After the F1 teams moved on from Sydney to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, the media day involved a lot of scrutiny for Isla. She dealt with questions about her relationship speculation in the media with Charles, George and Pierre. She was sick and tired of it. She won the Australian Grand Prix, but there was no talk about that. Isla was furious.
She worked so hard with the engineers and strategists to get the win, but as a female, the media didn't care. She was treated like a little girl with schoolyard crushes. During the podium ceremony with Lewis and Charles, there was tension, but she could overhear them talking about going out to party after the race.
"Are you going to join everyone tonight?" Lewis asked Isla as they walked off the podium back through the cool down room.
"Not really feeling like celebrating" Isla said and Charles turned to look at her. She could tell he was hurting too. He looked away and started walking through the cool down room. He stopped before the doorway. He turned around to face Isla.
Lewis looked at the two of them. "I'll leave you two alone," he said as he left.
"Isla," He said stepping closer to her, pulling her into a kiss.
Isla was shocked, she didn't know what to do, her head was spinning. Pierre said he liked her, he had always treated her well. Charles on the other hand, didn't.
She immediately pushed him away. "Woah Charles" She almost yelled, her voice shaking.
"What?" he stepped closer again, "I miss you" He said.
"Charles, you don't get to just come back to me whenever you want" She said stepping away. "You broke my trust," she said.
"Can we just move past it?" He asked.
"Maybe, but you will need to show me that you deserve it, I still care about you, but I'm still hurt" She said firmly
"I can't wait, you need to make a decision, and don't pretend like Pierre isn't a factor here" He said with anger in his voice.
"Honestly, he is a factor. He has always been kind to me, and treated me with respect, ''she said plainly. Thinking about the kiss in the elevator. "But part of me thinks you wanted the public in our relationship to rub it in his face" She accused him.
"Do you know how hard it is to hear your friend talk about how much he likes your secret girlfriend?" He said "He would never stop talking about it, he was so upset when he treated you badly when you first met in Milan, he wouldn't shut up about it." He almost shouted. "He always thought he might have a chance with you one day, and don't get me started on the team photos, it drove me crazy to have to hide us" he said
"I didn't know any of that," Isla said quietly.
Charles sighed and stormed out the room.
Isla got back to the Alpha Tauri Motorhome, Heather approached her, "I wouldn't go in there right now" she said while pointing to the drivers area. "Pierre is quite upset about coming in 4th." She said.
Isla stopped and stared at the door, wondering if she should go in. She decided to enter, she walked in and saw Pierre with his head in his hands on the couch. She sat down next to him.
"You have two more races to get on the podium Pierre" she said quietly.
He turned his head to look at her "You really think that's the real reason I'm so upset" He said in a low voice then he looked at the tv screen.
On the screen was a clip from the warm up room, Charles pulling Isla in for a kiss then the feed was cut. It was playing on repeat.
"Oh no," She said. "Pierre, that is taken way out of context" She said desperately.
"I honestly can't believe you anymore," He said standing up "should I leave the room, or should you?" He said
"Pierre, just know that isn't the full story, please believe that" Isla said as she left the room. She walked straight over to Heather.
"I need to go back to the hotel right away, I'm done with this day" She said sadly. Tears were in her eyes. "I can't cry here" she said to Heather.
Heather quickly took her to a golf cart and drove her quickly through the paddock. Cameras and Media were chasing after the cart, Heather got an AlphaTauri car to meet them at the paddock entrance and it brought them straight back to the hotel.
Isla got back to her room and collapsed on the bed, still in her race uniform.
"Hun, you need to get changed, I need to take the race suit back to the track" Heather said, "I'll be back with some dinner" she said.
Isla got up and got changed and handed her race suit to Heather who was waiting outside the bathroom door. Heather left back to the track, she then took a long shower. Isla cried as the water rushed over her sore body. She lost Pierre and Charles in the span of 2 days. She was heart broken. No one trusted her, she was a joke in the Media's eyes, and her winning races wasn't enough to help.
Exiting the shower she threw on a pair of shorts and a big t-shirt and threw her wet hair into a bun. When she got out of the bathroom she sat down on the bed and turned on the tv. The sports channel came on and they were talking about Isla and criticizing her for being boy crazy, and saying that she should just stick to racing. She quickly changed the channel when it showed the clip of her and Charles in the cool down room.
Just as she changed the channel, there was a knock on the door. Isla answered the door, it was Heather holding a big brown paper bag. "I got us some dinner, did you want some company?" she asked.
Isla just nodded and smiled gratefully. Heather came into the room and handed Isla a container, she opened it and smiled "Sushi, My favorite. Thank you Heather" She sat crossed legged on her bed and Heather sat on the other bed.
"This was a shitty day" Isla said in between bites.
"A shitty day? Isla, you won the Australian Grand Prix" Heather said exasperated.
Isla laughed and looked at Heather "boys are stupid" she said with a smile.
Heather nodded her head. "They can be," she laughed in agreement.
They continued to eat and Heather was a welcomed distraction. They finished their dinner and watched some more girly movies. Heather left around 10pm and Isla was left alone with her thoughts.
She opened her phone and was bombarded with more social media posts of her and Charles. Then a photo popped up of what looked like Charles and a girl making out at the club where the drivers were celebrating. She immediately put her phone down and decided to pour herself a drink.
The ice bucket on top of the hotel room fridge was empty, so Isla quickly popped on her Birkenstocks and started to walk down the hallway to the ice machine. She stopped before turning the final corner and she could hear some commotion. She tried her best to listen.
"Man, are you sure you want to do this?" She heard Pierre say.
"Why would you care?" Charles answered.
"Isla?" She spun around to see George coming up the hallway behind her, staggering a bit.
She quickly put a finger up to her lips and shushed him.
"Where were you tonight?" He whispered into her ear,
"Didn't feel like celebrating" She said flatly.
"Oh, It looked like you and Charles had made up earlier" He whispered loudly.
"Nope, that was only a small moment of what happened" She said, but she nudged her head, gesturing around the corner.
George listened and could hear voices as well.
"You're only going to hurt her by doing this'' Pierre said. "You are putting her in a bad spot here, kissing her in front of the cool down cameras, then kissing a random girl at the after party. It's not a good look for you, and it's only going to cause her more stress in the media. You know that"
"Isla? I don't care about her, she can take all the attention from the Media, for all I care." Charles said back.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" George said as he turned the corner.
Isla clamored after him around the corner. "George what are you doing?" She said while dropping her ice bucket, trying to pull him back.
Isla saw Charles standing at the door of his hotel room and behind him was a girl, probably the one from the photo. Pierre was standing at his door, he looked at Isla. He looked apologetic and angry at the same time.
George didn't stop walking, he went right up to Charles, causing Pierre to take a couple steps back. George saw the girl behind Charles. "You're a real jerk sometimes," he said firmly. George wound up and punched him in the face. "That's for hurting my best friend" He said as he turned around and walked away. "That felt good," Isla could hear him say to himself as he walked down to his room staggering slightly from his drunkenness.
Isla didn't know what to do, she was frozen in place. Charles was clutching his face. Pierre threw up his hands in surrender. "This is too much for me" he said as he turned around and started to walk away. This time Isla knew she had to make a choice.
She looked at Charles who was still holding his face, he looked up at her. Isla walked right past him, the right choice was Pierre, she ran down the hallway to catch up with him. "Pierre" She shouted.
He didn't turn around, he just kept walking. "Pierre," she said again. "I'm sorry for everything, sorry isn't enough, I know that" She trailed off.
Pierre stopped and turned around, Isla walked up to meet him. "Pierre, the footage in the cool down room didn't show me pushing Charles away, and the argument we had about you. I talked about how you always treated me with respect." Isla said, waiting for a response.
She didn't get one, he just nodded his head. After a long silence, "This is all too dramatic right now, I don't want to get involved in this" he said and turned to his hotel room door, and walked in. The door closed in her face.
Isla dropped her head, and walked back to her hotel room.
The following race was the Spanish Grand Prix, Isla was distracted with all of the drama surrounding her in the media. She didn't even get out of Q1, her driving was awful during the race and placed 20th. Pierre placed 5th in the race but the two of them didn't speak at all during the race or the travel days. Even the media videos for Alpha tauri were awkward and fans online were starting to notice.
The US Grand Prix in Miami was not much different for Isla, her race pace suffered. Her relationship with Pierre, even as teammates was getting more dire and they didn't even make eye contact.
AlphaTauri was flying back to Milan to be close to the Italian Grand Prix to do some work at headquarters before the race. Ivan, Pierre's manager, came over to Heather and Isla who were sitting at the front of the plane. "Hey, I need to talk to Heather. Can you take my seat, Isla?" He asked.
Isla rolled her eyes, "I guess" She said with a sigh and wandered back to where Ivan was sitting with Pierre.
Pierre was staring out the window. He didn't even turn to look at Isla as she sat in the seat next to him.
"Hi," She said.
"Hi," He responded without looking.
"Pierre, can we please talk?" She asked.
"Not here" he said
"Why not?" She asked
He pointed behind them without moving his eyes from the window. Isla turned around and saw Sarah looking the other direction, pretending she wasn't listening to this conversation.
"Can we talk after the meetings tomorrow? I'm staying with Heather again, ''she said.
"I guess we can," He said, "8pm in the courtyard." He said plainly.
They sat in silence until Ivan came back and Isla stood up and quickly made her way back to her seat.
The following days' meetings were productive and Isla was able to practice in the simulator. She talked to the sports psychologist and they were able to give her some tips to block out the media stress and focus on her driving.
It was 8pm and Isla was waiting in the courtyard for Pierre, there was no sign of him. She waited on the stone bench for a while. Isla looked up to his apartment and saw a light on, she checked her phone it was now 9:30pm. Was he avoiding her? Had he been in his apartment all along and just left her out here? She stood up and made her way back up to his apartment.
Isla knocked on the door. She heard footsteps and she looked down, and could see a shadow of his feet standing behind the door. "Pierre," She said through the door. "I want to talk," She said. "I want you to know I have feelings for you" She continued. "You have always been so kind. I fought the feelings I had for so long because of Charles, But I can't help it anymore. I think I love you, ''she said.
She was still staring at the door. The shadows disappeared and she could tell he was no longer standing at the door.
Isla felt weak, she turned and went back into Heather's apartment. When Isla opened the door, she almost ran into Heather. Isla walked past her without a word and went into her room and slammed the door.
Isla avoided Pierre the entire week leading up to the Italian Grand prix. He would try to talk to her on the car rides to headquarters, Isla would just stare out the window with her headphones in .
The Italian Grand Prix didn't go well for Isla or Pierre and at the paddock, Isla was still getting hounded by the Media about Charles and how she placed last again after she had won 2 races this season. In the media tent Pierre was doing an interview close to Isla.
"So do you think your driving abilities are affected by your love life?" One reporter asked her.
Isla shifted in place, she hated this, her face dropped and she looked beside her. Pierre gave her a sympathetic look. She looked away from him, the feeling of being ignored by him the other night in Milan crept up. She looked at the reporter. "Probably, F1 drivers are the worst, they can really make you feel shitty" She said matter of factly and shot a look to Pierre.
She finished her interview and turned on her heels and stormed back through the paddock to her driver's room.
Shortly after she sat down Pierre came through the door.
Isla looked at him "Go away" She snapped.
"Woah, what has gotten into you, we haven't talked since the plane ride" He said.
"Bullshit" she said glaring at him. "If you don't want to acknowledge our other conversation, that's fine, but don't pretend it didn't happen and how it hurt me" She said then looked down to her feet. She was still hurting, so she shared her feelings with him.
"What do you mean?" He said as he searched her face for an answer.
"The other day, we were supposed to meet in the courtyard-" She said "I came up and knocked on your door, I could see you standing behind the door. I said things that clearly you want to forget." She said as pain flashed through her eyes as she looked at Pierre, she quickly broke eye contact.
"Isla...." He said. "I don't know what you are talking about". He said.
"Forget it," She said. "We are only teammates, we just need to be..." She took a deep breath, "Civil" She said as she walked past him and she bumped his shoulder as she walked by.
"Isla" He called out after her.
Heather walked up to Pierre, "You really don't know what she is talking about?"
"Honestly, I don't" He sounded desperate.
"I didn't hear everything, just a bit through the door" Heather said.
"What did you hear?" He asked quickly and his eyes locked on Heathers.
"I shouldn't say, but I think she thought she was talking to you through your apartment door..." Heather said. "And I know you were working late at Headquarters" she said.
"I completely forgot that I said we would talk, I am just so desperate to get that podium by Monaco. I made a mistake, Shit..." He paused. "Ivan was dropping off my new race helmet" he trailed off
"I think you should talk to him," Heather suggested.
Pierre turned around to the Garage, "Ivan" he shouted
Heather followed
"Yes?" Ivan came out from an office in the corner.
"Why didn't you tell me what Isla had said?" Pierre accused right away.
"Can we talk somewhere private?" Ivan suggested and they walked back into the meeting room where Ivan came from. Heather waited at the door to the office.
"I'll ask again, why didn't you share with me what you heard Isla saying?" He asked firmly.
"I didn't think it would be a good idea before a race, you need that podium, a girl would only distract you". He said
Heather stepped in. "Ivan, don't be daft, you and I both know that these two have had chemistry from day one" she paused, raising her eyebrow at Ivan. "We would know," she chuckled.
Pierre looked from Heather then to Ivan. "huh?" He said, confused.
"We dated while we both drove in F2" Ivan said quickly to fill Pierre in. "And that's why I knew that it could be a danger to your driving performance" He said as he looked at Heather.
Heather gave him a stern look back, "Just tell him what she said" Heather urged.
"She said a lot of things, but the gist of it was that she was sorry and that she had feelings for you. She did use the word love." Ivan said.
"Love?" Pierre said shocked. "I need to go" He turned and ran out of the motorhome. He ran through the paddock, weaving through the crowd, the media was running after him.
He hopped into a taxi and gave the hotel address to the driver.
"Hurry!" he yelled.