Chequered Flag | FORMULA ONE (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER TEN

One, two, three, four, five... Lights out and away we go!

I got a phenomenal start, overtaking Ember and Max Verstappen by the first corner from the outside line.

Then, The safety car was deployed due to a crash involving Tsunoda and Giovinazzi. This lasted for a long time, and I genuinely got bored.

M: I'm bored, anything that I can play with?

T: Don't be silly, Mick. Safety car will come in this lap. Keep your eye on the road.

I pressed the confirm button on my steering wheel before refocusing my attention on the cars in front of me. Soon enough, we returned to racing again.

Nothing really happened for the first part of the race. The overtakings were all behind me in the midfield. There were no interesting fights whatsoever.

As the team fitted our cars with the softest tyre possible for the start of the race, Ember and I were among the first drivers to pit for new tyres. I pitted on lap 15, and Ember on the following lap for hard tyres which could last to lap 50-something, I hope.

We ended up right in the center of the midfield, with Ember managing to overcut me and was now in front of me. But we knew once everyone pitted, we would be back in the front.

On lap 22, Bottas, who was busy chasing Perez, spun while turning into the first corner. Hamilton tried to brake but failed to do so in time. As a result he rammed straight into Bottas's Mercedes. Verstappen, who was behind them, made the exact same mistake as Hamilton.

M: Big crash. Are they okay?

T: They should be fine. Anyways, red flag. Come into the pits.

M: Copy that.

I slowed down as I lined up behind Ember and entered the pits. It was at this time I realised there were only two cars in front of me.

M: Oh my god we're going to be on the podium!

T: Don't be too confident Mick, remember what happened to George during the Sakhir GP last year.

Frankly speaking, Tayla had a point. But I was on my little cloud number 9 right now and I wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible and not plummet down to the ground.

For the duration of the red flag, I sat down in the Haas garage, watching the mechanics work on our cars. Ember stayed beside me, leaning against me, kind of like a subtle cuddle.

"If we maintain our pace we will be on the podium," I stated.

"Yea, I sure hope we don't let the chance slip away," she responded.

"What do we do if we make it there?" I asked.

"I don't know exactly, but I might have something planned on that," she smirked cheekily at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

We thoroughly enjoyed our little moment together before someone with the name of Guenther Steiner rudely interrupted it.

"Oi! The red flag is ending, get yourselves in your cars!" he exclaimed.

I let out a small groan, and stood up, dusting myself off. Ember hastily jumped on me and gave me a peck on the lips, before skipping her way to her car. I looked at her, smiling warmly. How adorable, I thought. That made my day.

For the whole of the remaining race, Ember and I managed to hold on to our pace. Despite having 2 pit stops while others had one, we stayed in P2 and P3 until the very end of the race.

M: We did it! P3, guys!

T: Congratulations Mick, wonderful drive, you deserve it!

M: Thank you for everything. Car feels great, everything went so smoothly today.

I drove my cooldown lap, with one hand on the steering wheel. I wasn't even paying that much attention on the road ahead of me. I was busy waving to the fans on the grandstands. They were cheering and shouting my name. I also spotted some German flag colours jumping up and down, moving around.

My first podium in F1, and Ember's too! We're sharing our first podium together, and oh boy what a good feeling that is!

After one cooldown lap, I drove my car to the parc ferme, where a 'P3' sign board was waiting for me. I hit it gently with my front wing then stopped.

I enthusiastically unbuckled and used the halo to help me out of the car, and then went to prepare for the podium ceremony.

***

"3rd place, we have Mick Schumacher from Haas!"

As I heard my name being called I practically ran into the podium. My fans and the team were in front of me, and I waved at them eagerly. I received my trophy and held it high above my head to rejoice my triumph.

Then came Ember and Perez onto the podium. We sang all the necessary songs, and briefly congratulated each other before getting the party started, also known as spraying champagne all over everyone and getting sticky. I mainly aimed my bottle at Ember, because targeting someone really adds to the fun factor you know. Of course, she did the same with me, and we had a champagne battle. Perez just stood there and sprayed at both of us while laughing out loud. He was dry the whole time, until Ember decided it was a good idea to stop shooting me and instead aim for him. I never thought the podium would be filled with so much fun and laughter.

When the champagne madness was almost over, I realised my bottle was still half full. I dropped it down to my team below me for them to have a taste of achievement. This was what my dad did whenever he was on a podium many years ago.

Now the podium ceremony was over, and we needed to move on to our post race tasks. But Ember pulled me close to her.

"Remember what we promised to do here?" she nudged.

"Totally," I grinned.

"Are you ready?" she held both of my hands, and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Yes," I cleared my throat. "Ember Williams, I love you with all my heart."

"I love you too, Mick. You're the sweetest person I have ever met." Ember pulled me close to her, until our lips were touching. I could feel her breath on my skin, and faintly feel her heartbeat, such a great feeling.

We could hear everyone in the distance making noise. Either they were gasping or cheering or just straight up making rumours about us. But we didn't care. This is what happens when you go public with a relationship.

And we're happy with what we're doing right now.

Race Results:

Per, Wil, Msc, Lec, Ric, Vet, Alo, Oco, Sai, Nor, Gas, Rus, Rai, Str, Lat, DNF: Bot, Ham, Ver, Tsu, Gio.

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