All the Way - an F1 story

47

14 November , 2021
📍São Paulo, Brazil

Kimi, Mazepin, Mick, George. Calina looked at the back of their cars, lined up in their respective sports in front of her. She figured if her start was good enough, she could get by at least them, maybe even Nicholas too, if she was extra quick and careful.

A figure stood in front of where she sat against the barrier, shielding the sun with her body. Calina lowered her hand, looking up at who was now shielding her from the relentless glare.

"You good?" she asked Melissa.

"I wanted to talk about the strategy," her engineer replied, taking a seat next to her. Calina grabbed her sunglasses from where they balanced on top of her water bottle, putting them back on before turning back to Melissa. "Henry just ran it by me; he and Sera think the best option is the two-stop. You can make up positions, and you'll have a good chance of getting close to the points."

"Getting close isn't good enough, Melì, I need—." Calina sighed, realising how harsh she must have sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I need a way to get good points."

"Well, Henry came up with a backup, but Sera thinks it's far too risky with the position you're in."

Calina stood up, pulling Melissa up with her, and she made her way over to where the two strategists were stationed, hunched over Henry's laptop and discussing.

"What's your backup?" Calina asked. Henry looked up in surprise, glancing back and forth between his driver and his boss.

"I was thinking back to the Silverstone feature, three years ago." Calina nodded. She remembered that race; it was the first time she had gone against her engineer's orders, following through with a race plan she and Henry had devised. "We charge from the back. One stop, mediums to hards. It's your best chance."

Calina looked at Serafina, who simply shrugged.

"You could do it, but it's going to be a lot, Calina," she said. "But, you're the one out there. You know."

"Let's do it." Calina glanced between the three of them. "If we want it to work though, I need to know you guys trust me, and I'm gonna need as much quiet on the radio as possible."

"Are you sure about this?" Lella asked when Calina returned, holding out the driver's gloves and helmet for her.

"Of course," Calina replied, zipping up her suit. "I'll be fine."

"This isn't because of Max's interview, is it?" Calina huffed in response.

Max had really pissed her off with his comments. Normally, she wouldn't care, but seeing as Max was the one who, not even two months prior, wanted to make amends with her over their past, seeing this complete turn around from him was beyond frustrating. Calina felt like she had been played; she felt like a complete idiot for trusting the guy.

"So what if it is," Calina shrugged, taking her helmet. "Even so, I have a fucking battle to win against Bottas and Perez. I'm gonna do whatever I can to get my team some good points."

Lella nodded, smiling proudly at the surge of confidence in her driver. "Go on then, Calina."

Calina stepped into the car, feeling more at ease than ever. She was always tense, anxious, but now, she was calm and collected, nodding at Gianna when the chief mechanic gave the signal to her crew to clear the track. Gianna smiled, patting the red 24 on her front wing before stepping aside.

She took her time with the formation lap. Calina usually hated when the back runners took forever to line up, but she had nothing to lose here. She made sure her tyres were warm and the car felt good, before lining up in her spot.