extended author's note for The DAUD
ah The DAUD. what is there to say about The DAUD. first time i’ve fallen out of my chair whilst writing actually. had a great bruise on my thigh for a fortnight and my head hurt for a day and i did blame benjamin.
the many drafts of The DAUD
so originally The DAUD was just going to be the opening scene, straight to season launch, straight to the race and then the closing scene. which would’ve taken place at a mcdonald’s carpark mind you.
daniel was admittedly much less depressed, much less anxious, but as i got to writing i just couldn’t ignore everything to do with [Redacted Race & Team] and obviously benjamin’s presence forced my hand and i just couldn’t pretend that daniel was all happy smiley sunshine etc.
any reminders of f1, and i would feel another wave of grief hit me. it would happen again and again and again and all this grief and sadness would start to build up as anger and i don’t know where to place all the grief and sadness and anger.
i had a lot of cues to drive all these big things and honestly like 99.9% just came from the haha in daniel’s post. like. maybe the overarching thesis of this whole fic is how much can one four letter word ruin my life and the answer is A LOT!
the 0.01% is me feeling just so tired of f1 now. exhausted. wrung out. i hate change, and i know fear of it will not make it stop, but seeing everything and everyone move on so easily gutted my little heart out. i got so irrationally angry at the people who wanted daniel to do this, or that, etc because all that lingered in the background of my mind was the haha. if i devoted basically my whole life to a sport that turned on me and started hating me, i would devote myself to absolutely nothing for the rest of my life. which is maybe also why daniel really struggles with max’s presence.
to him, it is only time before max turns around and starts hating him, just like the sport did. difficult to devote, when all they do is leave.
weirdly i feel like this is some sort of spiritual successor of i’ll never leave (never mind) even though the max/daniel relationship are in two different places, but the daniel’s themselves are obviously similar. INLNM daniel ends the fic with hiding how he’s feeling, DAUD daniel starts the fic with him hiding how he’s feeling, until we slowly start to descend into the Snap Point.
one draft had actually social media bits in it but that was quickly abandoned after i realised my university kicked me out of the adobe plan (which is so rude considering how much money i pay them every year) and i didn’t want to do the text version because it would break immersion—i’d already introduced the wikipedia page the chapter before.
(but apparently i did write a text only version so that’ll be down there someone.)
here’s the thing. i have so many notes everywhere that express my bitter hatred towards benjamin. hated him. he was genuinely the most unwieldy character to write and i thought that about matthew. freudian slip.
i would say it wasn’t until the last week, until i wrote the scene where he reheats the food for max i was like wait. actually. maybe you aren’t so bad. then he left and i was like maybe i do miss you.
(then i wrote the epilogue and i didn’t miss him at all.)
benjamin was originally called jaxson, but once julian came into play, jaxson was changed into benjamin and the rest is history. julian’s identity actually wasn’t meant to be revealed in the fic at all, not until the epilogue but benjamin just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. benjamin is somehow the worst and best secret keeper ever.
my favourite scene does go to him though. when max stabs his salad in the exact same way benjamin did earlier. my little heart goes and falls off a cliff. so endeared by these silly little guys and their silly little traits.
daniel and the very unreliable narration
the thing is i don’t even know if they’re like dating by the end of it. they’re like 75% of the way there and the last 25% is just for them. if you asked max he would probably be like “yeah we’re together???” and if you asked daniel it would be “we’re working our way towards it” — but i think max knows that and they’re just taking it day by day. they have time.
i knew i wanted to write his depression and his anxiety in a very specific way aka the way i know because it is easier to write what you know but i did *try* to focus on the physicality of it? i’m wording this horribly, but honestly a little bit for my own emotional stability and sanity, i needed daniel to zone in on the physical aspects vs the emotional.
(look i was already opening a bag of worms writing about anxiety and depression—i too thought i had kept my own shit locked, loaded, thrown out the key, hashtag very good with everything, hashtag love and light, but with the amount of times i cried whilst writing this i’m not too sure.)
i actually don't know where i'm going with this. moving on.
random in universe lore drops
benjamin and julian drove for italian teams in f2/f3, julian for PREMA and benjamin for Trident. i don’t think julian’s with any driver academies right now, a free agent if you will.
there was a planned subplot where there was only two beds for three people because grace had stolen the third bed from daniel’s house for one of their relatives staying and never gave it back (there was no relative she was trying to reverse parent trap them)
this was deleted because they somehow ended up in one bed anyway. at this point i am 3 for 3 in max and daniel somehow ending up in one bed. okay i didn’t plan for it to happen it just happened!
when daniel and max have children, they have two twin girls name jemima and julianne :)
because it wouldn’t be a FRL-fic if i didn’t refer to my other children at least once!
the blue sweater max throws at daniel is the same blue sweater he stole/is wearing during their veranda-sunrise scene in glitter on the floor prequel -> daniel is wearing it this time during their balcony-night time scene :)
julian’s favourite cowboy song is cowboy like me, famously sung by takes one to know one daniel to max. not too much on CLM benjamin… do you KNOW how important that song is to max and daniel in that universe? (also originally they were throwing phones at each other before i cut it out because we gotta tone them down)
know in my heart i wanted the cats quentin and ziggy to either be gary and steve OR matthew and callan. gary and steve i could’ve probably got away with, but matthew and callan are just too blatant. but know deep in my heart i wanted it to be them.
the enchante collection daniel and max go through is very vaguely intended to be the Enchanté x MV33 collection from old habits, but obviously without the MV33.
the social media deleted bits
(originally LL was still in RB and benjamin was going to finish in P10. but i decided that even fictional RB doesn’t deserve anything good, so no points for you!)
The wait is almost over for the biggest F1 launch event ever 🙌
F1 75 Live at The 02 is happening tomorrow! With livery reveals from all 10 teams, interviews with drivers and team principals, it’s an unmissable event 🤩
(Keep an eye out at the 2025 DAUD reveal… we heard it’s a big name 👀)
129 replies 482 reposts 8,291 likes
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VisaCashAppRB · 17 Feb
Who else is ready to see our 2025 livery and meet our DAUD 🙋
[Photo: The car underneath a black sheet, the lights dimmed out.]
12 replies 11 reposts 328 likes
place your bets on who the DAUD will be this year. i’m thinking alternate fernando finally found a way to bribe the FIA and we’ll finally get some like weird twin driver thing this year
#truly it’s what we deserve #what’s the point of using the DAUD program if you aren’t going to have any fun with it
jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL ·17 Feb
the funniest option ever would be another daniel being the DAUD
12 replies 19 reposts 282 likes
jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL · 17 Feb
i say funny but i honestly might just start crying like i’m still not doing emotionally well
4 replies 0 reposts 98 likes
F175 Live at The 02 — 2025 F1 Season Launch
532K watching Started 55 min ago #F1…more
A lift below the stage rises to reveal the Racing Bull’s car, Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar. The car slides forward, as both drivers walk around waving at the crowd. The lift rises again to Benjamin walking out.
tris ☘️ THREETHREETHREE · 17 Feb
I’M SO SORRY DID YOU SAY RICCIARDO ?!
8 replies 58 reposts 283 likes
like daniel ricciardo… that ricciardo… what the fuck
#what in the DANIEL CURSE IS HAPPENING
jeanie 🤠 COTADANIEL · 17 Feb
i have started crying for those keeping track i did mean it when i said i am emotionally unwell
2 replies 0 reposts 12 likes
[Photo: Benjamin standing in front of the car, with his arms crossed. 36 is his driver’s number.]
Liked by maxverstappen1 and others
visacashapprb You did hear that right, introducing the DAUD for the 2025 season is none other than Benjamin Ricciardo 👏
Read more at the 🔗in our bio.
matthewevca As in Daniel Ricciardo’s son or ??????????
So I guess this technically means that Max has driven against a Ricciardo in every single year of his F1 career so far still
5 replies 1 reposts 192 likes
kadey danyellricciardo · 23 Feb
i love that this is your first thought
1 replies 0 reposts 21 likes
Replying to danyellricciardo
It has to be otherwise suddenly I’m at Milton Keynes and Faenza with lighter fluid and matches
0 replies 9 reposts 59 likes
do you think that benjamin tried to go back to his universe after finding out what red bull did to daniel here or
#that or he's going to crash the car at every possible point to really fuck with the costcap and i would support him#wait i just had an awful thought what if his daniel also went through what we went through NOOOOOO #guys i have to believe that one universe out there is just beautiful and we got what we wanted again so delete that thought
[Photo: Daniel and Benjamin sitting next to each other, attempting to mirror each other.
Text reads: Seeing (almost) double 👨👨]
tris ☘️ THREETHREETHREE · 24 Feb
literally fell out my chair seeing that IG story like how does one process this
3 replies 7 reposts 48 likes
F1TV: 2025 PRE SEASON TESTING DAY 1
Will BUXTON: Now is probably a good time as ever to talk about the Australian sized elephant sitting in the Racing Bulls garage, this year’s Designated Alternate Universe Driver is Benjamin Ricciardo. Some of you at home might be new to the sport, you might have heard of Ricciardo before, but Laura just talk us through the significance of the DAUD program and Benjamin Ricciardo being in the Racing Bulls.
Laura WINTER: Absolutely, so for those new to the sport, welcome, we’re glad to have you. Every year the sport welcomes a driver from another universe, otherwise known as the DAUD, they arrive for pre-season testing and complete the first race of the season before going back to their universe. The DAUD program was introduced as a way for teams to potentially become more competitive depending on where their DAUD came from, and it’s just a really interesting way to challenge teams up and down the grid. Teams work on a rotation depending on the last number of the year, so since it is 2025, Racing Bulls have the pleasure of hosting the DAUD who ended up being Benjamin Ricciardo.
BUXTON: It’s not a coincidence if you are recognising the Ricciardo name, he is related to Daniel Ricciardo, he is in fact Daniel’s son. But not the Daniel that we currently know, the whole alternate universe can start to confuse people.
WINTER: I find that if you try and not to think about it then it actually makes more sense. But obviously the timing of everything given the past season with Daniel leaving Racing Bulls midway through the season for Liam Lawson, who now has Daniel’s kid as his teammate for one race is probably not what anyone expected coming into the season.
BUXTON: I have to assume that it’s probably a little bit awkward in that garage, for everyone involved. I’ve been told that Daniel is not in Bahrain to watch Benjamin, but we’ll see whether he shows up in Melbourne. It is his home race, for both Benjamin and Daniel.
WINTER: We’re in early stages of testing, so I’m interested to see how Benjamin will fare. He does also have that time difference to fare with, I believe he also did travel back twenty years as well as hopping universes, so I can only assume Daniel gave him a bunch of tips on how to drive the car.
me clocking in to watch all three days of testing even though i vowed to never give a single fuck about the sport ever again
#you put daniel’s son in front of me and you tell me you’re also not watching him every time he races… c’mon
omg they gave benjamin pierre hamelin maybe all is right with the world
#i would put money that pierre LEPT at the opportunity #every race last year with lawson he sounded done you know he misses daniel
please tell me you guys saw that video of max watching benjamin in the garage GOD MY HEART
#and why is he filming?? omg is he filming for daniel #im gonna go lay down
why max verstappen jet in perth? max verstappen in perth? why max verstappen jet not in melbourne? max verstappen visiting daniel ricciardo?
[Sent via form submission from Deuxmoi
Pseudonyms, Please: Thrice is Nice
Email: thriceisnice@/gmail.com
Message: Max Verstappen seen at Perth arrivals airport this morning (around 3:30am). Was with Benjamin as well, Daniel and his mum picked them up from arrivals hall—the two former teammates looking veryyyyyy cosy. Almost too cosy. Make of that what you will.
Text overlayed: For my F1 enjoyers 👀]
look deuxmoi is like the gossips of all gossips, BUT we do know max is in perth. so. make of that what you will.
#subject line being third wheeling…so interesting
hold on… max is in perth… with benjamin… and daniel … and his family… there’s something there but i’ll be shot into the sun if i say it
ASK: have you seen this: tumblr maxielupdates post
my favourite sentence is the too cozy one because for normal people i assume it just means like a long hug but for these two social norms have and will always continue to be broken so i just assume they were like holding a staring contest in the middle of the terminal or something idk
#i can imagine them just 👁️👁️ across the terminal and people around them being like wtf
Drivers: Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull), Benjamin RICCIARDO (Racing Bulls), Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
Q: Benjamin, seeing as you’re new to the grid for this race, we’ll start with you. It must feel exciting coming into this as our DAUD for the 2025 season, just talk us through how this past month has been for you?
Benjamin RICCIARDO: It’s definitely been hectic, like the second I stepped out it was such an immediate change than what I’m used to, even just being twenty or so years back than the time period I’m used to, let alone being in a completely different universe, but it’s been cool. You know how parents are always like “back in my day…” type of things and we would be like “yeah whatever” as a kid, but I actually now get to experience it, which is crazy. Obviously things aren’t you know a one for one recreation of my parents lives, but it’s pretty similar.
Q: Speaking of your parents, it would be remiss not to bring them up. How do you feel coming into the DAUD program being related to Daniel?
BR: There are like four people in this room who are ready to throw water at me if I say too much, but the DAUDs being related to F1 drivers isn’t exactly a new concept. I think you guys had one of Lewis’ or Rosberg’s kids a couple years back—I don’t exactly remember—but I think it’s probably just… let’s say the timing of everything that’s probably assisted in it being a bigger deal than it needs to be.
Q: You mention the timing of everything, there must be some awkwardness within the team given who you are and what happened to Daniel in the previous season?
BR: I feel like a lot of people forget that all the DAUDs are crosschecked so that we don’t exist in this current universe. Like, it can be weird to think about, but Daniel here obviously didn’t have a baby last year, so there’s no physical way that I could exist here. So yes, whilst technically he is my dad, he’s not. Daniel here is like my bonus dad, in a weird alternate universe–twin way. I’m obviously aware of what happened here, but I can’t really speak too much about what unfortunately happened between Daniel here and the team. I think it’s pretty ******* stupid what happened, but you know, hopefully I’ll be able to make him proud with what I’ll do here. Honestly, I just came here to race. I didn’t realise there would be so many questions!
Max VERSTAPPEN: I think in this universe you are holding the wrong names and passport!
BR: You know that the other ones would cause even more questions.
Q: What do you mean by that Benjamin?
BR: I would love to tell you, but unless the memory wiping machines from Men In Black suddenly existed, I’m contractually obligated to say absolutely nothing. Maybe you’ll find out in like thirty three years, who knows. Is that when the statute of limitations are up?
now i know why they haven’t let benjamin do any press until his race, he’s like three seconds away from saying FUCK THOSE NDAs 😭
i have questions. so many questions. but apparently i won’t find out until 2058.
#such a specific number benjamin… what do you know #max… what do you know
literally rotating between i want benjamin to score points but also not wanting him to score points because i want that team to fucking burn to the ground
Full post race radio between Benjamin and Pierre:
That is P10, P10 Benjamin. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Some very good driving, especially at the end with the attacking. You should be very pleased with yourself.
That was fun! I scared myself at the end with the dive down, but we made it stick so that’s all that matters. Probably scared you guys as well!
You have been wonderful to work with over pre-season testing and this race weekend, your feedback has always been so concise and clear, and I speak for everyone in the garage that you are clearly a very talented driver, we wish you all the best for whatever comes when you go back home. And I was about to say that you got another point for fastest lap, but no we do not do that now. But still, one point is very good!
Thank you, you’ve been great to work with Pierre and everyone in the garage. I'll print this radio message out and get you guys to sign it when I go back home as my references, haha. I’m happy to leave the fastest lap award for Daniel, I think that one will always be his. Where did Max finish?
Max finished in P1, managed to pass Oscar on the last lap. Enjoy the final cool down lap Benjamin, and P0 when you pull into the pitlane and switch off the car.
#pierre now misses not one but two ricciardos… free my guy #i love benjamin he just says whatever without a care in the world like how do you know about the ricciardo rule
What happens if we just didn’t send Ben back. Just kept him for the rest of the season. Then what.
ALEXA PLAY SILVER SPRINGS BECAUSE BOY WILL TIME CASTS A SPELL BUT YOU WON’T FORGET ME I KNOW I COULD HAVE LOVED YOU BUT YOU WOULD NOT LET ME AND I’LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN TIL THE SOUND OF MY VOICE WILL HAUNT YOU GUYS YOU’LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM THE SOUND OF THE WOMAN THAT LOVES YOU (AND YES YOU WERE A FOOL)
#you can kill him. but maybe the universe will work in mysterious ways and send his son to humble you. #and that is hashtag love and light folks. #you can reshape the narrative how ever you want but the truth will persist and i think that is beautiful #you’ll never get away baby never get away 😝
okay now that i presume benjamin is long gone back to his own universe i can finally say it: do you guys think that benjamin isn’t just a ricciardo…. he’s a ricciardo-verstappen… because to me he honestly looks more like max than he does daniel… i can not be the only one who sees this
#like i’m not kidding go look at photos from australia where it’s three of them and pull your focus to look past the hair and the nose #i can’t be the only one seriously
