Hey!

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

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

Inevitable and everlasting ❤️🧡

i think the thing about carlos and lando that pushes things into focus is how they speak about each other, to each other, how comfortable they are when one of them is suddenly around. it feels so surreal because of who they are; carlos, in his late twenties, driver with maybe the most confident and guarded personality i have ever encountered and lando, in his early twenties, driver that is somewhat anxious and really outgoing which culminated in the who they are today.

like don’t forget how depressed carlos was before he met the kid, he was stupidly released from his red bull contract after being loaned off to renault for a year, some of the best racing in the sport at the time being straight up ignored and given a one-off chance by mclaren. like lando was in the mcl young driver program while he was still at carlin, he had the reins in a way even if he was a rookie. fernando left it to him but he wasn’t arrogant about it.

lando can be sometimes but he wasn’t with carlos. he worked with him and carlos saw a friend in him, he could have battered the kid that first year but in choosing the team, he chose lando. he could’ve been threatened, either of them, but they stuck it out with each other. i think that’s what fucks everybody up. we never were close to winning the championship that year but fuck sake, that fourth place really had us feeling like champions after all of it.

that’s why brazil means so much to me. between it being lando’s birthday that year and carlos first podium, i felt like they’d given a little piece of their selves to each other. like i can’t be the authority of what a best friend is, what a teammate is or what a partner is but no one can ever say to me that carlos sainz jr doesn’t absolutely, with every fiber of his being trust lando norris; in the same way lando can’t forget it and how carlos thinks of him, how he keeps repaying it over and over again.

his nineteen year old self still so fucking chuffed that his teammate thinks he’s good at what he does and keeps telling him, keeps passing him praise and reassurance in a way no other teammate has. and so now twenty three years old, carlos sainz jr looks at him and lando norris feels like a teenager again. one that will be worthy of his support. lando still doesn’t understand carlos has believed in him since they’ve fucking met. since snowy first day in england.

carlos can’t speak and utter the words, “it isn’t the driving that makes me like you so much, i just do because i have for so long and it has everything to do with the fact of who you are. that you had me laugh when i was ready to give up, that you listened when i spoke and you let me help. and we flourished.”

carlos sainz jr refuses to say the words, “i love you (irrevocably and irrationally) and i (know) don’t think it’s possible for me to stop” and lando norris doesn’t reply “yeah, but i don’t need you to say (i’d fall apart where you stood) anything, i just (beg) ask that you stick around (for me), so i can show you that i worship you (like a man of God) in every other possible way. (i love you back) alright?” so, they tie themselves together with twine, stems and ribbon.

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

he is the last of your motorhome boys from the summer of ‘08 written by: rosbergs (insp)

(his faith was strong but he needed proof)

Sainz Sr. spoke about Lando to skysports and it’s so sweet 🥲

"He's, first of all, a super driver, and, more important, he's a nice person - it is a pleasure always to spend time with him, to play golf with him.

"I know he's a good friend of Carlos, and in that circle, I am a little bit closer to him - he's a super guy and super intelligent.

"He's, for sure, one of the best drivers out there, and it is just a matter of time [before he takes victory], and I'm sure when it comes [the opportunity], he will grab it, and it will be great for him and all the fans."

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12964357/carlos-sainz-sr-lando-norris-first-formula-1-grand-prix-win-is-a-matter-of-time

🥹🥹🥹 Thank you for sharing with me!

Umm, who’s body are we talking about here? Because all three persons he’s being shipped with are turned towards him 😅

his whole body angled towards carlos 🫠

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.

CarLando, bound by the red string - the string may stress or tangle, but it never breaks 🥹

this is all i have left to say.

They are? Sebastian, is this the confirmation we didn’t know we needed? 😳🤧

when did seb call nico and lewis a couple? 👀

first sorry for the very delayed response, trying to find the interview back was a task for no reason other than i can't read apparently

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.

…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”