Patience // Oscar Piastri

6

Hungary had turned into a very strange weekend in terms of the Formula One race.

A first turn crash caused by Valtteri Bottas had taken 6 drivers out including Valtteri himself. Max Verstappen had received damaged to his car and could only manage to finish in P9.

Lando had been one of the drivers taken out in the accident while Daniel had only managed to finish P11 out of the 14 cars that finished the race after Sebastian Vettel received a disqualification due to inadequate fuel levels for the test after the race.

Seb's disqualification had meant that Carlos had moved up to P3 and Hamilton P2 while Esteban had an amazing drive and won the race with the help of Fernando who managed to keep Lewis behind for serval laps.

Hungary was the last race before summer the official summer break which mean everyone was now free for 3 weeks until Spa on the weekend of the 27th of August with Formula 3 as the support event while F2 wasn't back in action until Zandvoort.

The drivers were usually given the first 2 weeks of the three off to themselves and then the third week was spent back at work as the rules were no work to be done on the cars for 14 days.

Now Willow was on a flight and ok her way back home to the United States to see her mother and step father along with the rest of her family.

—

Willow's flight landed in Chicago International Airport around 2pm and she made her way off the flight and into the airport where she picked up her bag and ordered an Uber to pick her up.

She told her mother that she was going to come home for some stage during her break but she never told her exactly when so she was going to surprise her family.

Her and her mother weren't exactly the closest pair in the world especially after her father died two years ago.

Her father was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from Willow's grandparents house where he had been watching her race in Formula 3 on the tv.

Willow was completely heartbroken and as a result crashed during her feature race the following week as her mind was still a million miles away.

Prema had urged her to take time off and offered to replace her for a couple of races until she was ready but the American insisted she was ready to race the following weekend.

She felt she owed it to her father who had but every penny he had into her career and getting her into the European karting scene when she was young.

Her mother on the other hand wasn't as supportive of her daughter's dream. Willow would spend countless days at her father's garaging working on cars and come home covered in oil and stains when she was young which helped grow her love of cars and driving.

It was her father who travelled to Europe with her and to her various Formula 3 races in her rookie year before his accident.

Her mother couldn't understand why a girl would ever want to race and be surrounded by cars. She even went as far as fo blame Willow for her husband's death as he was the reason she had been out of the house to watch her race.

Willow, on the other hand, blamed her mother for not letting her father what her races in the comfort of his won home and instead had to go to his parents house to watch his won daughter which her grandparents loved as they loved watching Willow live her dream.

For Willow, being away every couple of weekends for races was a good thing for her and being part of a team that was based in Italy meant she spend majority of her there gave her breathing space from her mother.

But now with being on break, Willow knew she couldn't avoid going home forever especially when she still have valuable things in her room at her childhood home.

She got into the Uber that arrived outside the airport after checking it was indeed for her as she knew many others would be doing the same thing.

She settled into the backseat and got comfortable as it was about a thirty minute drive to her home in Chicago.

—

Willow got out of the Uber and it was clear straight away that something was going on in the house. Her childhood home was on the outskirts of the city. There was cars in the driveway and a few down the street.

Willow was surprised as she knew it wasn't any particular celebration such as a birthday of a family member, unless of course it was something to do with Christopher her stepfather and his family.

She took her suitcase and backpack and walked towards the front door. The sound of music and talking on the other door was evident telling her there was most likely some party going on.

She reached for the handle and it opened straight away allowing her to walk inside. The front all way empty minus the jackets hanging on the coat rack in the corner.

She left her suitcase and bag by the bottom of the stairs before making her way into the kitchen which was filled with people, some she knew and some she didn't.

No one had noticed her presence yet as they were too busy talking, laughing and drinking. She looked around for her mother or even her mother's parents.

Everyone was dressed very smartly letting Willow know that this wasn't a casual or spur of the moment thing in any way.

She made her way through the kitchen and arrived in the living room where she found her mother sat on the arm of a chair where her step father was sat talking to other couple that she didn't know.

Her mother, Grace, laughed at something what was said as she looked around the room and her eyes eventually landed on her daughter standing in the doorway.

"Willow." Grace said suddenly catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"Hey mom." Willow replied. She felt awkward standing in the doorway with everyone staring at her. She took one look around at all of the strangers before turning on her heel and leaving.

—