(The Silverstone blurb has been taken down.) (Current progress: 2022/2025, making great strides toward the championship.)
2021 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Lap one, the old pit straight, with the crowd roaring.
“Moretti leads, with Verstappen and Hamilton right behind!”
“Hamilton pulls out to the inside and tries to overtake. Moretti gets to the corner first!”
“Contact!”
“Three cars! There’s been a collision at Copse! Verstappen and Hamilton are still on the track, and the championship battle is still on! My God, this is unbelievable! What has Moretti done?!”
After the race, Verstappen, who had narrowly missed out on the podium, stared expressionlessly into the dark camera lens.
“Yeah...he is absolutely crazy.”
Official blurb starts here
In F1, drivers are busy taming their cars while also sparing a thought to shove their rivals off the track, and they don’t forget to yell “no f**king space” over team radio. Off track, teams listen in on every rival’s channel to figure out what’s real and what isn’t. They watch what’s happening on the circuit while thinking hard, and when inspiration strikes, they offer their drivers the best strategy. Staff are always flirting with people at other teams. Today I’m at your place, you’re at his, and he’s at mine. We’re all one big paddock family. And since we’re family, hand over that aero design and that thermal expansion-contraction technology. What, you’re going to complain to the FIA that it’s unfair? Does the FIA even know how to spell “fair”?
Safety first, friendship second, racing third. French driver Raphael Moretti, who lives by this principle, is a breath of fresh air in the paddock.
In his rookie year, when everyone else was racing like a torpedo, he set the astonishing record of zero incidents. Once he got into the cockpit, he cared more about the safety of his rivals and his car than anything else. Sky Sports once described Raphael’s driving style as “like he’s openly flirting on the track.”
If seeing number 33 in your rearview mirror is like being in a suspenseful thriller, then seeing number 96 means you can sit back and enjoy a high-adrenaline battle of attack and defense, with both sides testing each other and dancing on the edge of a cliff.
Wheel to wheel, he always leaves only the tiniest margin. He predicts the perfect moment to escape the chaos of the pack, and when losing control is unavoidable, he does everything he can to limit the damage.
When the team comes up with a disastrous strategy, he just laughs it off and turns around to reassure them, declaring more than once that he has complete faith in the team’s decisions.
And when Raphael once again missed out on a Grand Prix win to avoid an accident on the track, a reporter asked him after the race how he dealt with negative emotions. The driver, who had always been generous with the media, smiled without answering.
Verstappen, the race winner seated in the middle, rolled his eyes and offered, “Alcohol, violence, and...” He paused, then added teasingly, “Exercise? Which one do you think?”
Russell, who had just made the podium, couldn’t resist joining in. He grabbed the microphone and drew out every word: “As he says, we work out e-v-e-r-y d-a-y.”
Rookie-era reputation
“A driver with no desire to win and no passion won’t last two years in the paddock. Another old-money kid with his own sponsors, treating this like a hobby. Oh, his $ugar daddy really does spend like crazy.”
“I don’t get this wheel-to-wheel style with no aggression. Switch to the Rocket or Hamilton and they’d have shoved you off by now.”
“Whenever the broadcast cuts to his onboard, it’s boring. The only thing worth looking at is his face. Find another career, kid.”
Later reputation
“Drivers are lining up to be his teammate, and people in the paddock keep switching to his team. Is this what it means to be the paddock’s darling?”
“When you’re about to lose control in a wheel-to-wheel battle, he lets you through out of politeness. You really think that means you’re better? He could pass you again in no time.”
“Moretti is at every official FIA event, always right in the middle without fail. Who says he’s just Porsche royalty? I think the FIA wants to keep him in F1 forever too.”
“Who gets it? Poor Raphael is being watched by everyone the moment he clocks in. Soon they’ll dig up his whole private life. Who did he work out with today? So hard to guess, hehe.”
Collisions come down to millimeters, and the bigger picture can change in an instant. A keen eye and quick decisions, risking everything to reach the summit in a battle for the championship. WELCOME to Formula 1.
Today’s paddock transparent-man radio:
Ahem, radio check? Hello, race fans! What, I’m not loud and clear at all? That’s right, we need to keep our voices down today, because we’re sharing a little secret that only this transparent man can see~
As everyone knows, the paddock recently introduced close-contact management rules. The day before yesterday, a notice went out saying that all Porsche team employees, as well as anyone who had been in unprotected contact with a Porsche team member within the last fourteen days, were close contacts and would need to be tested for a full week.
The strange thing is, during today’s pre-race interviews, several drivers who the team would have preferred to keep isolated around the clock revealed that they’d been tested! Note that they’re from Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, and, oh, of course, Ferrari too. Poor Ferrari, suffering from every possible debuff. Let’s take a second to mourn the Iron Temple’s misfortune...
Anyway, the paddock may be one big family, but that doesn’t mean everyone hangs out together every day. How did all these drivers become close contacts so coincidentally? According to reliable sources among the Netflix crew, when the testing staff knocked on the motorhome door of a certain driver from a team with a prancing horse logo this morning, there was a tremendous commotion inside, but the person who came out wasn’t the driver... As for which driver they knocked on the door of, and whose unexpected face appeared on the other side, have you clever fans figured it out? (^_~)
Reader’s Guide:
1. This story could also be called From Rookie Driver to Paddock Superstar. The protagonist is the paddock’s darling and has a mild need for physical affection. He’s not a player or a pushover, but he flirts here and there, so there are many romance plots. Each is one-on-one at different points in time. There won’t be an official endgame partner. It’s the messy, glamorous European and American celebrity-circle route, with sparks flying on and off the track.
2. Don’t base the story on real life. Don’t base the story on real life. Don’t base the story on real life!!
3. Race regulations and historical events are checked as needed, so please forgive any discrepancies.
4.
5. Brain-storage space. Give your brain a chance to relax and have fun. Protecting your brain is everyone’s responsibility.
6. About Raphael’s personal logo: it combines the initials R and M. The left half of the mark is a mirrored R, the right half is an M turned sideways, and car number 96 is incorporated into the figure-eight shape.
7. This isn’t a typical wish-fulfillment story. If you want to see effortless championship wins, swipe right and leave.
Theme: Many hands make light work.
This book ranks first in the F1 genre that I have read. Constantly updating characters and experiencing the ups and downs of a complete game... All good.
Gasly!! Monza is your blessed place! The first race championship and the first pole position were all on this track!
Lando was really unlucky yesterday. He was directly killed by a bullfighter from across the mountain. Considering the budget cap and the back-to-back schedule, I am afraid that the child will have to drive an old car to race [Lie flat]
The author really writes very well. In fact, I only had a superficial understanding of F1, but because the author writes so well, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of F1 events. At the same time, I am really grateful to the author for creating Raphael. Through the author's pen, I also fell in love with our black-hearted little angel Raphael. I am really grateful and happy that the author was able to write such a good Raphael. In addition, I think the author wrote the career and emotional lines very well and the balance is very good. He did not say that there will be many more situations like this in that part. I think the proportions of the emotional line and the career line now complement each other. Finally, I am really lucky to have read such a rare and good article when I first fell in love with F1. I hope to keep writing!
Congratulations! It's almost 400,000 words! When I first saw the copy, I didn't expect it to be a long story! I feel like the writing becomes more and more detailed later on. I agree that F1 is a complex and charming sport, and each different rule cycle/era has its own special gameplay and charm. The collision between different drivers and teams, and the personalities on and off the track are all exciting and worth exploring! What I love most about this article is Raphael's continued growth in the game and in life. From the very beginning when it was difficult to get out of that young game, to now being able to chase his dreams and break his own constraints, Raphael seems to have grown a lot along the way. The feelings and stories between Raphael and each person are also written very delicately. They are memories of the past. Each person's different persistence and every bit of life in the arena have created different tacit understandings and relationships between each person. It's understandable that my wife insists on competing. As a competitive sports fan, the arena part is too important. The game also shapes everyone's image. If Rafael had not stayed on the field, maybe he would not have gotten out of the shadow of that game so quickly, but because he is Raphael, he will definitely stay on the field. I would also like to praise this book as the most delicate, reasonable and silky-sounding story about complex character relationships in JJ! The competition part is also very well written! Very clear and wonderful! I particularly enjoyed the parts of the game that made me imagine what impact the game would have on the characters' relationships and what would happen after the game. Finally, I like what you said, there will be no reward without effort.
Support the group leader! Our group leader Jorah is so funny and really fits the position.
Ferrari's strategy team only deserves this position [knock on wooden fish] [knock on wooden fish] [knock on wooden fish] but the driver deserves more 😭
Ver is another flavor🐶After watching the sweet and cute first love group and wdc infighting group, let's try the explosive adolescent love group! 🐶
Delicious forum! 🐶🐰 Very happy to see
[Glasses] Looking forward to fighting Sister Liu and showing them the masters coming from Mercedes-Benz. Compared with Sister Liu, Pan Zi in the Cat and Dog Alliance is a noob.