Really quickly I’m gonna run off on a topic I’ve been throwing around in my head. There’s been a lot of drama in the F1 paddock around some teams (Merc I’m looking at you). And I’m gonna yeet my two cents into the jar.
I also feel like I should preface this by saying I do actually enjoy George as a driver and as a person. My stance here is that Mercedes doesn’t and more than likely never will.
I’ve written academic papers on the inner workings of the formula one system before but now I’m throwing some of that same energy into The Tumblr Trash Sphere. So here we go!
I know there’s a lot of feelings around Mercedes and the treatment of the drivers (totally fair because what in the Sabotage is going on here Scooby Doo). That being said, I don’t think anyone should necessarily be surprised. Disappointed and angry yes! But perhaps not surprised.
F1 is a sport that’s always going to be slightly paradoxical. There’s two competitions happening at the same time. The constructors and the drivers. The drivers are really only interested in their own races, because their points are how they win the drivers and subsequently get their money. The teams however? The drivers is the bonus. The constructors championship is what they care about because that’s how they get their money. What does this mean Star? It means the teams and the drivers are always going to be running on slightly different agendas.
Most teams have a first driver, second driver policy (minus McLaren to an extent but I’ll cycle back to this later). This means the teams are ALWAYS going to prioritize that first driver. Sometimes to the pain and suffering of the second driver. Mercedes is extremely well known for this. Bottas’ only job was to provide enough support and buffer for Hamilton to pull results. Before Bottas it was Roseberg. That’s not to dismiss who Hamilton is as a driver. He’s easily one of the greatest drivers in F1 history, but with how unpredictable and high stakes some races can be it makes logistical sense for him to have a secondary driver acting as his buffer.
Now in 2016 Nico Roseberg managed to convince Mercedes to give him the exact same machine as Lewis Hamilton. Which made the competition Driver vs Driver. Everyone knows at this point that 2016 was a blood bath and that both drivers were almost fired by Mercedes over the antics. Nico wins and then retires. Bottas comes in as Lewis’s teammate and it’s HammerTime once more. Mercedes has always run a very rigid first and second driver agenda. It’s how they dominate. Pack hunting but there’s a primary attacker and then a backup support holding the line. This is a model most of the other teams use. See Red Bull.
Bring us into the Era of Russel. Russel knows he’s got the skill to pull off a car that’s not a Williams. He just needs someone to notice that. He pitches to Toto and Toto takes him. Why is that important? Because it’s about timing. Bottas’ contact is coming to an end. Do they extend or take a new guy? They take Russel. Now that’s important because Hamilton is still there. He’s still the number one guy. Which means Mercedes isn’t looking for a primary driver they’re looking for a secondary driver. Russel.
Pull forward 2024 Hamilton announces when his contract ends he’s going to Ferrari. Now Mercedes needs a primary driver. They have George. He’s consistent, level headed and pulls good results. Makes a good candidate. But Toto has Kimi Antonelli who’s running through the lower levels like butter in his back pocket. Toto’s wanted Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for a minute. (Both of whom were ‘wonder kids’ of their eras. But Red Bull has had Verstappen on lockdown since the beginning and McLaren has had Norris locked down since the start. Neither are moving.) (arguments can also be made for Charles Leclerc because he was absolutely a wonder kid I’m just not sure if Toto was ever interested in picking him up) Antonelli looks like a good candidate for Mercedes own super kid project.
Objectively this is good news for Mercedes. This is also horrible news for George. That said allow me to put something in front of you that may hurt some feelings. Earlier I said that George came into Mercedes when they where looking specifically for a second driver. Now allow me to built off that and tell you Mercedes never has and never will see George Russel as anything other than a second driver. They brought him on specially to back Lewis. They found Kimi to replace Lewis. The only reason George got the backing last season at in the first couple races of this season was because Mercedes weren’t sure if Kimi Antonelli was ready to fly yet. If George Russel wins the championship right now it’ll be because he’s fighting against his own team. If kimi hadn’t of taken off and George won the championship it would have been because kimi wasn’t ready yet. Mercedes was never going to back George to a championship. That’s not why they signed him as a driver. Mercedes plays the first and second driver game hard. George was always supposed to be number two when it came to Mercedes.
That’s why if something happens? It’s going to be George they get rid of. If George starts challenging Kimi? They’re going to can him. If Toto gets Verstappen? George is getting canned.
Now everyone is also talking about Red Bull and who gets the seat? Well Red Bull isn’t going to take George. George isn’t aggressive the way they want Red Bull drivers to be. And I also don’t think Oscar is going to go to Red Bull and that’s where we cycle back to the McLaren conversation!
McLaren, papaya rules. It only works with certain drivers. Because McLaren doesn’t race a one and two. They race two cars and priority shifts depending on race conditions. NOW! Zak Brown CEO favors Lando Norris. But Andrea Stella Team Principal favors Oscar Piastri. And that’s why to an extent it works. McLarens team set up gave me a headache when I was writing academic papers in the past, because normally on an F1 team the TP and CEO are the same person. In McLaren it’s two separate roles with two people. Makes for some wonky moments.
Now is McLaren perfect? No. Not even slightly. But! Oscar and Lando have the same car. Which is rarer as usually the primary drivers gets a slightly different package from the secondary. Now team orders play a role here, but McLaren plays both sides of the game, to an extent. Usually their race calls depend on which car has certain stats. That doesn’t mean it makes sense ok, they fuck up spectacularly (Vegas25 and Qatar25 I’m fucking looking at you). But for a team that doesn’t run primary and secondary drivers it works well enough.
Now, why this only works with certain drivers. Not everyone is going to thrive in this environment. (Verstappen, Antonelli, 2026 Carlos) Lando and Oscar both are ok playing team games when it’s for each other. It’s why they’re back to back in constructors. It’s also why McLaren is going to do whatever is needed to keep both with them.
Say Max leaves and Oscar moves to Red Bull. Now he’s gotta play at being top driver. Which he definitely has the technical skill for! But at the end of last season he struggled some (under his own admission) with the mental pressure. This is completely normal so we’re all clear. But! Red Bull is known for being extremely volatile. (See Checo mailing Red Bull his therapy bill) now I think at some point Oscar will race for a team other than McLaren. I do not think it will be soon. Oscar likes what he’s got at McLaren most of the time. McLaren is also arguably the best when it comes to treating their drivers as humans rather than machines. Something every single f1 teams needs to work on.
All and all McLarens strategy only works if both drivers are willing to play the papaya rules game (which is why both lando and Oscar have said that if they wherent civil during the title fight last season they both wouldn’t have a seat). And Mercedes never brought George in to be a number one driver. No matter how talented George actually is.
Formula one as a whole needs to get better at recognizing that their drivers are actually people with feelings rather than a machine that produces money and results. While I could say a whole lot more in all of this it’s already waaaay too long.
Hopefully where I was trying to go with this makes sense! Thanks for reading :D
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