Louder! 🔊

Nico is the one who made it, whether haters accept it or not. He may have been a 2nd driver, but he proved that he deserved that spot which he was deprived of. 🩵

something we don’t talk about when we talk about nico rosberg, and honestly even though it involved being a horrendous cunt, is that he did what generations of drivers have tried and failed to do - he refused to be made second driver and still walked away with his championship.

like think about that. there are so many people in my memory, and many more before that, that fell to that hurdle by accepting their fate or switching teams and making the wrong call, or just never quite getting there. you’ve got valtteri and daniel and mark webber and felipe massa and before that you have rubens barrichello and david coulthard and eddie irvine and so on and so on. and they either had some moment of quiet resignation to it or they let it completely destroy them, sometimes both.

nico rosberg was the part of the foundations of mercedes. he was there since it took the name mercedes and was brought in to play second fiddle to michael fucking schumacher, and then he outdrove him every damn day, when the mercedes wasn’t championship contention material but was outclassing the rest of the midfield. i remember it so well when you had button and hamilton at mclaren, vettel and webber were at red bull, and alonso and massa were at ferrari. you had no idea what was gonna happen with that top six but you could count on one thing like clockwork, nico rosberg would be seventh, making that scrappy little bastard of a car sing.

and then lewis arrived when schumi left and people assumed nico would play that second fiddle like he hadn’t won them the lion’s share of the points with schumi in the other car. no one gave him his due. and then the car was a winning car and he was suddenly a winner, someone no one had ever rated from that stacked as hell grid. and lewis already had his championship. he wanted more, sure, but he didn’t need to prove that he had it in him the way nico did with his dad and everything else hanging over his head.

let’s not beat around the bush, mercedes wanted him to be second driver. toto came in with lewis and didn’t respect what nico had achieved under ross brawn. lewis was already a championship winner even if nico knew the car and the team much better. certainly the management at mercedes were never on his side once toto took the reigns. and lewis must have expected it somewhat too, it’s just how teams work. and his long-standing teammate at that point had been jenson, who had just as many championships and seniority in the sport, which made them as close to equals as possible and also frustrated lewis no end at that time because on some days he was second driver. it was owed to him, at last, to have a teammate whose only job was to prop him up.

i’m not saying if it was the right decision, or the ethical decision, or a decision that he doesn’t deeply and intimately regret, but the point at which nico had to say to himself no, lewis isn’t allowed to do this to me, no i won’t be second fiddle, not even to my best friend, must have required such strength of conviction like sport has never seen. and yeah it’s sad to think that a championship ended a friendship that old and that caring, but reframe it for a moment. what must it have felt like to escape out from under the thumb of schumacher who was never ever going to support nico, who could be affable outside racing but had a long history of being the meanest of sports on the grid, and think finally, a friend, someone to support and care for me, someone who wants me to win just like i want him to win, and be told no, it’s just the same as it was. like yes this is work, but imagine what that would do to you in any career - a fellow artist, a fellow businessman - to be told that your friend, in any context, sees you as an obstacle to overcome, or even worse just a tool to get ahead.

like we make fun of that - look at the man that sold his soul for a championship - but so did everyone else, so did lewis even. we have no idea who went first in sacrificing the friendship to the flames but we do know it was the first time nico ever fucked someone over in the sport. he’d never driven a winning car before. lewis had, and lord knows he learnt well enough from fernando, from jenson even.

nico had never had the opportunity to do it, and even when he was teammates with schumi, it was a noticeably sedate schumi racing in a midfield car. there wasn’t a championship for him to snatch at like he had done before. and that must do damage to you, as someone that’s never been at that kind of desperate infighting team before. and to have someone who is supposed to love you more than anyone else on the grid right there in it, in your first true experience of it? ooft.

then you think about him retiring, right after he’s finally done it. he must have wanted to step away before hand but imagine that friendship up in smoke and to go away empty-handed, with nothing to show for it. so he says no, i have to have this championship. all this had to have been for something. think about keke, who won one world championship pretty much by accident. how he won because the front runners on the grid that season died in those cars. and what had just happened to poor old jules. and how keke has always insisted that nico is his greatest achievement, not his championship, his son. and nico has just become a father. think about how important his daughters are to him, how much he loves them. how he was burning down his relationship with vivian too just to get this stupid title, these stupid trophies.

and maybe some part of him thinks i can fix this, i can have lewis back if i just put the weapons down, if i walk away. but lewis doesn’t see it like that - he sees it as cowardly, that nico took something from him and didn’t give him the chance to get it back, even though held already proved over and over and over that he could beat nico, that he was definitively the better driver. but nico only had to be better once - keke won his championship with a single race win to his name that season and it was enough. goddamit it was enough. and even if it hurt him to give up being in that car, nico had things that were more important. just once was enough for him in a way it never could be for lewis. lewis has nothing else, no partner, no children, no real friends at that point. of course he could never understand. maybe he envied nico in that moment, for once to be enough, but lewis never had that luxury.

god it’s so tragic, but nico really did achieve the impossible.

Tags

mercedes nico rosberg silver war silver arrows put respect to his name second to none

More Posts from Gab-ri-elle22 and Others

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

@/42bennett: Pre event training done 💪

Tags

jb22 princess cake i want him but i also want him for nico

423 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

#reach out babe come on #hold that hand face each other #at this point all interaction between the two are a big deal 😭

We. Must. Always. Touch.

119 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

Omg 😭😂

They never miss

Tags

george russell smooth operator lewis hamilton carlos sainz jr no using his tricks against him

212 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

3 months ago

Hey!

I just ended up re-reading your call on A03 again (don't blame me it's just too good).

I wanted to just check in and see if you're doing ok and also see if you have any plans to continue that story?

Hope you're well! Truly one of my fav writers out there given how many times i've read that fic alone lolol

hope you update! your work is really beautiful!!

Hi anon! Yes, I have every plans to continue the story! I am doing well, thank you very much for your concern! 🤗

In fact, I am almost halfway through to the next chapter, and is plotting in my schedule accordingly so I can have more consistent updates!

Pls have a little more patience for me? I promise to make it all up to u, my readers.

See u on the next chapter? I hope to hear more from u whether thru the comments sections or here in Tumblr. 🤍🤍🤍

Tags

Your Call fic updates inquiry

2 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

If this ain’t brocedes, then I don’t know what better to call them 🥹

this excerpt means everything to me you don’t understand

from The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano, 2008

Tags

lewis hamilton brocedes nico rosberg

45K notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

#agreed, but say his name #NR6

Talk later ✌🏿

236 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

Okay maybe a bit random but I’m currently exploring the whole brocedes lore more deeply and something I’m curious about, and I wondered if you had any thoughts, was do you think Toto had a clear favourite during the 2013-16 era and if so who? Front what I can vaguely remember at the time as a casual viewer, almost every Lewis fan was convinced Toto was favouring Nico and giving him preferential treatment but I always put that down to their whole victim complex of thinking everyone’s working against Lewis. There were times when Toto gave Nico a proper public bollocking (such as Spa 2014) which definitely wouldn’t indicate he was in any way favoured.

When I look at Toto and Nico now (side note, their podcast together gave me WAY too many brainworms), Toto does seem pretty fond of Nico and definitely lets him get away with so much shit that he wouldn’t let other journalists. However I don’t know if that still necessarily means he ever preferred him over Lewis?

To me it was pretty clear that Niki favoured Lewis imo but I’m still not sure on Toto. Do you have any opinion on that?

short answer to did toto favour nico over lewis? lol no.

longer answer: look at the merc team orders in 2013, where lewis -- who had yet to win a wdc w/ merc yet or establish himself within the team as First Driver and was equal w/ nico -- was favoured over nico for the podium. nico who has been the the team since it's return to f1 in 2010, scored their first points, podium, and team.

longer longer answer: CC'ing @keepthedelta

Tags

lewis hamilton nico rosberg Nico Rosberg didn’t deserve how they treated him they know it too what use is the better driver and teammate when nothing’s been done? u don’t become a world champion for playing second fiddle to your clearly favored teammate Merc didn’t make him he gave Merc it former glory back it’s time they acknowledge that u call his retirement cowardice I call it self preservation why stay when you have nothing more to gain nothing for them to offer blorbocedes ask

165 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

Excerpts from a lovely article in The Athletic by The New York Times: “Ferrari’s prestige lured Lewis Hamilton – and cost Carlos Sainz his seat”

Part 1/2: “A ‘Smooth Operator’”

…Only as the details emerged and fandoms reacted to the news on social media, Carlos Sainz became collateral damage and was left to grapple with the harsh truth: he had become Ferrari’s third choice driver for the future despite achieving something no other non-Red Bull driver could in 2023: Win.

Excerpts From A Lovely Article In The Athletic By The New York Times: “Ferrari’s Prestige Lured Lewis

…Sainz spoiled Red Bull’s perfect season with a win in Singapore, but as many fans will recall, it wasn’t a runaway. The Spaniard started on pole but needed to switch up his strategy. In a calculated move, he kept former McLaren teammate Lando Norris within DRS range — a counterintuitive move that helped Norris fend off the chasing Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton.

Sainz needed to slow down enough to keep Norris within range but be fast enough to not allow the McLaren to overtake him. It’s more difficult than it sounds, and it’s the kind of strategic maneuver that showcases Sainz’s talent.

…Over the course of his F1 career, Sainz has become known for his methodical approach, calm attitude and thoughtful feedback. He’s been consistent each step of the way, leveling up his game and adapting to a team’s environment. Looking back on his (so far) three-year stint at Ferrari, his journey has been marked with highs and lows. He outscored Leclerc in year one, but the Monegasque outqualified and beat Sainz in year two. Come 2023, the Spaniard struggled during the first half of the season but was consistent. He found his groove after the summer break and led Leclerc heading into the Singapore GP weekend. Leclerc ultimately finished the year six points ahead of Sainz, who recorded a DNF in Abu Dhabi.

It’s not a subpar performance. Leclerc and Sainz created one of the strongest, most complete pairings on the grid. The pressure of being a Ferrari driver is widely known as everyone scrutinizes the team, and Sainz consistently was competitive against his teammate, sometimes being the stronger Prancing Horse driver.

See Part 2: “The Next Chapter”

Tags

carlos sainz give him a team that is built around him and he’ll showcase just good he can be the man was an orphan the moment he left the RB Junior team but he still made it u don’t get to discredit a man who managed to stay in the sport without the backing of any major team everything he got and all he’s achieved are his own not the team’s the nicest ones tend to be the most ruthless so the doubters better watch out there was before Ferrari there was during it now we get to see what is after it

135 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

10 months ago

They say Ferrari is a religion, but what they fail to mention is - you chose it because you believe it, because there’s someone making you believe in it.

I don't think people realise how 'cinemantic' and 'match made in heaven' the Ferrari team was. I hated how Charles spoke about Carlos after Spanish GP, but then after the Williams announcement, after weeks of settling into it - I can't imagine how Charles' processing. I'm assuming they were called the dream team - I'm assuing Carlos assumed this was it. He was home. He loved the team, and the team loved him. And it was family. He bought a home in Maranello. He gave up Monaco and his friends and luxury and tax benefits to make sure his team gets back on top. And then carpet pulled, dreams shattered. The first thing he did was move to Monaco. And I think Charles doesn't know how to process that he's leaving. That Carlos won't be there next season. Their girlfriends (exes or current) won't be hanging out - a family of sorts.

He hopes it can be like Carlando. That even after their team mate era they'll be close friends, but I think he knows its different. Mclaren to Carlos was different. Ferrari might have been the dream team to Carlos, but Mclaren was family. Fred isn't Zac, Mclaren isn't Ferrari, and Charles won't ever be to Carlos what Lando is. So he tries with his future teammate - dog dates and parade ride convos. But you can feel he's sick to his stomach thinking about Carlos not being his teammate. You can tell from the first set of interviews. And you can also tell Carlos doesn't try anymore. He doesn't/isn't supposed to help develop the car or strategy. He's moving on. And the magic is dissappearing - we can tell. You can tell. I can tell. Hell, puma motorospot commenting the same on instagram can tell. So maybe he's pushing Carlos away a little. Trying to get that magic to shine on him. But it's disappearing, and people can see Carlos. Bright-eyed. Wronged. And everyone's rooting for him and everyones rallying for him. And anyone who isn't part of the Tifosi, want Carlos to shine. And even a few Tifosi are shedding their red for blue for Carlos, the man from Spain who tried and tried and loved. There's a deep rooted loyalty to him now. Because he's relatable or his situation is relatable - we can do everything right and still be wronged. Carlos doing well means hope - hope we can rise in our lives, hope we can get out of bad situations, hope that not getting what we wanted so desperately still means better opportunity. So people will root for him - deeper and more loyal and more intense. A story about tragedy, betrayal and redemption - and we know how much we love that arc.

So we hope Carlos Sainz shines where he goes. We collectively hope for dream come trues and epic retribution for him.

But sadly we also know that, that means-

When Carlos leaves Ferrari - the magic and glory and hope is going to follow with him.

Tags

carlos sainz call it what you want they go to the future hoping to repeat a decorated past meanwhile Carlos will reinvent what worked in the past to see a more successful future but he came he saw he delivered he’s not looking for miracles he’s there to create them

431 notes View Post

gab-ri-elle22

1 year ago

Nico - JB’s greatest certainty and his biggest what-if 🥹🤍