In Love With Formula 1

Part 96

Carlos' POV:

I had just finished the qualifying debrief, I qualified P3 which I was slightly annoyed about, I was only 2 tenths off pole. I had spoken with Charles who qualified P2 about how we wanted the race to go, obviously as teammates we shouldn't waste our time battling each other.

I walked to the pitwall and looked through the fence to see Izzie in P9, I knew that she would send a few down in to the first corner and she was in the zone, but whatever she had done before the race must have worked because she looked terrifying, it made her car look angry as well, everything about her just looked angry.

I stood there proudly when she took the knee and at least 5 other drivers that I could see did it as well, I knew from this moment on I would also take the knee, she had made me realise how big my platform is for spreading awareness about racism and other issues. Taking the knee was the smallest thing I could do to show my appreciation for her impact as well as how she had pioneered women in motorsport for the past year.

"You watching as well?" Lando asked me

"Of course, she finished second, I'm sure she will win this one"

"She is in a league of her own though" Lando said back as he positioned himself so he could see a TV screen and the live action on track.

"I want her to get in F1 soon so I can race against her" I said to Lando 

"Mate you would lose, don't even think that you would win"

"If she is driving that Mercedes, maybe not, equally powered cars I reckon I could"

"Not on God's green earth could you, you've seen how she races, I don't think there is an ounce of unused power in that car"

"Filling me with confidence as usual" I said as the cars lined up from the formation lap

Watching the lights go out, Izzie got the jump on one car and was gliding through the chaos that is the first corner with cold tyres. She was formidable, everything looked smooth and connected, her punchy racing nature was showing, I could see on the massive TV screens that she was coasting through corners and getting on the throttle a lot quicker than the people around her.

Coming on to the second lap, she was being squeezed by someone else and they just clipped her left rear tyre making her spin towards the exit of the corner.

There was no describing for what happened next. Another car came flying past not seeing that Izzie was sideways and their front wing went straight in to the side of Izzie's car. Neither of the cars could stop and soon enough they were in the barriers, Izzie's car was completely crushed in to the barrier and they yellow flags immediately came out, I was holding my breath waiting for her to get out of her car.

I looked over to her race engineer who was growing more and more panicked, was Izzie okay, was she talking on the radio?

"Mate, we need to go over" Lando said as he started jogging over to the Prema team.

I followed him as my heart rate increased, I was almost going in to panic, Izzie had to be alright, she was stronger than this.

"Anything?" I asked Tonio quietly as cameras were quickly falling on Lando and I at the garage

Tonio just shook his head and put his head in his hands.

"Fuck" I said running my fingers through my hair, I was so stressed

"Carlos" My dad came running over

"What happened, I heard the sounds of tyres screeching" He added