If you’re here, you probably already know about graining in F1. Bits of rubber tear from tires but then stick back on the surface, reducing grip and traction. In my opinion, you can see graining in online discourse too. This is a space to grapple with topics where people may need to get a grip.

In February of this year, all eyes were on pre-season testing. Many of the paddock’s usual suspects were there, including a photographer who has amassed nearly a million followers on Instagram and hundreds of thousands on other platforms. Let’s call him “The Photographer.” The Photographer posted a video with news coming out of Bahrain, yet it had nothing to do with the 2026 season. Instead, he stated that it was “definitely true” that the reigning world champion Lando Norris was single. The Photographer was even interviewed on this topic and spoke confidently about his insider knowledge.

The problem? The source was a TikTok. A fan had attempted to lipread a conversation between two drivers and added their own captions. The words were impossible to verify, but they were also impossible to debunk as long as people wanted to believe what they were reading. Some random person put words in drivers’ mouths, and a member of the F1 press gave them legitimacy. The same story, still just based on a fan edit, was published as fact in The Sun before spreading to other publications. Were there ever any retractions or apologies? Of course not.

I don’t want to litigate matters of drivers’ personal lives. Celebrities should be entitled to some aspect of privacy, but now all it takes is one photo, video, or remark on social media going viral and suddenly vibes become “facts.”

Nearly a week ago, the F1 world was rocked with the announcement that Max Verstappen’s longtime race engineer Gianpiero (“GP”) Lambiase was heading to McLaren for 2028. Fans immediately had questions. Does this point to Max retiring? Will Max switch teams to be with GP? Will this create the silliest season of them all? Why is McLaren so evil and orange? The Photographer had another morsel of information: GP would replace Andrea Stella as team principal of McLaren.

It didn’t take long before speculation linked Stella back with Ferrari, a team with whom the Italian had spent more than a decade. Online spaces love to circulate rumors about Ferrari replacing Fred Vasseur as TP, but why stop there in the fantasy team building? Photoshopped amateur breaking news graphics around the world soon declared that Hannah Schmitz would also leave Red Bull to lead race strategy for Ferrari. Some of it was banter (which I love, for the record), but a joke without context is a media literacy disaster waiting to happen.

In the past few days, a little clarity has emerged. Stella does not have one foot out the door at McLaren but rather is offloading some of the job duties he does beyond leading the team. GP may certainly become team principal one day, but his hiring is not a declaration of that. There are no indications that Schmitz is looking elsewhere. But what else is there to focus on when April’s races have been cancelled? Fans debate their teams losing or gaining vital employees, and somewhere along the way, facts cease to matter.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As fans, we can start with our own behavior by not believing everything we read. If a claim sounds surprising, check the sourcing, consider possible bias, and ask questions. Is there even a source at all, or is it just something that a rando said on TikTok? If someone keeps trying to pass off misinformation as true, you don’t owe them a follow and can revoke it at any time if you want. Escaping the clickbait economy can be frustrating (the FOMO can be real), but at the end of the day, blindly believing inflated claims doesn’t make you a more informed fan of the sport. It just means you’re playing with someone else’s mental Barbies.

Drivers, engineers, and team principals are real people, not fictional characters. Curiosity and speculation will always exist in F1, but let’s try to remember the humanity involved in the sport.