George got his pole. He qualified P1 by over a tenth of a second. It was incredible. Emilia could hardly believe it when she got the radio message. She'd qualified P5 which was great for her but obviously the main focus was on George and rightly so.
The team's celebrations were amazing that night. Obviously, there was no alcohol for Emilia and George who sat there with their water but that didn't dampen the celebrations. Last year, the team had been struggling getting one car out of Q1 whereas now they had achieved a pole position. It was insane to think of the progress they had made as a team and even made Emilia question whether the car was legal or not. It had passed all the tests so far and the other teams haven't found anything to sue against so they were stuck behind the Williams. Emilia had to admit, especially with the cost cap, it was suspicious that Williams progressed so much but she hadn't seen anything to suggest its not.
The atmosphere in the garage pre-race was extraordinary. It would be even bigger for their home race. Coincidentally, Silverstone would be Emilia's, George's and Williams' home Grand Prix so the drive to do well would be substantially greater than any other race. Emilia would also finally have her Grandad in her garage so she would feel the pressure to do well. The excitement to have someone in her garage who isn't employed by her or the team was unmeasurable. She couldn't wait.
But for now, she had to concentrate on this race in France. The sun was shining, the track was a good temperature, everything was going to be good, she hoped. There were no issues as of yet and they'd extra checked George's car for anything as they couldn't afford to miss anything. Emilia seriously admired George getting pole in a Williams. It wasn't the fastest car and yet he managed to stick the car in the first spot on the grid. Of course, Emilia was only in her first season, she'd have to wait a while for a pole position.
"The man himself, Mr Pole Position. How we feeling?" Emilia fist bumped George as he entered the garage. She probably shouldn't talk to him because he was in the zone but she didn't want to not acknowledge her teammate striding past.
"Good good. Just want to get going." George nodded pressing his lips firmly together. He was jittery from the nerves which was new but starting P1 was also new for him.
"I'll have caught you up by turn one." Emilia laughed rubbing George's arm in an attempt to calm him down.
"It's not that long a run down to the first corner. As long as I get a good start and stay on track going into turn one it should be good." George replied. He was assuring himself more than her.
"You'll do amazing." Emilia comforted.
"Can I get a good luck hug?" George asked. Emilia sighed and nodded with hugging not being her favourite thing. "Thanks, I'll speak to you afterwards. Good luck." When Emilia turned back around, she saw the camera on her and ignored it. She continued her conversation with John until she was required to drive out to the track. The car felt good and reported no issues with it.
There was a small period of time between parking her car on the grid and starting the formation lap. She spent some of it talking to Toto which she couldn't really avoid and the rest of it remembering the strategies. All the variations of the plan were hopefully in her head as she climbed into the car.
The formation lap occurred and Emilia sat waiting patiently for the light sequence. She did a little shuffle in her seat and found that she could actually move. Usually, her body was stiff because of the tightness of the seatbelts and her little shuffle would involve barely any movement. However, this time she could move more than her arms. Her hips had a little bit of motion as well. She decided she couldn't worry about that as the lights had started turning on. They went out and the race started.
Her start was alright and she was clear of the Ferrari behind her. Going in to turn one, she wasn't challenging or being challenged which was good for her want for a clean race. She could see George was still ahead of the Mercedes that were charging after him.
She had no drama and a gap grew either side of her allowing her to race calmly. Emilia thought now would be a good time to warn her engineer about her possible movement. It probably wouldn't be a massive issue but she felt like she needed to let them know.
"Um hi." Emilia started. This was her engineer and she was going to report an issue there was nothing to be nervous about.
"Is everything okay Emilia?" John questioned calmly.
"My seatbelt is a bit loose." Emilia admitted.
"How loose are we talking? Do you need to stop the car or pit?" John sounded concerned.
"No I can feel it in the heavy braking areas a bit. I don't think they were done up tight enough but I don't need to pit. It's not unsafe." Emilia decided. She was still P5 and needed it to stay that way.
"If you're sure."
"Yeah, it's fine." It wasn't fine but Emilia was not pitting. She could feel herself being pushed forward a bit on the straight and the heavy braking zones but it wasn't hurting much or anything. She'd definitely feel it a lot more if she crashed. If it became dangerous, she told herself she would pit.
Even though Emilia wasn't racing anyone, her tyre wear was awfully high and she would have to pit earlier than expected. She hadn't been particularly pushing either or using the kerbs so she didn't understand why they were so worn. They knew the undercut was very powerful here but if she pitted now would he tyres last until the end?
"My tyres are gone." Emilia informed.
"Copy, box this lap. Going for the undercut. Looking at Plan B." Plan B was a two stopper and the team had saved a set of mediums for the possibility. She had pitted first and the earliest out of all twenty of the cars so everyone would be on fresher tyres than her towards the end. That meant they would go for a second stop from the hard to the mediums.
Emilia's pit stop went smoothly and she came out not in traffic. She had an Alfa in front of her that she was chasing on new hards. It was an easy overtake simply because his tyres were beginning to drop off.
"Nice one. P13. Vettel three and a half ahead." John informed. Emilia considered this not a difficult overtake again because her tyres were newer and her car was faster which outweighed the experience of the German. She proved to be right when she was late on the brakes into the first corner. Her chest leaped forward and almost winded her hitting the seatbelt in front. It restrained her but it shouldn't allow her body to move. As long as she avoided late braking, which she wouldn't, she'd be fine.
"How's that seatbelt?" John questioned at a convenient time.
"Yeah, it's fine. I move when I brake late but it's fine." Emilia knew she wouldn't pit as she needed a good number of points from this race.
"We're concerned for your safety and getting a penalty here. Are you certain we're not going to get one?" Were they more worried about her safety or the penalty? Probably the penalty. "Your safety is our priority." John clarified. Maybe she was wrong.
"Yeah it'll be fine as long as I don't crash because I'd definitely feel it." Emilia chuckled fearfully. Her seatbelt wasn't done up properly and she was driving up to two hundred mph. It was slightly scary.
"Okay, let us know if you change your mind."
Emilia continued overtaking cars ending up in P5 and within two seconds of Bottas in front. He had recently come out so he would be on newer tyres and that meant it was going to be a hell of a battle. She was reminded to take it easy by John but he knew she never would. If there was a gap, she would go for it but she wouldn't risk her race for it.
The Williams had DRS down the main straight and inched closer to the Mercedes in front. Braking heavily into turn one her tyres locked up so she had to go the other side of the bollard and re-enter the track that way. It meant she had lost time and distance on him and he was getting away from her now that his tyres had reached the optimum temperature.
Emilia tried but the gap slowly increased to the car in fourth. She tried different techniques but couldn't gain any time on Valtteri. It frustrated her but she didn't want to take any major risks. Fifth was still exceptionally good. George was somewhere further on and she didn't know where as she couldn't see him but hopefully, he was still in the lead.
"This isn't working." Emilia pointed out. She continued driving around the second sector.
"Okay we're looking for a solution." For the two stopper to work she needed to be the only person doing it. So 'we're looking for a solution' meant box this lap in code. Bottas wouldn't follow her in because he was in front of her and it would be ineffective to anyone behind her because they were too far back. Emilia dived into the pits with the pit crew coming out at the last minute. Bottas hadn't pitted so this was a big advantage to her. She came back out in eighth with Lando just ahead. Her tyres were brand new mediums that would excel past the McLaren's partly worn hards. There were fifteen laps to go and Emilia was predicted to catch Bottas with five laps to go if she could sail past the three cars in front.
Lando was not letting her past easily. She didn't expect him to. It was awfully annoying though. She followed him for another lap which meant the time she would have to overtake Bottas was getting smaller.
"Let's go Emilia." John encouraged needing her to get the move done.
Emilia had the opportunity to overtake Lando on the Mistral straight where she was able to pick up DRS to aid her. Without too much of a fight, she gained seventh. She went into the Mistral chicane half a car length ahead and focused on the car in front.
However, after going slightly wide at Beausset, Lando bit back getting past her. Emilia decided to wait until the main straight so she would get DRS but stayed close to the McLaren. A flash of fear appeared in her mind worrying about her dream but she shook it off because she had to concentrate or she would risk it happening.
"Main straight, this is your chance." John encouraged. It was evident the team wanted her to get the move finished and get onto Bottas.
Emilia quickly got side by side with Lando early on in the straight. She edged ahead and continued driving in a straight line. Lando was to her left and Emilia was almost clear of him. Lando swerved right to get behind her to get a slipstream and clipped her tyre in the process. At two hundred miles per hour, she spun so she was facing the pitwall and smacked into it.
Fuck.
That was a big impact.
Emilia stayed conscious and sat there for a moment. She tried to process what had happened. Everything hurt. She was badly winded and her feet and knees hurt.
Instead of moving towards the halo, her body moved towards the front end of the car. Her knees slammed into the cockpit edge and her feet smashed against the peddles. Without a seatbelt, her tarsals and metatarsals would have shattered as well as her knees and possibly her pelvis. The seatbelt, was not fully tightened so although her bones weren't shattered, they would definitely be bruised from the impact.
It was all a bit of a shock to her. One moment she was driving down the straight and the next she had crashed into the pit wall. She sat there composing herself for a moment.
"You okay Emilia? That looked like a big crash." John asked. Emilia waited for a minute before answering.
"Yeah that seatbelt definitely wasn't safe." Emilia replied.
"Are you hurt?" John questioned.
"Not that bad. Just winded and hit my knees and feet."
"Okay, can you get out the car?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute."
Emilia had been on the charge for fourth and would have overtaken Bottas had she not crashed. She knew she wasn't at fault. Lando had gone into the back of her. She was concerned whether he was alright but saw him run over to her. Emilia was furious that he had ruined her race and tried to get out the car.
Her feet screamed for her not to stand on them but she had to, to push herself up and out the car. Lando was next to her apologising and tried to help her out the car. Emilia swatted his efforts away because she could do it by herself.
"Emi please let me help. I'm so sorry." Lando apologised. Emilia ignored him and the marshals helped escorted her back to the pits. She was using the pitwall to help her walk because of the impact on her feet meant they hurt lots when she used them.
The race was still going on presumably as the pitlane was empty when she crossed it. Emilia went to the medical centre where she was assessed. She was told there would be some bruising on her feet and knees because of the impact and the feeling of being winded would go away soon.
"Emilia Louise! You gave me a massive heart attack." Aurelia stormed into the room looking furious with Christine.
"Aurelia give her a break she just crashed with her seat belt not done up." Christine tried to persuade Aurelia to lighten up which she did.
"You scared me. Are you okay?" Aurelia queried and Emilia nodded.
"Yeah, Lando crashed into me right? Not the other way round." Emilia couldn't deal with being at fault for yet another crash.
"He crashed into you. You need to go to the race stewards afterwards with him and discuss but they should agree with you." Aurelia assured. Emilia breathed a sigh of relief and was dismissed so she went back to the garage.
She saw on the screen that George was running in P4 having been overtaken in the safety car restart. He had been running in first until then and was holding off the undamaged McLaren behind him. There were only a few laps to go and it would be amazing if George could hold onto fourth as Emilia wouldn't be scoring today.
The safety car had bunched them all up and George was struggling with his tyres meaning it was getting increasingly harder to keep the cars behind him. There was a long DRS train that had formed in his rear and a podium was longer than a second away so he had no DRS.
It was a wrestle for fourth but George won and crossed the final line happy. He hadn't started where he had finished but for saying he could have gone further backwards fourth was a good place to finish. Jost decided now was a good idea to come over and talk to Emilia about the crash.
"That one wasn't my fault. I did nothing wrong." Emilia defended before Jost had the chance to say anything.
"I agree with you there. That seatbelt did seem to be an issue so you should have pitted before you crashed." Jost lightly reprimanded. "I know that you think I'm harsh on you but I want to reach your potential. That's why I push you."
"I try my best." Emilia smiled and Jost patted her on the shoulder as he walked off further into the garage.
"Media duties time." Aurelia sung. Emilia could have done them after the crash but she wanted to watch the end of the race so she hadn't.
"Can I skip them today? I crashed at two hundred miles per hour." Emilia complained. She could still feel the consequences of the crash and media duties would only make it worse. "Plus I might see Lando."
"Last time I checked, you said you loved him." Aurelia pointed out. That was true but she was currently infuriated with him for crashing into her. She would have to see him when they went to the stewards about the incident which wouldn't be great but she did want to check whether he was alright.
"Yeah, that was before he crashed into me." Emilia reasoned.
"That's not going to change how you feel."
"How do you know?"
"Because you still get that glint in your eyes when you say his name!" Aurelia answered. Cheers erupted in the garage signalling George's arrival. Emilia wished she could be cheered but once again, she was involved in an incident. George had a worried expression on his face that dissipated as soon as he saw Emilia. He walked over to where she was sitting.
"You scared me. Are you okay?" George questioned as he pulled her in for a hug. Emilia was still sitting down so George had to reach further down to hug her.
"Yeah I'm fine." Emilia nodded. "You did well at the end."
"Could have done a better. Tyres were dead." George sighed leaning against the worktop. Emilia got up and winced. She could see the bruising on her knees already and probably her feet as well if she wasn't wearing trainers. "What did you hurt?"
"Just my knees, hips and my feet. My seatbelt wasn't properly done up." Emilia shrugged. She played it off as no big deal because she didn't want to be the main focus here. George getting P4 should be.
"Why didn't you pit and get it done up?" George was astounded.
"I didn't think it needed doing but after the crash I think I should have got it tightened." Emilia admitted. At least she'd learnt her lesson. Unfortunately, it had been the hard way.
"Shit Em. Glad you're okay though." George gave her another hug before going off with his trainer. She turned to Aurelia who gave her a look.
"Please no. Just skip this week. I was well behaved in my press conference on Thursday so don't make me go." Emilia whined.
"You are such a child." Aurelia sighed and yanked Emilia's arm leading her out the garage. She complained all the way until she got to the media pen where she put on a fake smile. Ziggo Sport were up first and that was easily identifiable because of the bright orange microphone.
"Emilia, hey. First of all, let's ask how you are following the crash."
"Yeah it hurt quite a bit. My knees hit the cockpit rim just above and they've bruised already."
"Already? Can we see?" Emilia lifted her leg up not very elegantly to show the red patch across her kneecap. "Oh wow, was that because your seatbelt wasn't done up properly?"
"I think so. I haven't done that before. We're still not sure what happened there and we'll have a look." Emilia nodded.
"Have you spoken to Lando? We saw him trying to talk to you after the crash."
"Uh no I haven't. I mean I'm meant to see the stewards with him in twenty minutes so I guess I'm going to have to." Emilia awkwardly chuckled.
"So that's your third incident with someone in three races, do you think you jumped to F1 too early?"
"You think I should have stayed in F2 for another year?" Emilia raised her eyebrows at the question.
"No I don't. Some fans have been saying that on social media."
"Well they're not really fans then are they." Emilia pointed out. She probably appeared really arrogant but she didn't want to answer her question. Plus, she hoped her fans weren't saying that about her because that was missing the point of being a fan.
"Good point. See you in Austria." The interview ended and they moved on.
"Did they really ask me that?" Emilia whispered to Aurelia with her hand over her mouth so no one could tell what she was saying.
"Yeah. You dodged the question well." Aurelia responded. She had a few more before Sky Sports where she was actually required to sit down and have a proper chat.
"And here's Emilia Miller. How are you doing?" Karun Chandhok introduced.
"I'd be a lot better if I was covered in champagne and had a trophy." Emilia laughed as she sat down. She should honestly get an Oscar for pretending she wanted to be there.
"You'll get your chance for a podium." Karun assured chuckling.
"I wasn't anywhere near it today but hopefully soon." Emilia replied.
"You had quite a big crash on the straight. We've got a video here." Paul di Resta pointed to where Emilia watched her crash. It was a view from her car then Lando's. Evidently, it was his fault. Emilia winced at her angle. "We've had Lando already on here and he called it a racing incident, do you agree?"
"No, it was his fault. That view from my cockpit is not very nice." Emilia frowned. She was concerned that her Grandad had seen that.
"You can even see you jolting forward from your seatbelt." Karun pointed out.
"Yeah that turned out to be a bigger issue than I thought." Emilia laughed. "No I shouldn't laugh that could have ended up a lot worse than it did."
"I know you and Lando were quite close following what he said on his stream. Do you think your relationship will be alright after this?" Emilia had to remember that he meant relationship as in friends.
"You watch his streams?" Emilia laughed.
"No, I saw it on social media." Paul chuckled.
"Yeah so did I. I'm mean I'm obviously pretty mad at him as I was on to steal fourth off Valtteri but we'll go back to being friends later. To have a good friendship in this sport you need to keep what happens off track and on track separate." Emilia explained. It was the same for romantic relationships.
"Okay, thanks for your time Emilia." Emilia thanked them got up and smiled at Aurelia. She had a few more interviews before she had to go to talk to the FIA.
"Right, you haven't done one of these see the FIA things so keep your head and don't look at Lando like you want to run off to Vegas and marry him." Aurelia instructed.
"How is my Grandad going to walk me down the aisle if it's in Vegas?" Emilia questioned pulling a face.
"You know what I mean." Aurelia replied. They arrived sooner than Lando did who actually turned up late full of apologies. The replay of the crash was played from with angles and Emilia thought it was obvious that it was Lando's fault.
"He's clearly pushed me. I'm driving in a straight line and he touches me." Emilia argued. She refused to even glance at Lando next to her. He was trying to defend his case with Andreas Seidl. Emilia had Jost on her side.
Eventually, they came to the conclusion that Lando was in the wrong and gave him a three-place grid penalty for the next race. Emilia stormed out while they discussed about her seatbelt. They had everything they needed from her from radio messages to video footage of her moving forward when she hit the wall so she wasn't needed in the room anymore.
"I just want to go back to the hotel now." Emilia complained rubbing her face. She had to wait for the verdict with Aurelia and during that time, Lando came out the building. He saw her waiting there and his face lit up. Charlotte was with him.
"Em, can we talk?"
"Not now please. I'll find your room later if I want to." Emilia was not in the mood to speak to him right now. She needed a long bath and maybe consider having a conversation with him later.
"Okay. I'm really sorry that was a nasty impact. I had no idea about your seatbelt." Lando apologised but Emilia ignored him as Jost came out.
"What happened?"
"No action but a warning." Emilia breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know what the penalty would have been but she didn't have to discover that now. Emilia packed up her stuff in her driver room and left the circuit with Christine and Aurelia.
Back in her hotel room she had a nice long bath. She felt a lot better afterwards and decided to paint her nails as they had begun to chip at the top. Emilia went for a bold red that she would change to blue prior to getting in the car on Friday because otherwise, it wouldn't match her Williams racing gear. The media would probably start rumours that she was heading to a red team because that's how ridiculous it was getting.
She'd already phoned her Grandad at the track after the race. However, she had texted him as soon as could to let him now that she was okay. She knew being in a crash like that must have frightened him.
Emilia decided that she was ready and wanting to talk to Lando about the crash. She had nothing else to do and was done being mad at him because she hated the two of them being not good. Lando didn't pick up his phone when she called him so she decided to go to his room. Daniel answered when she knocked on the door which she didn't expect.
"Hey Daniel. Is Lando there?" Emilia smiled.
"Yeah one sec." Daniel left the door opened but turned around and shouted, "Lando your girlfriend is here."
"I am not his girlfriend." Emilia clarified.
"Not yet." Daniel winked. "I saw your crash, you good?"
"Yeah I'm fine. That's kinda what I'm here to talk to Lando about."
"The crash?" Lando queried appearing behind Daniel. "You go back to gaming mate I'll join you in a minute." Daniel gave Emilia a grin before vanishing in Lando's room. "Do you want to chat here or go somewhere else?"
"Here is fine."
"Okay I'll come into the corridor because Daniel will start shouting at Jon because he's losing." Lando shut the door leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.
"John?"
"Yeah Jon."
"My race engineer?" Emilia stared at Lando with confusion.
"No my trainer." Lando shook his head. Emilia felt pretty stupid after that.
"Oh oops. Confusing that their both called John but anyway."
"I'm sorry." Lando apologised. "I didn't mean to."
"I know. I only know that because I've been in your position twice in the last two races." Emilia chuckled insulting herself.
"It wasn't your fault today. It was mine." Lando rubbed Emilia's arm as he leant against the door to his room.
"That doesn't take away the fact that I've been involved in three incidents in three races, people think I'm dangerous and that I should have stayed in F2." Emilia ranted.
"You're not dangerous. You won F2 how can you not be ready?" Lando queried the absurdity of some people.
"I don't know. It's fine, I'm fine." Emilia answered.
"You're not." Lando's expression was sympathetic but Emilia didn't want sympathy. She wanted to prove everyone wrong.
"I know but,"
"Don't answer it's fine." Lando told Emilia. He knew her so well. "Come here and give me a kiss." Emilia checked behind her before moving in and kissing him slowly. "Better?"
"Yeah loads." Emilia responded in between kisses. Lando gripped her hips a bit harder and she winced. Lando immediately let go.
"Are you okay?" Lando questioned with concern written all over his face.
"Yeah the impact was hard earlier. And my hips hit my seatbelt."
"I can't believe you didn't pit." Lando shook his head which was inches away from Emilia's face.
"It wasn't a problem until I crashed." Emilia laughed which probably what she shouldn't have done but oh well.
"I love your laugh." Lando grinned biting his lip. "And I hate that I hurt you today."
"You didn't mean to." Emilia gently caressed his cheek with her hand.
"Can you race next week?"
"Yeah I'm bruised but okay." Emilia nodded. "At least my dream didn't come true."
"I thought it had but the other way around." Lando admitted shuddering at the memory. "Do you want to stay with me and the boys?" Lando offered.
"I think I'm going to sleep. I still ache." Emilia didn't really feel up for socialising even if it was with Lando. Had it been only Lando, she would consider it more but as there were other people, she couldn't just go to sleep.
"Okay. I'll bring you coffee and flowers for tomorrow." Lando smiled. Emilia gave him a quick kiss before leaving to go back to her room. She was halfway down the corridor when Lando spoke again. "Babe?"
"Yeah?" Emilia turned round. Lando hesitated.
"Goodnight." Lando responded.
"Goodnight." Emilia grinned blowing him a kiss then going back to her room.
I was supposed to be going to Silverstone Friday, Saturday and Sunday but I am now self isolating so I can't and I'm absolutely gutted. Didn't get to go last year and can't this year and it's been what I've been looking forward to for the past two years since I went in 2019. So yeah please excuse the quality of the chapter for this reason :/
This is the last dramatic race I promise for a while haha. We'll give her a break in her races because it's getting kinda a bit too much with her crashing. I am literally criticising my own plot here oops.
Idk the actual penalty for what I gave Lando I was too lazy to google it. I spent half an hour researching seatbelts in F1 but then couldn't be bothered to research what the penalty would be. Makes sense Em. Also I'm not a doctor stuff probably can't bruise that quickly and other stuff. I am on season four of Grey's Anatomy but I don't think that means I know what I'm talking about.
Love you all <3