CHAPTER 12 || Qatar GP aftermath

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It's been a week since the drivers went to IKEA and made a complete mess. The Qatar GP is over by now.

The drivers are finally in the hotel, all of them are in Max's room, as it is the closest, and they are lying all over the room, so it is really hard not to step on someone.

"Congratulations on the win Max." Nando murmurs at one point. "Don't give me that winning and championship stuff." Grumbles the addressee. Several frown in confusion, others don't stir at all and just listen. "Why?" The Spaniard asks. "Sorry, but I don't want to win a race like that. I don't even know how I did it." Max sighs softly and leans against the wall.

"Logan? Lance? Alex? Are you guys still alive?" Carlos asks anxiously. The Spaniard is incredibly glad he wasn't driving and can now look after the Brit in his arms. "Lance just fell asleep." Checo informs the Ferrari driver. Pierre looks over at Esteban, who just looks exhaustedly at his team-mate.

Logan doesn't move and Oscar crawls over. The drivers are all still exhausted, even though the race was three hours ago. Oscar nudges his best friend unsteadily in the side, he can't muster much strength. The American opens his eyes with difficulty and reaches for Oscar's hand before closing them again.

George's field of vision is fortunately back to the old one. He is now watching over the other Williams driver. He is so proud of Alex's first lead meter this season, but the Thai has put a lot on the line for it. As soon as he sits up he gets dizzy and is still very unsteady on his feet.

When the knock comes, no one moves. "Please open the door if it is locked. You can go to a common room that we got at short notice. You can all stay together there for the night. It's much more comfortable." They hear James say. "It's open." Caws Lewis with a dry throat and the team boss steps in.

His gaze immediately lingers anxiously on his drivers. He sidles up to Logan to take him in his arms. Then he looks at the rest of the teams.

Carlos carries Lando, Checo carries Lance, Esteban leans on Pierre with the help of Mick, Max and Charles lean on each other, Lewis and George almost carry Alex together, Valtteri and Zhou keep holding on to each other, Nando carries Oscar, Yuki keeps leaning on Kevin and Nico keeps holding Liam so he doesn't trip.

Getting to the common room takes longer than expected. But luckily they don't have to walk up the stairs, so it only takes about 30 minutes for everyone to reach their destination.

There they are completely exhausted and Pierre has to use all his remaining strength to prevent Este from falling unchecked onto the floor.

The drivers huddle together but even though they are so exhausted and tired, the younger ones can't sleep. The radio message from Logan keeps echoing through Oscar's head. Pierre has to deal with the information that Este has thrown up twice and George immediately has the image of Alex needing help getting out of the car in his mind.

At some point, someone turns on a film and the drivers watch the Super Mario film. But no one really pays attention to the screen.

Mick and Carlos inform Jenson, Seb and Mark about the situation and give regular updates on the health of the drivers.

Meanwhile, Max is getting colder and colder. Soon he is shivering from the cold and presses himself against Charles for warmth. The younger man worriedly puts his arms around the 3-time world champion.

Slowly the drivers are settling down. Nando had been on the phone with someone and is now back, and the funny little plumber with the red cap and the Italian accent is no longer on the TV screen.

One by one the men fall asleep, but Carlos and Lewis stay awake to watch the others. Lewis starts talking quietly on the phone and it seems to reassure many of the younger ones to hear a voice.

Because even if the community of drivers is not the best at the moment, F1 is still family. And that's where you take care of the others, too.

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Next one

I don't know what's more sad. Logan, who wanted to continue the race to make James proud and their Radios sounded like a father talking to his son and the Crew who were standing in front of the camera on purpose which was a very lovely move or Lance who passed out in the car and after the race went straight to the ambulance and maybe passed out in the medical center again. (Lando just said that some drivers fainted)

That race was everything but simply lovely

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