Only Facts - Tumblr Posts

i just read somewhere “if i got podium, i wouldn’t be sad like lando is” and this is so funny to me. i’m sorry, have you spent your entire life racing? have you spent every waking moment trying to be the best at it? have you spent hours and hours training and maintaining a proper lifestyle? and this isn’t just for lando. it’s for all the drivers. yesterday, max, charles and lewis looked gutted at their quali performances, and they have every right to be sad about it because they’ve trained their entire life for it, and they’re all self critical, and they’ve all got personal goals to achieve. every and all drivers in this sport is going to feel sad when they don’t perform at the level they want to or know that they can. they are going to feel disappointed and they are going to be hurt when they’ve spent their entire lives working for this and not being able to achieve it for whatever reason, even if it’s just one race. as fans, we have no idea just how much hard work they’ve put in to be racing in formula one. it’s a lot more than what we think, and it’s a lot harder than we think. it’s completely unfair to talk about their skills and their talents like it’s something that everyone can do.

i’m probably going to delete this by morning, but i needed to rant.

What the narrative they wanted him to follow if you don’t mind me asking?

Maybe it’s just me but the weirdly personal reaction from most of the journalists (including those who he used to be close to) seems to make me think they wanted him to sadly fade out, be like, a bit of a joke and a bit of a tragedy, that Daniel Ricciardo, one of the brightest stars, could not become anything more than a Netflix darling? Someone new would come along and they would pounce on him and that guy would get a new role in the narrative, they were done with Daniel not shining as bright and not being as fun.

I think Daniel digging his heels, healing himself, coming back still smiling still kind, and still loved, made them want him to become like, F1’s newest villain or something. And he’s still lovely despite how shitty Mclaren treated him, loved by the general ticket buying public despite Twitter fans being vicious to him, still friends with Max, Lando, Esteban, he’s sweet with Liam even though he’s been actively trying to stab him in the back, Oscar refuses to fill up his role as F1’s next funny Aussie and is actually friends with Daniel so there’s no bitterness there either, so…Daniel’s not giving them anything to pigeonhole him, so it’s easier for them to make him into this washed up old man intentionally keeping seats away from promising new Verstappens.

Daniel’s biggest weak point is that he only has a year long contract and that’s what they decided to attack him constantly on. There’s no drama otherwise. There’s no engagement farming otherwise. If one headline about him losing his seat fails another will pop up next week, because he’s not supposed to be in the narrative and yet he still dares to be the main character of it all.