The Limit (Sebastian Vettel)

14. Written In The Stars

November 2018, Abu Dhabi

Lily sat in her driver room, her head hanging down as she sat thinking about what would happen over the next few hours.   Would she be leaving Abu Dhabi as the Formula 2 champion, or would it be George Russell? 

After her win in the feature race the day before, they were level on points going into the sprint race. 

If she won, what would that mean for her future? She wouldn't be allowed to race in Formula 2 again if she took the title. Maybe it would be for the best if she didn't win. At least she'd be all but guaranteed a race seat for the following season.

Three of her fellow drivers had already been confirmed for Formula 1 for 2019. Her championship rival, George Russell, would be going to partner Robert Kubica at Williams, Lando Norris would be one half of an all new driver lineup at McLaren with Carlos Sainz, and Alexander Albon would be going to Toro Rosso, replacing Pierre Gasly who'd been promoted to Red Bull.

She was envious of them. She deserved it as much as they did, if not more, but it seemed no one wanted to take a chance on a girl.

Damon had signed on for another year with Alfa Romeo, but with Kimi as a teammate instead of Charles. Charles had been promoted to Ferrari, alongside Seb.

Lily scowled as she thought of the German driver. They'd not spoken a word to each other since that day in Monaco six months earlier. She'd had nothing to say to him, and he'd finally got the message and left her alone. If their paths had crossed they'd just ignored each other.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called out. The door opened and Maria stuck her head in.

"It's time," she said. Lily nodded and stood up, slipping her arms into her race suit and zipping it up. She ran a hand over her twin French braids, took a deep breath and headed out of the door.

She was surprised to see the dining area was completely empty as she passed through, but she soon saw why.

As she exited the building into the warm Abu Dhabi air she smiled as she saw all the team members lined up in two rows forming a guard of honour for her.

The team principal, René Rosin, walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Good luck Lily. Whatever happens we are all so proud of you. You've been amazing this season. Go out there and get them!"

Everyone started applauding and chanting her name. She knew then that she would do whatever it took to win this title, even if it meant being without a race seat the following year. She would do it for Prema, for Ferrari, for those that had believed in her.

She walked between the two lines, fist bumping every single member of the team. Then she saw the man waiting at the end for her.

"Good luck babe," Liam said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her hard.

Lily kissed him back, grateful for her boyfriend's support.

She'd never thought for one minute they'd get into a relationship that day six months earlier.  

She'd only ever meant him to be a revenge fuck, to show Seb what he was missing out on, but  after they'd had sex Liam had asked her to be his girlfriend.  She'd said yes out of guilt but in the following months they'd grown close. She was happy with Liam, even if there wasn't that sense of sexual excitement that was present every time she saw Seb.

"You can do it," he told her. "Go kick Russell's arse."

"Thank you for coming," she whispered close to his ear. He'd flown in overnight after his match the day before.