#crazy how he's had 7 podiums and ONE is p3

[landonor]

Lando Norris on the podium in 2023:

P2 in the British Grand Prix

P2 in the Hungarian Grand Prix

P2 in the Singapore Grand Prix

P2 in the Japanese Grand Prix

P3 in the Qatar Grand Prix

P2 in the United States Grand Prix

P2 in the Brazilian Grand Prix

[shes-homeward-bound]

Crash and Burn | Chapter 7

Summary: You’re the first female driver to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship in decades and it’s your second year of navigating through a male-dominated sport. Your talent and drive to prove yourself made you vicious on the grid. Your seemingly unshakeable confidence was never questioned- until a certain Ferrari driver made you crash and burn.

Pairing: Carlos Sainz Jr. x Reader

Chapters: 7/?

Warnings: swearing, drinking, angst

Word Count: 4.4k

posted: 08/23/2022

masterlist

A/N: angst, angst, angst. It’s here y’all. I hope you enjoy the chapter and feel free to comment! Remember that this is fiction. 

Chapter 7:

Hot water cascades down your body as you scrub all remnants of champagne down the drain. You were finally calming down from the high of getting a podium when you remembered how strange Carlos was acting. You had just finished the driver’s interviews and you kept missing Carlos. You would see him from afar but every time you’d try to go him, you’d get whisked away to another reporter. You and Anna had just stepped into Aston Martin hospitality when you saw Carlos Senior and Reyes waiting for you. 

“Y/n!” said Reyes as she gave you a big hug. “Congratulations, my dear!”

Carlos Senior pats you in the back. “That was some of the best driving I have ever seen, Driver of the Day was well deserved.”

You thank and hug them tight. Carlos’s parents were ecstatic that the two of you were together. Even if you had just started your relationship, Reyes and Carlos Sr. were more than happy to accept you into the family. You were just about to ask them if they knew where their son was when you see your boyfriend in the corner of your eye. 

Letting go of his parents, you see Carlos with a sheepish grin on his face. “I’ve been looking for you!” you said as you hugged him tightly. You leaned in for a kiss but remembered that you were still in public. 

“I’m so sorry, I was trying to get to you but it was chaos and I kept getting pushed back. But enough about me, I’m so proud of you for getting that podium today,” said Carlos.

You were about to tell him he could’ve approached you during the interviews when your eyes went wide. You were so excited about your podium that you forgot all about you, Daniel, and Carlos spinning off the track and his DNF. “Oh my goodness, Carlos! Your DNF, I’m so sorry.”

Carlos shrugged, trying to act like his DNF didn’t bother him. “It sucks but what matters is that we are both okay.”

Not even bothering to check that no one was looking, you entwined your fingers as you pulled his hand towards your chest. You had gotten into a habit of doing this whenever you felt like you both needed comfort. You remember him smiling down at you but it felt like he wasn’t telling you something. 

You get out of the shower and do your routine as you got ready for the party Max was hosting. Smoothing down the fabric of your blue cocktail dress, you tried to hype yourself up for this party. Sure, Carlos was acting a little strange but you weren’t going to let that consume your whole evening. You went from P20 to P3, you deserved to let loose and enjoy yourself. 

By the time you, Anna, and her fiance arrived, the rooftop bar was filled with drivers, F1 employees, and celebrities. The music thumped as you made a beeline towards the bar and ordered drinks. With cocktails in hand, you weaved your way through the crowd to where Carlos and the boys were. To your surprise, you were greeted with a slightly wet kiss on the cheek by a tipsy Carlos. 

“Carlos! They might see us!” you whispered. 

Before he said anything, Daniel who was also tipsy, hugged you and gave you a big smooch on the cheek. “Awwww it’s okay. We’ll all just give you a kiss because our little podium winner deserves it.” 

You roll your eyes at Daniel before shooting his girlfriend an apologetic look. She just laughed and waved it off. Feeling the music, you drag your friends to the middle of the dance floor where you all went crazy. As you danced the night away, you had your fair share of drinks. You wanted to be buzzed, not blacked out drunk but you could see that Carlos had other plans. He kept knocking back drinks like it was nothing. You’ve seen Carlos party before and he knew how to have a good time but this was excessive. Even when drunk, Carlos would somehow still be poised but what you saw was Carlos truly unhinged. He danced with everyone and got in a particularly funny slow dance with one of the Red Bull mechanics. There was one part where he had you sit on his shoulders as he paraded you around the rooftop. You were so embarrassed but Carlos insisted it was your “victory parade”. The moment Carlos tried to take over the DJ’s booth was when you and the other drivers intervened. Lando and Charles knew that he was going to reach his limit so they lead Carlos to the bar to drink water. 

The rest of the boys also opted to go on water breaks or go find other friends. This left you and Pierre alone in the corner of the dance floor. Ever since you were a rookie, Pierre made sure you would always have a dance partner. It was nice spending time with Pierre, ever since you started dating Carlos you barely had time to hang out with him. You laughed as Pierre spun you around, it didn’t match with the music but it was always a fun thing that you did. As you steadied yourself, you felt a familiar grip on your waist. You look up to see that it was Carlos looking down at you with this weird mix of emotions. Was it jealousy? Anger? 

“You’re back! Did you drink water?”

Carlos’s mood had somehow changed from fun and joyful to pouty and dramatic. So dramatic that Carlos was giving his longtime friend Pierre, the most murderous glare. In his extremely drunken state, he saw how happy you were dancing with Pierre and he did not like the sight of it. First of all, his Sunday was ruined by his DNF and now he was watching his friend try to steal his girlfriend. Carlos isn’t violent but that didn’t mean he wasn’t having strong feelings. 

Carlos placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Mate, I see what you’re doing here,” he said as his words slurred together.

Lando and Charles inched closer to intervene. They had no idea what to expect because they’d never seen Carlos this drunk.

“I was just dancing with y/n. She’s just a friend, nothing more,” said Pierre as calmly as he could. 

You nod as you wedged yourself between them. “Babe, you know Pierre and I are just friends.”

Carlos looks back and forth between you and just like nothing, he drops his hand from Pierre and hugs you. “Okay, I believe you.”

As he let you go, Carlos started swaying and staggering. You grabbed his arm to steady him as Lando does the same on the other side. You glance at your watch and see that it was already 3 in the morning.

 “I think it’s time to call it a night. Are you guys still crashing in Carlos’s place?” 

Lando and Charles nod. Since Carlos’s apartment was closer than Charles’, they planned to sleep at Carlos’s place just in case they were too drunk. You apologize to Pierre about Carlos but he just waved his hand letting you know he was okay. Anna didn’t drink so she ended up driving you and the boys off at Carlos’s place. All of Carlos’s energy had burned off at the party and he was now sprawled out in the backseat with his head on your lap. You played with his hair as you replayed the events of the night. Carlos was so inebriated and acted so strange after the race that you knew it had everything to do with his back-to-back DNFs. But there was something else he wasn’t telling you and you couldn’t figure it out. You peered down to see Carlos also lost in his muddled thoughts.

While you were contemplating what Carlos was thinking, Carlos was in mental agony. The phrase “drunk thoughts are sober words” were true, except in this case it was “drunk thoughts are sober words even his drunk self was too scared to admit”. He knew he was beyond lucky to have you in his life but the outlandish idea of you affecting his racing might be true. Carlos thought back to the last couple of weeks and realized every time he had messed up, it was somehow always connected to you. In Australia, he had a bad qualifying and he was sure it was because he was so worried about your crash with Latifi. Then this weekend he was so concerned for you after he saw your car on fire that it may have been the reason for his bad qualifying. His body gave an involuntary shiver when memories flashed of his car making a beeline to your sidepod before he swerved away last second. Maybe my bosses were right thought Carlos, maybe you were affecting him.

*******

You and the other drivers arrived at the apartment and stumbled straight for the kitchen. After a hard day of racing and a night full of partying, you were all starved and craved something greasy. You and Charles took it upon yourselves to scrounge up whatever was in Carlos’s fridge and cook it. Not long after, you and the boys were stuffing yourselves with eggs, bread covered in butter, gazpacho, and jamon. You and the guys were quick to sober up but not Carlos. Lando couldn’t believe the amount he drank and you could see that Carlos was fading fast. You bid the guys goodnight and gently lead the staggering Carlos to his bedroom.

After helping Carlos do his nighttime routine and get changed, he looks at you with a sleepy smile as you change out of your dress. 

“What?” you laughed at his blissed-out expression.

“You are so beautiful. I still can’t believe you chose me after how horrible I was to you last year,” said Carlos as he flopped onto his bed. 

“You weren’t that bad. You just chose to ignore me and hurt my feelings,” you teased. 

“No,” slurred Carlos. “I’m talking about when I thought you paid your way into Formula One."

You stilled and looked surprised. “You thought what!?”

Carlos laughed not realizing he let out his secret. He gives you a sleepy smile, “Maybe Mattia was right about you. Maybe the world’s prettiest girl is my biggest distraction.”

Before you could ask him any more questions, he was already fast asleep. You stood there staring at Carlos overwhelmed at everything he had just said. You paced his room replaying his words.

He’s drunk, he didn’t mean any of it….right?

You warily get in bed with Carlos, instinctively Carlos reaches over to wrap his arm around your waist. Unsure of what you were feeling about him at the moment, you carefully remove his arm from you. Even if you had an exhausting day, you slept restlessly, anxious about the conversation you were going to have with Carlos. 

*******

Carlos woke up to a pounding headache and the sweet smell of pancakes. He looked to the spot next to him and sees that you got up before him. Carlos downs the glass of water and ibuprofen you undoubtedly placed on his bedside table. He walked to the living room to see Lando and Charles eating pancakes while watching some random movie. They greet him but not before teasing Carlos about how drunk he was last night. He sees you sitting on the kitchen island, absent-mindedly stirring your coffee. 

“Good morning!” said Carlos as he leaned in to kiss your forehead.

“Morning.” 

Your lack of emotion made Carlos quirk his eyebrow. He busied himself as he stacked pancakes on his plate as he settled down on a stool, and dug in.

“Thanks for the water and medicine. Did you make the pancakes too?”

“Lando and I made them,” you murmured barely making eye contact with Carlos.

Carlos furrowed his eyebrows. “Are you okay? Do you have a headache or something?”

You let out a long breath and took a large swig of coffee, you were anxious about what he had to say.  

“Last night when we were getting ready for bed, you said some things.”

“What did I say?” asked Carlos. “I was so drunk, I can only remember parts of last night.” 

“You said a lot of things. You told me that at first, you thought Aston Martin took me in because I was a pay driver and I would bring sponsors in,” you said slowly, making sure your voice didn’t shake. “Is that true? Did you think I paid for my seat?”

Carlos’s jaw dropped, you were never supposed to know that. “Y/n, I am so so so sorry. I told you I was such an ass before I got to know you. Please believe that I was so ashamed when I learned the truth.”

You could feel your lower lip tremble. “So you were one of those who questioned my place in Formula One?” 

“Yes, but that was before I knew how good of a driver you were,” said Carlos desperately as he tried to defend himself without insulting you further. “I was so stupid.”

“Carlos, you didn’t even bother to look at any of my races from F3 and F2? Is that why you ignored me? You didn’t think I deserved my seat?!?”

“No! That is not what happened. I am so sorry. You have to believe that I think you’re one of the best drivers on the grid!” 

You were now standing over him with your arms crossed. You were aware that Lando and Charles were listening to your argument but you didn’t care. Carlos was about to say something but you held your hand up to stop him. 

“There was something else, something about Mattia being right? What did he say?” you said breathing hard. You didn’t know if you were pissed or was about to cry. Maybe it was both. 

“Mattia and some senior staff somehow found out about our relationship. They think that us dating is negatively affecting my racing,” said Carlos. 

You stood there astonished, searching his face for any indication of a joke. “You don’t believe them right?!?”

Frustrated, Carlos runs his hands over his face and hair. “I- umm,” stuttered Carlos, his face contorted in confusion.

“You’re hesitating! What the fuck Carlos? You agree with them?”

This time Carlos stood up with his hands up in surrender. “I-I don’t know! The data supports them. Ever since we got together, I’ve had the worst luck on race weekends.”

You laughed in disbelief. “And you blame me?

“Well, no- I don’t know! I guess I get so concerned about you that I tend to mess up and it affects my racing,” said Carlos, his voice getting louder. “In Australia, your crash with Latifi must have distracted me and caused my bad qualifying. Then this past weekend in Imola, I almost hit you! My DNF was because of YOU. I had a chance of getting World Champion and now….it’s gone.”

Charles and Lando looked at each other in disbelief, shocked at Carlos’s confession. Carlos stood there wide-eyed, immediately regretting every word he said. He was never the type to have angry outbursts but here he was paying the price as he watched your face contort in anger. You heard multiple pings from phone notifications but you ignored them as you processed everything he said. Seething, you tried your best to control the tears that threatened to spill out. 

“Fuck you, Carlos. Don’t blame me for your own mistakes.”

You moved to leave but the pinging and ringing around the room was nonstop. Confused, you look down at your phone and see multiple messages from Anna, your sister Elsie, and Pierre.

Anna: Hey, you might want to check the news

Anna: Call me when you see this.

Elsie: I’m so sorry. The media knows.

Pierre: Are you with Carlos? Look at the media.

Suddenly panicked, you go on Twitter and your heart dropped as you scroll through the tweets and articles. Old pictures of you and Carlos resurfaced from Mallorca along with new ones from Australia and Italy. There was nothing scandalous, you made sure of that but, there were couple-esque photos that the sneaky paparazzi managed to get. There were pictures of you working out together, in his car, and meeting each other after races. There were also pictures of you and Carlos kissing in places you thought were private. There was no denying that you two were in a relationship.

Carlos answered a phone call from his manager and he somberly looked at you as he rapidly spoke in Spanish. Charles and Lando gave up pretending they weren’t there and entered the kitchen with their phones in hand. Feeling overwhelmed, you slumped down on a chair. At this point, it wasn’t even the pictures that bothered you, it was the headlines that came with them. “Did you guys read what the media is saying?” 

“Aston Martin rises and Ferrari falls,” said Lando as he read an article out loud. “Formula One fans are scratching their heads as they watched a mid-field team overtake the legendary Scuderia Ferrari. Is this due to the budding romance between Carlos Sainz Jr. and Y/n?”

“Is Aston Martin Racing Team stealing secrets from Ferrari?” Charles scoffed as he read the ridiculous clickbait title. “Aston Martin driver is spending time with Carlos Sainz Jr. and is seen entering and leaving the Ferrari garage multiple times. Is y/n using the Ferrari driver to benefit Aston Martin?”

Lando rolled his eyes. “That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life. Where did these journalists get their degrees?”

You shook your head as you deleted the death threats that crazy fans had already sent you. Upon further inspection, the messages accused you of stealing from Ferrari or tainting Carlos’s career. “This is what I was scared of, I knew the media was going to be crazy but this…this is more intense than I anticipated. I’m receiving death threats for ruining Carlos’s races.”

You looked at Carlos expecting him to say something but he just stared at you, his head was pounding and his mind swirling as he processed the chaos that had just happened. Carlos cursed his drunk self for revealing his secrets, he knew he marginally fucked up and had no idea what to say without digging himself into a deeper hole.

Disappointed by his lack of words, you stood up and walked to the bedroom to gather your things. Carlos stood there frozen until Charles wildly gestured for his stupid teammate to follow you. 

By the time Carlos caught up, you were throwing your things into your bag.  

“Y/n! Where are you going?” said Carlos. 

“I’m going back to my hotel to do some damage control because apparently, I’m stealing secrets from Ferrari. I suggest you do that too since your shitty season just got worse because of me,” you said crossly. 

Hurt by the events that unfolded you couldn’t stand being in his presence any longer. You swiftly made your way out of his room, said bye to the boys, and headed down to the lobby to wait for Anna to pick you up. Like he was in a haze, Carlos slowly made his way to the kitchen where he saw Lando also packing up to leave. 

“Hey, I’m going to go catch up to Y/n. I don’t think she should be alone right now, she’ll need to be with a friend.” 

Carlos merely nodded before he deflated into his couch and groaned. In a matter of minutes, his entire world turned upside down and he had no idea what to do. He was sorry for his outburst and for hurting you but at that moment, he believed he was right. 

*******

The last 48 hours of your life were absolute chaos. From constantly being in contact with your team and obsessively reading every news article, you were mentally and physically exhausted. You and Anna were on your way to a meeting at the Ferrari Headquarters with your Aston Martin bosses and Ferrari’s senior staff. You were so nervous, neither you nor Carlos had tried to contact each other but that didn’t surprise you. Carlos apologized for thinking you were a pay driver but he never said he was sorry blaming you for his mistakes. You were furious and didn’t plan on talking to him for a few more days but you couldn’t avoid him forever. 

You arrived at HQ and sighed when you saw a group of reporters camped out and no doubt waiting for you. Needing all the good publicity you could get, you and your Aston Martin crew smiled and waved as you headed inside. You were greeted by Mattia and an official from the FIA, you were then led to a large conference room. You stopped short when you made eye contact with a haggard-looking Carlos before quickly looking away and seeing Charles next to him giving you a small wave. Mattia graciously offers you a seat and you tried not to frown when you realized it was right across from Carlos. The atmosphere was tense as the team principals and the FIA official stood at the front of the room. 

 “First of all, I would like to state that no one in Ferrari believes the false rhetoric that Y/n is stealing information from Ferrari,” says Mattia jokingly.

The majority of the room chuckled but you managed to politely crack a smile. You were fearful of what the teams and FIA would say about you and Carlos, you were dreading the idea of you or Carlos getting disciplined for being in a relationship. You sink into your chair but as the meeting progressed, you find yourself sitting up and feeling more positive. 

You were astounded at how easy-going the FIA was about drivers being in relationships, the official discussed that there is no rule on dating, the drivers just need to ensure that once they are on the track, they have a professional relationship. There was a moment when the official asked you and Carlos to confirm that you were in fact in a relationship, you responded with a clipped “yes” while Carlos silently nodded his head. After seeing that awkward interaction, your team principals raised their eyebrows at each other after detecting the tension.

“While I’m glad Carlos and I are not in trouble, what are we going to do about the media? They are eating me alive and I’m beginning to think every news outlet hates me,” you asked.

Sara the Aston Martin PR director stood up with someone you assumed was from Ferrari’s PR team and walked to the front of the room.

“The plan is to create positive media that combats the negative media. We’ll start slow with a couple of posts on your Instagram story with glimpses of your relationship. You will need to show the media that your relationship is as strong as ever. Then sometime during race week, we will post pictures of both of you on the Aston Martin and Ferrari social media accounts. The public needs to see that there is no bad blood between the two teams,” said Sara.

You and Carlos nodded, understanding what needed to be done.

“On the bright side,” chirped the Ferrari PR director. “While the news outlets have a negative view of your relationship, the majority of fans love that Carlos and Y/n are together! I scanned Twitter, Instagram, and even Tumblr. The fans are quite happy with the pair so we thought that if we garnered enough positive public opinion, it would quickly drown out the bad media.”

You were so occupied by the awful press that you failed to notice that fans who weren’t sending you death threats were elated that you and Carlos were dating. It was nice to know that the fans were supporting you but it just made you feel guilty for the fight you and Carlos were having. The meeting ended and you and Carlos stayed seated as the conference room emptied. You crossed and uncrossed your arms as you tried to come up with what to say and to your relief, Carlos broke the silence. 

“I am sorry.”

“About what?”

“Sorry that the media targeted you instead of me.” 

You sighed. “Don’t you get it? It was always going to be me. Why do you think I was so nervous to be spotted together?”

Carlos shook his head. “It makes no sense. You are the one that is performing well!”

You looked at Carlos incredulously. “How do you not remember the backlash I received during testing in my rookie year? Of course, they were going to go after me, the newbie female driver, not one of F1’s golden boys! I must have read every article about us in the last two days and absolutely NO ONE has written a bad thing about you. Every article blames me and you are always the victim.” 

By then, tears were flowing freely down your face as you released the pent-up emotions you’d been holding in. Carlos wanted to reach out but he knew that was the last thing you wanted.

“But,” you continued, your voice bitter. “I guess you and the media have the same opinions about me.”

Carlos had no idea what to say to you. He felt like the world’s worst boyfriend, he hated that you were crying because of him but he couldn’t get past the idea that you were why he had been performing poorly. He looked at you with hopelessness as an internal battle played out in his head. One part of him wanted to hold and console who was probably the love of his life but the other side of Carlos would do anything to win the world championship. In his silence, you wiped your tears dry as you stood up to leave. Your heart shattered when you realized that Carlos wasn’t even going to apologize or let alone talk about what he said in his apartment.

“I think we both need time and space to think about things,” you said as you fought to steady your voice. “Tomorrow I’ll post some throwback pictures from Madrid, the ones that my sister took. Then the day after, you could post some of the pictures from Australia.” 

“Okay,” said Carlos quietly.

He avoided your gaze as you took one last look at him, the internal battle still occupying his thoughts. As you walked out of the room, Carlos let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Carlos warily watched your retreating form through the glass doors, knowing he fucked up again and did nothing about it. 

don't forget to like and reblog! xoxo

taglist: @oyesmendes, @forzaferraris, @harley-sunday, @thatoneidiot16, @haterpenny, @mysticalnightenthusiast, @laura-naruto-fan1998, @helluvahazelnut, @starjane312, @thatchickwiththecamera, @sticksdoesart, @xscorpioxmoon, @sanne-p, @idkiwantchocolatee, @ruledchaos, @callmequeenbeee, @nochillnel, @dr3lover, @urbankaite2, @justharrysworld, @ohthemisssery, @zoobabystation, @fangirlingcontent-blog, @dan3avacado, @compulsiveshit, @iamasimpingh0e, @inurdreamms, @kodzuskook, @imsoconfused2903, @urbankaite2, @nsprinz, @ferrarirojo

[leqclerc]

Literally. Like theyre now celebrating that he's closing in on charles in points and it's down to how "consistant he is, like last year". Have you even watched a single race to come to that conclusion. Sure they've made mistakes on the other side of the garage as well, but nothing compared to what happens to charles. Honestly, I would not be that happy if my driver is 1 point ahead of George russel in his sometimes-wheelbarrow and still behind my teammate who had not had a clean weekend since Australia. And all this it's because he's more assertive is rubbish. I'm hating that we'll probably have a repeat of last year where he finishes ahead of charles due to luck and people will look at the standings and attribute it to skill somehow (sorry for the rant, just frustrated cause we've seen this show before)

Consistently mid maybe 😭

No worries, we love rant and essays! 👀

Seriously, how is P4 (just one point separating him and George like you said) in the fastest or second fastest (depending on the factors) car with less strategic mistakes and more podiums (7 to 5 which is criminal) than Charles a stellar result??? He's had one more DNF, sure, but 1. it wasn't from the lead (he was looking at a P2 finish maximum in Austria so that's like 18 points lost not 25), 2. I'm sure Ferrari's combined strategic fuck ups have cost Charles more points than Carlos lost through that extra DNF.

And then the man himself goes out and says this 😭

Imo the most consistent this year have been Max and George. I'm not a fan of either, nor am I supporting RB or Mercedes, but goddamn. The only thing stopping Max from consistently getting on the podium, really, is the odd mechanical issue, although with Ferrari's mistakes he's able to recover even from that (P10 to P1). Discounting George's one DNF he hasn't finished below P5 which is crazy considering the sometimes-there performance of the car. Sure, the Mercs have often been helped by luck/Ferrari, taking up the podium spot vacated by Charles (grande strategia) but the point still stands; he's there whenever he can be. Honestly disappointed he didn't have the package to go for P3 in Spa. Like at this point just let Mercedes overtake Ferrari in the constructors' and put us out of our misery already.🥴😑🤷🏻‍♀️

Yeah, that's my concern at the moment. It made for an infuriating winter break last year with all the newfound Carlos fans coming out of the woodwork to circlejerk (it was especially bad on Reddit). It's also very telling that all Carlos fans (at least on Twitter) seem to care about is the gap between Charles and Carlos and if their guy will beat Charles, while Charles fans (and Charles himself) had ambitions for a title run this year. The championship is gone, has been long out of Charles's grasp with the state of things at Ferrari (even if the math says yes the pitwall says no). But him finishing below Carlos when he started off as the championship leader and is still one of the two drivers being referred to as the "title contender" by commentators and experts, would just be the biggest slap to the face imaginable.

[formula365]

Champions in the making - Emilia Romagna GP review

The breakthrough kid

It is not always possible to pinpoint the exact moment in which a driver goes from young promise to champion in the making. There can be breakthrough performances, in which a driver lays down a marker and announces himself to the world, but more often than not the progression is so gradual over a number of seasons that the driver eventually makes it to the top in slow steps, a sink filling up drop by drop from a leaky faucet.

But every once in a while, we get to witness a breakthrough moment, one of those weekends that, when looking back into a career, will be seen as a pivotal moment in which the promise has come good, which removes the doubt of whether that potential will be fulfilled. Moments like Sebastian Vettel winning in a Toro Rosso, or Max Verstappen becoming a Grand Prix winner on his Red Bull debut; we knew, there and then, what they would become.

It wasn’t his maiden win, but this is what we witnessed this weekend from Lando Norris.

Coming into this season, the young Brit knew this could be a make or break year for him. He had done really well to match his more experienced teammate in his first two seasons, but the challenge with his new partner was at a different level. No disrespect to Carlos Sainz, who is definitely a talented driver, but Daniel Ricciardo is a proven race winner, someone who had driven for Red Bull and been considered by Mercedes and Ferrari. The Aussie had spent the last two seasons destroying Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon, no slouches themselves, which meant there was a risk for Norris to be swallowed up by the Honey Badger’s performances.

His first two seasons had shown glimpses of his talent, but also a certain on-track shyness, in contrast to his expansive personality off it. He himself admitted during pre-season that he needed to improve on his aggressiveness and push harder on wheel to wheel battles; he had to drive the car ever closer to its limits. After a couple of seasons maturing and honing his skills, now was the time to be a more imposing figure behind the wheel, including within his own team.

Bahrain had already shown glimpses of that. He started the race behind his teammate, but passed him early on and never looked back. Imola, though, was something else. McLaren didn’t have the right set-up throughout Friday and both drivers seemed to be struggling, but on Saturday Norris looked to be one with his car. Bar a small mistake on his last run, he would have not only out-qualified his teammate, but also Verstappen in a much faster Red Bull. The track limits infringement left him P7 on the grid, but on Sunday he would more than make up for the mistake.

He had blistering pace from the get-go, to the point that he radioed his engineer when stuck behind his teammate to ask to be let through. In a moment that could be defining for the season, Ricciardo did let him through and then saw the youngster disappear down the road in the chase for the Ferraris. On the restart, he made light work of Leclerc (with much faster tyres, to be fair) and then fought Hamilton hard for several laps until the lack of grip on his rubber forced him to concede.

Overall, Norris showed a wide array of his skills at Imola: blistering one-lap pace, attacking, defending, tyre management, determination to come back after the mistake on Saturday, even authority in the team when he asked to be let through his teammate. A complete performance that leaves no doubt about his talent: he has the skills to be a future champion, the only question remaining is whether he will have the consistency to deliver over a full season. Given his mental approach - he is very open to speak about mental health - it seems he is addressing that side of his driving as well.

Until now, Norris had been the fun kid with a turn of pace, the meme-generator and half of a McLaren bromance. The end of the partnership with Sainz might have been a liberating factor for him: in order to be taken more seriously, the banter has to take second place to his driving, and with Ricciardo also looking to leave his more goofy side in the background, this can be the perfect time for Lando to do the same and let his driving do the talking. He certainly did that this weekend.

Talking points

* My oh my, do we have a fight on our hands. Verstappen v. Hamilton is already becoming such a compelling story it is hard not to make it the subject of every race review and preview; the feeling is that this will be a fight for the ages, that we will have a season to be remembered for many years to come. This time around it was the Dutchman who had the upper hand, with a superb start to go from P3 to P1 into Tamburello. He gave no quarters to Hamilton on the outside and then managed the race beautifully, although he was left unchallenged in the second half after Hamilton’s crash. The game is most definitely on.

* The reigning champion may have given some small signs of the pressure getting to him. Mostly unchallenged in recent years, Lewis made an uncharacteristic mistake when lapping back markers and then seemed to have had a scrambled brain moment as he struggled to get out of the run-off area. He is human, after all, some might have thought. The red flag gave him the opportunity to reset and come back to re-claim P2 and a podium place he would have certainly lost otherwise. He showed his mental resilience then, but it will be interesting to see how he (and Verstappen as well) will manage the pressure of a title fight (hopefully) over 23 races.

* One of the big talking points post-race was the massive crash between Bottas and Russell. Approaching Tamburello, drivers hit speeds above 300 kph, so it’s no surprise it was a nasty one, and that both drivers felt the other should have done more to avoid it. Controversy aside, the big question has to be why was Bottas defending P9 from a Williams. Like Monza, Turkey and Sakhir last year, when the Finn gets caught up in the midfield he struggles to move forward, and even manages to fall further back. To make matters worse, in all these races his teammate was caught in similar situations and had no problem cutting through the field. When the dust settles, Bottas will certainly have some soul searching to do.

* How good is it to see McLaren and Ferrari fighting each other for top spots? The two historic teams collected all positions from P3 to P6 and seem to be a step above the rest of the midfield contenders. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivalry in F1’s history, and it’s great for the sport to see it reignited.

* The only midfield team that seems to have the pace to challenge them is AlphaTauri, but they are struggling to convert their pace into points. Tsunoda ruined his weekend with two (very rookie) mistakes, while Gasly’s race was ruined by the decision to start on full wets. He still made a great recovery drive to finish P7, but this felt like another missed opportunity for AlphaTauri, specially at a track they know so well. They have a genuine shot at finishing in the top half of the table, which is Franz Tost’s goal for the team, but in order to achieve that they have to start using their pace to score points.

* If AlphaTauri will be left ruing their weekend, Williams will be doubly so. With two drivers qualifying in the top 14, they had genuine hope to score points for the first time since the crazy rain-soaked German GP in 2019, but two crashes negated their shot. Latifi barely got going so we will never know what he could have achieved, but Russell was clearly in the mix and will be left pondering how high he could have finished if he had been a bit more cautious. With scoring opportunities so limited, that might have been the wiser approach.

* The second Red Bull continues the saga of the topsy-turvy weekends. One of the narratives for Albon in 2020 was that he was not able to have a clean, incident-free weekend, and that was limiting his results. Perez is going down the same path, and although he did manage to salvage a P5 in Bahrain, here he was left empty-handed. It’s still very early, and the signs from the first race were positive, but for Red Bull to challenge Mercedes he needs to be up there consistently.

* Ahead of the season, very few people would have betted for Stroll and Ocon to be beating their teammates, either in qualifying or in the race. The two youngsters are showing that world titles (a combined 6 after all) aren’t a guarantee of continued success.

* On that topic, it is worth noting that most drivers that are newcomers to their respective teams are struggling at the moment. Sainz at Ferrari is the exception; Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso and Vettel are all underperforming, some more than others. This quartet is uber-talented, though, so expect them to get closer to their teammates as the season progresses and they become more accustomed to their new cars.

* Curb your enthusiasm, Yuki. We love to see his on-track flamboyance: he is one of the most exciting drivers to hit F1 in the last few years, but it can work against him too. He needs to find a balance but two races in these growing pains were to be expected. Once he finds that balance, he will be one hell of a driver.

Driver of the day: Lando Norris

Moment of the day

The battle between Hamilton and Norris. The young Brit managed to hold off the 7-times champion for a handful of laps, with tyres well past their expiry date and no DRS; Leclerc, for comparison, was on mediums and was passed by Hamilton on the first lap he didn’t have DRS. Norris’ positioning was perfect and he was brave on the brakes. Eventually the lack of grip and Hamilton’s bravery led to the inevitable, but Norris put up an excellent fight.

[formula365]

We will always have Portimão

For a moment, during the Portuguese Grand Prix first lap, Kimi Raikkonen must have thought he had jumped into the wrong car. After all, he was supposed to be driving an Alfa Romeo, one of the slowest cars on the grid; he had started P16, a regular occurrence this season, and had only finished in the top ten once in the whole season. So how was it possible that he was breezing past Ferraris, Racing Points and Renaults? He had gained 10 places in the first lap and was glued to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc down the main straight. If indeed he was wondering about what car was he really driving, he wouldn’t have been the only one. A bit further up the field, as Kimi tussled with Verstappen and Leclerc, Carlos Sainz had just taken the lead of the race. The Spaniard must have been as surprised as everyone watching, as he left Bottas and Hamilton behind him; that was a sight he had surely not expected to see in his rearview mirrors when he woke up on Sunday morning. You would have been forgiven if you thought you had time travelled to 2012: a McLaren leading, another in P4 and Kimi in P6. Alas, it wasn’t to last - of course. There had been some light spats of rain just before the start, and the difficulty of warming up the mediums had thrown the field into pandemonium. Once those tyres were up to temperature, the natural order returned, with the Mercedes on top and Kimi moving backwards (although not as much as expected, the Finn finishing an impressive P11). Nevertheless, the first handful of laps of the race were as exciting as anything we have seen in a merry long time. The history books will tell you this was another typical 2020 podium with Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen, the seventh time it happened in 12 races. Hamilton annihilated the opposition with a blitzing pace. There were some good races from midfield drivers: Leclerc had another strong weekend to finish P4, Gasly bossed his way to P5, Sainz faded from his early lead but still managed sixth, Checo stormed through the filed to get P7, Ocon stretched the medium tyres to last more than two thirds of the race. Plenty of praise can be spread through the field, but the highlight of the race can’t be an individual performance. The chaos of the early rounds, with drivers out of position and unexpected drivers at the front, felt like what F1 should aspire to be. The reduced grip of the early stages transformed the race, levelling the playing field and allowing race craft to come to the fore. Sainz and Kimi, perhaps with some rallying mindset to help, managed to master the conditions better than most, and it was fascinating to witness the trouble an expected lack of grip in a relatively unknown track brought to the grid. Of course, F1 can’t recreate these conditions, nor should that be the aim. But what these conditions provided was an ideal: a vision of what we, as fans, would love to see this sport become. After all, this is why we love wet races: the unpredictability, seeing frontrunners struggle and back markers shine. This is not something that can happen in a constant manner, and at the end of the day some teams and drivers will be better than others. We should, however, expect to have a more balanced field, and more opportunities for teams to evolve and grow and challenge those at the front. Fans went nuts for the opening laps of the race not just because it was crazy and it was fun, but also because deep down we know we just had a peak of the F1 we want to see. Just like Vettel, I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t know if the new regulations can deliver something like this, but in the meantime we can go back and re-watch the early laps of the 2020 Portuguese GP, to have a taste of the F1 we dream of. We will always have Portimão.

Talking points * I dedicated the main text of the Nurburgring review to Hamilton equalling Schumacher’s record, so I decided not to repeat myself in this race, but my oh my did he mark the occasion with a brilliant performance. Hamilton didn’t set out just to win the race, he was out there to show how much better he is than anyone else. Having lost the lead early on, he let Bottas open a small gap for a few laps, but once he turned it on, there was no stopping him. He made light work of Bottas’ defence and, once in front, disappeared into the distance. There were brief complaints about his tyres, and a cramp hampered him close to the end. No matter: he set fastest lap after fastest lap, showing his true pace in a way that, due to tyre and car management, we don’t get to see every weekend. This was pure, unadulterated Hamilton, and it was devastating. At the chequered flag, he was a massive 25 (twenty-five) seconds ahead of this teammate. This wasn’t just a win, or even a record-breaking win; this was a statement. * Watching the post-qualifying and post-race interviews with Valtteri Bottas can be heartbreaking at times. The Finn is a fantastic driver, specially on Saturdays, when he is able to push Hamilton hard for pole. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, he still has no answer to Hamilton’s true pace. When he needs to, the champion-elect switches to a gear above, one that Bottas simply cannot match. Having to face that reality right after he jumps from the cockpit has to be tough: you can almost see the light in his eyes fade weekend after weekend. * After retiring with mechanical issues in the first race in Spielberg, Lance Stroll embarked on the best run of his career, with seven consecutive races in the top 10, including a podium and two P4s. But since the heights of Monza, he has failed to score. After retiring twice in a row, and then missing the Eifel Grand Prix due to catching COVID, he must have been raring to show his pace once again, but never really seemed to show up. He crashed with Verstappen in FP2, was nowhere near the pace in qualifying, had been warned about track limits by lap 12, crashed into Lando Norris in a - let’s use a euphemism - ambitious overtaking attempt, and ended up bringing up the rear of the field until his retirement. His seat is obviously not in danger, but he is now behind his team mate in the standings, who has one less race start. After Monza he was fourth in the championship; after this weekend, he is eleventh. * Renault’s rollercoaster season continued in Portugal. After a mighty impressive run of results between Spa and Nurburgring, they seemed to go backwards again, with Ocon failing to make it to Q3 and then with both drivers failing to challenge the Racing Points and McLarens, or even the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Without the crash that took Stroll and Norris out of points contention, they would have left Portugal with just one point and their hopes of clinching P3 in the championship a bit dented. * There are several drivers on the grid racing for their futures, whether that is to retain their seat, claim a better one or just grab one of the last remaining ones. Of these, Gasly and Checo enhanced their claims enormously with tremendous drives. Checo would have probably been P5 had it not been for the team’s strategic mistake of putting him on the softs for his last stint; impressive in and of itself, but even more so given that he was spun by Verstappen on the first lap and ended up at the back of the field. This result continued his streak of finishing every race in the points; Spa and Monza aside, he has known nothing but the top 7. Gasly, on the other hand, continues to make Red Bull management look ridiculous for not wanting to take him back. Another brilliant drive saw him clinch P5 and climb to P9 in the championship, only one point behind Alex Albon. He must have stepped on some mighty toes for Red Bull to refuse to give him a chance… * Albon, on the other hand, might have just lost his seat this weekend. To start P6 and finish P12 on a Red Bull, without crashes or mechanical issues, is not up to the level required, and something has to give. He looked to have turned a corner after Mugello, the relief of finally making it to the podium obvious on his body language, but he has collected only one point in the three races since. I feel for him, as it is obvious that that seat is never going to have the full support of the team, but when you are being lapped by your teammate when he finishes regularly on the podium, something is not working. Albon is a great driver and I hope his landing will be soft, whether in F1 or elsewhere; he deserves another break.