Bold is Radio Calls
Francesca let out a groan of annoyance as she pulled into the pit lane.
The first free practice session of the day had not gone her way, she had spun out after a lock-up but thankfully, only caused minor damage to the front wing of her car so she was able to get the car back to the pit lane to have the wing changed. But due to the spin, she had only been able to place herself in P6 for the session.
The second practice session had been difficult, Max seemed to be on fire even more than the last race two weeks before if it was possible and Francesca could not catch up to his speed.
"We still have time Fran, don't worry." Hugh's voice echoes down the radio.
"Its just frustrating." Francesca grumbles back in response.
"I know." Hugh sighs. "Don't let it get the best of you."
"You know I pride myself in not letting my emotions affect my racing, Hugh."
Hugh Bird chuckled from his place at the pit wall, turning to look over his shoulder to see his drivers car being pushed into the garage for a tyre change and a fuel up.
Francesca lifted her visor, reaching into her helmet with her gloved hands to wipe her eyes.
The familiar roar of Max's car followed by the sound of it being pushed into the garage next to hers made her attempt to see if she could make eye contact with her teammate, but with all the mechanics and the fact Max was looking in the opposite direction meant that it was impossible.
There was still a slight tension echoing through the garage because of the incident in Bahrain, the blatant favouritism towards Max was easily seen and it only made Francesca sigh.
Being given the green light to go, she pulled out of the garage and out of the pit lane, flipping her visor down before she got onto the track. Her out lap was slow, swerving when she could to gain temperature in her tyres whilst avoiding the fast laps out on track.
Christian Horner watched the pit wall closely as his driver crossed the line and shot off.
Francesca was fast and she had the capability of winning the championship - she had proved that for two years in a row now and even lead the championship for some of the season the year before. But being the teammate of a two-time world champion in a domination car was always hard.
Francesca knew that.
She just wanted to prove that she was completely capable of doing it herself.
She drove the track from memory, seeing cars on cool down laps or out laps swerving off the racing line to let her through, hitting apex's of corners almost on point and being seconds up from her previous lap. She could only grin cheekily to herself as she stole a purple sector one from her teammate.
She probably could've drove with her eyes closed she knew the track so well.
But she didn't, because that was stupid and dangerous.
"Good job, purple sector two as well."
"Copy."
She didn't let her focus drift, pushing down the feeling of frustration and anger that had been building in her body due to not being able to catch up with her teammate.
She didn't even register crossing the line until she'd slowed down.
"And P1, Fran, P1." Hugh informs her.
"FUCKING FINALLY!" Francesca shouts. "JESUS CHRIST THAT TOOK TO LONG!"
She moved off the racing line to allow the Williams of Alex Albon through and saw that the McLaren of Lando Norris did the same ahead of her.
Her time stayed at the top of the time sheet for the remainder of free practice, until Max did his final lap and ended up 1.5 seconds faster than her.
When she climbed from the car, Francesca felt light. The weight of not being able to climb out of P2 after getting P6 in the first session had been removed from her shoulders with the fact she'd P1 for a significant amount of time even though Max had gone and snatched it back.
"Well done, Fran." Christian smiles, patting his driver on the back.
"Thanks, Christian." Francesca grins in response.
The team principal moved to the other side of the garage where Max was stood with his father Jos. Francesca glanced to her teammate, finally catching eyes with him and winked causing Max to shake his head before his father put a hand on his shoulder to regain his attention.
"Alright." Hugh laughs, having watched the interaction from his place next to her. "Your good."
"I'm actually starving." Francesca sighs, tying her race suit around her waist.
"When are you not?" Hugh sighs.
Francesca pretend to go into deep though before grinning.
"Never." She smirks.
Being given a pat on the shoulder from Hugh, Francesca turned around and wandered over to Niki who handed her a cap and water bottle. The driver and trainer then proceeded to leave the garage and head out into the paddock towards the media pen where Francesca's PR manager, Kaitlyn, was already waiting for her.
"You ready?" Kaitlyn questions.
"No." Francesca sighs, putting her cap backwards on her head. "I'm tired, sweaty, sticky and hungry."
"Of course you are." Kaitlyn chuckles.
The two moved through the media pen, the interviews were mainly congratulating her on the P1 she held and asking about the spin in the first practice. Francesca gave pretty much the same robotic answers each time before she was finally allowed to leave and head to her drivers room.
Having changed and cooled down, Francesca wandered out of the Red Bull motorhome and into the paddock where the sun was still shining. Her phone was in her hand but it was quickly put away as fans rushed up to her for photos and signatures.
She had just finishing signing some caps for a father and his two children when a voice caught her attention and she turned to look over her shoulder.
"FRANCESCAAAAAA!"
"JENSON BUTTON!"
The man whom she had deemed her second fake husband ran over to her, his arms snaked around her torso and lifted her up from the ground causing her to shriek as she clutched onto him.
"Don't you dare drop me!" She cries.
"Whoops!" He grins, pretending to drop her to the floor.
"JENSON!" Francesca shrieks again, clutching onto his shoulders for dear life.
"I'm only joking!" He says, placing her down on the floor. "Can't be dropping my fake wife now can I?"
"Even if I wasn't your fake wife you shouldn't be dropping me either way."
"It was one time."
"One time I will never forget!"
"Even if I beg."
"I will never ever forget when you dropped me on my arse in the middle of the pit lane."
"It was funny though."
"IT WAS NOT!"
The Button man grinned and Francesca shook her head before spinning on her heels and taking off running through the paddock. Jenson was quick on her tail however, his voice shouting her name through the air as they both ducked through the crowd.
The drivers scattered around could only laugh as the chaos of the ex-formula one driver and the current formula one driver. Oscar and Logan had been stood together and looked slightly confused and poor Nyck De Vries was nearly knocked over as he walked out of the Alpha Tauri motorhome with his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, next to him. The Dutchman could only guess this was a common occurrence because Yuki had cupped his hands around his mouth and was cheering loudly for Francesca.
The Frenchwoman was unable to break away from Jenson Button who managed to grab her again and pull him against his chest, locking his arms around her body so she couldn't get away no matter how much she fought against him.
He then spotted Nico Rosberg and Martin Brundle a few feet away, talking to the camera he was supposed to be talking to as well but had ditched upon seeing Francesca.
So with a lot of complaints and swearing from the Red Bull driver, he scooped her up into the air and ran towards his colleagues. Nico was immediately laughing at the sight whilst Martin looked a bit confused when Jenson reached them and placed Francesca down next to Nico, still locking her within his arms so she couldn't escape.
"Nice of you to join us, Francesca." Nico grins towards the driver.
"Its not willingly, trust me." She speaks into the microphone he held out to her.
"No, no. Its very willing." Jenson grins, chin on top of her head.
"Looks it." Martin laughs, watching Francesca try to break free and fail miserably.
Knowing Jenson wouldn't give in, she began to look around for someone to help her instead.
"DC!" She shouts loudly, spotting the former driver.
"NO YOU DO NOT!" Jenson shouts, covering her mouth with his hand.
David Coulthard looked over after hearing the two shouts and could only shake his head when located Francesca being held hostage by Jenson Button. He was quick to make his way over with the Channel 4 camera following behind him.
"How many times do you have to be told to stop kidnapping drivers, Jenson?" David laughs.
"Not enough times apparently." Francesca speaks, having licked the Button man's hand to get it off of her mouth. "Help me, DC."
"What do you want me to do?" He laughs.
"Anything." She begs.
It was quite a funny sight to see David Coulthard and Francesca Lewis team up against Jenson Button. Francesca finally managed to break free and take of running to the safety of the Channel 4 cameraman who started laughing as David rejoined them but Jenson was not finished and only proceeded to give chase.
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Oh my god, two chapters in one day🫢
I've been writing a lot at the moment to procrastinate college work, so I'm very ahead of myself now.