Swerve | 𝑷.𝑮.

Part 16

Underlined is Commentary
Bold is Radio Calls
Italics is French

"Welcome to the second Qualifying session of the 2023 Formula One season." Crofty's voice rings through the Lewis household once again.

Richard Lewis sat back in his chair, the stress of the free practices had only just melted from his body and now he was going to have to sit through an hour of Qualifying at a track where he knew his daughter was prone to struggling and accidents.

In 2021, she had been shunted by Nikita Mazepin whilst gunning for the lead.

Two laps later, attempting to break back through the midfield after the shunt earlier on, she'd been caught up in the spin of Mick Schumacher and hurtled into the barriers despite her attempts to dodge the Haas car.

In 2022, Francesca had been leading the race after overtaking Max three laps earlier when she'd spun out due to cold tyres.

She'd had a botched pit stop which dropped her down the order massively.

And after trying to catch up to the top five just like the year previous, Lance Stroll had spun out in front of her and taken her car with him since she was on the outside line attempting to overtake him.

She had been sent to hospital due to the fast speed at which she'd hit the wall had sustained a mild concussion which had nearly taken her out racing in the next race.

So to say that the Lewis' in England and the Martin's in France were on edge was an understatement...

"Max Verstappen topped two out of three of the practice sessions with his teammate, Francesca Lewis, struggling throughout." Crofty continues. "But, the French driver topped the third and final practice session earlier this afternoon without complication."

"We all know that Francesca struggles in Jeddah." Martin Brundle adds. "In 2021 and 2022 she'd been leading the race before getting caught up in the accidents of other drivers."

"Its almost as though she has a curse in Jeddah." Crofty sighs. "We'll see if she can break that this weekend."

As the two commentators were talking about the Red Bull driver, cameras in the pit lane stationed outside of the Red Bull garage focussed in on the woman in question.

Francesca stood at the back of the garage, balaclava on and helmet in hand. Christian and Hugh were both surrounding her, talking and Francesca was nodding her head at whatever they were saying. When both the team principal and race engineer walked off to take their position at the pit wall, Francesca pulled her helmet onto her head and flicked the visor up.

She seemed like she had everything in control, her face leaked nothing but focus.

She was the fourth car out of the garage for the start of Q1.

Max Verstappen was the first, followed by Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly.

The second the red light turned green, the cars that were queued up in the pit lane stormed out onto the track for their out laps.

Francesca gripped the steering wheel as she let a gap build between herself and Pierre in front.

"Alright Fran, just remember what we told you."

"Got it."

"Don't take risks. We all know what this track is like with you."

"The day I add this track to my list of wins will be the same year I win the championship."

Francesca crossed the line to start her first flying lap just as a Haas began to exit the pit lane. She stormed past it, hugging the racing line like her life depended on it.