The iconic video of their "fight" in karting (it was just an inchident, on the race)
CIK/FIA Press Conference KF2 European Championship
Charles clapping for Max going to the podium (0:00-0:03) & a part of the aforementioned press conference not included in the video above (3:27-5:00)
A steward talking to Max and Charles on the Wackersdorf race of the KF2 European Championship in 2012 (0:05-0:10)
A race in Sarno in 2012 which Charles won due to Max's mistake (Max was left behind at a gas station after that race)
The pre-final in Sarno 2012 (Max came 1st and Charles 2nd)
The Second race in Wackersdorf
A recap of the Wackersdorf races (plus footage of Max and Charles together on the podium (11:36-12:12))
The 1st Heat of the first round of the WSK Euro Series in the KZ1 category in 2013
A race in Genk in 2013 in the KZ category with Max and Charles together on the podium (27:07-30:56)
The final race of the KZ category, with Max and Charles again on the podium (and my favorite) them on the carriage/back part of a car doing a lap of the track (29:40-37:54)
Max moving his kart away so that Charles can place his own in the assigned space (1:26-1:37)
Some interesting reads:
(The first two are in French; the third one is in Dutch while the last one is in Italian thus a translator might be useful, also the sources are rather biased so take whose fault it was with a grain of salt)
A recap of the race week in Val d'Argenton (aka just an inchident place)
A description of another incident between Max and Charles which is not widely-known (near the second half of the article)
Another incident between Max and Charles (again near the second half & brief description of it)
Armando Filini (Charles' first karting team Manager) talking about Max and Charles, their incident etc.
Pictures from the karting times:
Charles' page and Max's page in the KSP site (the pictures are separated by each race they were taken, but they are watermarked)
Max's site itself also has some pictures of his karting times, with some of them including Charles (the pictures are separated by year and month so you can check 2010/11-2013 for karting)
Charles is so poetic about his battles with max it’s crazy!! Here’s what he said and i quote. "i would love to battle with him more because with max i had many of them, years before formula 1 in karting. unfortunately not yet in formula 1 besides some races here and there in 2022. but not continuously I...] next year i hope that will be a little bit more the case."
??? saph what happened on sky sports?? i’m ALWAYS missing out on the nico rosberg lore drops smh
SO
during the insanely long rain delay in spa into martin brundle and croftys commentary box wanders one (1) nico rosberg (he was aparently there commentating at sky italy this race and i guess got bored during the delay and looked for other people to bother? idk they never really addressed Why he was there). and he sasses them a little and says some classically nico rosberg things BUT THEN they start talking about the departure of horner because you know that was a Thing that Happened Recently and nico says, i shit you not:
nico: "do we know if zak brown and toto wolff are also missing christian horner?"
and i am sitting on my couch and suddenly my jaw drops to the floor because Nico Rosberg has brought up a Rivalry to none other than David Croft Live On Air. the Same David Croft who said the infamous "everything but a lover" line. and this is only ending in One Way.
so crofty speaks.
crofty: "i think they probably are. because every rivalry needs two parts to it and lets face it. christian and toto were head to head rivals for many years and zak this year, last year, has kind of replaced toto in the rivalry....your yin needs a yang nico i would say on that one. so in most respects i think they probably are."
and i am still sitting with my mouth hanging open because now it is only a matter of Time before lewis gets mentioned.
nico: "its like senna and prost."
YOU MEAN THE OTHER INFAMOUS RIVALRY OTHER THAN THE ONE THAT YOU WERE A PART OF, NICO???? THIS IS GETTING INTO DANGEROUS TERRITORY
nico: "who suddenly when prost retired senna went damn, i hate that guy but i actually want him to be here. and they became best friends afterwards."
and didnt....prost....tell you nico that you need to talk it out with lewis......wasnt this a conversation that was had.........And Also Youre Still Saying All Of This To David Croft, King Brocedes Pot Stirrer. and remember the last time nico was in the commentary box, crofty made fun of him for eating cauliflower for breakfast. so. anything was possible here.
crofty: "your world championship win in 2016."
me, sitting on the very edge of my seat, mouth open, eyes wide
crofty: "would you look back on that so fondly now if it hadn't been lewis hamilton that you had beaten? your teammate? and your main rival at the time?"
nico, very softly and realizing he has backed himself into a corner: "no of course not....that was a big part of it for sure and uh you are right in that sense. "
crofty: "so do you miss lewis now"
DAVID CROFT. YOU INSANE MAN, i think as there is a slight pause.
nico *laughing and stuttering incoherently like he somehow didnt expect this*
crofty: "well you just asked the question!"
nico: "im okay. im okay."
which, was not the question. at all.
but thankfully david croft, as i said earlier, is an insane man and also a shit stirrer and were in the middle of a rain delay so i can only imagine that that is what possessed him to say this:
crofty: "are you still next door neighbors?"
very long pause. i begin to wonder and not for the first time if david croft is writing brocedes fanfic himself.
nico, sounding like he has been caught taking cookies out of a cookie jar: "we...we uh still live in the same building yeah.....we catch up from time to time. but we have a very nice, uh, neutral relationship."
???????? what in the Hell is that supposed to mean?????????
which was a question that martin brundle aparently also had because:
martin, laughing: "a very nice neutral relationship??"
nico: "um, uh, moving on...?"
but rest assured, shit stirrer david croft was not done yet. he needed to keep his viewers entertained as we were nearly an hour into a rain delay where the only thing keeping people watching were the glamor shots of charles leclerc and the red bull garage drinking tea.
crofty: "has he still got your safe? was it....wasnt it when you first moved in you put your safe in his apartment?"
there is an old story that i think it was lewis had nicos watch for awhile because he had his safe box or something and nico somehow managed to get it back after he won the championship, but i have no source for that story so you will just have to take my word for it.
nico: "no. other way around. he put his safe in our apartment."
crofty: "yeah. you looked after it for a bit."
nico: "yeah yeah. i was considering whether i should kind of forget where i had put it when he next asked for it but then i did give it back."
which. wild things to admit to live on air.
then! in case you were worried that crofty didnt have anything else. martin jumped in.
martin: "when i was driving for mclaren and you two kids, you were karting, you came in and terrorized the motorhome. you were so annoying as kids you and lewis, running around the place. causing havoc. ive always wanted to tell you that actually."
crofty, laughing maniacally: "and there you were trying to have nice quiet moment."
martin, evilly: "well me and nico have a neutral relationship."
crofty: *laughing even harder*
martin: "as of now anyway."
nico, somehow missing the point entirely but also sounding very excited to recount this story: "the worst was the hotel rooms we left behind."
me and the rest of the world watching this probably sitting in the exact same place of shock wondering how theyre still talking about this and also wondering what other insane lore nico is about to drop because we Know that he and lewis shared hotels when they were karting and left them a disaster and also one time wrestled under a sink.
nico: "cause we shared a hotel room for two years. and we would have, like, wrestling, wrestling competitions *laughs* in the hotel rooms. they would not look good...they would not be on their best afterwards."
crofty: "bit of rock and roll on tour *pauses* sometimes i love a rain delay. because you get the sort of information you never actually expected to get when you came into work that day. more of this to come."
which, first of all, understatement of the year thank you crofty. second What The Holy Ever Loving Fuck. and third: THEY STILL WERENT DONE
some five minutes later martin i think it was interrupts and is like oh look we've been sent a photo! and the photo in question was. this:
and nico says:
nico: "i just got that yesterday."
crofty, in slight disbelief probably that his diabolical brocedes plan is working: "someone just sent you that?"
nico, very excited to tell the story: "we were always on holiday together. you know, we were best friends at the time. but here was us actually at my parents house quadding. flat out quadding. always with an engine, full speed on everything. and lewis was. Proper Nuts. like he was nuts. completely"
crofty, spurring him on: "really?" *laughing*
nico: "i remember once we were jet skiing together i was on the back of him on the same jet ski. oh my god, i made, i had such a big shunt. i flew off in the biggest way. and then we went with two stand up jet skis, and i was watching him go off this giant wave from the ferry and he did not lift. he was- i'd never seen someone go so high airborne, and then he came crashing down and he knocked open his chin when he smacked down onto the jet ski as he landed. *laughs* just completely!"
crofty: "oh!"
nico, gleefully: "so hes lying there like half unconscious and i had to go and like check that hes okay, his chin was cut open. complete nut case."
crofty: "honestly you two, it a wonder you ever made it to formula one and settled down and concentrated."
and then crofty started immediately talking about the race restart leaving all of us viewers with A Whole Lot Of Questions. because. what the hell. what had possessed nico rosberg other than the usual insanity.
then nico also revealed that he has recurring nightmares still about not getting into the car in time for race starts in f1. and then he was back off to the sky italy box:
crofty: "nico rosberg we must let you go. thank you for coming to join us, this has been a fascinating hour, we've gone into territories i never thought we would. before you go though, little prediction ahead of the race. who do you think now, in these conditions, is looking the best placed?"
understatement of the year, thank you crofty.
nico: "umm...lando norris. he has the best car, hes on a high mentally also coming off the win in silverstone, great qualifying yesterday so, uh, the favorite is 100% lando norris but he has some amazing wet weather drivers right behind him. so anything can happen. thank you very much it was a pleasure. i am off to speak some italian now."
which of course cursed lando because as we all know, anyone who nico says is going to do well (aside from lewis) get somehow utterly fucked over in a race because he just has that power. and lando of course got passed by oscar on the opening lap then locked up and went off three times in the late stages so he couldnt close the gap enough to get oscar back. and lewis, who started form the pit lane ended up p7. nico rosberg strikes again.
I can't believe I'm having to write this again, and yet. Another triple header, another disaster masterclass by Ferrari. And where does that leave us?
As always, I'd like to thank the other parts of the holy trinity @valyrfia and @thearchercore (and our beloved archivist @gaslightgirlsummer), because no delusion can survive in a vacuum. This manifesto is, in fact, a 4 page annotated and peer-reviewed Google Doc, since we’re nothing but corporate girlies with a reputation to uphold. Some chose to call us delusional the first time around. Most of the things we said then were confirmed since, one way or another. As always, I'm not saying that what is written below is the truth. It's what we believe in, however.
I'm going to skip on the basics of pr and the like this time. If you're interested, you can read up on it in more detail in my original Lestappen Gate essay. So let's get right into it, shall we?
When Charles re-signed with Ferrari, things seemed to be well. Lewis was announced as the driver joining the team in 2025 – a coup that seemed impossible once – and the Sainz camp would be departing. For a moment, it seemed like Charles got what he wanted – a team built around him, built for him. The car looked good, too. We never expected Ferrari to become a serious championship contender in 2024, but there were reasons to be optimistic.
It's difficult to say how and when Ferrari's development went wrong this season. Sure, it wasn't a perfect car to begin with, but it was good. 5 wins were the declared KPIs; challenging rb was the goal. Now, these 5 wins seem near impossible, and it's becoming very clear that the upgrades are simply not delivering. Even worse, it's not just the car failing. Ferrari keeps making incredibly bad strategy calls that mostly ruin Charles' races, which is much more concerning than just a technical issue that can be fixed; even if the technical issues also only seem to take place in Garage 16. In Spain he said that the car performed 'not as expected'. After Silverstone, Charles said that he isn't 'feeling good, it's too much now. It's too many races, I don't know what to say anymore when I come here'. As @valyrfia said, this simply isn't sustainable. Charles is barely holding on to that 3rd place in the drivers standings after being 2nd, and McLaren is catching up to Ferrari.
In the end, Ferrari seems to be fine sacrificing Charles again, and again.
Looking at this season, there's a few key points that need to be considered, I believe. I think it's now very clear that whatever Charles did at the end of 2023 worked. We can only guess, but my assumption would be that Charles threatened to leave Ferrari unless he got a new contract and a team built under his conditions. He emphasised in an interview with Canal+ that he trusts Fred's vision and him as a team principal. As mentioned above, in the beginning of the season, it seemed like Charles was getting his way, with the team united behind him. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. Quite frankly, it seems like Fred has no real control over this team. His latest statements have been questionable at best, and don't exactly sound like those of a man in charge. Charles has stopped publicly praising Fred, and his leadership. It’s very clear that there’s been a serious internal rift.
Even worse, we have Fred blaming Charles for his bad results in the last few races, all while everyone knows that the car has been fucked. After Silverstone, he has openly lied about Charles' reason to pit. Considering that radios are available, everyone knew it was a lie. They didn't give the same information to Charles and Carlos, making Charles believe that an early pit was worth the risk. He also lied about Charles’ position before pitting which can be easily searchable. Fred decided to throw Charles under the bus, just like his predecessor. It's also inevitably a huge issue for Charles, considering that Fred was his choice of TP. And if his choice isn't working, well, what are we left with? I don't think the answer is very encouraging.
What concerns me even more, however, is the overall organisational structure of Ferrari. It very much seemed like the entire C-level of Ferrari was / is firmly behind Charles and their choice to go with them as their driver. And racing is Ferrari's DNA, the racing team is their core. It's not the same as rb, for example, where the Thai ownership seems to consider the racing team more of just a business venture and nothing else (unlike the Austrian side). And yet, despite the clear support Charles has from the top management, the same management doesn't seem to be able to enforce their endorsement all across the organisation, with the team feeling as divided as ever. And if not even the owners can do that, well, that just screams bad management and gives me little to no hope for actual changes to take place.
I've always said that you can't fix an organisation as rotten as Ferrari within a year, or two, but the issue I find significantly more concerning is that there simply doesn't seem to be an upward trajectory, both in terms of organisational culture and development. I've also said – months ago – that I believe that Ferrari is the best option for Charles currently, given that he needs to be a number one driver. But taking everything that has happened this season so far into consideration, I need to reconsider my statement.
And that's when we come to the important question, don't we? If Charles leaves Ferrari, where would he even go? I think there's currently two teams he could consider – rb and Merc. Both teams are fine and competent teams. They're both perfectly soulless and corporate, Merc even more so than rb. In that, they're the complete opposite to Ferrari. Merc has the huge advantage of producing its own engines and from what we've heard they seem to be doing alright with their development. While rb is relying on Ford, we also know that the team seems to have remained solid and competent despite this year's upheaval, with no notable departures. Yes, Newey is leaving, but Max himself said that he believes the team will be fine. Can rb build another championship winning car? We don't know, but Max has always emphasised that he will be with the best team, and he seems to trust rb's development and their ability to get it right. In the end, between the two, I still believe that rb would be the likely option for Charles.
At the same time, while Toto is currently on a rampage of how he wants to sign Max the most, the moment he had to hypothetically pick between Charles and Max, he said that both are good options and any team would be lucky to have them. We know that Charles has previously shut down all rumours of going to Merc, and seriously considered the idea of going to rb. While that was under different circumstances and rb isn't the machine it was even last season, I still think rb would be his preference. I also think that Charles is now probably desperate enough to win that title to gamble and take the chance of going to a team with Max as his teammate, just to prove himself in that equal machinery comparison. In a way, there's nothing left to lose for him.
Ah. But the elephant in the room, of course. Max Emilian Verstappen. The main objection to Charles joining rb has always been that Max would always be the favourite. And, sure. He's indeed their golden boy. But we know now that he's previously agreed on having Charles as a teammate, and Charles seriously considered it. We know that there's only a few drivers on the grid currently that Max would even consider as a teammate, and Charles is one of them. Now, Checo. God knows I feel for him, but it does feel like his time in f1 / with rb might be running out. And it would be easy enough for rb to let him go early, given that he's not been meeting their targets.
We laughed about Charles' comments after Austria, highlighting the fact that he knows how to race Max. I think we can also interpret the comments as his declaration that he knows how to fight Max, and that he wouldn't yield. I think both Max and the team know that. We're always laughing about them being weird and giggly around each other, but in the end, they're seasoned professionals that have survived decades in a ruthless sport. They'll always put their professionalism first. I believe that they're much closer now than they were last year before the triple header and I firmly believe that once again they're talking about the very real possibility of being teammates.
Both rb and Merc realistically have a second seat open. Both teams would die to get Charles. I still think rb would die to get their hands on Charles. They need him both as a driver to fight the McLaren duo, and as a sponsorship magnet. Because, in the end, remember that rb needs sponsors to survive.
And let's talk sponsors, shall we? I don't think I need to say that Charles is probably the hottest commodity in f1 right now. Just in June, it was announced that he would serve as a global ambassador of not one but two companies that initially came to sponsor Ferrari – B&O and Perroni. I've discussed this before, but unlike Max, Charles sells. And just like it was around the time of the original Lestappen Gate, Charles has been doing everything to get sponsors on his side, making himself even more desirable. And, speaking of recurring patterns. We laughed about Charles wearing the inchident bracelet, but he wore it over his Ferrari bracelet, just as things once again seem to be falling apart. History is repeating itself here. He still knows how to make a statement without saying a word, and I don't think we should be ignoring these statements.
Oh, and speaking of statements? After the race today (Silverstone), Charles’ post-race video looked like he was being held at gunpoint, clearly ready to leave already. You know when he didn’t film a video at all? Silverstone 2022, and Brazil 2023. We’ve seen this film before, haven’t we?
Which brings us back to the point – what’s next for Charles Leclerc? It's clear that there was some sort of threat coming from Charles in 2023 that made Ferrari yield to his wishes, and which made Charles stay. I think this time around, the situation is fundamentally different. Charles has tried to change this team to win and it's clear now that it's simply not working, and there's no real plan to improve. Whatever he did last season is not going to work again. Equally, I think Ferrari is at the point where they might just refuse to cater to Charles again, and any further. After all, this is Ferrari. It's very well possible that will easily waste the biggest talent they've had in decades, daring him to do better somewhere else. In that case, I believe, both parties would find a way to use an exit clause in Charles' contract.
Is Charles prepared to wait even longer to see if anything actually changes?
I do genuinely believe that we've reached the point of no return, where either Charles accepts that he's not going to win a title with the current state of Ferrari, or he takes the gamble and goes to another team. With the way things are currently, I'm almost close to believing that he might do it. He only has his dream of a world championship to lose, but is it any more real if he stays with Ferrari? He's achieved his lifelong dream of winning in Monaco with Ferrari, of having the stands rise for him. He won in Monza. He's a God in the eyes of the tifosi.
He has everything but the one thing he wants the most. Will he dare to go after it? To paraphrase the perhaps world's most famous manifesto: Charles Leclerc has nothing to lose but his chains. He has a world to win.
OP thank you for these gifs with the details. Makes me appreciate this moment more. Also, pls don’t mind me adding my own two cents to this, as a very touch-starved person, I cannot get enough of this hug.
It’s so sweet and gentle. Not the wild, strong shoulder pats, but somewhat more gentle, yet firm, encouraging. Both of them moving in at the same time, ahh such a lovely sight. It isn’t like one initiating the hug and the other accepting, the both of them reall went for it. At first I fully expected Max to be the more touchy one, but it makes perfect sense that it’s Charles going for it with both arms. Charles always seemed like the more hesitant one, so it really feels like Max is a bit cautious here. Wanting the hug to happen, but not taking it too far, letting Charles dictate the intensity and extent of it. I know Max’s left hand is basically full, but it looks like he moves it forward a bit, but then he doesn’t hug Charles with both arms. His left shoulder is also angled outwards, but he is fully welcoming the hug. It is him keeping a bit of distance.
I think my favourite bit is definitely Charles resting his chin on Max’s shoulder. He really went for it, full chest, arms, head. Not a tight hug, but a close one. It is Max once again, keeping a bit of a distance, but he is turning his head slightly towards Charles, their faces close to touching. Oh, and the lingering touches and pats. It is a brief hug, but their arms linger a bit after. And don’t get me started on the double nod of respect and their facial expressions. Charles is obviously on cloud nine rn, but Max also appears very fond and happy. He does hangs his head after the hug, but you can see his (almost?) bashful smile.
(Pls don’t take this too seriously, I just needed an outlet haha. What a day for the shippers and the Chirlies…)
if i had a nickel for every time max and charles mentioned that they "get along very well " in an interview for the hungarian tv, i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Formula 1 RPF
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Charles Leclerc/Max Verstappen
Characters: Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Norman Nato
Additional Tags: Charles Leclerc-centric, Light Angst, betrayal? but not really, One-Sided Attraction, Possibly Unrequited Love, the failed lestappen padel date
Summary:
They waited for 10 more minutes. 10 minutes during which Charles had to play it off cool. He wouldn't let his thoughts get in the way, no, he couldn't let them ruin his day.
Max would come.
Or, Charles waits for Max to show up at the padel game even after everyone has given up waiting for him.
