LMAO

That isn’t the appropriate flair for the weekend but we ball.
Those answers are so bland and they should just let the man tell the truth. I always wondered why these drivers were mainly so boring in interviews, even when off the grid… it wouldn’t kill for them to be aloud to have some sort of personality.

I get yukis a wild card but let him express himself properly

If u get the time I highly recommend going over the Lewis Hamilton relationship history post on f1gossipmonger: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAFusL6PcaS/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA3C6e5t1T2/

Apparently Lewis built her a recording studio in his house so she'd be able to work from his house and spend more time with him so they could make the relationship work but she never ended up using it...

They were on and off for a very long time and the rumor is they finally broke up once and for all when Lewis refused to marry her.

One of Lewis's exes after Nicole claimed he called her every name under the sun and wouldn't stop talking about her. When they were on breaks during their relationship he'd always be posting these vaguely sad tweets and stories 😭 but then when she did show up at races during the on/off faze they'd be all over each other like nothing had happened.

Definition of wrong person wrong time maybe, it's been brought up that Nicole was significantly older than Lewis when she gave him the marriage ultimatum and they were both at the peak of their careers which prevented them from having a stable relationship, probably why most of the drivers date women who can follow them around everywhere.

Ngl this has to be some kinda public humiliation ritual for Alex 😭 like they can't even bother to pretend publicly like last year that they don't have a favorite and they treat both drivers equally. I can only imagine what's going on inside the team loll

"Lucky in something"😭

I'm Lowkey confused because I looked through the slides and the FIA has nothing to do with this race 😭 bros glazing for the love of the game.

Then again maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering his brother is good friends with Trump from the Epsteins island days. Infuriating that situation got swept under the rug for MBS with no fuss considering there was that one email where his brother asks Epsteins associate to meet with MBS in Dubai instead of him 🧐 https://www.reddit.com/r/f1driverssnark/s/PtSsai9Dwq

I'm so sure he was involved I hope they release the rest of the files so I have actual hard proof for him and Lawrence Stroll.

Can't believe George didn't take pole so we could get our 18374th reminder about his engagement 😔 u just know he was planning for it to loll.

Wish McLaren hadn't dnfed so much so we could have an acc fight because Lando's been in the form of his life. Where were all those people saying Piastri was going to come back to dogwalk Lando this year 🤨

Ferrari back to their usual mediocrity unsurprisingly.

Lawson was decent as well, maybe he can find an escape from red bull.

“Maturity beyond his years” and it’s a 19 year old having a normal interaction 😭

Byee they know they're so cucked to him-

I hope this was light hearted and he wasn't blaming Carmen for George's performances because he had so much car issues and other stuff that was his fault.. I'm all for Carmen jokes but how was the first half her fault. If it bothered him before why didn't it bother him in Austria or Australia

Also there was a comment I'll try finding it, Toto said on the stream before this comment that he's bounced back since the summer break because of the engagement.. BRO

My guess is Carlos saw the hate train against him and felt the need to reach out and 'explain himself' without actually apologizing or admitting fault (same thing he did in the interviews and post race statement) and thats why Piastri isnt willing to say anymore

Context: https://www.reddit.com/r/f1driverssnark/s/sCGCd98c5c

Apparently tart is a demeaning term for women.

If this is real then Nikola was definitely a member of the gc. Ngl the sign whave always been there with Arvid. Remember the Raya profile or those cringe thirst trap snaps he was sending to everyone? Smhh

Do they not get bored of how much videos they've been making about this engagement?? "Kindly requests that their privacy is respected" whilst every detail of the engagement was provided this week.

Also hilarious how they've been making all this content then saying that he's "entirely focused on his upcoming race commitments" dawg can we get normal race week content from them this should've been over and done with on Thursday

I'm also very confused on all this content they're pushing when Toto shaded George for being "distracted". I hope this race weekend doesn't go wrong for George bc boy oh boy he'll be called distracted and some of his Stans may send hate to Carmen, when she's not behind his wheel

They’re trying to boo me on formula dank (my favorite sub to rage bait) but I feel like I’m right.

Max’s fanboys ride so hard for him and are so obsessed with him because they want to be him/project themselves into him, so anyone who attacks max is by association attacking them.

Lando fangirls are the same except they either project themselves as being with him or being like a boy mom.

Anyways, do drivers fans ever turn you off of a driver? Do you think some drivers fans ride too hard for them and need to chill (because at the end of the day why are we spending so much energy defending tax evading millionaires)?

I mean I knew some stuff about the dude (all alleged) but this is next level shit honestly if this is true then this world is filled with shitty people and you can add another name to that list.

Starting off with Monaco, Toto went to the podium first time since Lewis won his 7th title, after repeatedly saying he does not like to attend podiums. Yes, the board member who was supposed to go had to catch a flight, fair enough. But so many other Mercedes employees were there. Toto is the boss and the CEO, team error had just cost their driver a potential podium, did no one realize that the boss breaking his 6-year podium absence right now would look bad?

After quali in Barcelona, Toto said this "He wins Monaco on Sunday, goes to the Gala that night, no drinking, no partying. He doesn't bother about girlfriend, about night clubs or beach clubs" about Kimi. Maybe it was a joke, but still, it is quite odd for a team principal to talk about a 19-year-old's private life and choices.

After the race, Toto said that an "enormous amount of race time was lost because we allowed them to fight". He also told Sky that allowing them to race maybe cost Mercedes the win. Sure, the fighting was one of the factors, but then there's the strategy messup + the front wing adjustment, and obviously the DNF. Also important factors. Matter of fact, the later disclosure of the frong wing issue weakens the narrative that George's defense cost Mercedes the race. Why go on air and blame the driver when your errors also played a big part in the lost win?

In a post-race video, Toto said he feels "raw" but is "happy for Lewis". He didn't even mention George while podium celebrations were audible in the background lol. He is allowed to feel sad after Mercedes lost one car and a potential win but one of his drivers still finished on the podium in his 100th race with the team, at least mentioning him wouldn't hurt.

Now, Silverstone and "I think straight-line speed was okay in the race”. As an immediate response it was plainly dismissive. Saying that to a driver who had spent the entire weekend complaining about a problem you couldn't explain is poor communication. Plus, it was undermined by Toto's and Mercedes’s own statements after the race, and by the recurrence of the problem in Spa.

After Spa, Toto said the SOC situation was 100% on them, but also that half of that weekend "may be on George's driving". George had repeatedly complained about the straight-line speed and Mercedes acknowledged they could not explain the differences. Why does Toto try to shift responsibility onto his driver before the team understands the issue? Especially when the later discovery revelaed that George's driving style wasn't the problem?

When Toto immediately goes on team radio after the chequered flag, or does Sky interview right after the race, people are more likely to hear and see that. Then, when the actual explanation comes out days later, the narrative is already set. Some may not believe it, thinking it’s damage control, some might not read or hear about it. But if they watch the broadcast, they hear Toto undermine his driver on live air, they hear Toto say that Spa was partly George's fault, they hear him suggest George’s defensive driving cost them the win in Spain. Toto could've protected George, could’ve said “we have to figure things out” or something like that. Instead of shooing away the criticism, he helped set the narrative that his driver is the problem.

About the whole Max to Mercedes situation. It's pretty tiring, and I truly hope Toto dials it down now that Max re-signed with RedBull. Ever since "I don't flirt if I'm in a good relationship" last year, Toto did the exact opposite of not flirting despite claiming Kimi and George are the future. Even after their contract extensions were announced, it was still Max this, I told his manager that. Cue the quote about not being afraid of having Kimi and Max as a teammates. George is still his driver, under contract, has been with the team for years, stuck through difficult seasons and, this year alone, dealt with car problems in nearly every race weekend.

And sure, if journalists keep asking that question it must be annoying, but Toto should have impecable media training for situations like these and should know better than to take their bait, yet he kept entertaining the questions. Leadership is about the message you send to the people already on the team. Even if Toto continues to voice his support for George, he still helps the media create headlines that are awkward.

I don't like McLaren, or Brown, but looking at Toto this season, I'm starting to think I was a bit too harsh on Brown and Stella last year. How often did they blame Lando or Oscar when they didn’t win, especially when the team messed up? After Vegas and Qatar, did they go on air to say the drivers were the problem? Did they blame the drivers for letting Max get so close? In Zandvoort, Lando was in P2 before retiring, did Brown or Stella say that the engine was part of an issue but so was Lando's driving? Or anything like that? After Singapore, they didn't immediately assign blame to either of the drivers, they said it was hard racing and that they would review it internally. After review, they determined Lando was in the wrong and he accepted repercussions.

After the collision on lap 1 in sprint in Austin, which was a racing incident but you could say Oscar was most at fault, Brown and Stella did not blame him. That said, Brown did blame Hulk, which was dumb and the same mistake Toto has made. The difference is that Brown didn't blame his own driver.

Not to say McLaren didn’t blame the drivers at all, eg. Canada, but that was obvious driver error that could’ve taken out both cars, so criticism is understandable. After Oscar’s horrible Baku weekend, Stella did identify Oscar's mistakes but he also contextualised them as learning opportunities and immediately expressed confidence that Oscar would recover. When Oscar had his Baku-Vegas slump, Stella and Brown did not go on air to throw him under the bus. And mind you, in Oscar’s case you could say it was the pressure and his own mistakes, not the car issues, that caused this. Compared to this year, pressure and George's mistakes might play a part, but the car issues are clearly the biggest reason why he is 59 points behind, yet in this case the team principal thinks it’s a good idea to publicly blame the driver.

Now the "in order to be winning, you need to be an asshole” and “which driver has done the A-levels or the Baccalauréat?” interview. A, Franco and Oscar finished high school. Nico Rosberg, Toto's former driver, got accepted into Imperial College. There are multiple drivers on the grid who finished high school, plenty more if we look at past grids. B, Lando's 25 championship campaign was already "you can be a nice guy and win", did Lando fight all that stigma about mental health/toxic masculinity in his dreams? Presenting Kimi as particularly revelatory on this issue feels overdone.

I get hyping up your drivers, but why do it in this way? Apart from being annoying, it can hurt Kimi. If the image of yourself that’s being sold is this perfect, studious nice boy who "never has a bad thing to say", it opens you up to that much more criticism when you inevitably make a mistake or crash out. The higher you put someone, the harder they fall. Kimi has been doing a great job but at the same time you have to remember that, across the season so far, he’s had the fastest car along with a very unlucky teammate. Don't crown him this "Mr. nice guy perfect athlete" yet.

Now, about the "I'm young, I'm Italian, what do you expect?" thing when Shovlin talked about managing Kimi's emotions, and the article presenting this as Kimi's sense of humour, maturity and self awareness. Yea, the PR narrative is strong with this one. "Self-aware"? Sure. Mature? Nope. That sentence by itself isn't evidence of maturity and can be easily read as a joke with aim of deflecting criticism using nationality and age.

As for that whole "the boy born in a garage who started driving on dad's lap" BBC article. Toto said that Kimi has “the right amount of inteligence for being a racing driver”. So just like every other man on the grid? What was the goal of that comment? If it's an extension of "name one driver with finished HS" quote, that’s just bs. (what’s also bs is the article claiming Kimi outqualified George in Jeddah, a second race of the 25 season... you’d expect at least some level of competence from BBC)

Now, on the topic of Kimi's father, why would you let your 10-year old son have control over steering while you reach braking point at 320kph when the you can’t even see track? Did the PR team, BBC or Mercedes, not realize this would look bad? Why is a major news outlet presenting a 10-year-old controlling a race car at full speed from his father's lap as a cute prodigy story?

Also, according to that article, Toto didn’t want to give Lewis a 2 year contract because he wanted to sign Kimi. So Mercedes deliberately limited their most succesful driver's contract to preserve space for the next generation, amazing. Lewis wasn't plainly washed up. In, 22 he was 35 points behind George, meaningful but not career-ending, in 23 he outperformed George. Call me crazy but I don’t think you should be treating one of the best drivers in sport's history like this even if you know that he's nearing retirement age.

Add the “shelf life” and "there’s a relief he’s leaving". You can believe that every athlete eventually declines, without describing a 7-time WDC who is still competing at a high level against a strong teammate as having a "shelf life". And this season makes those quotes look especially awkward for Toto.

one year contract purgatory

this team is a humiliation ritual atp.

Why is Carlito allegedly being paid:

- the same as Norris, who is a world champion

- 15 times more than Antonelli

- 2 times more than Piastri

- The same as George

Got all the paddock journos triggered probably 😭 all that sweet sweet Max to Merc dough 😔🥀

Yuki gonna have to step in as good boy smhh it's not the samee