the man- f1

four

cuatro

the man

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bahrain/ pre-season testing

making her way inside the paddock, tali couldn't help but smile. she was ready for today and she was excited about what today would bring. earlier that day she had gone for a run and with her she had brought tania who couldn't say no to the giddy girl.

walking past the security and going towards the mercedes motorhome she failed to notice someone walking her way and it wasn't until she fell hands on her shoulders that she actually noticed.

"ah! what the hell is wrong with you!" she screamed as oscar piastri laughed loudly.

"i was calling your name and you didn't hear, too focused on whatever is going on in your head." he said, shrugging and with an unapologetic look on his face.

"oscar!" exclaimed the girl with a smile that could rival the one she had when she got her christmas gift. launching herself at the australian and hugging him tightly getting an equally excited hug back.

the two ex-teammates had not seen each other in months. texting had to suffice between them, and even then, the pair had a common flaw, which was not replying. it would take them weeks to have a regular conversation that people would have in 20 minutes, their facetime calls is what would keep their friendship alive except from when oscar would forget he was in australia and she wasn't and she would be woken up in the middle of the night to hear him ramble about some allegedly delicious drink she genuinely did not care about but would listen for the sake of being nice.

"how are you feeling?" asked the mclaren driver as they let go of each other, beginning to walk further in to avoid getting more pictures taken then they already had.

"excited but terrified." said the mercedes driver honestly. "you're the first person i tell this. people can see i'm scared but you're the first person i admit it to." she continued looking at her feet.

"and that's fine, and totally normal. rookie knows rookie. i'm nervous too." he said hugging her side as they approached the motorhomes.

"yeah. mentally unstable f1 drivers are becoming a constant don't you think." the mexican-french said joking, getting a laugh out of the australian rookie.

"definitely. well, this is where we part ways." oscar said with a smile as he made his way towards the mclaren motorhome, waving as he walked away.

looking at her phone she noticed she arrived earlier than she was expected to, and tania was deep inside the motorhome to question her absence around the mercedes building. she really wanted a coffee and the hospitality could give her exactly that.

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scrolling through her phone waiting for her coffee to be ready, she felt a tap on her shoulder, once again taking her by surprise. turning around, she saw the familiar green eyes that would always comfort her, immediately putting her phone away and hugging the monegasque tightly, not having seen him since january. he wasn't alone though. the other ferrari driver and the two red bull drivers were there too. all of them holding adorable smiles regarding the adorable reunion they were witnessing.

"mon ange! tu m'as manqué." he said holding her tightly.

"i missed you too." she said letting go and turning towards the other three men.

"hi tali." said a smiling max. the two time world champion saw a lot of himself in her. the high expectations and the rough feelings she had to go through were things he understood, making them connect in more ways than they would have thought. plus, in his opinion, the girl's sarcasm was hilarious.

"hey max." she said as she hugged him quickly.

her fellow hispanics wasted no time greeting her though.

"cómo estás tali?" that was carlos sainz.

"qué onda?" that was checo.

the two greeted her at the same time, turning to look at each other before laughing.

"bien bien." she replied with a smile that for the first time in a while did not contain nerves, or at least not as evident. her conversation with oscar had comforted her no matter how short it had been.

"what are you doing here?" asked max.

"needed some coffee." the girl said before hearing her name be called and a waitress approach the bar she was leaning against, handing her the cup with the warm liquid.

"you and your coffee." said charles while shaking his head. "you drink a lot of it. it can't be healthy."

"alright dad." she said rolling her eyes with a smile. "think about it this way, instead of coffee it could be weed, or coke. would you rather have me be addicted to drugs or coffee?" making the three other men laugh.

"coffee's fine." said charles after a beat of silence, causing even more laughter to erupt from the other drivers.

the day was eventful on track, but off, nothing special happened. tali spoke to mechanics, drivers and her boss, the occasional conversation with elias and the looks he would give her happened too, she just failed to notice them, like she would for a while.

nini speaks !

hi, i'm alive, and probably the most inconsistent author wattpad has ever come across and for that, i apologize. i did not count on the fact that i would work this summer so i wasn't able to write like i had planned but here you have another chapter. next one will have the first grand prix weekend already and i'm excited. i also wanted to tell or more like warn you about the fact that many of tali's results will be extremely unrealistic. when i first started this story i had planned on using george's results or maybe lewis' since i had high hopes for them after how they ended last season mostly in brazil, but the car turned out to be unreliabale to some extent and i chose to just invent her own results which like i said WILL NOT be realistic. she will not be winning by the next three chapters but she will have a good season.

lmk what you think so far!

don't forget to vote and comment!

love, nini