Charles Leclerc Imagines

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When you were just getting started with your career, someone once asked you if you'd ever consider running a social media campaign for something cute, like a zoo or rescue company. You answered them with a firm no; everyone knows animals never work on camera the way you want them to, and you didn't want that sort of stress in your life.

You think the universe must be laughing at you, because funnily enough, what you're doing right now is exactly like herding cats, but you don't even get adorable animals for your troubles. No, the Formula One media circus is a nightmare, but it's a well televised nightmare, and that means your job as head of social media for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team entails a great deal more metaphorical manhandling of the drivers than you'd ever envisioned.

It's not even metaphorical all the time, the manhandling. Sometimes it's just you sending out a great deal of mass emails when someone says something they probably shouldn't or the Ferrari TikTok page is going through a content drought, but sometimes it's more. Sometimes it's like today, when you're forcing the two drivers to go through yet another competition so the YouTube channel can get another push of subscribers.

You've done a lot of careful research over the months that you've been here, all dedicated to finding out just what sells the best, so to speak. As of late, you've learned that the viewers at home really like competitions and challenge videos. Apparently seeing two men who are obviously great friends go head to head over something as pointless as music trivia or Ping Pong is the pinnacle of motorsport content.

It's not like you're complaining. More views means a better paycheck for you at the end of the year. The fans like what you're producing, and Ferrari likes the fans. It all works out in the end, and who are you to deny the Tifosi their favorite entertainment?

Of course, if you were to actually tell the two red-suited drivers that you refer to them as content and entertainment in the private recesses of your own mind, they probably wouldn't be too happy. That's why you keep that to yourself. Besides, they're your friends. Charles and Carlos may make a lot of problems in your life, but who doesn't? You're not exactly perfect either.

You don't have to be perfect, though, you just have to come up with good ideas and let the boys be funny on their own. Charles said he liked that best about you, actually, that you let them do their own thing most of the time. The previous social media managers had tried to get them to fit this specific picture of what a Ferrari driver should be, but you never did that. You just wanted them to be them.

You're perfectly willing to brush that off as a compliment to a coworker, though. In truth, you're working constantly to paint these two in the best possible light. It gets stressful sometimes, constantly wracking your brain to make each video work, each post take off. You are affecting how millions of people see Charles and Carlos. Hell, you're practically filtering their legacy all by yourself.

It's not a task you take lightly, to say the least. Maybe that's why Ferrari is content to keep you around. This is a job that you'd like to extend as long as you can. Just like Charles has worked with overly pushy social media handlers, you've worked with total diva clients. Neither of the Ferrari drivers are like that in the slightest, which you appreciate more than anything.

That isn't to say that they only ever make your life easy. Right now, for instance, you've been begging them to focus for the better part of ten minutes. It's like working with elementary schoolers. You put anything in front of them and they're totally distracted before you've so much as told them what they're supposed to be doing.

Today's video of choice is a long-anticipated cooking video. Charles versus Carlos, the drivers have been given a mystery basket of ingredients à la Chopped. They'll have half an hour to come up with a dish of choice, and if the time crunch weren't enough to stress them out, you'll be judging their culinary creations when time is called. It's the perfect setup for a hit video, so if all goes well, you'll see this on the trending page soon enough.