Lando’s journey to becoming a champion, this is just a little acknowledgment and something I wrote down over the last few weeks before he became champion. This is by no means professional journalism; it’s just for fun. It’s also my first time doing something more creative like this on social media, so it might come across as a bit overloaded. But I hope it’s something enjoyable to read

2023: 6 P2s. Most on the grid. 2024: 6 P2s. Again. Most on the grid. 2025: 8 P2s. Most. On. The. Grid.

Gabriel said that Lando wrote him a congratulation text after getting his seat.

Franco said that Lando was the first one to contact him and that they organised a lunch with him and his manager to talk about what were Franco’s preoccupations.

Susie said that Lando frequently visits the F1 Academy paddock.

Multiple fans at multiple races or F1 events said that Lando went out of his way to greet them and give them as much time as he could.

As of recently, fans said he even went to the fans that were outside of the very expensive red carpet.

Lando had nothing to do with safety car being deployed and nothing to do with Oscar’s penalty.

Telemetry shows Oscar dropped 150kph, far more than George in Canada. Oscar did the same thing in Spain and got away with it, he admits he did the same thing earlier in the race. Once you can argue is a mistake. Twice is indefensible. Three times someone has developed a dangerous habit. Even Hulkenberg told Oscar his actions caused issues right the way through the field.

10 seconds is the penalty in the FIA rule book. It wasn’t an invented penalty to get a British winner.

What Lando did, in a race where people were sliding off and going for detours was keep it on the grey stuff, as did Hulkenberg and that’s why they got what they deserved at the end. As did Gasly, Stroll and Albon.

Sometimes F1 is that black and white, open and shut case. Make a mistake in some form, pay the price, lose out.

Lando playing dumb during George’s interview — he knows exactly what he’s doing hahahahaha

C U T E 🫣

I do think he’s frustrated with Max’s driving, but also with the media narrative that always surrounds it. Max is constantly celebrated like a hero, while Lando often gets loaded or suggestive questions like the interviewer saying, “Oscar has got past him (Max),” which implies that Lando didn’t, or that he took longer, which simply isn’t true.

Then there's the moment when Lando says, “He’s Max, he can do whatever he wants,” and the interviewer follows up with, “Do you really believe that?” once again fishing for a clickbait headline. I understand that interviewers have a job to do, but that entire exchange felt like blatant clickbait exploitation.

Lando is generally good at separating on-track matters from off-track ones, but he seems more annoyed by how the media tries to frame him. He’s usually quick to bounce back and doesn’t dwell on past incidents, but when he does appear frustrated, it’s more often because of media tactics than anything that happened during the race.

Even after Austria, I think his reaction was mainly due to a journalist lying to him, claiming Max said he was disappointed in Lando (here is a video). That interview was never uploaded (possibly because of the false claim) and Lando’s statements afterward was shown without any context if this interview.

lando joined as a rookie in 2019, stuck with the team through the worst of it: midfield mediocrity, strategy disasters, painfully slow cars, and years of rebuilding. he didn’t just survive those years, he carried the team.

he scored the team’s first pole in nearly a decade. he’s brought home consistent points, podiums, and was inches away from a win more than once, most notably Sochi 2021, where the team left him out to dry (or the complete opposite actually). he’s the face of the team in the media, in their merch, in dts, in every sponsor campaign. he’s the driver kids look up to. the one fans rally behind even when the team lets him down.

and then oscar arrives in 2023 into a much stronger car, reaping the benefits of everything lando helped build. he gets the upgraded machinery, the polished media image, the praise from management. meanwhile, lando is still fighting tooth and nail in a car built around a driver he thoroughly beat two years running, still dragging every last tenth out of the car, and still getting less recognition in return.

lando didn’t just help turn mclaren around. he built the foundation oscar is now standing on. and the only thing he’s getting in return is disrespect.

disrespect from his team principal, who doesn’t show up to his solo podiums and looks like he’s physically in pain when he has to praise him.

disrespect from the ceo, who can’t even be bothered to defend him when he’s targeted by the media or washed-up former champions.

disrespect from f1 journalists who treat him like clickbait, constantly pushing for controversy instead of acknowledging his talent.

disrespect from mclaren’s own social media team, who seem to have forgotten they have two drivers.

disrespect from his race engineer who spends the races not helping lando, but instead helping the other driver.

and disrespect from oscar and his manager, who can’t resist throwing out (not so subtle) jabs about lando’s mentality (i hate that word).

1. Ted Kravitz seemingly implying that McLaren did everything to hinder Lando today, because he was told not to do anything risky that could mess up the 1-2. Going for a gap that was there is risky now?

2. We now find out that Oscar’s girlfriend is employed at McLaren. Now I have to say the minute I knew what her degree was and what she wanted to do, Oscar seemed a means to an end, but this is really icky. Yes Adam Norris’ company has endorsements with McLaren but that is business to business. Pretty sure Adam isn’t sleeping with a senior member of the team.

3. McLaren selling Miami Winner T-shirts for Oscar. When have they ever done that for any other driver? It’s not like Oscar doesn’t have his own website to sell merch.

4. Today Jochen Mass, one of only 22 drivers to ever win a race for McLaren has died. Radio silence from the team.