WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris.

XIX. The Standard

   

   

    

( ACT II. ── Uncertain Waters )
chapter nineteen / The Standard

   

   

    

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BLOG POST ─ Formula Grandpa
( formulagrandpa.com/let's-dis... )

Let's Discuss The Räikkönen Experiment

Entry published by Gordon
Adiel Nkosi June 16, 2023

Would I have liked Mercedes to get their double-podium in Spain a little more convincingly against George Russell in a Williams? Sure. But thus is the life of a Mercedes fan these past two years. For the time being, I feel like I've said all there possibly is to say about our lord and savior, Lewis Hamilton. It's time to touch, once again, on the Räikkönen Experiment.

Let's be real ─ what else should we call it? Toto Wolff took a calculated risk by sacking the reliable Bottas and signing this unexpected little live wire, and while there's no doubt that it paid off, it was a risk nonetheless. She had the world in uproar, and we all know why.

Look, you've had your time to say what you will about male-driven sports and the effect of estrogen on the performance of an engine, and/or Räikkönen Jr.'s specific inability to find herself an engineer who won't be suspected of discriminatory sabotage, but that's not her fault. Surveying the information, you'll want to say it causes more problems than it solves. But Annika Räikkönen has won me over. Mercedes might not be everyone's favorite team, but you have to admit they take dives and come up stronger.

We are a Formula One family. Growing up as a young Black man in England, Lewis Hamilton was my son's hero. He still has his very first McLaren shirt signed by the man himself framed in his grown-up bedroom. Last week, my little granddaughter with dreams of playing for Arsenal went to school wearing a Mercedes hat with the number 12 displayed loud and proud. Not that you need to know or care about my family's allegiances, but I figured I'd share some of the insight that changed my perspective on things becoming a little different. Tradition works. But sometimes different is good. Sometimes it really, really matters.

Now, empathy aside, because I know some of you won't take it into account on pure stubborn stick-in-the-mud loyalty; if you look at the championship points, you'll see Räikkönen on a comfortable little ledge above her teammate. Her teammate, the seven-time World Champion. Points do not lie.

So, Mercedes, if you're waiting for her to snag a victory against Verstappen before you write up her contract extension, you're not likely to ever touch a pen. But that's not specific to her this year ─ I think that goes for pretty much everyone. So just go ahead and re-sign her. She's not going to look better anywhere else than she does here, in silver and black, with little Antonelli breathing down her neck from all the way back in Formula Regional. He's been Mercedes' little project for so long now that there's no chance of them ever passing him up in favor of anyone, bar Hamilton of course; but he's not even close. He's nowhere near F1, and hardly sixteen. Work with what you have, even if your visions of that little boy bringing home a championship trophy are still going strong.