Dodging the Heat (Year 1)

...And Then There Were Fireworks

Rule 1 in Formula 1: never take let your drivers crash. It was the fifth race of the season when Laura and teammate Sebastian crash into each other fighting for fourth on the second lap. The side of the cockpit of her car slams hard into Sebastian's back wheel as she pulled up the inside. The angle and speed causing both to spin together, cars skittering across the gravel trap.

For a moment Laura is shocked. Her teammate closed the door hard, that wasn't necessary. In her two years in F1 now, she'd never lost it, but the anger in her stomach was an expanding ball of fire as she released her belts to get free.

The relationship she had with Seb was nothing like her previous teammates, he wasn't Kobi friendly or Nico cheeky with her. Their relationship had been cool and professional, but she was prepared to step it up a notch as she sees Seb storming towards her out of his own car.

"What the fuck was that?!" He shouts at her, helmet still on as she puts the steering wheel back in place.

"You have to take the whole fucking track?" She retorts loudly both of them ignoring the marshals attempting to pull them back. "You knew I was there!"

"You don't get fucking special treatment because you're a woman!"

That makes her seethe as she screams at him, "I'm your goddamn teammate!" She's yanked hard now on the arm as they're being shouted at to get behind the barriers. Seb just turns and walks off, ripping off his gloves as she shoves at a marshal attempting to grab her as she storms after him.

Neither of them removes their helmet, or even look at the camera's as they make their way down towards the pitlane. Christian is waiting for them and they're ushered in the garage as both now begin removing their helmets.

Horner is in her ear telling her to calm down as she throws her gloves onto the bench, Seb's helmet slamming into something hard when he throws it. She looks up at him and sucks in her breath. "This isn't my fault," she snaps at her boss. "He knew I was there, it was fucking deliberate."

"Deliberate?" Seb spits out from the other side of the garage. "What are you stupid? You think I wanted my race to end like this Aston?!"

It's the start of a loud slinging match across the garage, TV cameras picking up their insults as they swore and cursed each other. Laura would have decked had he been in reach but her engineer was blocking her path, Horner and Seb's engineer trying to calm down their other driver.

"All you proved today," Seb hisses at him shoving Christian's hand off his chest, "Is that you drive like a damn woman!" She broke free of her engineer, diving at him. She'd punch him till her fist bled and for a moment she swore he looked delighted at her fury. "Don't think I won't fight you back just because you're a girl," he taunts.

Christian catches her and ripping her out the back of the garage. She wanted to scream. This wasn't fair, this wasn't her fault. But she's shouted at till she stops struggling and then is marched to the Red Bull motorhome, not uttering one word to the media.

She sits alone in a room drinking water as her anger edges away. This was the first race where she didn't have either Miles or Lillian, and right now she wanted someone to be on her side. While she was mad, while she knew she would never blame anyone but Seb for the accident she realised the severity of the situation. Their violent reaction will have created a media frenzy. She flops onto the table, her hands holding her head as she pulls at her hair in frustration. She hated today. It was a terrible day.

It's a long time till the door reopens and Christian is standing there. He looks far from impressed and he makes her feel very little as she shrinks in her chair. "I'm sorry," she answers simply.