daylight , carlos sainz

iv. the saudi arabian grand prix

qualifying was a mess. after latifi's crash in q1 there was a red flag, kicking out marco before he could complete his flying lap that would've pushed him up into q2.

tsunoda, latifi, hulkenburg, albon, valerio, hamilton.

then, after only putting in a slower-than-usual lap, santos was eliminated. she was seconds behind schumacher's haas when the car crashed, sending him flying into the wall and out of the race. debris flew everywhere, including straight back onto santos' bugatti, completely wrecking her sidepod.

"fuck, fuck, fuck!" santos screamed.

"red flag, come back to the pits. are you and the car okay?" the calming voice of jakob came over the radio, bringing micaela back down.

"i'm fine. the car's not. how is mick? that was bad." micaela questioned, trying to drive an aerodynamically challenged car whilst simultaneously looking backwards to see if mick moved at all.

"we'll see what can be done about the car, but you might be out. no updates on mick as of yet." jakob listed.

santos, stroll, schumacher, zhou, ricciardo, norris.

micaela spent majority of q3 in the medical centre, being checked over by the doctors to one hundred percent ensure that she was okay. after finding out what mick's status was, and making sure that he was definitely okay, micaela finally emerged into the bugatti garage to check the final standings. a small laugh shook the girl as she read that carlos sainz had fallen from the top spot that he had claimed for the other two sessions.

✭

micaela laughed as she zipped up her race suit, dodging a balled up piece of paper that was being thrown at her by her team principal.

"don't injure the driver before she has to race!" micaeala gasped, a look of mock shock plastered on her face, a grin attempting to break out.

"oh, micky, don't be so dramatic." guy laughed, shaking his head at her.

she pulled her helmet on and settled herself into the car, buckling herself in and feeling the rapts of jakob's fist on top of her helmet. she pulled out of the bugatti garage to assume her starting position in p15, after the with drawal of mick's car.

"here we are in jeddah then, it's lights out and away we go!"

lap one. micaela's reaction time was impeccable, and she had already made two positions as she sped off to begin the race. through the lap, she overtook norris and ricciardo, finding herself in p11 before the second lap had even started.

lap sixteen. the race had been pretty steady for the next fifteen laps, until the william's of latifi spun out of his p15 position and into the wall on lap fifteen. a safety car was called, and santos headed into the pits, exchanging her soft tyres for a pair of hards.

lap twenty eight. santos had made up more positions, overtaking ocon, bottas, hulkenburg and alonso to find herself in p8.

"radio check micky." jakob asked, questioning in his voice peeking through as he wondered what response he would receive.

smiling to herself, micaela let out a tune, "if i was a man, then i'd be the man! story of my life jake. you don't even understand."

"copy that mick." jakob laughed.

lap thirty seven. alonso, ricciardo and bottas had all retired within moments due to unrelated mechanical issues, pushing marco from his position in p12 all the way up to p9, running behind ocon, who was in between him and his bugatti teammate. a virtual safety car had been called, and the unfortunate timing of a pit stop for hamilton dropped him from p6 to p12, but pushing micaela into p7.

lap forty two. a drs battle was taking place between both the race leaders and the cars travelling behind them. leclerc and verstappen battled, neither driving wanting to take the lead into turn 27. behind them, santos and sainz had the same troubles, but the egotistical nature of sainz caused him to take the lead on turn 27, giving santos the DRS advantage to attack the ferrari in turn 1. a short lived battle occurred, with santos easily pulling past the red car.

lap forty seven. a yellow flag ruined sainz's chances to overtake santos, but also impeded her chances at catching leclerc and gaining an extra place. well, the yellow flag did less than the threats guy made her if she continued her attack. unfortunately, marco wasn't as lucky at the yellow flag, losing a couple places and pushing him back into p10.

lap fifty. the final lap of the race. micky held her p3 position easily, happy to once again beat out her fellow spaniard, who she definitely did not have a feud with.

congratulations rang through her ears as she pulled into the p3 spot in parc ferme, before she pulled off her helmet and balaclava. a smile grew on her face as she saw the bugatti crew waiting for her, lightly jumping onto them as they patted her on her back. post race handshakes were performed, before the crew let her go to ritualistically take her hair out of the braids and pull it into a bun.

david coulthard stood, waiting for an interview with the girl. she graciously accepted a microphone and walked over to the man with a small smile.

"incredible race micaela! it's always such an exhilarating race to watch when someone makes up as many positions as you did! what was the plan coming into tonight's race after quali?" coulthard inquired.

"it was always to make up as many positions as possible at the beginning of the race. it's why i started on softs, to be as fast as possible. the safety car came at the perfect time to pit, it was very good." micaela explained.

"how does it feel to reach a podium position after leaving in q2?" david questioned.

"great. obviously wanted a p2, but i can't complain." santos answered, subtly nodding her head at the man as she walked away from the interview, quietly congratulating charles as they switched positions.

the podium celebrations were booming, with max more than excited to get his first win of the season after a very disappointing start. micaela was doused with champagne, courtesy of charles, who then got two bottles of champagne poured down both his front and back as max and micaela teamed up against him.

carlos sat in his drivers room, a chair lying sideways on the ground as it had been since he kicked it as he walked in, absolutely fuming. how could micaela ruin two of his races in a row? he hated her guts even more. which, until twenty minutes ago, he didn't think was possible.

soph speaks !

sorry i've been awol i've had exams lol
and a bit of a shorter chapter as well