Op Is Absolutely Right And To Anyone Who Doesn't Speak French/doesn't Get The Subtleties I Once Described

Op is absolutely right and to anyone who doesn't speak french/doesn't get the subtleties I once described the weird uncanny valley feeling french people get from Pierre as that feeling an American would get from a Midwesterner acting like he's from Florida. He's like if a dude from Northern Ireland really acted like a Londoner for some reason. Le mec est né à Rouen et se comporte comme un Montpelliérain. Bref.

Meanwhile Esteban just seems like a really sweet guy. Not that Pierre isn't nice of course! But to french people I guess Esteban is just more... Down to earth maybe? He's really a guy you could definitely run into at like a boulangerie getting last minute traditions for his mamie's birthday lunch or something. Meanwhile Pierre is the type of guy you only run into if you're on the same yacht as him (again this is all my opinion).

I have a somewhat interesting theory about some people disproportionately HATING Esteban but liking Pierre.

To me, being / not being Francophone heavily influences how people seem to perceive them.

I am French (ew exposing myself Ik) and I absolutely ADORE Esteban. He’s really sweet, authentic and hard working. Pierre on the other hand is like the epitome of a French fuck-boy to me, overly confident, showing off, and not genuinely caring for people that aren’t his friends. I actually think he’s a great driver but his personality gives me the biggest ick.

People who aren’t Francophone (especially Americans and Brits) seem to think completely differently. They see Esteban as undeserving because he’s had scraps often (NEWS FLASH: THEY ALL DO) and not being a strong driver despite he holds his own against his teammates for a long time . And Pierre is idolized like crazy despite fumbling a red bull seat and only having 2021 as an actual impressive performance. He’s seen as super cool, confident and having good looks and apparently that’s good enough.

It must be a cultural mistranslation/mismatch because to me it’s SOOO obvious Esteban is a great driver and a great person who obviously cares about the sport, not being a ‘celebrity’. While Pierre is too often glorified despite causing many accidents himself and also seems obsessed with his image. NGL him talking about Michael Jordan being bigger than his sport and him (Pierre) wanting to recreate that gave me a huge shift in how I see him.

Esteban is just a more humble guy in my opinion, and he’s getting an un proportional amount of hate for the actual situation.

Again, I don’t even hate Pierre that much, but the way people seem to punch down Esteban so much while praising Gasly makes zero sense to me.

Those are my quick thoughts! I’m willing to discuss other people’s opinions as along as we stay respectful to each other 🫶