All the Way - an F1 story

39

8 October , 2021
📍Istanbul, Turkey

Gianna pulled her aside as soon as she walked into the garage. It was completely unexpected, and if Calina was being honest, she was still half asleep, and suddenly getting pulled into a room by your chief mechanic was not on her list of things that would happen that morning.

Yet, that's where Calina found herself, in the changeroom for the female mechanics, watching the chief mechanic of her car crew pace back and forth.

"It's me." Calina looked at Gianna.

"The fuck do you mean, Gigi?"

"Fabiano," she answered, gesturing as if she couldn't believe Calina couldn't pick up on what she was implying . "He asked me. Me, Calina!"

It hit her then. It— the engine.

Oh.

"Oh shit," Calina gasped. "Oh my God! Gigi, he asked—You're doing it?"

Gigi sighed deeply, falling into one of the chairs against the makeshift wall.

"I have no choice," she replied. "He wants me to. Ha detto che sono l'unico che pensa possa farlo."

Well, in Calina's opinion, Fabiano wasn't wrong. Gianna easily had to have been the most qualified person to design the engine. Anyone on the team could have done it, really, but Gianna—Gianna had a certain passion about engines. Calina heard the stories from Charles all the time, from back when Gianna was at Ferrari. She had almost always been involved in the development process, and when she wasn't, she was designing her own.

"Fabiano wants me to figure it out by next month, the latest. He's giving me his base design, but I have to continue it." Gianna looked scared, and rightfully so. A month was an impossible timeframe, even if Gianna had some pieces of the puzzle fit together for her already. "He knows it's tight, so he said I can have someone else with me on it."

Her mechanic looked at her, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, and Calina immediately knew where she was going.

"Gigi, you're not serious."

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"And you're telling me Fabiano is completely okay with this?"

Calina sighed as she set her plate down, watching as the video feed of her brother moved around her phone screen. Mathis was wandering around the kitchen of his Paris apartment, searching for something while what was presumably his lunch simmered on the stove. Calina was out alone on the patio by the motorhome, trying to pass some time, and she needed a quiet space. Inside, the mechanics and engineers were all discussing the previous session over their lunch, and while Calina should have probably stayed to provide her own input, the noise was too much for her, and she really needed a clear head.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not going to say no to her," Calina sighed, picking at her own food. She had some time between practices, and she figured Mathis would be a good person to rant to.

"Do you even want to do it, Callie?"

"Yeah, Of course, but— I don't know. Mattie, she just got her fucking PhD in this and she wants my help. Like what the fuck can I contribute–."

"Can we talk?"

Max Verstappen was standing in front of her table, racing suit tied at his waist and looking more nervous than Calina had ever seen him.

Max. Nervous. To talk. To her.

Mathis must have been as stunned as she was, because as soon as he heard the other driver's voice, his eyes visibly widened.