Firstly, I would just like to say a massive thank you to Rose (evilgustofwind on tumblr and agustofwind on ao3) for two things, number 1 – creating this masterpiece and number 2 – allowing me to yap about it online. I know it isn’t typical fanfic etiquette to discuss fics outside of ao3 and tumblr etc but (and I feel like im spreading the gospel here) if I can give this fic any extra views, kudos or comments, trust me, I will.
I’m not going to explain the concept of fanfiction as a whole (mainly because that would take about 9 billion years) but here’s some context: If you’re not on the F1 RPF bandwagon yet, let me introduce you. RPF (Real Person Fiction) is a kind of media, usually fanfiction or art, that involves real people. If you’ve never heard of this before, I can imagine you might think ‘that’s a bit odd’. To that I say: yeah, maybe. Honestly though, I think that as long as this stays online and doesn’t affect the people who are being written about, it doesn’t really matter. Having said that, I do believe it’s very important fanfiction and other RPF stays fictional – but that’s a whole other can of worms.
Sitting pretty at 101,000 words (as of chapter 3), Zero Cycle is an amazing F1 fic following Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in an alternate universe. Here, Oscar is a faceless minecraft speedrunning streamer named OP81, and Lando Norris is an F1 driver who has just missed out on his first WDC. Following this loss, the offseason has just begun. Max (Fewtrell) – the lovely guy he is, is attempting to get Lando to do something to lift his spirits. Enter: “The Midoffs” – a Minecraft speedrunning competition in which celebrities (most of whom have never played minecraft) are paired with professional speedrunners who attempt to coach them into speedrunning experts. OP81 is one of the coaches – the best of the best, and also happens to be an F1 fan – well, more of a Lando Norris fan to be exact.
I won’t go into any more detail in fear of spoiling the story, but this is one of those fics that makes you giddy. The final chapter is set to come out on the day of the Silverstone race at 9pm (GMT, I believe) so you have the perfect amount of time to read it before the final chapter comes out.
Again, a massive thank you to Rose for creating this work, it has brought me a lot of joy over the last few weeks, which is very much appreciated as life has been a little tough lately.
Read chapter one here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84208441/chapters/222068081
