I've already said this enough times on how Mercedes has played a huge role in fucking up how George is viewed by the F1 fanbase, especially those who aren't his fans and aren't really that prone to supporting an athlete who is perceived as "less masculine" than the others so when he goes w2w with someone else they write off as him "throwing a tantrum, crumbling under pressure".
I read another cool analysis in here about how Mercedes is trying to "fix" their PR error manchine not for George but through Kimi Antonelli. Where George is "stiff and uptight and too posh", Kimi is a teenager. That's it. That's all they let him be. He gets to prank people, to be a little more loose than George, to be posted in their socials in a way that highlights how chill and easy going he is. The best example is how now his signature gesture is 🤙🏽
And that is cool. Although I think that the constant babying of Antonelli and the narrative that they are manufacturing around him will backfire on their face one day, Kimi's specifically, I'm not against them wanting to change their approach with their newest driver.
Why doesn't he get these upgrades as well? This support of the social media to team to display his personality? Which consists in more than Power Point Guy and Borderline Something Something?
And here I want to bring up Liam Lawson.
In my corner of the Internet, he was not very popular. While I personally felt very indifferent to him, more often than not, posts about him would be negative and very much so. Not even about his driving style and handing out valid criticism or whatnot.
No, I'm talking digs at his personality, his attitude, just him in general.
Then this season the vcarb admin steps in. And Liam is paired up with Arvid Lindblad, who is also a teenager and, if you check out his socials, you can agree that he is cool as hell, that people praise his outfits, they eat up his video blogs and they like his overall vibe.
And that's when vcarb social media does it's magic. Instead of ignoring an older driver, one not very appreciated by fans, they adapt the strategy to make both of them shine because of it.
You have the whole ragebaiting Liam Lawson bit, where Arvid Lindblad is more smooth and updated with trends because of his age but that is not used against Liam in a bad way. It adds to him, it turns him into someone agreeable that you fw because of the constant teasing.
Yet the angle is never to frame him like an idiot, or sideline him for his age. Instead, the result of that is vcarb becoming a team people root for in the midfield because they are supporting the drivers of the car. You stop being indifferent to them. Even if they won't always make it to the points, the social media presence is a constant feedback loop of why despite all of it, they are still a cool duo, they are still human beings who you want to see do well in a race.
Do you see the point I'm trying to make here?
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