Battle of The Gods

Quarantadue

No one was prepared for what was about to happen on race day of the Hungarian Grand Prix, not after how on good terms Alessandra and Toto looked during the Wimbledon final. One incident, one moment on track, and nobody in the paddock knew how the how it was going to pan out between the team principals, but they knew it wasn't going to be good.

The last two races before the summer break were crucial, especially for Ferrari and Mercedes, the two teams who are at each other's throats in the standings, only a few separating them and the lead could easily change. Red bull were a bit further back, with no hope of getting the lead before summer break, so their aim was to maximise what they could, so they could battle for the lead once more when they returned to race in Zandvoort. All eyes were on the teams based in Maranello and Brackley, to see who would bring everything to the table to come out on top, every point counted, and their goal was to finish ahead of each other.

Both team principals were sat at their seat in their respective garages, watching closely on their screens their drivers as they battled. Charles had qualified pole, with George right behind him in P2, Max in P3 and Lewis and Esteban in 4th and 5th respectfully. They held their positions throughout the majority of the race, which was what Ferrari needed to get another good haul of points. But George was fighting the Ferrari out front, driving like he had nothing to lose as he tried to take the lead away from Charles. But Charles was defending with his elbows out like his life depended on it, no way in hell was he going to lose the win and give Mercedes and advantage.

But then, it all went to hell in turn 4, when George was in Charles's DRS, right behind him, and when he went to try and overtake, he saw Charles defending his position once more, but he was too late on the brakes, and drove into the Ferrari, and both cars were slammed right into the barriers.

Emotions were running high in the garages involved, as both team principals let out a loud shout of anger and disappointment when they watched their drivers take each other out. Alessandra was fuming, slamming her hands on the desk as she watched the replay, getting off her seat and ran a hand through her hair aggressively as she paced around. She knew how important this race was, and the anger was building up in her as she went next to Xavi, who was also angry and upset that his driver got taken out of a race he was doing a good job keeping the lead in, and analysed what happened.

It was the same story for Toto, who was cursing in German as he closed his hands into a fist and slammed them against the desk many times. He got up, his head shaking in disbelief as he heard through his headphones from George's engineer what their perspective was of the crash, and how they kept saying that Leclerc should not have turned the way he did. Anger was boiling up in the Austrian as he listened, trying to calm down as he went back in his seat, trying to focus on his other driver who was still in the race, a difficult task for him as all he saw was red, and whatever he thought or felt back in Wimbledon and London had vanished, knowing that he couldn't see Alessandra because he knew that she'd think that it was George's fault, and the last thing he wanted to hear was her saying exactly that.

Alessandra shared the same sentiments with Toto, because the more she watched the replay with Xavi, the more she saw that it was George's fault for not backing out of the move when he had no business in fighting in the corner when there was no space for him to do so. She couldn't believe that it had to be this race, one of the most important races of the season for the team, where the team got compromised in both championships, to no fault of their own. She tried to keep a calm front when an angry Charles came back in the garage, taking a seat next to Alessandra as they tried to focus on Lewis's race, and evaluate the incident. She hated seeing Charles so distraught, especially because he knew that he most probably had the win and would have given him an edge in the championships. It was a hard one to swallow, not just for Charles, but for Alessandra too.