They certainly are a fascinating case study in terms of team loyalty and connection to the brand. In both cases they've grown up with the teams, which inevitably makes it harder to separate the person from the brand and team emotionally.

But yes, I do think they can be successful, so let's break the cases down individually:

Max

From the beginning of his career in f1 and being really known before that, Max has been associated with Red Bull. His business ventures are tied to it, and he's never worked for and with sponsors the same way that Charles did. Also, Red Bull doesn't have the same pull as Ferrari, so it depends much more on the athletes, especially the high profile ones. When you think of Red Bull Racing, you think of Max. When you think of Max, you think of Red Bull Racing. He's their baby. It's difficult to imagine him without a can of Red Bull in his hand, or without that polo. So it definitely would be a challenge for him to escape that. However, there's one main advantage to Max's brand: he's a driver first and foremost. His entire social media revolves around racing. He's also always been successful when it comes to racing, so he doesn't need to chase sponsorships as much. He doesn't like media, he doesn't enjoy fame or attention all that much, but he still has 4 titles. He's also backed by some of his nation's biggest brands.

And if we talk about switching to other teams, I do think Max can take that racing first persona with him. He'd definitely have to put in more effort than he's done so far, but I also don't believe for a second that he hasn't been looking for alternatives in terms of funding and sponsorships for his own ventures. Ultimately, for his own team and racing ventures, I believe it wouldn't really matter as much whether Red Bull is featured there, or not, since his name in this context would matter more. I'm not sure he would tie his business to another f1 team if he were to change teams and rather go completely independent. Presumably that's his long-term goal anyway.

I also do believe that when it comes to his own brand, sure, it would take some time to get used to him in different colours, but I think his racing really always does the talking for him. Again, because he's so focussed on racing rather than the show, people would presumably pay more attention to that. But his brand, ultimately, is Max Verstappen, and racing, and winning. Both his talent and his personality are so big and known publicly that he could establish himself elsewhere. Would it be an equally symbiotic relationship? Maybe not, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing.

Maybe for media purposes it makes sense to send WAGs but it does kinda dilute the importance of 'women in Motorsport' when they use it interchangeably for 'women who happen to date drivers'.

*tessa’s voice* “oh noooo” im going to break your illusions of morning news shows. I’ll give two different examples of my own personal experiences working/pitching stories to news stations for similar programs to kinda show the difference, and then just leave some links. 

1. back in the day (so like 2014) I worked at a marketing and pr agency that worked almost exclusively with for profit organizations. One client was a massage studio, and the owner would go on a program similar to I guess Breakfast Television Canada? It came on at 10 am, so after the national Good Morning America. It was broadcasted local, but I’m in a fairly large media market. It’s more fluff/human interest, cooking demonstrations, etc. My client would go on 3-4 times a year to talk about the benefits of a sports massage, or hot stone massages. And then, at the end, she’d plug her studio. And she had to pay for those spots. 

2. Prior to that, I was an intern for a medical school’s communications department. We would contact similar news programs (I actually think it was probably the same one) and for example, one pitch I remember: going back to school is tough on younger kids as they adjust to a new schedule, Dr. Pediatrician is a sleep expert and is available to discuss tips for helping kids get to bed and wake up. We didn’t have to pay for that. 

both are fluffy, both are health/wellness based, but one was a for-profit pitching their business and the other wasn’t. 

I just did a quick search to see what I could find from canada to show this. 

It looks like Breakfast TV Toronto does a series called “Movin’ in the Morning” and this one uses a fitness studio to help them. Watch at the end where they plug their business: https://www.bttoronto.ca/videos/movin-in-the-morning-with-marylu-and-daisy-samaniego/

I'm so sorry I've been so absent 😭 This season so far just hasn't been interesting at all, and life has been super busy with work and activities that require wrangling many, many horsies and, subsequently, less screen time. Which has been great honestly!! But I miss you guys also –

Regarding the interview... oh boy

I turn to Norris and underline the importance of the issue. A young representative of the management team in the room with us steps closer to say: “We’re done with time.” I ask Norris if he can spare the additional 10 minutes I’d been promised. He looks embarrassed and says: “I’m not the boss.” Norris is the world champion and his management company work for him and, when I protest this, he says: “That’s fine. I’m happy to answer that question.” “No,” says the representative in the room. Norris smiles awkwardly as he again says: “I’m not the boss.”

“I’ve no idea,” Norris says. “Max can do whatever he likes.” I say it seems like Norris can’t do the same which is crazy when he is obviously intelligent. His representative approaches us, goes into overdrive and, still laughing, says, as if talking on behalf of Norris: “He’s an amazing guy. Max is the best person ever and we love him. Quote.”

This isn't meant to be any sort of anti LH ask, I am just interested in how actions sometimes don't always match the media image.

People will throw stones at me for this, but I maintain that most of what he does is purely performative and good for his image.

Here's the thing, he has good intentions, right? It's good to fly commercial rather than with a private jet, and there's benefits to being vegan. And it's great if there's this big platform which might inspire more people to try a vegan diet (not sure how relatable the selling the private jet is to most). But what does it really do for him to drive electric vehicles in his private life, or to "only" fly commercial if he's still taking part in one of, if not the, most environmentally damaging sports that exist?

Some of you are going to say that well, at least he does something, while your favourite still uses his private jet and pollutes the environment. So be it. Yes, every little helps, as Tesco likes to say. But my driver also doesn't position himself as an advocate for sustainability. I just think that fundamentally, you can't be an environmentalist and drive in f1, no matter how much you're going to talk about offsetting your carbon footprint, and whatnot. But again, this is not to discount the changes he has made. I just do question how much he actually cares, and which is again proven by him doing this partnership with an AI company.

His partnership with lululemon? Is being the ambassador for a company that's known for having racism accusations really the best move if a big part of your private and public identity is to fight racism, since that's (very obviously) a personal concern to him and something he's been a champion for, paving the way for others? And that's not to mention his work with Dior & Co., all while being I believe the only driver who's actually spoken out about Gaza.

And the movie, well. I really have nothing positive to say about the movie and his involvement with it, and other people in Hollywood, so I'll leave it at that.

In the end, I think he's now showing that money and clout trump everything else. He wants to further cement his celebrity status, which also involves taking on these high profile projects. As you all very well know at this point, I expect nothing else from these people, and while I believe he's done incredible things for the sport and inclusion, it does puzzle me to why people are so willing to overlook other, perhaps slightly more questionable, things he does. I guess people are so used to him being a "symbol" that you don't want to criticise him too much, and also, to be honest, because his supporters tend to be very vocal about backing him that it can become quite uncomfortable to say anything about it.

He’s going into yet another season of other British drivers outshining him in terms of publicity. Even worse, there’s now drivers like Carlos fully leaning into the whole British heritage thing and quite frankly, Carlos for Hackett looks better than anything George has ever done 😭

All of the “big” drivers right now have been doing so much stuff over the winter break, while George has been kind of nowhere. Adidas just doesn’t work for him the same way TH did and if we look at his instagram, there’s literally nothing noteworthy in terms of publicity.

I think there’s probably going to be a lot of solo pr for Charles with selected projects with Lewis. But it works, since Charles sells.

I can imagine him having a role closer to the ambassador position Ferrari promised him for his retirement, so he might be more involved and present for that rather than the social media content and the like.

Honestly, something I have been missing a lot is the silly SoMe videos that Ferrari made with Charles and Carlos, I know they still do some with Charles and Lewis but it feels so subdued in comparison to before. These videos were such a fun way to see more of their personalities and the competitiveness that drove them, and it’s clear to see that Ferrari are trying to keep it up but the effect isn’t the same.

Although, I will say that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Carlos, there was something about the energy that him and Charles had together. There was more silliness and more chaos in their videos, and it was entertaining and endearing. And obviously, it was still pr work and they might not be like this when there’s not a camera on them, but at least they could fake it then.

I really feel like these videos were great in creating a balance between pr and letting their personalities shine.

For me, Lewis comes off as “too good for that”, and I feel like it has changed a lot about how Ferrari now presents itself. And Charles seems to follow that a bit, but instead of being good it just doesn’t work.

It’s really irritating because I feel as though Charles is holding himself so much back online, whereas I feel like he comes alive again on track and during race weekends.

True! These videos have always been silly and I'm sure that the drivers don't necessarily always want to do them, but they do offer a glimpse (even if staged) what the drivers are like. And I also think it's very telling that it's always the same formula and the same artificially created environment, but some pairings simply take off more than others. Especially since Charlos also had their moments outside of these games. Even if they must have hated each other on track a lot, you're right that they still had this energy together.