Absolutely, Anon — and his popularity skyrocketed again this year. Sure, some might say it’s because he became a dad and because of that whole fight with McLaren, which actually made a huge portion of anti-McLaren fans switch to his side. Then you add the Nürburgring, Franz Herman, and so on, and on top of that — the year she basically vanished from the paddock. Coincidence? Hmm… I think not.//
The baby had nothing to do with it imo. Most F1 fans don't even know he has a child. The gossip side of F1 knows it but the big majority of F1 fans don't care about the drivers private life's. But I think Kelly's absence helped a lot. People overal don't like to see the wags and those who care enough to know them hate the piquets. And people even petitioned to get rid of the wag content. Kelly is everything the average F1 watcher hates. She tries too hard to be the center of attention and she just doesn't get that nobody cares about her. She's also causing negative attention all the time, which brings Max down with her. People booed Max only because they thought he was racist because of Kelly. Her not being at the races helped to make people focus on his driving and his approach instead of her scandals and embarrassing behavior. The average viewer only cares about the racing. What really helped him is how he still performed under those bad circumstances and also seing mclaren n comparison being such a shit team with an arrogant driver.//
That's what is so funny when MG minions like to talk about how much Blondie's reputation has improved because of her. If that was really the case, why is his reputation even better this year when she has NOT been around and he's been doing all his side quests? Her own reputation is terrible enough on its own because she's a Piquet, how on earth could she ever improve Max's reputation?
The reality is that most Max fans are indifferent to MG, but those who do know about her do not like her. There is a huge difference between finding Blondie's interactions with Mini cute and still think him as a couple with MG is awful. People seem to think the two go hand in hand, they don't - they're actually mutually exclusive. Case in point, people can fawn over Max officially being a girl dad now with L, but still don't despise MG because of the suspicious circumstances around L's conception. In fact, the only reason people care about MG outside of Max is because of her children - that's why she uses them for engagement. No one wants to give her the time of day otherwise.
Blondie is at his best, not when he's pushing the "happy family" PR narrative with MG and the girls, but when he's just being himself and doing what he does best - that is racing. At the end of the day, most Max fans are in it for the love of racing. They don't care about what Max is doing in his personal life. Even if they did keep up with his personal life, they'd find MG unbearable and embarrassing. She's constantly trying to steal his spotlight by shoving herself into his space. No one wants to see that. They're there for Blondie, not for MG - so that means that they want to see Blondie and Blondie ALONE.
True F1 fans just want to see the drivers race, not the WAGS - and that's why the WAGS will never be more popular than the drivers unless they were already popular or famous from before like Shakira or Ciara. We already know that MG was a nobody before she became a WAG and she's still not exactly the most relevant influencer even as a WAG, so her presence isn't enough to impact anything in terms of public perception. If Blondie ever wanted to fight fire with fire, then it's game over for MG.
I completely agree with you on everything.
The fatherhood narrative has become an actual news story — not gossip, but mainstream coverage: newspapers, interviews, TV segments. That’s just a fact. And he’s managed it quite carefully, even though you can clearly see he’s been trying to tone it down a bit. Not very successfully, but he’s trying. I think by 2026 it’ll be a topic that naturally fades away, like every storyline that gets overexposed and burns itself out.
This is a saga, not a statement.
