Patience // Oscar Piastri

16

Friday came and it was clear to the world that Willow Young was back in F2 as she managed to top the timing sheets in practice with Oscar not doing as well finishing in P10.

Everyone in Prema immediately picked up on the change in attitude between the two drivers from they arrived in Jeddah. Over night they were back to their usual ways and even closer then they were before.

Willow was making her way over to the pit lane from the support paddock as she tried to get into the right frame of mind for qualifying.

She knew pole position would be amazing for Sunday's feature race in order to claw back some of the points she had missed out on.

She wasn't out of the title race despite the races she missed and she was determined to get back to winning ways after such a long break from racing.

The American was bouncing along as she arrived to the garage the team was using for the weekend where their cars were being worked on before qualifying.

"Ready to get back to it?" Oscar asked as he approached her.

"Born ready." Willow smiled in reply.

"Hey don't get too cocky. I'm not ready to give up my run of pole positions yet." Oscar told her.

Over the last three F2 race weekends, Oscar had managed to secure pole in each of them and if he done it again this weekend it would be 4 consecutive pole positions.

"Who's to even say you would've got them if I was here?" Willow wondered with a smile on her face as she crossed her arms.

"Then may the best driver win." Oscar spoke holding out his hand and Willow shook it in reply with the holding on to each other a little longer than they should've.

"Be safe out there." Willow whispered while the two were still holding hands.

"You too." Oscar smiled in reply before the two headed to their respective cars.

—————

"Alright Willow. Well done. That's P2 for Sunday's feature race." Marco's voice came through her radio.

"Ahhh." Willow exclaimed in frustration as she slowed down after the checkered flag. She thought her lap was great and would be good enough for pole. "What did I lose out by?"

"I don't think you wanna know." Marco replied.

"Just tell me. I'm gonna find out when I get back." Willow told him.

"200th of a second." Marco said and he could hear Willow sigh.

"You're kidding. Was it Oscar?" Willow wondered as she continued to drive around the track towards the pit lane.

"Yeh, it was Oscar." Marco told the American.

"Okay. I don't feel too bad now. Just gonna have to push harder for the win Sunday." Willow spoke as she pulled into the pit lane with Oscar and Theo as the rest of the F2 grid returned to the support paddock.

Willow pulled her car in behind the big 2 to the right of Oscar who was already getting out of his own car and walking over to the team.

Willow took her time getting out and waved to the crowd across the track who were cheering as the screen showed the female Prema driver getting out of her car.

She made her way over to her team and was hugged from across the barrier as everyone congratulated her on her driving.

"I was this close." Willow spoke as she turned to face Oscar holding up a small gap between her fingers.

"Not close enough Will." Oscar replied and Willow could tell that he was smiling beneath his helmet.

"We'll see who comes out better by the time the weekend and a over." Willow told him causing the others around them to laugh.

The pair were truly back together. Everyone has missed Willow while she wasn't around even though they did like Robert too but there was something about the pairing of Willow and Oscar that just seemed to radiate a happy atmosphere around the team.

—————

The weekend has been pretty even between the pair of Prema drivers. The first sprint race of the weekend had been won by Marcus Armstrong with Willow winning the other.

Oscar had won the feature race on Sunday with Willow coming a close second leaving just 5 points between the pair for the final race weekend of the season.

The good thing of back to back race weekends was that there was no rush home on the Sunday so the pair decided to watch the F1 race together along with some of the other F2 drivers.

"Imagine Max and Lewis. Equal points. Last race in Abu Dhabi decides all, like the entire season never happened." Liam commented as they all gathered to watch the race.

"That could happen with these two." Juri replied as he nodded his head at Oscar and Willow.

"And then Oscar will win." Marcus spoke causing Willow to gasp and Oscar to laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow asked looking at the Kiwi.

"Oh come on Willow. You don't exactly have the best track at winning championships. 2019 you lost out to Robert. Last year Oscar. I'm just saying." Marcus shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Well I'm offended." Willow replied crossing her arms over her chest.

"You can't argue with facts Will." Juri told one of his best friends on the grid.

"Juri?" Willow said with a smile on her face.

"Yeh?" Juri wondered smiling in reply.

"Shut up." Willow told him causing the others to laugh. "I'm gonna prove you all wrong."

"Challenge accepted." Oscar spoke smiling at his team mate.

"You're going down Piastri." The American replied smiling back at Oscar.

"Shut up you two. The race is starting." Theo commented as the formation lap began chasing everyone to be quite and focus on the first race of the year where Max Verstappen could win the world championship.

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Any thoughts? Don't know whether to end the book as the season end or not still undecided 🙈

-ky❤️