#or maybe i should have called them staniels and then the pun would be so good all would be forgiven idk

[mcl38]

thank you for your respectful reply think just in a day when people are calling daniel fans all sort of names I just felt the need to address what u said! in regards to the tags u put, especially the ones about daniel's ig story, I am interested to hear your thoughts. Even as a Daniel fan, I can see it as tactical, especially now if he did know there were other discussions going on, but it also seems that it is something he almost had to do so that the media would shut up about it all and I do think he would have had to make mclaren aware he was making a statement like that...just interested to hear your thinking if you feel ok to share?

ok so. as i warned before i cant promise to keep my thoughts within the realm of like. respectful objectivity on this topic so be warned

essentially i thought it was really presumptious of daniel in that insta story to imply that the rumours were about him quitting mclaren of his own volition rather than mclaren firing him. when he said "i am committed to mclaren until the end of next year and am not walking away from the sport" it sounded like he was shaping the discourse as if people were worried HE was disappointed enough in mclaren to quit them before his contract was up.

i get that in reality its likely daniel is very aware that the risk was actually on mclaren's part, not his, and its likely he just couldnt rly frame it in any other way - especially bc as we have now discovered mclaren werent committed to him till the end of next year. it was a response to ppl who were already assuming daniel was a free agent, and possibly tinged w some bitterness that he has to write this kind of statement even if his seat WAS on the verge of being lost.

that said, to me it read like his driver's ego peeking through, like he can't picture the relationship between him and mclaren as one where HE has a responsibility and even after a year and a half of his teammate severely outperforming him he still thinks its solely mclaren's job to fix the issues no one but him seems to be having. or, even if this is just the way he's trying to showcase the situation to the public as if the rumours are so silly he didnt even figure out where they came from, it still felt like a subtle power play of you should be happy im even choosing to stay with you because look how worried everyone is (ie look how worried i can frame it so everyone seems to be) that i would possibly be leaving you.

thing is, by the time that insta story was released i had already fully lost patience with daniel's stint at mclaren. i was tired of p13s every quali and interviews saying he doesn't know how he's losing time or complaining abt having to adapt to a car as if thats not every drivers job, and mclaren app blurbs from practice sessions where lando was talking abt how to improve performance and he was talking about how he liked x country or y fans or had a good time for z reasons, but couldnt get the tyres to work or whatever (again im being subjective - not his fault lando is dry as fuck and allergic to fun in those mcl app exclusives). so like. i wanted to believe that hes at least trying his hardest and pushing for the team rather than for his own self satisfaction - which im sure he was, dont get me wrong, it would be stupid of me to say that i genuinely believe daniel wasnt trying, but that insta story certainly did nothing to help my frustration at the time