A Race For My Family Name - Sana X Reader

Chapter 43

Ethan POV

Throughout the course of the season, I have achieved a lot of good results and even won a few races. It was a very tight battle at the top and consistency was key to coming out on top of the championship. The team has really built a monster of a car and has allowed me to fight right at the top of the championship with the likes of George Russell in the Mercedes and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. I was truly having one of the best debut season and the rookie season that every driver dreamt of. Whilst being so close to the top, it has also gave me a lot of nerves as I head into the final race of the season.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Coming into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, it was extremely close in terms of points at the top. I was 5 points behind Max Verstappen who was leading the championship and 3 points behind George Russell who was 2nd in the championship. This means that I was only one win away from winning the title on my rookie season. A lot of pressure was on me because all I had to do to win the championship is to win this race. It feels like my life depended on this moment. 

Qualifying was really important for me, but just like many other races my qualifying pace wasn't as strong as I wanted to be. I ended up qualifying in 4th which isn't too bad given that is was on the second row of the grid. However, George Russell was on pole position with Max Verstappen in 3rd position. This means that I have a lot of work to do during the race. It isn't going to be easy because the only way I could win this championship is by winning this race, and starting from 4th on the grid, it's not impossible but it will be very difficult. 

David Croft: And for one final time this season, we have five red lights and it's lights out and away we go for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. George Russell gets under way very well indeed and so does Ethan Chou, the young Taiwanese driver who is trying to go round the outside of Max Verstappen. AND OH THEY TOUCH, THE TWO CHAMPIONSHIP PROTAGONISTS TOUCH INTO TURN 1 ETHAN CHOU IS SENT WIDE AND VERSTAPPEN KEEPS P3.

Disaster at the start for me, I managed to get a good launch compared to Max Verstappen starting in P3 and was looking to go around the outside of the Dutch driver into the first corner. However, knowing Verstappen, he refused to yield and kept his nose into the first corner. We have a bit of contact with the Red Bull driver forcing me onto the runoff of the first corner. I didn't know if I have damage or not but the car felt a bit off after the contact and it relegated me into 8th position. This was the worst possible start I could have. 

David Greenwood: Ethan, how's the car? How's the car?

Ethan: I don't know, you check. It doesn't feel right.

David Greenwood: Tyre pressures are all good. Front wing seemed to have a bit of damage, it's up to you if you want to pit or not.

I thought about what the team has offered me. Do I continue as planned or gamble with an early pit stop. I mean at this point, I have nothing to lose and with that thought in mind, I went into the pits for a gamble and an early pit stop.

Ethan: Copy, box now box.

After the pit stop, I strapped on a set of hard tyres hoping that I could go long into this race and with a new front wing the car felt much better. However, I was last by 20 seconds which means that my chances of becoming the Formula 1 World Champion is diminishing lap by lap. I tried my best to catch up to the back of the pack and by the time I caught up to the Haas of Nikita Mazepin, 10 laps has already passed. I only have 45 more laps on my hand to try and bring this title home. Things weren't looking good for me.

I was cutting through the slower cars and taking the advantage of having one of the quicker cars on the field and a few more laps into the race, the cars are starting to come in for their first pit stop. After the first set of pit stops, most of the cars were on fresh mediums tyres and it elevated me into 6th position right behind my teammate Shuhua who was in 5th position. The team quickly implemented team orders for us to swap positions which allowed me to move up into 5th position and 5 seconds behind 4th placed Sergio Perez.

David Greenwood: Ok so Shuhua the next car up, she will let you pass. After her it will be Perez around 4.8 seconds in front then Leclerc 5.6 seconds before the top 2 of Russell and Verstappen who are 10 seconds up the road. I will leave you to it mate.

This task wasn't going to be easy but I need to try my best because I really wanted to win the World Championship. It was my dream since I was a very young kid. With my sights set on Max Verstappen around 10 seconds ahead of me, I pushed the car to the limit but the tyres are no longer in the window for me to push. Luckily for me, all four cars in front came into the pits for another set of tyres meaning that I have managed to inherit the lead. With clean air in front I tried my best to see if I could extend the gap to the cars behind but it was really difficult with worn tyres and the cars behind are on fresher tyres. In fact the cars behind are catching up to me and once again I saw my championship hopes diminishing.

A bit of a short penultimate chapter, just building up the race to the final. What will happen to Ethan in the race? Read the final chapter to find out. 

I'm sorry if this chapter seems short and rushed, but I really don't have that much time and I wanted to finish this book as soon as possible. The finale of this book will be published before the start of next week so stay tuned for that.

Thank you very much for all of you support on this book so far. Only one more chapter to go so do be sure to check out the finale of this book. As always please vote for this chapter and share this book if you've enjoyed it.