All the Way - an F1 story

29

29 August , 2021
📍Stavelot, Belgium

"Mais pourquoi tu ne peux piloter?," Céleste asked, a frown on her little features.

"Je suis désolé, Cel, mais nous n'avons pas pu le réparer à temps." Calina wasn't about to tell her four-year old cousin straight up that she had crashed. As far as Céleste knew, there was a terminal issue with the car that they tried to resolve the previous night, while Calina was really at the hospital being checked out.

"Alors, que faisons-nous ici?"

"Nous devons encore soutenir l'équipe, Cel." Fiorenzo replied. Calina also didn't want to let that incident ruin this weekend for Cel. Seeing as this was Calina's birthday surprise to her, the team was kind enough to give the little girl a proper paddock experience: in addition to being able to watch the session from the garages, she also was going to be able to sit in Nico's car that very morning.

Though, with the state of the weather, Calina wasn't confident in the race starting when it was expected too. It was absolutely pouring rain, worse than during qualifying. She felt bad for the fans, who had probably paid too much to be there, only to be caught in a storm. She herself would've hated sitting there, but she had to give it to them for the dedication.

They were approaching the Haas hospitality when they saw Mick, who seemed to be in quite the rush, him and his team making their way towards the opposite end of the paddock.

"Driver meeting," he said as he passed them when Calina shot him a questioning look.

"Really?"

"Yes," Marilena said, who had just appeared from their destination, Nico and Edgar in tow. "Let's go. Are you in team gear—whatever, it doesn't matter. Come on."

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Even from across the room she could see Mick, one of the most neutral, passive, kindest people she knew, staring at Michael Masi like he had three heads.

The twenty-two drivers and eleven team principals were all packed into a meeting room, with the race directors and stewards sitting at the head table. They had been there for well over an hour now, inching closer to the start of the driver's parade, and yet they were still discussing whether it would be safe to have the race.

"The conditions will remain as they are for a while, however, it is predicted they will improve during the race if we start at the expected time."

"Are you joking?" Beside Calina, Charles nearly choked on his water, and Pierre went wide-eyed. "Sorry, but you really think we'll be able to race in this."

Michael seemed speechless at her comment.

"If you don't mind, would we be able to discuss this amongst ourselves, first?" How Sebastian sounded so calm was beyond her. The FIA obliged, amazingly, filing out and leaving the drivers to be.

"We don't have much time," he continued. "But, seeing as the weather is pretty terrible, we need to think of what's best for our safety."

"They're already delaying the start. If the rain is going to get better, then we can still race." Of course Max was going to want to race. Calina rolled her eyes, scoffing at him. "Is there a problem, Calina?"

When she looked up from her lap, half the people in the room were looking at her. Mick looked like he was silently praying for Max to drop it, Sebastian had a look of encouragement, and Lewis looked slightly amused, and everyone else was just straight faced, not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on.