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MICHAEL SCHUMACHER and MIKA HÄKKINEN at a press conference after the 2000 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

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獭獭开

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Lofi but make it F1 babygoat during final exams

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Lance truly cannot win. So much of the critique around him goes "he's disinterested" "he doesn't want to be here". If he bows out early the public are just going to shit on him for giving up. So, when his injury flares up, he pushes through.

He doesn't bring it up publically or use it as an excuse for performance, he's silent. And in the meantime, despite the injury, he's still scoring points in the Miami sprint, or pulling off that overtake on the last lap in Monaco.

And when it all gets too much, when he finally reaches the point where he can't continue, after giving it everything he can, he's put on blast from more angles. Twenty-four thousand people liked a comment on Instagram lamenting he wasn't done with the sport entirely. Thousands more are liking comments about Drugovich as if he's the one to be concerned about here. Yet more are commenting that he's soft, or a "wuss", and on the other side of the spectrum there's the people criticising him for pushing too hard as if the wave of hate isn't a massive contributor. Half the well-meaning comments are prefaced with the caveat of "I'm not a Stroll fan but" as if, god forbid, people might misconstrue them wishing someone a good recovery as actually liking the guy (the horror!).

And in time, people will forget about this just like they forgot about his return in 2023, and pretend like he doesn't care or doesn't enjoy racing, just because he's not as outgoing or doesn't speak as much in interviews. They'll go back to making the same old tired comments about his dad, or his personality, or his driving, find something new to critique every time he proves them wrong, and dogpile if he makes even the slightest mistake, holding him to far higher standards than anyone else on the grid.

Or the worst of them will resort to repeating ableist 'jokes' or antisemitism that never get called out for what they are, because he's seen as an 'acceptable' target, or deserving of hate. And the F1 sphere has enabled this, by refusing to adequately address comments made or social media activity by drivers (Verstappen in 2020; Bustamante 2024). When even those within the F1 inner circle are openly mocking him, the public are shown that that behaviour is okay- and F1 socials don't delete any of the comments about 'windows' or 'jam' that target intellectual disability.

Lance has to be perfect just to avoid abuse and hate. When he performs well, the media largely don't speak about it, but they're the first to jump at him with replays from 25 camera angles when he doesn't.

In a time when we're all rightly calling out abuse and hatred against drivers, let's keep that same energy for Lance. Because we race as fucking one, not just the popular drivers, or the ones you like.

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The women of F1 Academy.

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op of this great analysis of wags has me blocked, but i wanted to add my two cents, since i also recently talked with moots about it:

i think it is a combination of capitalism and reverting back to "tradional norms". we not only see it with f1 posting more and more content of wags while ignoring women actually working in motorsports, but also with their recent clamp-down on swearing. they want to have traditional gender roles while adhering to a high class etiquette of behaviour, ergo using a combination of sexism and classism to uphold the image of f1 being a rich male sport, even when there fanbase got more diverse over the last few years.

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also this is literally his first incident of any kind this year don't act like he's been crashing every fucking race

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Reader is secretly married to Lando, and she starts using his sim, she misses him and she wants to feel closer and also really wants to learn (even if she is not ready to admit that she always had a thing for learning how it would feel to be in an actual f1 car). She creates a profile for herself for fun: Mrs Norris (which of course no one thinks it’s actually her). She becomes so good at it that she ends up beating the whole grid one time, and everyone is just wondering who the hell is this person…

👀👀👀👀

Very unrealistic, but well… 😂😂😂😂

Mrs Norris (Oneshot)

Lando Norris x Verstappen!Reader

Summary — It was only supposed to be a bit of fun, but really, what did she expect? Her surname might be Norris now, but she was born a Verstappen.

Notes — This was so fun!!!!!! Em, I will never not appreciate your cute ideas.

Lando had been gone for exactly twelve hours when she caved.

It wasn’t boredom—the Verstappen family didn’t do boredom. Her schedule was packed with gym sessions, influencer brunches, and brand events she had no real desire to attend.

But the apartment felt off without him. Too quiet. Too tidy.

And the sim rig—God, it just sat there. Smug. Taunting. Like it knew she’d eventually give in to its silent, high-tech seduction.

She told herself it was just curiosity. Racing was in her blood, even if she’d had zero interest as a kid. She used to stage silent protests just to get out of karting, sulking until her dad finally let her quit and focus on gymnastics instead.

Still, one harmless session wouldn’t hurt, right?

Just a few laps around Silverstone. Just something to do before bed.

Two hours later, she was red-faced, sweaty, and yelling at an AI Williams for brake-checking her into Turn 1.

She was terrible. Hilariously, painfully terrible.

But she was hooked.

—

By day three, she was watching tutorials, scribbling notes, and fine-tuning the seat and wheel setup like her life depended on it.

She texted Lando under the guise of checking in.

Hey handsome, you okay? Totally random, but what’s the best braking point for Eau Rouge?

He didn’t even question it—just sent a smug voice note with a full breakdown like she was a rookie on his team.

It made her want to destroy his time.

That night, she created a profile.

She debated using her real name, but that was a quick no. The username had to be anonymous… but also funny.

So she picked the most on-the-nose option possible.

@Mrs.Norris

It was meant to be a joke. A bit of fun. She never expected it to go anywhere.

She definitely didn’t expect to get good.

—

Two weeks in, she was holding her own in online lobbies. Four weeks in, she was winning. All of them.

Six weeks in, she entered a public charity sim race and beat George, Charles, and Alex.

The stream chat lost its collective mind.

Who TF is Mrs. Norris???

Actual alien pace.

Lando alt??

Plot twist: it’s Max Verstappen in disguise.

That last one made her laugh so hard she nearly fell out of the rig. The idea that they thought her brother was racing under her married name? Unhinged enough to make her cry.

Then came the text from Lando.

Lando:

Baby, are you using my sim under the username Mrs. Norris?

You:

Yep. And I beat them all.

Lando:

No. Shut up. You did not.

You:

Duh. I might be a Norris now, but I was born a Verstappen.

—

When he finally got home after the triple-header, he walked in to find her mid-race, cursing like a sailor, laser-focused, fire in her eyes.

He leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, smirking.

She crossed the finish line five seconds clear of second place.

Slowly, she removed the headset. Even slower, she turned to face him, cheeks flushed pink.

“Hi,” she said softly, suddenly shy.

He didn’t say anything.

Then he grinned.

“Mrs. Norris,” he drawled, walking over to kiss her forehead, “we are so screwed if this gets out.”

She smiled. “It won’t. They think I’m Max.”

He leaned in, voice low. “You beat my Silverstone time.”

“Your fault for sounding all smug about Eau Rouge.”

He kissed her properly then, holding her like he hadn’t seen her in months.

And neither of them mentioned the way his hands trembled slightly at the thought of her in a real F1 car.

Because if her dad ever found out?

He’d have her in one tomorrow.

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"Have a teabreak while your at it." give lewis a gun

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HIS HAIR!!!!!

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he is the funniest guy in the world i’m afraid

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QUESTION MARK

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butterflies