𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚢┃ Charles Leclerc┃

Chapter Twenty Seven - The Mourning

The next two Grand Prix weekends at Spain and Austria were mediocre.

Well, Spain was mediocre. I qualified 9th, and finished the race in 9th. It wasn't the most exciting race in the world; there was limited overtaking for all parties involved and no catastrophes occurred, but at least my two measly P9 points in combination with Lando's boosted McLaren up to 3rd in the constructor's championship.

Austria was a shit show. The engineers had upgraded Lando and I's cars, but it was safe to say that the upgrades didn't exactly work. I was locking up at every corner on the track, and Lando's power unit failed during the first lap. It was the first double DNF of the season, and in two years. It was safe to say, us drivers weren't exactly happy at the debrief.

There was an undeniable sense of disappointment hanging in the air. Lando and I exchanged grim looks as we settled into our seats, the weight of our collective frustration pressing down on us like a leaden blanket.

Zak wasted no time in getting down to business, his expression grave as he addressed the room. "Well, that was a disaster." He began, his voice heavy with disappointment. "Both cars failing to finish is not the result we were hoping for."

I exchanged a glance with Lando, his frustration mirroring my own. We had both been looking forward to the race, eager to put our new upgrades to the test and hopefully secure a strong finish for the team. But as it turned out, things had not exactly gone according to plan.

Zak turned to me, his gaze piercing as he addressed my early retirement from the race. "Anastasia, what happened out there?" He asked, his tone demanding an explanation.

I swallowed hard, the memory of my locked-up brakes and the near misses flashing through my mind. "Did you not see what was happening? I was struggling with the car." I admitted, my voice tinged with frustration. "Every time I tried to push, the brakes kept locking up, and it became too dangerous to continue. It was either retire or kill myself out there."

Zak nodded, his expression only just softening to sympathetic. "I understand." He said, his tone softening slightly. "Safety always comes first."

Turning his attention to Lando, Zak addressed the issue of his power unit failure, his frustration once again evident in his voice. "And you, Lando? What happened to the car?"

Lando sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm sure you could see it all from the pit wall. The power unit just gave out on me." He explained, his tone laced with annoyance. "One minute I was racing, and the next, I was coasting to a stop on the side of the track."

Zak frowned, his irritation evident as he addressed the room. "Well, it's clear that our upgrades didn't work as planned." He said, his tone grim. "We'll need to regroup and figure out where we went wrong before the next race."

As the debrief continued, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment weighing heavily on my shoulders. We had all been hoping for a strong result in Austria, but instead, we had come away empty-handed. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

The meeting began to come to a close, and the McLaren team started to disband. But, before I was able to slope away into my hotel room with a cloud of despair floating above my head, Zak pulled me to one side.

"Ana, I'm glad to see that our conversation about Charles got through to you." He nodded at me, his expression unreadable.

Charles and I had successfully stayed away from eachother during the race weekends. But, in truth, I was really growing sick of it. Spending every night cooped up in one of our hotel rooms wasn't really cutting it for me anymore. I wanted to be able to go to restaurants with him, go for walks without being photographed, talk to him in public without my own boss threatening to sack me. I wanted all of that, and I couldn't have it. I knew that what we were doing was the sensible option, but my patience with it was wearing incredibly thin.