No Regrets, Only Memories

Cross the Line

Maeve

I qualified third. Missing out on my first pole by two tenths of a second was hard, but understandable. I still did really well to end up so high in the grid. Christian seemed thrilled and made sure to congratulate me before I was sent into the post qualifying press conference.

They brought back the six driver format, putting me in the front with Seb and Valtteri while Kimi, Lewis, and Daniel were on the back row as the top six qualifiers. It was unusual to say the least, but I was in my own world. As we were waiting for everything to start, Valtteri and Seb were talking amongst themselves while I stared down at my hands, thinking back to the events of yesterday. Daniel had been shamelessly flirting with me. There was no way he wasn't, and my dumbass couldn't stop flirting back as if I wasn't about to throw 5 years of friendship down the drain. That was when I realized that the reasons for why not had been completely disregarded in my mind. The only focus was on not losing Daniel. He was my life line, the person that matters the most to me in this world, and I didn't know what would happen if I lost him. After the events of the last week and a half though, it was obvious that something was going on.

"Alright, we're going to get started."

They started off asking Seb about his 54th pole position and what it meant to him. Things went south very quickly after that though.

"And Maeve, congratulations on qualifying 3rd. We didn't expect to see Red Bull that far up, to get yourself in front of Hamilton. He had a small lock-up down at the hairpin. But you put yourself in contention and you've looked supreme all weekend after that difficult Monaco." I nodded, flipping my cap around as a nervous habit from not being one of the guys.

"Yeah, I know. I'm very happy with this weekend so far. We know that in qualifying we are just missing top speed but to be third is great for us and I think especially in the race I think we can do a really good job." I gave the interviewer a small smile, hoping they would shift away from me. I wasn't that lucky though.

"Do you think you can stick it to Mercedes and Ferrari this year? It's obviously a very mixed grid, but given your record so far and your position in the sport, do you think you have the pace in this race?" I tried to keep my expression neutral, knowing there was a slight dig at me somewhere in there. I merely cleared my throat before replying again.

"Yeah I think we have. Starting on the softer tyres is also a benefit here, because it's quite slippery on the track and during the race I think we are alway competitive." There were a few chuckles in the room at what I said. No part of it was meant to be funny.

"Can I ask why you're laughing? She is correct, they are always competitive and the softer tires are better. So why is her answer so funny?" Seb spoke up next to me, making me stare at him with wide eyes.

No one said a word though and I knew why. They were trying to insinuate that I wasn't competitive. As Angela taught me though, I just smiled and stared over the heads of all the press in the room. Angela and Pyrita happened to be standing where I was looking, Angela with a sympathetic look and Pyrita a blank canvas as usual. I was tired of the sympathetic looks though. Suddenly anger flared up in me as they moved on to some questions for the back row and Valtteri. I was seething by the time they came back to me, wondering if I just stood up and left if I would really get in trouble.

"Question to Maeve. Was there any point this weekend that you saw yourself getting your first pole? What kind of things do you do to prep for a week like this and how do you see yourself being the first woman to achieve a pole position in F1?" I licked over my lips, sitting back and placing my hands on my thighs. Hoping the moment that I took to take a deep breath and calm down wasn't obvious, I answered.