Moscow Mule - [Pierre Gasly]

XIII

            The finish just outside of the points was the peak of frustration after the messy Grand Prix of Monaco. It started raining ridiculously hard before the start, causing it to be postponed by what felt like hours. The strategy had been fucked up, the car was fucked up, and everything was fucked up when Pierre came back into the pitlane and parked his car. The star of today's show was Checo, but Pierre didn't feel motivated to celebrate the win of Red Bull Racing. He climbed out of the car and went to get weighed in the FIA garage, Pyry already came up to him with his drink bottle and his cap, ready to take his helmet from him. Pierre pulled the balaclava from his head, shaking his head after and ruffling his messy hair. "You did well, mate," Pyry comments, but it earns another shake of Pierre's head. "I came from far, I deserved that point," Pierre sighs. His trainer just patted his shoulder. In a couple of hours, he'd look back on the race and realize that he drove a really strong race, but now, he was just disappointed that his hell of a race wasn't rewarded with a point.

He rubbed the back of his neck that was wet with sweat and with the water that soaked his racing overall. He unzipped it and took his arms out of the sleeves, leaving it to dangle around his waist. Pierre took some time to catch his breath and drink some water, speaking through his statement to the media as he was about to go into the penn. Pierre explained that he was driving a good race, but felt disappointed that he couldn't get into the top ten. The race overall wasn't too bad. He started P17 and managed to get to P11 on a circuit like Monaco. He could be happy with the results, which would obviously sink in later. About half an hour later, he was done with the questions in the media penn and went back into the paddock to do some more media obligations. A Sky Sports microphone was pushed into his hand and he was standing in front of the camera with Simon Lazenby, who asked him one or two things about the race and his expectations for the next weekend. The internet was meanwhile busy spreading the images of him and Azar in the garage together before the race started.

After she had been mystery girl for two days, Twitter had been fast to find out who she was, as she had been eye candy for every photographer spotting celebrities. The thought of her made Pierre grin. She looked so pretty today in a matching shirt and top, a jacket draped over her shoulders while her hair was braided down her back. They spend the whole weekend together already, ever since he took her out for dinner, and he stayed over at her room. The day after, they went to the track together and in the evening, after qualifying, they had dinner on a yacht and walked along the coast. It had been nice to spend time with her, he truly liked it, especially when she let her guard down. And god, everything else, the way she flirted with him, the way she matched his freaky, unhinged personality, it was just amazing. Pierre bit his lip as he nodded to whatever was told him, and then Fabiana pushed her hand into his back to make him walk away from the Sky Sports camera and get on his way to the AlphaTauri hospitality for a short debrief. Afterward, he was free to go.

The day of his friend from Monaco was probably even worse than his, even though Charles managed to finish the Grand Prix, he had been on pole position and didn't manage to keep P1 in the race. The strategy of the Scuderia didn't work out, and like the previous years, the Monaco curse seemed to go on for another year. Pierre spotted Azar speaking to Charles, who had his red overall still around his waist, a cap pushed over his hair, and his hands in his sides. He was out of hearing distance, but Azar said something that caused Charles to laugh, his cheeks reddening a little, and he took a step closer to her. The Monégasque was quick to take a step back when he saw Pierre nearing them, his hand brushing over Azar's lower back as he joined the pair. "Hey," Pierre said, glancing between the two. "Shit day, huh?" Charles spoke up first. "Pretty much," Pierre nodded. "I have a meeting, and then I'll be done," he said, his eyes looking down at Azar. "Charles suggested we go out tonight," Azar replied. Pierre looked back at Charles, whose lips curled slightly upwards as Azar added that she'd like to join him. "Yeah, why not?", Pierre said. "I'm needed at my team," he said then.