#racing genk

[uniqrenders]

[rb19]

At age 7, Max drives his first kart races. As a rookie he participates in the Mini Category of the Belgium Championships organised by the Flemish Autosport Federation. From the moment the lights go green, Max displays his extraordinary talent. He drives the perfect season clinching win after win. In the rain, the youngster proves to be dominant, resulting in Max becoming the unbeaten Belgium Champion, a few days after his eighth birthday.

2005, Genk Karting Circuit Photo by KartPhoto

[blorbocedes]

Good day brocedes schoolar, do you know which race does the picture of Nico and Lewis backshot wearing their jacket with their name on it and holding boquet of flower came from?

yes of course :) nico wasn't just holding flowers, he was holding the second place trophy and lewis the first

2000 European Karting Championship. Genk, Belgium. 28th - 30th April 2000. Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg, portrait. World Copyright: Chris Dixon/LAT Photographic.

they didn't know they were doomed by the narrative...

[thissying]

"This picture was taken in January 2005 at the karting track in Genk. I think this was a defining moment. Max is 7 years old here and karting on a wet track. Jos decided that Max had to discover there that you shouldn't drive the ideal racing line when the track is wet. Because that's where the rubber is and so it's slippery. You have to drive beside it to find grip. The three of us stood on the ideal line, so Max had to drive around us. When we stood there, Max immediately understood: ha, I've got grip. He found it immediately at other points as well. You could already tell then: this boy has so much talent, knows where to drive right away. But anyway, during a lap I saw Max taking the kerbs and one wheel lifting. I just couldn't photograph it very well. At the end of the afternoon, I asked him if he wanted to take the kerbs once more so I could take a picture of him on two wheels. The execution was perfect but Max didn't have enough space to make the turn after that. Consequence: he crashed hard into the ropes behind me. I think he probably still remembers this picture, haha! That's where Max learned to drive in the rain. After that fantastic overtaking race in Brazil (2016), I thought of this afternoon in Genk. I ran into Jos and we fell into each other's arms, we referred to that afternoon. Ahead of that race in Brazil you could already tell Max was occupied with it. At the drivers parade all the drivers were in the back of the trailer. Except for Max and Nico Hülkenberg: they were in front, looking at where the water flowed on the track. But the basis of that podium in Brazil was in Genk where Max learned to drive the rainlines." - photographer Frits van Eldik

Formule1 magazine 2021/2022

[chibrary]

sources compiled: max verstappen and wsk promotion, both on youtube series: 2013, karting

charles gets third at the cik-fia kz european championship in genk. max wins.

its been a year since the "inchident" and tensions are still high on track... just two races earlier, max is forced to retire after pushing charles into the grass so hard that it causes his already struggling gearbox to fail. charles' team, artgp, decries the maneuver on track as "unfair" via a press release titled "ART Grand Prix stronger than adversities". (meanwhile, charles' fansite decides uses slightly more flavorful language in its own race summary... describing the move as "incomprehensible," simply scandalous" and "shameful" while appealing for officials to do a better job of penalizing dangerous moves. max's site ignores the race entirely, leaving no summary to memorialize his team's take on what happened in sarno. it makes sense: its a lone bad race for the dutch driver in an otherwise dominant season.)

ironically, the cik-fia would start the next race weekend the two attended in wackersdorf with a conversation to all competitors about sportsmanlike behavior.

things may not be as dire as they originally seem, however. charles and max might be ignoring each other on the podium, but they're still friends on facebook: max apparently leaves a comment-- deleted as part of his early f1 social media account purge-- on charles' post about the race.

[lestappenforever]

So, I’m like a realist, right? Sure, yes, I ship people from time to time but I know it’s just for funsies. So, I saw a lestappen edit last week and was like “hey cute guys, what’s up with these two? I better check it out.” and have fallen into a bit of a rabbit hole it seems. So I’m back in the real world now, where Max is in a long term relationship and Charles has a girlfriend, and am wondering: how does one explain Max’s behaviour? Does he just have a friend-crush on Charles? Has he always wanted to be friends with him since they were young and it was just hard since they’ve been rivals for so long? Does he envy him maybe since his father wasn’t a pos and he still turned into a great driver? Is it a “it’s lonely at the top” kind of situation, where he’s never been able to make many friends his own age? (I’ve seen Charles with a bunch of friends outside of racing, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Max with any, but that could be on me.) I mean, a blind person could see that Max takes every opportunity to talk to him or be close to him and he knows stuff about him I’d personally be too embarrassed to admit (like getting his “stupid” quote exactly right or knowing about the twitch thing with his girlfriend forgetting her keys, etc.). I guess I’m looking for the actual non-shippy explanation for this behaviour cause it fascinates me. What are your two cents on this?

Hi anon, and welcome to the world of Lestappen! We're happy to have you. ❤️

I will preface this by saying that shipping is solely for fun, and I don't actually believe Max and Charles are in a secret relationship or anything of the sort. The majority of Lestappen shippers on Tumblr are on the same page about this, with some exceptions, but there are exceptions to anything. And a big part of shipping is speculating, being delusional about them, and overanalyzing things.

Now, in terms of a non-shipping explanation as to why these two behave the way they do around each other, I think it's a combination of all the reasons you've already listed. And the thing about Max and Charles is that they have known each other for so many years. They have been in each other's orbit, in one way or another, for the majority of their lives, and there is no denying that they have seen each other as one of — if not the — biggest rival they've had since they were children. Despite the fact that a lot of the current drivers on the grid have raced each other at some point before F1, there doesn’t seem to be any of them that have the same sort of rivalry that Max and Charles have, which goes so far back. And that kind of bond is one that I believe sticks with you forever.

Now this is not a delusional take at all, as this quote by Armando Filini, manager of the Maranello Kart, the first team for which Leclerc raced, proves: “They were always fighting. It didn't matter if they were competing in a tie or in a final, if it was raining or if the track was dry. Once we were in Genk, Belgium, in the first free practice, and they went on track. Charles and Max met, began to push each other and almost hit each other, with the risk of being left out. Jos Verstappen and I were glued to the fence to look at them and he turned around and said to me: 'These two will fight forever. They will fight even in F1′. A prophecy”.

Even though Max and Charles obviously haven’t been best friends for the majority of the time they've known each other, and they've only started building what appears to be a genuine friendship in the last few years, they share a connection that has been evident to people around them since they were little.

Max's comment from last season where he said that he wasn't surprised both him and Charles were sitting in that press conference together because he always thought that if he made it into F1, Charles would too, is just another testament to how tied together they actually are. And Charles' fond recollections of their karting days in the past season shows that it's a mutual thing: that Charles feels that same bond with Max that Max feels with him. And I think this is the whole baseline for why they've never been able to be normal about or around each other: because they go so far back and their lives are so intertwined that I honestly don't think either of them is fully capable of treating the other as just any other colleague or friend, because they don't see each other that way. They're something more, and by that I don't mean they're secretly in love with each other — they just have this bond that goes beyond normal friendship, forged through years of rivalry, envy, conflict, mutual growth and respect, and eventual friendship.

I have a childhood friend sort of like that: obviously not with the rivalry and drama that comes with the surroundings in which Max and Charles met and grew up, but someone that I share a bond with that I don't share with any of my other friends, old or new, and it's honestly my most treasured friendship because it has helped shape me as a person in a profound sort of way. He's not my closest friend and not the friend I talk to the most since we live on different sides of the country and our paths haven’t crossed much in the past few years, as is often the case when you grow up and become an independent adult. But when I do talk to him and hang out with him, it kind of feels like coming home. And to me, it seems like Max and Charles share that same type of bond.

This is just my personal take as I obviously don't know Max or Charles, and this is all based off of watching their interactions and watching their relationship develop over the past few years, as well as deepdiving into their history in the past. But this is the explanation that makes sense to me.

[baiuzensenn]

Random f1 fan: “Lestappen has no drama.”

— The 2019 Austrian GP where Max ruined the chance of Charles’ first win and Charles then unfollowed Max but they still took the same plane to leave. The 2019 Silverstone where Charles “revenge” to Max. Unfollowing each other but won’t miss any memes about each other on the internet. Claiming Not Friends but still being each other’s biggest fan: 2022 secret santa.

: “no angst.”

— The INCHIDENT. And many many more intense moments from their karting days. The 2022 Roman Empire in which Max and Charles competed for WDC.

: “no reasonable slayable dynamic.”

— Armando Filini, manager of the Maranello Kart, the first team for which Leclerc raced. “They were always fighting. It didn't matter if they were competing in a tie or in a final, if it was raining or if the track was dry. Once we were in Genk, Belgium, in the first free practice, and they went on track. Charles and Max met, began to push each other and almost hit each other, with the risk of being left out. Jos Verstappen and I were glued to the fence to look at them and he turned around and said to me: 'These two will fight forever. They will fight even in F1′. A prophecy”.

: “they will never be brocedes nor are they friends I’ve had enough.”

— Max and Charles are not intimate friends for sure. Comparing brocedes’ dynamics to lestappen’s only proved you know nothing about lestappen’s lore… ZERO. I knew it’s a popular comparison in the industry but talking about ship dynamics it’s a totally different thing.

I’m surprised many ppl only recognize shipping drivers who are really good friends irl otherwise they call it silly fans’ fabrication.

Lestappen is the type of ship in which Max and Charles don’t need to pretend to be intimate friends but they both care each other so much. This has begun from their childhood rivalry in karting times. Caring doesn’t definitely means they care about each other’s daily life. They recognize each other’s capacity that “you deserve to be my No.1 rival forever.” You can find many cases that they care much more about each other’s performance (even Red Bull recognized it!) and their desire to compete with each other. That’s their biggest tense. They’re not friends but still each other’s biggest fan.

[alovye]

GUYS LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FREAK!!! How am I just finding out about this😭 This article reminds me of enemies to lovers(Childhood rival), angsty, hurt/comfort, making out behind closed doors, soulmate type of fanfic

Armando Filini, manager of the Maranello Kart, the first team for which Leclerc raced.

“They were always fighting. It didn't matter if they were competing in a tie or in a final, if it was raining or if the track was dry. Once we were in Genk, Belgium, in the first free practice, and they went on track. Charles and Max met, began to push each other and almost hit each other, with the risk of being left out. Jos Verstappen and I were glued to the fence to look at them and he turned around and said to me:

'These two will fight forever. They will fight even in F1′. A prophecy”,

he recalled in dialogue with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

[feraltwinkseb]

Mick Schumacher of KSM Racing Team,David Beckmann of Robin Beckmann and Maximilian Fewtrell of Ricky Flynn Motorsport (3rd place) attend the DJKM award ceremony at the German Karting Championship October 5, 2014 - Genk, Belgium Source: dpa picture alliance/Alamy Live News

[yesloulou]

I just don’t understand why anyone would feel the need to make stuff like that Jos/Charles recommendation thing up when real lore like this exists:

“They were always fighting. It didn't matter if they were competing in a tie or in a final, if it was raining or if the track was dry. Once we were in Genk, Belgium, in the first free practice, and they went on track. Charles and Max met, began to push each other and almost hit each other, with the risk of being left out. Jos Verstappen and I were glued to the fence to look at them and he turned around and said to me: 'These two will fight forever. They will fight even in F1′. A prophecy." - Armando Filini, manager of Maranello Kart which Charles used to race for.

EXACTLY

[writtenatdawn]

Chicane

Word count: 587 words

He loves the cars, the speed, the sound of engines revving, the circuits, the hours spent in simulators, and, despite the many times the strategists have let him down, he loves his team. He loves the sport to bits, even if it costs him. Wackersdorf, Zuera, and Genk stole his childhood. Montmeló, Imola, and Spielberg robbed his adolescence. Spa, Monza, and Baku raided his parents’ marriage and in consequence he lost, what he believed, his once happy family.

Despite everything, he never blamed racing. Even without the assurance from his father that everything was going okay. Prior to everyone convincing him that he had been born for this. Long before the promises of the glory that lay ahead. His passion was enough; he believes he’ll be okay as long as he has that.

So he kept going and did what he liked best: he won races and stood on the podium. He even did a shoey once in celebration of his grand slam in Monaco—some nights he’d tell people that it was the catalyst that helped him earn his first world championship title. Jeong Jaehyun, the 2021 Formula One World Champion. He remembered returning to Seoul to find congratulations plastered all over town, acknowledging his victory and the years it had taken to get there. 

Every morning as he wakes up, he sends his gratitude to God for all of His blessings. He was able to create new fond memories for every one that was stolen. For every love he had lost, he gained a thousand more. 

Love, lost. Honest to God, despite all the good things in his life, he's still not sure how much more of it he'd need to make up for this one particular loss.

He can still precisely recall the cadence and the labored breathing; the exact moment when she said she couldn't do it any longer. The private jets and luxury cars. The kisses that precede podium celebrations. The lavish vacations over the summer breaks. The soothing hugs for every bad weekends. The ill-timed phone calls and their half-assed conversations. The rumors and all the pictures that go with it. The sleepless nights. The gloomy mornings. The unanswered questions. The abrupt loss of desire to strive for the affection that was once everything. She’s done.

He doesn’t remember talking back or defending himself because it was true. There you have it, Jeong Jaehyun, who is often commended for his drive and focus, lost sight of one of the most important individuals in his life who had been by his side from the beginning. Just a boy working his way up. No title, no nothing.

Her sudden exit from his life was brutal. He had no idea that the loss of a loved one would lead him to go through withdrawal. She was a drug, and he was unaware that he was an addict.

Sometimes he sits in the quiet room of his apartment and wishes that the days would pass more slowly, but they continue to go by faster than his car can go on the race tracks. The things he would sacrifice to keep the wonderful times close to where he is at this point in time. He prayed, and prayed, and pleaded to his brain to keep all of the memories vivid and genuine.

But, time is, after all, nothing if not ruthless.

As he set foot in city after city, he noticed the memories dimming and her gradually turning into a mere notion. A blur. Later, a ghost.

[valentin10]

DIRECT. La Gantoise-Racing Genk (Jupiler Pro League 2024-2025) en direct

Le sport en direct sur L’Équipe. Les informations, résultats et classements de tous les sports. Directs commentés, images et vidéos à regarder et à partager ! — À lire sur www.lequipe.fr/Football/match-direct/championnat-de-belgique/2024-2025/la-gantoise-racing-genk-live/654644

[feyenoord-1908]

Feyenoord boekt overtuigende oefenzege op .Racing Genk; Timber geblesseerd van het veld.

[reneleijen]

België: Dreigberichten voetballer komen van 15-jarige supporter rivaliserende club

De Belgische politie heeft een verdachte (15, uit Genk) opgepakt voor de dreigberichten die via instagram werden gestuurd naar Antwerp-voetballer Toby Alderweireld. ‘Deze week is u dochter vermiste’, schreef de verdachte, supporter van Racing Genk. ‘Inshallah u familie sterft’. Alderweireld zou verder het hele WK van de Rode Duivels ‘hebben verneukt omdat ge zo kk traag zijt’. De berichten werden…

[defke]

Standard ontvangt komende zaterdag KAA Gent. De Rouches leven voor grote momenten en kunnen aan de leiding komen in de Europe Play-offs.

Standard kan dit seizoen eindelijk zijn lot in eigen handen nemen, maar zal erg jaloers zijn op concurrent KAA Gent Jeroen Deheegher Foto: © photonews Heel wat grote clubs verloren dit seizoen op Sclessin. Onder meer Club Brugge, Antwerp, Anderlecht, Racing Genk verloren er. KAA Gent kon dan weer een punt pakken en gaf zelfs de overwinning uit handen in het slot.  Standard deed het dit…