WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris.

XX. Pain Was Hot Rubber

She climbed up into her car and sank down into the narrow cockpit, the pressure of the carbon fiber all around immediately grounding her, alleviating her anxiety a bit. The mechanics buckled her straps, pulling tight, and she fit the steering wheel into place. Visor down.

Formation lap.

Pole position. Don't screw this up.

She could see Verstappen angling his car towards her, determined to steal away her position as quickly as possible.

Lights.

Out.

Engines bellowed as the crowd roared and they were off.

"Räikkönen, rapid off the line, as is Verstappen, they're wheel to wheel, Verstappen gets ahead on turn one, Räikkönen fights back, that straight-line speed of a Red Bull is a mighty opponent─ Annika Räikkönen leads the Canadian Grand Prix! Fantastic driving from both of them. Alonso didn't get the reaction time he wanted, but Hamilton certainly did. In order is Räikkönen, then Verstappen, Hamilton, and Alonso."

"If I were Annika, I would not be excited to see a Red Bull in my mirrors. But she seems to have a pretty decent handle on things, as she drags herself ahead of Verstappen into turn seven."

"Ooh, Verstappen is trying to sort this out in the straight, but can't seem to break in. He takes the lead, Annika says no thank you, I quite like the view here at the head of the pack, and takes it right on back."

"This is excellent defending from Räikkönen. Holding up Verstappen like there's no tomorrow on those soft-compound tyres, but you have to wonder what will happen when she has to box at lap twelve and Verstappen doesn't."

The second lap had barely started, and Annika already felt like she had sweated out half her body weight. Her mirrors flashed with orange and yellow, the gaping maw of a Red Bull. Her tyres would not last, surely. But she had to trust in her team, the strategy, safety car, safety car.

Lap six, and she could already feel her tyres wearing down. She cringed, her chest tightening even further. Gravitational force, amplified by the intensity of her dangerously rapid corners, slammed her back into her seat, against the walls of the cockpit. She clamped her teeth down and nestled in deeper.

"Now, if you'll recall, Annika Räikkönen is only on a single-season contract with Mercedes at the moment. Now that her podiums are stacking up and she's just snatched her second pole position of the year, you have to wonder what Mercedes is doing."

"Quite right. By now they should have at least expressed the intention of re-signing her for next year, but they seem to be sitting on their hands, waiting for someone else to grab her up."

"Something I know for sure is that she has been catching the attention of Sergio Pérez, quite in the same way that a mouse would keep an eye on the cat."

"Same story as Valtteri Bottas, now sitting in a Sauber."

"One thing about Annika, people are certainly intimidated by her."