This is a vent. I am venting. Think of it like hurt/no comfort fanfiction. If you hate George, or love what's going on down at Brackley, this is probably not the vibe for you.
Toto and the Mercedes team, you are all idiots. All of you. Not in how you're sabotaging George (I think it's actually quite clever how you walk the line between negligence and abuse) but in the fact that you are doing so in the first place.
Certainly, Kimi as WDC will give you a headline: the youngest ever, the prodigy, the next Lewis Hamilton. But keep in mind, if Kimi truly is the next Lewis (which I doubt, given Lewis has always fought against the tides, rather than swim with them), you are not his Mercedes--you are his McLaren, a dynasty at its end and a footnote in his career. Kimi has expressed multiple times his interest in Ferrari (an interest that seems well reciprocated) and it is only a matter of time before a seat opens. He would not be at fault for taking it, but you would be for not noticing that you are a means to an end.
And for this momentary glory, you've thrown George at the altar.
George, who will willingly tank the hatred for your car and your engine. Even now, nine races later, he still is mocked for his first race celebration ("I love this car, I love this engine!"). But, given the taste of battery acid hasn't completely rotted your brain, you'll remember that he was saying it to support the regulations you pushed for.
George, who has adopted the "Russell Reset" campaign and called out his own driving style on numerous occasions for not "adapting to the new regulations", despite said regulations being equally present during his pre-season domination and win in Australia and glaring evidence that points towards an issue in the car he helped champion on your behalf.
George, who has willingly signed over the most important decade of his life to your team, who shut down any rumors that could imply his move to another team, despite there being sizable interest in him throughout his early years in Formula 1, with a simple "all negotiations with me go through Mercedes".
Through numbers alone, yes it looks like you are investing in the future--with the gap in age alone, there is a decade more in Kimi than there will be in George. But, on my end, most signs point to this: if George wins, he will do so as a Mercedes driver. He will be remembered as a champion for you. If Kimi wins, you will be hardly be remembered at all. Truly, who sees Lewis as a McLaren driver?
Anyway, food for thought.
George will win WDC, because as you have said many a time, he has the resilience to do so, even when it looks like his multi-million dollar car you gave him does not.
