Picture To Burn [Charles Leclerc]

5. Ready For It?

Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted...

***

The whole room seemed to have let out a gasp. Including me.

"Fuck!"

"We were so close."

"And he wants to renew his contract? There's no chance."

Those were some of the comments that could be heard in the Ferrari garage as soon as Charles went off the track and it was evident that he was no longer in the points and out of the race.

Through the cameras, I saw him getting out of the car. He seemed all right, but out of anger, I suppose, he pulled out his helmet and threw it to the gravel.

Booing and curses from the Ferrari fans could be heard. That only seemed to alter the people in the garage even more.

After Charles' incident, Carlos had an incredibly slow pit stop that made him drop to P4, even with Charles out of the top places. The air became tense in a matter of seconds.

The last lap arrived and the checkered flag came to view.

"Max Verstappen wins the Bahrein Grand Prix! Fernando Alonso holds to second place and Sergio Pérez finishes third!"

It was a hard day for the team. Even if Carlos managed to get some points, a fourth position and a car that DNFed, wasn't what Ferrari was meant to achieve in the very first race of the season.

The podium ceremony passed in a blur. I needed to remain in the garage zone to get some after-race pictures of the drivers, so I basically missed it.

Charles was the first one to arrive, since he had been out earlier from the race, but he completely ignored all of the interviewers and paparazzi that were waiting for him and went directly inside to change without saying a word to absolutely nobody.

I still needed some pictures of him, but I also understood him on a certain level. The guy's seat was at risk. He needed to prove that he deserved that place, and the sort of incident he had just had, was anything but convenient. He must have felt extremely frustrated.

Carlos arrived shortly after, he finished his post race interviews and came straight to me, "What did you think?"

"It was awesome." I admitted, "You did great, shame on that pit stop."

"Yeah..." He was cleaning the sweat that was falling from his hair and forehead with a small towel, "It was a tough race."

"For some more than others." I said and by his face, he immediately knew who I was referring to.

"Do you know where he is?" Carlos asked, adapting a preoccupied face.

"I caught a glimpse of him a few minutes ago, but I'm pretty sure he wanted to avoid everyone and went inside, probably to his changing room."

"I'll go look for him."

It was evident that Carlos felt worried about Charles. Even if they were teammates, and technically rivals, that didn't mean they couldn't be friends. You could see the appreciation and respect they had for each other.

"Sure, I'll see you later." I told him with a smile and then, the spaniard and I parted ways.

I took my time to take some more shots of the after race atmosphere. There was a bittersweet feeling in the air with all of the happy fans, and the disappointed ones; the proud teams, and the ones that still had a lot to improve.