There hadn't been a woman in formula 1 for as long as most drivers could remember and it seemed that there was a lack of women in the virtual sport too. When McLaren Shadow, an F1 e-sports team took a chance on a young female streamer, no one knew t...
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Mira Atkinson didn't always like advice.
She found that it contrasted everything she had taught herself and felt like it was trying to intrude on her brain. She liked the advice on things she didn't know or that were new but she did not want any advice on existing solutions.
Lando soon learnt that.
She knew he was desperate to help her but she didn't need his f1 driver to look at it because not all of it was the same. Her e-sports look on the matter was all she needed and she made that clear to Lando.
Despite it sounding slightly rude, Lando also knew she was trying to be so didn't take any offence to her. Mira was just stressed and wanted to get the race over with. He tried not to bring anything up again.
"Okay, good luck," Lando smiled,"I'll be said out of your view but if you want me to leave, give me like some sort of signal."
"Like what?" Mira questioned.
"Uh..." Lando looked at her set up,"Change your bottom desk light to a different colour."
"Okay," Mira mumbled. "Lando, I hope you don't think I'm going to win because you'll just be getting your hopes up for nothing."
"Mira, I don't care if you win or not," Lando assured. "I just wanna know that you're enjoying yourself even if it's stressful and that you get all you want out of it."
"Okay," Mira bit her lip. "Thanks, love you."
"Love you too," Lando replied happily.
Mira tried to forget that Lando was there when she set up her equipment, got onto the call with Anna, and set up the camera for the stream. Her hand shook slightly in suspense as she waited.
In all honesty, being the only female in the pro-championship upset Mira and put extra pressure on her to do well. She wasn't quite at the level of winning every race because her nerves would occasionally get in the way and she would make a stupid mistake. Even when that happened, she was still within points and it mattered to her so she could keep her position.
The day had its up and downs. Mira had done well in qualifying but only finished fourth in the race. It was an achievement, she knew that, but she wanted to win. Next year, she promised herself that she would try to cope with her nerves and find something inside her like never before. Mira had the potential and she had done it before in other series before she signed any contracts. Maybe that's what she needed, more tournaments to help her get back into her racing mind she knew was hidden beneath the surface.
"Sometimes it's a good thing to just get out of mainstream career and do something else, even if it's still racing," Lando had agreed when she explained to him. "It really helps and I know people on the grid to that too, like rally driving and stuff."
