There is a funny thing about racing and rivalry. To the audience, especially the ones who are casual fans and might not be completely in tune with everything that goes on, they see a pure rivalry. Ford versus Chevrolet, Ferrari versus Lamborghini, driver against driver. Never do the other teams deal with each other, no quarter given, no mercy received, all that kind of talk. Ask anyone who actually races about how it really goes, though, and they will paint you a different picture. Sure, once everybody is on the course it’s open season, with emotions, tempers, and battles that will be fought until the checkered flag drops, but outside of that arena, there is more in common that you’d think and rivalry or not, there is a mutual respect from one racer to another. In the grand scheme of things, racing is more about entertainment than anything else. Even the most bitter, honest rivals can respect one another because of the bond that is created when you suffer under similar situations. You win, you lose, you crash out and you hope that when the other guy crashes out, that they walk away from the wreckage. Even if for no other reason than you are going to beat that son-of-a-bitch at the next race and you want to make sure that they are there on the grid.

Mercedes will leave DTM (German Touring Car Masters) at the end of 2018 and will instead focus their racing efforts in Formula E. At the start of the final race at Hockenheimring for the season, this movie played as a farewell to Mercedes from rival Audi. The tone is respectful, the clips ranging from dramatic to comedic (when a scene pops up that shows an Audi punting not one, but two Mercedes off into the gravel trap, the narrator’s nearly flat “…sorry about that” legitimately got me to do a spit-take at the computer.) Overall, this is how sportsmanship should be, and it’s no surprise that there were standing ovations in the stands at the end of the clip.