do u think that they (alex and carlos) even like each other or is it all just a pr thing and what pairings do u think actually enjoy spending time together
Haha I love this question because it’s been haunting me for a whole fucking year now. I don’t have a definitive answer for the first part, but here’s my whole thought process on it.
Really long analysis below the cut for both questions. Also, it’s really long and not definitive and kind of shitty. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don’t fucking know these people. At all. I am basing my judgments off content of theirs that I have seen which has been heavily moderated and manipulated by those who have a vested interest in making sure they are portrayed in a certain way. This is all simply conjecture on my end.
First, before ever seeing them interact, my immediate thought was that the two were going to grate on one another. Why? I mentioned in a previous post that their PR strats are opposite (which I will eventually make a whole post about to better explain) and that applies here as well. I can see Carlos not wanted to be dragged down to Alex’s level and Alex disliking Carlos’ strong constant PRsona. Then, we add that Alex feels a strong gratitude towards Williams (although many fans are overstating this loyalty - if Alex can get a contract at a better team, he will leave undoubtedly) and has been growing it over years. Carlos, on the other hand, it’s framed as an international tragedy and scandal that he’s driving for the lowly Williams. At different times in my career i have been both the Carlos and the Alex and it becomes very awkward to be paired with the other.
Second, their initial interactions, specifically in their interviews before they’re teammates but also early on into them being teammates, both of them are pushing back against any possible narrative that they like each other and giving the excuse that they don’t actually know each other. Given Carlos makes a ton of PR gold over teammate bromances, it struck me as odd. Particularly some things that stood out to me was “ask again in six months” and then in the lie detector video, Alex was really weird about this question. So my initial thoughts were ooooh theyre not gelling.
Third, early season into mid season is where I’m pretty sure they have some awkward tension, but at the same time couldnt quite put my finger on something. You can feel the awkwardness in early team torques. However, something to note with that is (1) Carlos is still new (2) I assume long form content like team torque is his least favorite (3) theyre both really awkward people (4) they both play off their teammates. In terms of 4, this is pretty clear with Carlos and Charles. In a lot of their content, Carlos is sort of directing attention to Charles in a humorous way. A few notable times, like for example the heavy breathing incident, he either mimics it, or points it out. Alex does a similar concept in a different way. He deflects his awkwardness onto teammates by interviewing them in videos instead of talking to them normally. This is really obvious in the beginning team torques of new teammate relationships (in fact, some of the first episode of this season of team torque was giving this vibe as well). It doesn’t seem odd because he’s been with the team longer so it makes more sense for him to lead, but he also does it in contexts where that makes less sense. So at this point, things are more awkward between them than Williams wants us to think, but this could be attributed to newness. HOWEVER, the screw ball for me was and still is to a certain extent that right off the bat, these two are engaging in a fair amount of risky humor, and that surprises me. What I mean by risky humor and interactions is exactly what it sounds like, like sending a risky text, having an interaction where there’s a good chance youre going to piss off the other person. You either do this if you (1) are close so you’re not scared (you can see Alex and George do this with each other) or it could be (2) you don’t care if you offend them, because you (2a) already don’t like each other or (2b) won’t have to interact much. At that point, my opinion was that none of these options made any sense for them. If they were close enough not to be scared, Williams was doing a HORRIBLE job of showcasing that, particularly given that the Williams admin is so yaoi pilled. They will also have to interact in close quarters for at least a year. This leaves that they already don’t like each other. At the time that seemed incorrect, but I didn’t have a better explanation. At this point, im thinking that theyre cordial, but maybe have some personal friction.
Fourth, before summer break, things get a little better and a little worse. My guess here was that both of them were having some extended issues in racing here that led to grating (especially against each other), but also, they’d spent enough time with each other to get more used to each other. So for me, there seemed to be almost most distance but more familiarity at the same time.
Fifth, something occurs. I can’t remember which order but around summer break time, a blind item goes viral that one pair of teammates doesnt like each other and that it’s very obvious to the team members. Blind items are not reliable sources but everyone is talking about it regardless. Carbono is being thrown in the ring as a possible duo and I am tempted to believe them (although they aren’t my main suggestion at this time).
(Maybe) sixth, (but maybe fifth? Im not exactly sure on the timing), Carlos and Alex start flirting. I don’t mean this in a theyre getting close way, I mean full on pet names and pick up lines, and for me, it’s WEIRD. This is normal Carlos fare, and Carlos had been doing this earlier in the season, like as early as Miami, but this isn’t normal for Alex to be as involved. I remember at the time i was puzzled and was wondering whose media strategy was the bromance angle, because for me, they give incredible natural sibling energy and the flirting felt kinda forced. I was trying to figure out which one of them needed the good press.
This brings me to timepoint seven. After the blind item thing, they’re now attached at the hip. I saw a post on here that I wish I could find to link to give them credit that was like “I just know carbono fucked these two were not acting like this before” and I couldn’t agree more (well, I agree with the notable difference in feelings toward each other, i do not have an opinion on whether they explored each other’s bodies for the purpose of this post). It is abundantly clear to me that either something has changed between them and theyre actually closer now, or Williams realized people weren’t really buying what they were selling and are putting a lot of effort into making them seem like they do. At first, I am cemented into the idea that this is PR work, but then a few things happen that felt genuine to me later in the season.
Eighth, the genuine things. Alex is flopping bad at the end of the season and Carlos is sticking it on the podium. Beyond attending the podium celebration (which James said was Alex’s idea, but I don’t take anything at face value ever), Alex really doesn’t get nasty or jealous towards Carlos in the way i would expect him to (in general lmfao) even if they were hiding the fact that they disliked each other. A few of the later team content things stood out to me in the way that they were really up in each other’s space and seemingly way more knowledgeable about each other. Obviously Carlos pulling on Alex in Brazil for the drivers parade, but also whatever the fuck was going on in that one video where they introduced other members of the team. Also, Alex is now verbally pointing out their relationship saying the honeymoon phase is over.
For me, all of these things the whole year made me feel absolutely insane because in my mind 1 of 2 things was happening: they are closer than they seem, they are much more distant than they seem. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out. I can’t stress the amount of times I watched certain clips trying to sus something out. It’s Schrödinger’s teammate relationship.
If I had to guess, im thinking that they originally didn’t get along too well, but both of them were comfortable compartmentalizing this fact. Hence the very awkward beginning and risky humor. Then, they either slowly actually became close, or Williams PR stepped in and made them seem that way. For me, the physical closeness and flirting are the easiest ways to deflect the accusations, so part of me feels like there’s something being hidden there, but another part of me feels that they actually had a strong period where they got friendly, maybe because of the forced closeness? I don’t really know, but I am very curious to see what it looks like this year, especially with both of their contracts up.
Some of you will disagree with the following takes lmfao
Last year’s teammate pairs on how much they like each other, bearing in mind that I largely just engage with Williams content so I have less info to go off. Some teams i see more and some teams i see less. I try to be transparent about this in my ratings
Sauber: I have no fucking idea why but these two like each other a lot. I know the kick marketing was playing hard into the age gap yaoi of it all, but from what I could see, there is a genuine bond there. It is inexplicable to me but I am buying what they are selling.
McLaren: I do not believe that these two get along nearly as much as everyone else seems to think so. I don’t care that Oscar looks at him like that. Oscar looks at everyone like that. For me, the clip of Oscar reacting to a fan tweet about more landoscar on the timeline by saying “it doesn’t work quite as well as carlando but im alright with that” is all I need to hear on that topic tbh (by the way McLaren has the absolute shittiest social media team genuinely they rage bait me constantly by how bad their content is and how much it gets gassed up regardless. It’s like their social media team gets drunk and explains trends to a boomer and puts the boomer in charge of doing it but the boomer is also drunk ykw nvm thats not the point of this post)
Ferrari: I watched very little of their actual content, so this guess is very very very speculative. I would guess that there is a distance between them but not in a tension filled way. They’re at different points in their careers. Different ages. Charles probably looked up to Lewis when he was younger. I would guess that Lewis being like Ferrari is a fucking joke would be counterintuitively positive for Charles. He is Ferrari pilled, but at the same time, some of these things need to be said and Charles is lucky and grateful he didn’t have to be the one to say them all.
Haas: I saw almost nothing, so I have no clue, but I will say that every single person who worked on estie bestie’s PR this years deserves a MASSIVE raise
VCARB: Lisack to me gives super neutral relationship, like they mostly ignore each other unless it’s content time or something big occurs. I don’t think they have much friction, but I also don’t think they’re particularly close.
Alpine: absofuckinglutely no idea in the slightest. If alpine has social media, that is news to me. I can’t name a singular alpine video I’ve seen
Red Bull: I think Max and Yuki get on fine but I think the whole Max slaughtering all of his teammates thing gets in the way of any judgment i could give. Also, haven’t seen a ton of Red Bull content so I don’t know, but what I have seen is that there’s some form of mutual respect between them.
Aston Martin: ??????? I have not seen almost any Aston content, but my completely uneducated opinion is that they have a baseline like for each other interpersonally but because of the criminally evil work dynamic they have, it’s super fucking awkward. Again tho, I’ve seen very very little.
Mercedes: this one is the most fun to think about for me besides Williams. If I were George and I kept being questioned about whether this literal teenager is a threat when your boss is tossing you to the side and having the audacity to say that Kimi couldn’t go to Williams and learn bad habits, I would kill someone tbh. Also I can’t underscore the age gap there that makes things weird as hell. Once you hit George’s age, you kinda go, what the fuck do I talk to a child about. He’s in high school. Based on some clips I’ve seen, I think Kimi likes the mama/son weird fucking social media dynamic between them and plays into it and George is weirded the fuck out by it. To me, they give the epitome of work friends who are forced to act like more if that makes sense. Essentially, the problem is George is like that’s a child, but that is not my child.
Williams: the yarn im tacking onto the pinboard is up my ass (see first half of post)
