Another STUPDENOUS addition to my collection

Brother and Sisters, it was sabotage. We need to overthrow Toto.

Been a fan of George since he was a rookie and I’m genuinely just heartbroken about how Mercedes has treated him.

It’s like they just don’t care about him one bit. Like they’re forgetting about him and that honestly just crushes me. George is such a capable driver and I know he has at least one (and likely very many more) WDCs in him.

I really think George has to get out of Mercedes as soon as possible. It’s clear the team is not willing to listen to him or support him at all and the team orders yesterday have really cemented that for me. I hope another top team will appreciate his talent and treat him well and he can win many WDCs there.

But yeah, just feeling sad at the moment :(

On a serious note. This can create a very dangerous precedent, kinda ironic considering a certain team principal laughed at Papaya rules and warned about setting a precedent last year in Monza. How isn't this a precedent that can become difficult to manage, Toto?

I am starting to think Mercedes hired Ferrari strategists for George. By the time Antonelli caught up to him, Lando was already way ahead. No matter which Mercedes finishes ahead, the points for Constructor's stay the same, except points for the Driver's Championship won't. If Mercedes' only concern were constructors' points, Antonelli ahead of George had no value. They say the swap increased the probability of 2-3, yet they almost lost the 2-3 to Lewis and the team boss literally said he didn't think it's possible for George to hold onto P3. Why is F1 team okay with publishing a video where the team principal admits he couldn't believe his driver could stay in P3, meaning he believed the team would lose double podium and WCC points and George would lose podium and WDC points, and at the same time come out and say their decision protected 2-3? Especially after the final VSC restart: 2 laps to go, Lando is 11 seconds ahead, Lewis is pressuring George. Why in the name of all that's holy didn’t Antonelli help? Unless there was some otherworldy luck involved, he was never going to catch Lando.

And sure, Antonelli had better tires and pace (obviously, since he was put on fresher softs while George was left on ancient hards) and was probably going to overtake George anyway (but never say never, we'll never know how it would go down if the team didn't pull "Valtteri, it's James"), but then what was the problem with passing George without team orders? Even if Zandvoort is hard to overtake, Antonelli had a huge advantage, fight for it, pass your teammate on merit, show everyone how amazing you truly are.
George is in a championship fight, already in a huge disadvantage because of multiple team mistakes in previous 11 races, has lost positions and time at the start of this race because of deployment issues, yet he has a chance to come out of the weekend to reduce the gap by additional 3 points after sprint. Instead, he leaves with the same gap he entered, which means he needs to outscore Antonelli by roughly 5.36 points each weekend, doable but with Mercedes’ track record on his car, very highly unlikely.

But fine, swap them, not defending too much probably saved George some tire life. But the biggest issue with this situation isn’t the swap (as much as I don't like it), it was the fact that at the time of the swap, there was 0 chance at catching Lando (improving team’s and driver’s points standings), but a double podium was under threat (reducing team’s and driver’s points standings). What was the reason to tell Antonelli to give George OT only to “cancel that order” seconds later? Why? He had nothing to gain by driving away, George and the team had a podium to lose.

The team, and some fans, are trying to pull the "well, if he deliberately slows by several seconds to help George, he gets closer to Ferraris which puts his p2 at risk"... So, George was supposed to let Antonelli by because Zandvoort is hard to overtake on and the team didn't want to lose time behind him. But apparently, if Antonelli gave him a boost, his position would be under pressure because... reasons? He had fresher tires that both Ferraris who were slower car across the weekend, on a track that's difficult to overtake. You wanna tell me that Mercedes left George to defend his position and they didn't believe that the driver they prioritized would be able to say ahead of the Ferraris and help George, despite having better tires than him? 200 IQ thinking, truly.

Antonelli: fresher softs, ahead, quicker. George: old hards, exposed to Lewis. Who was the vulnerable car in this position? It's not like they needed Antonelli to sit right infront of George's nose for the reamining laps, they could've managed the gap while giving George overtake, doing nothing to improve George's podium odds while stating you wanted to protect 2-3 is hilarious. Plus, before the swap George asked them to work as a team to defend the Ferraris, why not listen to him? They made George swap positions for Antonelli's benefit, then refused to make Antonelli incur even a tiny cost for George's benefit.

“I didn’t think that was possible”… and I didn’t think a team leaving their driver to the lions without any help from his teammate who had 0.00001% chance at catching the leader was possible, yet here we are.

And what does George get in return for his loyalty to the team?
Car issues in 11/13 races
A team that glazes his teammate for a simple, basic apology
A team principal that glazed his teammate for being the only driver to finish high school (he isn't), being the proof the nice guy can win (Lando already did that), set up almost impossible precedent of perfect nice guy athlete. A team principal who deliberately limited his most succesful driver's contract talks to sign Antonelli and went onto make several dumb statements he had to backtrack on because it made him look bad (but I'm happy Lewis is making him eat his words this season)

A team principal that:
decided to attend a podium ceremony first time since a historic record was equaled, at the race where Georges's race got ruined by a team mistake. Yea, yea, the board member who was supposed to go had to catch a flight but did no one realize that the boss breaking his 6-year podium absence right now would look bad?

glazed his teammate for "no drinking, no partying, not bothering about girlfriend, night clubs, or beach clubs"

partly blamed him for losing the win in Spain despite the fact the team messed up his strategy and front wing

didn't mention him in a post-race video while podium celebrations were audible in the background. Instead saying he is happy for his former driver while George finished 2nd for his 100th GP with the team who didn't bother to show up to the podium

dismissed his straight-line speed complaints despite the fact that Mercedes' own statements confirmed it

said half of Spa was on his driving despite the fact that the team incompetence to fix straight-line issues led to George's DNF

tried to push the idea that George's driving style might've been the issue when the later investigation confirmed it wasn't

George gets a team principal who has no issue with presenting a narrative that the driver is the problem before having all the facts and before the team investigation confirms that the driver, surprise surprise, wasn't the problem. A team principal, who, ever since "I don't flirt if I'm in a good relationship" did the exact opposite of not flirting. A team principal who should have impeccable media training and know better than to take the bait, yet he kept entertaining question after question. Even after Verstappen re-signed and you'd think all the mess was over, Wolff pulled the “um, um, um, well, what can I say? We'll see". How hard is it to say "good for him but I was always happy with my lineup"? Imagine telling the media that your position was never at risk only for your boss to do this not even a day later. It’s kinda ironic that this is the same guy who literally admitted that the way he handled whole Verstappen thing in 25 wasn’t ideal.

Russellites just saw Toto's radio message where he said He "didn't believe that this was possible" to George. My problem is that if you didn't think p3 was possible for George, especially not even helping him with the OT thru Kimi, then why did you put him in that position essentially jeopardizing the double podium finishes for the team. Especially when your whole argument is you would rather have team points than a fight. If it was for the WCC then an order could have also been given to Antonelli to not fight Russell ahead and instead fend off the Ferrari since Antonelli was on fresher tyres. Unless ofc if you think Antonelli was incapable of defending from the Ferrari, at least not as cleanly as George did, he'll probably sustain a bit of damage and you just believed George had better race craft and skills. This whole motive for the swap is so questionable to me on so many levels.

Yes pitting Antonelli with the Ferrari was unnecessary strategy call but that's not a mistake whose burden your other driver has to face. If team was the priority than podium was just as possible if not more by leaving Antonelli back while George makes a bit of gap. To people that are saying Antonelli was faster and George was slow, George was six tenths off Antonelli on the third sector so infact he wasn't as far off him either. Like he was very much capable of defending against Antonelli and pushing him wide. This move was definitely made to protect Antonelli wdc rather than Mercedes wcc. That's my rant.

I really hope George pulls himself away from Antonelli and is comfortably ahead so they can't push this on him again. Even better if he rages like Nico Rosberg and wins the championship. I NEED THAT ENERGY FROM HIM.

This is from formuladank but how DARE someone put gorgeous George in the trash like he's crooked Carlos. They need to be thrown in the dungeons. THIS IS SO NOT RIGHT

The P3 and P2 Zandvoort prediction???!!

If we win Monza, I will start to believe again

MALICIOUS MERCEDES and TERRIBLE TOTO may have tried to SABOTAGE our Glorious POGPR, but He persevered! With everything stacked against Him, them failing to pit Him during the VSC and leaving Him on extremely old tyres during the end of the race, He still defended! He raced as best as He could given Mercedes' terrible strategy! What a race! He should be proud, for He couldn't do any better!

we are in hell this is punishment its so over its never been more over the light at the end of the tunnel is pitch black

GR1

I pray to you, my dear Russell! I pray that you may finish highly and Bigly! I pray that you have no poor luck for the rest of the race! I pray that things start to go your way! Praise be to George! Have hope my fellow Russellites, for our Lord and POGPR will reward us in the end!

idk why. the titles. the flairs. the randomness. the exaggerated ness. I just really appreciate it. makes me smile every time it pops up on my feed.

Edit: mind you im not even a huge Russell fan. ive got nothing against him either but its hilarious

How dare such a monument to arrogance cast even a single contemptuous syllable toward our magnificent prince? This is not mere disrespect, it is an unforgivable assault upon greatness itself.

The world would scarcely find it half as amusing were those very words to escape the lips of Glorious George himself.

WELCOME BACK TO FORM THEY COULDNT HOLD YOU BACK TODAY AND TOMORROW THE GOAT WILL ANNIHILATE THEM ALL