"So we are going to play a game called Mr and Mrs." Crofty said. The Williams drivers were in the paddock in Mexico on Thursday afternoon. "I'm sure both of you have heard of it but if not, I will ask a question and you have to answer either Emilia or George with the cards we've given you. There are twelve questions and to beat the other teams you need to get a full house."
"We need to get twelve to win?" George asked. "Just answer me for everything and then we can win."
"And anything to do with crashing or making Jost mad answer me." Emilia replied and high-fived George having figured out a plan to win.
"Now I know how competitive you drivers are." Crofty stated, "but that would be classed as cheating so you're not allowed to do that. Okay first question, who takes longer to get ready for the day?"
Emilia immediately held up the card with her face on knowing that George is always ready before her for anything. She was standing back to back with her teammate so she didn't know if he had put up a card yet.
"That's a match you both picked Emilia!" Crofty broke the silence. Emilia turned around to fist bump her teammate. "How did you figure that one out?"
"When we do anything, I'm always waiting for Emilia." George answered simply.
"Next question, who has the messier driver room?"
Emilia knew Christine hates a messy driver room so here's is clean most of the time so she put up the card with George's face on it. Maybe George would pick himself for that reason or Emilia's room tended to be messier before Christine cleared it up.
"Another match. You guys are good at this."
"My trainer cleans my room." Emilia answered.
"You don't clean it yourself?" George asked.
"You've seen my house. That is definitely not tidy."
"Good point." George replied thinking how he hadn't made that connection before.
"Ready for the next question?" Crofty asked and the Williams drivers nodded. "Who is Jost's favourite?" Emilia was straight up with a board of George. It wasn't even a question. Crofty confirmed they were correct seconds after Emilia put her up board. "Very quick answer. Why is George the favourite?"
"He doesn't crash his car as much." Emilia shrugged.
"I'm not sure that the only factor. Maybe my charming personality, my punctuality, my people skills." George responded.
"I have people skills thank you." Emilia rolled her eyes. "Crofty back me up on that one."
"I'm not getting involved in this argument. Let's just move onto the next question." Crofty laughed. "Now we've clarified who Jost's favourite is, but who is Toto's?" Emilia held up her face and it turned out they had a disagreement.
"Why are you his favourite?" Emilia asked.
"I don't crash into his drivers all the time."
"It was once George." Emilia huffed. "And you crashed into Valtteri last year, mate we're 1-1."
"What was last week?" George teased.
"Who got the five second penalty? Not me so not my fault. Crofty next question please." Emilia requested. She knew this was going to be aired on TV so talking about how she was crashing into everyone wouldn't be good for her popularity.
"Who's better looking out of the two of you?"
"Em think Monaco." George hinted. He won in Monaco which wasn't helping answer the question. "The most recent time." That made more sense. That was where George admitted her loved her giving her a wave of guilt. Emilia thought this was what he was getting at; that he meant her so she put her card up.
"Another match." Crofty announced. "I'll let you win the whole thing if you tell me what happened in Monaco the most recent time."
"Nothing really I just cooked us dinner for the four of us." Emilia answered. She wanted to win this competition as every driver did.
"A double date?" Crofty asked. Emilia wandered if he was trying to get out of her that the pair were dating.
"Unless George is dating Alex and I wasn't aware of that, no it was not."
"I am not dating Alex." George clarified.
"So nothing happened in Monaco?"
"Nope nothing happened in Monaco." Emilia answered unconvincingly. She really wanted to just move on to the next question and George was not helping her. He brought it up though it was to win the game.
The guilt was still sitting in Emilia's stomach. She hated that her best friend loved her in ways she could never return. Emilia loved Lando and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Obviously, Emilia would still be the best of friends with George but she still felt horrible that he loved someone who could never love him back. Emilia thought the situation was terrible but it must be so much worse for George.
"Okay alright next question then. Who is funnier?"
"Oo tricky one." Emilia mused. "George tell me a joke."
"Your race finishing record."
"Yep thanks." Emilia held up a board of George as that would be funny to everyone else but her. "Did you have that planned because that was oddly quick?"
"No I'm just naturally that funny." George teased.
"Another match again though some immoral tactics there I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give you the point." Crofty said.
"You said we won if we told you what happened in Monaco. We did that so now we're just playing for fun." Emilia pointed out.
"Okay that is true. Oh no, who's this come to sabotage your game." Emilia turned to see papaya walking towards them. "Boys you had your turn last week let them play fairly."
"No we're here to watch. We won't interrupt at all." Lando assured winking at Emilia who couldn't help but smile back at him.
"Okay sure. Next question, who is going to finish higher in the Championship?" Crofty questioned. Emilia knew she was quite far behind George and would need a very very good finish to the end of the season if she was going to beat George.
"See I think Emilia has a shot a finishing higher." Lando contributed. Daniel stood next to him nodding trying to through the Williams drivers off.
"Yeah she's not far behind George and her new engine could give her a big advantage." Daniel agreed.
"Ignore them both. We have another match." Crofty announced.
"It's fine I'm used to blocking out their noise. Keep saying how they're going to beat us yet they never do." Emilia responded.
"We've beat you plenty this year." Daniel answered.
"Not enough to be ahead in the Constructors." George pointed out.
The McLaren drivers had to leave to go and do some media duties allowing George and Emilia to finish their game which they smashed. They got eleven out of twelve but giving gossip or the fact that there was no gossip on Monaco meant they won.
Saturday wasn't a particularly eventful day for Emilia. She was getting a penalty so she would start the grass at the back of the grid. This meant Emilia was only competing with a couple of drivers to see what order they would start. Emilia's main job was to give George a tow down the main straight then moving out the way by turn one.
Emilia would be starting P18 for the race. She was confident she would move up the field quickly as Williams were the quickest with the straights and with DRS it would be a breeze. However, the problem with Mexico was that it was hard to follow cars making it difficult to stay within DRS. Nevertheless, Emilia was up for the challenge.
"Morning John." Emilia greeted her favourite engineer in the garage. She fist-bumped a couple of her mechanics on her way over.
"Morning Emilia. Ready for today?"
"Obviously. Easy P1." Emilia joked. She imagined she could get a good points haul but a win would be unimaginable. Although, it was just what she would need to convince Toto she deserved that Mercedes seat. She didn't imagine her DNF in the US helped her case especially as Ocon finished high in the points.
Emilia got set for the race and into her car waiting for the time to race. She was still being fed information about plans A, B and C that she would need to remember as they couldn't disclose it during the race. The ideal plan was to be on the reverse strategy of hards then mediums as that would allow her to have a longer first stint and then be able to attack with fresher rubber towards the end of the race.
The formation lap commenced and the cars lined up on the grid. Emilia kept her eyes focused on the lights attached to the pit wall as the ones at the front of the grid were too far away to see. Her reaction to them switching off was good already jumping a Haas and going three wide by the start/finish line.
Patience was key here and that wasn't ever Emilia's strong point however she knew it would be how she progressed today. The straight was long and Emilia managed to overtake a couple of cars but was squeezed into turn one so she had to take a bumpy ride of the sausage kerb to avoid hitting anyone. Emilia lost her momentum and a few positions but no one ever wins the race in the first corner.
Emilia quietly progressed through the field powering down the main straight and not letting these lesser cars be able to fight her brand-new engine. It was relatively easy but Emilia knew her tyres were suffering for it.
"Emilia, we want to go plan C minus five." John said.
"Yeah sounds good." Plan C was a two stop with two stints of mediums. It meant these hards wouldn't have to work as much.
Emilia continued making her way up the grid and gained many positions until everyone on the mediums pitted. That pushed Emilia up to sixth but John told her it was net P11. There wasn't anyone for Emilia to race with so she just got her head down and put in the laps until she had to pit. The pit stop was smooth and she was equipped with her first set of mediums. They would last around twenty laps each.
"Okay Emilia, you'll come out behind a pack of cars. You're much faster on new tyres." John informed.
"Should we not have waited to pit then so we could come out in front?" Emilia asked slightly annoyed.
"No. We'll talk about it after the race." John answered. Emilia at the start of the season would have been furious and drove angry for the rest of the race but this Emilia near the end of her first season had learned to trust her engineer and that her team were doing the best for her. Well, they were most of the time.
The pack of cars Emilia came out behind was four cars in a DRS train. DRS trains were always so much fun especially when you needed to progress through the field quickly. Emilia's first target was an Alpha Tauri that was placing itself defensively through the corners. She hoped these cars wouldn't fight her as she was on a different strategy but that was clearly not the case.
As the Alpha Tauri had DRS, Emilia did not have that much of an advantage down the straight. Nevertheless, her extra grip from her fresh rubber did not make it too much of a challenge following the Alpha Tauri through the corners. Being that much closer down the straight allowed Emilia to sail through not having to defend into turn one.
The next car on Emilia's target list was the other Williams. That made it slightly awkward. Emilia did not fancy crashing into her teammate – again. Once a season was too many times. As she was on a different strategy, Emilia hoped there would be some team orders involved.
"Can George let me past?" Emilia asked. It wasn't as easy to overtake a car that had the same horsepower despite having fresher tyres. Emilia was getting closer with each lap but she was losing time as the two Ferraris that completed the DRS train were getting away.
"Risk of letting Gasly past as well. I'll get back to you." John replied. It was about half a lap before she heard anything from him again. "We have told him to not fight. He will not let you past but he will not defend."
"Thank you John." Emilia responded. George was true to John's word. He didn't slow to let her past but he did stop defending and Emilia got past on the next straight.
There was a couple of seconds gap to the Ferrari's in front which Emilia steadily closed. It helped that they were squabbling for position and didn't seem to stop as Emilia got closer. Usually, cars would work as a team but clearly, that's not what was happening here. Did they not see her in her wing mirrors?
Emilia kept on her toes in case she had to take evasive action. The Ferraris were getting very close to each other. There was a moment into turn six where she thought they were actually going to crash. They went side by side through turns seven through eleven. Emilia was holding her breath watching it. The Ferrari pit wall must be having a heart attack. It was their own fault; they should have got their drivers to stop fighting ten laps ago.
Behind her, Emilia was aware that George and the Alpha Tauri were closing in as the Ferraris in front of her were going very slowly. Down the final DRS straight towards the old baseball arena Charles and Carlos went side by side, Emilia couldn't tell who was who. She was right on the back of them now.
They were pushing each other to the limit and then pushed each other off the track. One of the Ferraris went wide pushing the other off the track leaving a William-sized gap for Emilia to fit through. It was tight and she almost clipped the Ferrari on the way out of the corner.
The hard part was not over yet. Emilia passed the DRS detection point ahead of the Ferraris meaning it would be a battle all the way down the straight against not one but two cars. This was the racing Emilia fell in love with.
Emilia had a speed advantage over the Ferraris but not when they had DRS. Having fresher tyres as well didn't give much of an advantage on a straight as long as Mexico's. Her exit out of the final corner was much better than the Ferraris who were still recovering from their off-track adventure.
They were rapidly gaining on Emilia as soon as they crossed the DRS checkpoint. Emilia left her car on the left-hand side of the track to give her the racing line. All she could do was wait until they caught her up. Emilia didn't have to wait long for the Ferrari cars to be level with her. The cars powered down the straight with the Ferraris edging ahead but Emilia was on a different level. She broke much later than both red cars and was able to stay on track so she kept P6.
Emilia distanced herself from the gaggle of cars and thought P6 would be where she finished. Until a McLaren put itself in the wall. The message of a safety car came through and Emilia slowed to match her delta.
"Emilia, it's Lando." John said.
"Is he okay?" Emilia asked. "Please tell me he's okay."
"I'll get back to you on that. Just keep driving. Don't stop, that won't help anything. Box box this lap." John calmly replied. Emilia just tried to breathe and drive. She hadn't seen Lando's car yet.
Eventually, she rounded the corner into the baseball arena and found Lando's car planted firmly in the wall. He was out waiting by his car. Emilia felt like she could finally breathe. Lando held a thumbs up which Emilia assumed was for her. She stuck her arm out of the car and made her hand into half a heart which Emilia saw Lando return in her wing mirrors. Emilia was grinning to herself in her cockpit.
Fuck, she really cared for this guy. Emilia thought she knew she loved him but every day her feelings intensified and when Emilia thought her love couldn't grow anymore, it did. Never in her life had she cared so much about someone, cared so much about losing them. Their break apart only made her realise how much more she wanted him. How much more she needed him like she needed air. He'd become a necessity in her life. He something she couldn't live without now. Lando had become part of her life the same way racing had.
So when Emilia heard Lando had gone into the barriers, her mind went to the worst. Previous experiences had taught her racing was cruel and merciless. It took loved ones away when you least expected it. That is the sacrifice drivers make every time they get in the car. This is why Emilia was so concerned about Lando's safety. They were finally good again. But racing was kind to her this time. And Lando. Lando who waited to tell her he was okay. That simple action meant that she knew he was okay. It meant that Emilia could breathe and not be in an endless state of panic for the rest of the race. That was the type of person Emilia wanted to spend the rest of her life with. God she loved that man.
"Safety car in this lap, Emilia refocus please." John requested and Emilia stopped driving on auto-pilot. She was able to put Lando aside and prepare to race because she knew he was okay.
Most of the drivers had changed tyres onto softs because there would only be a couple of racing laps left at the end of the race. The safety car went off and whoever was leading the race bunched the pack up. It would be a late restart because of the long nature of the straight. The race leader would be giving a lot of cars a slipstream.
Coming out of turn sixteen, the penultimate corner, the leading car hit the accelerator restarting the race. Emilia got a good jump on the car in front and was hurtling down the straight. She pulled out of the slipstream going level with the Alpine down the straight. The first corner came first and Emilia was cautious in her breaking. Sixth was a good finish, she didn't need any desperate manoeuvres unlike whatever was going on ahead of Emilia with cars off track.
She kept her focus on what her problem was and that was the Alpine coming around the outside of her. The first chicane was tight and the two cars had enough room to get around the first two corners but as the two cars battled side by side for turn three, the Alpine cut Emilia up making her slam on the brakes. Slowing her car down meant that Emilia allowed a Ferrari past her. It wasn't the most friendly driving from the Alpine and Emilia had to work twice as hard to get two positions back with one full lap remaining. As the safety car had just come in, there was no DRS to help her either.
Ferrari obviously had messed up on the strategy and had not pitted both of their cars meaning the car in front of Emilia was on old tyres. That showed as Emilia gained on him in the tight twisty sections of turns seven through to eleven. On the straight down to the baseball arena, Emilia overtook the Ferrari as she had carried so much more momentum out of the corners that transferred to extra power down the straight.
The Alpine was next in target for Emilia. She only had one lap to do it and with similar pace, the start/finish straight would be the likeliest opportunity. Emilia followed the Alpine closely and it moved to the right hand side of the track so Emilia took the racing line.
Braking into the corner, they were side by side again. Except this time Emilia had the outside line; she gave the Alpine a taste of its own medicine and copied what it had done in an earlier lap. It wasn't illegal just very dirty driving. Emilia passed the Alpine and continued in fifth for the rest of the lap so that was where she finished.
"Brilliant job today Emilia, thirteen positions gained, ten points." John praised.
"Thanks guys, car felt amazing today." Emilia replied. Maybe she would do just enough to clinch this Mercedes seat she desperately wanted.
Sorry for not updating for so long! I've been very busy with schoolwork and other stuff I've barely had anytime to write and still don't so I don't think there will be weekly updates unfortunately, it'll just be when I can.
On a more positive note, I did hit over 200k reads which is absolutely insane I never dreamed that this story would get so big thank you so much to everyone for all your reads <3
So there are only about ten chapters left of this story before the sequel. I have a rough idea of how I want it to go but I also want your input so if I link a survey to the next chapter is that something people fill in? Because I want this to be your story as much as it is mine :)