Lions Inside: The Formula One Rookie

Chapter 5: Bahrain

(Copenhagen- Jack Vallier) PLAYING OVER THIS CHAPTER
(Hollow- James Smith) PLAYING OVER THE CHAPTER
(Let it Roll- Lewis Capaldi) PLAYING OVER THIS CHAPTER 
(courage- Ruel) PLAYING OVER THIS CHAPTER  

I was nervous for this race. My race engineer, Jack, was currently on paternity leave. Which I couldn't have felt more happy for him about. But unfortunately, he had been replaced by one of Lewis's old race engineers, who had a bitter air about him. I could tell he wasn't the biggest fan of me, and wished he was still Lewis's engineer even after getting dropped. I would have much preferred to have my PR, Sophie, talk me through the race rather than Ralph, who I was sure would indeed wreck it. 

I would wave at him, and greet him in the garage like I would with all of the Mercedes team members (and ones from other teams which got me an amused and joke scolding from Toto for being "too nice"). While the others would respond with a matched energy, Ralph would just huff and turn back to the monitors. I could practically taste the sour ambiance gleaming off his bald spot, with every neglection of attempting to bond on my part failing miraculously. 

Beating out Kimi for using the least amount of words, maybe it would be alright if Ralph just stayed quiet and only told me when to box. But based on the tense quali session, I didn't think that would be the case. I had missed out on getting on the front row from Ralph omitting to tell me I was on a fast lap until I was half-way through sector two of what I thought was a cool down.

 I had found out when a frantic Toto had burst onto my radio and told me to get my butt in gear, before forgetting to turn off the com and chewing out Ralph as I busted out a purple final sector; listening with raised brows, feeling like I was on a special episode of Keeping up with the Kevlar creators.

STARTING GRID:
P1- Charles Leclerc
P2- Sebastian Vettel
P3- Lewis Hamilton
P4- Leo Gerard
P5- Max Verstappen
P6- Kevin Magnussen
P7- Carlos Sainz
P8- Kimi Raikkonen
P9- Lando Norris
P10- Daniel Ricciardo
P11- Romain Grojean
P12- Alex Albon
P13- Pierre Gasly
P14- Sergio Perez
P15- Daniil Kvyat
P16- Antonio Giovinazzi
P17- Nico Hulkenberg
P18- Lance Stroll
P19- George Russell
P20-Robert Kubica

Even after the blunder that encompassed my entire qualifying, I was beyond psyched for this race. Mostly because it was at night, and I was getting great vibes from the track during the formation lap. Charles was in pole position with Seb behind, and I was at P4 behind Lewis. I had a great feeling in my gut, and I was determined to do what I couldn't in Australia- get on the podium.

I overtook Lewis at the first turn and was sandwiched behind Charles, which made me uneasy, so I pushed to overtake him immediately, which I did soon enough. I was watching Seb ahead, while keeping a weary eye on the battle for third behind me. The 1.4 second gap between Seb and I was slowly dwindling, and I saw Charles rapidly approaching me from behind. He got me as I foolishly locked up around the corner. Hey, this was my second F1 race, I was still a nervous little thing. 

"No! No!" I said, struggling with Apollo's pace, watching as Lewis took me wheel to wheel. I maintained the inside line to try to keep Lewis at bay, my eyes flicked back and forth from my mirrors. I shouldn't really be fighting him at this point, but I guess I did still have a little transferred grudge from Australia. Lewis overtook me down the hill, and I was wide-eyed and twitchy now after losing the two places I had gained.

Now I had Max right on my tail after the squabble, and the Ferrari's were breathing in the front. I had some making up to do after my mistakes, and I was just hoping to get away from Max before he was in DRS range in a couple laps. It was a relatively windy day today as well, and the dust being kicked up was a little irritating to drive through. Max and Carlos made contact behind me and I watched as Carlos dropped deeper into the track.