#i only follow max closely so if lando fans want to give their take feel free to

[rb19]

as the norstappen url holder TO ME current norstappen dynamics is SYMPATHY IS A KNIFE by charli

we know lando cares very deeply about how fans/media view their friendship. he felt he had to clear up he didn't race max hard in 2023 bc there's no point duh max was in rocketship, he could not compete, didnt make sense for his own result to put up a fight, it's not bc he is max's mate!!!! stop saying that PLEASEEE!!!!! went far to say that "we're not best friends." and i get that. just bc max doesn't let fans/media opinion get to him, it doesn't mean it's easy for lando to do the same.

max considers lando his best friend from the grid bc lando was the first driver who had the same interests as him back in 2019. finally someone from the grid understood max's sim racing obsession. lando didn't make fun of max's love for video games bc he also loved to play them. their iracing/COD streams back in 2019/2020 were fun and the reason they got close. as lando moved to monaco they started hanging out together, max loves a good party and so does lando now so to sass cafe we go. lando couldn't get max into golf god bless but they love to play padel. etc.

lando was very much a fan of max when he first got into f1. once i was stalking this inactive max fan page on instagram and noticed lando liked a bunch of posts back in 2018 😭 he saw max winning the big titles in karting. i think a few max fans are annoyed by some of lando's actions/interviews right now but they forget how he was/is always very complimentary of max as a driver/person in interviews. how he asked in the 2020 70th anniversary gp who won the race and his reaction to race engineer saying max was "legend." how he was team max throughout the whole 2021 season. how even last year he asked british fans to not boo max in silverstone. etc. and max was always there backing up lando too. stating he believes lando has what it takes to be a world champion in the future, that he made the right choice by staying in mclaren and having faith in the project.

IN 2024 they both have a fast car and they can compete against each other. max is a three time world champion, he aint got nothing else to prove. he has beaten lewis fucking hamilton. lando is the one who has everything to prove. he has to prove he can fight max hard now and back up his words. the pressure is all on lando. so how lando talks about max in race weekends, how he reacts to max's performances on track is going to change naturally. those max fans have to accept that. but things won't change for max, because max has been winning for so long now. max knows how to take losses. how to quickly recover from mistakes.

and ofc max being happy for lando in miami was ok, it was first win, everyone was happy for him. but lando doesn't want to see max happy anymore. i just beat you to pole and you come up to me to gossip about leclerc's lack of penalty??? who the fuck cares, can't you be at least a bit mad? lando will sulk after a race he feels he should've won, while max will quickly get over a p2 in miami even if he got fucked over by a SC. lando will entertain hypotheticals bc it helps knowing he was close to a win again, while max dgaf he could've won miami, he's all praises for lando.

lando does not have the self confidence max has. lando will question himself. it's normal. lando will feel conflicted. he doesn't want max to play nice with him, he doesn't want max's sympathy after he just lost a race. sympathy is just a knife. he knows it's sincere coming from max, and especially bc it's sincere he feels belittled by it. it's silly and he doesn't even want to feel that way. is he not worthy of being max's RIVAL? he doesn't want max to explain to him after the race how his aggressive move opened up the door to george overtake them both. he doesn't want max to be laughing at him in the press con. can max take me seriously for a sec?

next chapter: austria.

[russellsppttemplates]

Uh oh, I'm falling in love (Lando Norris)

Y/N and Lando both have jobs that require good sight and attention to detail and yet they're oblivious to their feelings for eachother

Note: english is not my first language. I'm in a very fluffy mood, so I got really excited when I got this request! This also makes my expectations even higher and calls me single in about seventeen different languages at once...

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: mentions a needle (for sewing)

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

"Hey guys! How's everyone?", Max said to the camera as you made sure the set up was right, the screen showing his and Lando's faces on one screen and the table on the other like it was supposed to.

"As per your many, many requests, we have brought our graphic designer at Quadrant, Y/N", Lando announced as you appeared on camera, sending a very awkward first wave to the camera, "today's stream is little different than our usual programming, but it was the only way she agreed to be in one! You guys really wanted to see her, so we had to be creative!", Max said as he moved the friendship bracelets making kit into view on the table.

"Hey, Queen Taylor said we should make the friendship bracelets, so we're just following her!", you chuckled, looking at all the coloured threads and colourful beads, sorting them out and grabbing a pen and paper so you could draw your ideas.

"Since you guys wanted to get to know Y/N, can I tell them to send in questions?", Lando questioned you, "sure, I'll answer them to the best of mu ability", you smiled.

You were picking the letters you needed for the bracelet you were making when Max spoke up, "first one: how did you start working with Quadrant? I'd love to work on the team when I finish my degree!".

"I saw the job offer, and I must admit at first I didn't really know much about the company. I looked it up, looked cool enough and I sent my CV and portfolio in. So keep your eyes peeled for any offers, I guess? We have them now on the website, which was my doing, so you can check them out there if you want to be part of the team", you offered.

"I need help, guys", Lando said as he fiddled with his bracelet, the orange and grey beads with his initials sliding on the elasticated material, I can't do the closing knot on my own", he pouted as you placed your bracelet down.

"You have to flip it like this, here. Just put it on your wrist and I'll do the rest", you ushered him, your fingertips gingerly touching his hand and wrist as you quietly laced it, "this way we don't get frilly bits out and it looks pretty, see? Pretty!", you smiled, modelling his wrist for the camera.

Pretty, that's what he often thought about you. Not only pretty, but it was one of the first physical traits that came to mind.

"We should all have matching ones!", Max said as he completed his bracelet, impressively on his own, revealing the colourful beads with Quadrant spelled in white round beads with black letters, "I'll make one for each of you", he said as he watched you show your own, pink beads and a lyric he assumed was from a Taylor Swift song.

"I'll make Y/N's, she helped me after all", Lando said as one brave fan sent a comment into the chat.

He's so giddy to make Y/N a bracelet, it's a shame it will snap because of his lack of skills

Am I delusional if I say that they'd make a great couple?

If you're delusional, then what do I call myself? I still think they're making heart eyes at eachother whenever they catch the slightest glimpse!

We're joining forces, I think it's a noble pursuit!

He's a dork, Y/N, but you should give him a chance

Have you always known you wanted to be a graphic designer?

"I thought about different careers before I settled on this one, for now at least", you explained, "engineering was in the running up, but then I figured out that I was curious about how things worked, but that didn't mean that I wanted to be the one working on it. And this was a way to express my creativity, my strategy planning as well, and at the moment it's been quite good", you smiled as Lando grabbed your wrist softly, "I need to make sure this fits", he interrupted, "and it won't snap because I've learnt how to do it, thank you very much", he blushed. So he, too, was reading the comments, choosing not to dwell in them.

"Look, this way you always have a lucky charm with you everywhere you go, even if we're not together. We're eachothers lucky charms!", Lando announced as Max mafe a fake gagging noise.

.

"Are you all ready?", you said as you and Tara walked inside the room, clasping your watch on your wrist and hoping to find the boys ready.

Quadrant had been invited to a gala dinner that celebrated the companies in the same line of business, inviting five people to take part in the meal. After some team members politely declining the invitation since they had things booked already, the group ended up being Lando, Max, Callum, Tara and yourself.

The dress required everyone to up their usual style, hence the long dress you were wearing. Even though it was far from your usual everyday attire, you felt beautiful in the dress you ended up with after browsing the online shops for a while. The cut was simple, the skirt widening from your waist down and complimenting your curves as the sheen from the midnight blue fabric looked soft and sweet against your skin.

Lando seemed to think the same, trying his best to not let his mouth hang open when you and Tara walked inside their room, heels clicking on the wooden floor as you hurried them, "does it really take that long to put on a suit? I had to help Tara with the laces on her back and we still got ready faster than the three of you?", you asked, shaking your wrist to check if the dainty watch wasn't going to fall and that it wasn't too tight either.

Looking up to meet Lando's eyes, you were sure you physically and audibly gulped. No one should look that good in a plain white shirt. The cuffs were still unbuttoned, but the shirt itself was tucked in his black pants. He didn't have any jewellery, so his tanned skin caught your eye as it contrasted with his clothes.

"Lando has a problem with his shirt and we are trying to solve it", Max said, a little bit too antsy given that, at the naked eye, there didn't seem to be a big issue with the piece of clothing you had been inspecting quite closely.

"There was a loose button, and I tried to fix it, but I made it worse", Lando said as he pointed to the button on his hand, the slight movement showing you the place where it was supposed to he holding the piece together and closed.

"Three people in this room and no one thought about grabbing the sewing kit from the amenities?", Tara suggested, looking for it in the box that was the same as it was in your room, "see? Simple as that! Can you sew it, Y/N? My hand isn't fully healed yet, I can't quite grasp something that small yet".

Tara had injured herself earlier on in the week, prompting her to ask to tag out of the gala until you pleaded her to go so you wouldn't be alone, so she couldn't do it. None of the other guys seemed to even know how to pull the thread through the needle, so you grabbed the kit from Tara's hand, "sure, I'll do it", you said, "if that's okay with you, that is", you looked over at Lando.

"Sure, anything to solve this. Do I keep it on or should I take it off?", he questioned, wanting to slap himself straight after at his offer. Why would he volunteer to be shirtless in front of you? It certainly wasn't the way to go, shoving himself like that.

"On should be fine", you muttered, missing the snickers going on behind you as you wet the thread with your tongue, careful to not transfer any of the lipstick on it and ruining the piece without point of return for good, easily looping it through and adjusting the size of the ends.

"Button", you put your hand out so Lando could place it in your fingers, "I will do my best not to poke you, let me know if I do so accidentally", you mumbled at the closeness to him you found yourself in. It was the third button from the top, and as much as you loved the sight of the shirt slightly undone, the dinner required his shirt to be done up. Looping the thread on the button a few times, you moved to pierce the crisp white fabric so it would be secure, your hands dangerously close to his skin as you could hear his laboured breath. Lando still remembered and thought constantly about your fingers touching his hand and wrist when you did the friendship bracelets video for the YouTube channel, and right now, it only added to his predicament.

"It's done, all good!", you exclaimed, looking up as you cut the thread and seeing Lando's eyes on you. The intensity nearly threw you off of your balance as you stood the tiniest bit crouched down on your high heels.

Scrambling to further the distance between your bodies, you smoothed out the non existent wrinkles on your dress, storing the supplies back in the kit as Lando managed to utter out a thank you, too stunned and intoxicated by your scent to say anything else.

"I sewed a button as neither of you look any more ready that you were when we got here? We're going to be late!", you hurried, sitting next to Tara and ignoring her smirk as you scrolled through your phone.

.

"That shoot will have to wait since Lando won't be back here soon, then", you said, moving things around in the online shared calendar, "when did you say you could again? I'm sorry", you asked, rubbing your forehead and squeezing your eyes, adjusting your glasses and looking at him through the screen.

"The first weekend of the next month", Lando assured, "are you okay, Y/N?", he asked. The bags under your eyes didn't fool anyone and you looked tired. And sick, he guessed by the layers of clothing you had on.

"I had a pretty shit day, actually", you admitted, "I had to go with the guys from storage because there was an issue. The supplier sent the samples and we wanted to get things moving so I could have some ideas for the description and the social media team also wanted to prep the draft for the whole story telling, but it all went under. I also think I caught some bug, so it's been a fun day", you exaggeratingly smiled, mocking your own misery.

"You look like you need a hug, Y/N. Do you need a hug?", Lando asked as you nodded, "Actually, that would be pretty good, but I live alone. The neighbours would think I'm pretty weird if I went around like this asking for one, too", you reasoned.

Even though he wasn't next to you, Lando still managed to pull a smile out of you as he got up from the chair he was sitting in, hugging his laptop, "did you feel that hug?", he loudly wondered, "it's full of Get well soon fairy dust!", he smiled charmingly.

"Fairy dust, mate?", Callum wondered, reminding you of his presence in the videocall, "you try and spend more than a few hours with a little girl and you let me know. Mila has taught me all about fairy dust and princess magic", Lando added.

.

"How will we get out of here?", you wondered, starting to regret joining Lando, Max and Pietra when they said they were going to watch a football game. You loved the sport and you figured it would be a nice distraction after a work loaded week, but now, things were looking less than a distraction.

"We will let them space out once the game finishes, free up the roads as well because getting out of here will be a pain, too", Lando suggested.

The game granted your team a win and three points in the championship, the crowd going wild as they clapped, whistled and waved their scarfs, slowly leaving the stadium.

"Should we make a run for it now?", Pietra said, holding her boyfriend's hand as she allowed him to pull her away.

You followed Lando, thanking his choice of a colourful hoodie to wear today as it made it easier for you to spot him, "go in front of me, I'll back you up", he switched positions. You weren't having too much trouble until you were met with a ramp, people carelessly shoving others as they tried to leave as quick as they could, all with the same intent of avoiding traffic and crowded roads.

"Here, Y/N", you heard Lando as he grabbed your hand, lacing your fingers in his and pulling you along, excusing you two as you approached Max and Pietra again, "we're here", you tapped the blonde woman's shoulder with your free hand.

"Goodness, that was and adventure", she said once you reached the stadium car park, the crowd clearing up significantly as there was maybe another ten people headed the same way as you were now, "is everyone alright? I think someone stepped on my foot quite a few times, or many people stepped on it at various different times", you reasoned, walking alongside Lando still.

"Don't we need to hand the bracelets back?", Max said as he looked at the sign, taking his bracelet off and depositing it in the box in the booth, Pietra doing the same as you seemed distracted.

"Are you okay, Y/N?", Max asked, seeing you and Lando were still holding hands and, because of that, not taking off your bracelets.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?", you scrunched your eyebrows, "we need to hand the bracelets back in, so I kind of need to have yours, too", he teased, looking at your hand still entwined with Lando's.

Removing your hand from Lando's as if it har started burning all of a sudden, you removed the bracelet, apologising quietly to the stadium employee as you thanked him, "shall we go now?".

"Dinner out?", Lando gulped, getting into the driver's seat, "Good idea, yes", Max added, sitting in the passenger's seat as you and Pietra sat in the back, your hand rubbing your other hand that had been laced with Lando's own one for a long time. Uh oh, you were falling in love.

.

The launch was finally over after an amazing response from the fans, leaving your heart happy and warm with a sense of mission accomplished.

"Is everything packed into the van?", you asked Tara, "yes, it's just this box. It has fragile things, so do you think you guys can take it in the car with you? It probably only fits at the front, so you'll have to squeeze in with the boys on the back", she smiled apologetically, "it's fine, we'll keep eachother warm like penguins do", you chuckled, holding the door open as she set the box safely.

Saying goodbye to her and the rest of the team, Max and Lando joined you, "You sit in the middle seat", Max pointed at you, opening the door ao you could scoot closer to Lando and he could get in.

"Could you tell me how long we have until get back?", Lando asked the driver, "with traffic at this hour, I'd say around 90 minutes", he smiled, turning on the blinker so he could leave the car park.

"Plenty of time for me to catch up on sleep, then!", you cheered, making yourself comfortable in the space you had, folding your scarf into an impromptu travel pillow, closing your eyes.

"Are you a snorer?", Max asked, making you blindly swat his thigh, "only when I'm sick, and lucky for you, I'm in presteen health, no blocked nose", you grumbled.

It didn't take you long to fall asleep. In the last week, all of the nights combined, you probably slept less than thirty hours, so your body was indeed in need of rest.

"And there it goes", Max said as your pillow undid itself, Lando lifting his shoulder in reflex so your head wouldn't drop drastically, landing on top of him, "Good thing she isn't our engineer, hm?", he chuckled, looking at how his bestfriend was looking at you like you hung the stars and the moon.

"I think I'm in love with Y/N", Lando whispered after he took your appearance in. You had forgone wearing make-up today, so he could see all your moles and scars, your pouty lips and the darkened skin under your eyes. It took everything in him to not bend down and kiss your forehead.

"Congrats on being the last one to find out, mate", Max added, shaking his head, "I genuinely thought you had some issue processing information, I'm glad to find out you don't.

"Now you just have to act on it, which is going to take you, what? Two, three more months?".

[petit-papillion]

It's crazy how misinformation keeps being spread. I saw a person on twitter who had a lot of followers and a podcast about f1 saying ferrari asked what tires carlos thought it was better and carlos answered "soft". And then they gave the soft to charles and hard to carlos.

When someone posted the transcription of the radio (from twitter user team55) that shows carlos answered "hards or softs" they said the transcription was wrong.

When someone mentioned ferrari wanted to give charles hards but charles refused, they said its not true and the only reason they gave charles soft was because carlos said it was the better tire.

I went back to listen the radios and the person is simply lying.

Ferrari asked carlos what he prefer between mediums, soft or hards and he said "hards or soft"

Ferrari told charles they were thinking about putting hards and he said "no that's stupid".

So whats the point to make up things like this ? Just so people can keep the narrative that carlos is the strategy master and ferrari favors charles ?

And it's one thing if it was just a random account but it's someone with a plataform. there's a lot of fans that don't have access to f1tv there are just believing what this person said.

Hi Anon! I feel like the F1 broadcasts have hugely contributed to this perception of Carlos being a strategic mastermind by being very selective about what they broadcast from team radio. Drive to Survive gets picked on for painting false narratives, but the main broadcast is, at times, just as bad. They pick and choose team radio, sometimes don't broadcast everything that was said or omit follow-up radio that puts the original one in a different light, or don't transcribe it correctly ("There was a cut." when Charles said "There was a cat." comes to mind). I do like that they put "I'm OK." on screen when a driver has crashed and they know from team radio the driver is okay. And I also understand it takes a little while to transcribe team radio. But to my recollection they have never actually said it's just a standard message they use, and instead they make it seem like they are quoting the driver, who in fact may have said, "I'm in the fucking wall." or "Red flag! Red flag! I'm in the middle of the track!!!"

Anyway, on to your point: why make things up? For the same reason drivers lie (and yes, they all do at one point or another) when they are on team radio or talking to the media. To make themselves look good/innocent. And some go to far more extremes than others. Fans are no different: we are biased towards our fave and have a really hard time accepting when he does something we don't like or agree with, as our meow meow just can do no wrong. Some people come up with excuses, others with just blatant lies. See recently Lestappen fans when Max chose Lando, Daniel and Checo as his top 3 friends on the grid, and they said he had to pick Checo because he's his teammate, otherwise he would've said Charles. Could be true, but that would still only put Charles as his 3rd best friend. Wouldn't Max have put Charles as his undisputed number 1 if they are really that close?

Sorry, I digress. The point is, we all need to use critical thinking to the best of our ability, check facts when we can, and try not to stay in a vacuum of like-minded people, but it's unavoidable to have false narratives slip in when it is being fed to us every race weekend. Commentators are biased and although we expect them to be objective, they often are not. I stopped listening to Sky, but it is incredibly clear Crofty's favourite driver is Norris, Chandhok is a Carlos-fan, etc. And you are right, not everyone has access to F1TV to check the onboards, but in this case, they do have access to Twitter and can look at more than just the tweets telling them lies.

In case anyone needs proof of what Charles said:

🎥 bliss_n16

[landoom]

Hey, idk if you take in opinions on your asks so feel free to ignore this if you don't feel comfortable with it but I needed to say this somewhere and you were one of the only people that I remembered that wouldn't for sure make fun or hate on me

Lando gets huge amounts if hate online and imo it's getting out of control for awhile. I know hate will always exist in this fandom but lately I've been seeing Lando getting hate for such small things that it's quite crazy, and some things doesn't make sense. People hate on him for not "owning his mistakes" but more often than not always when I see his interviews he takes the blame even if it was not his fault?? Are we even seeing the same interviews?! This baffles me so much

And today with Lando calling Max out for overtaking under the safety car, its not a big deal ffs. Not only Lando does it, many other drivers do it aswell and apparently Lewis did it to Nico today and he's not getting flamed bc of that simple act. My biggest problem with this is that when for example George does it, it's seen as "inspector George is on the case" and that's pretty funny tbh, but bc Lando is "horrible" then he's worth of being hated for it, showing how many double standards there is on the fandom. And he wasn't even complaining! He was just stating it! Also the parasocial comments that come from this, the "Max should just stop being friends with Lando bc he's a terrible friend to him" just makes me so annoyed bc we never know what is happening behind close doors and obviously they will be competitors on the track first and foremost

Sorry for yapping on your ask box, I hope you have a great day/night!

sorry, I've been a bit busy so I'm finally answering you.

As a preamble, let me say I'm talking here about "haters" only. People who don't like Lando but remain respectful are 100% right to do so.

The subject of the hate Lando is receiving is for me a bit complicated to analyse. And so for multiple reasons :

It's localized mostly on X (a bit on Insta and here but not it such a visible way).

It started "out of nowhere" in the sense that, from my understanding, it didn't come after one specific event but more gradually once Lando started getting good results and more attention in the middle of the 2023 season

There is also a fad around it. Hating on him gets you views and reactions so more and more people are following the "trend"

That being said, I think that as fans or enjoyers of Lando, we need to remind ourselves a few things in order to not give those haters any power!

All drivers have haters (sadly) but some have more vocal ones or receive more attention in general.

Lando haters are mostly anonymous sad people on the Internet! Look at the love he receives wherever he goes! Look at all his fans congratulating him.

These haters need to be blocked, we need to curate our experience on social media as much as possible!

Lando is so well-loved in the paddock. Journalists and pundits are more than often positive about him (as a person and as a driver). This means way much more than stupid hate coming from people hidden behind their screens.

So, yes, he's often unfairly criticised (cf. the example you cited) but I, personally, have decided to stop caring about it because I don't want the haters to "win" by getting me angry or tarnishing my experience of F1. They don't deserve that power over me!

[laura1633]

Alright Laura!! I really need to say something and you’re the only person I think who would understands me (nobody around me who likes f1 is a max fan🥲)

I NEED A MAX WIN this weekend. And a Charles p2. And a lando blow that. Because I can’t anymore. 💔

To begin with, lando is closing in on max!! And I know the gap is still 70 points. But with everybody talking and calculating what lando has to do to win, it gives me stress. And it looks so possible…

Second, rb20 isn’t it. First I thought it can’t be THAT bad, but it is THAT BAD.😭 I don’t what they did with the car and why they have no clue how to fixed it but it makes me crazy.

And third, Lando’s car is a good car!! So if he doesn’t make a mistake I can see that he will win again this weekend. And that would be very dangerous because he will be closing in again…

Furthermore, I get the feeling max doesn’t want to keep doing this for longer if the car doesn’t show improvement. And am scared.

Am sorry for my stress rambling, but I had to get it off my chest😮‍💨

Xoxoxox take care !!!🤍

That's okay, definitely feel free to talk Max with me any time!! I definitely know how you feel. I would love a Max win so much this weekend or if not a win then just ahead of Lando would be enough at this stage!! 

I do think it could be a difficult block of four races (Zandvoort, Monza, Baku and Singapore) as it looks like Red Bull are working to identify the issues and reverse engineer the car a little bit. I have some hope that they can get to the bottom of it before the latter stages of the season though and we know Max only needs a competitive car to win, he doesn’t need the fastest. So hopefully things get better. We have seen teams have issues and then come back stronger towards the end of the year. 

Even if Lando does win this weekend I don’t think it would be time to panic too much. I just can’t see him winning all the rest of the races even in a dominant car, that would mean winning 10 races in a row … something Lewis never managed to achieve when he had a dominant car and I personally rate Lewis higher as a driver compared to Lando. 

We will just have to see. Max will do his best and hang on in there as much as he can and hopefully in the meantime they can at least give him a car to fight with. Hopefully the large gap last weekend was a lot to do with Max running the old floor to data gather and the fact they had practically no set up time (something we know Red Bull need in order to get the car balanced). Even then he still came in P2.

I know a lot of people want to see more ‘fighting’ talk from Max but I personally like that he is realistic and is saying that he will do the best he can with the machinery he has and then what happens happens. He is a multiple world champion, he has so many records to his name, he will go down as one of the greatest of all times. I think this season has shown what an amazing driver he is and what seemed like an awful weekend last weekend was P2!!

I would love to say that he will definitely see out his contract but he threatens to retire all the time 😂. The good thing though is that he only really threatens to retire from F1, he always follows it up by saying there is other stuff he wants to do so I definitely think he will continue racing. Getting to see him build this huge racing legacy across other series will be so much fun to watch and is going to be so satisfying. And maybe he will race in a series where it is cheaper to get tickets 😂 Or maybe he will see what happens in 2025 and then give Toto a call if things aren't working out at Red Bull!

Max is doing amazing things this season and will continue to do amazing things 💕

[mirohlayo]

F1 DRIVERS AND THINGS THEY

ONLY DO WITH YOU

including mclaren, ferrari, mercedes + verstappen, ricciardo & gasly

warning : none

note : not my fav one but i guess it's still okay

!! english not my first language !!

ᦈ OSCAR PIASTRI 81

turns into an extrovert guy. usually, oscar is an introvert person. he is very calm, and not extra energetic. maybe shy sometimes, but he's definitely a pure introvert. but when you're here, oh it's not the same anymore. he would become so extrovert, because he feels literally so comfortable around you. he shows only to you his funny and weird side and he even enjoys it more because it makes you laugh a lot. his race team would probably tease him about it. but oscar doesn't care, he'll continue to change into an extrovert person only for you.

ᦈ LANDO NORRIS 4

hugs you. lando doesn't much like hugs. he just doesn't like contact, when people touch him. of course, when fans or close people would ask him a hug, he'll do it. just a simple hug of barely 2 seconds. but when it comes to you, he literally loves hugs. you're the only one he loves hugging and would never refuse you a hug. he's simply the happiest man alive whenever you wrap your arms around him, as he pulls you even closer because he loves your touch. and it's not just a quick hug like he would do with fans. sometimes he would stay in your arms for minutes, stroking your back as he enjoys fully your embrace.

ᦈ CHARLES LECLERC 16

let you sit in his racing car. only drivers and reserve drivers are allowed to drive the cars. and charles loves his car more than anything. he doesn't let anybody sit down on the seat. he doesn't let anybody touch the steering wheel. except you. you and only you. one day you asked him if you could sit in the car and he was so happy that you asked, so he didn't hesitate to say yes. he would giggles seeing your little body seated in the impressive car. and he would also takes pictures of you, probably choosing one of them for his new lockscreen.

ᦈ CARLOS SAINZ 55

lost games on purpose for you. carlos can be very competitive. he doesn't really like losing. whether races or games or golf, he doesn't care, he needs his victory in everything he does. but if you're playing against him, you can be sure you'll surprisingly always win. because carlos would let you win on purpose. he's totally okay with losing if you're the winner one. he also loves seeing your proud and happy face every time you win something, so he just keeps losing on purpose to admire your smile crosses your lips as you get excited and give him a fist bump.

ᦈ LEWIS HAMILTON 44

passenger privilege. lewis is such a good driver. when he needs to transform into a taxi driver, he makes sure his passengers are comfortable. mostly driving slower and following safer routes. also he talks with them, maintaining a pleasant conversation. but that carefulness doubles when you're the passenger. sitting next to his seat, he would gently stroke your thighs. he drives carefully and smoothly, he doesn't want bumps or short stops. he'll hitch small cushions to your seat so that you can be comfortable, and he'll buy some drinks so that you can enjoy fully the ride.

ᦈ GEORGE RUSSEL 63

private hairdresser. george's hair is often messy. and sometimes he's too much lazy to take care of it. but he doesn't like when people would touch his hair. it's is little precious thing, you have to be very important to george to actually touch his soft hair. and you are the only one. you're the most important person to his eyes, so of course you have the privilege to touch and even style his hair. whenever he needs a retouch, he would call you and let you play or style his hair as you want, it doesn't even bother him a bit.

ᦈ MAX VERSTAPPEN 33

give you his podium trophies. this guy has such an incredible amount of trophies. and, well, he doesn't really know what to do with them anymore. exhibit them ? throw them ? no, absolutely not. instead, he thought giving them to someone could be a good idea. and he directly thinks about you. every time he wins a race, he retrieves his well deserved trophy and runs to offer it to you. because for him you're the only winner of his heart and you're the only one he trusts to take care of them. and you're not a f1 driver, so you're always happy to carry an amazing trophy. especially when it's max who won it.

ᦈ DANIEL RICCIARDO 3

gives you a special smile. daniel is such a joyful guy. he's always smiling or laughing and it's rare for him to not be in a good mood. if you're feeling bad and need some comfort just call for him he will makes you laugh in ten seconds starting now. his smile never disappears from his face. but when you are around, his smile changes dramatically. for the others, he would give them a simple but still warm smile. but for you, it is all special. a soft, sweet smile crosses his face as he makes eye contact with you, adoration weaving in his eyes. he just become softer with you.

ᦈ PIERRE GASLY 10

buys you gifts. pierre likes to please his friends or his family. it's like a part of his personality. he has the need to offer to his loved ones gifts or things they like. but it would be more for special occasions. like christmas, birthdays... but you're kind of the exception. for you, he would buy anything. even though you don't even need it, he would gift you everything you want. something you really need, a pair of shoes you liked, or a random object he would buy you because it reminds him of you. yeah, whatever, you just need to watch a bit too much longer a thing and he's already offering you it. yes, he probably likes to spoil you.

[ilovejevsjeans]

The mental health revolution changing F1 for the better

Formula 1 drivers are superheroes. They always have been, and always will be, pushing themselves and their cars to the limit week after week.

But it is often forgotten that F1 drivers are also human beings. They face emotions and challenges like the rest of us, yet do so amid the pressures of one of the most exclusive and competitive sporting series in the world.

As mental health has become more of a talking point for society as a whole in recent years, its place within racing is also coming more and more into the spotlight.

The pinnacle of motorsport has tended to operate as an environment where, if you're not up to the job, you'll be replaced. The stigma surrounding mental health means that opening up can be seen as a sign of weakness, which for drivers is not something they are often willing to show for fear of it being used to their rivals' advantage.

"Even if you have them, I would never say so," says Max Verstappen. "Why would you say your weakness, even if you have one? Why would you explain that? No, I would never say those kind of things."

But some of Verstappen's peers have been trying to change things. Daniel Ricciardo has been part of a mental health campaign within Renault, and explained the importance of having a close core group to be able to talk to, relieving some of the pressures of F1.

"You sometimes might keep things close to you, you think it might be showing some weakness or whatever," Ricciardo says. "For me, trying to stay positive and all that stuff, it's really about the people I choose to have around me, close friends or family or whatever that you can bounce things off and talk openly.

"I put a lot of trust in people. I think it's quite easy for me to talk to someone and be open. I don't seem to bottle a whole lot up. But you need that outlet.

"Motorsport, for the most part, is a male-dominated sport. There's a lot of ego and pride, and not everyone always feels OK opening up and being a bit vulnerable."

Lando Norris was particularly open in talking about his mental health battles upon arriving in F1, revealing during his rookie season that he had been working with a mind coach to help ease some anxiety and confidence struggles during his rise up the motorsport ladder. But the pressures of his rookie season took their toll.

"Last year it looked like I was really confident and not nervous, and it was more that I put on a brave face," Norris reveals. "Inside I was struggling a lot. I think I just covered it up quite well last year."

As Norris' confidence grew and his debut season went according to plan, he stopped working with his mind coach: "Doing it more on my own and taking my own responsibility for it was part of the growth that I needed."

He's found ways to properly manage his confidence battles, citing his video game streaming as a fun outlet that helps him switch off from the pressures of F1. And his on-track performances this year have been among the best on the grid. He is now in a stronger place.

Imposter syndrome - where someone has a feeling of inadequacy despite achieving success - is something that is part and parcel of racing in F1, given the comparisons between every driver on the grid in the competition for wins, podiums and even race seats.

"It's something that I struggled a lot with, especially before going into Formula 1, and during last year," Norris says. "The belief of if I've got what it takes, and what do I think comparing to my team-mate or comparing to other drivers, obviously always comparing against other people - that's the thing that screws with your head sometimes.

"It's something that is very tough to deal with, self-belief and everything like that. There are a lot of things that I've struggled with over the past few years and growing up.

"Not everyone wants to talk about it all the time, but it's something that I've struggled with. I'm sure many other drivers have thought about and struggled with over the past."

Drivers also have to contend with the sometimes necessary evil of social media. All but one driver - Sebastian Vettel - have some kind of social presence. While it allows them to give fans an insight into their lives and help boost their profile, making it a handy marketing tool, it also leaves them open to abuse from anyone with a keyboard.

Romain Grosjean has previously opened up about receiving criticism across platforms, even when posting about his life away from F1. But he has learned how to deal with the trolls.

"Mentally, I'm quite strong, and I've shown it through the years," the Haas driver says. "It's never nice to read, a lot of people are assuming things that are not correct.

"I guess it's freedom of talking. I'm fully onboard with people saying what they say, and what they think. Sometimes it's just not based on truth. It's wrong, and that's a bit disappointing."

He even likes to tackle some of them head-on: "I reply to some and talk about it. It makes me laugh, and whenever good results are coming, I just want to give them a thumbs up, or maybe another [finger]...

"We just need to make sure that we don't pay too much attention to those, because they're just people on their sofa. They've got no idea what we're living through, they've got no idea what our body goes through or our career, how tiring it is, how much it takes on the family and so on, that we are away so much on the road.

"They just like to abuse you because it's easy and it's free. They can keep going for it, I don't mind. Thanks for the ones that support me. I think there are maybe more people who support me than those that hate me."

Ahead of his breakthrough podium at Mugello last weekend, Alexander Albon had been facing pressure over his results at Red Bull, particularly in some corners of social media.

To him, the best way to deal with it is simply not to look at it, accepting what people say is out of his control.

"It's quite simple: we just don't look at anything further by your phone," Albon says plainly. "In the end, you're the only one that can really make the change. All these comments, they're there, but they're not in control of anything - I am.

"You understand it, or you see it, but it doesn't affect me. I just see it as they have an opinion. That's great. But I'm here to be better. And then that's what I'm focused on."

As Ricciardo mentioned, the ego-driven, often machismo-heavy nature of F1 means signs of vulnerability are taken as weakness. It creates a toxicity that is hardly healthy for the paddock environment.

But things are changing. F1 drivers are now talking more openly about the mental pressures of racing, including six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton posted on Instagram recently about his "two sides", calling himself "someone who is figuring life out day by day, just like you, trying to find inner peace, manage time, balance work and life, finding time for family and friends, working on managing my emotions".

Hamilton added that he had "a lot of difficult days" and urged his followers that it was "never a bad thing to ask for help if you need it, or to tell somebody how you feel. Showing your vulnerable side doesn't make you weak, instead, I like to think of it as a chance to become stronger."

That vulnerable side is all too rare to see in F1, something Hamilton acknowledged when asked by this writer about his post.

"Between the drivers, ultimately as competitors, it is not the first thing you think of doing, being open and expressing yourself," he says.

"But I think it is really important, and more important than what is happening here. It is not really about me necessarily, more about in the world everyone is struggling with something and it is creating parallels that you can relate to.

"What I was trying to convey, that it is OK to have those difficult days, those are the growing days I think where you find the most growth. I am managing well, and I have a good group of people around me."

Teams are also embarking on more programmes focusing on mental health to support their workforce and get the very best out of them. McLaren has a partnership with mental health charity Mind, which was announced in July. The team has been helping work on fundraising for the charity, recently holding a prize draw for two custom-painted helmets from Norris and team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

As F1 teams focus on 'human performance', mental health has become more and more a part of that.

"You want the best performance out of everyone, how to put everyone in their best position and their most comfortable position to perform," Norris says. "More and more F1 teams, and we are as a team, McLaren, are taking more and more recognition to these kind of things, and raising awareness for it."

The 'new generation' of F1 drivers have been refreshing for so many reasons, but their willingness to open up more and talk about mental health struggles is hugely important. It will hopefully create lasting change that can be felt throughout the paddock, and make the often cut-throat world of F1 become more understanding. (X)

[formula-one-thoughts]

Styrian Grand Prix Race Weekend Review

Whilst I think we can agree any racing is good racing, there is an argument to be made that qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix was more exciting than the race itself. One of the most rain-drenched sessions I’ve ever seen, all of the drivers exhibited incredible skill. I honestly expected far more chaos and crashes than we saw, but was grateful that we were treated to some spectacular displays of driving with only one red flag punctuating the session.  The Racing Points did NOT seem to enjoy the rain, but someone who did was George Russell, who managed to pull off a spectacular P12, and then was promoted to P11 following Charles Leclerc’s grid penalty. It was Williams’ first appearance in Q2 since Brazil 2018, and it was wonderful to see George display the talent he so clearly has (despite his race not going quite so well). The Uno reverse card came out at Ferrari, with this time Vettel pushing Leclerc out of Q3, the German only able to manage P10 at the end of the day. The battle for pole was primarily between the two drivers who have gained the strongest reputations for commanding a rainy track: Hamilton and Verstappen. But while Max put in a brilliant performance, demonstrating great control as he saved his car from a nasty accident after sliding through the final corner (the kind of thing we first saw in Brazil 2016), it was Lewis’s day. He put in a completely commanding final lap that cemented him as back in the game after a disappointing last weekend, the gap between him and Verstappen a mind-blowing and unheard of 1.2 seconds! Sainz, Ocon and Gasly also impressed, qualifying P3, P5 and P7 respectively.

Due to the wet qualifying, everyone had a free choice of tyres come race day, with most drivers electing to begin on the softs. Almost instantly it was all over for Ferrari, an ill-judged move from Leclerc taking their weekend from bad to worse. It goes back to the saying that you can’t win a race on the first lap, but you can easily lose one. His attempt to go down the inside of Vettel was completely unnecessary, and both drivers paid the price (Leclerc did apologise profusely and accept all the blame). With their car not even looking ‘best of the rest’ and this being their second race ending collision in four races, you get the feeling Sainz might be feeling a little less than happy about his upcoming move to the Scuderia. The incident necessitated a safety car for a couple of laps whilst the remains of Vettel’s rear wing were cleared off the track.

The majority of the race was not super eventful, with only one further retirement – Esteban Ocon. Hamilton pulled away from Verstappen and the trio of Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas in turn pulled away from those behind them. The midfield was closely bunched together for much of the race with lots of good battles, Perez in particular making his mark with a remarkable drive where he was up to 5thfrom 17thby lap 49 (having also pitted), pulling out fastest laps all over the place. Stroll was not able to make quite the same impact, struggling to pass Ricciardo for most of the race. Sainz’s race was rather ruined by a botched pit stop that put him out at the back of the group that included Norris, Ricciardo and Stroll, but he did manage to set fastest lap (and set a new lap record), giving McLaren their first consecutive fastest laps since 2011.

It really started to heat up on lap 67, with Bottas finally catching Verstappen, who was struggling with older tyres and some front wing damage. It looked like the Finn had got him, but Verstappen pulled off an insane move to regain the position, if only for 1 lap. It really showed Max’s passion that despite knowing Valterri was in the faster car and would eventually pass him he still put up an amazing fight, providing the fans with the entertainment we wanted. In my opinion, this drive, fight, and unwillingness to give up are the qualities of a future world champion. Perez finally caught Albon, but suffered damage that seriously compromised his speed, causing him to drop back. Lando Norris has come alive at the end of both races so far, and it’s great to see. Over the final 2 laps he went from 8thto 5th, capitalising upon Stroll and Ricciardo’s battle that saw both cars go off-track, and then passing the ailing car of Perez on the penultimate corner. The Mexican was soon caught by his teammate and the Renault, and the trio crossed the line three abreast, Perez just clinging on to 6thwith only a second separating Norris in 5thand Ricciardo in 8th. It was a Mercedes 1-2, with Hamilton putting in a totally dominant performance to win the race.

One of the most powerful moments of the weekend came during the podium celebration, when Stephanie Travers, Mercedes’ Trackside Fluid Engineer, accepted their constructor’s trophy. She is one of only NINE women ever to stand on an F1 podium, and the only woman of colour. I want to talk about gender diversity in the sport more in another post, but the importance of Stephanie standing up there alongside the drivers cannot be understated. Representation is so important, and the fact that women and young people of colour could see someone who looked like them on that podium says there is a place for them in the sport. I would read Lewis’s Instagram post if you want to find out more about Stephanie, and I think he was certainly instrumental in selecting her to join him for the champagne. Other teams should take note; although this is only a start, it was a display of genuine (rather than just performative) allyship.

Ferrari need to get their act together for Hungary this weekend; if they don’t show any improvement then I can’t see them having much of a chance of success for the rest of the year. Apart from Sainz’s pit stop it was a great weekend for McLaren, who stand 3rdin the constructors championship, with Norris maintaining 3rdin the drivers (with over half the points he managed to get all of last year). Toto Wolff has said he expects Red Bull to be a threat at the Hungaroring, but he has been known to make these kind of comments only for the Mercedes to appear stronger than ever, so we shall have to wait and see. Verstappen was narrowly beaten by Hamilton for the win last year, but managed to secure his first pole position, and has performed steadily there over the years. However, this is arguably the track where Hamilton has seen the most success – he has won 7 out of his 13 races there, and could be set to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of most race wins at the same circuit. Whatever happens, I can’t wait for more racing.

[studentville-struggles]

For the Love of Cars // Lando Norris

So I’ve been struggling with A Double Life // part 3 because of #writersblock so in the last 2 hours threw this trash together so I could just write something. Anyone else?

Pairing: Lando Norris x reader

Words: 2093

Proofread? It’s barely written let alone proofread. It might not even be coherent.

Masterlist

Summary:  A girls holiday Grand Prix trip leads to a series of incredible friendships, but could there be more?

Girls trips are the stuff of movies. Dutch braids, glitter, bottles of Prosecco and wine made days of sightseeing and sunbathing hilarious story-filled memories. These three girls had been your confidants and party partners since you arrived at university two years ago. This mini-break was your final getaway before you all headed back for your final year, a last hurrah of the summer.  

You’d gone shopping, sunbathing, done a wine tour and even hired a little sailboat for a day, something for each of you as well as the things for all of you. Today was your day, the day you got to pick something to do. You were all nerds in your own way and they’d just have to get on your level now.  

It wasn’t all bad the girls decided, there was an element of getting ready, finding that perfect outfit. The girls could cope with outfit critiquing and celeb spotting as you wandered around fangirling at everything little thing you could. You loved cars, always had. You had a little banger you worked on when you were 16, not that you’d have been able to drive it even if you could fix it. The only thing was, you’d never managed to get tickets for a Grand Prix before, so when the opportunity arose for this holiday, you had to.

You were just wandering around various exhibits and chatting about the cars and what you were looking forward to – the girls didn’t really watch formula 1 or care about the cars but were gracious enough to listen along to your ramblings – when another girl, she looked to be in similar age to you, started joining in with some of your chat when you were looking at an exhibit.  

“This is really random” she began, following on from your chit chat about engine providers, “but you wouldn’t happen to be at a lot of these would you?”  

“Grand Prix? No this is my first, never managed to get tickets before.”  

“No fair, it’s always fun to mix cars and girl talk. I don’t usually get that.”  

“Oh no, how come?”

“I come with my boyfriends family, it’s alright when his mum or sister is here but sometimes it’s a little male if you get what I mean?”

“Oh no I’m with you 100%, I’m usually the same.”  

Dilara and yourself exchanged numbers, with you suddenly realising why she travelled to a lot of Grand Prix with her boyfriends family. Given she was the girlfriend of one of the best drivers on the grid. You had promised to keep in touch and message if you were early to the track tomorrow.  

Your friends always joked that you could make friends anywhere given half a chance but it appeared to be true this time. Dilara became a good friend very quickly, having found you had a very similar sense of humour and managed to keep in touch with her after the Grand Prix. Some of your messages to each other were hilarious, and it turned out that she loved a fair few of the go memes that had properly tickled you as well.  

Noticing the random laughs at texts, Max had apparently gotten a little jealous and had asked who she’s been laughing at. After explaining your bizarre meeting and how you had been keeping in touch, Dilara started telling Max about you, the jokes and memes she’d passed on. Then an idea formed.  

“Do you know who she reminds me of?”  

“Yes and I’m already trying to plan so don’t do anything stupid.”

——

Only a few weeks later and you had some VIP paddock passes arriving in the post. You were informed, not asked or invited, that you were going to the next Grand Prix with Dilara and Max, ‘Lara apparently deciding she needed more female company and you needed more time with the cars.  

“Oh wow look at this we’re bumping into drivers so randomly, hi Lando how are you?” You raised your eyebrows at her but introduced yourself to the McLaren driver.

Lando became someone very important very quickly. You were both total fangirls over motorsport, and total nerds in your ‘thing’. The fact you could sit and chat and never feel bad for getting too excited about a project, or his races, new setups they were trying, was refreshing. You loved the girls, you loved your time with Dilara, but the friendship with Lando was, in a way, different.  

Whenever you quizzed Dilara on her weird introduction of Lando, she would merely shrug say that she was weird and that she knew how well you’d get on.

It wasn’t long before you found yourself spending more and more time at his house. You’d sit in the next room as he played on twitch, finalising papers and essays and cover letters for Masters programmes. Once you were ready you’d have him proofread them. It didn’t matter that he barely understood the topic of your essay, in fact, it made him better at proofreading, always highlighting the bits he thought didn’t make sense. You would usually wait until he finished on twitch, not that you had to wait long given the time you would spend working.  

Tonight, however, Lando knew you didn’t have much to do, merely formatting. So  20 minutes into his twitch stream, he shouted for you, earning a ‘Jesus Christ’ from Max who had to deal with that through a microphone.. Sticking your head around the corner, Lando was asking if you were done and if he could read your paper yet.  

“Yeah, I was just waiting till you finished streaming.”  

“Nah I’m only racing Max, you take over and I can read.”

“Hey!” Max chimed in, indignantly.  

You handed a print out of your paper to Lando and pulled on the headset. Comments came in on Lando's stream almost immediately asking who you were and if you were Lando's girlfriend. Unfortunately, your familiarity with Max only added to the dating comments and they couldn’t quite work out how else you could know both of them.  

That twitch experience was the first of many. It became a fairly frequent occurrence, you taking over and driving for Lando as he read your work, you chatting to Max and generally bantering about. Once or twice Dilara was with Max and managed to steal the headset allowing the two of you to chat holidays and mini-break ideas, something that was never shown on media other than that. The fans were obsessed with your friendship, and also obsessed with the idea of you and Lando together.  

You never brought up their speculation, you couldn’t without admitting how much you had come to care for Lando and how much his approval on the little things meant to you. Every time he let you on his twitch streams, your heart would flutter. Every time he would take you along to a Grand Prix, you had a little celebration, feeling like he might just care like you did. 

But he never said anything, he never did anything other than what friends could do. You tried dropping hints, you made him dinner more often than not at one point, always brought him a cuppa when you had him proofread your work. Nothing. You were starting to think your friends were right when they said that boys were oblivious to everything. That or he was ignoring your little hints in the hope you’d give up. He was a formula one driver after all; he could have any girl he wanted, why would he settle for little old you, student, nerd,  nothing special. You weren’t a model or a driver or anyone really.  

You very rarely spoke about boys with Dilara beyond the old “oh he’s cute” when you went shopping and the two of you “window shopped” boys. You’d try and pick out each other’s type. Though you always joked there was no one for you to pick for her, claiming “sorry no Dutch f1 drivers here” much to her dismay. She’s once asked about you and Lando, at which point you’d already given up on him and didn’t want her to feel bad for you, leaving you responding about how close your friendship was.  

What you didn’t know, however, was that you weren’t the only one waiting for the two of you to make a move on the other.  

“They aren’t making any moves, why aren’t they doing something??”  

“Friends is great, but not what we were aiming for.”

That conversation was put on hold as Lando's call ID appeared on Max’s phone.  

“I screwed up and I need a friend to tell me to get over myself.”

“What? What’s happened.”

“I may or may not have realised I fancy the actual pants off of Y/N”

“She’s great, I can see why you like her.” Dilara was leaning in to try and hear what was being said. “I’m not seeing why that means you screwed up?”

“She’s going on a date.”

“She’s what?”

“Going on a date, someone set her up on a blind date and she’s going. I didn’t realise how I felt about her till a date was mentioned and then I felt hard done on by the fact she’s going on it. Like why would she just be sitting around for me?”  

Dilara was scribbling little notes out,  

“Mate I’m so sorry. You can’t blame yourself though and it’s only one date, it’s not the end of the world.”  

“I just never realised how much I took her being around for granted. I just got used to her being here, having dinner with her, her stealing my McLaren jumpers when we’re at a race because they’re the softest there and her cheering for me. Like, fuck me when did I get so stuck up and dumb.”

“Can’t comment on the dumb but girls will do that to you man.” Dilara elbowed him for that comment.  

In an attempt to distract Lando from his little feelings meltdown on the phone, Max had suggested an impromptu twitch stream, knowing Lando would shut off a bit if he was driving and that he’d put on a bit of a show for people. However not even 20 minutes later Oliver had popped his head into the room to get his attention.  

“What Oliver?”

“Door went”

“Did you get it?”

You knew something was wrong by the tone of his voice, Lando was upset and a little angry at being disturbed. Or so you thought. You didn’t want to be more of a pain, you had just turned up without an invitation.  

“Maybe I should come back another time..” you squeaked out. Tears still drying on your face, voice cracking from the crying you’d done in the taxi on the way over.  

You might have been quiet but Lando heard you. He practically launched himself out of his sim, repeatedly muttering “no”, his heartbreaking at the weakness in your voice.  

Not much could be seen from the setup Lando had from his twitch stream but they could see him rush towards you, dressed in a red cowl necked dress. You looked stunning, more beautiful than Lando could process given the hurt he saw.

“I'm here, it’s okay, you’re okay” Lando was comforting you, the words barely audible through his mic, having shoved it off his head and round his neck.  He had no idea what had happened but given you were here and not on your date, tear marks clear on your face, he could tell it wasn’t good.  

“Cmon let’s get you in some comfy stuff, can’t have you looking like a Ferrari fan now can we?” The small joke hit the mark, bringing a smile to your face.  

“You’re right, got any Red Bull merch?”

“Wow, right in the heart.”

The twitch stream was long forgotten, Oliver apparently ruining Lando's score and pushing all of Max’s buttons. Lando had you in some sweatpants and somehow magicked up an extra-large McLaren jumper, knowing you love the extra snuggle of a huge jumper. His team might’ve looked at him weirdly when he asked for one but seeing you wrapped up in his team apparel made him realise he’d do anything to make you happy and comfortable. He couldn’t fathom how it had taken him this long to realise how he felt. No wonder people teased him for getting extra team kit so she could steal it.  

Now he only had to figure out a way to tell you all this.  

[thesportssoundoff]

“Yo, this is appointment viewing”A UFC 218 preview

Joey

November 28th

Not since LAST November-December have we had two genuinely stacked PPV events back to back. UFC 217 brought the sizzle with three title fights, former champions and title contenders competing for standing and a loaded prelim slate with HWs and BWs looking to find their place in the world. UFC 218 heads to Detroit with just one title fight but with it a host of potential #1 contender clashes alongside a flat out good undercard with relevant fights and action fights all across the ledger. The headliner is a short notice clash between Max Holloway and Jose Aldo, a pretty damn good 145 lb title fight that could either solidify Max Holloway as a P4P great or reannounce Jose Aldo's return to the top of the division. Under it, all four main cards are REALLY on point with potential #1 contender clashes at HW, LW, Flyweight and SW. I can't begin to express my excitement for this bad boy much longer so let's just get right to it!

Fights: 13

Debuts: 1 (Allan Crowder)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 2 (Frankie Edgar OUT, Jose Aldo IN vs Max Holloway/Al Iaquinta OUT,  Charles Oliveira IN vs Paul Felder)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC):  13 (Jose Aldo, Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, Alistair Overeem, Henry Cejudo, Sergio Pettis, Francis Ngannou, Michelle Waterson, Tecia Torres, Charles Oliveira, Alex Olivieira, David Teymur)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  1 (Angela Magana)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  11 (Sergio Pettis, Felice Herrig, David Teymur, Drakkar Klose, Alex Olivieira, Yancy Medeiros, Paul Felder, Tecia Torres, Max Holloway, Francis Ngannou, Alistair Overeem)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 41-35)- Allan Crowder

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 23-34-1)- Jose Aldo, Charles Olivieira

Second Fight (Current number: 27-37)- Justin Willis, Dominick Reyes, Sabah Homasi

Cage Corrosion (18-13-1)- 0

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- We should begin with the main event which in my estimation an improvement over the Edgar/Holloway booking. To explain, while Edgar/Holloway is a fresh fight and one that would've been truly awesome, we've seen Frankie lose to Aldo twice. Aldo is the superior fighter of that we have no doubt---and so seeing Holloway/Aldo II isn't as fresh but it is a better all around fight. The first fight in my estimation is one of those clear examples of "sometimes stats lie, man." Everybody, almost like a chorus of geese on a cold Winnipeg morning, honks about Aldo winning the first two rounds and that's true but also irrelevant. Why? Because if you WATCH the fight, you can tell that the second round was a round where stats lie. Halloway had no respect for Aldo's power, he marched him down, he took to give (in my opinion he won the round) and by the end of the second round, their respective reactions heading back to their corners should've told you who was winning or about to win that fight. It wasn't Aldo.

2- I also don't buy the idea that leg kicks are some vaunted weapon which has been missing from Aldo's game and will be some deciding factor. For starters, it's not Holloway hasn't faced explosive kickers in the past. Second, it's not Aldo's leg kicks are the key weapon to what was his dominant run to begin with. They're a tool in the act but no more a tool than his amazing takedown defense and superb angles. LASTLY this is a guy who has been rocked/dropped in 3 of his last 4 fights. He's been finished in 2 of them. The only guy who hasn't finished him is a guy who has one KO stoppage in the last six years (love ya Frankie!). Aldo has plenty of ways to beat Holloway and Holloway has plenty of ways to beat him in return---but leg kicks? Not really seeing it. Aldo hasn't been this big leg kick monster since about 2013 or so. They're a sparsely used gimmick at this point.

3- I wonder if the UFC is as frustrated at the 155 lb scene as we are as fans. We have:

-A champion who doesn't seem like he's defending any time soon.

-An interim champion who seems to be torn between waiting for the neverending stop of the McGregor/UFC table dance and taking a fight that risks him losing the biggest payday of his life.

-Two fantastic 155 lb fights that could determine #1 contenders for titles that don't seem to be getting defended any time soon.

-Dustin Poirier sitting on the outside looking in after dominating Anthony Pettis plus depending on who you ask finishing/almost finishing Eddie Alvarez.

Making matters worser than the worst worse, you have Nate Diaz potentially malingering around, the looming threat of Max Holloway or Jose Aldo finally making a move up as well as a solid crop of 155 lb talent who aren't close to title shot contention but would in theory be closing the gap if the division wasn't held up at the top so much (the aforementioned Paul Felder, a suddenly resurgent Clay Guida, Anthony Pettis is still young enough to turn things around, too too early to write off Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee after tough losses, Devid Teymur and the mystery that is Mairbek Taisumov).  At some point something has to give along these battle lines and I wonder if that means biting the bullet, admitting that there's a need for it and opening up 165 lbs.

3- I do think, title contention wise, it says something that Alvarez/Gaethje is 4th on the card underneath Pettis/Cejudo when it comes to relevancy. Could be nothing, could mean everything.

4- There's a lot of hype and pressure on Francis Ngannou. That's probably well deserved but as I've said perhaps one time too many, don't get caught up in the narrative if he loses. Once upon a time, Stipe Miocic got his first real big step up and he was iced in two rounds by Stefan Struve. Shawn Jordan once put Derrick Lewis on ice skates with a fat guy wheel kick. This will shock and amaze you but fighters do improve over time and at HW, nobody is ever truly a lost cause. Division lives for chaos.

5- I know I'm the weirdo in this regard but I'm really excited to see how Sergio Pettis handles the challenge that is Henry Cejudo. Of all the Duke Roufus products, Sergio is the one who seems to most fit the mold of what they want. Functional in every facet of the fight while still having the flash, sizzle and workrate to keep people interested. Cejudo's rediscovered his power recently and his boxing has looked world's better. I have cardio concerns with him as you always need to but Sergio Pettis has always had an aversion to guys who pack a shot on the feet. This fight could be really great.

6- Paul Felder's stock, which continues to go up and down depending on the time of year, is probably as high as it's been since he iced Danny Castillo way back in 2014. Felder has always been really talented but at 33, the clock's ticking on him really making a run. He's won 4 of his last 5 fights but the only guy who remains int he organization out of that group is Stevie Ray. His losses are two totally acceptable ones (a decision to Barboza where he could've probably won, a 3rd round TKO stoppage vs Francisco Trinaldo in Brazil) and one totally bemusing loss to Ross Pearson where he spun for the entire fight chasing a bonus and never got it. Felder's inconsistency is partially the reason why it's hard to feel overly confident in him vs Charles Olivieira. Do Bronx is always dangerous for a quickie sub and he showed that vs Will Brooks when he got his back and subbed him in the first round in April. Historically Charles has won to the guys he's supposed to beat and found creative insightful ways to lose to the guys he shouldn't. He's always in a fight until it's over and Felder historically leaves enough margin for error where  he could, in theory, give Do Bronx opportunities.

7- David Teymur thus far has passed every test put in front of him. He was successful in TKO-ing guys who he probably would've been fighting on the regional scene and then really broke out when he spoiled the Lando Vannata hype with a decision win in March. Teymur is one of those guys who mixes techniques well, never tries the same trick twice and has improved time and time again whenever he fights. He's a bit old for a prospect (28) and Drakkar Klose will probably be the bigger, stronger fighter but I'm excited to see what Teymur has added to his game during his time away. Dude has top 15 potential in my estimation.

8- There's going to be a lot of interest in the Waterson/Torres fight and fair play to it but I'm all about that Felice Herrig/Courtney Casey bout. I haven't been wow'd in Felice's more recent fights (never really impressed with Kish, thought Grasso won) BUT even having said that, she's finally matching her record with her boisterous personality. On the other hand, I'm all about that Courtney Casey violence. She debuted vs Joanne Calderwood on short notice and put it on her before she gassed. The same for her vs Seo Hee Ham where she started off hot and then the wheels fell off. She rebounded by finishing Christina Stanciu and has a "way more impressive in hindsight" sub of Randa Markos. A loss to Claudia Gadelha followed where she never seemed to get out of second gear and you could almost sense her upside would be "tough woman who lives on the outskirts of the top 10." She then went and beat the fuck out of Jessica Aguilar in a fight that wasn't competitive for a single minute of its duration. She is all action, all the time and Felice Herrig's size, grappling and developing hands are going to give her a real test. This fight is great.

9- Yancy Medeiros vs Alex "Cowboy" Olivieira is gonna be your favorite 90s gore action movie where it's all violence with no sense behind it. Just action figures ramming into one another.

10- Does the Ngannou/Overeem winner gets the "The UFC would like you to face Stipe Miocic on -insert date here-" sprung up on them?

11-  So Dominick Reyes is arguably the most exciting prospect at 205 lbs in a long long time---but I can't help but feel like Jeremy Kimball is going to be a step too far for him in his development. I kind of think the UFC thinks so too since it's buried on the FP prelims where a loss can almost be hidden.

12- Would a loss to Tecia Torres expose Michelle Waterson as being a PVZ-esque hype job?

Must Wins

1- Michelle Waterson

Might as well just flow from A to B, right? Waterson came into the UFC off a loss after the organization had been hounding Invicta to free her up for a while. She went 2-0 and WME-IMG actually signed her and took over as her media reps. The response off of that was a loss to Rose Namajunas where she was outmatched from the get go. Waterson says she went out for a while to get stronger and balance her aggression in the cage (she felt Rose just swarmed her from the jump and she was too timid on the feet) so hopefully we're going to see a new and improved Waterson.  She is still super markketable, talented and has exciting fights more often than not. A loss to Tecia Torres would be really tough on her career and would put a lot of things into question, primarily whether she's big enough for 115 lbs or whether this entire thing is really a new PVZ.

2- Eddie Alvarez

Alvarez exorcised a lot of demons when he beat RDA for the title and ended the bullshit about him just being a good fighter outside of the UFC who couldn't hang (loss to Cerrone and two ugly split decision wins weren't helping). He never had a chance vs McGregor where he was basically knocked out by the first left hand that landed. The last fight vs Dustin Poirier was, I suppose, the return of the Eddie Alvarez of old. He got hurt, survived, found whatever it is that makes him insane and then used it in the second round. A blatantly illegal knee ended the night for Poirier and Alvarez but for a BRIEF second, Eddie Alvarez was the man he was in all those wars. He's had a lot of wear and tear on his body from fighting great competition for little fanfare. The UFC version of Eddie Alvarez is a little smarter, a lot more chinny and the epitome of age kicking in too late to protect the body. Alvarez vs Gaethje really does feel like a battle between Eddie Alvarez retro and Eddie Alvarez off the shelf. Justin Gaethje has a ton of Alvarez in his game while being younger and hitting way harder---but does Eddie still have some magic left?

3- Dominick Reyes

205 lbs needs Dominick Reyes in the worst way. The under 30 LHW prospect got into the UFC on short notice after a viral headkick KO and he did little to disappointed in stomping out Joachim Christenson. Still I think we can admit that Christensen is ways away from being UFC quality and so Reyes still hasn't beaten someone of note. Jeremy Kimball isn't great shakes BUT he has a very deceptive record. He started his career 5-3 and since then he's gone 10-3 which includes a 1-1 stint at Bellator and wins over dudes with far more fanfare than he (TUF finalist Matt Van Buren, Cody Mumma and Chidi Njokuani all ring a bell). This is a sneaky test of Reyes' ability and I'm hoping he'll pass it.

Can't Miss Fights

1-  Justin Gaethje vs Eddie Alvarez

2- Jose Aldo vs Max Holloway

3- Francis Ngannou vs Alistair Overeem

4-Henry Cejudo vs Sergio Pettis

5- Alex  Oliveira vs Yancy Medeiros