#why even try VCARB?

[yuki-shipnoda]

No matter how many times the Visa Cashapp social media accounts try to convince me that Yukiel is a thing, I am undeterred. Your words do not move me over what basically constitutes as business partners & colleagues

[giuseppe-yuki]

pr videos

logan sargeant x hawk shapeshifter!reader

w.c.: 1.2k

warnings: a few curse words, one suggestive innuendo

part of my shapeshifting!reader series

summary: you join logan while he is doing his pr videos for williams

picture credits from pinterest :)

from your perch on the VCARB building, you could see your boyfriend on the roof of the williams building, filming a pr video. with your acute vision that allowed you to see over half a mile away, you could see the strands of his blonde hair waving in the wind, the way the sleeves of his williams team kit stretched over his arm muscles, the shine of his blue-green eyes in the sun, and even the light stubble on his chin. oh, and alex was there too, but why would you look at him when your perfect boyfriend was standing right there? 

you technically weren’t supposed to be sitting on a pipe next to a big ass poster of daniel riccardo’s face on the VCARB roof, but you were getting a little hungry. less than an hour ago, logan had left you in the hotel room, explaining that him and alex were filming pr videos all day and didn’t want you to be waiting in the hot sun. it didn’t hurt spying a little bit on them. besides, you were blending in, because in austin, texas there was always a shit ton of hawks for some reason. 

shaking yourself out of your logan-induced trance, you peer over at alex and see him holding a- piece of tomato? in logan’s hands are some tongs and a metal spatula, making you realize he is currently flipping burgers in front of a smoking grill. great, you think, williams has your boyfriend playing the typical american again. before you can continue your line of thought, your stomach grumbles, so you immediately spread your wings and jump off the building. there’s no harm in capitalizing off of logan’s americanness, you suppose.

gliding smoothly towards the williams roof, you hear logan talking fighting for his life trying to defend himself.

“mate, look at my burger compared to yours! its way better. look at the cheese, the lettuce, the tomato, the juicy meat! your patty is literally burnt and you don’t even have lettuce in your burger! that’s a literal crime.”

“you don’t even have lettuce in your burger” alex mocks. “whatever logan, you’re so american!” 

you can tell the banter between them is playful, both of them shooting pointed remarks at each other as the timer countes down. they're filming an alex vs logan burger challenge, you speculate. 

when you see your chance, you fly at full speed towards the pair, and snatch logan’s burger right off of his plate. clutching the burger in your claws, you circle back and plant yourself on an expensive-looking linen sofa. you give the burger a few experimental pecks. perfectly cooked, and honestly, really good. 

the camerawoman, several members of the williams crew, and both alex and logan’s pr managers all stare at you from behind the camera in surprise, mouths open. alex lets out a sound of pure shock, but his eyes show a little bit of recognition. perhaps logan has mentioned you to alex before? logan, however, looks at you with a small smile and a singular eyebrow raised. 

“mate,” alex starts, “is that your g-” 

logan immediately cuts him off. 

“wow, that was so weird! my burger looked so much better than yours, a real-life american hawk swooped in just to try it.” 

as if coming to her senses, the camerawoman steps in to redirect the focus of the video. “we are totally keeping that in. that was so fucking cool.” she exclaims. she turns around to her camera, and fiddles with it for a little bit before turning back towards you, logan and alex. “by the way, note to the video editor, logan totally won that one. the hawk really sealed the deal.”

“baby there is no way you just did that,” logan says, closing the hotel room door. 

you were lying in a cocoon of sheets with on the giant bed, having flew back to your balcony suite a couple hours ago. 

he takes off his shoes before continuing, “after you flew away, i had to spend over half an hour explaining to the williams crew members that no, i did not somehow summon you using my americanness and burger cooking powers, then fifteen minutes conversing with alex about planning a hangout with him and his girlfriend- who by the way is a cockatiel shapeshifter- and then fourty-five minutes leaving the paddock because i was stopped every two seconds by yet another person who wanted to ask if a hawk did actually steal my burger.” 

you can’t help but to start laughing. “awe i’m sorry logan, i was just a little hungry and i wanted to go see you!” you say in between giggles.

logan leaps onto the bed on top of you and wraps you into a warm hug. “fine, i forgive you. only because i love you,” he says earnestly. he pauses before continuing, “and also because you gave me a great truth to tell for two truths and a lie,” prompting you to burst into laughter again. he puts a well-placed kiss on your cheek. “so what do you want to do next?”

you look into his eyes, a few inches away from yours, and whispers into his ear. “i’m feeling… a little hungry.” 

logan peels himself off of you, and walks towards the hotel room phone.

“i know exactly who to call.” 

later, you find yourself sat in front of the most mouthwatering, scrumdiddlyumptious layout of texas barbeque, coleslaw, and cornbread. god, you loved logan so much. 

the next day, you find yourself in a similar position as the day before. this time, you are perched on a tree on the edge of a beautiful lake. you watch in amusement as logan and alex struggle to put bait on the hook of their fishing rods. logan seemed to have a little bit more luck spearing the worm onto the end of his fishing rod. 

“this is so rigged.” you hear alex complain to the gopro set up in front of him. “logan clearly got a bigger worm than me so its easier to put on and plus, he probably has ages of experience from fishing when he was younger!” 

it was yet another pr video day, but this time williams had them out in the middle of a lake- fishing for content. ‘don’t come back until you caught a fish,’ you had heard the team member jokingly say to the williams drivers as they launched off the dock. currently, it seemed as if alex and your boyfriend were taking his words seriously.

thirty minutes later, both of them were still stuffed in bright red lifejackets sitting in the middle of the lake. it seemed the cameramen that were filming them from a separate boat were having more luck them them, as they had a few minnows swimming in a bucket compared to logan and alex’s zero. 

you swoop down from your tree branch and use your ability to see uncannily well to spot a big bass swimming below you. lighting quick, you snatch it up in your claws and fly toward the williams boat. 

this time, the cameramen see you before logan, and all point their cameras excitedly at you, no doubt getting some high quality content for their upcoming video. 

you drop the still-wriggling bass onto logan’s lap, and perch proudly at the tip of the boat. 

“why thank you birdy,” logan says to you, giving you a big smile. he turns to alex, fighting the urge not to laugh. “i guess i win this challenge yet again.” 

alex wears a smug smile back though. “i just had my birdy go catch me a fish too.” he says, pointing his nose in the air. as if right on cue, a gray and yellow cockatiel whips past you, and drops a mosquito fish in alex’s lap.

logan takes one look and bursts into laughter.

taglist: @ilivbullyingjeongin@ale-522@formula1-motogpfan@aceyalonso@my0hmary @mbappebby

[hulkscannibal]

⋆·˚ ༘ * saw someone on tiktok comparing max’s aggression on and off track to liam and lando’s, stating he had a reason and they had none.. soooo, i’ve written a little rant.. it’s below the cut!!

word count : 399

i hate when people only bring up max’s childhood when speaking of his anger or comparing it to the same anger that other drivers hold. if max is allowed to be aggressive and angry for a valid reason, then so is everyone else. this mostly goes for lando and liam, and they both have very valid reasons to act the way they do on and off track. starting with liam, who is actually pretty sweet and doesn’t say anything bad off track, but aggressive enough on track and rude there, too. he’s spent the entirety of his f1 career only thriving off of others failure. he can only race when something bad happens to someone else, like daniel losing his seat due to underperforming. he has come to the mindset that he has to benefit off of someone else’s terrible mistakes or failure, so he causes it. he gets angry and aggressive, almost like he’s fighting for his seat, which he really is. hes been trying to show vcarb and even redbull that he deserves the seat. i think that obviously he’s happy to have gotten daniel’s seat, but now he knows how easy it is to be replaced, even if you were once good, like daniel was. i also think part of it is him mimicking max, because the seat is something he needs. he must drive like max to earn that seat. he’s young and impressionable, it makes so much sense.

then on to lando. he’s been with mclaren since his rookie year and has never been with another team. for him, i think it’s like mclaren is his only option. he’s gone through teammate after teammate, and i think this is such a huge impact. he knows it’s so easy to be replaced in mclaren. another key point of why he’s always whining when his teammate outperforms him or begging to switch is because all his teammates lost their mclaren seat due to not performing as well as him. he doesn’t want this happening to him, not at all. he obviously has the chance to get another seat because he’s so talented and he if he wasn’t, mclaren wouldn’t have kept him. but i also think that he is so stuck in staying with mclaren, that it’s all he knows, so he doesn’t want to go to another team. he is mclaren and mclaren is him.

[slutforpringles]

If that retirement thing is true, i'm most baffled about what is red bull's plan going forward. Because:

1. Yuki has never been considered for promotion to rbr, mostly everyone agree that he's in vcarb only to appease honda.

2. Putting rookies hasn't payed out really well as well

3. Reports suggest Daniel is not very willing to have anything to do with red bull

Has the team lost all their braincells and didn't really think through the consequences of dropping Daniel (well we do know for sure they didn't consider consequences to their public image) or are they that convinced that liam is the next Max? It just doesn't seem logical at all

I will say if the retirement rumours are true (although Checo's story is kinda telling in terms of how confident he currently feels in the second RB seat) then I think it does suggest there is some truth to the Daniel was actually Red Bull's plan for the 2025 seat before whatever the fuck happened over the last couple of weeks.

The latest The Race podcast had some really interesting comments on Lawson, namely that he has repeatedly throughout his career adapted very quickly to a new car/environment but also very quickly reached his own ceiling. So given that, it's not entirely surprising he did a good job hopping into the AT last season, but I think Red Bull are aware that just because he did OK for five races, that doesn't necessarily point towards him having long-term high level success in F1. I think they KNOW he's not the next Max, and Horner's comments about Lindblad (or even Hadjar) show they are both more exciting prospects to the team I think.

The Yuki situation is tricky, because I think the Honda connection is obviously part of it, but I think it's his temperament more than anything that's stopping Red Bull trying him in the second Red Bull. And I do think he has improved a lot in that regard (and I think Daniel has had a very large influence in that), but even the difference between Daniel and Yuki's reactions to the team orders situation in Singapore made it abundantly clear why Red Bull still have reservations.

Personally I think Daniel very much deserves to be as far away from the people that treated him like absolute crap as possible, BUT if Red Bull came crawling back needing him and he was in a good negotiating position then I wouldn't blame him for wanting that final shot at a few more race wins and to finish off his career properly.

I think Red Bull is so caught up in their own game of power and toxic politicking that many a decision this year has been in furtherance of someone's agenda as opposed to actually about being the right/best decision for the team.

[blorbocedes]

it’s crazy that redbull use to love chopping drivers’ heads off mid season because they got the ick, but now they are just unwilling to sacrifice anyone, on top of promising lawson a seat and having another driver on the come up who’s a championship contender in f2. they don’t have solid plans for yuki, but keep extending his contracts with the sister team, they’re letting dr hoard the seat with his nasty asscheeks. checo seems to have his place secured too, but it will probably bite them in the future, because this gap between him and max will be punishing as others have been catching up

if you want 'my source: I made it up' take on it all it goes like this:

the redbull power struggle from earlier this year hasn't ended. it's merely at an impasse. redbull's thai owners stopped horner from getting fired, and max credibly threatening to leave and tying his contract to helmut's means CH can't get the old man fired either. and remember, helmut used to be in charge of who gets the seat when deitrich was alive and still holds considerable influence

if DR performed like yuki is this year, you would've absolutely seen him in the redbull car by now because he was brought in as Horner's pet project. they would happily mid season chop Checo's neck. then lawson who proved himself in the car could fill his seat in vcarb

you'll see conflicting narratives where redbull/DR sources like medland will say yuki's not in contention for redbull, yuki's shopping for other seats and he doesn't even want the seat

and then yuki himself saying he's happy to be in vcarb until he gets a shot at redbull, and helmut saying he is being looked at.

since yuki would be helmut's pick, horner doesn't want to consider him and thus lose out on the driver selection process. that's why you'll also hear so much "oh yuki goes wherever Honda will take him" yuki also has never been allowed to test in a redbull, ever. so whenever there's narratives of put DR in the car he's the fastest in the sim -- yuki hasn't ever been allowed to test for that car!!! and they've had everyone in their junior programme including f3 drivers test it!!!

so checo. the car is worse this year, and hes showing for it by being 5th in the standings rn. If redbull loses the constructors, esp with Ferrari catching up, it will be because of checo. but checo brings in the most sponsors after max and lewis, so the math horner has to justify to the board is he brings in more $ than losing first in the constructors will give us (around 20 mil). the redbull also being harder to drive means you don't want to risk an entirely new driver getting to grips with it when you have someone for the past few years who has reliably driven it where you want (checo was 2nd in standings last year).

checo getting the 1 year extension means once again he'll have to prove his worth for the team, and will be expendable after 2025. 2026 is when new regulations kick in! that changes the whole game... max allowing the merc flirtation to happen this year and redbull (horner) saying they're looking at fernando and carlos and whoever else is in chess when both sides make forward pawn moves. max is showing he's not married to redbull until 28, esp if the engines aren't good, and redbull going fine! we can look at other drivers too~ (not in their own junior programme tho 💀).

that's why they're keeping the status quo for 2025 and trying to keep EVERY driver available, cause then 2026 with new regs and Ford becomes the game changer.

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

Abu Dhabi 2024

-Seeing Charles in p19 is stuff from my nightmares

-“Leclerc at the back of the grid” Just why

-“Max Verstappen will be a menace, won’t he?” Yes! Bring it on!

-Franco!! It’s too early for emotional talkkkk!!

-Valterri too? Come on, I can’t watch this race with teary eyes

-Can they stop talking about Sergio leaving already??

-Holy fricking shit! Max, you literal menace!!

-Oh no Checo too?? What in the telepathic connection??

-Charlesssssss! Up to p8 already!!!!

-Checo?!? No! Istg!!! Aaaaaaahh whyyyy???

-Charles overtaking masterclass is what I was praying for

-“Kevin Magnussen, what a great first lap for him” Went in with the right amount of chaos! Let’s go!

-Ooh Pierre!!

-Max didn’t waste any time there, getting past Liam at the restart

-Oscar??

-Valterri was the won who hit Checo? Why???

-Early pit stop from Oscar

-What an end to a season from Max. That 10s penalty sums up everything. Since when do we penalize first lap incidents anyway?

-“Yup, move of a world champion that one” Hehe

-“Whilst they were swapping around on the inside, he was dancing around the outside” Happy Charles>>>

-How are we only 7 laps in?

-I’m so so happy for Charles

-Oop Oscar’s got a penalty too. Can’t we just cancel out both penalties now?

-Go Max!

-“6 different constructors in the top 6” Fun

-Charles, Charles, Charles

-Why are so many drivers having false starts lately??

-Woah good move there from Lewis Liam

-Charles? Track limits? Come on be cool

-Charles and Max simultaneously making moves! Let’s go!

-“No pace mate” WHY

-Ugh come on! Slow stop for Kevin

-Still salty about Esteban not being here

-Come on Charles! P3 yeah?

-Poor Zhou, him being in a Sauber should be penalty enough

-I had such high hopes of a Hulkenburg podium :(

-Ferrari starting off pit stop games? Oh nvm

-If they mess up Charles’ strategy I will murder someone

-“Stay out” “Why?!” Hahaha mood

-Genuinely what was the point of bringing Jack in this race?

-The wheels aren’t on??

-What’s going on at VCarb?

-Franco?!? Oh no, whyyy??

-Fricking James Vowles

-10s stop and go? Goddamn

-“Slowest pit stop for Max Verstappen this season” Did we all collectively forget about Mexico?

-What the hell happened to Valterri’s tire??

-Kevin?!

-“Isn’t that just f*cking great?” Should I just kms?

-Woah Aston Martin playing strategy games. You don’t see that very often

-“Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen” Champions line-up

-Aw he said “Hammer time”

-Let’s go Max!!

-The sky looks so pretty there

-Kevin with the fastest lap. Please let him keep it

-Just realized Yuki’s still in points. Yay.

-🎶 Max Verstappen 🎶

-“Here comes Max Verstappen” I love hearing that

-He said top 6 finish and he got top 6 finish (please let him burn the car after the race)

-Oscar??

-“This is the rhythm” Laughing through the pain

-At least we get Charles and Carlos sharing the podium one last time as teammates

-Lewis really pushing there

-Ferrari trying a gamble? Please don’t

-Puncture??

-Yesss Lewissss!!

-Woo! Okayy constructors champions! Pretty cool how the last time McLaren were champions, the current drivers weren’t even born yet.

-Are they the youngest ever constructors champions lineup? Cause that would be cool too

-Lewis donuts??!

-I’m so glad he gets to end on a high and make better moves next season

-Going to really miss Kevin, Zhou, Valterri and Franco (and Daniel and Logan and Charles and Carlos as teammates and Nico and Kevin as teammates and please let Checo stay and and)

-Brb going to cry

[not-that-syndrigast]

The Kimi Antonelli strategy

With Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes and the silly season being in full force all year long, one name has become big like no other; freshly eighteen year old Kimi Antonelli. After Toto Wolff, Mercedes team has practically admitted Antonelli would fill the second Mercedes seat next year, there are quite a few questions and talks around him. Why not put him in the Williams for a season? What does Mercedes see in him? And most importantly; What is their plan for the future?

Let's start out with the easiest one; Why not put him in the Williams first? 

A lot of people forget that Williams is not the junior Mercedes team, but their own independent team. While most Mercedes drivers have come from Williams, that is mere coincidence. Unlike Red Bull with Vcarb, Mercedes and Williams don’t work together besides the engine. To compare, let me explain Red Bull GmbHs strategy; both teams get funded from the same company, Red Bull GmbH, which results in the two teams being incredibly close. Oracle Red Bull racing, the ‘real’ team is supposed to bring in championships and wins, while Vcarb is supposed to be a midfield team to figure out future talents for the first team. The upside of this is, that even if Vcarb does not win and does not perform, they still get funded, as long as they work as a junior team, but that's a problem for another time. Williams does not get funded by Mercedes and does not profit by Mercedes winning, they are not one brand and Mercedes most likely does not want them as a junior team in the case of Antonelli;

First of all, the Williams car is bad. Even an experienced driver like Albon, who showed he can drive for podiums and probably even wins in a good car, has to scrape for points. This weekend in Zandvoort, the car seemed to be better. Only for him to get disqualified because it's illegal. I think my point is pretty obvious here. Currently, Williams are rumored to be thinking about replacing Sargeant and since the Williams has no open seats for Antonelli next year, with Sainz in the second seat, some people think Antonelli should get the last nine races as experience for next year in the Mercedes, but Toto Wolff has clearly stated that would not happen. 

As mentioned, the Williams car is bad, so he would not get as much experience as one would expect but even worse, his confidence would be destroyed and people would only see him place 20th because nothing else is possible in the car and fault Antonelli. Furthermore, Mercedes has a clear strategy with Antonelli which would not be allowed anymore; they try to give him experience in F1 cars, by letting him test old Mercedes cars in many testing days. It’s one of the strategies that are claimed to have helped Piastri get as good as he is right now, with not as much experience in grand prixs but many in testing. If Antonelli would compete now, though, he would not be able to test these older Mercedes cars anymore. Last but not least, he still drives in F2 and Mercedes and Toto Wolff most likely want to avoid ruining his confidence by throwing him in a car he is not used to. 

To the next question; What does Mercedes see in him?

A lot of people are confused; Antonelli is only seventh in the F2 standings and is being beaten by other drivers who are also rookies. I’ve talked about it before; F2 is not as fair as people think it to be. Antonelli has one of the most prestigious junior careers, sadly many of those categories are pretty new, so it's not comparable with F1 drivers, but if you compare him to other current F2 and F3 drivers, he has the most titles by winning a bunch of different series, like the italian F4 and ADAC F4, in the same year and also the motorsport games F4 cup and although i still do not quite understand what exactly that is, he did win with a broken wrist, which is a feat in itself. He also won the formula regional middle east championship and FRECA. The whole point is, he did all of that in two years, was a rookie in quite a few of these categories and would have most likely won F3 by a margin. He is one of the most promising young drivers and all of these things still exclude the extensive private testing Mercedes has made him do. Only considering that he has made multiple, I'm convinced his times are good. His results may not seem as bright in F2, but you need to keep in mind that Mercedes themselves are aware of the engine problems in F2 and can evaluate a good driver far better than any fan.

Last but not least; What is their plan for the future?

Some people still think Antonelli is too young and Mercedes should take another driver for a year, let Antonelli do a second season in F2 and give him more experience, but that would be most likely a waste of a seat for a full year. If you compare Sargeant and Piastri, the last two rookies that have made it to F1, you’ll see that even though Piastri has done what's now FRECA, F3 and F2 in three years, he doesn’t lack as much as experience as Sargeant does, because as mentioned multiple times, Piastri did testing in old F1 cars and got put into an F1 seat. No matter how many years drivers do in lower categories, they will need a bit of adjustment time and my guess is for Mercedes that they want to get Antonelli adjusted to the car in ‘25 so that they can focus on the championship in ‘26. 

I think the situation around Antonelli is quite interesting and I hope that by bringing him in, Mercedes will start the trend again of trusting young drivers even in good cars. In recent years, most young drivers had to go through midfield teams before even getting the chance in a good car, but with the cost cap, many midfield teams don’t want to dare getting young drivers anymore that are more expensive.

But I would really like to hear what others think of Mercedes' strategy; will they be able to get him good as quickly as it was managed with Piastri? Or will his situation turn out closer to Sargeants? As always, I'd love comments on the matter.

[theimpoliteone]

currently trying not to throw up at work bc of the danny news…

literally what sense does this move make? even if danny wasn’t performing up to the standards VCARB had, why switch him with lawson now when there are SIX races left??

VCARB is 52 points behind Aston Martin in the constructors. there’s no way they could make up enough of that gap for it to matter in just SIX RACES

not to mention Danny is marketing GOLD. hell, his management team was the one that got VCARB the Cash App sponsorship in the first place!

at the very least, they could have been respectful about this and let him finish out the season and then signed Lawson for next year

danny is a man who is an impeccable ambassador for the sport — literally the first driver we meet on Drive to Survive — who always has a smile on his face even when he’s trying not to cry. after everything he went through at red bull, renault, mclaren… we thought him coming back to the red bull family would only help him

i hope his life becomes much easier now that he doesn’t have to deal with red bull’s bs

[pit-2-podium]

Imola GP highlights

hamilton and perez immediately making moves

vcarbs seem to be qualifying well but when it comes to the actual race they aren't holding

Max is leading but hasn't pulled a gap yet

"Yes come on" - a happy hulk

Albon, Bottas both pit to try and force others to pit

Williams didn't put Alex's wheel on properly - team will be fined (is this karma for their shenanigans towards Logan? - their season is getting real expensive)

poor Alex was on track going so slow trying to get out of the way of the mess that is fourth and fifth place

Yuki pulls ahead of Hulk when he exits the pit

Max has officially fucked off into the sunset with a five second gap

Checo out into the gravel (he's having a rough weekend)

max's tire isn't vibing

after lando pits he gets caught behind perez - he's probably going to be stuck there -Never mind he passed him

Max may have fucked with track limits and got a very stern warning

Lewis is apparently pretending he's on a slip and slide and into the gravel

both oscar and charles pass checo who didn't even try and fight him

mid field doing midfield things

carlos overtakes checo then george does a minute later

Oscar chasing his second ferrari

Yuki has had some overtakes, very clean

Lewis overtakes stroll on the chicane

Perez actually wants to fight lewis?? after letting like five other drives just pass on through

Lewis overtook him around the outside with some late breaking

the final few pit -and checo is back in 11th - then 10th - then 9th

this is a boring track. im bored.

Zhou defends magnussen - kmag if he didn't have 10 points he would have fought more - maybe that's why im bored

"Speak up" - mclaren radio with crackling from the devil himself

zhou and kmag battle gets interupted by lando and charles

Stroll is having a good weekend with clean passes on kmag and yuki

Chalrles cuts some grass on the chicane

radio shenanigans - max and gp sound like an old married couple and Lando sounds like he may strangle someone

Albon has to retire for some reason??

Lando is actually catching max - come on Lando

more great radio's - mad max makes an appearance as he yells at Yuki who was in the way

Lando just demolishes those corners

Ocon with an unusual but well done overtake

Max's battery is almost empty

It is sooooo close

If we had one more lap...

Max wins with 7 tenths of a second gap - that is insane

That's that see ya'll next week

[cecoeur]

the only thing I don’t understand about Red Bull cropping out Daniel is that they still did it even when Daniel went back to rb and vcarb, I remember specifically looking to see if they’d start keeping him in the throwbacks they posted w max but they still left him out. And that doesn’t fully make sense, like yeah he’s not technically your driver but what do u lose by including him when u can literally hear him talking. It’s more work to crop him out than just posting the original

I didn't really pay that close of attention during the start of the season but I would imagine it has really always had to do with the underlying "threat" to checo and the response of his fans. RBR couldn't be seen as idealizing max and daniel as teammates when checo is their other driver because they'd never hear the end of it. I do think that's still partly why they're not posting daniel now anyway. Like in the immediate aftermath of singapore it was because of people coming for them about daniel deserving better but at this point I honestly think they're trying to avoid checo's fans abusing them (and maybe even daniel, though its not like he would see it) in the replies (because they would).

[race-week]

What is your take on Red Bull seemingly being so against Yuki? At this point, I don't see an excuse for him not getting a chance in their second seat.

He's from their own youth, he's not only doing better than Daniel, but also better than Checo, at this point, it feels like. He's been nothing but consistent this season and I don't think ignoring his performance sends a good message to their other junior drivers.

I just really don't see what they're trying to do here, what their issue with Yuki is. That he may be too emotional doesn't cut it for me anymore, I think this is a terrible argument, based on nothing but speculation, at this point, too.

I'm sure Yuki would do better than Checo and looking at how the other teams are closing in, surely they need someone better than Checo now that Max isn't winning the team championship on his own anymore?

So I think in part, the reason why we won’t see another driver in the second Red Bull seat (or the second VCARB) seat anytime soon is down to money, specifically sponsorship.

It’s no secret that Perez brings a good chunk of sponsors to Red Bull and also approximately 65% of Red Bull F1 merchandise is sold to Mexico [X] I’m not saying that’s the only reason why they keep him on, just that there is a significant financial draw that is likely taken into consideration.

It’s also been reported by multiple sources that Ricciardo’s management team (CAA) helped to broker the sponsorship deal with VISA and CashApp.

Realistically I don’t think there’s anything that Tsunoda could do for Red Bull to promote him, I expect that he’ll stay in the VCARB next year and then maybe go elsewhere for 2026 (Honda are partnering with Aston Martin) but I don’t see him sticking around in the Red Bull fold for too long.

Even with the cost cap money plays a huge part in F1 and if you can get a somewhat decent driver who also brings money then great.

Also just to play devils advocate a bit, yes we’ve seen some really strong results from Tsunoda this year, and he’s been a lot more consistent, I can’t for certain say that he’s necessarily got the right mentality right now to partner Verstappen, especially in the way that Red Bull want. Like I can’t say 100% that he would take team orders if they were asked of him, or that he wouldn’t get caught up being overly self critical if the media were harsh.

[slutforpringles]

I see everyone cranky about the article about perez's sponsors and the constructor's bonus. But i feel like it's gonna work out ok. Or ok-ish at least. The chances that daniel gets in the car and immediately makes up the difference in the constructor's is low. Max is struggling with the car and he's been in it all year. So either way the constructor's is likely a write off. This way, the bonus is covered. And they can still put daniel in for next year, especially if perez bottles the rest of season. Sponsor's or not, if he fucks it up and doesn't meet his contract clauses at least they're seen to have tried to help him meet the targets. So not totally pissing sponsors off. Maybe daniel doesn't have the exact same money behind him, but he is a big sponsor draw. Obviously it's bullshit on daniel's side to keep getting the goal posts moved, but I'm trying to hold on to the hope that it'll actually work in his favour! What do you think?

Yep I definitely think there are upsides to Daniel not being in the Red Bull. As you said it is a tricky car to drive currently, and while I wholeheartedly believe that Daniel would be doing a better job than Payrez currently, I also don't know if he would be able to wring performance out of it to the same degree that Max has been able to. He would be under mountains of pressure to perform immediately, and I can easily see him being blamed en masse by fans if Red Bull were still to lose the constructors.

I won't lie, a small part of me still worries that if there's absolutely zero improvement post-summer break that Red Bull won't suddenly go 'oh shit we have to do something now' and put Daniel in the car after Singapore - which would make the pressure/situation even more challenging. Honestly though in that scenario my biggest concern would be his safety and security at COTA and in particular Mexico - some of the absolute fanatical lunacy I have seen online by Mexican journalists/commentators and the amount of hate it has stirred up is quite honestly bonkers, so I really hope for Daniel's sake he's not parachuted in post-Singapore.

Also to be honest I'm quite excited to see Daniel's continued progression at Vcarb. I've been really impressed by how he and his engineers have knuckled down and found solutions to issues he was having and they have really made some pretty huge steps since his early season struggles. I think he clearly gets on well with Pierre and they've found their groove, and it'd be nice to see Daniel get a full season with Vcarb to continue that trend and really prove to people he deserves that Red Bull seat. I also think the next big lot of Vcarb upgrades are likely to be quite impactful, especially since they seem to have understood why the last upgrades didn't work out.

So while I do find the Red Bull/Payrez situation infuriating, it's definitely not all doom and gloom. I think there's still a huge amount of positive momentum going Daniel's way, he just needs to continue to put in those solid performances we saw from him before the summer break!! ✨🫶🏻🙏🏻👏🏻

[rickybaby]

The Oscar to Red Bull thing is definitely very interesting. I feel like Mark is not gonna get Oscar in there next to Max, either full stop or without knowing Max is on the verge of leaving. Otherwise, he might as well stay at McLaren since he has a better chance against Lando than Max.

I imagine Mark is talking to a lot of teams really, if he's good at his job. I guess everyone is stuck on the Red Bull thing because of his own history there.

I think the fun thing about it is that it is yet another driver not from their own talent pool that they're talking about. Oscar, George, apparently James Vowles is trying to shop Franco to Sauber or VCARB for next year. But oh no, we need vcarb to be a junior team. You know for our own juniors. So we can fill our seats with our own drivers.

The only reason why Oscar would consider leaving McLaren is to stop playing second fiddle to Lando. So it wouldn’t make sense for him to go to red bull unless there are strong indications Max is leaving, especially as you’ve said he has a better chance against Lando than Max.

Or Mark Webber just wants to capitalise on the fact that red bull looks like they don’t know what to do and get Oscar in there. He’s young enough to wait out Max leaving in a few years or even a few uncompetitive seasons in 2025 and 2025. Except if he isn’t very close to Max or at least beat him from time to time, his reputation as future wdc will suffer terribly.

Re your last paragraph - the way things are going, red bull having to literally beg checo to retire and it looking like they won’t be making any decision regarding their line ups roll after the season, there’s someone else who’s going to get fucked over soon … and unfortunately, I have a bad feeling on who that could be :(

[earthtokhal]

I read the article and I have some thoughts.

Sacked or Promoted.

From multiple sources we've read that Daniel is very much in the running to get that seat which means he is showing some form enough for them to consider him so how can someone who is actively being linked to the seat in the MAIN team simultaneously in danger of losing his current seat?

2. Lawson in for Ricciardo midseason (Rumour we've been hearing from race 1)

Vcarb has been marketed as a sister team and no longer a junior team. They were able to pull in big sponsors like cash app and Visa. Daniel is in Visa's current ad.

So I assume that when RB were trying to get in these sponsors, they obviously would have used Daniel and the shift from being a junior team to a sister team. It would make no sense to remove him midseason for no reason.

They must not think we forgot about the articles everyone wrote about Daniel losing his seat in Miami.

3. Help or Hindrance.

"It's fair to wonder whether if this version of Ricciardo would be a help or hindrance to Red Bull in the constructors' fight."

Honestly, anyone who is wondering this right now has a bias against Daniel because surely nobody thinks he would be worse than what they currently have. In the VCARB he is qualifying around the same place as SP and even better at times. He is able to keep it clean and out of the walls. There is no way he would be qualifying p9 in a VCARB and do worse in a RB.

4. Missing something.

"Ricciardo is missing something from the form he showed between 2014 and 2018."

Yeah, the car.

5. Only one without a contract.

It is of my personal opinion that he was not announced because they knew they might need to change their drivers considering SP's form last year.

In addition to that, the timing of both the article where Marko said that LL has a seat next year and that it is still a junior team and Yuki's contract announcement was odd, rushed even.

Everyone, including upper management and Daniel give wonderful PR answers when asked on race weekends about any of this and they dance around the questions.

6.Regutitated news and Daniel's form.

A lot of the articles are basically the same thing with a new opinion worded as an option or a new "source"

F1 twitter would love to say that the better driver is the one who gets the points and yes, usually it is but Daniel's form has picked up since that chassis change and he has been on form ever since. He has put his best foot forward in every race weekend but continues to be let down by the team and that is why it was so important for VCARB to take accountability in public because writing it in your post race debrief that barely anyone reads isn't it, not when people are seeing that he went from p9 to p12 and writing think pieces on why he is "washed."

Also, if the team can look at data and strategy from Hungary to determine that Daniel had a faultless weekend then I am pretty sure they can look at data and strategies from past weekends.

7. The upgraded RB and high pressure.

There are concerns that Daniel might struggle in the upgraded RB but I don't think this upgrade will last long. Max hates it and surely, they won't continue with something he hates. A car that Max likes to drive is also one that Daniel likes to drive.

In general RB is a high pressure team but the situation they are currently in is even more high pressure than a normal start of the season situation. Daniel already knows the team, he knows the pressure situation there. He knows all the off track things, he just needs to get it together on track whereas someone else might still need to deal with the off track pressure and getting used to it.

I am heavily biased and I want Daniel to get the seat HE wants but I also want him to in the sport until HE is ready to let go and currently, he is not ready to let go. He has shown he still has it and he has shown that he can get the results even in difficult situations (ie: whatever the hell that quali was on Saturday.)

But putting my bias aside, I don't think Red Bull are ready to lose him and I think he would be the best choice for their current situation.

[gayf1hoe]

Part 9

“So I've been thinking about your predicament with Sauber and the transition to Audi which has resulted in you not having a seat. It is clear you can work miracles with an underperforming team, and given you are nowhere near ready to be in a top seat I would like to offer you a place at VCARB”

I am stunned into pure silence. On the one hand I'm elated at the job offer but I'm also a little offended at the way he offered it to me. it was like he wanted me to feel appreciative that I'm even getting an offer, which don't get me wrong, I am. 

My brain takes a few more seconds to compute what exactly has just been said to me and it doesn't take long for me to say:

“I would love to accept the offer” 

He clasps his hands together and says “perfect”. 

I find out I'm replacing Danny at VCARB and at first I'm apprehensive, I assume he doesn't have a seat for next year which makes me feel bad as he's my idol and someone I have looked up to for ages, but I'm quickly reassured when Helmut informs me that he's going to Red Bull. 

The second I leave the Red Bull building I make my way straight to the hotel to tell Max. I push past the huge flock of people still crowding on the usually quiet and tranquil  streets of Monaco. 

The sun is setting and the dim street lights have come on, but as I approach the hotel the abundance of lights stick out like a beacon of grandeur. I enthusiastically push the elevator button repetitively before the doors eventually open on the third floor. 

I lightly knock on the mahogany door and await for Max to open which doesn't take long. He has a towel draped over his shoulder and his hair is still slightly wet from the shower he had obviously taken moments before my arrival. He quickly invites me in and I stand in front of the bed, smiling ecstatically. 

“What are you so happy about?” He asks.

“Well you know how next year I don't have a seat, well I do now” 

“What?” He asks his tone of voice increasing a little. 

“Helmut has offered me a seat at VCARB”

“Oh” is the only thing he can mutter. 

“What's wrong I thought you would be happy for me”

As I finish my question he takes a seat on the edge of the bed wiping the towel across his face, avoiding all eye contact with me. I take a seat next to him and repeat my question. 

“What's wrong?”

“It's nothing” he replies 

“It's clearly something” 

“It's just with you going to VCARB I don't think it's the right choice for you” 

I am totally stunned to silence, the man who should be happy and supporting me is telling me I made the wrong decision. 

“Why is it a bad choice?” I ask standing up from the bed. 

He can't even look up at me or mutter anything. 

“Max Emilian Verstappen if you don't answer me I am walking out that door and we are done and we have only just made up” 

I give him 5 seconds and when he doesn't change anything I walk out leaving him where he is. 

TW - SH

In my room I block Max on every social media account I have and I block his contact and remove him to avoid temptation. Lying in my bed I can't help but have these festering thoughts that seem to mount up. I would go to Ollie as he's not far from here but I don't want to bother him. I finally have enough of the guilt and pain and go into the bathroom. I pull my shorts down to reveal my thighs and look at the linear scars that are a constant reminder of my past. The only one who knows about it is ollie, sure Max has seen me without my clothes on but I have always somehow managed to hide them from him. It was my way of releasing my emotions. Ollie tried to make me go to a doctor and I said I did but I never did. I knew that once I had a label on my medical record such as ‘depression' no team or sports board would ever medically clear me to join their team. I am lucky that there aren't that many, maybe 3 or 4 on each thigh and they overlap and are easily hidden by my underwear so at every medical examination I have been able to hide them.

I look at my razor that's sitting on the side trying to stop myself from even fathoming up what I might do, but temptation gets a hold of me and I do it. I cut myself, displaying how truly weak and pathetic I am.  I don't cry. Maybe I'm used to the pain. Or maybe I deserve it, I mean I have probably hurt Max. I have hurt Ollie by being a burden to him. I have hurt my friends and family by lying to them. I have hurt everyone around me, so maybe it doesn't matter if I hurt myself.

I clear myself up and place bandages around my legs and miraculously I manage to get some sleep when I get into the bed. 

The next morning I wake up to a knock on my door. I get up from my bed whining about the slight stinging sensation coming from my leg that makes me remember everything about last night and as I open the door I put on my best fake smile and see Lando standing there. 

“Can I help you?” I ask.

“My shower is not working, can I use yours?”

"Sure” I say, opening the door wider to let him in, pointing him in the direction of the bathroom. 

He isn't in there long before he comes out and says 

“Y/N is there a reason there is a bloody tissue hanging out the bin?”

I start to panic and try not to let it show. 

“I cut myself shaving last night” 

“Well where's the cut on your face?”

‘I wasn't shaving my face I was shaving my chest”

With that he goes into the bathroom and doesn't emerge for about 35 minutes before he thanks me and heads back to his room allowing me to get changed for my day out today with Ollie and Kimi to celebrate all of our amazing results and I can't wait to tell him I'm staying in F1. 

We meet in the lobby, I try my hardest to walk without a limp and when I see them I say I will be back in a second. I just need to go to the toilet. In reality I need to check my bandages haven't come loose. 

OLLIE'S POV

As I see Y/N walking away I notice he has a slight limp and he's a lot quieter than usual but I assume the limp is down to some cramp or muscle ache which isn't unusual for racing drivers. 

As we are waiting for him, Lando sparks a conversation with us and I notice he has a small plaster on his chin. 

“Another party accident” I say pointing at his chin.

“Nah I cut myself shaving” he replies.

“You must be pretty bad at shaving,” Kimi jokes.

“Not as bad as Y/N he cut himself pretty badly shaving his chest, there was such a bloody tissue in the bin… anyway I best be going have a good day guys”

How could I be so stupid and not notice the signs like last time. Y/N shaving his chest is the biggest lie he's ever told, but I suppose only I would know that man can't grow a single hair on his chest to save his life. 

I tell Kimi to wait where we are and I go into the toilets, locking the main door behind so we don't get interrupted. 

“Y/N” I call out and just as I do so he opens the stall door. 

He walks over to the sink and washes and dries his hand making out like he actually went to the toilet.

“Pull your shorts down” I declare

“if this is your way of trying to get with me you are doing it all wrong” he says trying to humour the situation. 

“Just do it Y/N” I say sternly, his face tells me that he knows that I have caught on. 

Y/N’S POV 

Ollie stands there expecting me to follow his command, but I freeze. We have been in this situation before and I promised him that if I ever felt like that again I would talk to him. But as usual I have broken my promise and let him down. 

I start to explain the whole chain of events to him and once I have finished the only thing Ollie could say is “Max is a dickhead”, normally I would be the first one to defend Max even if I knew he was the one in the wrong. But I guess when you love someone you turn blind to their mistakes. Ollie spends a good 5 minutes giving me a pep talk about how I must go to him if I am feeling down and that I will not be an inconvenience to him. After a few hugs we go out to see Kimi still standing waiting patiently for us. 

It took us ages to decide what we wanted to do today, but as it's our break before the triple header I wanted to maximise my free time and do anything apart from racing, so we decided upon going on some cool boat excursion and we decide to invite some other drivers such as Paul Aaron, Zane and somehow Zhou ends up with us. 

Zane decides not to tell us he gets seasick until we have left the harbour and are beyond any point of return. For some reason I am delegated with the responsibility of looking after him as I'm older than him and Zhou can't stand seeing people be sick. He only throws up once and then he seems to get used to the motion. We have brought parasailing equipment which is where you are attached to the boat and get pulled along. As it's only 2 at a time we take it in turns and the pairings are Ollie and Kimi, Paul and Zane and me and Zhou. As the eldest me and Zhou let the others go first but secretly I am having to prepare myself to get over my fear. I don't have a fear of heights but I have seen so many videos of the rope snapping and people falling into the sea which scares me. But much sooner than I would have liked it's our turn. The harness is fastened incredibly tight, you would think I would be used to it being a racing driver who wears these type of harnesses on a regular basis. As the boat gradually builds up speed I feel my heart start to pound against my chest wall. Time seems to pass by so slowly when you are suspended hundreds of feet in the air squeezing your teammates hand. 

As the speed starts to reduce, so does my heart rate and the tight grip I had on Zhou's hand does so too. Back on the boat my legs feel like jelly and I can barely stand up so I take a second to sit down and to calm my nerves as my hands are shaking tremendously. For the rest of the day we sunbathe and do some diving off the boat and enjoy some great food that was brought from some cheap convenience store. I know I said I wanted a break from racing but I reply to some emails on my phone including some contract negotiations with VCARB. When I told Ollie earlier when explaining the whole situation with Max he seemed more excited about the whole thing than me. Don't get me wrong I am happy and appreciative but I'm not looking forward to having Helmut Marko breathing down my neck every minute of the day. 

As well as all of that I take a chance to organise some stuff with the moving company that is bringing my stuff to my new apartment in Monaco. Much like most drivers I have decided to move to the infamous place for its history and lack of taxation on income. 

“Y/N wake up” 

I feel someone nudging my shoulder lightly, I must have fell asleep at some point or another because the last thing I remember was Zane and Paul playing Tug of war with Kimi's t-shirt but somehow amidst all the chaos I managed to fall asleep. 

The one good thing about Monaco is that all the drivers from different racing series share the same hotel so it's easy to meet up. But the bad thing about Monaco is all the drivers share the same hotel, because you have a load of drivers who all believe they are best in a close area so in the past there have been a few fights between drivers, including myself. 

I walk through the entrance and see Nikola Tsolov who I had an argument with in F3. He said I was a bad driver but all I will say is one of us is in F1 and the other is still stuck in F3. In my career I have had my fair share of confrontations but none as big as the one I had with Nikola. He averts his eyes towards me and smiles and I do the same back - despite our argument, over the past 2 years we have slowly been making up, we still aren't as good friends as we used to be but we are taking small steps to get back to that. 

In the corner of my eye I see Max walking by with Charles so I do something that me two years ago would never have done, I make conversation with Nikola. 

“Hey Tsolov,” I say. 

“Hello L/N” he replies. 

For some reason me and Nikola call each other by our last names, there is no real reason behind it. We speak until Max has left the front lobby and I start to feel at ease again. I'm also glad at no point Ollie saw him as he said he would quote, “make him suffer more than Jos did” which is both a cruel joke but also quite funny.

As it's the triple header of the season In 2 weeks time I'm looking to focus more on myself and my performance rather than my petty argument with Max so from this moment forward he doesn't exist to me and nothing he does will affect me. 

The one great thing about being a driver is companies are always looking to use you for sponsors which is great especially when one of them is a private jet company. A private jet company based out of America has chartered me an aircraft for the rest of the season which means I get to travel by myself on my own plane. The triple header this season consists of the UK, Austria and then Spain. They decided to put the UK first in the hope that the weather will be dry and sunny at the end of June but as experience tells me the UK weather is anything but predictable, I always tell people that the weather is always the opposite of the weather forecast so if they say it will be sunny and warm it will be cloudy and cold. 

And as much as I had expected when we touch down in England it is torrential rainfall and it feels like winter, but I prefer these conditions to the stifling heat, it makes driving so much more comfortable as you aren't sweating. In the European leg we don't stay in hotels, we have our own motorhomes and for some unknown reason they have decided to put Sauber next to Red Bull, it's like they want to constantly remind me of him, but I'm going to pretend he doesn't even exist. 

I quickly dump out my stuff and head to the team building for a quick meeting which goes over the plans for the weekend, the strategies and any developments or upgrades on the car. At the end Alessandro asks me to stay behind which immediately sends alarm bells ringing through my head. 

“Y/N I just wanted to clarify two things. Are you and Max still together? You haven't been seen together since the day of the Monaco GP”

“No, we decided to end things” 

“OK well I'm sorry and number two I'm hearing rumours that you are doing VCARB can you confirm” 

“Who told you that?” I ask. 

“I just heard it, but is it true?” 

“Yes”. 

He gives me a few words of wisdom and then informs me of all the data protection and stuff I can't say about the car to VCARB although with the new regulations and stuff that's coming next year I don't think it will be of much use, plus no team in F1 has ever said “I want to design a car like Sauber” if they did they must be pretty bad, but this year the team have proved themselves. 

When I entered the team meeting it was daylight and when I leave it's dark so I assume the meeting wasn't as “quick” as I thought it would be. Luckily the hospitality team have already set up and I am able to get some food before heading back to my motorhome. For the rest of the evening I watch some TV and get some much needed sleep for media day tomorrow. 

Media day is and will always be the worst part of being a racing driver and since the FIA has made it mandatory for all drivers to participate in media day there is no escaping it. I walk into the paddock at 9 in the morning and see Kelly Piquet who is the daughter of 3 time world Champion Nelson Piquet. I don't pay much attention to so-called celebrities in the paddock as I have no interest in meeting famous people. And Nelson Piquet has never been my most favourite F1 driver, in fact he doesn't even come close. 

My first interview is with an Australian sports channel that I have never even heard of. 

Interviewer: “Y/N you have 1 career win. Are you hoping for another this weekend?”

Y/N: “Well of course, I wouldn't be a racer if I wasn't always fighting for the top step of the podium”

Interviewer: “You are P3 in the standings. Are you in the fight for the championship or are you leaving it to Max and Lewis” 

Y/N: “I think I prefer to perfecting my skills for next year” 

Interviewer: “Well talking of next year we know you don't have a seat but in an interview with Max Verstappen earlier when he was asked to provide an insight into next years seats he said “VCARB are taking on a driver who is talented but still not worthy of a top seat but has been trying too hard to prove that this year” was he talking about you?” 

Y/N: “Well I don't know who VCARB is taking on, we don't even know if Red Bull and are keeping Perez so I think for now I would rather focus on the present and not make childish rumours and speculations”

That dickhead. He knew exactly what he was saying during that interview. It takes a lot from me not to go and find him and punch him in his face. But I have already made myself quite unpopular with the FIA so I suppose I better be on my best behaviour and not antagonise them any more than I already have.

When I finally get back to my motorhome at the end of the day I do my regular routine of aimlessly scrolling through my social media accounts and all I can see are posts labelled:

“Max Vertsappen seen with Kelly Piquet in the F1 paddock”

“Y/N L/N and Max Verstappen have not been seen together since the Monaco GP”

“Could Max Verstappen be dating Kelly Piquet?” 

I decide to just switch off my phone and I ignore it, if he's dating her I don't really care, if he's moved on that quickly I guess I never really mattered to him so why should I cause myself to be enmeshed in a net of complex emotions because of a man who just uses people and tosses them to the side like they never existed, for someone who tries not to be like his dad the similarities are uncanny, I guess the “apple doesn't fall far from the tree”. 

Rain. It's a wonderful thing when you are trying to gather slick tyre data on the track. Since last night it has been non stop raining but the FIA have still given the go ahead on Free Practice. In FP1 I get soaked and Pierre, Oscar and Alex all spun out but there were no red flags. 

The times don't change much with me finishing P1 in FP1 and then P2 in FP2 behind the home hero Lewis, but we will see what happens in Qualifying tomorrow. 

Q1 is the easiest part of qualifying, most drivers know they can go faster than Williams and Alpine and one of the Haas cars is bound to be out in Q1 so it gives all the other drivers reassurance that they will make it to at least Q2. And my confidence is well proven as I make it to Q2 with ease. Q3 is harder to achieve but the rain makes it hard for most drivers but I prefer driving in the rain so I manage to keep my car under control and excel through Q3. 

“Recharge on, that's P2, good job the cars around you are Hamilton on Pole, Verstappen P3, Norris P4 and Russell P5”

“Good job guys, we will push again tomorrow” 

The weather forecast for today is looking a bit weird, there's a huge uncertainty about whether it will rain or not so we start the GP on dry tyres. 

“Y/N we are expecting rain within 10 minutes at Level 1 then around 5 minutes after that it's looking to be a level 2” 

Perfect. A race in the rain is what I love the most. And that's actually not sarcasm. But I know I'm next to Lewis who performs just as well in the rain so it won't be a breeze. 

“It's lights out and away we go”

I get a good start to the race, but so does Lewis but leading into turn one the Red Bull behind me tries to push me wide and touches my side pod. 

“Guys what's the fuck is this idiot doing he just crahsed into my side”

“Yep copied we are reporting it” 

3 laps in and the order is still the same with me trailing behind Hamillton. 

“Y/N Verstappen has a 5 second time penalty for the incident” 

I secretly let out a cheer of joy. But as I do it gets better as I see specks of rain on my visor but it's still nowhere near the changeover point. Lap by lap grip falls away. And then the command comes.

“box, box”

Everyone boxes except from Max who is now leading the GP by 9.4 seconds but I guess that was a mistake as the next thing I hear is:

“Red Flag, Red Flag. Delta positive Vertsappen has had a shunt in Stowe” 

Typical Max arrogance thinking he could do better on the slicks than everyone else. I follow the common driver's courtesy of asking if he is okay, but I don't ask it in a sincere or concerned tone. 

The race restarts after 25 minutes and the rain has picked up and is showing no sign of clearing so the team predicts we will run the wets to the end. 

“And again is lights out an away we go” 

I get off the line better than Lewis and lead into turn 1 and start to build a gap. Lap by lap Lewis is chasing me down then I hear something I was hoping not to hear. 

“Y/N we have floor damage from one of the curbs expect to see performance to fall away” 

And my performance just does that. On the last lap the gap between me and Lewis has gone from 3.2 seconds to a mere 0.5 and in the last corner he dives and retakes the lead of his home GP to win. I come in a respectable 2nd. 

“P2 recharge on” 

“Yep good race, apart from the damage but congratulations to Lewis for another home win it's well deserved” 

On the cool down lap I drive alongside Lewis to congratulate him and then I drive to parc ferme to park in front of the number 2 sign. 

In the cooldown room me, Lewis and Carlos watch the race replay and see that Max was the only one who didn't pit, every other driver did and the all the teams pretty much double stacked so I don't see why Max believed he was any different when it come to the amount of grip he could find if 19 other drivers couldn't.

Unlike the past when me and Max had fallen out and I had a podium he wasn't in the crowd but I'm not concerned. Champagne and rain soaked we all leave the podium to get changed ahead of more interviews. In the pit lane I see Kelly flaunting herself around Max and the desperation she has for some affection is embarrassing to see and I even feel embarrassed for her, and I feel sorry if that's the only way she can get attention. As I walk to my garage I have to pass the Red Bull one and Checo sees me and approaches.

He pulls me into a hug and starts a conversation. 

“Good job with P2 you were on fire on the wets, shame about the damage”

“Yeah but that's life I guess” 

“So I hear you are going to VCARB from Helmut” 

“I am. And where are you going?” 

“I'm going over to Aston Martin to replace Fernando as he's retiring this year” 

“Damn Aston Martin is turning into the retirement home for drivers” 

With that concluding moment I give Checo a hug goodbye and see Max and Kelly glaring at us. It may surprise people to learn that me and Checo are good friends and I remember when I was younger I had a photo of me meeting him on a grid walk with my family and ever since then he has been an amazing role model for me. 

Entering the garage the team Cheers for me and I thank them all for their hard work and apologise for the fact I didn't win but we have another 2 races to improve and it's clear our upgrades are really working. 

Back in my motorhome I get a notification from a news site and see the title and it angers me even though it shouldn't.

“Max Verstappen spotted kissing Kelly Piquet, not long after separation from Sauber Driver Y/N L/N” 

Part of me isn't even surprised and when I'm about to switch my phone off I hear a knock on the door. I open it to see Ollie and Kimi standing there in the rain with boxes of chocolate, ice cream and canned drinks. 

“What's all this for?” I ask.

“Well it's a celebration for your P2 result but it's also a depression feast because of that dick” Ollie explains.

“Guys I'm fine honestly” 

“Nonsense we are coming in and eating our body weight in food whether you like it or not” and with that they invite themselves in, and begin taking off their rain soaked shoes and coats placing them by the door before placing all the food on the counter. 

“It's going to be a long night”. 

In the morning I wake up feeling a little sick but we ate so much ice cream and snacks filled with sugar so it's understandable. Kimi slept on the couch that turns into a bed and Ollie shared the bed with me. Which for some may seem unusual but it's something we have done since we met in F2. 

I have a shower and get dressed before seeing that Ollie is awake but Kimi is still fast asleep but that may be down to the fact we didn't go to sleep until 4 AM. So I get some water from the fridge and we pour a little onto his face causing him to groggily awake, cussing at me and Ollie. 

As we begin throwing water around there is a knock on the door and ollie opens it and I hear the indistinguishable Dutch accent of Max. Thankfully it was Ollie that opened the door and not me but it would have been better for Max if I opened the door. 

“What do you want?” Ollie asks in a provoking tone. 

“Can I speak to Y/N” he asks. 

“No” Ollie simply replies 

“OK well can you give him this” he says handing a grey box to Ollie. 

As Ollie closes the door I rush over to open the box but Ollie stops me and says 

“if it's a gift give it to me and I will take it back to him, no way does he do all that to you and apologise with a small gift” 

As I open the box it's the key to my apartment that I had given him to help me move, and part of me realises that our relationship has truly come to and end but part of me is grateful to be free of Max and the pressure that comes with dating him and if Kelly likes the pressure and attention she's welcome to him. 

Next up Austria and I plan to ruin Red Bull's home race. 

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

United States 2018

-Just me trying to get familiar with this circuit before the weekend

-Oh also I’ve just realized they’ve finally added the halo this season

-Charles going up to Q3 in a Sauber, I know a qualifying genius when I see one

-Whyyy is Max starting p18

-Can I manifest a Daniel podium here or is that too ambitious?

-“This could be Kimi Raikkonen’s last chance to win a race with Ferrari” MAYBE he’d have had more chances if he didn’t have to always play the team game

-YESSS KIMI

-One Ferrari having a great start and another spinning around 90 degrees

-Wow people have already pitted lap one

-Wow Max is already up to p9

-Dammit Charles is down to p17

-Alonso out??

-Renault is 4th in the constructors?? How on earth!

-Red Bull is having a great race right now, I have an eerie feeling that’s all going to go away very soon

-“Lewis can win the championship today if he out scores Vettel by 8 points” I always somehow end up watching championship deciding races without meaning to

-Would be cool to see him win his 5th championship here though

-Yeahh, the feeling was right, Daniel is out

-“The man who smiles the biggest of all when he comes to Texas” AND HE WONT EVEN BE THERE THIS YEAR

-Screw you RB, VCarb and literally everyone else

-Virtual safety car and no one in the pit lane?

-Oh never mind, there’s a few people

-Oh is Lewis coming in too?

-Ahahah that bluff from Kimi

-Did Checo and Ocon ever stop squabbling? The answer I think, is no

-Somehow Max always makes overtaking a bunch of cars look so easy. How did he go up 14 whole positions that fast?

-“Let’s not do anything stupid” Yes Kimi!

-Let’s go!!! That was great defense!!!

-Ohmygod why defend like that only to pit

-Okay I’m just going to trust…the Ferrari strategists

-Going to un-curse RB for a second because that was some great strategy

-Please for once tell Sebastian to let Kimi through

-Yesss

-Verstappen p3!

-Sainz steadily making his way up the points

-It’s so funny watching the leaderboard and seeing Carlos fight Hartley and go from p9 to p8 to p8 to p9 while the commentators just talk about something else completely

-Sadly Charles has not gone up from p16

-George Russell!!

-Ah Charles has retired

-Ferrari playing the long game and it actually paying off??

-Lewis pitting, which apparently means the championship won’t be decided this race

-He came out p4 behind Bottas, which probably means he’ll get past him quite easily

-I actually need Kimi to win this race

“2044 days since he’s last won a race” Yes please win again now

-How are there 15 more laps? This race feels like it should be over now

-Max Verstappen: an interference for championship contenders since 2016

-Come on Sebastian, close that gap

-“Wouldn’t it be great for the romantics out there if Kimi wins the race here” Yes, yes it would be

-Oh god the top three are so close together

-“He’d actually be able to drink the champagne in the United States legally, because he’s 21 now” Haha

-So close togetherrrr

-This is nerve wracking

-Those zig-zag turns (I think turns 6-8) make everything look so much cooler

-Completely forgot there are others in this race aside from these three

-I’ve been trying not to say anything about Nico this whole time so as to not jinx him finally doing well, but there are only 5 more laps to go, so I should be okay (I hope)

-Anyway, Nico p6!!!!!

-Renault in general is doing well rn

-Carlos is right behind in p7

-If Lewis gets past Max, he wins the world championship

-I hope he doesn’t cause I need Kimi’s win to not be overshadowed rn

-Lewis can win the championship in the next race

-Milly Bobby Brown?? What are you doing here??

-Ohmygod!!! I don’t even have any words!! That fight between Lewis and Max was everything!! I had my hand over my mouth the whole time!!! I actually kinda need to see that again!

-Ohmygod Valterri going wide right after Lewis did, Sebastian up to p4

-Kimi Raikkonen Race Winner!!!!!!!

-Those last few laps were everything!!!!!!!

-Aww Kimi taking a moment in the car

-I’m almost in tears, that was amazing!!!

-Not Kimi asking Lewis if he won the championship or not 😂😂

-Aww the mechanics singing the Italian national anthem with such enthusiasm (reminds me of Monza this year)

-This race turned around so fast, it was actually perfect