With the motorsport world finally putting light on the women of racing, one racer was ready to work her way up to the Formula 1 grid. As a Formula 2 rookie, she struggled, but with Red Bull Racing behind her, she was sure to cause one of hell of a c...
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There was something about being the daughter of a former world champion that made a rookie F1 driver all that more nervous. Perhaps it was the fear of disappointing them or the media thinking you weren't as good as they were. Maybe it was just the ego of wanting to be better than them.
For Anneli Räikkönen if was none of the above. The problem with having a former f1 driver as your father was the fear of the rest of the paddock thinking you had privilege, not skill. It was the thing Anneli hated most — people assuming she should not be there.
But hell, she'd show them.
When it came to words of encouragement from a World Champion, you'd expect some kind of wise words that put your head in the game ready for your first-ever race: something positive that was sure to keep you on your toes.
Not Kimi.
"If you don't want them to talk to you, tell them to leave you alone," Kimi began to his rant in Finnish. "You know what you are doing, you do not need them to tell you."
"Kimi, that is not what you should be telling her!" Minttu frowned. "Listen to your engineer, just because your dad didn't, does not mean—"
"I won a championship."
"She's a rookie, not an experienced driver yet," Minttu pointed out.
"But we don't need them to tell us that there's someone in front of us when we can see them," Kimi argued. "Anneli, you know that car and how you feel in it better than any of those engineers, remember that."
Anneli nodded as her father embraced her in a hug. She knew that her father didn't care where she placed in the race but Anneli Räikonnën didn't do failure.
"But also remember they can see things wrong with the car that you can't," Minttu added.
"Listen to the engineers, ignore them if I disagree or yell at them," Anneli concluded. "Okay."
Anneli was soon pulled out of the garage to stand for the national anthem. She was so close to being there before Martin Brudle caught her attention. She knew who he was, even though she had never spoken to him. Normally, she would have walked past him but he appeared to be in her way.
"Anneli, can we get a word of how you feel today?" Martin questioned.
"The same as every day," Anneli replied bluntly. "i want to win."
"In an Alpha Tauri?" Martin questioned in amusement.
"If you do not want to win in any car, there is no point to racing," Anneli replied. "Excuse me."
Anneli made her way to where all the driver's were lining up for the national anthem due to start in a few moments times. She ended up between Max and Mick, ironically, so she didn't mind too much. The national anthem only lasted a few minutes anyway before she would be back to getting ready to hop in the car.
