your pr-astri thoughts are so great but it does make me wonder, why does someone who filters their public image through a looking glass behave the way he does around/with lando? not saying f1 drivers are actually in love with each other or that rpf is real! but surely oscar’s internet awareness extends to the perception of his own relationship with his teammate? even from the championship angle?
i'm not exactly sure what direction you're coming from here (since people read the landoscar relationship in a variety of ways) but i assume that by 'behave the way he does around/with lando' you mean the heart eyes/deep laughter/etc during marketing videos and stuff?
first that's assuming most people read his relationship with lando that way and i don't actually think that's a given, or as pervasive as being in rpf spaces makes it seem.
second i don't think that they'd necessarily recognize all shipping content and rpf when they saw it. there's an established culture of liking and rooting for 'bromances' especially in teammate pairings. when an f1 driver says 'carlando' or 'lestappen' or whatever most of the time they aren't referencing rpf and they're not thinking about it either. funny teammate moments are just as discussed in normie f1 fan spaces as they are in rpf ones, just through a different angle. and that's if the spaces that oscar is spending time in are adjacent to rpf spaces at all, when he's maybe not.
third, and most important: oscar has made it pretty clear that his interests align with mclaren's; he thinks that it's important to have a good working relationship with his teammate, and to prioritize the team over teammate squabbles/unity. like, he's said explicitly, multiple times to a range of people, that he has a strategic interest in being friendly with his teammate and not risking conflict in a team where he sees himself staying long-term. not saying that his friendliness with lando is inauthentic, because i don't think it is, but i think you must view their interactions through the lens that he prioritizes and sees critical value in promoting intra-team harmony. i can't think of something that would align more with his vision of pr than to publicly get along well with his teammate, frankly