honestly mercedes is selling the whole family dynamic thing really well and a large part of it has to do with kimi's role. when you have a teenager on the team that naturally assumes a protégé role with nearly anybody that he comes in contact with on the grid, it's easy to sell the idea of him being childlike and therefore taking on the part of being the team's son.
exhibit A: the video of kimi and toto drawing together for sebastian vettel's f1rest project. deliberately including shots of toto instructing kimi on how to draw a tree as he's hunched over, creating the illusion of kimi being smaller than he really is, is truly familybait. it really pushes the idea of toto and kimi having a father-son (or even grandfather-grandson) dynamic because having toto draw an owl for kimi and direct him is something reminiscent of a paternal character.
exhibit B: kimi and george's chemistry. seeing kimi copy george's mannerisms always reinforces a leadership role in george, like when he saw george look down his watch and instantly do the same (linked in the video below)
george also uses a lot of unifying words with kimi, "we're in it together."
their constant need to be around each other only seems to make this stronger (granted, this is mainly due to them being teammates).
honestly, i just think kimi fits the team like a glove, and it wouldn't surprise me if the whole family thing wasn't intentional at first.
with max, i don't mind the kimistappen father-son agenda that the official formula one account is spreading, though i do prefer kimi belonging to mercedes rather than being the paddock's son, though maybe that's just my bias speaking.
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