-unnerved

/    mwah, mwah, mwah

{ @shiftintogear }
            
            // HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII :wave:

then, the following year, tragedy struck. it was THE 202X SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS FORMULA 2 ROUND in BELGIUM. a notorious track in which a single mistake at the RAIDILLON DE L'EAU ROUGE could mean total catastrophe, whether it's serious injury or even death. despite the FIA cracking down on the safety concerns, the danger was still inherent. 
            
               it was lap 17 out of 25. by now, ADRIAN has secured himself the second place in the overall championship and was racing wheel-to-wheel with his opponent to get ahead. light rain has recently fallen on the track, leaving some parts of it damp. at first nothing happened to ADRIAN as he exited eau rouge, climbed through raidillon and accelerated onto the kemmel straight. the hardest parts were over, or so he thought.
            
               at nearly 280 km/h, another car ahead clipped the curb awkwardly. a piece of carbon fiber broke loose. not too small or too big, but big enough to end his career. it struck his front suspension. intitially, everything seemed fine for the next five seconds, after which the same suspension fell underload. with such speeds, the front corner of the car collapsed and the livery became uncontrollable.

years later, he'd climb up the ranks and, with the help of a sponsor, he'd break into the world of open-wheel racing by entering the 201X FORMULA 4 UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP season. two years he has participated in the races. while he wasn't always the fastest, he was acclaimed for his on-track consistency. of course, that caught the eyes of the local association and would decided to move CONNORS up to FORMULA 3. for that, he'd spend several more years out in EUROPE, accompanied by a close family friend. once again, years went by, and it was fated for adrian to step into FORMULA 2. little did he know, was that it was as far as he would be able to go.
            
               up until FORMULA 2, he was a nobody, a face among many that was yearning for their turn in their spotlight. F2, while not as mainstream as the elite racing FORMULA 1 brought, was still noticeable by the fewer, yet passionate fans that enjoyed the sport. they were quick to notice ADRIAN and his NO. 7 livery, the blue and orange colors of MERIDIAN MOTORSPORT zooming through the track in a two-tone blur. he showed a lot of promise, and fans believed that one day he'd find his rightful play in F1.
            
               many years later, FORMULA 1 held the race weekend once more on texan soil. but instead of sitting in the grandstands, like back when he was a kid, he was, for the next hour, behind the wheel of one of the liveries there, and his family was also there to watch. FREE PRACTICES meant the teams would have to swap out one of the drivers with driver with no more than two grand prix starts to drive for the length of that free practice session, which was an hour. in ADRIAN's case, he got to drive one of the WILLIAMS' liveries, and people could see how well he did: no mistakes were made, feedback was clean, pace was strong and his attitude was professional. the engineers were impressed let alone the team principal. this boy from irvine wasn't just hoping to make it into the big leagues - he was practically knocking on the door.

BACKGROUND:
            
               ADRIAN was born into a working-class family in IRVINE, CALIFORNIA. his father was a car mechanic with a garage of his own, while his mother worked as a school teacher to make ends meet. the city sat at the heart of ORANGE COUNTY and, itself, was the heart of CALIFORNIA'S CAR CULTURE. CAR MEETS, CANYON CARVINGS and DRAG RACES were common sights to young ADRIAN, and the exotic cars weren't uncommon around these parts, either. ironically, none of those things really resonated with him at the time. what attracted him more was FORMULA 1. he'd watch the almost every grand prix on television, growing up during the prime of big names in the sport, like KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN, SEBASTIAN VETTEL and MICHAEL SCHUMACHER.
            
               the dream truly started when he went to the inaugural race in TEXAS, at the CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS. he was one of the many faces that was among the grandstands at the 2012 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX. he watched how the german red bull driver took pole position, watched how he set the fastest lap, and the nail-biting battle between him and the british driver who was racing for mclaren. it was magical to adrian. and he wanted MORE.
            
               it took many months of convincing his parents to even CONSIDER funding their son's karting career. they knew the true cost of doing that, and needed to prepare themselves. eventually, they decided to sell his father's garage, family car, as well as move to a smaller home to kickstart his career. it was a great sacrifice, but they felt they did the right thing. and it didn't take long before ADRIAN showed incredible racecraft the moment he picked up on maneuvering. talent would come later, but his ability to learn and adapt was what set him apart from his other competitors.