Was looking on George's wiki and saw this pic of his helmet evolution and it immediately struck me how much his old helmets look like Max's current helmet design, and like holy shit...
(The left image shows George's helmet evolution top left is newest bottom right is oldest, the right image shows Max's helmet evolution, top left is oldest bottom right is newest.)
Max's helmets used to be mostly blue but evolved to be red and white, George's helmets used to be mostly red and white but evolved to be blue...
Something about them being polar opposites but also the same... both of them being jealous of the other and changing to be more like them only to find themselves as complete opposite again, desperately trying to reach each other but only growing further apart... Stuck as 2 sides of the same coin never able to touch no matter how many times they are flipped...
Like this is the kind of symbolism that would be criticized in a book for being heavy handed. Like what do you mean their helmets, which are the most recognizable part of their wardrobes are literally changing to reflect their love and envy for each other? What do you mean that over the years Max has mellowed out and become more calm and PR trained whereas George is finally letting himself show anger and lash out when things go wrong? What do you mean that George's rookie profile is on the redbull website while Mercedes is trying to get Max to sign with them????
Like they are literally becoming eachother. Love so intense that they can't help but consume each other and try to shape themselves to be more like the younger versions of each other that they first fell in love with. Back before rivalries and jealousy soured their relationship and turned them into something unrecognizable. So intertwined that they can't help but orbit each other. I couldn't even dream up a metaphor for them that's this perfect if I tried, meanwhile they're just doing this shit with their own free will. God I love rpf.
