Some of us have been here since he was a shy 17 year old, playing online for days on end. When he didn’t drink, because he never went out. He admits he grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. For the last few years of his schooling he was home schooled. His weekends were spent at a racetrack, not out with his friends.
He spent lockdown alone and actually freely admitted he didn’t mind it as he preferred his own company. This is the boy who was excited about his cheap bulk buy of socks from Amazon.
As he grew up he had this magnetic, engaging and charming personality, but was in lots of ways the wallflower.
It’s great to see him finally start to enjoy his success, be that flash cars, fashion, partying with his friends, chasing 6 girls at a time or travelling the world. He has grown into the personality he had and is making up for all those years as a lonely teenager on his own. It’s like seeing someone finally realising who they are meant to be in life.
And the best bit? He’s doing it without all the old F1 driver playboy tropes. He’s not lounging on a yacht in between races and bringing a different model to each race. He’s not getting photographed being carried out of parties and clubs. Eddie Irvine or James Hunt he is not. Instead he’s just doing the usual early 20s things (remember he is still one of the babies on the grid), albeit with a far bigger budget than the rest of us.
jacobvanloon
