Hate To Love You || Charles Leclerc x OFC

Chapter 2 - A Spoon Full of Sugar

Lily POV - Bahrain, Pre-season Testing

As soon as the press conference ended, I made a beeline for the door, not bothering to say goodbye to Carlos or Pierre. Over the last several years my relationship with the media pen had changed – instead of being the darling new female driver who everyone adored, all of a sudden I felt like the black sheep of the F1 driver family. Margie, my press officer, was trailing after me, a frantic look in her eyes, likely because she knew Toto Wolff would not be impressed with my media prowess.

Compared to George Russell, my teammate, I likely looked like a bumbling mess up on the stage. George Russell was undoubtedly already the team favorite; I didn't need to add more fuel to the pro-George Russell campfire.

When I walked into the Mercedes garage, Toto Wolff, Mercedes-AMG Team principal, only gave me a single raised eyebrow, but the look on his face told me everything I needed to know – get your shit together. After the Lewis-Rosberg drama in 2016, the Mercedes F1 team had spent years cultivating a good relationship between their drivers, which then spilled over to them cultivating a view of holy matrimony in the team – no infighting, no bickering, no arguing with the press.

I knew when I left Bugatti, F1's only female-run team, that the mission at Mercedes would be different. The Bugatti F1 team was developed to show the paddock that you could, in fact, have a championship winning team run by women. Mercedes couldn't give a shit about that; Mercedes were here for one thing and one thing only – World Driver's Championships.

Toto Wolff would put a monkey in the Mercedes W18 car if it could win the championship.

The fact that I had a slew of successful sponsorships to my name meant nothing. Mercedes-AMG was dripping in money like I was dripping in sweat at this Bahrain circuit.

Georgia Leclerc, my racing coach, was sat in the back of the garage, flipping through various pieces of paper. The fact that she had made a point not to look at me when I entered the garage reassured me of my situation – I was in some deep shit. I continued to stare at her, hoping my eyes would somehow burn a hole into her head, forcing her to look at me.

Better luck next time, Lily, I thought to myself as my racing coach continued to sift through pieces of paper, likely reviewing the racing set up Mercedes had given me. A voice from behind me pulled me out of my quiet, personal contemplation.

"Right, Lily," Mark, my race engineer, called out to me, "you ready to review today's car set up?" I perked up my ears and looked over to Mark, letting a grin creep on my face.

"I was born ready, Mark. Let's do this." I took a deep breath, looking back at Georgia who finally looked up, giving me a thumbs up that said 'you can do this', along with a frown that could only be described as rivaling the look on my mum's face after I had forgotten to finish my chores.

Right Lil, I said to myself, let's show these boys what I'm made of. I reviewed the racing set up and went through the various test points that the engineers wanted me to review. As I hopped into the car, I was a little taken aback at the design. Already it felt so different compared to the Bugatti F1 car I drove last year. I was able to bring my own steering wheel, which was great considering my hands were so much smaller than Russell's, but the design itself felt like it had been designed by men for men.

No surprises there.

I completed the radio check and made my way out into the pitlane, venturing out onto the track. Bahrain had been one of my favorite tracks, the twists and turns were designed beautifully. As I started my out lap, I heard my race engineer come onto the radio.