The formula one family [2]

Part 39:First ride

Flora Formula

I walked through the entrance with papa. "So, I know the championship battle is probably between us, so, I'm already saying, please, don't kill me, I won't kill you", told papa to me. "Why does everyone think so high of me? Who says that I'll be able to even get points, it feels like if I don't get points that everyone will be disappointed, I'm not a legend that has fallen from heaven", I said. Papa stopped me and went to stand in front of me. "Nobody will be disappointed of you, and you are good, you're amazing, you're a legend, don't think so less of yourself", told papa to me. "I don't think that I won't get points, but I just think that everyone's expecting me so high, and if I won't meet those expectations-", I continued. "Then it doesn't matter, you're trying. We're proud of you either way", said papa to me. "Yeah, I know", I said smiling. He smiled too. "Come on, we have to go to practice", told papa to me. I walked with him. I said my goodbyes and entered the garage from Sauber. "Hey", I said to my engineer. "Hey, excited?", he asked. "Yeah, I'm really excited", I replied smiling. He showed me some stuff and data. I was looking at the data when I saw dad Lando and dad Daniel looking at me. I smirked and turned back to the computer. "Look at our hard working daughter", I heard dad Lando say behind me. "Yeah, I can't believe it", said dad Daniel. "And why are the fathers of that hard working daughter not working?", I asked turning around. "Well, we're on a break", said dad Lando. "Go away, this is data that you can't see", I told them still smiling. "Well, enjoy work", said dad Lando. "Yeah, you too, when you get back from your hours-long break", I told them. "Thanks", said dad Lando walking away. "Hey, you can get ready for the practice, be here in 30 minutes", told my engineer. "I will", I told him. I went to my driver room and relaxed. Grandpa Seb entered the room. "Hey", I said. "Hey, let's get you ready", said grandpa. He was my manager. "Yeah", I said. I already put my suit on, and I was closing my shoes when he entered. He took two balls. "You know how to do this, right?", he asked. "Grandpa, I live with 7 famous drivers", I said. "Yeah, that's true", said grandpa laughing. I laughed with him. Grandpa held his two hands in the air and I put mine on his. He would let the ball drop and I had to take it as fast as possible. When he dropped the two balls, I caught them both. "You're better than me at this", said grandpa. "Really, I thought you were good at it?", I asked. "I am, you're just better", he said. I threw the balls to him and he put them away. "Ten minutes left, so we have to go your car, are you ready?", he asked. "Yeah", I said. "Where are your brothers, actually?", asked grandpa following me out of the room. "At home with Penelope and the girlfriends", I said. "Why?", asked grandpa closing my door. "They're not really a race freak like me, and our fathers enrolled them in school about human socialization and norms because they missed a piece and got raised in a pretty toxic environment", I said. "Yeah, that's true", said grandpa. We got downstairs. "Ready?", asked Aluni. "Yeah, I'm ready", I said. Grandpa apparently already took my helmet because he handed it out to me. I took a deep breath and put on my balaclava. I made sure it was comfortable and I put on my helmet. "Are you sure you're ready?", asked grandpa. "Yes, I'm sure", I told him. He put his two hand palms out. And I high-fived mine on his. He later took my shoulders. "No matter where you end, we're proud of you", he said. "Thanks", I told him. "Hey, Flora, good luck", said grandpa Kimi. "What are you doing here?", I asked happy and hugged him. "I can't miss your first race weekend!", said grandpa Kimi. "Thanks", I said. I got inside the car and grandpa handed me my gloves. He put on a headphone to listen to the radios. "Hey, Flora, this is Alex Chan, I will be your race engineer", said Alex over the radio. "Hey Alex", I said while putting on my gloves. "So, do you know how we do this?", asked Alex. "Yeah, my fathers explained it to me", I told Alex. "Alright, let's take it easy the first couple of laps and we'll go further from there", explained Alex. "Alright", I said.

"Okay, drive out when they give you a signal", said Alex. "Okay", I said. They gave me the signal and I drove out. Number 15 is leaving the track. "Okay, first flying lap, don't try to push it quite yet, but get a good time", said Alex. "Alright", I told him. I started my first lap. I took a deep breath. The adrenaline was rising. First corner is done. Go through there, and to the left and in the straight. Let's go. Next corner to the right, and with the next two corners you can go fast, but you can't go too fast. To the left, right, left, hit the kerb a little bit and slow down for the next corner. Come on, you've got this! Sharp corner to the left is done, now entering the straight. I drove past padre and I think I saw him waving. Classic. The next couple of corners went good, maybe a little bit too much kerb. Now I just have to do the last two straights. I went over the race line and slowed a little bit. "That's P2, great job, if everyone did his turn, we think you're going to be around P4, P5", told Alex. "Okay, yeah, that's great, is papa in front of me?", I asked. "Yes, Max is in front of you with .098", said Alex. "Alright", I said. Take a deep breath, and return, look over the data, and go again, we can do this.

I got out of my car and me and grandpa high-fived me. I took my helmet off. "Good job, that's P4!", said grandpa Kimi. I smiled. "Thanks", I said. "Told you, you could do this", said grandpa Seb. "You did", I replied smiling. I took a water bottle and drank some of it. Some engineers congratulated me. "Come on, change, you'll go over data and then it's time for lunch", told grandpa to me. "Yeah", I said. I left out a deep breath. I walked upstairs and changed into my regular clothes. I kept my hair braided, so I don't have to do it again. I went over some data from practice to see where I can improve.

"Alright, I have to do some more stuff, but Charles asked for you to come to the Ferrari canteen, lunch with the family", said grandpa once I'm done. "Alright, good luck with whatever you're going to do", I said. "I don't even know myself", he said while walking away laughing. I laughed too. I went to the Ferrari canteen and saw padre and père Charles already at their table. I took some lunch and sat with them. "Well, look who we have here", said padre. "Hey", I said sitting down. "How'd it go?", I asked them. "I'm P3 and Carlos is P5", said père Charles. "I'm in between you, I'm P4", I said. "Well, congratulations", said padre. "Thanks", I said. "I'm guessing Max got first", said padre. "Yeah, and dad Lewis got second, dad Lando is sixth, père Pierre seventh and dad Daniel is eighth", I said. "All behind each other, let's go", said père. "Dude, I almost crashed, there's a big bump on one of the straights", said dad Lewis sitting down. Dad Lando and dad Daniel joined too. "Yeah, I felt it too", said dad Lando. "Annoying as hell", said dad. "Guys, did you see that big bump?", asked papa and père Pierre when they arrived. "Yeah, dad was just talking to us about it", I said. "I got spun because of it, but I handled it", said père Pierre. "Yeah, I almost crashed too, it's annoying as hell", said dad Lewis. We finished lunch and continued.

The rest of the sessions were all great. In practice 2, P5. Practice 3, P4 again. Quali didn't go as I hoped and I qualified P6, but it's better than my teammate who's in P18. How will the big race go?