Sebastian Vettel & Lewis Hamilton: 12 Years Sharing Podiums Together ✰

what's your favorite seb/lewis moment? 👀

cannot be expected to pick just one so here are just a few:

2018 abu dhabi podium: one of the first things i came across when i joined this fandom and it is still one of the things i think of most often. everything about it is so horny from lewis randomly stripping out of his shirt on the podium? seb aiming his champagne and shooting off across his back? lewis like. pointing at it? so horny

seb defending lewis during a press conference: lewis gets that annoying question about calling max a dickhead and seb immediately jumps in to defend his wife. it is important to me because lewis always has to defend himself and literally his every move and he CAN defend himself but i love that seb was like hold on babe i've got this stupid one. no worries. and the way lewis looks at seb when seb comes to his defense...please

seb congratulates lewis on his 7th championship + the podium afterward: i actually can't talk a lot about this because it feels very overwhelming for me...i think about seb jumping out of his car going straight to lewis who's been BAWLING and telling him hes just made history every day of my life. also think about the face pat from lewis. he pats seb's face at the same time seb grasps his arm :( as for the podium. also super overwhelming and i said all i need to say in the tags of that post. it's everything to me

seb and lewis sitting on the podium soaking it all in: i actually don't know when this is from but it seems like it would be seb's first podium with ferrari? or something equally as important because.....the way seb looks so overcome with emotion is a lot for me. especially the bottom right gif where seb like. takes a breath looks at the sky trying to take it all in like he can't believe this is happening? and lewis. sitting an inch away from him. looks at him and just smiles. kill me

seb lifting lewis' visor: i honestly don't know why this is one of my favorite moments but it is very very near and dear to me. there is just something about them finishing a race embracing and seb lifting lewis' visor so they can see each other better :( feels very intimate and loving

oscar "doesn't have idols" piastri

SO ANYWAY, here are some people I adore and you should follow although you likely already do

@neonastronaut was the first to ever follow me on here, held in honor forever <3

@collarboen takes me to horny jail every hour of every day. pls ma’am, i have things to do

@bonocedes stans Bono, is therefore deemed an 11/10 human

@spideysatan steals my actual thoughts from my brain and posts them smh

@p1tstop made me care about W Series <3

@allgaslynobrakes nearly always completely unhinged by which i mean relatable

@kinghamilton makes me default like their every post tbh, v solid f1 (and euro 2020) takes

@storm3326 creates the most precious fan art. reason why talented people being talented is a thing, probably

@silvrhxnd consistently throws out one liners that give me whiplash in the best way

@electric-arc provides all things VB, a rare trade on this hell site, much appreciated

@ctolisso always has the freshest Lewis photos first, what a blessing to us all

@querencva is my soft!lewis ally (hugs and kisses on the nose for him!)

Thanks btw to everyone who has tagged me in tag games etc., I don’t often do them but I see you and I’m 🥰🥺

Seb and Lewis 😁😁🤳

"seb isn't pookie, don't be fooled by the bees"

HE WAS POOKIE EVEN IN RED BULL, HE WAS POOKIE EVEN IN 2013, HE WAS OUT OF THE CAR TEEHEEING AND BEING OLDER MEN'S LITTLE RAGDOLL TO SHICK SHACK SHAKE. HE IS POOKIE. LOOK AT HIM.

Charles Leclerc & Scuderia Ferrari - Wait For Me (reprise) from Hadestown musical

sebastian’s been practising (meme redraw)

“sebastian vettel emailing his mum” but make it 2025 version

The Chrimer: 2014, Formula Renault.

Charles' karting days are over: in 2014, he graduates to single-seaters.

Single-seaters are known to be difficult to master; their aerodynamics, light weights and powerful engines mean they're both incredibly fast and difficult to control. Charles makes the jump to the category with British racing team Fortec Motorsports. His signing gets announced in November 2013 for the upcoming season.

By this point, Charles has been working with manager Nicolas Todt (the son of a hugely influential Ferrari/FIA boss) for a couple years. Racing isn't cheap: Todt is instrumental in financing his move to single-seaters.

This was critical to the viability of Charles' career. In 2021, Toto Wolff estimated that a "good go-karting season costs €250,000, an F4 season €500,000, and an F3 season €1 million" while speaking about the difficulties young drivers aiming for F1 have.

The Leclercs' aren't able to drop that kind of money on racing: Pascale is a hairdresser, and Hervé works for the family business: a small plastics company.

In 2021, Lorenzo says (awkwardly translated into English):

 “Every year, in karting, we said to ourselves that it was the last season. Charles handled the pressure, knowing that if he didn’t have results, it was over, and that, even if he had results, we weren’t. not sure to continue. Hervé, his father, tried to make it run by all possible means. I was at the national level in karting. Being lucid, I saw that it would be impossible for me to go to F1. So I stopped, because the family bet was to find solutions at all costs for Charles to succeed. Because he, at 11, was already standing out from the crowd, with drivers like Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly."

And from Arthur in the same interview:

"At 14, I played my first full championship. But immediately we had to stop for three years, because for my father it was too expensive to support Charles and me at the same time."

In a 2021 stream, Arthur expands on the difficulties:

"With my father I never traveled once. He didn't have the money for Charles' karting or for me. He did not have the money to go & see Charles in the race, actually. We were staying at home and following Charles in the computer."

(As a note, Charles would work with his uncle once he reached F1 to sponsor Arthur's career.)

In classic Charles fashion, he tried to put a positive spin on it in a 2020 interview:

"I have learned that from my father, who quite often left me alone on the race weekend so that I grew up on my own. I am trying to do the same with Arthur and so far he is doing a great job!"

The Leclerc family has a complicated history with racing: Hervé actually comes from a very successful Monaco family. His stepfather, Charles Manni, was the founder of a local company that manufactures car parts. Here is Hervé showing his F3 car to his stepfather:

And Hervé with his half-brother (/Charles' uncle) Thierry Manni--

However... while Hervé and Thierry fell in love with racing, their father did not.

Thierry said:

"I often read that Charles comes from a modest family, but that's not true. We were the biggest employer in Monaco, but my father held on to a certain number of values. In the family, we do not write blank checks. He put limits on his participation, Hervé gave what he could and, at one point, we even found ourselves faced with an impasse. This is where Nicolas Todt intervened in 2011 to help us, under the leadership of Jules Bianchi. "

Once Charles' career appears to be in jeopardy, Jules-- Todt's first signed driver-- insists that they meet.

Todt is impressed by the karter, and steps in. Usually, a manager attempts to finance a driver through securing sponsorships; in Charles' case, Todt puts the money up himself.

In 2019, Todt says:

"I signed Charles at 14. He should have stopped karting because he ran out of money. I decided to help him. I introduced him to Ferrari a few years ago and today he drives there. And no one can say that he got there just like that: he's there because we did the job. For me, someone like Charles is my greatest pride, the fact that he went there and delivered."

Todt would later expand on this:

"I love finding future stars and helping them make their dreams come true. I am the only manager who does it that way, that is my specialty. It's easy to say: you have to do this, you have to do that. As long as it's not your own money, you can give advice. You can say 'buy this house'. But do you say: 'Buy this house, we make 50/50?' Then it's a completely different thing. If I believe in someone, then I invest. Of course, I also try to find sponsors who help me. But if I don't find sponsors, I'm the one who has to invest. I did that with Jules [Bianchi], I did it with Charles, and I do it with drivers who I think are special."

With Todt's support, Charles is able to compete in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Championship.

It is worth noting, though, that single-seaters weren't the only thing Charles learned to drive in 2014:

Charles starts his season off by picking his number... 17, which was also the number Jules was racing under in F1 at the time:

Charles starts the season strong. Charles manages to set a category track record at preseason testing: Kartcom's article summarizing the day was simply titled "Charles Leclerc leaves everyone in his trail in Barcelona".

Charles is quoted, saying:

"I don’t think the tests could have gone any better. It’s incredible being a rookie and setting the fastest overall time! We still have plenty of work to do, although I have learned a lot. Listening to the engineers is the key to making progress quickly. And although it’s nice to be quickest, it is still only testing. The races themselves will be a different matter."

Jules sends out his well wishes for Charles' first race in Imola:

And Charles returns it:

Charles might be a rookie, but he impresses his team enough to where they run him in another series concurrently.

Formula Scout would summarize the season:

Leclerc entered Formula Renault 2.0 for his rookie single-season season, embarking on the Alps series for Fortec Motorsports. He quickly became a frontrunner, making the podium at round two at Pau and then twice again at Spa. At Monza he won both races, and followed that with more podiums to secure second place in the championship behind third-year FR2.0 racer Nyck de Vries. Some of Leclerc’s most impressive performances last year came in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 as a guest entry. He took part in six races and finished second in the last three of those, up against lots of drivers with multiple years of experience in the series.

His first win single-seater win is in Monza, where he has a perfect weekend: he also wins that second race.

Of course, in true Charles fashion, he couldn't stop himself from a little self-criticism after the race:

"My start was not perfect and I’ve lost a place. Than I’ve managed to recover it duelling with Isaakyan. When my team told me of the 10” penalty assigned to Riener, I just focused in keeping my pace. This is a very special day as this is my first win ever in singleseaters."

Charles would finish the season with 199 points, 2 wins, 7 podiums and 1 pole position.

Formula Scout would summarize his performance:

After several starring years on the world karting scene, Leclerc’s car debut season was a long awaited one and it lived up to expectations. A non-score at the Imola opener aside, Leclerc delivered a superb rookie season, maturing and improving round after round, which culminated in a spectacular double victory at Monza and saw a further five podium appearances throughout the campaign. A protege of Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management firm, he has also been superb in his guest Eurocup outings and the chief 2.0 series appears to be a logical next step – one he’s more than ready for. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take a higher jump up the ladder than that. 

They were right: Charles would take his old karting rival Max Verstappen's now open F3 seat at Van Amersfoort Racing for the 2015 season.

As a final note, this year was also very tragic: Jules' accident would happen in October, on the same day as Charles' final race in Formula Renault.

I'm not going to go into the details, because it feels like it would be disrespectful: it was a tragedy, and it very clearly deeply affected Charles and his family. Jules was an incredible influence for Charles, both personally and professionally.

Through all of this, however, Charles continues into Formula 3.

But that's for the next chapter.