location: Miami, Florida
MIAMI. ONE OF THE biggest races of the year. America is beautiful and the race track is amazing. It was one of Olivia's favorites.
The past three races have been all over the boards for her. A P5 in Australia was her best outcome of them all. She DNFed in Japan and placed 11th in China. She was determined to get back in the points after two bad outcomes.
Ollie was doing better than her, placing above P10 in the last two races. Media day in Miami was stressful, a lot of new press material. She was stuck in a press conference was the last place she wanted to be.
"Olivia, do you believe that you'll perform better this weekend?" This question came in many forms. Some more insulting than others. Olivia leaned forward to the microphone.
"I know this track, I've raced it many times before. What has happened the past couple races has been bad luck. I strongly believe this race will be better." Olivia responded. She'd been stuck here for close to an hour now.
"Thank you, follow up question. There are still rumors circulating about the photos posted on Jeddah. What is the relationship between you two?" And some things never go away.
"My team released a statement about the situation. But I will say it again. We are colleagues, nothing more." She sat back in her chair. Questions were given to other drivers, consisting of thoughts on the car, plans for Miami. Basic questions.
After several more rounds of questions, the drivers were dismissed. Olivia headed back to the garage for a team meeting. The engineers had made some improvements to the car and wanted to go over them. She spotted Ollie just outside the door.
"Ollie! How was your press conference?" Olivia asked, jogging up beside him.
"Boring. It was the same questions that I got last week."
"Good, I had a question though. Is Arthur doing okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because he's been acting weird to me these last couple races. Ignoring me, leaving the room when he sees me walk in, he didn't even say anything snarky when I DNFed."
"He hasn't said anything to me. I think you're overreacting." The two drivers turned the corner to be met by Ollie's radio engineer.
"Sorry but Ollie, we need to go over some strategies for this weekend." He said, grabbing Ollie by the shoulder. Ollie gave me a I'm sorry look over his shoulder before he was pulled into his driver's room.
Olivia shrugged and made her way her car. The engineers had made several changes to the car over the off week. It looked the same, but everything was different.
"Please don't go into the wall at this race. The crew put a lot of work getting this car together after you had little run in with the wall." Nico said, appearing by her side.
"It wasn't a run in. Something with the hydraulics overheating so the car stopped steering and I bumped the wall." She countered, crossing her arm.
"Apples and oranges." Nico shrugged, "you want to get in the car?" Olivia nodded eagerly, already moving beside the car. Nico gave her a hand as she climbed into the car. She slid into the cockpit and leaned back in the seat.
"I'll leave you be. Just make sure you make it to your next interview or Julie will have both our heads." Nico said, patting her shoulder before walking off.
Olivia closed her eyes, letting her senses take over. The smell of the garage, the noises of the engineers. It was all home to her. She grew up at races with Lewis and Nicholas, traveling the world with her new family. Some of the other drivers became her family.
She let herself melt into the car, getting a feel for it. There were several upgrades with the engine of the car. Tomorrow's practice run will be important to get a feel of the car before the Sprint race, and more importantly, Sunday's race.
It would be amazing to win a sprint race in Miami. With the large crowds and the celebrities, fancy parties.
There was a loud clang, interrupting her thought. She opened her eyes and spotted Ollie and Arthur walking out of the garage. Ollie had ran into a tray of tools.
Olivia watched as Arthur looked at her before scrambling out of site. Ollie looked at her and shrugged before following after him.
"Looks like you finally scared him off. What'd you do?" Nico said, walking past the car. Olivia sighed, pulling herself out of the car.
"No clue. He just started ignoring me." She said, "it's not the worst thing to happen," Olivia jumped off the halo of her car and wandered after Nico.
"Either the amount of warnings the two of you have gotten, it's a blessing."
A SPRINT RACE. A very important part of the day for such a small race. Olivia stood by her car, her racing suit hanging around her waist. Two sets of medium tires were sitting, ready to be put to use. A single set of softs and a set of hard tires were stacked against the wall.
Nico was pacing along the monitors, analyzing the data from the car they had gotten during FP1 and Sprint Shootout. There was something therapeutic about it. The same routine every race.
"It's just a regular race. Just shorter." Olivia mumbled to herself. She scratched at the back of her hand, nervously. It was always nerve racking before a sprint race. Shorter race distance, less room for error, less time to fix mistakes. 25 laps to the finish line.
"Don't start freaking out on me now, kid." Nico said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not." Olivia forced out, keeping her focus on the race.
"Whatever you say. It's time to get in the car, let's go." Nico said, starting to head out of the garage. Olivia grabbed her race helmet and balaclava from their spot and followed after him.
Her car was lined up at P11. Just outside of the points. Ollie's car was lined up a couple of rows ahead of her at P7. Once they made it to the car, Olivia pulled the balaclava on over her head and put her helmet on.
Nico held out a hand and helped her climb into the car. She got herself situated and strapped herself on the car.
"Just think of it as a normal race, okay." Nico said, leaning over the halo of the car. Olivia nodded, trying to call her heart rate. She watched as all the pit crews moved to the side of the track. She watched the flag go by to start the formation lap.
She kept the moved the car side to side as they made their way around the track. After a short while, all the cars were lined back up in their spots. Olivia focused on the red lights as they lit up. She brought her foot down hard on the gas the second they extinguished.
lap one. It was a clean start. Olivia braked late going into turn one to get around Correa. The pack was crowded for the first lap. Going around turn 8 and moved her car into P9.
lap seven. Olivia had maintained P9 for the past several laps.
"Gap to Doohan is 2.4 seconds. You are welcome to push." Nico informed her over the radio. Olivia pressed the confirm button on her steering wheel before pushing her car faster.
The race was going smoothly. No yellow flags or crashes. She took the car through turn 9, spotting the back of Doohan's car in front of her.
She continued to push the car to go faster, slowly gaining on him. After several more turns, Olivia spotted the opportunity to overtake in turn 16. The two cars went into turn 16 side by side with Olivia's car on the inside.
Her car took a dangerous jolt towards the inside of the track, almost coming in contact with the wall. She stabilized the car, barely getting the overtake done.
"Nico, what the hell happened?" Olivia said into the comms.
"Correa turned in early, his tire made contact with the side of your car." Nico reported.
"How much damage?" Olivia asked, trying to keep the car at a high speed.
"Nothing that should be dangerous or affect the race. Keep driving." Olivia took a deep breath as the race continued.
lap sixteen. Olivia had gained two positions, moving up to P6 behind Ollie. They both had been told not to fight each other and to hold positions.
lap twenty. Five laps to go. The order of drivers had yet to change. Olivia felt a heavy weight lift off her shoulders. Finally having a good result after several bad ones was so relieving.
"Be ready to defend. Leclerc is coming up behind you." Nico informed her. She glanced in the mirror to see his car directly behind her.
"Copy." Olivia moved her car towards the inside of the track with Ollie's on the inside, one of the defense strategies. They stayed like that for several turns before Nico came back on over the radio.
"Leclerc seems to be backing off. Stay on guard though." Olivia again looked in the mirror to see his car back off, not too far, but enough to show that he wasn't going to fight for position.
The race was finally over. Olivia pulled her car into the P6 spot in the grid and climbed out. Dennis had gotten first, already heading to the cooldown room.
"That was some good racing out there." Ollie said, walking up beside her.
"You too. What are the team's plans for today?" Olivia asked as they headed to weight checks.
"We have about three hours before they want us here to get ready for qualifying at 4." The two drivers got in line behind the others.
"Let's grab some food then and go over race strategies." Olivia suggested. Ollie agreed. After weighing, they both wandered back to their driver's rooms to change.
author's note
I am also going to pause 'Agape' until I finish this story. It makes it easier for me to be organized and not over work myself.