The encounter of a lifetime - Charles Lerclerc

Chapter 60

That's it, it's D-Day, Charles will take part in his first practice session since his accident.
For this event Charles' family came, so there is his mother Pascale, Arthur and Lorenzo. But there's also Leo, whom I haven't seen for a very long time, who is going to spend with Marta, Riccardo and Charles' other friends. And the coolest thing, my sister arrived yesterday to come see the grand prix with me. It's her first grand prix so she can't wait and I can't wait to show her.

When I arrive on the circuit, I'm with Élodie and Charles. We go to the Ferrari paddocks, then Charles leaves us because he has to do a lot of things today. He is stressed, but the quali went well and he managed to be in 3rd position. He was a little disappointed but I reminded him that after an absence due to illness it was incredible and that some drivers never managed to qualify for this place during their career.

With my sister we take advantage of walking around the paddocks a bit, I show her all the offices, the pilots' rooms, finally we take a complete tour of everything. We then pass in front of the pilots' garages and we meet some pilots such as Daniel, Pierre and Lando.

We then decide to go up to the lounge reserved for Ferrari guests where we join the Leclerc family.

Pascale: Oh my darling how are you?
Emma: I'm fine Mrs. thank you and you?
Pascale: Oh no, I've already told you plenty of times there aren't any Mrs. around here, you're part of the family, stop.
Emma: Alright noted.
Pascale: And Charles is well? Do you think this race will do? I confess that I am a little scared.
Emma: Honestly he's more motivated than ever, he's worked like crazy to get into the race so I think he'll be fine.
Pascale: I hope so.

During this time Arthur gets closer to my sister to flirt with her of course. Luckily I notice him fast enough so I can go and piss him off.

Emma: Uh oh Arthur we don't flirt with his sister-in-law's sister Charles already told you.
Arthur: I didn't flirt with her, I just talked to her normally.
Élodie: Yes, don't worry.

Arthur and my sister stay close while waiting for the race and I stay with Charles' mother and his big brother. But I don't think that between Arthur and my sister it's ambiguous. I just think he likes her as a friend. And that's super cool.

While waiting for the departure I am very stressed. The anguish that Charles redo an accident overwhelms me. I'm afraid he wants to push the car too much and it will break. Or even that his body can't stand it. I decide to go down to Charles' garage to see if I can see him. Luckily he is looking at technical details with his engineer. When he's finished he comes over to me.

Charles: Are you okay sweetheart?
Emma: Yes I was just a little stressed. I don't want you to put yourself in danger ok?
Charles: Yes don't worry I know my limits and Monaco is the circuit I know best I'm not going to crash here don't worry.
Emma: Okay..
Charles: I love you mon amour.

He pulls me and kisses me. He must then leave for his preparation. The race starts in ten minutes.

That's it. It's time to leave. 3...2...1... START!!
At the start Charles passes through Perez, so he falls to fourth place. But he manages to stay close to him and manages to pass him again on lap 6.

The race is quite quiet, but we come to the moment when the drivers will have to change the tires and that's where the whole race is played out in Monaco as it is difficult to overtake.

Verstappen, who is in first position, enters the pits first, followed not very far from Perez. At the same time Charles comes in too.
I'm concentrating on Charles' pit, which is going really well. The screen says they did it in 2.2 seconds. I then look at the screen and notice that Verstappen is still there and Perez is waiting behind. His wheel locked up and it took them 12.7 seconds to change the tires. Perez moved on, but had to wait for them to finish on Verstappen. Which makes Charles second far ahead of the other two. In front of him there is only Russell who has not yet changed his tires but who is 38 seconds behind him. Assuming that during a tire change we lose an average of 26 seconds, Charles has to save time on Russell for him to pass first.

There are about twenty laps to go and Russell still hasn't changed his tyres. But he begins to lose time because his tires fail. There are only 28 seconds separating him from Charles. But George decides to go back to the pits. His change is rather fast, we will have to see if Charles manages to pass him.
George comes to the end of the pit lane and Charles is about level with him. It's tight but he manages to pass in front of him.

The last laps are calm, and the finish line is only 2 turns away. Stress is everywhere in the Ferrari garage. Everyone is waiting to see Charles' single-seater pass so that they can finally celebrate his victory in Monaco, his first victory here.

Russell is not far behind, but Charles arrives ahead of him.

We hear on his radio:
"Charles Leclerc you are the winner in Monaco, at home! What a comeback! »
and he answers
"Thank you everyone it was amazing! It feels good to be back! »

We all rush below the podium. We all want to see him lift that cup.

He arrives and gets on the podium, alongside them there are Russell and Sainz, who managed to get ahead of the Red Bulls thanks to their failed pitstop. We give the trophies to everyone, then finally we hand it to Charles who grabs it and jumps on the barrier to celebrate his victory. It is the Prince of Monaco who comes to give it to him in person and who congratulates him. He is the first Monegasque driver to win this race. They then take the champagne and spray Charles into the crowd, aiming his family and me at us. We will stick but at least he will be happy.

It seemed impossible to participate in this race, but he did it and he won it. This man is amazing. It's just the start of the season for him, and what we showed today signals an incredible season.

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