#koji watanabe

[grogumaximus]

[thissying]

Koji Watanabe:

"We've always shared the same goal: to reach the top. I'm incredibly grateful to have been able to work with such an exceptional driver, someone who treated our team with honesty and respect. That's something we greatly appreciate in him. And it's also why our collaboration has worked so well," Watanabe said. "Abu Dhabi was a very emotional weekend, after seven years of working together. On the one hand, we can't wait to begin our new adventures, but obviously it's also a somewhat sad moment."

"Max is incredibly popular in Japan. People now associate him with Honda, just like in the days of Senna. He has meant a lot to our company. His attitude and his faith in our engineers have always been motivating. Max will always be in our hearts," he added.

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

there is something about writing a character that was assumed dead and came back but came back wrong....but that wrong being mind control.

hear me out, i swear.

a story about a character that came back wrong. the story told from the perspective of someone who knew them well and someone who didn't. the person who knew them well assuming the trauma of the experience made them crueler and more aggressive but chalking it down to the trauma and wondering if the person they loved is permanently changed, permanently altered by the horrors they went through. the person who didn't know them well assuming that they were this horrible, this cold, this cruel, all along and that they were just hiding it all along, that they were always an abusive monster, that this was always the truth. and everyone else failing on picking up on the signs because this person isn't wrong enough for them to notice.

and the person who came back, still alive, still right, but stuck inside their head. screaming. fearing the worst: that no one will ever realize that the Thing in their body isn't them.

because they did come back wrong. because They never came back at all. a Thing did, wearing their face, assimilating Never Quite Right but Not Wrong Enough that people can't justify it.

and there's a very good chance that no one will ever know that They're still screaming, because no one will ever listen hard enough.

[grogumaximus]

2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Photo by Hind AlRaeesi

[grogumaximus]

Watanabe: ... but number one [memory] is 2019 in Austria. First victory together with Max Verstappen. Our pride is that he pointed out at Honda's logo on the podium, that is my biggest memory.

[grogumaximus]

Honda boss Koji Watanabe hopes for future collaboration with Max Verstappen

Verstappen himself has always been full of praise for his Japanese partner. That relationship will come to an end after this year. But if it were up to Watanabe, it would not be a farewell for eternity.

"First of all, we will do everything we can to help him win his fifth world title this year. And then our focus will be on our partnership with Aston Martin. But I have to say honestly that I hope that there will be another opportunity for Honda to work with Max Verstappen. I sincerely hope so. I have spoken to him many times and he has always been positive about our attitude and mentality. Max is also very good at communicating with the Honda engineers. He talks clearly to them and that has ensured that the engineers have become fans of him and that they are very dedicated. People often see the sportsman, but I also have deep respect for Max as a person."

[grogumaximus]

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

What does it say about me that I have one of the demo theme songs for Power Rangers R.P.M. on my writing playlist for my original scifi dragons v. aliens trilogy?

(That I take Power Rangers very seriously as an inspiration, that's what. Also that while I took character/world-building inspiration from multiple sci-fi /fantasy franchises- including Daybreak, Pacific Rim, Six of Crows, and Power Rangers R.P.M.- if you don't think that some of the biggest character inspirations aren't Ziggy Grover and Scott Truman you can think again.)