'Tennis is mostly mental. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.' - Venus Williams
charlesandlucia
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charlesandlucia A fan met Lucía Martinez today in the paddock at the Bahrain track just before quali. She's there this weekend with Charles Leclerc who has had the fastest lap times in his Ferrari so far this weekend. Is this race going to be a Ferrari and Red Bull battle?
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19 March 2022
[ 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 ]
username1 fingers crossed for Charles today 💪
username2 Does anyone know if Lucia and Charles are dating?
↳ username3 just rumours at the moment 🤷🏻♀️
username4 aww she's wearing red to support Charles ❤️🥰
username5 wasn't Charles at the Australia Open this year??
username6 Moved on from Charlotte quicker than I thought he would 🤷🏼♀️
↳ username7 dude's probably forgotten who Charlotte is. I know I would if I were dating Lucia Martinez. 😂
↳ username8 well I can assure you that's never going to happen 😁😊
username Love Lucia and Charles but I hope Max wins 🙌
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Lucía met Isa Saturday morning, Carlos' girlfriend and the two girls hit it off immediately.
They spent their time together at the Ferrari hospitality, watching Charles and Carlos on the screen as FP3 took place. Both Ferrari's had fast pace this year, the car beneath both drivers excellent. By the looks of it, despite both being very close in time, Charles had a better feel of the car as he always came out slightly on top, but if the two drivers in red could perform like they were doing now all weekend, then podiums were surely in their sight.
Excitingly, Lucía also met Lily, a professional golfer who's boyfriend is Alex Albon. The two had already made plans to spend a day golfing together in the future when they both had free schedules. Lily also showed an interest in having a few matches of tennis with Lucía, even suggesting she and Lucía team up for a game of doubles against Alex and Charles. The two girls she met distracted her from social media for the entire day, even throughout qualifying. She hadn't expected to meet so many nice people during her weekend at the paddock, in fact she had assumed she'd be on her own for the majority of it, only seeing Charles when he had a spare moment.
Around forty minutes before qualifying she was with Charles in his Ferrari garage and he was showing her his car, pointing to the different buttons on the wheels. It was impressive but what she loved most was hearing him talk to passionately about something he so clearly loved. She held onto his every word, taking it all in while focusing on his small smile, dimples on display for her to awe over like she always did. Charles had his race suit on but the sleeves were hanging from his hips showing the red under shirt he was wearing, the Sponsorships of Ferrari printed on the clothes.
"Chérie," Charles grabbed his helmet and put it on her head, which fit with room around too.
"How do you see out of these?" She laughed, lifting the visor up so she could see Charles eyes.
"You look badass," He teased her, wrapping his arms around her waist loosely.
"I feel it. Think I could drive for Ferrari? I think me and Carlos would make an excellent team." She said playfully but in the most serious voice she could muster while trying to hide her smile with the help of the helmet.
"I feel offended ma chérie," Charles huffed.
"Aww, poor baby, you can be my step in driver." She laughed, ruffling his already messy hair which was also slightly sweaty. "Gross," She wiped her hand on his shirt, feeling his rock hard abs under the thin white shirt.
"Lu," Charles groaned.
"It's your sweat," She reminded him, voice going an octave higher, something which Charles found adorable.
Before she had to leave to let Charles get in the zone she gave him a small kiss in the back corner of the garage, making sure to avoid the cameras as she handed him his helmet and fireproof balaclava. "Good luck mi querido," she grinned, wrapped up in his arms for the last time before qualifying.
"I'll fight for pole for you baby," He promised, hopeful to get pole position today and wanting to impress his girlfriend.
"Fight for pole for yourself and your team." She corrected him, emphasising her words as she smiled warmly at him. Although his words warmed her heart and made her feel all flustered and fluttery she wanted him to fight for pole for himself and his team. They had put all the effort into the car and he puts all the effort into driving said car, not to mention his engineers and team principal and even the Ferrari fans. She was the last person he needed to fight for pole for. But she was thankful nonetheless. "See you when you get that P1," She kissed him once again, holding both of his hands in her own. Charles could feel the cool metal of her few rings on her fingers on his own skin, having not yet put his gloves on. Her gorgeous smile was imprinted in his mind for the next few minutes while he tried to get in the zone. Five minutes later he was ready, having shaken the distraction of his girlfriend from his mind and replacing it with determination instead. Pole was the only option today.
Lucía laced her hands together, sat forward with her leg bouncing up and down as she watched in anticipation. The screen showed the end of Q1 approaching quickly with only a few seconds left. Charles was currently in the position of P1, however this was only Q1. The people in the garage, guests, engineers and Ferrari workers, clapped as Charles and Carlos both qualified to Q2 with the top two speeds. The Red Bull's however, were not far behind with their pace. The bottom five who didn't make it through to Q2 were as followed; Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and then starting last on the grid tomorrow was Nicholas Latifi. Lucía heard murmurs of shock spread through the Leclerc Ferrari garage in which she was in, about how the Mercedes weren't doing too fine. Valtteri Bottas, from what she gathered, had been Lewis Hamilton's teammate last year, however with Mercedes taking on George Russel for the 2022 season, Valtteri had been booted down to a car that wouldn't necessarily be considered to be on the same wave length as the likes of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. People might have once said McLaren too before this year had begun, however the boys in Papaya weren't doing great either. There was a small break in between Q1 and Q2, where the remaining fifteen drivers fleetingly resided in the pit lanes, each in their own garage.
Once again Lucía was sat biting her nails as the cars exited the pit lane as the timer for Q2 began. This time round the 2021 World Champion was able to grasp the title of fastest lap in Q2, with Charles 0.175 seconds behind. Carlos had been faster than Charles in this round of qualifying, putting in a faster lap time, only by the shortest amount. The Spanish driver was only 0.030 seconds behind Max Verstappen, who's teammate followed closely behind Charles. The top four were therefore a Red Bull, Ferrari x2 and then the other Red Bull with the two Mercedes behind, yet much slower. Neither McLaren's made it through to Q3 which seemed to surprise a few people.
Q3 was when the nerves really started to kick in. She knew how much Charles wanted pole position. Despite Ferrari having picked themselves up a little during the last half of the season last year and managing to snatch 3rd in the constructors from McLaren, Charles felt like he had to prove something. He had to prove that he was meant to be at Ferrari, driving in those fine red colours, wearing those Sponsorships proudly on his clothes. He wanted to start the year off with a bang nobody saw coming. People certainly didn't think the two main rivals would be Ferrari and Red Bull, everyone for sure thought Mercedes would be fighting Red Bull once again. Lucía remembered back to when she would stay at Charles apartment in Monaco when she had a free weekend to fly over. They'd lay in his bed, talking for hours, about their upcoming seasons in F1 and tennis. They'd teach each other words from their native languages, both madly in love with the way the other spoke. There was nothing hotter than when Charles called her chérie. Between the many kisses they'd share they'd whisper to each other about their aspirations for the upcoming year, the truths they dare not share elsewhere with anyone else. They'd whisper as if the breeze coming from their open window would carry their words and spread them around, like gossip spreading like a wild fire if they spoke any louder. Their words were private, between the two of them and the two of them only. Every moment they spent together was as precious as the next.
Lucía's body moved on it's own accord, springing to sudden life as she shot up from her seat, up onto her feet. With eleven seconds to go Charles crossed the finished line, moving up into provision pole position. With a brilliant 1.30.558 for Charles she hoped Max Verstappen would not be able to pass him. Carlos and Max still had yet to finish their laps. With the timer ran out all they had to do was wait for all the cars who had already stared their lap before the checkered flag went up to finish said last lap. Carlos crossed the line, his position unwavering as he stayed P2. Verstappen had set a purple first sector, a green second sector and with his car racing to the finish line his sector 3 came up yellow, his time pushing him only up to P2 with a 1.30.681 meaning Charles had Pole position. Ferrari's number 16 driver would be starting the first race of the 2022 season first on the grid. She let out a happy squeal, a small jump in her steps as the engineers of Charles car all cheered and clapped, excited and pumped for the race to begin tomorrow. Charles last pole in Monaco last year hadn't worked out so great, having crashed after getting pole in Q3, which then later led to problems in the race the next day, but today had gone smoothly. Of course they would have a mighty battle with the Red Bull's tomorrow, but Charles believed he could do this - win the Bahrain Grand Prix. He certainly knew his girlfriend believed he could.
Lucía made her way out to where Charles would have parked his car along with Carlos and Max. They had interview duties up next, especially those three considering their grid placements for tomorrow. She smiled and clapped along with those in red as Charles was handed the small F1 tire trophy that was awarded to pole position winners every race. She caught his eye and grinned madly, which only widened his smile and heightened his good mood. Charles desperately wanted to pull her into her arms, lift her up and spin her around, kiss her pink lips until they needed to breath. But he knew that there was a time and place, and right now wasn't the right moment. Neither of them wanted their relationship plastered all over social media just quite yet. Although he knew that by the end of this weekend photos will have leaked through all aspects of social media and news articles. However his pole position may just distract journalists from his relationship with the tennis player for the time being. The advantages of pole seem to be never ending. He smiled back, knowing he'd get his kiss later back at the hotel room. But first he had to answer the many awaiting questions.