlos asks.

“Because I- ugh, I don’t have to explain myself to the two of you.” (Y/n) says as she stood.

“Where are you going?” Lando asks.

“I’m going to get some fresh air.” (Y/n) says. “I can’t deal with you two right now.”

An entire week had passed since the kiss and five days had passed since they last saw each other, they barely texted each other as the kiss was still fresh in the thoughts, they had to talk about it at some point, so Mick decided to go visit her, she lived on campus at the university she attended and knew she had afternoon classes instead of morning class, it didn’t take him long to find the dorm and knocked on the door, he heard movement coming from the inside before the door opened revealing (Y/n).

“Mick, hey, what are you doing here?” (Y/n) asks, she wasn’t expecting to see him there.

“I uh, came to see you,” Mick says. “I think we need to talk.” (Y/n) begins playing with the hem of her shirt.

“A-about what?” (Y/n) asks, she knew what it was about, but she was hoping to avoid the topic.

“About us, mainly about the kiss,” Mick says, (Y/n) nods her head and steps aside.

“Come on in.” (Y/n) says, Mick enters the dorm and (Y/n) closes the door, she dreaded the conversation thinking he would end their friendship, she turns around to look at him as he looked around the small dorm. “So uh, what do you want o talk about first?” Mick turns around to face her, he thought for a second.

“Screw it,” Mick says, he steps towards her taking her wrist in his hand.

“Wh-?” (Y/n) begins, Mick pulls her closer to him, his hand caresses her cheek as he brushes his lips over hers, kissing her with warmth and passion, everything seemed as if it disappeared until Lexi, (Y/n)’s roommate interrupted them.

“Oh, I knew it!” Lexi cheered, Mick and (Y/n) break away from the kiss to look at her. “I knew it.” Lexi picks up her book bag, excitement is written all over her face. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.” (Y/n) and Mick take a step away from each other, Mick rubbed the back of his neck while (Y/n) fiddled with the ring on her middle finger. “I have to go now, but please don’t do it on the couch or the table.”

“Lexi.” (Y/n) says looking at her friend with wide eyes, Lexi begins walking towards them making her way to the door behind them.

“Oh, and please use protection as well,” Lexi says.

“Lexi!” (Y/n) says louder, hoping her roommate would get the message to shut up and leave.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Lexi says, she leaves the dorm with a mischievous smile on her lips as she closed the door.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry about her.” (Y/n) says as her cheeks heat up from embarrassment.

“No, no, no it’s all right,” Mick says, they look at each other as Mick lowers his arm.

“So uh, maybe you could explain to me why you just grabbed me like that and kissed me?” (Y/n) says.

“Honestly, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the first time we kissed,” Mick says. “I know it was to stir the pot a little, but uh, um, do you feel different about it?”

“No, no.” (Y/n) says. “I um, I haven’t gotten it out of my mind either.” (Y/n) brings her hand to the tips of her hair and begins playing with them nervously. “But uh, this was unexpected.”

“I uh, sorry about that,” Mick says.

“So uh, what happens now?” (Y/n) asks. “I mean, we have a lot to talk about, and a lot of things to decided.”

[themotorsportblog]

MIRACLE FOR MATSUSHITA

Nobuharu Matsushita was able to win the Spanish F2 Feature Race from an unbelievable P18 on the grid in a Safety Car filled race.

Callum Ilott was robbed as he got mugged on the final two restarts, repeatedly being unlucky whenever he tried to pass a car he often ended losing a position to a car behind.

To add insult to Ilott’s injury, his championship rival Robert Shwartzman brought his car home for P2 to cut in to the Briton’s championship lead.

The race started quickly with the five red lights disappearing almost immediately, which allowed Shwartzman to get the jump on Ilott and they and Mick Schumacher went three wide into turn one, somehow not making contact, and Ilott ending up stuck in the middle of a Prema sandwich.

It only took three corners for the Safety Car to come out for the first time, with Marcus Armstrong trying an ambitious move around the outside of turn four, which resulted in him getting on the grass and spinning off into the gravel and beaching his car, becoming the race’s first retirement.

Racing resumed on lap three, but it took until lap six for any action, with Yuki Tsunoda battling past Jack Aitken down the pit straight and taking P6 around the outside of turn one.

Lap eight saw Ilott take the lead from Shwartzman at the same place on the track, as the Russian started to struggle with his tyres, whilst Nikita Mazepin also took P6 from Dan Ticktum.

At the end of the lap Shwartzman and Zhou headed for the pits, but Zhou’s stop was slow.

Ilott came in a lap later and stayed ahead of the Prema, which handed Mick Schumacher the lead as he opted to run an alternate strategy.

He was able to make his tyres lap 23, but got it all wrong  on lap 16, getting a huge whack of oversteer on the exit of turn eight and dipped his tyres on the gravel, costing him a huge chunk of time.

Schumacher re-emerged in P13, whilst Shwartzman lost a net P2 to Drugovich as the Brazilian closed in getting through the traffic and got through with a brilliant move up the inside of turn five.

The Safety Car then came out as Sean Gelael tipped Giuliano Alesi into a spin at turn ten, sending him out of the race and neutralising the race for a second time, which allowed Ticktum, Markelov, Matsushita, Ilott, Shwartzman and Drugovich to all pit for fresh rubber and handed Tsunoda the lead.

Racing resumed again on lap 29, and Schumacher immediately took P6 from Aitken with a move around the outside of turn one.

Matsushita then forced Mazepin off the road at turn two (which he was lucky not to get a penalty for) and then used that to build the momentum on Ilott and got through up the inside of turn four as the Brit struggled to clear Tsunoda.

Ilott then got pushed wide at turn seven allowing Shwartzman and Mazepin through, but he got back past the Hitech.

Matsushita fought past Tsunoda at T1 to take the lead and Shwartzman took P2 on the outside of turn three, just as the race was about to be neutralised.

This was becasue Roy Nissany flew off into the wall at turn three, just as the leaders came to lap him, bringing out the Safety Car yet again, he’d just pitted for a new front wing after contact with Samaia, immediately ruining all of his mechanics hard work.

The race timer hit 0:00 behind the Safety Car, but race control generously allowed one more lap of racing, which should’ve benefited Ilott, but didn’t.

He fell down to P7 behind Mazepin, Zhou and even Mick Schumacher, but was able to get back past the German on track and the Russian thanks to a time penalty for a Safety Car infringement.

Ticktum took advantage of the final lap to climb into the points and finish P9, as did Matsushita to take the bonus points for fastest lap.

Further behind, a similar time penalty cost Pedro Piquet his first F2 point, whislt Sean Gelael broke down just before the final chicane, meaning he failed to see the chequered flag

RACE RESULT:

MATSUSHITA (FASTEST LAP) SHWARTZMAN ZHOU

TSUNODA ILOTT SCHUMACHER DRUGOVICH GHIOTTO (REVERSE GRID POLE) TICKTUM DELETRAZ

LUNDGAARD MARKELOV MAZEPIN (5 SECOND TIME PENALTY) PIQUET (5 SECOND TIME PENALTY) SATO SAMAIA DARUVALA

AITKEN + 1 LAP GELAEL + 1 LAP

NISSANY - DNF ALESI - DNF ARMSTRONG - DNF

[sportsavourblog]

Schumacher legacy continues: After nine years of Michael Schumacher’s accidental retirement, his son Mick debuts as F1 rookie

The Schumacher is returning to Formula 1 as Michael Schumacher’s son Mick makes his F1 debut in the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Nine years after legendary Michael Schumacher’s final Grand Prix, his son Mick Schumacher will make his debut with the Ferrari-engined Haas team at the season-opening race in Bahrain - an event won by Michael in its inaugural season in 2004. It will be the first time a member of the family has been involved directly in a Formula 1 race since Michael Schumacher made his impressive debut for the Jordan team at Belgian Grand Prix in 1991.

"I have never said that carrying the family name is pressure, and I am pretty sure I will never say that because I am very happy to carry that name back into Formula One," said Mick Schumacher at Haas F1 Team 2021 online launch.

Mick’s renowned father won 91 races for Benetton and Ferrari, with five of his world titles coming with Ferrari and two with Benetton.  He held the record of highest world titles till Britain's Lewis Hamilton surpassed him and captured an unprecedented eighth world title in 2020.

Michael Schumacher met with a fatal accident in 2013 when he was skiing across the Alps and has not been seen in public for nine years. 14-year old Mick witnessed the accident closely as he was skiing along with his father. Mick was already into Motorsport and Karting at that time but raced under the pseudonym Mick Betsch to avoid attention because of his famous surname.  

In 2014, after almost one year in coma, the doctors were successful in pulling Michael Schumacher out of unconsciousness. The family moved him home to Gland in Switzerland where he continues his rehabilitation. It was indeed a tough time for Mick with his family shifting and relocating, but he continued his search for greater prospects.

In 2015, Mick Schumacher started racing in formula classes, his first Formula 4 race using the Schumacher name was ADAC Formula 4. He entered the Italian F4 Championship in 2016 and finished runner-up.

In November 2016, Schumacher made his first appearance in Formula 3 making his debut in MRF Challenge, a championship based in India. In 2017 and 2018, Mick Schumacher participated in FIA Formula 3 Championship. He ended the 2018 as champion, taking eight wins, fourteen total podium finishes, seven pole positions and four fastest laps.

During his Formula 3 days, Mick collaborated with Prema Powerteam with whom he moved up to Formula 2 in 2019 and in 2020 Mick was declared FIA Formula 2 Champion. In between he was announced as a driver for the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2019. Having special ties with the Ferrari team since his childhood days, Mick felt at home at the garage. After his first drive with a modern Ferrari car Mick said, "I really enjoyed today. It felt like home in the garage from the very first moment with a lot of people that have known me since I was very young.”

He is finally up in Formula 1 on the back of a title-winning season in Formula 2. Though he had a gearbox issue on the first day of pre-season testing at Bahrain limiting him to just two half days in the new Haas VF-21, Mick Schumacher is excited about his debut. “It's been a long wait since last year – obviously we had the test session last week, so it's like you get a bit of it and now you want more obviously,” Schumacher said.

With this race, Mick Schumacher will start competing against some of his father’s greatest contemporaries. Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are already in line along with Fernando Alonso who is returning to the circuit after three years. "It's going to be nice starting on the same grid as them and being amongst the top 20 drivers in the world. I'm really happy about that. I'm just really happy that things are getting underway now and I'm close to starting my first season in Formula 1,” Mick Schumacher said to Sky Sports.  

[themotorsportblog]

Six Stars To Watch For in Macau

The brand new FIA F3 cars make their debut at this weekend’s 66th running of the Macau Grand Prix. The line-up is packed with stars from F2, F3 and various other categories, and includes some famous names such as Fittipaldi and Schumacher littered across the grid. Here’s six drivers to watch for across the event:

Robert Shwartzman

The 2019 FIA F3 Champion, Shwartzman absolutely dominated his series this year, and has a big future ahead of him. PREMA are very keen to reclaim their Macau crown and Shwartzman is my choice to spearhead their campaign. When he’s finished this year, he’s only finished outside the top five once, and Hungary was the only track on the F3 calendar where he didn’t stand on the podium in either race. A supremely talented driver, who even has the potential to become Russia’s first F1 World Champion.

Dan Ticktum

Ticktum comes into Macau with a point to prove this weekend. Dumped by the Red Bull Junior program earlier in the season, everything seems to have gone wrong for the Brit since missing out on the European F3 title to Mick Schumacher at the end of last year. The reigning champion on the tight and twisty streets, winning in both 2017 and 2018, if he can make it a hat-trick this year it could kick his career back into life.

Frederik Vesti

A late call up for PREMA to replace the injured Jehan Daruvala, who is recovering from knee surgery. Vesti, like team-mate Shwartzman, has had a stellar season in the Formula Regional European series, winning 13 races and finishing on the podium 20 times in a 24-race season, easily his best season since leaving his native Denmark. Still only 17 years old, he’ll be looking to challenge for the win this weekend – something fellow Dane and current F1 star Kevin Magnussen was unable to do.

Juri Vips

Estonian star Vips, comes into this weekend off the back of an impressive F3 campaign this year. Despite only finishing on the podium four times he still managed to take three wins, including one in the final race of the season in Sochi. He was disappointed to finish behind the PREMA trio in the championship, having been in the top three in for most of the season, but will have to prove his worth to the Red Bull Junior Program with the presence of the dropped Dan Ticktum to threaten him and fellow juniors Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. A potential dark horse for the race, he’ll be hoping to improve on the single pole position he’s taken this season, and his anonymous showing in this event last year, finishing down in 19th.

Sophia Floersch

A driver who hit the headlines last year, after a massive accident in this event saw her spend 17 hours in surgery after fracturing her spine, she’s the only female driver on the grid this weekend. Like Vesti, Floersch comes into the event from the Formula Regional European Championship, where she failed to step onto the podium, but still finished a decent seventh in the drivers championship. There will a stern test for her this year, lining up with Mercedes junior team HWA Racelab, and competing against F3 star Jake Hughes, who will be one of her teammates for the weekend. Definitely an outside bet for victory, but there would be a poetic justice about her success, racing on a track that could’ve killed her last year. 

Alessio Lorandi

Lorandi returns to single seater racing this weekend following a year out in karting after being dropped from F2 by Trident. The Italian driver seemed to be on the rise in F3, winning in Jerez at the end of 2017, and scoring points in five of the eight races he competed in at the start of 2018, with a podium finish in Austria. He replaced Santino Ferrucci from Hungary onwards in F2 but only scored points in Sochi, despite regularly challenging team-mate Arjun Maini. He’ll be looking to impress and a good performance from the 21-year-old could see him return to single-seaters full time in 2020.

Best of luck to all of the drivers competing across the event, have a safe weekend.