Saw your reblog about the whole George-Lewis-Toto-Mercedes situation, and especially the part about George and Toto sleeping together yada yada yada -
I also want to point out that the fans who took this meme too serious and had a fucking field trip with it were also doing harm to George directly. (In the way that it must’ve been openly brought up to him // “accused” him.)
I’m not sure what video it was (I think it was the one where he’s reading out comments with Alex but I’m not sure) but George legit said that he himself has been called “Toto’s lover” which was definitely a call back to that rumor. (Praying I remember correctly)
Now imagine you finally made it to where you want to be, just for everyone to say you wh*red yourself up into that position and it’s not just your talent. Must be deviating.
(I know they’re supposed to stand above those comments and all but they’re still human you know)
In general I’m so disgusted by Mercedes just letting all kinds of harmful/racists/homophobic comments against Lewis (back when he was their driver) and George slide, but the second people said something against Kimi (back when he lost the car and lando overtook him and GP made the comment it was on purpose in 2025) it took less than 24 hours for Mercedes to release a press statement and speaking out against it.
Mercedes never cares about anyone else but their current golden boy who could win the championship. And that’s such a toxic set up when you previously treat your drivers like family ( e.g. George sleeping in Toto’s house)
Anyway sorry for the rant but I just wanted to share that thought.
Also want to point out that it’s not the drivers fault that the team is being a bitch who plays favorites.
here's the original post that i reblogged for anyone who wants context. anon, the video you refer to is the one where alex and george read compliments from their social media comments to each other.
i've watched clips of the video but never the full thing, so imagine my surprise when i click on it and one of the first things george says is (and i quote):
"...I mean, the comments I [usually] see are like you suck, I don't like you, 'Toto lover'..."
i like george's sense of humor because it's similar to my own: cheeky and blunt, easily self-deprecating at times. but man, the fact that he just said that so casually despite the full extent of what happened is...yeah. yikes. 🥹
i can only hope that his PR team shielded him from the worst of the backlash, but clearly he's aware of what people think of him and his relationship with toto.
*loooooong rambling incoming*
about lewis: i don't want to brush off the hate he receives, but you have to admit that the hate doesn't really matter when the truth remains that Lewis Hamilton is a 7x world champion, a history maker and shaper of formula 1. even when his reputation at mercedes began to falter, he still had existing fame, success, and strong fan support to act as a buffer.
george, however, doesn't have any of that.
i've always found it odd that a top3 team like mercedes allowed one of their long-time drivers to continually suffer an atrocious, years-long hate train because there is quite literally zero chance that they don't have the money+resources to dedicate toward improving george's public image. after all, formula 1 is as much about the glitz and glamor of the drivers as it is about the driving; that's why teams work so hard to market their drivers.
but why would mercedes care about marketing george? to the average non-GRpilled f1 fan, he doesn't have much going for him, unlike lewis "living legend" hamilton or kimi "future of mercedes" antonelli.
now, if george himself or whoever is on his personal PR management team (if he even has one; he might just let mercedes handle everything) were more media-savvy, he might've launched some sort of rebranding campaign (merch, socmed, partnerships, etc.) in 2025, his first year as the mercedes senior driver. not only could this benefit him financially, but it gives him more leverage when negotiating a contract with the team.
but despite his reputation as being a "PR robot" or whatever, i get the impression that george doesn't really care about those things. he does want to be liked, but he wants to be liked for good racing. and unfortunately, that's just not enough.
so yeah, mercedes is making a sound business decision by emphasizing kimi, who they're clearly building up to be the new face of the team, over george, who simply has and probably never will have the same level of marketability.
as for mercedes and their protectiveness of kimi....i understand why they do it, and i can't completely fault them because kimi is young and green; he should be spending his rookie years honing his skills. instead, mercedes has thrust him into this "youngest wdc" narrative, and he's clearly cracking under the pressure. who wouldn't?
they're trying to protect him because he's a valuable, but vulnerable asset. lewis didn't need that protection because he's lewis fucking hamilton, and george doesn't need that protection because...well, he's not a valuable asset. it's as simple as that.
