There were a number of reasons why this race weekend was more stressful than the usual weekend, namely the fact that it was Y/N's home race and as much as it annoyed her, being a female only doubled this pressure as there were critics everywhere that just loved to pick apart her driving, trying to find a reason as to why she shouldn't be in Formula 1, nonetheless as Daniil Kyvat's replacement in Alpha Tauri. But so far so good, Y/N had been preforming well, keeping up with her teammate Pierre and had out preformed him on a few occasions. Pierre and Y/N had a unique relationship with each other, they had become fast friends and spent a lot of time together, both during season and off season.
"We'll go for the softs today during FP3, rain isn't expected during quali or the race, so we'll hopefully get some good times in." Michel, Y/N engineer said to her and they conducted a brief meeting in the garage. Y/N nodded in agreement as she walked over to her car but was stopped before she got there by a tug on her wrist, turning she saw it was Pierre. "Have a good practice, be safe." It was something they said to each other before they got into their cars. With a smile, Y/N said the same as she clambered into her car and was buckled in by her mechanics.
"Radio Check: Ready?" She heard Michel in her ear-pieces as the car was started. "Ready." She felt the car rumble to life as her mechanic removed the tyre warmers and stepped away from the car, allowing her to drive out of the garage and onto the pit lane. There were a few cars in front of her that also wanted to take full advantage of the conditions to practice before qualifying later that day.
"Just do an out lap and then we practice a flying lap when the track clears a bit." Y/N muttered a word of agreement and began her out lap to warm up her tyres. As she passed the start/finish line she began a flying lap so that her team could gather data and make any necessary changes for qualifying. "Yellow flag. Turn 12. There's been an oil spill on the track." Y/N slowed her speed but that didn't seem to help as she soon found herself on going too wide on the corner and drove straight through the oil, Y/N felt her car spin off track onto the gravel and into the barrier. The crash echoed throughout the track causing her team listening on the radio to flinch as well as those who were watching from the stands. "Y/N? Do you copy?" Michel asked this at the same time that Pierre's voice came through on his team radio, "Is Y/N alright?" Y/N hadn't answered her radio which worried the team and Pierre as his engineer told him so.
Upon hearing this, Pierre drove his car to the where Y/N had crashed and stopped on the gravel, jumping out of his car and rushing over to try and help her. "Y/N! Y/N!" He shouted as he got closer and calmed slightly as he heard her muffled moan through the helmet. Pierre grabbed her hands in an effort to help her stand up and get out of the car and he was thankfully helped by the marshals that had flooded onto the scene to aid them. With a groan and a moan, Y/N wobbled slightly on her feet and Pierre quickly rushed to wrap his arm around her waist to steady her and guide her into the medical car. "I don't need to go to the medical centre." She protested but it feel on deaf ears as Pierre pushed her to settle in the seat and closed the door behind her, watching as the car drove off before climbing back into his car and driving back to the garage.
"I'm ready for quali." Y/N announced as she entered into the garage again after being released from the medical centre by the doctor on site. Her announcement was met by protests from her team but the loudest protest by far was from Pierre who journeyed from his side of the garage to hers.
"You're not driving today or tomorrow. Sebastien's driving this weekend."
"No. No, this is my home race! I have to drive." Y/N objected. "I'm fine!" As if to prove a point, Pierre gently lay his hand on her back but quickly retracted it when Y/N let out a cry of pain and Pierre simply raised an eyebrow. "It's just a sore back."
"You're not driving." Michel commented. Y/N let out a loud breath and stomped out of the garage to her driver's room. She collapsed on her sofa and let out a quiet moan as her back made contact with the hard cushioned sofa. At a knock on her door, she sat up quickly, letting an expression of pain cover her face, and saw Pierre standing at the door. "I'm sorry you can't drive but it's for the best. Please don't do that me, I was so scared seeing your crash."
"I'm sorry, but I'm still annoyed." Pierre wrapped his arms around her in a hug but let go almost as quick as he initiated the hug when he heard let out a quiet moan. "I'll be better by Hungary."
Qualifying went amazingly well. Sebastien had qualified P9 while Pierre was starting P6 tomorrow. It was his best qualifier of the season so far and he was ecstatic or well that was until he was told that he had to attend a Post-Qualifying Press Conference which immediately brought down the high. He was seated on the panel along with Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz who qualified P4 and P5 respectively.
"Coming to you, Pierre. Your teammate crashed during practice this morning. Any word on how she's doing, and will she be racing in Hungary next week?" Pierre let out a sigh, he knew at one point he'd be asked this as Y/N wasn't doing any media this weekend so that she could relax and allow her back to heal.
"Y/N," Pierre said putting emphasis on her name as the reported had failed to even mention Y/N by her name, "will be back and well hopefully by next weekend, it's her intention to race there."
"The two of you seem very close, is there a secret romance going on between you two?"
Pierre let out a loud breath, he was sick of being asked this question, "No. I have a girlfriend. I am in no way romantically involved with Y/N. It's like no one can believe a female can be in Formula 1 without having romanticised her way there." He let out a puff of air as if to say, 'can you believe that'. As if the reporters in the room could tell, no one asked Pierre any further questions and with that the press conference was over and Pierre was free to check on Y/N one final time before returning to the hotel to relax.
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