George Russell As The Yellow/red Tail Hawk

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Formula 1 History: 1982 South African Grand Prix drivers strike

The 1982 South African Grand Prix was a Formula 1 race held at Kyalami on January 23rd, 1982. It was the first race of the 1982 season. Strike action was taken by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, led by Niki Lauda and Didier Pironi, to protest the new super license conditions imposed by FISA, which tied drivers to a single team for up to three years. A late compromise was reached and the race went ahead. All drivers who participated were fined between $5,000-$10,000 dollars and handed suspended race bans. The FIA Court of Appeal later reduced the penalties and criticised FISA’s handling of the dispute. Alain Prost went on to win the race and Niki Lauda participated in his first race after two years out of F1 and finished fourth.

When the season started, only five drivers of twenty-five had signed their contracts (which included the super-liscence clause). Pironi and Lauda stated the case that “there should only be contracts that were mutually binding … if I [Lauda] am not allowed to leave McLaren, then McLaren is not allowed to fire me.” At a meeting of the drivers before the race, in was established that, with the exception of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass, they were all in favor of holding out. It was decided that the drivers would call a strike and boycott practice on Thursday. In the words of Lauda, “Driver solidarity had never been all that impressive in Formula 1, not even in the days of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart … In this instance … driver solidarity was extremely important because we couldn’t afford to let the united front crumble. 

Niki then thought of the plan TO RENT A BUS. YEAH. At seven in the morning on Thursday, a bus drew up to the track and parked at the entrance of the paddock. Inside it was a chafferer, Pironi and the undersigned. As each other drivers arrived, they were asked to park their cars and “get into the bus. They were going for a ride.” Ickx and Mass wouldn’t go along but all the others took their places on the bus instead of the grid. Everyone “seemed happy and there was a sense of strength through unity.” They took the bus the long way to a beautiful hotel in Johannesburg. Pironi then found out that there was news that all the drivers would be banned for life if they participated in this. All the drivers, of course, ignored this and instead chilled out at the pool and had a “really splendid day.” Bernie Ecclestone gave an ultimatum to Piquet and Patrese and both of them had effectively been “sacked.”

The younger drivers gave issue because they were more afraid of getting banned or fined for broken contracts. The good mood persisted through dinner and there was a lot of laughter when they had to ask the hotel manager for a room. ONE ROOM. ONE ROOM FOR ALL THE DRIVERS. They were given a “small banquet suite” and there was a piano but the bathroom was down the hall. They called up some sheets and spread them on the floor along with some mattresses. Roberto Guerrero manager came to the room with his girlfriend and tried to coax him out of it. Guerrero and his girlfriend broke down into tears but then they kicked the manager out and allowed the girlfriend to some inside instead. Gilles Villeneuve and Elio de Angelis began playing the piano and the atmosphere “picked up again.” Arrows team chief Jacky Oliver came and tried to force himself into the room and even brought the POLICE along. They managed to get the door halfway open before all the diets pushed it shut and used the piano to block the door. The younger drivers began to panic and most of them went to Lauda for reassurance. Throughout it all, Pironi and Nelson Piquet were lightening the mood through strength and jokes.

Eventually, they had to get some sleep. Since the bathroom was down the hall, there was one room key they all had to use. They put it on a plate in the middle of the room and crossed their hearts (Niki’s words) that they would use the bathroom and come straight back with the key. However, Teo Fabi chickened out and left with the key and never returned. Then proceeds to take a vote to see if they could continue and the vote was unanimous. In the end, Pironi came to terms with Balestre and they ended up wining the battle. 

Valentino Rossi & Casey Stoner - with words from Agassi & Sampras

Agassi/Sampras quotes taken from: A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis (2009); Open: An Autobiography (2009); 'I Really Hated Tennis' (2009); Agassi and Sampras Meet a Year After Flare-Up (2011); Andre Agassi Reflects on His Career | 2024 US Open (2024) - if you want more context for these quotes, see here

Devil of a ride for Stoner (2007); Rossi: Stoner rode like a god! | MotoGP (2007); Stoner and Rossi post-Laguna Seca (2008); 2008 MotoGP Laguna Seca Race Report - Crunch Time (2008); 2008 Brno MotoGP Preview - Let Battle Commence (2008); Crasher Casey strikes again (2008); Statement By Valentino Rossi After The Motegi Race (2008); Ring of Fire (2009); Valentino si allunga la carriera: «Io, l’ultimo dei piloti romantici» (2009); Stoner impenna: «La correttezza? Non fa per voi europei» (2009); Valentino Rossi's interview with Italian GQ (2010); Casey Stoner on Rossi-Lorenzo Motegi clash (2010); 2011 Jerez MotoGP Race Day Round Up: The Feeding Frenzy (2011); MotoGP, Stoner: “Lorenzo ha più talento di Rossi” (2012); Rossi on the slide? Legend facing a season without a win (2011); Rossi admits that he misses Stoner (2013); Casey Stoner: Pushing the Limits (2013); Inside the mind of Casey Stoner (2014); MotoGP, Livio Suppo: "Stoner in Honda would have suffered Marquez's Personality" (2020); MotoGP Revisited: Rossi and Stoner’s US Grand Prix flashpoint (2020); Casey Stoner tweet (2021); MotoGP, Stoner: "I loved 2-strokes. I retired because riding had become too easy (2021); Tales of Valentino (2021); Farewell to Valentino Rossi, the man who transformed motorbike racing (2021); MotoGP, Valentino Rossi e Casey Stoner: storico incrocio a Portimao (2021); Stoner “has missed” Rossi racing at the front in MotoGP (2021); Rossi visto dai rivali - Stoner: "A Laguna Seca mostrò il suo vero volto" (2021); Valentino Rossi: All His Races (2022); MotoGP legend Casey Stoner talks early retirement, real feelings towards Valentino Rossi & Anxiety (2022); “Stoner had more ‘exceptional talent’ than Rossi, but anxiety ate him alive…” (2023); Stoner on fellow riders (2024); Ep. 11 L'ICONA DEL MOTOCICLISMO con Valentino Rossi (SECONDA PARTE) (2024); Barcelona 2024 - The Misadventures of Party Peter and Mischievous Mat (2024); A day at the MotoRanch with Casey Stoner (2024); Casey Stoner: "Io e Valentino Rossi eravamo nemici, ora abbiamo superato il passato" (2024)

something to keep in mind as we’re revisiting the story of jesus‘ birth during this time of the year! nazareth is occupied! jesus was a refugee! free palestine!

my commissions are open & you can find my art on redbubble!

tag list (comment/dm me if you wanna be added x)

@ellearts @allphatauri @starlightiing @penguinotaku @mclarengremlin @reyzorblade-png @synnamon-rolls @unhookedcandles @fruity-pontmercy

HEYY I was thinking if you do commissions still? I was thinking if you can do an angst edit with Lawhan, with “Emails I can’t send.” By Sabrina Carpenter in the background?

If not than that’s on still love you tho 🩷🫂

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Mark Webber Lore Masterpost

This is for @percervall who had the good fortune to ask for Mark Lore when I had just finished a massive Fernando Lore post and was itching to balance out my OTP Lore Files.

Disclaimer: I am primarily a webbonso girlie (gn), but I also love Martian (aka Sebmark), Butter (which we are now calling Aussie Cake - Mark/Jenson), and Nicomark, with an occasional dash of Oscarmark though I have Feelings about that (see below on Personal Life).

I was watching F1 for the last five years of Mark's career so his RBR days and personal life are what I know best but even so, I'm not claiming to be an expert so if anyone reads this and disagrees with any of it, please weigh in with your own thoughts! Input most welcome.

CW below for transphobia, ED/eating disorder, and vomiting unrelated to ED

EDITED TO ADD: I CONFIRM THIS POST IS SAFE FROM THE CANBERRA MILK KID ADVERT

Anyway - to the DILF Files!

Racing and Luck

Couple of things on this: Mark is from a town close to Canberra called Queanbeyan that is, according to fans who know Australia, the single most unlikely place in the world to produce an F1 driver. Throughout his book, he constantly comes back to "how can a boy from Queanbeyan get to F1?"

Mark got into racing comparatively late, at 13-ish, and he was tall. Tallness was a huge disadvantage during the era he raced, because of the regulations favouring low weights. Before he got his first F1 test, Bernie Ecclestone dismissed him as "too old, too big." He made his F1 debut at 26 which is *really* late in the modern era. He has said that he "didn't eat for five years" to keep his weight down and that the possibility of weighing more and relaxing his diet was a factor in moving to WEC instead of doing another season in F1.

As @stars-and-meteors wrote in the comments on @percervall's post, Mark was LUCKY in one way (though usually described as an unlucky driver) - he was in at least four major crashes in his career that could have been fatal. Two in Le Mans 1999 (video of his memories here), another flip in Valenica in 2010 which I saw live and nearly puked until I saw his head move. This clip shows the crash but not the aftermath - he threw his steering wheel out to signal that he was OK, and walked away with nothing more than minor bruises, so keep that in mind as you watch because it is dramatic. Then finally, when he was racing for Porsche in WEC after he retired from F1, he crashed hard in Brazil, so badly that his wife (watching at home with her son) assumed he would die. He was injured but ultimately fine.

So how was he unlucky?

Getting to F1 so late, with minimal sponsorship behind him - this was in an era where the driver academy systems we have now weren't as strong and he was outside of the bit of an academy system that there was

One early career bad move - went to Williams instead of Renault for 2005 (Renault won the WDC that year)

Finally got a WDC-winning car when he was 34, with a much younger generational-talent teammate (Sebastian) who was intensely favoured by the team (for pretty valid reasons in many ways) - never had good machinery in what could have been his peak years.

RBR and Seb Rivalry/Martian/Sebmark

The best way I can explain Mark's dynamic with Sebastian is that the Vettel grandstand at his home grand prix costs more to sit in than the Webber grandstand.

Here is a brief thematic overview of Martian I wrote in response to an ask. Please know that they once bought matching Porsches together, and that Mark has referred to their on-track crashes as "making love." They are a shipper's dream.

Because Seb is now such an elder statesman of the sport, a lot of people forget that he wasn't always as popular and well-liked as he (deservedly) is today. One of the many links in this post describes Mark as a "fan favourite" and he really was - he was seen as a chill, down to earth, funny bloke. Seb was also popular, but he was popular with a lot of the same demographic that are big Max fans today and he was a similar figure (though not as controversial). Some people compare Max-Checo to Seb-Mark but Checo has never been as popular as Mark was, and Seb was always less controversial than Max. But not a million miles away either.

Mark used to hold the record for most F1 starts without a win, and when he finally won his first race I think every F1 fan was happy for him. He was definitely seen as a safe pair of hands, journeyman driver, not a standout but not bad either.

Anyway, then Adrian Newey built a great car in 2010.

Mark led much of the 2010 season, but due to some bad luck, bad starts and a shocking last race, he came 3rd in the WDC to Seb and Fernando. It went to the last race. Seb won his first title never having led the standings all season, but he was consistent and had good strategy calls, and also he had the backing of the team. The Front Wing Incident led to a classic moment of Mark Lore. The team had a new front wing, Seb damaged his and was given Mark's. The team will say that Mark hadn't liked the wing, and that Seb was ahead in the standings at the time. Mark maintained Seb was being favoured because young, German, RBR Young Driver Programme, Helmut Marko, etc. Mark won the race. Christian came on the radio to congratulate him and said something like, maybe now you'll crack a smile. Mark replied with "not bad for a number two driver," and Lore was born.

(Apparently there was a team barbecue at Christian's house to try and mend fences, involving karaoke. Mark's karaoke song, according to Seb's remarks on the Australia GP podium some years later, is Summer of 69.)

Anyhoo, Mark lost out at the last race in 2010, Seb dominated all over 2011 (in his book, Mark says that the team behaved in 2011 as though Mark had been a second driver all through 2010 and Seb had led the whole season, when Mark had been closer to the title than Seb), and 2012 (Alonso was amazing that season, so it was great racing and not an easy title for Seb at all, but Mark didn't challenge him).

Then came Multi-21. I think it's fair to say that at the time, most people agreed that Seb had been out of line, although some thought so because he'd fucked over Mark and some because he disobeyed his boss. Either way, Seb was apologetic and then wasn't. It's been suggested since that Seb's lawyer letter to the team may have been sowing seeds for him to break his contract and move to Ferrari - he did activate a break clause in 2014 to move to Ferrari for 2015.

Anyhoo, after Mark's retirement he and Seb mended things, they are clearly on good terms now and Mark had lots of nice things to say when Seb retired. But it was acrimonious at the time.

Broadly, I think most people feel like if a few minor things had gone differently, Mark might have been a one-time WDC, but that he never really had the next-level skill of the likes of Seb, Fernando, Lewis, or even Jens or Nico. He's often ranked alongside Felipe Massa as someone who would have been a deserving champion but never an all-time great.

Webbonso

I've done some Webbonso lore masterposts before, so please see this, this and this if it's something you're into. Mark and Fernando seemed to have a falling out in after 2018 (which we call the Divorce Era, and may be linked to Fernando signing with Alpine for 2021 when Mark wanted a seat for Oscar Piastri, who Mark managed) but the Divorce Era was confirmed ended in 2023, with Mark gushing over his boy again, on screen hugs, and Mark sharing a post on instagram with a little red stiletto heeled shoe emoji imposed on Fernando's tiny foot.

Actual Personal Life

Mark is married to an English woman named Ann Neal, whom he met when he was 17 and she was 30. She became a friend of his family because of her motorsport connections (she worked in motorsport in Australia), then became his manager, and moved him to England without his family when he was 18-19. He lived in a box room in Ann's mum's house, with Ann, her mum and her son (she was recently divorced), and they shared a car. Their relationship apparently turned romantic when he was 20 and she was 33. (This is all from his autobiography). @lightningmickqueen wrote a great summary of this which is worth reading. Basically - problematic AF and it's hard for me not to think of him as a victim though he does seem very happy.

This is also why Oscarmark is never a simple ship for me. I love their dynamic, I like them both as drivers, but because I feel like Mark is a grooming survivor and there is both an age gap and a power imbalance between him and Oscar, I don't think I'll ever write an explicit fic about them. Any I've written before are very much on the yearning side.

No serious allegations of cheating on his partner have ever emerged. He did a series of photoshoots and videos with Maria Sharapova for Porsche and a lot of people joke about their "affair" but nothing at all to suggest its real.

Controversy (esp transphobia) and Views

Well one big controversy is the fact he was groomed as a teenager, but no one in motorsport talks about this, although the fandom is pretty switched on about it all.

But the biggest is the transphobic tweet. I won't link to anyone else's blog here because I have been told that posting about Mark's transphobic tweet can bring out trolls with both pro-trans and anti-trans views (fyi: I do not believe it is possible to be anti-trans, you cannot be anti-people, it is simply not allowed, but I refuse to use the terms that bigoted people invent for themselves and reclaim and weaponise).

In short - Mark retweeted a tweet from a news channel about young trans people reverting to their assigned gender at birth with the caption "Now it's called Detransitioning" and a laughing emoji. (Ugh). Then he doubled down when called out and said it hadn't been meant to be funny, he found it hard to keep up with terminology and he is a "proud heterosexual" with "gay friends of both genders."

And he has never apologised.

Of course, the meme potential of proud heterosexual Mark Webber is endless, but trans fans have asked people not to use it jokingly because it is a reminder of a transphobic incident and can be upsetting to encounter.

Basically, Mark can be Gen X all he wants but he has the brain of a Boomer.

He's generally conservative. A big believer in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, "common sense", and "old fashioned country values" from his "traditional upbringing." That said, and I'm not suggesting this is a defence for the ways in which he is terrible but it belongs here, it seems these views don't extend much to racism, as he is a big, vocal fan of Lewis Hamilton although doesn't comment much on his activism except to say he is an all-round class act.

Mark was also managed by Flavio Briatore for most of his career and Flavio is dodgy AF and was literally banned for his role in race fixing, so. There was brief talk after Crashgate of suspending the superlicence of any driver who was repped by Flavio. Mark and Fernando were among them and held firm and the threats weren't carried out.

General Unhinged Lore

His almost-WDC in 2010 was achieved with a broken shoulder

He has Questions about Fernando Alonso's leg waxing

He coined the nickname Britney for Nico Rosberg by saying "don't think so mate, Britney's in the wall" when he was told not to enter the pits in favour of Nico before the pit wall realised Nico had crashed

He is ridiculously handsy with other men

Gifs of Mark making an oral sex joke on Ziggo Sport

I have a whole tag of Mark being unhinged - including his "fully expected sec-sex-sections" interview about Seb, the Piping Hot Dickstickers interview, and the buying matching Porsches story.

He is known to be obsessed with red wine, chocolate, tennis and dogs.

He always has two dogs, usually with S names. He's had Shadow (RIP), Simba (RIP), Saxon and...others I don't know. He lived in England for most of his career (unusual) and moved to Monaco when he retired.

When he first won the Monaco Grand Prix, he hadn't packed a tuxedo and had to show up in jeans, a sweater and deck shoes. He says no one minded. this definitely bolstered his 'down to earth guy' image.

He once continued driving while literally being sick in his helmet. (This is GROSS).

His team radio on his first win is legendary.

And finally. YOU MUST hear his scream in commentary at Azerbaijan. It is amazing.

what the fuckkkkkkkk

brocedes edit with a noah kahan song cause they own the sad and angsty ™ 😀

popping in to spread a little love<3 you are loved. you are wanted. you belong here.