Please pretty please can we get a (general) timeline layout of Danielle’s career/personal life? I love this au but I need to go back and price it all together: she is engaged to Jules and driving for Ferrari? When does Max come into her life (if he still does)? and how does her career wrap up (if you have that plotted out)? I am begging for crumbs 🙏🏻
Of course! I've mentioned before that most of the differences occur post-Renault. It's important to understand the narrative function of HFFL. I said this in previous posts:
What's most important, at the core of Happy Fantasy Ferrari Land, is that this is the version of herself Danielle imagines where she gets everything she wants, and that she is constantly comparing herself to.
I’m sure there’s no deeper meaning to imagining your boyfriend defending your seat and your worth to your team and having them listen. Or your boyfriend choosing you over the sport and leaving when you leave. That doesn’t mean anything.
But what's actually most important is that, in this world, Ferrari is a competent team capable of winning anything.
All jokes aside, this is Danielle's personal fantasy land where nothing goes wrong for her, but we—as the audience—are observing from a meta standpoint what she chooses to lever against the canon timeline. Join me below the cut.
For example, Monaco 2016 becomes Schrödinger's Formula 1 victory—she both wins and does not win Monaco in 2016. That's a significant event for her. In a perfect world, they don't fuck up her pit stop. But also in a perfect world, she moves to a team (Ferrari) who values her and wants her to succeed, and that's the ultimate Fuck You to a team who stopped caring about her. What does she currently value more? Sometimes she wins and sometimes she doesn't.
We can also look at going to Renault—why wouldn't Red Bull simply have not prioritized Max over her and she could have stayed? Won a WDC with Red Bull instead? Moving to Renault is also formative, she becomes her own person there. So she leaves Red Bull.
The other functional purpose of HFFL is that I—as the author—get to play in my sandbox with a reality that gets to keep someone who had so much waiting for him in life, and I miss him. This is why there's an element of reality that grounds this world as a stand-alone AU. I see it as to Danielle, these people exist. Therefore, they are real and that means they are bound to certain limits.
With the lore in mind, let's finally look at our timeline:
2007: Danielle meets Jules at the Formula Medicine training camp in Viareggio, Italy as teenagers. She's the only girl there. You can imagine what this is like for her. Fortunately, this beautiful boy who everyone idolizes is very nice to her and keeps inviting her to do things with him. They also see each other again in Barcelona with Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 when Danielle is entered as a guest driver. She's ineligible for championship points, but she does leave with a new boyfriend which is cool too.
2011: They're both F1 test drivers (Danielle soon to be called up to HRT) and think they're being so sneaky secret about dating each other, but there are no secrets in F1. Everyone can see them. This is also the year the Danielle meets Max at the Zandvoort karting event and he decides she is the most beautiful woman to walk the earth. Danielle recognizes him as Charles' mortal enemy. She tells him over Skype later 'I don't know what the big deal is, you're a big baby. He looks like a little guppy.' Worth noting: 13 year old Charles thinks he's hot shit because he's got a direct line to a real F1 driver, and she doesn't get mad when him and Arthur call her Tata.
2014: The accident in Japan is NOT fatal. (Another Schrodinger's Formula 1 event—sometimes the FIA cancels the race, sometimes it's just a less severe collision.)
2016: Kimi leaves early because Ferrari is champing at the bit for their original Academy driver and also I personally felt bad leaving him at Marussia or in a 2015 Ferrari reserve role any longer. I may have broken up my beloved Simi, but please consider how Weird (affectionate) Seb would be about Jules. Max is also Danielle's teammate now and he is very weird about her. You don't have to consider this one, you already know. He is a professional third wheel. 'Are we socializing him?' Jules asks Danielle.
2018: Danielle wins Monaco and Jules' proposal plans for summer break are thrown out. He has to do it now. See the full Engagement Lore here. Max is looking at her ring thinking 'okay but there's still a chance. I can object at the wedding.'
2019-2020: Danielle drives for Renault. French fiancé, French team. The French love her. Originally, their wedding was planned for 2020. I have bad news for them. Danielle leaves Renault and, despite being "weird and offputting," signs a contract with Scuderia Ferrari to replace Sebastian Vettel. The French are devastated. Jules wins the WDC. The French are elated. Forza Ferrari. More information here.
2021: A great year to be Tifosi. The wedding is back on. Italians everywhere rejoice. Zak Brown is furious, teammates can't be married. Danielle says "then your teammates are cowards, Zak." The Ferrari PR department recognizes just how much they can do with the Sports Narrative To End All Sports Narratives and makes them special race suits that they never wear for anything other than a photoshoot outside Enzo Ferrari's house in the middle of the Fiorano circuit with Mr. and Mrs. printed on the back instead of their names. Brocedes could never. Danielle wins the WDC, and most importantly, she takes it from Max Verstappen, the kid who stole her team out from under her. Forza Ferrari. FEA. Worth noting: Max is happy for her. Even with Well Done Baku 2.0. They are just as good friends in this world as they are in ours. He was in her wedding party. He loves her.
2022-2024: In typical Ferrari fashion, they immediately forget they are a championship winning team. LiCo. We enter the Max Verstappen Dominance era. Jules does get his French GP victory in 2022. Forza Ferrari. Vive la France. Danielle is the only non-Red Bull winner of 2023, a la 2014, in SINGAPORE. (My condolences to Mr Sainz. You can understand why I needed to do this.) Winter break of 2023/2024, they have the 'Should We Retire and Have Children' talk and decide the answer is yes. 2024 will be the last year in Formula 1 for both of them. Sports Narrative to end all Sports Narratives. Danielle wins in Australia in 2024. Advance Australia F- -orza Ferrari. A proper send off in Abu Dhabi.
2025: Danielle is an overachiever and announces that they're having a baby right before the season starts. This is her world, we're all just living in it. Charles and Lewis to Ferrari. I think Charles has been chilling with RBR as Max's teammate this whole time, it's the funniest option for me. Also the concept that Ferrari keeps stealing Red Bull drivers? Hilarious. Baby Lorenzo is born on 5 September, over Monza weekend. The most Ferrari baby ever. Zak Brown is furious. Christian Horner is jobless. Danielle has a family. Forza Ferrari.
2027: Lorenzo gets a little sister, Clementine. They call her Clem. Lando texts Danielle 'Clementine, orange fruit, papaya, orange fruit. Close enough. McLaren baby.' She blocks his number for 24 hours.
It’s a universal constant that man will be a Little Freak, and this verse is no exception. A boyfriend will not stop a feral, teenage Max Verstappen from imprinting on his hot, older teammate. The race weekend dinner table formation when they go out looks like Jules on Danielle’s right, Max on her left, Sebastian Vettel across from them. Sometimes Jean-Eric is there also and he sits next to Seb, but he doesn’t usually say anything.
After Hungary 2017, Max asks Danielle how she manages not to take on-track conflicts off-track (and vice-versa). She looked… less than pleased when he stood at her door and held out a beer (stupid!) that she probably threw right into the trash, but it was better than throwing it back at his head and never speaking to him again. Danielle says to Max, “I want you to imagine getting crashed out by another driver, telling him to go fuck himself, and then coming home and he’s in your house. Worse, he sleeps in your bed at night, he’s seen you naked, and he’s met your parents.”
Max, of course, knows that she is dating someone on the grid. It is not a secret and also they are always doing things together. But Max is just kind of sitting there processing, for the first time, the implications of what it means for Danielle to be in a committed relationship as an adult like
for those of you choosing not to engage with hffl au, you’re missing out on some Prime Psychoanalysis going on over there. i’ll give it to you here:
like i’m sure there’s deffo no deeper meaning to imagining your boyfriend defending your seat and your worth to your team and having them listen. or your boyfriend choosing you over the sport and leaving when you leave. that doesn’t mean anything. you’re not allowed to ask for anything but also what would you even ask for because it’s not like you want anything or whatever
Did Danielle ever break the Aussies on the Albert Park podium curse?
In 2024 when she wins! She's really good at coming in P4, though.
Fun (?) Fact: I fear being married to an Australian makes you Australian By Association in the eyes of the curse. So even if you've gotten a podium there before, you won't anymore. Crazy work.
Gentleman. A short view back to the past.
The year is 2023. Danielle corners Oscar early on Thursday when they all arrive in Melbourne and is like "Oscar, do you know what the fuel flow rate limit on an F1 car is? It's one hundred kilograms per hour. Ask me how I found out."
Oscar, who has only done two F1 races in his life at this point and can never ever let Danielle know about the Barbie dolls he has of her, looks over her shoulder at Jules, who definitely knows about the Barbie dolls Oscar has of his wife, and who is shaking his head and mouthing 'do not ask.'
And then during the race, they make contact with each other in a corner and drop down the time sheet, and the camera man can’t run fast enough to get Mark Webber standing there in the McLaren garage begging for death.
which 2021 races does danielle win for her championship run?
For those asking why I haven't updated or where babyfic is, it's because I was busy becoming an FIA steward.
If there's a 3-way title fight (Danielle, Lewis, Max) in a season with 22 races, mathematically you've got to win at least 7 times. But this is a world in which Ferrari is competitive, which means we throw in a teammate who won the year prior and is trying to take points off you but is also rear-gunning for you. What does that mean? It means cheating allegations. Anyway, mathematically that's only 6. Easy money. Ergo:
Imola (FORZA FERRARI!)
Monaco
France (FERRARI 1-2! TENSION! HOT!)
Monza (FORZA FERRARI!)
United States (YEEYAW!)
Saudia Arabia
Abu Dhabi
Worth noting: I think it's funny if her and Max crash each other out in Baku again, like what are the fucking odds that happens to her twice.
So the timeline deviates after Renault—instead of going to McLaren, Danielle gets an offer from Ferrari when Seb leaves. Nepotism accusations? Maybe so, but this is Formula 1. Everybody’s doing nepotism these days. What’s important is that her life is a cycle of taking Seb Vettel’s place and then throttling him #2021WDC
There would absolutely be an Homage Weekend though, similar to what we saw in Monza this year, but worse because it’s like, 2001 that they’re homaging. That’s great for us though, because Danielle would show up in low rise jeans and a studded belt with her throwback Ferrari baby tee. Ferrari, of course, is like “great, the Weird and Offputting one is doing weird and offputting things again” and then she would post a bunch of pictures on instagram stories of Michael serving cunt (and then a bunch of photos of Jenson being normal just because and Jenson comments kissy faces and tags Jules)
Everyone else is asking where the Marlboro logo is
fully understand some people may not be interested in this! everything is below the cut!
I know I said this is the Happy Fantasy timeline that canon!Danielle likes to think about and I promise it is! Most of the content warning is in reference to Danielle's anxieties about what might happen.
They've talked about it in the abstract, but winter break before the start of the 2024 season is when Danielle first seriously entertains having a baby. She's already 34. The OBGYN will consider her "geriatric" at 35. Michelle had sent her links to maternal age statistics for both Australia and France, but it doesn't really make her feel any better. It just reminds her how different she is from other women, how a life of racing has affected her body. It makes her nervous.
She brings it up at home one night, how she's achieved her dream in F1 and it's okay if she stops now. She's done what she wanted to do, and it might actually be nice to retire, take a step back, be a mum. She jokes about being the hottest WAG, and teeny Ferrari baby clothes, and how small they'd have to make the font in the graphic that would pop-up when the broadcast cut to her in the garage in order to fit everything in. Jules says instead of making the font smaller, they should just make the graphic laughably bigger. And then they have a serious conversation about retirement and fairness and starting a family, and decide that they're both done, not just Danielle.
And then as they approach the end of the season, Danielle wants to be excited but mostly, she secretly worried that it won't work. She'll retire from the sport and it'll have been all for nothing because she won't be able to get pregnant and it'll be her fault for neglecting her physical wellbeing just to feed her own ego. She can't take a World Championship trophy to the karting track or teach it to read or dress it in baby-sized rosso corsa. She needs to breathe. It'll happen when it happens. Everything will be okay.
Because this is Happy Fantasy verse, everything is okay. Imagine driving your last race in Formula 1 on 8 December and then finding out you're pregnant at the beginning of January. Quick turnaround time, you've never done anything slow in your life.
Baby is due 02 Sept, 2025 and born 05 Sept. That's Monza weekend! The most Ferrari baby ever :)
Also I don't want to give too much away so all I'll say is keep an eye out for babyfic 👀
I want to ask about Happy Fantasy Ferrari Land girl!daniel! I'm not sure what to ask though...
How did she end up at Ferrari? How's it going there? Who's her team mate? Are the Ferrari horrors persisting, even in Happy Fantasy Ferrari Land?
What's most important, at the core of Happy Fantasy Ferrari Land, is that this is the version of herself Danielle imagines where she gets everything she wants, and that she is constantly comparing herself to.
There are a couple instances in canon where she'll think to herself, 'they would never have treated me like this if I were a man' which is meant to be funny to us because, soz babe but you are a near direct mirror of real!Daniel and it happened to him too. But crucially, to canon!Danielle, that version of her (Daniel) does not exist and a world where she has everything good is a more tangible reality.
She ends up at Ferrari in 2021 after leaving Renault, instead of going to McLaren, because Ferrari isn't afraid of Italian passion in this verse and also it helps to have your beloved driver (the OG Il Predestinato if you want a hot opinion from me) ask you not to call his fiancé "strange and off-putting." He thinks her smile is very pretty. Mattia Binotto is emotionally unmoved but relents. Sebastian Vettel departs for Aston Martin and Danielle moves in to take his spot. Riccardo Adami is her race engineer (again).
The nepotism allegations go Crazy, as I'm sure you can imagine, considering her teammate is none other than the reigning World Champion and her fiancé. [Editor's Note: I said in a previous post that Lewis is the one person who stands to lose the most in this AU. I am taking podiums and WDCs from him. It's not personal, Lewis. There's a reddit comment from 6 years ago that agrees with me that the restructuring of the driver lineup changes dramatically if one (1) man does not die.]
They were supposed to get married in 2020, but that got cancelled #pandemic. Instead, Ferrari uses them both as a massive PR opportunity when they get married in 2021. Race suits with Mr. and Mrs. on the back instead of their names that they never actually wear beyond a professional photoshoot. Did you know that Enzo Ferrari's house in Maranello is literally in the middle of the Fiorano track? Imagine standing out there in a cathedral length veil.
Zak Brown, predictably, is furious about this. What if they cheat? That's a conflict of interest having your teammates be married to each other. This could be a scandal. They can't be married. Danielle's response is "the only thing stopping you from having married teammates is cowardice, Zak :)"
Red Bull drivers stolen by Ferrari up to this point: 2
It's not enough for me to have Danielle happy. Christian Horner must be unhappy >:)
The biggest point of HFFL, is that Danielle gets her WDC. And most importantly, she gets it in 2021. She takes it from Max—the kid that came in and stole her team, and who everyone has always said she ran away from, afraid of a fight, unable to handle the pressure. She becomes a Formula 1 World Champion before he does. Ferrari back-to-back winners. Second woman to score points, first woman to win a race, first woman to win a World fucking Championship. Fuck 'em all. (Blood makes the grass grow! KILL! KILL!)
It's worth noting that her and Max are still very good friends and delightfully weird about each other in this verse. You can't change that.
And then in typical Ferrari fashion, the team immediately forgets that they're capable of any of this and we're all in hell for the next couple of years. The Horrors persist. Fred Vasseur likes them, though, considering he's known them both since they were teenagers.
At the end of 2024, both Danielle and Jules retire in a Sports Narrative move to end all Sports Narratives. Nobody is doing it like them. Remember this is canon!Danielle's fantasy world and she gets what she wants.
Charles (from Red Bull, probably, as I love to torment Christian Horner, and also I'll let the Lestappies have something) and Lewis (from Mercedes, that's normal) join Ferrari in 2025. This goes exactly how you expect it does.
