ℝ𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕝𝕤 [ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕃𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕔] ✔

Part 39

The team spirit was high that Saturday. Free Practice yesterday and today had been almost perfect with Y/n making it P2, P7 and P4 while Charles got P5, P2 and P6. Pace was looking rather good, and they had high hopes for the weekend. The track was almost perfect for the car, and it was clear that they had good chances. 

Y/n was now in her driver's room warming up with Peter for qualifying. Her nerves was turned on, but she was more than ready to get back out there and show people that she deserved to be in this sport. Her season really had being going up and down constantly, but she really wanted to prove all the haters wrong. And maybe a part of her also wanted to prove that even though she was dating her teammate, she wouldn't let that affect her racing and her career. 

"I think you're ready, let's go" Peter said with a smile as she finished her warm up. She zipped her red iconic racing suit all the wait up and grabbed her balaclava, helmet and gloves and then they went to the Ferrari garage. She saw Charles already arrived and warmed up, and they shot each other a smiling look before they were both called over to talk about the strategy for qualifying. They both listened carefully and nodded before getting into their cars. 

Y/n was the first on to get out on the track. They had sent her out pretty early to avoid traffic, and to get a stress free qualifying. She felt herself getting more relaxed, as she was sitting behind her wheel again. She had already raced on this track a few times before in F2 and F3, so it was pretty familiar to her. But racing in F1 would always be harder and more difficult. And she felt that, when she came into turn 6 with a late break, and she was only centimeters away from touching the barrier with her front wing. 

But she got control over the car again, and managed to stay away from the barrier. She flew through sector one and two, and was flying into sector three as well. She touched the gravel a bit into turn 13, as she went a little wider than she wanted to, but it didn't really seem to affect her lap very much. "Great lap, Y/n. That's P6. If you hurry up, you can make another lap." She was very satisfied with her result, but she wanted to do better. 

Once again she flew into sector one, and this time she nailed turn 6 and was further away from the barrier. Her adrenalin was pumping through her veins, and she was only focusing on setting a good time. She tried her best avoiding the gravel and the grass, but slightly moved over it into the last turn before crossing the line and driving back to the pitlane as Q1 ended. "And that is P5, Y/n. Amazing drive and you are safe to go to Q2."

She smiled as she had managed to improve her time, and got out of the car to speak to her team again before Q2. Charles came back a few minutes after her ended his Q1 with P6 and also a safe passage to Q2. "Ready for Q2?" her teammate said giving her a fist bumb. She really wanted to give him a kiss right there, but had to fight it and instead just smiled. "I'm ready to beat you, yeah" she grinned and Charles shook his head and laughed. "Yeah right" he said smirking, but none of them had more time to chat, as they got ready for Q2. 

For some reason the car felt weird this time, and Y/n almost didn't have any grib. "I don't understand, it's like I have no grib, and the tires are cold" she said with a frustrated tone. "Copy that. We're looking at it right now" Riccardo spoke back to her, and all she could do was try and get the best out of it. Instead of flying through sector one, she hit the gravel two times and almost hit the barrier going into sector two. She struggled to keep the grib, and she didn't want to risk any damage, so she didn't break as late as usual. "Keep pushing, I know it's hard, but you can do it" Riccardo said trying to cheer her up. 

Sector three went a little better, and she found a tiny bit more grib, but still hit the gravel one time. She was even close to spinning around, but just managed to break in the last second going into turn 15. Finally she crossed the line, and she was nervous about her result. "Okay that is P11, Y/n. We're sorry, but there's no more time" she groaned in frustration of not making it into Q3. The whole weekend the car had felt good, and then suddenly it changed. Sadly that was just a part of the sport, but it still sucked, as she could have qualified a lot better today. 

Lucky for the team, Charles finished P4. But Y/n couldn't help but feeling slightly useless. Of course this was her first F1 season, and she had already gotten a podium and some good results, and she was lucky enough to already be racing with Ferrari and Charles, but a part of her didn't allow her mind to think like that. A part of her were angry with herself, as she didn't get as good results as Charles. She knew that Charles was more experienced in F1 than her, but she couldn't shake her thoughts away no matter what she tried. 

Of course she went to congratulate Charles on his qualifying, and she even put on a fake laugh as he joked about him beating her in qualifying, but on the inside she was hurting. She thought to herself how dramatic and petty she must sound, if she told anyone how useless she felt, but it really was hard not to feel useless in a situation like this. She really needed some fresh air.