Love Between Telemetry [Lance Stroll]

•Chapter number thirty-eight•

,,Yeah, who's been working so damn hard?
You got that head on overload?
Got yourself this flawless body
Aching now from head to toe."
That's My Girl; Fifth Harmony

-

,,Flat tyre. I've got a flat tyre!" desperate voice of Lewis Hamilton was echoing in our ears.
He, Seb and Max got involved in the three-car fight for the first place at the start. Max thanks to his sharp elbows managed to simply and lovely overtake both title contenders and take the lead. Lewis and Seb, on the other hand, weren't so lucky and their fight ended with Vettel's broken front wing and Hamilton's puncture. They both dropped down massively and thanks to that Lance peeked inside the TOP10. If everything will go as we planned, there is a big possibility to grab solid points and we definitely need them.

-

,,Shouldn't we pit Lance? To cover Peréz and the others?" our head strategist George asked me when in lap 20 Lance's biggest opponents Peréz, Hülkenberg, and Ocon pitted. We planned to stay out as long as possible but we also need to cover them and not lose our position. Strategists are the ones who are making the strategies but they usually consult their ideas with us, because we are in permanent contact with the drivers and we know about the conditions.

,,He said the tyres are absolutely fine so I would wait for a better opportunity," I answered but George didn't look very satisfied.

,,Are you sure..." he wanted to continue but he was silenced by the loud crowd, their local hero Checo probably overtook someone.

,,Trust me," I mouthed to him and turned my attention to the screens. There I noticed all the people on the tribunes holding their fists in the air to pay tribute to the victims of the horrible earthquake that happened some days ago. I found it as a great gesture and decided to do the same. I don't care if the cameras will catch it or not, I had that feeling in my stomach that I have to do it.

Apparently, I also inspired my co-workers on the pit wall and in the boxes to copy my gesture. Other teams joined us too and for a few moments, the whole pit area and the tribunes were just a forest full of fists in the air. We might be rivals on track but we can all merge together when it comes to non-F1 things.

-

In lap 32 Hartley's engine said bye-bye and virtual Safety car was deployed. Red Bull and Ferrari reacted immediately, pitting Verstappen and Vettel. I was looking through the dates when I noticed a possible pit window. If we stop Lance next lap we can gain a lot, pit stops behind the VSC don't cost as much time as under normal circumstances.

,,Let's stop Lance," I announced to George sitting next to me, ,,there is a pit window." I pointed at the screen with the gaps. George frowned and looked at the times. He's probably wondering how he could miss this.

,,But what if VSC ended before Lance manage to get the pit lane? It's too risky." From when are we afraid to take risks? What are we doing here if we are cowards?