#who cursed the mclaren strategy team?

[leclerc-s]

mclaren has been pulling off ferrari levels of stupid strategy calls

[lqvesoph]

She’s WHOSE daughter??? || LN4

lando norris x webber!reader

summary: It’s race day in Australia…

warnings: smut, m receiving, swear words

This is the final part of this story, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it!!

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

masterlist | taglist

Part 5

Walking into the paddock the next day felt weird. You arrived with your father but quickly made your way to the Red Bull facility, not having spoken to your dad for the whole ride.

Mark looked after you, hesitant whether he should talk to you or leave you be for the moment. He quickly decided on the latter when he spotted Lando hurrying into the paddock, moving quickly towards Mclaren and only fake smiling at a few fans.

"Lando? Can I talk to you for a second?", he called, making the driver stop in his tracks. "Yeah?", Lando muttered. "Let’s go inside, yes?", Mark gestured to the door and away from all the prying eyes of the paddock.

"I want to talk to you about Y/n because she- well, she didn’t seem that happy yesterday and I figured that because you and her have some sort of relationship and the way you two looked yesterday, it must have something to do with you", he explained, watching how Lando crossed his arms.

"Mark, I‘m sorry but-", he started. "You don’t have to apologize, Lando. I think I know what’s happening here", Mark spoke. Lando looked down and stepped from one foot on the other.

"I figured this was on her not on you. I like you, Lando, you’re a nice guy and I can see you treating Y/n very well. If you want, I can talk to her", Mark offered, making Lando shake his head tho.

"Thank you for the offer but I think I should do this myself", he smiled, Mark giving a small smile in return.

"She‘s at Red Bull at the moment", your father told Lando, smiling and squeezing his shoulder.

Lando was about to text Max to let him know he was coming over but was whisked away by his engineering team to talk about the upcoming race.

When he was finally let go, it was almost time for the drivers parade.

"Lando come on!", Oscar called before the Brit wanted to hush out of the garage. He squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance but followed his teammates out on the track.

*~**~*

Even after the parade, he didn’t have time to come and find you as he was swept away immediately after to go over some final strategy discussions, put on his race suits and drive a few laps before the race would begin.

Lando internally cursed every single person who talked to him but tried his best to not let it show on the outside.

After having pulled up on P3, he got out of the car and searched for Zak. "I‘ll be back shortly", he let him known, receiving a nodded and a hard pat on the back. "The National Anthem starts soon."

Lando nodded and walked back through the garage and to the hospitality. He spotted you in front of Red Bull, talking to Kelly and Penelope.

He took a deep breath and walked over to the three of you. "Lando!!", P called, being the first to spot him and run over to him. He smiled and the little girl and leaned down to give her a hug.

"I saw you and Maxie on the track!", she told him overexcited. "You did? Was it good?", he chuckled and the girl nodded.

Then Lando looked up, seeing how Kelly and you watched the two of them. He got up, finding your eyes with his. "Can I talk to you for a second?", he asked, fiddling with the race suit, hanging low on his hips.

You looked over at Kelly, who gave you an encouraging nod and then back to Lando.

"Yeah, let‘s go", you agreed, following him up to his driver room.

"About yesterday-"

"What happened yesterday-"

"Sorry, you go first", you mumbled, fiddling with your sweaty hands. Lando cleared his throat. "I‘m sorry for the way I reacted yesterday", he said, pausing for a second which you used to speak up.

"You don’t have to apologize, I am at fault here", you admitted. "I should’ve told you the truth. You were right, I had countless of opportunities to tell you but I panicked every single time and I‘m truly sorry for this and I hope you can forgive me."

You didn’t notice Lando having stepped closer until he lifted your chin up. "I get it", he whispered, having gone over the words Oscar told him the day before almost the whole night. Your eyes found his, not quite believing the words coming out of his mouth.

"You‘re not supposed to get it, I don’t even get it", you replied humorless. Lando chuckled, putting his hand on your cheek and pulling you closer.

"Can I kiss you?"

You nodded slightly, looking down at his lips and back into his eyes before he pulled you in. The kiss was innocent and soft. Lando put his forehead against yours and smiled.

"Oscar came to my hotel yesterday and explained your motives", he admitted. You pulled back to look at him. "He did?", you asked surprised. Lando nodded. "Convinced me to talk to you", he said. "Oh Osc", you muttered.

Lando grinned and pulled you back in for another kiss. This one turning quickly into more than the shy one from before.

His hands started to roam over your body, one of them pulling you closer while walking backwards until your legs hit the edge of the physio bed.

Your hands gently pulled at the strands of his hair before one traveled lower to tug the zipper of his suit down, letting one hand find its way into his pants. You gently stroke over his hardening dick, making him groan into your mouth.

Lando placed kisses along your jaw and collarbone, just as you cupped his covered cock he softly bit down on your skin. A moan escaped your lips.

Revengefully you decided to palm his dick harder, making his breath hitch in return.

"Love, I-", he was interrupted by a moan. "I really want to continue but-", Lando’s head fell forward to your shoulder but not for long because you turned the two of you around and slowly sank down to your knees.

A loud moan escaped his lips at the sight of you kneeling before him. His fingers gripped the edge of the bed while his right hand gathered your hair in a pony tail-like hold.

His suit was already down to his knees but you quickly tugged down the black fireproofs and underwear, making his hard cock spring free and slap against his abdomen.

His tip leaking some precum already which you collected with your fingertip and took an early taste. "Please- just-", he breathed heavily, making you smirk at Lando’s light begging.

You wrapped your hand around the base of his cock before taking the tip in your mouth, slowly letting more and more of his length disappear into your mouth.

Lando groaned at the feeling of your warm wet mouth around him, trying his hardest not to slam in your mouth. You slowly started bobbing your head, taking more and more of his length each time.

Tears brimmed in the corner of your eyes when his dick hit the back of your throat. "Taking me so well, love", he muttered, having closed his eyes. His hand holding your hair guided you up and down his length but never forcing you to take more than you could.

He could feel himself getting close, the sensation of your mouth and your breath hutting his lower stomach each time you breathed out, piling up.

"I’m close, baby. You wanna swallow it?", he asked and was given an agreeing hum as a reply.

His breath was quickening, the fingers in your hair loosened its grip while his moans and praises became an incoherent mix. He let out a deep groan before burying himself deep into the back of your throat, ropes of cum shooting down your throat. You continued your movements up and down his length a few more times before releasing his softening cock and glancing up at Lando.

An exhausted but wicked smile graced his smile as he dragged his thumb along your mouth to wipe off your salvia and his cum.

Lando then pulled you up and placed a soft kiss to your lips.

"When do you have to be on the grid?", you whispered. "Uhm… about 5 minutes ago", he chuckled but didn’t let go of you.

"Well then hurry!!", you called, slapping the back of his head and started to dress him up again.

Lando chuckled and pressed one last peck to your lips before disappearing out of the door.

With a bright smile you let your fingers trail along your lips and followed Lando out of the hospitality.

Going back to the paddock, you decided to watch the race from Lando‘s garage, being met with your father at the entrance.

"Where‘ve you been?", he asked, a smug smile on his lips. "Uhm, why?", you tried to get out of answering. "Because Lando turned up late for the national anthem and I know he‘s been wanting to talk to you", you dad replied.

Your eyes widened but you tried to keep cool. "Uh- yeahhh, we… uh talked", you lied and turned around to walk over to Lando‘s side.

But you father didn’t let you go just yet. "Y/n?"

You turned around again, waiting for him to keep going. "If you‘re happy with him, I am happy", he smiled. Your heart softened. "I really am, dad", you answered.

He nodded and then reached forward for your cap. "Take this off before you go over there", he laughed, taking it off your head.

You let out a laugh before walking over to sit on an empty chair.

Max, Lando‘s best friend looked at you with a frown but didn’t say anything.

*~**~*

You gasped along with the rest of the garage when Max‘s car started to catch fire, sneaking your phone out from your bag to quickly text Kelly, asking her if Max and Little P are okay. She assured you that Max was fine and P didn’t quite understand what was going on and was simply sad that 'her Maxie' wasn’t racing anymore.

Towards the end of the race, your heart started beating faster. You watched as the mechanics ran over to the fence to cheer on Lando and stood up to clap along with the rest of the team inside the garage.

You quickly made you way out of the garage to reach the podium area as soon as possible and to not be squashed by the mass of people heading down there now.

You reached the fence just before Lando pulled up in front of the board. He jumped out of the car and walked over to his team, hugging various papaya dressed members.

Max and Pietra stood a few people down the fence, both hugging Lando when he came to them. Lando took off his neon helmet. Max leaned in to shot some words at Lando, who then snapped his head over to you. A big smile creeping on his face and he pressed his helmet in Max‘s hands to walk over to you.

Your grin grew the closer he came and you wrapped your arms around his neck as soon as he was close enough. "I‘m so proud of you", you muttered, feeling his hands squeezing your waist. He pulled back to look at you, his eyes finding yours and silently asking for permission. You nodded, giving him the go ahead.

The curly headed boy smiled before placing a soft kiss to your lips.

You giggled as you pressed your forehead against his. "Go and do your interviews and stuff so you can come back here as soon as possible", you whispered and placed another kiss to his lips before shooing him away to the Crofty who was already waiting for him.

"Congratulations on P3, another podium! How was it?", the British commentator asked. "It was a very good day for us. I‘m very happy, very proud of the team. A P3 and P4 is a lot of points in the championship so that‘s a first thing. I think our pace was strong enough for a P2 today but Charles undercut us. But anyway Ferrari and Carlos did a very good job, so hats off to them, they’ve been fast all weekend. To be completely honest I didn’t expect to be on the podium but it’s a nice surprise so I‘m very happy", Lando answered.

"I expect you on the podium! You looked incredibly fast out there", he replied which Lando answered with a smiling thank you. "Do you feel confident going into the next races, maybe scoring a few more podiums?" "Yes, of course, I mean this circuit suits us a little bit more so I could just really push but it‘s still another step to Ferrari and Red Bull, at the minute they are a step ahead for sure but it’s clear we are getting closer and a day like today proves exactly that. So, a big thanks to everyone at McLaren", Lando said, waving at his team.

"We‘ve also noticed a certain Australian lady by your side", Crofty smiled, making a grin sneak on Lando’s face. "Yeah?", Lando sneakily replied, turning to face the screen behind him as a replay of your hug and kiss was shown.

"Next time get her to show up in your color though", the british commentator joked. "Hey, it‘s quite the success to not see her in anything Red Bull related", Lando laughed, making you shake your head with a smile.

"I‘ll let you go now, congrats on the podium, Lando", he laughed making Lando laugh as well. He quickly thanked him and handed the microphone to a sky worker before walking over to you.

"You‘re not wearing anything to represent papaya", Lando called over, taking his cap off, pushing it down on your head and pulling you in for another kiss. You grinned into it, placing your hand on his on the steel fence.

"Just know, Oscar, Max and Daniel are going to hate you for this", you muttered. "Osc never got me to wear that horrendous colour."

"Hushh!!", Lando protested, shutting you up with a quick kiss. "I‘ll see you later."

You squeezed his hand before letting him go.

Lando chuckled and made his way over to the FIA official who showed him the way to the cool down room.

You couldn’t contain your smile when Lando walked out onto the podium, throwing your hands in the air and cheering and clapping as loud as you could. When he spotted you, his smile grew a little and he gave you a little wave.

Your dad presented Carlos‘ trophy but stopped in front of Lando for a second.

"Take care of her, alright?", Mark said as he shook Lando‘s hand. A smile crept on the face of the Brit. "I promise, I will", he grinned, his eyes finding yours the second you father stepped to the side.

You cheered and lifted both of your arms to wave at your boyfriend on the podium.

Lando could help but laugh, almost missing when the person with the trophy came to him.

He took the trophy in his right hand and raised it in the air, pointing a finger at you with the other hand.

"I love you", he mouthed, making your heart skip a few beats.

📍Albert Park, Australia

tagged: landonorris, oscarpiastri, mclaren, ausgp

yn.adams: Weekend well spent

comments:

landonorris: My lucky charm🍀🧡

> yn.adams: 🧡🧡🧡

oscarpiastri: Hey at least I’m there once…

> fan: Oscar went from “Why am I only shown once??” to “at least I’m shown” CRYING LMAOOO

aussiegrit: Have I lost you to the UK now as well?

> yn.adams: Well…

> yn.adams: Maybe even Monaco as well🤭

maxverstappen: Do you want to make my day worse than it already is?

> yn.adams: I’M SORRY MAX

redbullracing: The betrayal…

fan: HARD LAUNCH

fan: Guys we lost her…

> yn.adams: Nooo, I promise you didn’t. Once a rbr girly always a rbr girly

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Thank you for the unbelievable support you all have shown me on this fic!! I hope you like the final part (even though it took my ass ages to finish) Stay tuned for more fics, you can always sent requests or just chat with me if you want/need to <3

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[goldsbitch]

Just don't talk--

-and come over. p3 to Just don't talk

summary: Enemies to lovers on steroids. Lando can't stand Y/N, the first female driver in F1. He also can't stand not having her with her clothes on.

warnings: minors do not interact, cursing, a bit of smau...just generally don't take this one too seriously

The following week marked a u-turn in the media strategy of McLaren and Aston Martin. Another set of meetings, very quick as nobody wanted to open a can of worms or cause even more talk on the topic of Y/N and Lando. They studied the material shot for the F1 - and the consensus was to stop the Lando x Y/N part being released out as it gave off strange vibes. It was a mix of pure lack of chemistry and then a sudden spike of sexual tension and a 180 shift. In all fairness it was a bit uncomfortable to watch for the media teams, who had to analyse people they were in direct daily contact.

No unnecessary contact. No joined interviews. Keeping them as apart as possible. Gone were the days where teams would use the sexual tension as a selling point. Times have changed, this would fly really well in 2010's, but now anything of this sorts for a nightmare for PR. Y/N would be undermined. Lando put in a fuck boy category. It wasn't like anyone saw anything happen. None of the people initiating these meetings had even slightest idea that their worst nightmares were only a light version of the truth. If there was ever an elephant in a room, it was this time. Nobody dared to speak their mind. The whisper challenge video came out without the two. Having it cut and deleted from all hard drives was an order and nobody was to speak of it again.

Social media had been strangely quiet, focusing on race related topics. That was until Lando wore a short sleeve, his healing bite mark seeing the light of day and on display for thousands of eyes. How was one suppose to wear long shirts in hot ass countries they were constantly traveling to? Personally, he thought it was cool and there was even a point where he debated having it tattooed - owning the shit out of and taking the power away from Y/N. Max, his best friend, stopped him. But the thought still lingered back in his mind. It had been a little too long since their last night session. Jerking off was fine, but never good enough. The bite mark caused quite the stir among his fans, but he honestly gave little to no shit about that. He was not going to contact her first though. The last thing he would do is to simp up to her. So when there was a hot model present at one their random club night outs, he did not think twice. It was a little too easy for his liking, but he needed to blow some steam. He could have been discreet, he really could. But why? There was a part of him that was excited to see how this would resonate with Y/N. The violent make out outside the club really was not necessary. Especially when Lando knew that there was a photographer sitting nearby patiently, about to make a living out of a Lando's whim.

When Lando scrolled instagram the next morning, he has a little too proud smile on his face. He would never admit it out loud, not even to himself, that Y/N was on his mind when he fucked the brunette. Mediocre night at best. What worried him a bit was that bad sex was something he almost forgot existed. Of course that Y/N saw it. It was one of the first things that popped up on her phone that morning. It did not bother her. Not even closely. She just had a good energy streak, that was her reply to her trainer when she nearly broke the rowing machine at the gym. She uninstalled instagram later in the afternoon, trying to get the instagram girl's face out of her memory.

There was no way she'd be the one texting him for a late night hook up now. Maybe it was for the better in the end. Focusing on racing only now and even potentially beating him on the track. Night got a little too lonely without the option to have him over, on her and under her. She tried baking, reading, got really into chemistry related youtube videos, yet drinking and working out seemed to be the only thing to really work.

Two long weeks passed until she finally received a text. She ignored that her heart skipped a beat when she saw his name on her phone screen.

"Bro. What are we going to do now?"

She rolled her eyes. What a lame ass opening. No point in playing the waiting game, so she replied immediately. She could care less.

"Aw, got bored and miss some quality fucking?" She second guessed the text right after sending. Was that too desperate? She thew the phone away for few minutes. One late night unnecessary coffee later, she picked it right back up.

"No, you little shit. You not on socials or what?"

A screenshot followed.

There were PR nightmares and there was this kind of disaster. Instagram and Tik Tok got installed back immediately. She watched some cuts and edits from their video, low quality snips that were not giving any full image. Comment after comment, the creativity not being of concern to anyone. All of the same note. Is there more to their obvious dislike of each other? There were only few who were concern by why did most of the leak footage give such a hostile vibe. Lando's eye fucking was more of an attractive topic.

She scrolled for few minutes, watching a new shift on their public image unfold. It was mostly the hardcore fans, not really something the big outlets took interest in at the moment. But there was one theme that followed - people were curious. Panic set over her, mind started racing in all possible scenarios. And then did something for the first time - she dialed Lando's number. He picked up reluctantly.

"How did it get out?" she asked right away.

"Hello to you too. And the fuck would I know."

"Seems like something that would fit into your current portfolio, so yeah, I am asking directly."

Lando smiled proudly. She was jealous. Oh, what he would do to see her face now.

"Hate to disappoint, but I don't have the need for cheap attention." Liar, all he wanted was for her to notice him.

"Ok, assuming nobody from your team or my team did, who got it out?"

"I severely overestimated your ability to focus on the important thing here, apparently."

"So you tell me, Mr. Genius."

"Like I said before you invaded my evening by this panic phone call. What are we going to do? The last thing I'd want is for someone to find out...about us." It felt strange for both of them, to hear him say it like that. Like it wasn't a problem. Every time someone put them together in a sentence, it had been a bad connotation. But not his tone, this one time.

"Well, I don't know, I've only had a minute to process."

"Oh, take your time, of course. Time flies really slowly on social media, so yeah, I'd say you have about a year or so to react."

"Well, we're obviously not going to react anyway."

"I really hope they don't force us to. I'm getting sick of all the media team meddling in. It's their fault in the first place," he said, unamused.

"Yeah, you're right. Good defense, I will use that if they bring it up."

"Don't worry, you'll get my invoice for consulting in your email tomorrow."

"Aw, McLaren not paying enough?"

"I'm sorry, you're still at Aston, correct?"

"Shut it, Norris. So that's it? We'll just not react and let it go?"

"I mean, what else is there to do. Denying anything will only bring up more questions. It's not like people will believe we're friends."

"That, my friend, is true."

"I'm a smart boy, not only a sex god."

"Uhm." Trouble is that he really really was.

"So we'll just let it die out?"

"Yeah. When someone mentions it, we can say that we just don't get along and that's that."

"Great, no lie there."

There were few seconds of quiet tension. Panic was somehow over, but the high adrenaline stayed. It was late evening, their usual prime time. Would they? Should they? Y/N was debating whether she wanted to see Lando again with the vibe he was setting around himself lately putting her off a bit. But then there was the need for territorial claim. Built up energy that wanted to get out. Both of them silently trying to come up with a line good enough for Lando to come over and "dance" with Y/N in a way no friend would. Lando took a breath to speak, but Y/N was quicker.

"So, wanna come over for a work out?" He was over at her place within 25 minutes.

part 4

[wowchilli]

I have some thoughts after the Italian gp about McLaren. Shocking, I know! Anyway, for the past couple of days since the race I have been reading and looking at comments (on Instagram) to see what people thought about the race, and the first thing that was obvious to me from the first post that the F1 page made about the start of the race was that a lot of commenters were upset and that Oscar should NOT have overtaken Lando like that. Shock! Horror!

I personally saw no problem with the overtake that Oscar did, it was absolutely great wheel-to-wheel racing from the both of them and made me scream in the middle of the night cause I was not expecting it!

This was probably the most excited and hyped I’ve been watching an F1 race this year (I fear I have cursed the races that I watch to not get safety cars cause I have yet to see one 👀). ANYWAY, back to my original point about the commenters on Instagram, amidst all of the unnecessary hate and vitriol against Oscar doing that incredible overtake I read one persons comment that really got to me and thought I’d share it on here cause I haven’t seen as much discussion and discourse about the move on here as much :) and wanted to see what you guys thought!

This was off of a post on the F1 Instagram page that shows a video of Zak Brown being interviewed about how Oscar and Lando went during the race.

The first part really got to me cause it makes sense why McLaren are making those seemingly weird and terrible calls when it comes to which driver should be favoured more and get the better strategy. We all remember how much drama surrounded Oscar signing with McLaren back in ‘22! He was the biggest talent that the F1 grid had yet to see since Lewis and the teams all knew this and wanted to get a piece of him. Now I’m not trying to bark up Oscar’s tree here when I say all of this, but it really is the truth, because when you look back at statistics throughout his Junior career you can see how absolutely crazy it was!

This has only continued to grow throughout his short time at the ‘pinnacle of motor racing’! Just this year everyone seemed to collectively agree that his first win was in sight after Lando won in Miami, and that it was only the start of the McLaren boys’ domination with their fast as fuck car.

Ok, this is all to say that for all of the commenters crying about Oscar not being as good of a teammate to Lando, that he was selfish to pull off such a move at the start of the race, that he should have given the second place position to Lando, that he should just stop trying to compete with Lando and help him win instead like a ‘good 2nd driver’…. That’s just not what he was brought into F1 for.

Every single driver that gets into F1 wants to WIN, and their closest competitors and rivals are their teammates who have the same car. Neither Oscar nor Lando want to be 2nd driver, and I believe that they understand that about each other. They want to win at all costs and right now, these two are only going to get more and more competitive with each other because they know that the other can usually keep up and will keep pushing each other to their limits.

[chussyracing]

Last lap commentary of Monza GP 2024 by Števo Eisele, Josef Král and Pavel Fabry:

the whole english translation inspired by @sedicii is under the cut!

ŠE: We’re in the last lap, friends. Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, again it reminds me after the amazing but truly unbelievable win in Monaco, when he overcame a huge curse, a jump into the sea followed. I have no idea what kind of surprise they could prepare here in Monza, if he doesn’t jump into the crowd, because on the finish line straight, I already see the huge Ferrari heart, the huge fan signs. Charles Leclerc experienced this here in 2019 season, it was his second career win. And in this moment Charles Leclerc is already in Ascari Chicane and he is aiming for seventh career triumph. Tifosi can feel it, friends, there is only one last turn in front of Charles Leclerc, who is heading for – dare I say – surprising triump on home soil. Almost unblievable stuff and in a moment it will be reality, the Monegasque Prince is conquering Monza. Italian Monza was a witness of a magical performance.

ŠE: McLaren absolutely and totally messed up, Piastri and Norris will have sour faces on the podium but all the attention and ovations will be dedicated to this man, Charles Leclerc wins second Grand Prix in 2024 season, after Monaco, it is the second sweetest victory on home soil and tifosi clap, marvel and it will surely come to tears of joy as well. I am looking at Pepa [Josef Král, also a Ferrari driver].

JK: (laughter) The tear almost slipped off but hats off to Charles because this was legitimately his race, his achievement, what he showed – and i reminded that many times – that we need to wait till the end of the race, that Ferrari might go for this surprising strategy and they can take it away from everybody, but really hats off to Charles at how he managed to drive it to the end. When we see the stands, I think they will all be gone. He made no mistake and he stole it from anyone else.

ŠE: And especially from McLaren. That will be one hell of a debriefing when they analyse this Grand Prix. How they threw away another win, I don’t know what number this year.

[Charles and Bryan and Fred team radio]

PF: No need to translate, right?

ŠE: Not that we know Italian.

JK: Charles thanked everyone, the whole team for conquering Monza, so he‘s absolutely delighted, of course that the upgrades worked, that’s an amazing work of the whole team.

PF: Didn’t Bedenetto Vigna speak for a while there, gratulating Leclerc on the radio?

ŠE: For sure there was Fred Vasseur.

PF: Uh huh.

ŠE: He congratulated Charles Leclerc even for the triumph in Monaco. Leclerc thanked the team in Maranello for the upgrade which worked fantastically. And it is a good message for the rest of the season, friends. Again we were saying that McLaren has it in the bag, all chill, but the nerves will be there. Piastri looked all set for the triumph, but they used what? Papaya rules and those led them from front row lock out to p2 and p3 today.

ŠE: Charles Leclerc, on totally destroyed 38 laps old hards brought once again the joy and love to Ferrari to Monza, to a circuit where in the last 15 years, Ferrari got only two triumphs and that is just Leclerc today and in 2019.

[Charles radio]

PF: And the appreciation of the strategy and how the car worked today very strong, grazie, grazie, grazie.

JK: I really like when you don’t have the car to be winning titles, you win Monaco and Monza.

ŠE: Not too bad.

JK: Not too bad, exactly. Maybe that was the strategy Leclerc appreaciated? No, of course he meant today’s strategy.

ŠE: But last week Alonso in an Aston said that in the nearest GPs, we will have to keep an eye out on Ferrari and we looked at each other like „what does he know again that we don’t“ and her eis reality, because I would like to stress this, Ferrari today won thanks to its speed, strategy and a fantastic driver, no safety car, no weather, no luck, Leclerc achieves another fantastic, fabulous triumph, he is defeating an almost undefeatable McLaren!

ŠE: In a special overall, race suit, with a special livery and carbon number sixteen.

[mechanics chant „un capitano“ at Charles]

ŠE: Charles has a nickname captain too? That’s not a very popular nickname in Slovakia [political joke]. Leclerc is receiving congratulations, from his brother as well of course.

ŠE: All weekend, he had to answer questions „what about next season? what about Lewis Hamilton?“ but this is how you get fans, this i show you get trust in your own team and look at [McLaren] at the sour faces. Well, thanks, guys.

PF: Well, today, papaya is just a faint shade of red.

[landoscaring]

I'm so glad I came across your post because I swear I'm going to go insane with the hate for both Lando and Oscar. I'm very very new to f1 so I don't have the same context to things like others do, but I grew fond of Lando and Oscar because I liked that they both want to race one another and that they want to win based on merit. 

It's just really frustrating that McLaren keeps putting them in a position that hurts them both. I know they don't want to have a no. 1 driver but I feel like they're at a point when they can give the drivers specific orders in certain situations to get them the best results. Like couldn't they have told them get through the first lap first as 1-2, build a gap between the cars behind them, then race? That's why I don't blame Oscar for overtaking at the start because it looked like the orders were for them to race. I know it's still not a guarantee they win because they did need 2 stops but I think they could've at least prevented this whole hate train for both drivers had they given them specific orders.

Anw I'm sorry for rambling, my friend who got me into f1 can't handle my ramblings when it comes to mclaren lol and I'm losing my head with everything that's happened 😅 Hope you have a nice day!

hey, welcome to the shitshow! we lose our minds every few weekends of the year over 20 guys going vroom vroom very fast.

100%! i agree with you. i think mclaren has been hesitant, for whatever reason, to declare a clear strategy for both of them. now, given the circumstances, they seem forced to. now they come out and say that starting with baku they will prioritize lando. that should've been decided weeks ago (or, y'know, explicitly shown in the races.) i'm not sure i get why they decided to go about it this way. i personally hate team orders and am a sucker for drivers going at it (hah, no pun intended) until the very end, but hey, this sport has gotten huge and there's a lot of money involved, so i also understand that sponsors need guarantees etc. i only wish they'd done it sooner and eased some pain for them both. i had a hard time listening and seeing oscar's post race radio with tom today, with him cursing and hitting the steering wheel.

i saw a post on x earlier today that presented a theory i could totally get behind. it suggested that in today's morning debrief, oscar and lando must've been told the plan for the rest of the calendar. so, oscar must've seen this as a last opportunity to try to win a race before resigning himself to just being lando's second driver for the rest of the year. hence the risky overtake, the anger post-race, etc. it's just a theory, but i think it makes a lot of sense.

i do think they had a clear strategy (as clear as: race each other and don't crash can be, y'know) but oscar saw an opening and took it. again, as i told someone else earlier, the race wasn't lost because of this.

feel free to come ramble here anytime! see you in baku! papaya hugs for you and your friend (they sound cool!)

[cobraonthecob]

snatching this off of instagram, but here are my thoughts:

george and charles would definitely have a WDC, so long as they stay at their current teams. mercedes and ferrari needs to just catch up and stop making flop cars and horrendous strategies, and boom. redbull's crown is going to get yanked off.

the mclaren duo might see one, it's just a matter of mclaren not producing a tractor at the start of the season before remembering this is a car race and not a tractor race. either that, lando will forever be cursed to never win a race and will have to find a way if he can just place either P2 or P3 every race and pray that everyone else plays musical chair with P1. if there is someone who can do math, please let me know if that is possible.

alex and yuki, i love them, but so long as they stay at williams and alphatauri, their best bet is to claw for points and maybe a podium. alex seems like he's only just there to mentor young drivers at this point (that's the vibe i get anyways), and yuki is going to get passed up by redbull because as long as daniel, max, and checo are around to have the redbull seat, yuki is not getting that any time soon and will only function as a measuring stick for redbull juniors when they get into f1 (that's assuming that redbull actually remembers they have a junior program that isn't alphatauri)

[russilton]

I have admittedly found this season hard to watch, the strategy, reliability, performance and McLaren improvement in particular. I know it’s beyond our control as fans and perhaps we shouldn’t stress about it, but it does seem like something isn’t clicking within the team. So many people seem to be leaving leaving a brain drain.

I genuinely don’t think Mercedes will be competing for championships within this current regulation set, that’s all RB, and the best they can hope for is a podium fighting car next year.

Anon I get this kinda message every couple months, i dunno if its the same person or different but it’s the same wording, and I say the same thing ish every time

I get it, this is my fourth year watching and its the hardest its ever been. This year was gruelling, painful and acidic, it took everything it could and a little more, I honestly didn’t really feel it until the last couple races when it really set in that nothing good was going to happen, no surprise was gonna appear, and then when I’d got that little bit of hope left in f2 that got snuffed too. It’s been a ROUGH week I wont lie to you, I’ve felt grouchy as hell, its light a very light grief that sets on you until you accept it and move on. But I will, because that’s what you have to do.

You gotta leave it with the gods man, you’re going to stress about it, thats sports. You will worry and curse the team if it goes wrong. And I’ll do all of it with you- HOWEVER I wont sit here and sign it off early. I refuse to manifest bad shit- every time I saw someone do it this season, it happened. I literally started spraying Rosie and wiggles when they did it in our chat , because it always happened in the race. And you will feel like SHIT if you do that, even if you don’t believe in manifestation.

Titans die, anon. Cars get caught up. Cheating scandals happened. Merc won 6 years in a row and they got caught- no Red Bull didnt win 21 but they fought for it. Nobody at Mercedes WANTS to be in the situation they are in now, and as many people have left, new, diverse, talented minds have been hired. This idea that only the old experienced guard can build a winning car comes from a good place but it’s the same ideas that stop companies hiring diverse talents and clinging to the same old same old. If you write them off before they’ve even finished building the new car, their accountability for fuck ups is reduced. I refuse to become a team thats happy if both cars finish the race- not with what we have been and who our drivers are.

If you’re right, which I truly thing you aren’t, then well, f1 and Stefano lose more money to an indefensible bigot and his Tory team. If youre wrong, I get my men winning again. It works both ways for me, but I will stop answering these kinds of asks. It only brings people down, and makes them give up faster. I wont be that guy.

I’m also re-implementing my now yearly “I will not answer asks complaining about/ dunking on the new car before we’ve seen it on track” ban from last year in relation to this. It was a good idea last year and I’m bringing it back.

[yesterdayiwrote]

So unpopular opinion, I don't think Lando or Charles will be a WDC. I think Lando will be in midfield teams his whole career, because the top 3 teams have drivers the same age who they have put a lot of money and focus into.

Everyone says Mercedes, but I don't think they would ever put Lando and George in the same team. That would be asking for another silver war, in my opinion. (Plus if Mercedes thought Lando would be a better than George, they would have brought him in last season and let George be a free agent like Ocon).

If he does move teams (and he will) it will be to a team like Alpine or Aston Martin. Maybe Red Bull if he see's himself as a second driver. I don't think he would ever go Ferrari tbh.

Charles I think is cursed to stay in Ferrari forever, whose issues go so much further than just strategies and reliabilty. I think to an extent he believes his own hype, which is more than strictly deserves tbh. People act like he is a 5x wdc not a 5x race winner, which is appalling concidering the number of poles he had.

Maybe I am completely wrong but I just think both are destined for Daniel Riccardo esq careers

I kind of agree about Lando. I feel like a lot of the ‘hype’ around Lando is because a lot of the mainstream British press in 2019 hooked on the ‘Rookie Brit at McLaren’ angle and said he would be the next Lewis.

Lewis had been the only Brit on the grid in 2018, and the press had started turning on him by that point. They had three Brit Rookies to throw their weight behind but Alex wasn’t ‘British’ enough and George wasn’t going to be competitive enough so they went all in on bigging up Lando. People didn’t hook on to George’s potential until Sakhir and by that point the ‘Lando is a future WDC’ hype train was full steam ahead.

Obviously anyone could be a WDC. I know I’d thought Jenson had missed his chance before he actually did end up winning his, but I find it odd how hyped Lando is, when the likes of Esteban and Pierre are now race winners and their names are never touted as potential WDCs?

I do agree that I don’t think Mercedes would approach him though. They were dropped in it in 2016 and had a vacancy last minute, but they still chose a number 2 driver when they probably could have tempted whoever they wanted into that seat if they chose. They’re training George to be Lewis’ replacement, and when Lewis leaves, I think they’ll look for someone to fill a Valtteri type role, rather than a potential second first driver?

[dayslynthesix]

hello to you there! im soooo happy about today's victory that i dont even know how to put that happiness in words, but I'll try

Devils roll the dice | Charles Leclerc imagine | part 3

this is part 3 of welcome to the team, you can read part 2 here

sunday, july 10th, red bull ring, austria :

"hey charles, i just want to tell you that's a p1, you did it, p1, charles, p1" y/n said on the radio, the smile bigger than she could imagined, the ferrari garage was celebrating charles victory

"oh my god, y/n, we did it, i was so scared, oh my god", charles were audibly happy

72 hours before:

y/n went bananas with the austrian gp, it was red bulls home, they people would be all around it, all the pressure, the comments, the stress... it would be all about ten times worse than anywhere on the calendar. after great britain things got weird, to say the least, between charles and mattia, specially after the cameras take that photo of mattia with his italian way of pointing fingers to someone after the race, the garages went shut, we weren't communicating nearly close to enough as we should, and that was reflecting on everyone; charles went back to monaco as soon as he could, and his way to show that he was upset was leaving his lovely pista spider behind, mattia saw that as his red flag to went to his driver and fix things, y/n had absolutely no idea how things went, but considering that charles was here and apparently in a good mood was a great start, or she thinks so.

when she retweeted something saying that charles needed to get into his reputation era (on her private twitter account that she forgot he follow her on his private account) she wasn't expecting him to actually do it. during the sprint race when she asked him if she needed information about the currently position and he answered back with a solid "no, i don't care, but thank you" she went into a deep mood state called "im ready to commit a crime". and listen to me, charles wasn't a rude person, he was actually a really polite one, he almost never give the team bad answers and was very polite with everyone, and y/n had absolutely nothing to do with all the shit they pulled with him before she arrived, so when he left his car post qualy, she went straight after him - and everyone heard her cursing in portuguese and they knew better than sticking their noses around to listen the really soft conversation they would have.

he entered the room and when the door was millimeters to close y/n entered too, and the sound the door made was heard back into mclarens garage.

"what..." charles started saying but the look into y/n face was so angry he shut himself

"i don't care, but thank you" she signaled with quotations marks in the air "that all you gonna give to me? you know i don't have anything with the bullshit the team is putting on you, on the other hand, im here to make your life easier, to help you to win the fucking championship, do you know that, right?"

"yes, i know, and it was not what i meant..."

"is was not what you meant? do you want to get angry? fine, do it, with mattia, with the awful pit team, with the strategy team, not with me, because if the whole championship depended on me you could bet you would be leading it, but guess what, it DOES NOT" you emphasized the last two words

"y/n, im sorry, i wasn't directed towards you" he was visible concerned about fucking things up with you

"i was the one on the radio with you, and if you don't like that you can ask for a switch" y/n said and leave the room, she was about to cry, but she didn't, she went for a walk instead, walking through pierre gasly, who not ironically was doing the exactly the same thing

"your best friend is an asshole" she said as she got close to him

"yeah, i agree on this one" he said and she remembered the little incident on free practice when they nearly touched each other

"i would make a toast, but i don't have any drinks, by the way, im sorry on how the season is going, the car is worse than the 1997 fiat uno i used to drive back in school"

"woah, i never thought about the car being this bad, but i think you're not wrong. what charles did that let you this red? or you're just matching the outfit?" you let a laugh out

"im being passive aggressive because i hate when people talk rude with me, but until tomorrow we're back to normal, anyway, it was nice to see you gasly, good luck tomorrow"

"you too, y/n. you too" he walked away from you, going back to the alpha tauri garage as you grabbed your phone to find something to do while you waited to go back. you opened you stories about last week when you and charles went back to your hotel room and drink half of the tequila bottle while playing monopoly and watching funny videos on tiktok, he opened up with you about the season so far and you understand why he was so mad, but it didn't give him the right to direct that angry to you, and hit a nerve all the attitude, and the lack of it from mattia, you've saw the fight the drivers where pulling with each other and if that keeps going they wouldn't win anything, but you're just a mere mortal, if the big boss didn't know what he was doing you wouldn't be the one to teach him.

you want straight to the cars, never stopping by to see the boys, you need a couple of moments just with the engines and the tools, three weeks were starting to get you, it wasn't easy to travel around and all the pressure that was indirectly hitting you, so you focus all your attention on delivering the car the best you could.

sunday, formation lap

after all, charles didn't ask the team to switch the person who would be on the radio with him the whole race, and despite the fact that you were less smiley you were 100% focused on your job. carlos passed by to say hello to you and went to his car, charles did close to the same thing, the only difference was that he didn't actually said anything, he just hold your shoulder a little bit longer and tighter than the usual. both of the drivers were in their respective cars, the mechanics take away the tires covers and went back to the pit wall. the grid formation was ready, we have max in p1, charles p2 and carlos p3. after the little miscommunication during the qualy, when the lights went off, charles didn't try to overtake max, he held his position, defending the p2 from anyone who tried to steal it away.

y/n had passed pretty much the whole night studying the car and analyzing the reliability on the straights, and her job was successful. despite t

the fact that the race was pretty much a easier way to red bull win because of the amount of straight lines, her job with the balance and aerodynamics of the car were impeccable, y/n alongside with the team put a rocket on track. and when she was leaving the garage last night, she went to both pitstop mechanics and give them a lecture about no fucking things up on race switching and the pitstop (obviously she did it in the most polite way as possible) and she did the same thing with the strategy people, she was working side by side with carlos strategist, and was only because of that that they managed all the pitstops so incredible well.

it was during lap 11 when charles overtaked max the first time, the whole crew went euphoric, so far so good, the car was nice, charles was driving in the highest category. the first pitstop allowed max to recover the p1 one again, but on lap 33, in front the orange army, charles put all again and went p1 again. and another tires switch to the car hold the rest of the race, and again, one last time, on lap 53 charles do it again, the crew went loud, it was only 18 laps to go, just 18 left and we would have two ferrris on the podium. but the thing with ferrari is: your almost never fully happy, carlos car stopped, power unit problem, just whenyou thoughtyou had that fixed, it was a hit in your confidence and the team, the car was on fire and he was still inside of it, the panic started growing inside of y/n chest, only when she saw carlos on the motorcycle going back to the pit she could breathe easily

"is everything ok with carlos?" charles asked on the radio

"positive, he's out of the car and fine. 13 laps to go"

missing 6 laps charles opened the radio again: "there's something wrong with the throttle"

"ok, let me check, hold on" y/n went to all the data and apparently everything was ok, she went back on the radio "charles, something must be holding the throttle, but its not mechanical or electrical, can you keep pushing? 5 more laps to go"

"yeah, I'll try it" and a couple more minutes again "there's something really wrong with the throttle y/n"

"ok, we're checking, keep it cool, i know the car is loosing grip, but 3 more laps, ok?"

"ok"

"stay with me, 2 more laps" y/n kept the updates constantly, she needed to make sure that charles weren't panicking "ok, one more lap to go, hold it"

"im holding it"

"curve 7 now... and 8... getting into the curve 9, one more, charles, just one"

charles passed through the white and black flag, the winning flag

"hey charles, i just want to tell you that's a p1, you did it, p1, charles, p1" you said on the radio

"oh my god, y/n, we did it, oh my god. yesssss, lets gooo", charles were audibly happy.

the whole garage was euphoric, you could see the smiles of relief, the weight leaving everyone's shoulders, after 5 shitty race weekends, charles won. the team went to wait for him close to where he would park his car, and the first thing he did one he left the car was running to the team, the mechanics, the staff, you... he held everyone inside a relief hug that all the sadness and angry left your system, nothing that happened before that moment mattered anymore, not when he was so happy, so in piece with himself.

the team watched the podium and anna came to see you, after all, lewis was there too, and after such stressful moments with the car, he was finally into the pace race.

"you know i know the way you're looking to him" anna wasn't subtle at all

"im looking at him with admiration and that's all"

"sure, y/n, absolutely, i truly believe in you because it not like i know you from 6 years and haven't see you fall for someone"

"annes, its not like were going to be together or something, im here to make the car better and help the team to make him world champion, its not a taylor swift song or a movie about romance"

"damn girl, you've been thinking about it because ot was a really long answer, but whatever you said, if you need me to kick him, I'll do it" she held you by your side and both of you stood there. charles looked so happy, he could barely hold his smile, his was born to be on the highest spot and just like that you realized that you would 100% do everything in your powers to help him - and if means that you have to blow away the red bulls tires, you would.

oh shit, you were really falling for him.

after the ceremony a couple of people went out to celebrate with charles, the mechanics, pierre, and even carlos was there, so when you arrived it wasn't much of a big news, because at the end of the day you were part of the team and you were happy for him. you stopped by some group of mechanics, talked to them for a bit and went to say hi to everyone, you didn't see charles, well, you did, but he was busy drinking shots with pierre so you stayed where you were and kept talking with people, because at the end of the day you were really good at talk to people and that part of you were pushed away bacuse you were too concentrated and focused on your work and worried about not screw over that you locked up that part, and now that every single person in that room were happy you could go back to the version of yourself who is playful and a light of sunshine.

you walk to the boys, taking a look at the empty cups and the happy smiles.

"this is really a celebration, isn't it?"

"there's room to celebrate and im so happy" charles said and he hugged you, an actual hug, and he was wearing some amazing parfum "im glad you came"

"that's a sentence that could be during sex or at a party" gasly gasped after the awful joke he made it

"unfortunately i don't think you can use it referring to the first one" you answered back and carlos and charles high fived each other "im glad im here too, now who's gonna be the one to offer me a drink? a girl need a tequila shot to start the night"

"I'll go, if tequila is what you want, tequila is what you got" carlos tapped the table and point at you, leaving the trio and as soon as he stopped to talk to someone you knew your drink would only arrive an hour later, carlos was what you like to call the congressman from the grid

"that drink is gonna take some time" you said

"you can drink mine, driving fast cars for a living is adrenalin enough" charles said and pushed his cup to you

"thank you, and congratulations again" you drink the content from the cup and took a bite from the lemon slice, charles came closer to you to say:

"im sorry about yesterday, i was angry and annoyed with the team, not with you, im never angry with you and the way i spoke to you was really rude, so im sorry" he said lower than you expected

"that's ok, i got it, seriously, no need to stress over that, and im sorry too, i lost it and i shouldn't have said those things to you either" both of you were so close that you could actually feel his smile when he said "so we're even"

he was flirting with you or it was just the tequila?

pierre made an annoying sound so both of you could pay attention on him, it got your nerves that dude being an aquarius not a leo person, but who were you to say anything?

"lets play truth or dare or two truths and one lie, who got it wrong drink, the champ choose"

"we are back in high school all over again?" you asked after calling a barman and ordering a couple of rounds to the improvised table the three of you were standing

"depends, who were you in high school?" that question was definitely a flirt coming from pierre

"the girl who you would stay away, thats for sure"

"and why is that?" charles asked after drinking another shot

"high school in brazil is pretty different from the us or europe, those were the worst three years of my life, and i was too smart to fall for someone with ocean blue eyes and a cute accent" you clarified

"that's the second time you mention the french accent, do you have a thing for french people?" either charles wanted to ask this or he was starting to get drunk, you gasped when you realized that he was closer than seconds before "truth or dare, y/n?"

"truth" you always pick truth

"is it true that you can steal away anna's recipe for us to have the amount of success that mercedes have?" you and pierre laughed for that one

"i can't, and i wouldn't because im here to do better than her, pierre truth or dare?"

"dare" obviously

"i dare you to tell us why your relationships doesn't work longer than three months or you found someone to kiss in this club" he looked at you, drink a shot and walked away

"he's gonna make you pay for that"

"im ok with that, truth or dare, charles?"

"truth"

"don't you have a girlfriend?" you were dying to know that

"i used to, past tense, but it's over, truth or dare, cherie?" the accent, you knew you would be in serious trouble if the accent keep happening

"dare" you could tell he wasn't expecting that when his eyes locked with yours longer than the usual

"i don't have a dare for that, but considering pierre is back im gonna call for help" you started saying that was unfair but what was the worst thing that could happen? "pierre, give her a dare"

if the devil had a look it would be the one you were receiving that moment

"i dare you to kiss the girl i just kissed"

"what if i don't like girls?" you raised one eyebrow to him

"then I think you gonna have to kiss charles over here" he grabbed his best friend shoulders, charles look straight to you, those green eyes staring deep into yours, what was that heat you were feeling? ok, that's how he wanted to play the game, thats the way it would be.

carlos choose that moment to came with your drinks, you take the first one and drink all of the cup, when was the last time you kissed a girl? you couldn't remember, but you asked anyway "who's is she?" all three of them looked at you at the same time, pierre barely recovered when he pointed to the blond girl a few meters away and you walked in her direction. you tapped her shoulder and got closer to explain to her what was going on and her hand, not ironically, went to rest on your waist, she gave you a not innocent at all smile and leaned closer to you.

you came back to the table only to found pierre holding a bottle of water into his neck and charles looking at you the exactly deep way, you found the nearest couch and sit down, all the alcohol getting into your system got you all happy

"so you do like girls?" the french man asked

"oh i do like girls, i like them a lot" you take the bottle out of his hands and drink it

"do you want to dance?" charles asked you

"yup, but im a terrible dancer" you said and hold his hands, he guide both of you to the dance floor but instead of stopping there he entered one hide hallway

"that's not the dance floor" you said a little confused

"do you swear?" he said with that cute smile "just wanted to take you away from pierre before he actually got invented on flirting with you, and i don't want my best friend with his hands inside my engineer pants, dress, whatever"

"oh, ok, he's ths competition if you want to know, i would never" you emphasized the never

"truth or dare, y/n?" he sustained your look and locked your fingers

"truth"

"kissing me would be so bad that you choose to kiss a random girl?" you think about it and answered his question with another one

"truth or dare, charles?" it was your time to got closer

"you didn't answered my question"

"truth or dare, charles?" you asked again and this time he answered: "truth"

"do you want to show me how monegasque people kiss? considering you're pretty much french and people say that french people have the best kisses-" you were cut out of your sentence when charles grabbed you by your waist and switch positions, you were now with your back in the wall

"im gonna kiss you now, ok?" you nodded and his mouth was on yours, his tongue gently playing with yours, you were expecting something sweet, but when one of his hands went to hold your hair and the one that remained in your waist pulled you closer, deepening the kiss you got it and move your hands to his hair and shoulders, you were craving to scratch those shoulders

charles started to slow the kiss, he let you go just to kiss your jawline and your neck before looking at you again, both of you were breathless

"it was a good kiss?" he yet had the audacity to ask

"it was a really good kiss, can i have another?" you blinked innocently

"yeah, you can" and he leaned back again, the second kiss were less erratic, way more sensual, you were taking the time to know each other, learn how you like it, and jesus christ, charles knew what he was doing, the innocent, cute, two dimples and a little bit dumb chaotic energy was just a facade, that man knew how to push your buttons just with a simple kiss.

later that nigh he drive both of you back to the hotel, after all, he stopped drinking after you arrived and while he was stoned sober you were flushed and red from toes to head. you were staying in the same floor, so when the elevators doors closed he reached your hand, not locking your fingers, just holding your pinkie finger with his, it was ridiculously intimate, but you liked. he walked you to your room door and you lean there

"i don't want to throw a cold shower at you, but this cannot compromised our friendship or our work relationship" you said, actually holding his hand

"i think a good kiss makes wonderful things to a friendship, but I'll keep it professional, you become my favourite engineer and im not letting a couple of hot kisses ruin this. even though i want to ruin you, I'll keep it to myself" he said the last sentence lower and really close to your ear "have a good night, y/n"

"you too charles, I'll see you in a couple of weeks in france and I'm hoping for a tour"

"I'll tour you, just don't mention this to carlos or pierre" he chuckled

"i wont, now you go rest, i need my future champion to beat red bull shit out of them"

"if i knew you were that funny i would have bring you to monaco, but good night and have a safe flight"

"you too" he leaned one last time that day and give you a hug followed by a cheek kiss

you opened your door and closed really fast, before you changed your mind and do something really stupid. when you turn the lights on anna was laying in your bed, a glass of wine in her rand and her cellphone on the other one

"oh my fucking jesus christ, how do you get in here?" your heart were beating ten times faster

"im lewis hamilton engineer, i have privileges, now you better start telling me everything that happened tonight"

"it was a long night- wait, hold on that i think i lost carlos" you just remembered that you haven't seen him in hours and went to your phone

"he's sleeping, isa lecture him for 40 minutes about the process and losing and all of that and he slept, now spill it out"

it would be a really long night, but you sit down and tell everything to anna, and the next day when you got into your flight wearing the ferrari merch you posted something on twitter about the insanities pseudo french people could do. you were hoping thing not to change, you really like to work with ferrari.

"we're the best ones" your phone sound the twitter notification, it was charles response to your tweet.

next part here

it's finally happening our couple, see you after the French GP, hope you take all the tsiwft references

byeeeeeee

[rehcciardo]

What a race! Not a good one, when you support McLaren, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher. And it get’s even worse when you like Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda as well.

Where to begin?

Micks DNF due to an technical failure. Who cursed him?!? I mean this boy has so much bad luck. Somehow it feels like Mick is the new Hülkenberg. Hopefully luck will find Mick for the next race. He would have deserved fucking points today! 🥺

McLaren with maybe the worst pit stop in history! How you can fuck it up like this? Guys please! Isn’t it bad enough that your car is a tractor with way to many issues? I’m so sad for Lando. And on Daniels car were problems with the brakes the last 15 laps or something like that. It’s so frustrating! I hope this team figures out what the hell happens today and how it can solve this problems as soon as possible. Lando and Daniel deserve at least a car they can reach some points with. At least there is no race next week again so there is a bit more time to get some work done. I’m trying to stay positive and keeping up my hopes for Silverstone. Keep fighting Team Papaya🧡

Oh Seb. It wasn’t the weekend I hoped for. the free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday looked so promising. But just in time for the qualifying everything went down so fast. Bad strategies. Bad decisions. A track which was getting dry much sooner than expected. Lots of bad luck even before the race had started. One thing I’m really a kinda mad about, is the fucking shitty decision of Aston Martin that Seb wasn’t allowed to wear his special helmet. I honestly did expected Aston Martin not to shit themselves because a pissed politician. It would have been amazing when they would have supported Seb. I mean somehow I can understand the point of Aston Martin but in my opinion it would have been an amazing statement to stand behind Seb.

The DNF of Yuki was so sad! He had done so well after starting from P20. Keep your head up high Yuki. Next time will be better!

So now let’s get to some good things about today’s race. At least there have been a few.

Charles did an incredible job getting from P19 to P5 while having a shit pit stop end ending in the DRS train after it. Proud of Charles!

At least Lance Stroll got a point at his home race. I’m not his biggest fan but getting in points at home makes me feel happy for him.

Lewis on a podium! Seeing him with that smile… ah he deserved this victory. Especially after that shit of porpoising last week in Baku. Well done! Next stop home race in Silverstone 🥹

My emotions are so mixed today. So many sad and frustrating things but a few fantastic highlights as well. But I have to say, I like to write down my own impressions after qualifying and the race. So you all have to deal with my shit now every race weekend 😂

[maranello]

they cut off my prayers to the ferrari saints for the weekend in the tags smh so now I have to type it all here:

ciao raga, it's me again. but firstly with thanks: I have had a really terrible awful no good night, and, well. this morning has been significantly better, to say the least. and despite the horrible panic and pain I was going through that night, I have a strange feeling that things may turn out to be very good this weekend after all. and I owe it to you. so please, hear my prayers:

a prayer to saint charles of impossible qualifyings, you of the strong one lap and race pace, you who seem to push shitty cars along by sheer force of will. guide our path this weekend, may your will be done on track. lead us to greater heights than we have known for two years, for you are the light that leads the way for this team in its dark times. blessed be thou, fruit of maranello, go well in this race weekend and be the game changer that our PU4 definitely totally is not, as you and the team keep saying.

our holy michael in switzerland, hallowed be thy name. for this is ever your horse ranch, I ask you to protect one (1) "crazy horse" this weekend. as strong is your will, may his resolve, consistency, and pace be. may your spirit race alongside us and shunt all those who covet our positions. you whom we love more than anyone else, help us see this sport love us the way we love our team.

hail gilles, full of grace and courage. in the hours of rain to come this weekend, I invoke your aid to make it a blessing for us (and a curse for everyone else). may charles, as your and holy michael's spiritual successor, be blessed in his holy campaign this weekend, and bring us tifosi our lost joy of hearing the italian anthem on the podium. may your magic and miracles be seen in the echoes of his engine.

a prayer to saint carlos too, you of the quiet drives and reliability. may both of cars be guarded from reliability issues and make it to the points. protect our cars and protect our strategies from being wrong. may you go well in this race and make up more than 10 places so that we may see mclaren crushed in the standings by the end of this season.

f2004, the most holy of all cars ever to exist, I invoke your powerful aid this weekend. protect our suspension, gearbox, engine, chassis, and all components that the sf21 is made of. bless our PU4 with its 2022 parts with reliability and power unlike any other teams have ever seen before. guard it from evildoers who wish to sabotage us and see us fail, protect it from the unjust hammer of the fia's concept of legality. may the sf21 be the black horse on the yellow horizon that mercedes and red bull do not see coming and stomp the competition to death with its hooves. o f2004, be with us so that we may be given a taste of your glory once more, and the emotion and dreams you have borne. for what can be conceived, can be created. bless our mechanics and engineers to find the perfect setup, and bless those in maranello to ensure that your second coming be soon.

finally, a prayer to the founder. you would have liked charles.

forza ferrari, amen.

[ferrarigays-moved-to-ferrarism]

okay now that the 2020 season is over and we know kinda nothing about the 2021 season, it is a perfect time for me to make a Predictions List.

Disclaimer: I am basing this entirely on the opinions I have formed while watching f1 for a solid month and a half and listening to some fans who may or may now know what they are talking about. This is also based on a purely racing point of a view, not necessarily what I want to happen but what I feel like will.

also done under the assumption that lewis continues with merc. the list to be updated when we hear more news on f1 in general. after winter testing probably.

anyways let’s go hard or go home

general thoughts

lewis hamilton 8th time world champion

max verstappen will outscore bottas

one very wild race w/ an odd podium

charles leclerc will do some of his quali heroics

he will also do at least one (1) stupid first lap deep dive

fernando and esteban will lead the way with dramatic rivalries

max verstappen to have one (1) very immature moment

someone will punch he-who-shall-not-be-named

people will expect miracles from mick and that will be a constant talking point

somebody will protest saudi arabia. dunno who but someone will.

team names will be forgotten and talked about interchangeably

team specifics

Mercedes

Lewis is on his best form. Will outqualify Bottas, will win WDC.

Bottas will have a sort of comeback at the beginning of the season like it was with Valtteri 2.0. Not confident that he will have the consistency though and he won’t.

Lewis will perform heroics with his tyres after we heard him say that they were gone 28736363 laps ago.

Mercedes will continue to be black.

Red Bull

Won’t be close to Mercedes in the beginning

Max will be 2nd in the WDC

Checo will adapt to the car and fight with Max

I feel like qualis will go to Max tho but in races it will be a fight

RB will have a chance at constructors

At least one team order that suits Max so that RB’s driver policy will be glaringly obvious

This or all of it will go to hell, the second seat is cursed, RB is unreliable and it’s struggle ™️

McLaren

A close quali battle with Daniel and Lando, Daniel will have the edge over Lando

Daniel will have a good season but bc it’s his first in the McLaren, will struggle a bit at first. But not a lot and will have a faster comeback than with Renault.

Lando to be outscored by Daniel but not by a lot

Lando to go on with his trajectory of better and better, more consistent performances

They are gonna take some odd podiums here and there

Lowkey I feel like they are gonna be fast and maaaaybe challenge RB in some races?

Fight for the third with the following...

Aston Martin

Seb will perform better and get his mojo back

Seb to outqualify and outscore Lance but not the most outrageously

Lance will have a better, more consistent season and grow even more into a solid midfield driver

The car will look good

Gonna take some odd podiums here and there, once/twice

Alpine

Yeah it’s gonna be Renault for everyone

A close battle with Esteban and Fernando but I think that Fernando will do better

Questionable strategies and team choices, chaos, would do better if it weren’t for the team

I feel like Fernando is going to perform quite well

Esteban will have a better season than 2019 though.

A podium is not impossible if there are really wild races and others struggle

Ferrari

Either gonna have a strong comeback to the top of the midfield or be disappointingly slow, a bit faster than 2019 though so more points finishes

Charles will outqualify Carlos

Probably going to battle and the interteam bs is going to hurt the team’s overall strategies

Carlos will at some points be better than Charles in races and it will lead to questionable choices by the team

Charles will outgrow some of the mistakes he made this season and have a better season overall

Something dodgy and illegal in the car, I can feel it

(0 braincell videos from the ferrari account)

the car will look hot tho, as ferrari always does

AlfaTauri

Some really solid performances

I feel like Yuki is going to be quick and have a battle with Pierre

Pierre has fights with Esteban

Probably also going to fight with the Ferrari and in best times with the top of the midfield

Q3 appearances regularly, but from one of the drivers usually

Pierre has a solid, consistent season

Yuki is gonna do well

Alfa Romeo

I don’t see a lot changing

Battles with Kimi and Tonio, Tonio probably will outqualify Kimi

Although I don’t see Tonio doing a lot of improvement

And Kimi is there just as a hobby so

They will still appear in Q2 though at times

Haas

With this trajectory, I don’t expect a lot

With the car and the fact that both drivers are rookies and not known to do ~amazing showstopping speedy~ performances right at the beginning, I don’t see a lot better happening

Mick will have an okay season and do better than the other one

The other one will get disqualified somehow and will get penalties for stupid driving

Mick does his starting heroics and will get some points

Williams

Will have a better season and get points

George is probably going to get those points

George will outqualify Nicky and do it quite obviously

Less mistakes from George

In a crazy race (with many retirements), will both have points

Nicky will be again there, I’m sorry but I don’t see a lot of massive desvelopment happening. But a point finish, let’s say that?

Upwards trajectory

[meaningofmotorsport]

Turkish Grand Prix Review

I am not sure if it was simply due to the number of wet races we have had recently, or because of the race itself, but the race on Sunday did not feel as dramatic as the usual wet races we see!

Bottas will be the one person most glad that it was an uneventful day, as he stormed away from the field, and never really looked as though he could be challenged. These are the days that he was hired by Mercedes for, when he can be cool, calm, and so strong, however, it just hasn’t happened enough in his time at the team. I am glad that he got another win for Mercedes, and there is a good chance it could be his last, as Alfa Romeo will probably never challenge for wins!

It was not as much of a disaster as it seems for Hamilton, as starting midpack in the wet, could have spelled trouble. Also, with Max only 2nd, Lewis only lost one more point than Verstappen did last time out, which is pretty good going. Yes, they did mess up the strategy at the end, although it wasn’t a major problem really. In hindsight, they should have stopped when Perez did, as going to the end would have been a big risk for him, bearing in mind the title fight he is in. Otherwise, he battled well, and looks really strong at the moment with that car!

A double podium is a great way to thank Honda for their service, and shows that there is no special livery curse! Verstappen just could not match either Mercedes this weekend, and will have to hope it is to do with the track surface, as otherwise he will have a problem on his hands! Well done to Perez, who did all he could in the race, not only by finishing right behind Max, but for putting up a stout defence to Lewis. If he can get on top of Saturday’s, it could do wonders for the constructors!

For the first time in a while, a team could keep up with Mercedes and Red Bull on true pace, not by holding them up. Ferrari from the outset of the weekend looked superb, however it was assumed they would fall back into the midfield, yet instead, Leclerc could pretty much keep pace with the top 2, and at one point looked as though he could win! It was worth the risk for him to try and stay out, and 4th is still a satisfying result! Sainz cannot be overlooked either, a deserving driver of the day, as he flew through the field, and then late on in the race, was setting fastest lap repeatedly. It was a great points day for them against McLaren.

Gasly, after his incident on Lap 1 had a very quiet day, just gradually dropping back from the leaders. It was another day where AlphaTauri hinted at how good they could have been, if they had executed better throughout the year. As for the Turn 1 spin with Alonso, the penalty was a bit harsh, as he was in the middle of 3 wide, and it is lap 1.

McLaren just didn’t really have anything to fight with, as Norris stayed about where he started, not able to challenge Gasly, which isn’t great for the team 3rd in the constructors. Ricciardo fought as best he could, and the difference between him and Sainz once again shows how weak they were here. They need to bounce back at Austin, before Ferrari get within striking range of them!

Aston Martin ended up gaining a point on Alpine, thanks to another great wet drive by Stroll. I don’t know what it is about him and wet conditions, but he has always done well when it is like this. Vettel would have been much nearer to him, but a costly gamble for dry tyres ruined his race. Alonso lost everything in the lap 1 spin, and then decided to lose more by spinning Schumacher too, probably out of annoyance at losing a chance at points. Ocon not stopping was rather impressive, and also netted the team a point, as well as a piece of history!

Alfa Romeo will be rueing the fact that no one DNF’d, as they were positioned 11th and 12th, by the end. You do have to commend them on their wet weather pace, as I thought the Williams would beat them today. Speaking of them, neither Russell nor Latifi could work the conditions like they have in the past, although they have nothing to complain about in 2021!

Tsunoda as you would expect, struggled in these tricky situations, and did well not to crash. He should have done more in the race, but at least the car is in one piece! Schumacher’s good work was undone by Alonso, early on in the race, although I doubt he would have been any higher than 19th anyway. He can still hold his head high though, that he showed what he could do in the wet!

The European part of the season is over, and the circus now heads to the America’s, before ending in the Middle East. Now is the time when one team could land a hammer blow on the other, and not let them recover until they are out of sight!

-M

Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1

Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport

[formula365]

The Greatest of All Time - Imola Grand Prix review

It’s Christmas in 2004, and Maranello is a happy place. Ferrari has just crushed their opposition, winning 15 of the 18 races to claim a sixth consecutive constructors’ championship. And it wasn’t just another title: this was one of their most dominant, the F2004 a car so quick that in their first test at their private track in Fiorano they thought something was wrong with the track sensors. This hadn’t quite been the same level of dominance as 2002, when they scored as many points as all the other teams combined, but was pretty close.

Going into the next season, everyone expected Ferrari would be fending off challengers but staying on top. Just as in 2003, the competitors should be closing the gap a bit, but the Scuderia should remain the team to beat. Such was the quality of the 2004 car that the team led by Ross Brawn decided to evolve the car to adapt to the regulations tweaks of 2005, rather than work on an entirely new design.

But as the cars hit the track in Melbourne, it became clear the competition had more than caught up. The 2005 car was only supposed to make his debut in round 5 in Barcelona, but given the poor results in the first two races, its debut was brought forward to round 3 in Bahrain. It didn’t matter: plagued with aerodynamics issues, a gearbox too big and Bridgestone tyres that were losing the performance battle to Michelin, the F2005 won a single race, and only because all the teams using Michelin refused to race in the now infamous US GP, due to safety concerns.

At the time, it seemed impossible such a downturn in fortune could happen. The all-conquering Ferrari, the first team ever to win 6 championships in a row, had fallen off a cliff, finishing a distant third in the standings. No one had seen that coming, least of all those running the team itself.

What does this have to do with this weekend’s race? Obviously, everything. As expected since pretty much the first round of the season, Mercedes has just confirmed their seventh consecutive world title with four races to spare, beating Ferrari’s record, while reaching performance levels similar to those 2002 and 2004 titles. Just like Ferrari, they are at their peak, but the difference is that they show no signs of slowing down or becoming the c-word: complacent.

Ferrari’s 2005 season is a cautionary tale for any team dominating their sport: don’t take anything for granted; this is exactly what Mercedes have always done. Through every regulation change, they have continuously pushed the boundaries on every single level, taking every defeat as a chance to improve, and turning every setback into an opportunity. In what team principal Toto Wolff has described as a relentless drive to perfection, they keep on pushing when most, convinced their superiority would keep them ahead, would have relaxed.

A good example is the improvement made to their engine in this off-season. Clearly beaten by Ferrari in 2019, the team led by Andy Cowell worked to get back on top, not knowing that the only reason the Ferrari engines were so ahead was due to some shenanigans that weren’t entirely legal. The result is that the Mercedes engine took a leap forward in 2020, while Ferrari’s moved backwards, making the increased performance on the back of the Silver Arrows look even more impressive.

There is regular debate among F1 fans about who is the greatest driver of all time; now that Hamilton is beating pretty much every meaningful record, this debate is hotter than ever. But there is less debate about which is the best team, and that is because there are very few arguments left against this incarnation of Mercedes. It’s not just that they make the best car: it’s also that they keep winning even when they don’t have it. There were periods throughout 2017 and 2018 in which Ferrari had the best car on the grid, but due to driver performance or strategy calls, Mercedes would end up winning races that, on paper, it shouldn’t have won.

To me, there is no doubt that this is the best team F1 has ever seen. Through regulation changes, personnel departing and adversaries’ improving, they have kept pushing, onwards and upwards, relentlessly searching those marginal gains, those milliseconds that keep adding up to big advantages. Once this phase is over and someone else is spraying the champagne, we will have the time to really appreciate what they have achieved. But we are not there yet, and their records will keep improving, their chunk of F1 history becoming larger and larger.

Nothing lasts forever, especially if you don’t work hard to keep it going; this is particularly true in F1, where nothing stands still for long: blink, and someone has replaced you on the top step of the podium. That’s what happened at Maranello when preparing that 2005 car. That moment is still to happen to Mercedes, but no one is betting on it happening just yet.

Talking points

•  The rookie class of 2019 has been having a torrid time of late, and if Norris at least got himself on the points after three scoreless races, the weekend was far less kind to his friends. Russell had a first points finish within his grasp when he crashed, in P10, behind the safety car. He will pick himself up and be better for it, but right now it has to hurt. It’s not the first time either, as he lost opportunities at Hockenheim last year and at Mugello. He really needs to take his first points to get this monkey off his back.

Albon, on the other hand, is running out of opportunities to show Red Bull he deserves another year in the senior team. He spun at the restart and ended up at the back of the field, but even before that he was not capable of making a dent in the race. Granted, overtaking at Imola is not easy, but this was another lacklustre weekend from him. Even those like him who hope he does get the nod are finding it hard to come up with reasons why Red Bull should keep him.

•  Could Daniel Ricciardo be wondering if he made the right call in choosing McLaren over Renault? While the papaya team are moving backwards, Renault are improving by leaps and bounds, and this weekend saw him score his second podium in three races. The French team are probably now the favourites to claim third in the championship, which might make him wonder if he should have waited for a few races of 2020 before making this decision.

•  This podium was ultimately thrown away by Racing Point’s decision to pit Perez behind the Safety Car, when the Mexican was running third. To be fair to them, it was a hard call, since they had no way of knowing what those behind them would do. If Perez had been the only one staying out, he would have been vulnerable and would all be criticising the team for not pitting him. In any case, the only reason Checo was in contention anyway was the brilliant strategy to run long on the medium tyres, that had allowed him to leapfrog pretty much the whole midfield.

•  On the other side of the pink garage, Lance Stroll is in dire need of a reset. His Monza podium is looking like a curse, with the Canadian driver scoreless since then. To add injury to a dismal weekend, he even hit a mechanic in his second pit stop.

•  First double-points finish of the season for Alfa Romeo, with a rocket start from Giovinazzi and another steady race from Kimi. Their are winning the battle of the backmarkers, and it will take a miracle for Haas to take P8 from them now.

•  I wrote in my preview about drivers about to drop off the grid for 2021 and hoping they can enjoy and give us some good memories. That was exactly what Kvyat did: as his unlucky teammate was forced to retire from P5, the Russian had a fantastic race, clinging on to the back of Leclerc and Albon’s cars, and then using a fresh set of soft tyres to beat them and Perez at the restart. For a moment it seemed like he could even challenge Ricciardo for the podium, but, as it was, P4 was a brilliant result. Helmut Marko all but confirmed he would lose his seat at the end of the year, but if that is to happen, this is an impressive calling card for his job search.

•  So much talk about track limits, weekend after weekend. To me, this is the simplest of debates: the track limits are the white lines, and if you are going over them, you need to brake earlier. Done. Drivers who want to not have to worry about this should probably be considering moving to IndyCar.

•  McLaren are still in the fight for third in the championship, but not by much. They continue to maximise their results almost every weekend, but this time around they didn’t seem to be able to compete even with AlphaTauri. The development of the car has brought them backwards, and this must be a big concern for Andreas Seidl. With the cars remaining largely the same next year, they need to start making progress on this front sooner rather than later; otherwise, losing P3 in 2020 will be the least of their concerns.

•  Can Esteban Ocon get a lucky break? His return season has been underwhelming, but his luck with reliability has been abismal as well.

•  Oh, and while we are at it, can Vettel get a lucky break? Fantastic race from the German with a broken front end plate, only to be wrecked by a pit stop 11 (eleven!) seconds slower than normal. 2021 can’t come soon enough for him.

[junker-town]

‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ is a perfect intro to the best soap opera in sports

The second season of the acclaimed Neflix show sets the stage for F1 racing’s future.

The second season of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive dropped on Feb. 28, and it’s just as good as the extremely well-received first season. Like any good Millennial, I watched the entire series in a couple of days, even though the new Formula 1 season doesn’t start until March 15. The ten half-hour episodes are extremely bingeable.

Eight teams get significant air time over the show’s 10 episodes. The big teams sat out last year’s show, but after seeing how successful it was, they decided they wanted in on the action. Ferrari and Mercedes feature, but just like Season 1, the really good stuff comes from struggling teams like Williams and Haas.

Notably absent from the show are Racing Point and Alfa Romeo, who almost exactly met expectations last season, and return the same drivers for 2020. The producers opted not to force any drama for those teams. Fans of teenage shitposter/Twitch streamer/McLaren driver Lando Norris will also be disappointed to see that he’s barely mentioned.

What’s missing is much less important than what’s in the show, however. Drive to Survive is still amazing, and a perfect introduction to the best soap opera in sports. Minor spoilers below.

Is it a reality show? Is it a documentary? I don’t know, it’s just really good

I’m not really sure how you would classify Drive to Survive. It’s definitely more documentary than reality television, though the interviews feel very reality TV-influenced.

No matter what you call it, the show is made by the level of access that the producers are granted. Because the teams are promised that the show won’t air until the season ends and the driver lineup for the following season is set, they’re free to be themselves. It doesn’t feel like any of the teams’ drivers or principals are guarded in any way. The result is a show that does a brilliant job promoting what makes F1: Off-the-track drama.

Formula 1 is basically WWE for rich Europeans. The races are hit or miss, but the politics and promos are the really engrossing stuff. If you watch an F1 race without any knowledge of its inner workings, it might not seem that interesting. But when you understand the behind-the-scenes ramifications of a result, a pass for 10th place can feel as important as a pass for first.

The show’s format lets viewers into this world by focusing on the narrative arcs of individual characters and teams, rather than telling a chronological story. And though the show jumps around the calendar, it isn’t misleading or confusing. I imagine this was a difficult choice for the producers, but they got it right.

Most importantly for the show’s purposes, F1 is also involved in the production, so it also works as an advertisement. Viewers are left with an understanding of multiple storylines and who to root for in 2020. I think it would be hard to come away from the show without wanting to follow a team or driver in the upcoming season.

It’s so painful when you know what’s coming

If you did not follow the 2019 F1 season, you will have a different experience watching this show than I did. But if you did follow along last season, you’ll find yourself saying “oh noooo” at the screen several times just before the big reveals.

The results of storylines involving drivers like Pierre Gasly and Niko Hulkeberg, and teams like Haas and Williams, are foreshadowed well in advance. The portions covering the deaths of Niki Lauda and Anthoine Hubert are probably more serious tearjerkers when you see them coming.

If you didn’t follow F1 last year and watch the show, let me know if the foreshadowing was obvious to you. I’m very curious.

Guenther Steiner is once again the best character

The breakout star of the first season of Drive to Survive was Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, a hilarious character who curses at his drivers and staff in ways that American football coaches would envy. English is not his first language, but he’s an artist with the f-word.

Steiner’s home life is presented in stark contrast to the way he acts on the track. He’s very calm and kind with his wife and daughter, and is presented as a loving husband and father.

But then he has to go to work and deal with the mistake-riddled work of his engineers and drivers.

“This is not a fucking kindergarten here,” Steiner says to his staff at one point. Following a collision between Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, Steiner delivers the best line of the series.

“Gene spends 100 fucking million dollars a year of his own fucking money,” Steiner says to his drivers, referring to team owner Gene Haas, “and wants to pull the plug and let everybody down because of two fucking idiots.”

Haas never really got better after that, but Steiner still has his job, as do Grosjean and Magnussen. Their owner has not pulled the plug, though he was unable to recruit a title sponsor to replace the ill-fated Rich Energy.

I have no idea how Haas will do in 2020, but I do know that Steiner will likely be the best character in Season 3 of the show, too.

I empathize so much with Claire Williams

Williams Formula One has won seven drivers’ world championships and nine constructors’ championships under the leadership of legendary founder Frank Williams. But their last honors came in 1997, and Frank’s daughter Claire has been tasked with turning the team around. Thus far, she has failed — Williams was by far the worst team on the grid in 2019 — and it’s impossible to tell if it’s because she can’t hack it, or because of circumstances beyond her control.

In the trailer for Season 1, Claire Williams said something that has stuck with me ever since I heard it: “Every day I break out in a cold sweat thinking, ‘do I have the skillset to do this?’”

This is something that I think a lot of women have felt at work. Plenty of men too, but this is disproportionately a female experience.

In Williams’ case specifically, she has reached the highest position of any woman in F1, an organization that has historically been outrageously chauvinistic. Her detractors will argue that she only has her job because of her father, and her supporters will argue that the most qualified and experienced team principal in the world couldn’t turn around Williams on F1’s lowest budget.

The show follows the Williams team as it fails to finish its car in time for preseason testing. Claire’s rage at director of engineering Paddy Lowe can be felt through the screen, even if she never raises her voice.

I’m not sure if she holds back because that’s not her personality, or because she feels like it would be deemed unacceptable for a woman to do so. When Steiner blows up and calls his subordinates “fucking idiots,” we all have a good laugh. I feel like the reaction would be a bit different if Claire Williams did the same.

“I don’t want to disgrace the Williams name,” Claire says in an interview. “I don’t want Williams to fall apart under my watch.” I wonder how often she feels powerless to prevent that from happening, even though she’s ostensibly in charge?

Leclerc vs. Vettel is the story in F1

In 2020, all eyes are going to be on Ferrari.

Last season, youngster Charles Leclerc signed on to represent F1’s most iconic brand. He knew he’d be a clear No. 2 driver behind four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. But as the season wore on, the pecking order got a lot less clear. As it turns out, Leclerc might be the better driver.

Vettel’s last world championship was in 2013, with Red Bull. He left for Ferrari when he felt like his old team was falling miles behind Mercedes, but he hasn’t been able to recapture his championship form in the famous red car. Following a couple of second-place finishes and preseason hype that he could challenge Lewis Hamilton, Vettel disappointed in 2019, finishing fifth.

Leclerc, meanwhile, exceeded expectations in his first year with Ferrari. Despite Vettel being given preferential strategy in multiple races — a huge point of contention that’s explored on the show — Leclerc outperformed his teammate. His win in Ferrari’s home race at the Italian Grand Prix was arguably the feel-good moment of the year, and he out-qualified Vettel on a regular basis. His fourth-place finish in the drivers’ championship, ahead of Vettel, suggests he should not have to defer to the veteran anymore.

But F1 is not just about who is better at driving. It is a competition that is equal parts skill, engineering and politics. And though Leclerc may be a better driver than Vettel, he’s no politician. Whenever he complains about fairness on the show, Vettel finds a way to take advantage of Leclerc’s naiveté.

However, that’s the only thing Vettel did better than Leclerc in 2019. If all things are equal, Ferrari is going to start siding with the younger driver sooner rather than later.

Drive to Survive sets up 2020 perfectly as the end of an era

This upcoming season is the last with unlimited spending, and most of the drivers will be out of a contract at the end of the campaign. There will be new car requirements for 2021 as well. For this reason, a lot of teams are treading water this season, putting their money into new facilities and preparing for when they are finally able to compete with Mercedes, the runaway leaders, in 2021.

It feels likely that this season will be a ceremonial victory lap for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes before things get tough in 2021. If the two championships are the only things that interest you, I regret to inform you that this F1 campaign is unlikely to be compelling. But in terms of long-term storylines and interpersonal drama, this is going to be one of the wildest seasons in the sport’s history.

Everyone is fighting for their livelihoods. No one’s job is secure. A great midfield performance could position a driver for world championship contention next season. George Russell will struggle to score a single point for Williams, but he’s still trying to prove he’s ready to follow in Hamilton’s footsteps at Mercedes.

The drivers’ and constructors’ championships might not be up for grabs in 2020, but the future of the sport is.