#mercedes fan in the way that i will always support their junior drivers

[britney-rosberg06]

wait wait wait what do you mean that not only did two Mercedes Junior drivers dominate the FIA Karting championship BUT ALSO have a female driver dominating the COFT Karting championship AND have a driver leading the rookie Italian F4 championship in his first year in cars AND have someone in an intense and dominant F1 Academy title fight AND ALSO have their first ever driver from their academy joining their F1 team like YEAH Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Did that thing

[russilton]

i am genuinely so curious about your opinion as to why you think merc likes george as much as williams. not to cause discourse but i would actually love to change my mind if george is going to be there for god knows how long.

my impression has always been that merc likes george, but williams loves george. that he is merc's guy but williams' BABY.

(like ngl they didn't make any effort to stop the cyber bullying during the season on his own team's page, which might be minor but it rubs a lot of people the wrong way)

I think it comes down to less weighing up social post vs social post, which is what people often do, and more remembering that both Williams and Mercs socials function fundamentally differently.

Also you can still like whatever teams you want- this post is not me arguing to not support Williams, I still support Williams, I’m just gonna talk about some ways Merc HAVE supported George, and Williams have been the less idealised version people sometimes remember.

We have for a while seen more jokey silly, vloggy content from Williams socials (at least from 2019 on), while we are still, STILL, teaching Merc to pull the stick out of their ass and stop holding themselves to such an aloof standard from 2020 on- compared to other teams. Merc were winning for a long time, they didn’t need to appeal to people they way they now have to as a team winning less and advertising a new driver.

Meanwhile Williams had NOTHING going on for a long time, they were fighting for 19th/20th, all they could do to sell their team to sponsors was provide content people talked about. Mercedes had the name power of Lewis Hamilton, Williams only had George and Nicky for two years- two junior drivers people didn’t know.

I also just… I personally don’t gauge love based on social content alone, since it’s usually run by 2-3 people who have to put out positive content, it’s designed to make you think they love them as much as they can.

Arguably Williams never HAD to defend George the way people want Merc to, vitriolic fan tweets scaled up massively in the 2021 season and Williams was a back of the field team, plenty of people barely knew George existed. George entered Merc at the most controversial time he could, when Max fans were filling their replies with slurs and Lewis fans demanded to know why the fuck we weren’t fighting for a reclassification at the championship- something we now know why they couldn’t but still hurt. When you watch an entire sport break the rules to fuck you, you start making unreasonable demands to do anything to get back at them and make it hurt less. Merc will never satisfy them, and if anything when Merc DID step up to defend George in Singapore and Qatar- people just got madder at George.

When you look down at the team behaviour as a whole… I would really counter your point about George being Williams baby- because he’s been Merc’s baby for double that time.

George was beloved by engineers, drivers, mechanics and upper staff alike, including Nicki Lauda who notoriously used to go to George’s junior series podiums when they supported F1, took him to a black eye peas concert, and called him the future of Merc. He was coached by Val and particularly Lewis on how to drive, George still mentions Lewis’ coaching as what secured his f2 championship and had him coming back from the summer break reborn. The likes of shov, Bono, James v and Mike Sansoni used to tease George lovingly when he did rookie tests for Merc, invited him to run club and team dinners, George even went to the Merc team bowling nights Lewis organised.

My point is, all of the ways Williams yes, does show public past support for George… Merc were doing that behind the scenes. It may seem like they don’t share stuff from George’s Williams past- they don’t have the licenses to show some of those photos, and given that socials are a brand promotion exercise that just serves to promote a team that’s not your own. But in a practical sense they were inviting George into their family and making sure he always felt at home.

You just have to listen to George himself- he said so often last year how he didn’t feel much like he had to settle into Merc because he’d always been with them, long before he was an F1 driver. They are his family, and this is always what HE wanted.

I also have to look at how they treated George trust wise. In 2020 Mercedes trusted George to drive the fastest car in the sports history, Lewis’ car, when he was sick. They skipped over their TWO reserve drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries, to give George a shot, and had to bargain with Williams to borrow him for Sakhir, when arguably Stoff and Nyck would have done more sim work than him.

At the same time, Jost Capito and Williams were trying to find a way to get out of their contract with George for 2021, because they were annoyed George was planning to leave them for Mercedes, and wanted to start working with someone “committed” to them, to the point they approached Kmag about the seat (in his book, Kmag says he called them idiots for it).

It’s theorised George only kept his seat by virtue of the incredibly strict contract Claire Williams tied him into, and Toto/James Vowles threatening Williams within an inch of it’s life. It wasn’t lost on me in the 20/21 season how Jost tended to not always blame their dog shit car for the poor performances, but George and Nicky for not doing more. Hell the way he portioned money in the team was so poor JV is appealing to the FIA for a special grant to upgrade their factory. In 2021 George DNF’d SIX times, mostly mechanical, you can see him disparing in dts about their borderline undrivable performance, but very little changed- but when a fuck up happened they looked right at the drivers.

Meanwhile, Mercedes saw exactly the kind of driver George was trying to be even through the worst car on the grid, and hired him anyway. I’ve seen teams outright throw drivers to the curb for performances they had very little fault in. You can feel how you want about Nicholas Latifi’s confidence in his driving in 22, Williams gave him a car even George struggled to place in for two fucking years, one year with a car Alex just about got by in, and then replaced him with Sargent, who placed lower in F2 than Nicky did.

Nicky has moved on, Williams ARE doing right by Logan now, but a lot of people are only seeing the Williams James Vowles has run. James Vowles who was at Mercedes… longer than Toto. If you want to base Williams current love of George on him, you’re basing it in a reflection of the James who worked with Gwen lagrue to support George for Merc.

You can still love how Williams love George! I do! I like current Williams and I miss James Vowles at Merc so much, but he’s flourishing leading Williams and it’s incredible. I like how silly Williams are sometimes, how they put themselves out on a limb more- but ultimately they have had to make less hard and controversial choices than Merc has, and the one time they did (Hungary 21) George took the choice from them and asked them to prioritise Nicky. Merc has had make choices nobody wants to make- and often panicked and straddled the line in a way nobody was happy with. But to call back to a post @ininininininstayoutstayout made once- when both sides come out of a choice complaining they got fucked over, ultimately you have to reevaluate what the team really could have done because nothing would have pleased everyone.

You can be upset with some of the choices Merc made with George on track over the last couple years, I have been mad at them myself. You can be angry at the mistakes they made with the sakhir pit stop and countless other strategic fuck ups- but none of those were intended results. Nobody at Merc has deliberately targeted George (OR Lewis) for poor treatment, nor did they WANT to make the boys a shitty car.

At the end of the day Merc as a brand poured hundred of thousands or maybe millions into supporting George as a Junior, Toto lead him the the Williams seat, the engineers and mechanics continued to develop him and train him and invite him into the factories and their travel team. He went out to dinner with them, tested their cars. They chose him over Valtteri, who was arguably the safe choice, trusted him, and now George is on their team they support him. Sometimes at a booming volume when George was adjusting, or then punishing himself for things like Singapore or possible controversies like Qatar.

Arguing Merc don’t adore George is like arguing that they don’t love Lewis- if you only look at specific circumstances you can build that idea- but if you look at the longer history it’s abundantly clear that Merc��s employees do fucking love them, they’re just an organisation not a monolith, and really stupid choices happen. And as much as I hate Jost capito, Toto is just as prone to bullshit, just with less “funny”stories about sexually assaulting his employees.

People who want George to go back to Williams are covering over just wanting him to face less backlash, and have less eyes on him, gatekeeping him almost for comfort. I get the impulse, but it’s not what George wants, what he’s fought for, for almost a decade.

Merc are giving him a chance at what he wants, and as bumpy as it’s been it’ll only pave his story as an underdog fight rather than a gifted ride, and they’re doing all that they can to put he and Lewis back up there.

[umlewis]

"I'm really proud of our team": Lewis Hamilton praises England's Euros resilience ahead of his final British GP with Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton and the England men's soccer team share a thing or two in common. Both are bursting with pride and talent. Both know what it means to carry the hopes and dreams of a nation on one's shoulders. Both are no strangers when it comes to being front and center in the public eye. For Hamilton, his arrival onto the global scene came in Melbourne in 2007. A stunning Grand Prix debut that had the motorsport world abuzz and the great, three-time world champion Niki Lauda calling him the best rookie driver he'd ever seen. The following year, he would become the sport's youngest ever champion at just 23 years of age. A further six titles would follow, equaling the great Michael Schumacher's record. For Gareth Southgate and England, the spotlight is in the here and the now as they chase an era-defining first trophy in nearly six decades at Euro 2024 in Germany. "I remember being young and thrown into the spotlight. I can't imagine how it is like for those guys that are on the pitch," the Mercedes driver told CNN Sport's Amanda Davies at an IWC Schaffhausen event ahead of the British Grand Prix. "The pressure from the whole country weighing on you, it's tough. I'm really, really proud of our team, just with all the difficulties that they've experienced and they've faced just time and time again, just continuing to get up and the resilience. I think it's just been really impressive."

A nation expects

The Three Lions are aiming to write a new chapter in the country's soccer folklore with expectations heading into this year's tournament arguably higher than ever before. Why? Thanks primarily to a star-studded lineup of names including Real Madrid's player of the year, Jude Bellingham; European football's top goalscorer last season, Harry Kane; and the Premier League player of the season, Phil Foden, among others. Both Southgate and the squad, though, have borne the brunt of heavy criticism from former players, pundits, and fans alike for their lackluster displays to date. A stunning escape, though, against Slovakia in the last 16 has tentatively sowed the seeds of an upturn in fortunes. Hamilton, though, is aware of keeping his feet on the ground. "I try not to get too amped up! You know how England always is with the World Cup. I don't want to apply too much pressure. We've just got such a talented pool of players. We just need them to be in synergy." What advice did he wish he'd had received all the way back when the then 22-year-old experienced a stunning breakout year? "If I was to go back, if I could tell myself in 2007… I could have handled things better. I could have had a better team around me. I think, at the time, I didn't have a team around me," he explains. "People don't realize, you're really, really thrown in the deep end, and if you don't have the right support structure… Family is one thing, but I'm talking about people to help protect you and safeguard you and make sure that you don't fall down all the pit holes that there are. I would probably have been in a happier place, probably, as a youngster."

Home pride

Hamilton's elevation into the public sphere hasn't just been down to his heart-on-sleeve personality, peerless driving ability, and record-breaking feats on the racing track: the most career wins, most pole positions, most podium finishes, and most career points, to name but a few. The seven-time drivers' champion's feats have inspired a new generation of British drivers. You only need to look at the class of 2024 to see that in effect, with Hamilton joined by teammate George Russell, McLaren's Lando Norris, and Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman, who'll be joining the US-based Haas team next season. "I think when I was younger, maybe I felt the pressure […] But we have so many British drivers now, so it's like the pressure's a bit off," he laughs. "It's nothing to do with me," he says humbly. "We just produce really great drivers, for some reason. We have a history of it and it's great to see. I feel very proud to be amongst them." Away from the track, the sport's first and only black world champion has also become the sport's conscience, standing up against injustice and calling for more to be done to address some of the challenges concerning diversity, representation, and inclusion in motorsport through his charity, Mission 44. Last year, Mission 44 delivered outreach programs in Austin, Silverstone and São Paulo, positively impacting more than 150 young people.

Emotional year

England's bid to reach the semifinals at Euro 2024 falls on the same weekend as Hamilton is set to race at the British Grand Prix for the final time for the Silver Arrows. The Brit stunned the motorsport world earlier this year when it was announced that he would be leaving Mercedes at the end of the year to join Ferrari for the 2025 campaign. Does he feel emotional at the prospect of a last dance at the iconic Silverstone circuit with his current outfit? "At the moment, it just feels like another race. Everything feels the same. It feels like we're still trying to develop, we're trying to win, we're trying to progress through the season," he states. "We're so streamlined in our focus and our efforts that I'm not really getting in the emotional state. There have been races earlier in the year where I've been like, 'This is going to be my last race with Mercedes at this track,' so maybe when I'm there, I'll feel that. The feelings have been far more or sometimes less than I expected, but it's definitely an emotional year." After dominating the sport through the turbo-hybrid era and winning eight constructors titles in a row from 2014 to 2021, Mercedes' failure to adapt to the new technical regulations since the 2022 season has seen them slide down the pecking order behind Red Bull and Ferrari. 2023 was especially painful, with the team posting a winless season for the first time since 2011. Fortunately, though, his home race has proved to be a very happy hunting ground, with Hamilton winning a record eight times at the circuit, and this season has seen the team show glimpses of promise. A third place finish for George Russell in Montreal last month was followed by double success; Hamilton securing his first podium finish of the season in Spain and Russell claiming his second ever race win at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. "This is a huge boost for everyone back at the factory, who have been working tirelessly over the last few years and not been getting that success," says Hamilton. "When you've had so many lows and everyone's had a difficult time, I think you notice and appreciate the good days more than normal. I think when we were winning all the time, it was just, 'Yeah, we're winning.' That's where I think that was. It definitely is more special for them." While the 39 year old hasn't tasted a race victory since the penultimate race of the 2021 campaign in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the week before he saw his bid for a record-breaking eighth drivers' championship end in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi, his status remains undiminished. What chance, then, of a win this season to cap off his twelfth and final season at Mercedes? "I think we're getting closer, and I think last race is showing of that," he says. "I think in pure speed, in terms of earning it through being the quickest that we can... I don't feel we're too far away."

[httpiastri]

crash into me – pa1

being forced to share a room with paul, your enemy, in spa makes you discover new feelings for him.

genre: fluff, touches of angst? enemies to lovers!au, one bed!au

pairing: reader x paul aron

warnings: mentions of death, crashing... i think that's about it

word count: 7.3k (how did that happen....)

requested: yes !!

author's note: writing this was 110% self indulgent (did i use that term right), i loved it. maybe because i love paul.... felt weird to write about dino though shdkfhdkfj he feels like my swedish little brother in some way? anyways! i haven't ever written enemies to lovers i think, so this was interesting. i honestly don't know how it got this long, my longest fic on here by a loooot. hope you enjoy, and thank you for requesting!

also, lowkey a spoiler but i got paul the feature podium that he deserved in belgium <3 this fic contains subtle backhanded prema slander, sorry not sorry

f2/f3 masterlist

you and paul have been enemies for as long as you can remember.

it all started back in karting, in your first race against each other. you were racing in karts on a circuit in france, and practically no one had any grip in the rain. during your last lap of qualifying, you and paul had been side by side when you lost control of the kart, resulting in you swerving into the barriers, taking paul with you.

when you got out of your kart, you wanted to apologize to paul – but he had already stormed off. you thought nothing more of it, seeing it as just an incident – but apparently, he didn't feel the same way. in the actual race the day after, paul took you out in the first corner as revenge.

safe to say, you both loathed each other before the end of the weekend.

as the years went on and you two continued driving in the same categories, the hatred between you two grew. there have been multiple occasions where one of you broke the rules to mess up a race for the other, sometimes even going as far as crashing into each other on purpose. needless to say, neither one of your teams, managers or engineers were especially supportive of your childish actions.

it didn't matter if it was in karting or when you both started racing in formula cars; you never really grew out of the feud. with you being a member of the ferrari driver academy and paul joining the mercedes juniors in 2020, the rivalry only grew over the years. both of you had a massive need to be the better one; it wasn't important to beat the other drivers on the track, only each other.

maybe this competitiveness was the reason one of you two would always be the winner of pretty much any race you took part of. unless you both crashed, that is. if one of you had been much better than the other, if it had been easy to tell who the best one actually was, then maybe you would've just stopped several years ago. your determination to crush each other made you better drivers, and your closeness on track was probably what made the rivalry so strong.

when you got the news that you would be joining prema in 2023, you were over the moon. but when it was revealed that one of your teammates would be none other than paul aron, you were horrified to say the least. and so was he.

the two of you were forced to act nice in front of the cameras and the fans. you had to give each other congratulatory handshakes when either of you ended up on the podium, and you had to act polite in team meetings, but you never spoke more than necessary to each other.

on top of that, the prema team managers made it very clear that if you were to purposefully cause a crash with each other, both of you would be replaced on an instant. the team could not afford to have two immature idiots ruin the team over something that started back when they were children.

you'd both managed to stay civil for most of the season, not being pushed or forced together too much. in prema videos, you would never be paired up, and you would rarely be seen together at any other times. but this was all about to change when it was time for the next round in belgium.

as usual, the team had booked rooms for all their drivers at one of the hotels near the track. being the only female driver in the f2/f3 prema team, you usually got a room for yourself, and so you were told it would be this weekend too. as you check in on thursday, get your key card and make your way up to your room, you can't wait to throw yourself onto the bed and catch up on some of the sleep you missed getting ready for your early flight this morning. but your mood instantly changes when you see someone standing right outside the room with your number on it.

not just anyone; paul aron.

he's blipping a key onto the door when you step closer, a frown taking over your face. "i'm pretty sure this is my room," you tell him.

"what?" the light on the door flashes green as he looks up at you, just as confused as you. "pretty sure it's mine."

"it literally says 782 right here." you show him the paper cover you've gotten for your key, but he just pushes the handle down and lets the door swing open. when he's about to step inside, you pull him back by his shoulder, dragging the door closed again. "let me try..." you pull out your own key, holding it against the door – and the light blinks green again.

"there's no way," paul mutters. he seems frozen in his place, just staring at the door as you push it open.

you tell yourself that maybe it isn't as bad as it looks, maybe there are two rooms in one? or maybe there's some kind of wall separating your beds?

but when you enter the room, you realize that it's even worse than you'd feared. there's just one king size bed. no other single bed, not even a couch.

"there's no way."

"there's been a massive mistake," you tell the lady at the hotel desk once you make it down again. you drop your bags next to you with a thud, feeling sore after having carried them for way too long now. "i'm here with the racing team prema. i was placed in the same room as another driver, but we were supposed to be in separate ones."

"let me have a look," she answers, looking down in her computer. "may i have your room number, please?"

"782." paul's voice surprises you; you thought he stayed upstairs, but suddenly he's right next to you again. you had told him that you'd never share a room with him, let alone a bed, so you would do anything to get yourself out of the situation. you just assumed he wouldn't even care enough to help.

the smattering of the lady's nails against her keyboard fills the otherwise silent lobby as you patiently wait. you don't even shoot paul a look. "i'm very sorry," she starts, still typing away on her computer. "it seems like there's been some kind of mistake in the booking."

you try to put on an understanding smile. "that's alright. do you have any other rooms available? any room will do."

the lady finally looks up at you both, an apologetic look on her face. "unfortunately, we're fully booked. we always are during race weekends."

"you've got to be kidding me..." paul groans, his hands coming up to cover his face.

"i'm sure we can refund you for the mistake, but for now, we have no other rooms." the lady sighs before looking down in her computer again. "i'm sorry to say that there's nothing i can do for you at the moment. i hope you can manage to have a wonderful stay here anyway!"

wonderful? how could staying with paul possibly be anything other than horrendous?

your next step is to talk to all of the prema staff members you can find about the situation. you beg for their help to solve the issue, to let you switch rooms with someone – but they all think that you two sharing a room will be the perfect opportunity for you to get to know each other better.

this is going to be the worst weekend ever.

dino almost cries laughing when he hears about the whole room incident. as a best friend of both you and paul separately, he never understand how you could hate each other – you are both really cool people, so how does it make sense that neither of you like the other?

he's sitting in the single chair next to the desk, still quietly giggling even when you send him deathly glares, when you get to work on the soon-to-be wall in the middle of your bed. you've seen people build barriers out of pillows this in the movies a bunch of times, so you decided it will be the best way to keep paul on his side of the bed.

"is this really necessary?" paul asks. he's sitting on the edge of the bed but he's far too occupied with something on his phone to watch you, or help you. "i don't want to be near you either way so i'll stay put on my side."

"oh, it totally is necessary. i will not allow you to accidentally roll over to me in your sleep." dino laughs out loud at your comment, but he puts his hands up in the air as defense when you threaten to throw a pillow at him.

"i'll just sleep on the floor. we have plenty of pillows, and i think there was an extra blanket-"

you cut paul off. "there's no way i'm letting you sleep on the floor during a race weekend." as much as it hurt to admit, it wouldn't be cool to force him into something like that. he has, just like you, sacrificed to much to be in f3 and it would be cruel to rob him of one of these weekends.

besides, you want to beat him when he's at his best, not just because he hasn't slept in a few days.

dino speaks up, his eyes moving between the two of you. "oh, so you care about his racing? that's so sweet o-"

"i care about the team, not about him individually." your voice is stern as you finish placing the last few pillows.

"why are you talking about me as if i'm not here?" paul groans – for probably the hundredth time today – and throws himself back onto the bed. the crash makes the bed bounce and some of the so perfectly placed pillows fall down.

"hey, careful!" you scold, frowning as you start to rebuild the wall.

"can you two stop fighting for just a second?" dino says between giggles. "we need to go, our track walk is in like... five minutes."

"thank god, i really need to get out of here," paul says, standing up instantly and heading towards the door.

"that makes two of us," you mutter under your breath as you make some finishing touches on the wall. "this is going to be a long weekend..."

paul is surprisingly respectful all of the time you're both in the hotel room. he lets you shower first when you get back, and he makes sure to never step a foot in your side of the room. he even waits for you when you get ready for the team dinner to make sure the two of you leave together instead of just going off alone when he's done getting dressed. not that either of you say even a single word in the elevator down to the lobby.

when you think about it, you haven't actually spent a lot of time alone with him. there is always a third person on the podium, and there are always staff members around you during all meetings and such. it feels weird, to say the least, but... not as bad as you imagined?

by the time you're all sitting down in some restaurant nearby, the word about your rooming situation has spread to everyone. it's a great laugh, and the teasing seems like it will never stop. when the food is finally served, you're more relieved than ever to see food. thankfully, it fills everyone's mouths and stops them from talking so much.

when you finish dinner, you expect to just go back to your room, get some good sleep and prepare for tomorrow. but on your way to the car, angelina stops you and pulls you to the side along with paul.

"i've been talking to the other staff members," she starts. you raise your eyebrows at her – could this mean that they realized that this arrangement was awful after all? had they found a way to solve it? "and we decided that we're going to give you a task to make sure you actually talk to each other."

you let your shoulders slump, covering your face in your hands. until now, you'd thought that you would at least survive this if you just pretended that paul wasn't even there. but this could be the death of you.

the death of you both, apparently. because paul doesn't seem like he is enjoying the situation more than you. "shouldn't we focus on racing this weekend?" he says, trying to keep his voice as polite as possible, but you can practically see the steam blowing out of his ears.

"oh, you'll have a lot of time to focus on racing and still manage our tasks." angelina smiles at the two of you. "it won't take too long."

"what do we have to do?" you ask, looking up at her again.

"well, i made you these cards." she pulls out a couple of pieces of paper from her bag, holding them out to you. "they contain questions that you are going to ask each other to get to know each other. they should be answered in the order of the numbers written on them." she points to the corner of the top card, showing off the number one. "on monday, we will quiz you on what the other person has answered for these questions. so pay attention to each other!"

"well, that could've been worse," you say, almost as if to try to convince yourself that it's alright. paul looks at you with a frown, shaking his head at your words. you ignore him, reaching out to take the cards and place them in your purse. "i think it's best if i take these, no?"

"i think so too," angelina jokes, bringing a little smile to your lips.

paul doesn't as much as twitch, though. "are we done?"

the second she nods, paul storms off towards the other drivers again. angelina lets out a sigh, giving you a pat on your shoulder. "i'm sorry for this, but i really do think it's for the best. you might be teammates for a long time, so it's really not good for you to hate each other."

you nod, trying to see it from her perspective. chances are high that you and paul are going to work together a lot in the future, so it isn't smart to keep fighting just out of habit. plus, it must be hard for her and all of the other staff members to have to deal with you. but why was it so hard to just throw it all away, to just ignore it and make up with him?

"i hope you don't snore," you mumble as you sit down on your side of the bed, plugging your phone in to charge it.

"i hope i do."

you both agreed that you would get started on the questions tomorrow, being far too exhausted from the day to do it now. although it hasn't been a very physical day, the emotional roller coaster you experienced was enough to leave you completely worn out.

there are several things that make it hard to keep hating paul. one of them is how he actually seems like a decent and respectful person when he's around other people. but the worst of them all is,

paul has grown up to be extremely hot.

he was cute as a child, sure. but this was something new. you hated the way you could grow hot by just thinking about him, the way his pretty blonde curls framed his gorgeous face, the way his laughter could light up a whole room. and his body? his muscles? he looked like a god damn body builder, but not in an excessive way.

and now, those muscles and that face was lying just a meter away, only a couple of pillows separating you from each other. you hate it.

and you hate the fact that it's getting harder to hate him.

"are you ready to do this?" you ask, looking through your purse for the cards you'd gotten from angelina.

"as ready as i'll ever get," paul answers as he slumps down on his side of the bed.

after yet another long day, all you want to do was relax and focus on tomorrow. but you also don't want to procrastinate on your task or save it for the last possible minute.

paul seems distracted, as he has all day. he made a few mistakes in the qualifying session and only reached an eleventh place, which will be good for the sprint race but not as much for the feature. dino's seventh place looks better, and your third even more so, but something feels off about the whole thing. paul doesn't usually qualify that bad, especially not in these mixed conditions. but you decide not to push it or ask him about it.

"okay, question number one..." you sit down on the bed, holding up the first card to read the handwriting. "what's your favorite color?"

"wow, that's boring." he sighs. "i like blue, i guess."

"i'll say prema red, just so it's easier for you to remember." you put the card at the bottom of the pile, reading the next one. "when did you start racing?"

"i started karting when i was seven."

"i was six."

this is easier than you'd thought. "why did you start racing?"

"because my brother did it, i think. i wanted to be like him." he chuckles, shifting slightly on the bed.

you nod along to him. "my dad took me karting once, and i was hooked instantly. i guess he just wanted me to try and compete, to see if i actually had any chance..." you throw away the card, picking up the next one in the pile. "have you always enjoyed racing?"

paul thinks for a moment and then shrugs. "i mean, it's always fun. as long as someone doesn't crash into me for no reason." you roll your eyes but let him go on. "but there's a lot of pressure to do well, to perform..."

"totally," you say and cross your arms over your chest. "but i think that, besides the crashing and pressure, it's a lot of fun. and i enjoy it a lot."

you look over at him and he looks like he wants to add something, but then he just shakes his head. "go ahead."

you read the next card. "have your parents always been supportive of your racing?"

paul nods instantly. "yeah. both of mine and my brother's racing." he makes eye contact with you for what feels like the first time tonight. "and you? i haven't heard you talk about your parents a lot."

"well, it's..." you sigh. "complicated, i guess."

"how so?"

you take a deep breath. "i'm not sure if you know, but my dad races. or, he used to." you look down at your hands, taking notice of how they're already shaking slightly. "ever since he passed, my mom has been... i wouldn't say less supportive, but... she doesn't really want me to keep racing. i get what she means, it's a dangerous sport, but..."

the sudden change in the mood is surprising to paul; he didn't expect you to open up like this. he looks over at you, the concern clear in his eyes.

"i knew i couldn't not race. it's what i live for." you let out a sigh. "i also want to do it to honor him, you know?"

he nods, even though you aren't looking at him. he's unsure what to say, if he should try to comfort you or just let you speak. he has never cared about, or even thought of, your feelings like he does now.

you look up at the ceiling, blinking a couple of times to force back the tears threatening to spill at the thought of your dad. "i'm sorry, i don't know why i just said that," you say, letting out a laugh. "i'll think of another answer for you."

"don't worry about it." paul pauses for a moment, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. "i'm... really sorry you're going through that." when you look over at him, the look he gives you is sincere and kind. "your dad is watching you proudly from heaven, i'm sure."

hearing those words, it's like he's broken down all of your defenses. all of the walls you built these last years since your father's passing are torn down, all of the feelings you've worked so hard to push away come up in one second. you've mourned his death, of course, but you always make sure not to think about him too much during your racing weekends, since he passed from a crash on track, and since he was the reason you started racing in the first place. you couldn't allow your feelings affect you when you were competing. but to think about him watching you still, him being proud of you...

this time, you can't stop yourself from crying. a few single tears roll down your cheeks, but you turn your head away and wipe them away instantly, hoping paul doesn't see.

he pretends not to. "when did the questions get so serious, huh? are there no more questions about colors?" he tries to joke, hoping it will cheer up the mood a little.

he lets out a sigh of relief when he sees you chuckling, turning back to him when you're done cleaning away your tears. "i'll take a look."

for the first time ever, paul is kind towards you even when he doesn't need to. when you wake up the morning after, he seems to be in a good mood, chattering off about how excited he is for the race. he even tries to make some small talk about the rainy weather as you get dressed for breakfast, and although it feels weird, you join in. it's strange, but most certainly not awful – and you catch yourself thinking that you could get used to this.

sprint race means reverse starting grid, which is good for paul but less fun for you. he starts from the first row, while you are back in tenth place. while paul in the front has a good start, you get stuck in traffic in the first corner, losing several positions in just a couple of seconds. it doesn't take long before you are half a lap behind the leading cars, still fighting for space but getting caught behind several cars.

just as you feel like the track is drying up and that you have a good opportunity to make some overtakes, the only thing that isn't allowed to happen happens.

coming up to eau rouge, two cars a bit ahead of you have made contact, but you are unaware as you speed up the hill. from out of nowhere, a car hits your side, sending you flying into the wall.

paul hears the call about a crash over the radio instantly, but he doesn't think of it too much at first. he's waiting to hear about a safety car coming out when his engineer instead tells him that there's a red flag and that he must go back to the pits immediately.

paul realizes that it's worse than he expected and he instantly wonders about who could be involved in the crash. he isn't surprised when he rolls up to the famous corner and sees the random car parts on the ground – but his jaw drops when he sees the car that has crashed into the wall.

a horrible feeling spreads in his gut when he sees the red prema car with your number on it. out of all people, did it have to be you? "is she okay?" he asks over the radio, slowing down as he goes up the hill. when he doesn't get an answer, he repeats himself, his voice louder and more stern. "is she okay?!"

there's another pause on the radio, before someone answers him. "we're not sure, paul."

something in his body pulls him to do something he has never done before. he pulls his car over to the side before his shaky hands unbuckle his belt and take off his steering wheel. he can hear several staff members tell him over the radio that he shouldn't do what he's about to do, it's dangerous, he can-

he unplugs his earphones and jumps out of the car, sprinting over to you. he doesn't care if it's dangerous; he needs to make sure you're alright.

he doesn't really understand why he cares so much. maybe something happened in him when he heard you talk yesterday about your father; maybe he's just terrified because he doesn't want you to go meet the same fate.

when he reaches you, he crouches down to your level. "hey, are you okay?"

the impact of crashing into the wall in such high speeds made you hit your head on the side of the car. your entire field of vision is spinning, and you can't even comprehend who the person standing by your car is. in just a moment, everything turns black. your head slams forward onto your steering wheel as you pass out, and paul too feels like the world is crashing as he watches you.

he stands up again, waving for the marshals and medics to hurry up. he doesn't care that all of the prema staff will be furious with him for not following their orders, he doesn't care if it's dangerous for him to stay where he is. he only cares about you getting the help you need,

but he has no idea why.

the race never resumed after your crash, both because of how shaken up everyone got after seeing you get transported away in the ambulance, and because the cleaning of the track took too long and almost even delayed the f1 sprint shootout.

paul and dino spend the rest of the day in your and paul's room, mostly sitting in silence and just waiting to get a message about how you're doing. they don't eat and they don't watch any of the other races of the day as they're both worried sick, only thinking about you.

dino's phone eventually flashes up with a call from his manager, letting the boys know that you've been lucky and thankfully only suffered a minor concussion. the message doesn't exactly throw away all of their worries, but it does make them calm enough to leave the room and have dinner with the team.

it's late when you come back to your room. when you arrive, you merely greet paul before instantly popping into the bathroom to brush your teeth. when you're done, paul is sitting on his side of the bed, staring into his phone.

there are a couple of silent moments before he speaks up, eyes still glued to the screen of his phone. "i'm glad you're okay. i saw the replay, it could've been a lot worse..." you sit down on your side of the bed, not sure what to say. me too? i'm so lucky? thank you for letting me know that it could've been worse? "well, either way, i'm glad i have one less opponent to overtake tomorrow."

you frown, shaking your head. "...i'm not skipping the race, paul."

his eyes dart over to you, eyebrows raised. "what?"

"i'm starting in p3, and i need points for the championship." you place your phone on the bedside table, turning off your lamp. "i'll take some painkillers and i should be fine."

"did the team say they agreed to that?"

you groan. "i told them that i'll be driving and that they can't do anything to stop me." paul is speechless – you have just been in a massive crash on one of the most dangerous circuits in the world, and you were still going to race the next day? "so now, if you'll excuse me," you laid down, turning to face the wall and pulling your duvet over your body. "i think my head needs some rest."

you want to make it seem like his questions bother you, like you want him to stop talking to you because he's just that annoying. but in reality, you want him to stop because his caring words are making you feel something you never thought you would feel for him.

do you actually... like it? do you like the way he is worried for you? do you like the way he looked at you, his eyes filled with concern when he thought about you injuring yourself even more?

did you like him?

even though it's late, paul can't fall asleep. he still feels unwell about the whole situation. it bothers him, and there's something inside him regretting that he wasn't able to express himself properly before.

after turning around in bed for what feels like forever, he calls out your name. "are you awake?"

when there's no answer from you, he lets out a sigh of relief.

"okay, good." his voice is low, careful not to wake you up, but you can still clearly make out his words. "i just need to say that... i'm really thankful that you're okay. that crash was awful, and..." paul pauses for a few moments. "when you passed out, i swear i have never been as scared. not even when i have crashed."

you're not sure why you aren't saying anything. something inside you tells you that you should hear him out, and that interrupting him now will stop him from saying the things he needs to get out.

"and especially after the things you told me yesterday, about your dad... i didn't want you to face the same fate."

paul lets out a loud sigh, and it's followed by a small chuckle.

"this is so weird. i don't understand why i care so much. we're enemies, but..." you hear him shuffle a little from his side of the bed as you wait for him to continue speaking.

never, not even in your wildest dreams, could you have guessed what he would say next.

"i think i like you."

your breath hitches at his words but you try your best to act natural and pretend like you're sleeping. revealing now that you've been listening all along would not be ideal.

"i mean, i don't just think so. i'm pretty sure. but you hate me, so..."

paul is quiet for a long time and you assume he's done with his rant, so his voice startles you when he speaks again.

"i don't know. i think i'm done." then, he lowers his voice even further, a bare whisper leaving his lips; "sweet dreams."

paul falls asleep soon after his confession, having gotten everything off his chest. but now, it’s your turn to stay sleepless.

when your alarm goes off in the morning, it feels like your head is about to explode. having to be at the track at six in the morning means waking up even earlier, which always feels like it should be illegal. but today, it was even worse than usual.

maybe you'd underestimated this concussion and how it would affect your day.

but this weekend is the second to last round in the f3 championship, so the points are important. you'll have to at least try and do your best.

you know you won't be able to say anything to the staff members, because as soon as they hear even the slightest sign of doubt from you, they'll prohibit you from racing. they do want your best, after all. so you take several pain killers straight after waking up and put on your best possible smile when having breakfast in the hotel.

paul doesn't speak to you all morning; he seems tense and somewhat distracted, just like the last couple of days. though, now you feel like you understand why. you don't exactly feel relaxed yourself, constantly being reminded of his late-night confession and your sudden realization of your own feelings. it's almost like you see him in a new light; when he's chatting away with dino at breakfast, you don't find him annoying for occupying your friend's attention like you usually would; when you're forced to sit next to him in the shuttle to the track, you find yourself enjoying the way his broad shoulders graze against yours every once in a while; and when he does his warmups for the race, you find it hard to take your eyes off him because his white fireproof shirt makes you feel things you didn't know you could feel for him.

you take one last painkiller as you stand in the truck, moments before you're supposed to get into your car. you're all alone, taking a couple deep breaths to try and forget everything about yesterday, and everything about paul, so that you can concentrate fully on the race. that's why you're startled when a hand lands on your shoulder – but when you turn your head and see that the hand belongs to paul who's standing behind you, you get surprisingly calm. "how's the head?"

"it's better," you answer. it's not a full lie; it is better than when you woke up. he doesn't need to know that it's not as good as it should be.

paul nods, walking past you to his bag in a corner of the truck. you're standing in silence for a few moments as he rummages through his bag, not sure what to say. "you know you still have time to change your mind, right?" he pulls out his headphones, standing up properly. "no one will be mad if you say you can't race."

"i know." when his eyes meet yours, it feels different. closer, more intimate, more personal than ever before. you wonder if he can feel it too. "thank you."

and then another thing happens for the first time ever.

he smiles at you.

it's not a forced smile like the ones he could sometimes give you in prema videos or after a race, and it's not a gloating one like the ones he would show off after overtaking you in the last corner of a race. no, this is a real smile.

and you smile back. "good luck out there," you say.

"you too."

surprisingly enough, you're the only one in the top ten who starts with wet tyres on your car. the track still is very wet and the sky is covered in dark clouds, so while it currently isn't raining, it still feels like a given to you that the wet tyres are the best choice.

dino is starting on slicks – you're not sure why – but back in eleventh place, paul is starting on the wets just like you. as you'd hoped, the wets are the best tyre for the conditions, and you soar past the two people starting in front of you in the first corner. it doesn't take long before paul comes up behind you, having passed nine cars in just the first parts of the race. the other cars on wets overtake all cars starting on slicks too, but you and aron have no problem fighting them off for the rest of the race.

when the two of you pull into the pitlane along with taylor barnard who took the last spot on the podium, you let out a sigh of relief. you had been scared, both before and during the race, that something else would happen. driving on a wet track is never easy, and another shunt could've made your head trauma much worse. you're thankful for an easy race – and especially thankful that paul is there to share the podium with you.

instantly after getting out of your car, you pull off your helmet and jog off to celebrate with your team. when you've hugged and shook hands with everyone and you make your way over to check your weight, you find that paul is already standing on the scale. when he gets off it, he turns to you instinctively. his blonde curls stick slightly to his sweaty forehead before he pulls a hand through them, standing still and just looking at you.

paul is so genuinely happy for you; after the day you had yesterday, and the things you told him the day before, you really deserve this win. the joy practically radiates from him, his smile bigger and more pure than ever.

you can't exactly contain your happiness either, which explains why you crash into him, engulfing him in a big hug. your emotions are all over the place, so happy for the race and still thinking of his confession last night, and you just want to hold him in your arms forever.

paul is used to the regular handshake and nod after a race, so he is surprised that you're embracing him all of the sudden. "what are you doing?" he asks as confusion takes over his face, but he's at the same time beginning to blush at the feeling of your arms around him.

you pull away slightly, your arms still holding onto his shoulders. you can't hold back now. "i heard you," you whisper. "last night." his expression morphs into one of horror, and he's about to explain himself when you cut him off. "don't worry, i feel the same way."

he just blinks at you for a few moments, before he drapes his arms around you, holding you close. a laughter erupts from his chest and you grin at the feeling of his chest vibrating against yours.

this is the first time you've ever actually hugged him – but you hope there will be many more hugs to come.

having someone you like instead of hate with you on the podium is a new feeling to you. there's something about the little glances you steal of each other, the shared smiles as you get your trophies, and the way both of you completely drench the other in champagne; it's a feeling neither of you will forget.

paul even enjoys the sound of your national anthem for the first time.

as soon as you possibly can, when you are both done with your interviews and whatnot, you try to find a place where you can be alone and talk. thankfully, the prema truck is empty as all other staff members and drivers are watching or working at the f2 race. paul pulls the door open for you, watching with a smile as you bow gratefully before stepping inside. "well..." he says, closing the door behind him.

"well..." you set your trophy down on a counter, seeing from the corner of your eye how paul does the same with his own trophy next to you. "do you want to... say something?"

you can practically feel his eyes falling on you, but yours are fixed on the trophy in front of you. not because it's so beautiful, but because you don't dare look at the other beautiful thing in the room. you've never felt shy around paul before; you've never been scared to talk in front of him, look at him, or just be near him. but now, even the thought of him being next to you makes you a bit nervous.

"why didn't you say anything?" paul asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans on the counter. "last night?"

you take a deep breath. "i don't know, i didn't want to interrupt you." you close your eyes, shaking your head slightly. "it's just all so new to me. these feelings i have for you..." you pause, trying to come up with something to say about what you feel for him, but your mind is blank. "i mean, just a year ago, we would make each other crash into a wall during races because we hated each other so much, and–"

"do you still hate me?"

you instantly turn your head towards him. "no! no, of course not." when your eyes meet his, you find the thought of ever hating him ridiculous. it's like you're reminded of the paul you've gotten to know these last few days. the paul who is not only freakishly handsome and a great driver, but also sweet, kind, caring. the paul you've found yourself thinking about so many times every day, the paul you really like.

"does that mean that you like me?"

no matter how hard he tries to push it away, a grin is forming on his lips. the grin only grows when you answer his question. "yeah. it does. i like you."

"good." paul takes a step closer to you, letting his fingers brush away a few stray hair from your face. "because i like you too."

your cheeks redden from the sensation of his fingers against your skin, and the combination of his soft gaze and his genuine smile could make you melt on the spot. you blink up at him, thinking of what to say, when he speaks again.

"can i kiss you?"

you nod before you can even register your own actions, and paul's hand smooths over your cheek again before landing right below your jaw. he pulls your face closer, stopping just a centimeter away for a moment before he leans in to close the distance.

it's delicate, gentle, and so tender. the feathery kisses he's giving you make you grow weak in your knees, but all the nervousness you felt before is flushed away in a millisecond. your hands come up to wrap around his neck to keep you steady as you tilt your head, moving your lips along with his. it feels so right, kissing your ex-enemy like this, yet it was so unthinkable just days before.

just when paul is about to deepen the kiss, you hear a sound from behind you; the door is opening and in comes dino, calling out your names. "are you in here?"

you pull apart quickly, both scrambling to look as natural and as far away as you can in just a second. dino senses what's up – how can he not, when you're basically attached by your lips when he walks in? – but he decides not to push it. he'd rather keep quiet and bring it up another time, when he has a better opportunity to tease you both.

"there you are!" he beams, waving for you both to come with him. "the race is about to start, let's go and watch it."

if your cheeks had been red before, they are now burning like never before. you hide your face in your hands, groaning at the thought of dino seeing his teammates lip-locked. paul lets out a chuckle at the sight, draping an arm around your shoulders as he leads you towards the door with him. "it's fine, he didn't see anything." he presses a short peck to your temple before letting go of you as you exit the truck. "i think."

dino has already gotten a good head start towards the track, and paul is just about to jog after him when you turn to him, pressing your finger to his chest. "just one thing," you start, and he raises his eyebrows at you. "i hope you understand that this," you point at yourself and then at him, and then at yourself again. "doesn't mean i'll be nicer to you when we race. i'm still going to crush you in every race."

paul throws his head back as he lets out a hearty laugh. "oh, i'd love to see you try."

[dizzyduck44]

All Is Not Well At Alpine

So I think it’s time we talk about the French Elephant in the paddock. Alpine/Renault

It can no longer be ignored. Something is terminally wrong at that team and has been for a while.

I’m old enough to remember the Renault team the first time round and their questionable antics, however either rightly or wrongly I have always laid the blame for that era at the feet of Flávio Briatore. However the writing has been on the wall since 2016 and finally we are out of excuses.

Let’s start with the revolving drivers. Palmer, then Sainz, then Hulkenberg, then Ricciardo, then Ocon, now Alonso and Piastri. If you have been a fan of any of those drivers you will probably feel that the team treated them poorly, threw them off at the first opportunity, or if a “better” option appeared. Netflix caught it perfectly, the toxic production line the team had going. And how many times have we excused them for it, “oh he’s under performing” “well of course you would take that driver if he became available”. It still breaks my heart thinking of Carlos being binned off and just looking broken having given up his Red Bull ties for Renault to be booted out a year later. They were literally playing God with people’s F1 career.

As an engine supplier. The split with Red Bull was messy and public. The signing of Daniel Ricciardo felt more like a middle finger to Christian Horner than actually looking to Daniel’s best interests. Isn’t that evident that after a single year, he was on his way out of there through choice? I remember Paul Di Resta saying in 2020, “when Daniel leaves the team I hope he tells you what he’s done for that team, because it’s unbelievable”. As far as I know, we never found out.

Then the partnership with McLaren. Everyone seems to place the switch to Mercedes engines with Seidl, but as I recall at the time, with McLaren beating them in the championship engines had started to be a little slow in delivery or mid season, amazingly, couldn’t be saved or fixed for the papaya team meaning grid penalties. Again we all smiled and chalked it up to gamesmanship.

To sabotage your competitors is one thing but then we discover that Esteban has mechanics he really doesn’t get along with. Now each to their own on Esteban as a character, I’m not going to tell you what to think*, but to sabotage your own driver in such a way. I can’t think of a single reason why you would do that.

Then 2021, the big money star driver is off to your rival and then out of nowhere bye bye Cyril. That was probably the first WTF are they playing at moment.

Let’s talk the young drivers academy. They had collected a wealth of young drivers into their academy to fight for an F1 seat. To date, have they placed any one other than Romain Grosjean? Zhou left and went to Alfa as there was no way in, Lundgaard went to Indy same reason, Piastri has walked away from them now. If you look at what happened with Max Fewtrell, what as an academy did they do to support their drivers following the death of Hubert? I think at this point the Alpine Academy is a failure and a huge waste of money. At least Red Bull and McLaren have their juniors and “finds” dominating the grid. Even Ferrari legitimately have placed 2 drivers. It kind of breaks my heart that is where Abi Pulling is, as I think she is young enough and talented enough to punch through, but sadly is at the wrong team.

Then we need to discuss Alain Prost. Not only to leave the team, but do so with such scathing criticism of the organisation. Alain is respected up and down the paddock and if there was any doubts left something was very wrong, this was the tipping point.

So then we arrive at what has transpired over the last two months. Alonso saying that the threat of Oscar taking his seat was constantly being used, Oscar believing there was no seat for him. I don’t think he’s even got to do the two FP1s he was promised.

Don’t get me wrong, I have never been Fernando’s biggest fan. The damage he did at McLaren in 2007 and then the unnecessary public outbursts during 2017 are still raw, but he is clearly one of the top 3 drivers in the sport at the moment with Lewis and Max. Charles, George, Lando they can’t cope with him yet. So why make him think his seat was ever in doubt? Open the cheque book and ask how much for how long. It’s not hard!

Then to allow Otmar to go out there (and I honestly believe he believed what the team told him) and belittle Oscar’s integrity, for us then to find out Alpine had no legally binding contract with Oscar at all, has to be the final nail in the coffin.

There are no more excuses. This is a team that has been free falling for a while. They treat everyone connected to them appallingly and when you step back and look at it, people have been fleeing that team for a number of years now. Including press officers!

As much as I want Gasly to get a real shot outside the Red Bull programme, if I were a fan of his I’d be screaming “no, don’t do it” every time a move to Alpine is mentioned. I really don’t want Daniel to go back there. The fact he paused for so long before saying yes he would go back speaks volumes.

I’m sorry Alpine. No more free passes, no more excuses. We see you for what you are.

*For the record, I personally have no issues whatsoever with Esteban.

[losingluckynumbers]

I have some thoughts about this “Hülkenberg to replace Gasly at Red Bull 2020″ -rumor.

First of all, I have to say I’m really torn about the idea. On one hand, I’ve been waiting for years to see Hülkenberg in a top team where he can show his talent, and tbh I think he’d be quite successful. On the other hand, I hate Red Bull’s (and McLaren’s for that matter) way of promoting young drivers and then kicking them out without giving them time to adjust to the team and the car. I think Gasly is improving all the time and has shown great potential. I mean, it took Bottas two years to get comfortable with Mercedes and just look at him now. The new guy is always at a disadvantage.

Let’s start with Hülkenberg: of course, moving to a top team would be great for him and I’m sure he’d grasp the opportunity with both hands especially considering how Renault’s doing atm. He’s one of those ridiculously talented potential world champions who has just never been given a fighting chance. However, he’s been a part of developing Renault and I’m sure Renault would love to keep him for a long time - even if Ricciardo starts outperforming him. If Hülkenberg goes to RBR and can’t immediately match Verstappen, will that be the end of his career? Like I said, RBR is not known for its patience with drivers.

Now let’s talk about Gasly. Horner has admitted that Gasly was promoted a year too early (can’t find the link but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said at some point) and I don’t disagree. Gasly was doing great at Toro Rosso and could’ve used another year or two there before moving to RBR - Ricciardo didn’t do him any favors by leaving when he did. All in all, I’m not a fan of promoting young drivers into top teams too early. The pressure is always huge and it takes time to settle in (I’ll keep repeating this cos’ it really is a vital point here), and combined with the constant fear of getting sacked the whole situation is unfair and we lose a lot of talents cos’ of this. Gasly’s season at RBR so far hasn’t been impressive but he is improving and we know he has had a lot of issues with the car itself and the team has occasionally effed-up, be it strategy or reliability. I don’t think he deserves to lose his seat but instead should be given the chance to grow with the team and help develop the car in the long run...

...which brings us to RBR itself. Verstappen’s contract is ending after 2020 and let’s get real: if RBR can’t give him a real chance to fight for the championship next year they will lose him, possibly to Mercedes or Ferrari or who-knows-what. If they replace Gasly with Hülkenberg and Verstappen leaves, in 2021 when the new regulations come into effect they’ll have no drivers with long term experience with the car and the team. Sure, they could keep Gasly as a reserve driver or send him back to Toro Rosso while also testing for RBR and then bring him back, but honestly, it’s not the same. Only a race driver can really know the car. Also, when has RBR ever hired a driver outside their junior program? (Srsly, have they ever done that, I can’t remember?) Although, it would make sense for them to want a more experienced driver when all they have are young fairly inexperienced drivers. But what would this do to the credibility of the junior program? Like I’ve said, promoting drivers too early is a bad move, so for everyone’s sake, Albon should stay in Toro Rosso for now - he’s good but he needs time.

I know this is probably just another silly season rumor or some twisted Helmut Marko -move to put pressure on Gasly (honestly, drivers do better when being supported not pressured but tell that to RBR). Or maybe RBR is just messing with Renault - after watching Drive to Survive I wouldn’t put it past them. However, this still got me thinking about the whole sport atm. I truly believe that letting young new drivers gain plenty of experience in smaller teams before bringing them to the top league leads to better results for everyone - and even then they should be given enough time to adapt to the car and the team.

Hell, maybe Verstappen is trying to wiggle his way out of his RBR contract already after this year and they’re looking for someone to replace him and not Gasly should that happen.

tl;dr: Hülkenberg deserves a seat in a better team. Gasly is improving, he’s a good driver with a lot of potential, and doesn’t deserve to get sacked. RBR might lose Verstappen soon so they need a driver with more than one season of experience with the car and the team if that happens. Young drivers get promoted way too early. Everyone needs and should be given time to settle into a new team and car. I hate the silly season.

[mistressemmedi]

So, settle down and enjoy the saga that is: Kimi and the mistery vacant seat at Ferrari.

Usual disclaimers: sources are not confirmed, all rumours, bla bla, take it with a grain of salt.

Begin your read under the cut:

It all starts with Marchionne. If you've read articles from places like Autosport and such publications, there have always been rumours about how much Marchionne loved the Alfa Romeo brand and Charles Leclerc.

If you remember from last year (fairly sure I've reposted some of the articles myself) there was a running joke about Marchionne bringing bad luck to the team, and the fights that him and Arrivabene would have over the team performance. If you also remember, it came down to Marchionne publicly criticizing the team and especially Kimi, to the point where Maurizio Arrivabene had to basically state multiple occasions that the team (read: fuck what Marchionne thinks) has Kimi's back and didn't consider him "old". Proof came when confirmed him again for another year.

Nevertheless, Marchionne rebranded Fiat-Chrysler and made it into the succeful business that it is today, bringing it back from the edge a bankruptcy and failure.

His plans was to to do the exact same with Ferrari. The team needed rebranding, needed a boost of fresh energy. Enough with the "old model" of the race team, clearly it stopped working for them around the time Fernando joined them and Lewis started taking names on the grid. Also, right around when Schumacher (who had been with Ferrari for so long) showed up to help out Mercedes get started and eventually became the powerhouse that it is today.

Let's be real, even if nobody knows what the hell F1 is, they definitely know who Ferrari is. It's a symbiotic relationship, there's not one without the other. But the truth is, the sport moved forward and evolved. Ferrari didn't.

So, time for some drastic changes. The original plan was to have Jules Bianchi spearhead that change. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen. So the team development stalled.

Until last year, when Marchionne had his way and fired a good chunk of the team, replacing them with "in house" promotions. The right ideas weren't getting at the top, because the team had this stupid ass (and I can confirm, very Italian) notion of "It's worked for us thus far, why change it". Tensions came to a breaking point when Allison left. But we saw snippets of it, when Ruth Buscombe left Ferrari. And let's be real, she's relatively young in the field. Who in their right mind leaves Ferrari to go first to Haas, a baby team, and then Sauber, a clear backmarker? Talk about suicide of your career. But imagine how bad it was for Ruth to have to leave. Or Allison to be kicked out.

So, Marchionne wanted change, Arrivabene didn't. Remember, he's a team principal now but he was Ferrari's "cigarette man" (we all know who's the main sponsor) before that and had an old school mentality.

So while the technical staff issue was partially solved, the problem of the drivers remained.

In comes Charles Leclerc, a child prodigy basically. Didn't skip steps like Verstappen, and delivered results constantly in junior categories despite life's hard blows, remaining level headed.

Perfect candidate, but everyone has seen the story of the "young prodigy driver" in the junior categories, only for them to graduate in F1 and completely tank it.

So, in comes the Alfa Romeo-Sauber project: final step of the rebranding of Alfa, allows Ferrari to experiment and for Charles to test the waters without too much pressure.

What people weren't expecting, was Charles to do so well in such a short amount of time.

Marchionne had the inkling that it was going to happen, so he started to push for Leclerc to join Ferrari at the end of the season, or at least fast-track his promotion.

Remember, Marchionne also knew he had limited time.

Unfortunately Marchionne passed away, but John Elkann, who saw it very much like him, started to push for the team to finish what the deceased CEO wanted (along with other’s within the FCA circle - it was time for a changeee)

Problem was, Camilleri. New big boss at Ferrari. Why? Massive friend of Kimi. And a massive fan.

While all of this was happening, as a side note, Kimi was told from the start “Yo this is Sebastian’s year. You’ll race, we’ll let you win and at the front if the situation calls for it, but you are a clear second. But the contract states you get to race the full season, so off you go. Don’t worry about the replacement rumors”. At the same time, the tech staff at Ferrari basically built a car around Vettel. Like... For him basically. But we all knew it at the beginning of the season.

Anyways, in comes this weekend in Italy. This was supposed to be a triumph, Ferrari 1-2, Vettel on the top step, Kimi the sidekick and who the fuck cares about the third spot.

In comes John Elkann - Spa didn’t go exactly... Smoothly as hoped. The championship has not been a winning smash as hoped. Sebastian is in danger of not winning it again, the constructor’s championship will most likely be dominated by Merc, again. The Seb-Kimi combo is not getting the results promised, despite it all, and Marchionne was probably right.

The only constant, is Leclerc blowing everyone away with his results (Verstappen who?)

Here’s where it gets hazy: a conversation happened between Elkann, Camilleri, Raikkonen and his manager on Friday - the bottom line? Kimi is out. Charles is in (this conversation was also reported by Autosport - I wonder who spilled the beans on that, mhmmmm....)

Let’s be real - had Marchionne been around, this would have happened after Monza’s win. Imagine it, just how it would have been spun “We thank Kimi for his hard work, for his contribution in Italy, at home. Amazing asset for the team, couldn’t have done it without him etc. etc. But it’s fair he enjoys his retirement, and we move forward with Charles etc. etc.” It would have been sad, but it would have been a triumph and all that.

Marchionne is dead, so Kimi is told that he will stay. Until he is not. Elkann doesn’t approach it lightly, he simply says “Soz man, time to go”

(I’m not sure if he was going to be kicked to Haas, highly doubt it. But the point being Charles would go to Ferrari, Giovinazzi to Sauber).

Now, imagine being in Kimi’s shoes - you’ve been jostled around all season, you’re treated as “second” always, because that’s just how it is.

So he’s upset, his manager is upset, and most importantly? His side of the garage is upset. Remember this, they LOVE him.

So, around comes quali. Vettel was supposed to get pole. That’s just how it was planned. Until, Kimi’s side of the garage had enough, went against orders and sent him out to clock a faster time and not help out Vettel.

Result? Kimi sets fastest lap, gives a massive fuck you to Elkann and Vettel is furious because that was his pole and Kimi is out there with an advantage over him and that was not team orders.

Remember his radio? It wasn’t about the slipstream, it was about that side of the garage defying team orders.

In comes race day - fine Kimi has had his moment, but he’s been told EXPLICITLY to work as a stopper to Lewis.

(We all made a bit fun of him about how crappy he is at starts, Vettel getting the lead as usual etc.)

Only problem being... Start comes around, and Kimi jumps Vettel and blocks him for a few seconds as well, leaving him in dirty air.

Vettel sees red (ahahahaha), can’t focus and we see how that went. A mistake, which HE KNEW he couldn’t afford, yet makes it a bit like a rookie.

Kimi is past giving a fuck, Ferrari is literally scrambling for strategies because that’s NOT how it was supposed to go, and falls for the undercut like a goddamn sack of potatoes.

A distaster, and Lewis comes up on top because him and Merc were simply better. And Bottas acted as a sacrificial lamb (LEAVE THIS FINNS ALONE FFS).

Where does this leave the team? Kimi’s manager showed up with Raikkonen’s contract, basically stating “Good fucking luck trying to break this”, Kimi is 100% done with this shit, and Vettel?

Vettel realized at the start of the Italian GP, that it’s no longer about him vs another driver: it’s now his vs two drivers, Lewis and Kimi. And he doesn’t have a support of a second driver any more.

So, Ferrari has two weeks to fix these fucking political issues, because now they have two sides of the garage actively working against each other. Which leaves an easy win for Merc.

Edit: I thought this was a bit far fetched, embellished etc. But an Italian publication (y’all can do your own search) came out with a similar story I just wrote, late in the evening today. Which means people are talking, and you bet your ass that it is people who are on Kimi’s side.

Fin.

[ilovejevsjeans]

Ricciardo's 'ballsy' move: 'My instinct was telling me it was right'

The plane stopped climbing, the seatbelt sign extinguished, and Daniel Ricciardo exhaled for what felt like the first time in months. The Australian formula one ace was on his way from London to Los Angeles to meet some mates for a mid-season break, and was finally on his own time. No commitments, no fans, no media, no hangers-on. It was the headspace he'd been craving.

Out of contract at the end of 2018 and set to become an F1 free agent for the first time, Ricciardo had been determined to explore every option, even as the speculation over his future intensified by each passing month, and against the backdrop of teammate Max Verstappen committing to Red Bull Racing on a big-money deal until the end of 2020 last October. But the clock was ticking, and the 10 hours crossing the Atlantic gave him pause for thought. It was time to shake things up.

Earlier this month, Ricciardo dropped the bombshell that he'd be leaving Red Bull, home to all seven of his F1 wins since joining the team as the successor to compatriot Mark Webber in 2014, to join Renault, the French manufacturer ramping up its involvement in the sport as constructor in its own right in addition to being a supplier of engines to multiple teams, including Red Bull. It was a move few, certainly not Ricciardo's current employers, saw coming.

Leaving a race-winning team to move to a midfield outfit with aspirations of reprising its most recent glory days of 2005-06 with Fernando Alonso is, Ricciardo admits, "ballsy". But the 29-year-old feels it's a move that's necessary, both personally and professionally.

"I think a lot of people expected me to take the soft option and stay because they see me as a soft guy," Ricciardo told Fairfax Media in an exclusive interview.

"I'm maybe perceived as someone who is a friendly guy who wouldn't push back and make a big decision. It's good for everyone to see that I have the balls to make a call like this."

For most of 2018, much of the speculation over Ricciardo's future focused on Mercedes and Ferrari if he was to leave the only F1 family he's ever known. His five seasons at Red Bull Racing follow a two-year apprenticeship at its sister team, Toro Rosso. Mercedes has been the sport's dominant team since F1 switched to V6 turbo hybrid engines in 2014, while Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel leading its charge, seemed the squad most likely to knock Mercedes from its perch. But doors that could have flapped open never quite came ajar.

As Ferrari dithered over whether to retain Vettel's 38-year-old teammate Kimi Raikkonen or promote promising young Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, Mercedes elected to re-sign Valtteri Bottas to play support act to world champion Lewis Hamilton for a third season in 2019.

With a bottleneck at the top two teams, most expected Ricciardo to stay with Red Bull, where he's demonstrated an ability to win multiple races in machinery that, in his tenure, has never been capable of a championship push. But a surprise player came onto the scene in the immediate aftermath of Ricciardo's second win this season, around the streets of Monaco.

"Renault first expressed some interest around then, with Cyril [Abiteboul, Renault F1 managing director] contacting Glenn [Beavis, Ricciardo's manager]," he says.

"There were several options. I spoke to Renault, I had a couple of meetings with McLaren, and I got to speak with [Red Bull company founder] Dietrich [Mateschitz] in Barcelona and again in Austria.

"Initially, I had it in my mind that I'd be staying [at Red Bull]. But the more I thought about starting something different and taking on a new challenge, I got excited. I met with Renault and got a sense for their long-term plan. Obviously I want to win tomorrow, but the strength of Ferrari and Mercedes at the moment means it's very hard for anyone to take them on in the short-term."

Ricciardo says Renault didn't promise him the earth – in fact, the French team did quite the opposite.

"The thing that struck me about Renault was that they were prepared to be honest," he says.

"Straight away, they said 'we're not going to be quicker than Red Bull next year', but what they told me about their plans for 2020 and for when the next rule changes come in for '21 … they had some good structure in place, they're recruiting a lot of good key people, and they're preparing to win. They have a winning mentality and a realistic way of going about it, which I liked."

As Renault's approach became more serious, Ricciardo still had a two-year deal from Red Bull on the table, but something about the thought of standing pat didn’t feel quite right.

"There's been times this year that I've felt exhausted, maybe a bit jaded, and for the first time in my career, not completely enjoying F1," Ricciardo admits.

"There's been times when I've thought 'this is why [2016 world champion Nico] Rosberg retired', and he had it a lot more intense than me. Or why Casey Stoner retired from MotoGP very young. I can see how you could feel burnt out or a bit over it.

"I pushed for a one-year deal, which Red Bull agreed to, but still in the back of my mind, I wasn't sure. What if I was in the same position, had the same feeling a year from now? Would there still be other options available? I didn't want to snooker myself."

Renault set a deadline for Ricciardo to accept its two-year deal over the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend in late July, but he needed more time to ponder his options.

"Renault wanted an answer in Budapest, and the Red Bull offer was still there," he says.

"There was too much going on, so I managed to buy a few more days. But I had to make a call."

Three days after that race weekend, Ricciardo was in London, bound for LA, and with a decision to make. He'd been on the phone to his manager right up until his flight boarded.

"For the first time in I can't remember how long, I had 10 hours to myself, didn't need to be at a race weekend, didn’t need to be at an event, and I was on my own time," Ricciardo says.

"There was something about being alone on that flight that gave me the clarity I needed. The one thing I kept coming back to was being energised again, wanting a new challenge, and that the chance to change excited me. So as we got phone signal as I was coming into LA, I called Glenn and told him it was Renault."

Ricciardo met his three friends in LA, and as the quartet headed to Las Vegas for the weekend, spent most of the four-hour drive on the phone.

"The others all went out when we got to Vegas, but I stayed in the hotel because of how exhausted I was," he says.

"The next morning, I called [Red Bull motorsport adviser] Helmut [Marko] and then [team principal] Christian [Horner]. Helmut said he wasn't too surprised, that he expected it in a way. He said he had a feeling that I wanted to move on. Christian, at first anyway, thought I was taking the piss.

"After I'd made those calls, I felt like a big weight had come off my shoulders straight away. They weren't easy calls to make. But my instinct was telling me it was right. My gut feel was telling me it was right. I was waiting to have that feeling the whole way through the process as it went for months, and I got it for the first time on that flight to LA. When I finished that last phone call and it was done, I knew. I turned my phone off and left it in the hotel safe for three days …"

Ricciardo says the decision to leave is "one of the toughest" he's made in life, not just his racing career.

"It's been a 10-year journey with Red Bull. I was in their junior program in 2008, so amazing memories and things I'll always be grateful for, and things I'll never forget," he says.

"I'm sad to move on, absolutely, but excited by the challenge at Renault. Personally I felt it was good for me to have a fresh start somewhere else, I think it will be healthy.

"I've been pretty stressed all year, and now life feels pretty stress-free." (X)

[ellie-mayflower]

I never understood the love in with Ferrari, where people say that Ferrari makes F1, well I love F1 but not Ferrari. They have a lot of Italian support which is slightly strange as you don't see the same for Williams or Mercedes with British or German support. Even if they're the most successful I love football but I can't stand Man U, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. I don't think they're worth more then any other team

It drives me crazy that no one would ever question someone saying that they’re not a Merc fan or an RBR fan but when you say you don’t like Ferrari then suddenly that’s weird and impossible and ‘you don’t understand the history of F1′ and bla bla bla.

I mean, I’m not inherently predisposed against big teams, though I understandwhy a lot of people are. But they DEFINITELY don’t have any sort of divineright to always be at the top, much less to always win. I think that for me theissue of a big established team winning or losing isn’t just about winning orlosing, it’s how they win and how they lose. It’s how they use the standing andpower and wealth at their disposal and how they handle the bad times much morethan the good ones. Like, I hold them to a much higher standard?

I’m a fan of United and Barca for example but my expectations of them gobeyond what happens on the pitch. I expect them to invest heavily in youth developmentand in giving academy players a genuine chance and with both those teams it wastheir proven commitment to youth programs and young players and their attitudeof looking to the future more than the past always looking to the future ratherthan the past that drew me to them vs their often equally successful rivals,much like Red Bull btw. I always feel like those teams are at their best whentheir academies are thriving and just like I’m proud of the fact that a quarterof the current grid are Red Bull juniors I’m proud that United academy playershad the most playing time in first teams of any youth program in the UK anddeeply concerned and angry about the situation at La Masia and the board’sunwillingness to deal with the crisis increasingly seems symptomatic of muchbigger problems at the club.

And when people point out the less savory sides of those clubs then their fans have to take a long hard look at those things.

The RB junior program gets a lot of stick for being so cutthroat but Ilook at the drivers that have come out of it and I’m quite happy to live withthe criticism because ultimately I believe in the current system as a concept.I’d much rather have people criticize Red Bull for how aggressive their juniorprogram is than not have a junior program or have on in name only but nevergive junior drivers a chance at driving for the first team.

At the same time those big clubs are the ones who should be taking the biggest ‘risks’ in terms of promoting equality and fighting discrimination for example.

I expect those big wealthy teams to re-invest a good chunk of theirrevenue in their staff and their facilities, to go above and beyond asemployers and take advantage of their relative stability to let new employeesthrive and create an atmosphere where veteran employees still feel challengedand trusted and wanted. The fact that so many of RBR’s current employees werethere right from the start and have chosen to stay there despite the heavycompetition in the field and despite the fact that so many other teams arebased in the same region is something the team should be very proud of. Thefact that they brought Christian in as a chubby-cheeked 31-year-old on day oneall the way back in 2005 and that Adrian joined one year later and that they’reboth still there all this time later. And it’s the same with Rocky and Jonathanand Pedals and Rob and Dan (Fallows) and Dominik and so many others and just…they’ve all been there for 12 years at this point and they’re still going sostrong. How can anyone say that they have any less passion? That their wins orchampionships are any less worthy or ‘special’? Whatever that means.