+ for posterity I hope people know how inextricably linked McLaren's passive and active malice is to the erasure of Daniel's credentials in the public domain. he was seldom defended last year. And never this year.
On November 3rd 2020, 58 days before Daniel became a McLaren driver, Ross Brawn, F1's managing director, dedicated part of his last column of the year to Daniel saying “Daniel Ricciardo is a brilliant driver, and one of the very best in Formula1 [...]I hope McLaren can give Daniel a car he deserves next season. He’s a great member of the F1 fraternity.” And reiterated that Daniel is a championship contender whose never been in a contending car
He's tied for second place with Lewis for most wins starting outside the top 3. For reference, first is Alonso and Raikkonen, he's tied with Lewis for second and 3rd is Schumacher. 4th is Jenson Button. All champions while he's never been in a championship contending car
McLaren letting the *Daniel is not a very adaptable driver* narrative run rampant when in his supposed "bad" first year at Renault in 2019, he ran out the incumbent driver and produced unimpressive feats like going from 20th to 4th on two occasions.
Broke Renault's 10 year podium drought. Twice.
People genuinely running with that bizarre conspiracy that Daniel is poor in the technical realm of F1 when Cyril, who had no reason to defend or protect Daniel after he announced his departure said that the technical breakthrough Renault had was solely Daniel's doing and the only reason they were even able to compete for 3rd in the championship + "Daniel will be competing with a stronger team next year thanks to his own efforts"
The first driver in 8 years to score multiple fast laps without being part of a top 3 team, a record previously held by Raikkonen
In 2019 Nico Rosberg revealing that during briefings Mercedes drivers would ask not to be released around Daniel after pitting because if he's in front of you he's not going to let you through and if he's behind you he's overtaking you.
Helmut Marko, known cunt and crackhead, admitting that the only time they've had 2 drivers matched in performance at Red Bull was during the Ricciardo-Verstappen line up.
People saying he was too arrogant and egotistical (¿¿¿) to gel with the team like. When was the last fucking time a driver went to another teams garage to apologise to another driver's mechanics for a racing incident he was NOT penalised for, during a wet session, where Carlos Sainz himself said Daniel couldn't have changed the outcome if he tried.
In his first year in Red Bull, during the most radical regulation change in recent f1 history, he was the only driver besides mercedes to win a race. He won 3 races.
This is Daniel's calibre, and no amount of historical romanticism from McLaren or their paid shills will ever change that.
The Japanese GP was over, and you were devastated to say the least. But all you could think about was that if you felt that way, you couldn't even imagine how Charles felt.
You didn't even have the strength to leave the Ferrari garage to see the podium, you didn't want to see and hear the cheers from Red Bull after announcing that Max had won the championship.
But you had to go, for Charles, you owed him for all the effort your boyfriend had made this season. When you got to the podium you wanted to cry so much when you noticed Charles's defeated and tired face, already thinking about everything you would do to try to cheer him up and keep everything bad away.
You walked away from the scene as Charles started down the podium heading back to the Ferrari garage. You went to his driver's room to wait for him to get changed so you could go to the hotel for a well-deserved rest and some pampering.
Charles entered not long after, closing the door and leaning against it, letting his head fall with a sigh. You approached him as calmly as possible, not knowing his reaction. Charles noticing you close, raised his head to give you a look full of tears that destroyed you.
"baby, come here" you hugged him against you as hard as you could.
Charles couldn't take it anymore and he let himself snuggle into you, letting the tears fall that he had been holding back for a long time. He hid his face in the crook of your neck, sobbing like a child. You couldn't do anything but gently run your hand through his hair and leave a few kisses on his face.
You separated Charles a bit, he complained about it, not wanting to let you go, still feeling comforted and almost asleep in your arms.
“Why don't you change your suit and we'll go to the hotel? And there we can rest and hug each other as long as you want” I told him to convince him.
He looked at me and sigh nodding his head.
"are you going to stay with me?" Charles asked me.
“I got you, Charlie. Always” you replied tenderly caressing his cheek and leaving a soft kiss on his forehead and another on his lips.
You hadn't lied to him. You’ve got him, always. You didn't think to let him go whatever happens.