#chalex

PSA: a gentle reminder that wags are just normal people that happen to date drivers. Yes, they may be models, professional athletes and social media sensations, and be featured in rhode, but at the end of the day, they're people with their own passions, careers, and stories, not just accessories to your favourite driver.

If you know me, you would know that I am 1. a fangirl. 2. the number 1 hater of wag culture (and parasocial relationships in general). Combining my two expertises, here is why wag culture is horrible:

For instance, merely gaining the status of being a wag affords you incessant and unrelenting praise. I don't think anyone can deny that a wag's popularity is solely due to the driver—yes, i'm looking at you, Alexandra minions. I can guarantee that you know someone like Alexandra in your life—your Lacy of sorts. Someone who is beautiful, outgoing, and just genuinely a nice soul to be around. From my personal, purely unbiased perspective, here is my impression of Alexandra: an unassuming French-Mexican girl with good fashion sense, posture, networking skills, and just so happened to be dating the prince of Monaco Charles Leclerc. I won't elaborate on her brand deals with Rhode, Meshki, etc, but people need to stay grounded so here we are. Purely objectively, Alexandra is a marketing machine. While it is undeniable that her brand deals are deserved, her largest selling point is that she fully embodies the je ne sais quoi, it girl persona while dating objectively the most popular f1 driver amongst female fans, which gives a connection that allows brands to delve into the growing female fan demographic of f1 without paying an exorbitant sponsorship for f1 academy which probably wouldn't bring them too much press anyways. To continue, I fear I must talk about Lily Zneimer. She seems to be the perfect unassuming girl, sharing a lilt of as if to say she is just like anyone else. I suppose that is why she became so popular even through her privacy. If you google her, you find out she's British, met Oscar in school, and is an aspiring engineer. If you dig a little deeper, you find out that she received all 9s on her GCSEs. That's all can be found on her on the internet. You know NOTHING about her personality, hobbies, etc. NOTHING. Who are you stanning? And yet, there are fanpages dedicated to reposting her every move, passionate fans that spend hours searching up every piece of her outfits to post on instagram. As evidenced by Lily's private demeanour, the fanpages could be making her uncomfortable, and pulling her into the exact situation she seeks to avoid by being a private wag. On an off note, a large reason why she is loved as a "private wag" is because she is not profiting off Oscar for clout on instagram, by which is internally misogynistic on its own. Since people don’t know anything about Lily, there’s nothing for them to criticise, so they "stan': her mainly to use her as a contrast to more well known wags, often as a way to hate on those other women, if that makes sense. To put it simply, you are just glorifying someone with very little status. Wags like Alexandra (to no fault of their own) are stealing from actual women in motorsport. I recently saw an article titled something along the lines of "Is Alexandra Saint Mleux the most glamorous woman in Formula 1?" First off, she is not a woman in Formula 1. She would not have any connection to F1 or motorsport if she wasn't dating Charles. She isn't involved in the sport’s competitive or technical side. The term “women in F1” generally highlights those making a hands on contribution—drivers, engineers, strategists, mechanics, and other team personnel—rather than those attending as partners or guests. While wags certainly contribute to the racing atmosphere and community, their role doesn’t fit the professional focus that the phrase aims to recognise. Using your logic, is Pascale Leclerc a woman in f1? How about Nicole Piastri? Calling her a "woman in f1" is a slap in the face to the actual drivers, engineers, etc who have had to fight for a place in this highly competitive, male‑dominated industry. By applying the label to someone simply because of their relationship to a driver, it diminishes the efforts and expertise of the women making a direct, professional contribution to f1 every day. Alexandra has 2x the amount of followers as Susie Wolff, 18x of Hannah Schmitz, 10x of Doriane Pin. Let that sink in.

Lastly, I find the wag tiering system interesting. If you go on tiktok search up f1 wags and scroll just a little too far, you will find fanpages dedicated to a specific wag. Occaisionally, these account like to slander the previous girlfriends of these drivers in order to re-enlist the superiority of their fav wag. I have nothing to say other than it is utterly ridiculous, parasocial, and just downright weird. Let’s break down what constitutes a “good wag” by analysing the definition : WAG, wives and girlfriends of professional athletes. Therefore, by this logic, the vitality of a “good” wag is decided by the how “good” of a girlfriend they are. But how do you measure being a good girlfriend when you dont have any input or space in their personal life? critiquing outfits or whatever sponsorships they may have recieved due to their wag status (highly connected to the prestige and reputation of their driver boyfriend) is completely irrelevant to their status as a wag, as is psychanalysing their reactions (cheering, smiling, emotions, etc) to their boyfriends winning. Point is, you have no right to judge whoever a driver choses to date.

On the opposite side of the coin, people are to obsessed with digging up dirt about wags. I recently discovered a 30 page website dissecting Rebecca's entire instagram posts, presence, employment, connections, and public appearances, since she her adolescence, including extrapolating many rumours that have little to no relevance to her current public image. I won't continue as that thread does not need any more publicity than it already has, but you get the idea. Additionally, I think that most of you are familiar with the povkellyp fiasco. Why do peaple act like kelly is some kind of evil mastermind?? like be serious. You’re foaming at the mouth over a woman you don’t know because she dated two drivers, has a daughter and dared to exist in public. It’s giving misogyny in a cute fandom wrapper. not everything needs a villain arc. Sometimes a person is just living their life and y’all project a whole telenovela onto it. Maybe go outside. Have a coke. Pet a dog. Yes, she’s high profile because she’s connected to Max, one of the biggest names in f1, but that doesn’t justify making her a target. Criticising her every word, outfit, or social media post doesn’t prove how passionate you are about racing—it just exposes how little you have to say about the actual sport. People change—even if the horrible rumours surrounding her are true, Max has his reasons for choosing her to be the mother of his children. You needn't interfere and perpetuate rumours, and doing so is childish. If she is really so bad, people will realise without your hate posts.

To conclude, I must remind everyone to be open of others' opinions, and to reflect before commenting something mean. All the wags are amazing girls who deserve the utmost respect. I am happy to engage in open discussions surrounding my argument, should you wish to hear more.

Those are everything I can think of for now. Anyways, thank you for reading my rant ᡣ𐭩 •｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅

xoxo,

CHARLES AND ALEX ARE ENGAGED!!!!!

⟢ my chalex crumbs <3