Racing For Love

Chapter Thirty Four

The rest of the weekend continues relatively uneventfully for me. I keep my head down, socialising with Matt and James along with some of the pit crew when we're not busy working. I love being part of the travelling team - spending so much time together means they have a very strong bond, and i'm starting to feel part of that, despite my sporadic attendance at the races. It's been a long time since i've felt like i've had people supporting me, not being the support for people and I find myself relaxing into the team, finding my heart healing as I spend more time with this different kind of family.

Whilst i've been enjoying the social side of race week, work has been harder - we've been instructed to post more "couples content" much to our disappointment - I think the focus should be on racing, but the order has again come from Andrea, and there's a definite vibe that he is pushing the relationships of the drivers forward. We're getting good engagement, but I feel like we're devaluing our drivers as sportsmen. We sneak in some content about the garage and pit crew to try and assuage the doubt of what this change in direction means. I'm so glad to have my side project with FormulaOMG! to work on - allowing my creativity to show, rather than be stunted by a strict brief that doesn't align with what I believe in.

After the disaster of Thursday, Jono and Charlotte have seemed happier for the rest of the week and we've been able to post some nice videos of them together. She's been busily posting photos of The Paddock and enjoying the hospitality area too. I'm trying really hard to find the positives, but the more I know and understand her, the more she seems completely self-involved and narcissistic. I wonder if she was always like that - the complete opposite of Jono.

Isa has been around too, but luckily i've not had to interact much with her - I'm definitely scared of what she might say to me next. She's not been as active across her socials but she has been tagged in some paddock pictures with Gareth James' girlfriend Francesca and she's posted some arty pictures of the Spielberg architecture.

The free practices on Friday and Saturday go well - our car has had it's first upgrade package which is being tested on track for the first time this week. Analysis coming back is showing a definite increase in pace - whilst we're leading the field, this will help to maintain that, and push forward to create distance between us and the other teams as they try and catch up. The cars run well in FPs, but as we move into quali, Jono's car seems to have engine issues, and he doesn't make it out of Q2, starting the race this weekend at P11. The engineers immediately start working on the car and power unit, making sure it's ok. Lorenzo's car doesn't seem to have the same issues and he finishes in a strong P1 - a clear dominance over the rest of the grid and looking strong going into race day.

Sunday's weather is not great, and the garage have the wet tyres prepped as the weather forecast picks up a storm heading in our direction. The race starts well for Lorenzo as he holds P1 comfortably, with Jono gaining through the pack at the start and then continuing with some decent overtakes. He picks up fastest lap as he makes it through to the top of the grid and now sits behind Lorenzo in P2 - the changes to the cars settling in and creating a good lead against the rest of the field with a six second gap between them and the third place car of Gareth James from Aerial Racing. We double stack a pit stop on lap 25, changing both cars to full wet tyres as the rain starts coming down - the strategy is to get ahead of the storm so the tyres are up to temp as it gets heavier.

Lorenzo continues to lead, but his car isn't looking stable coming into corners. He's vocal on the radio asking to check tyre balance and engine performance, complaining that something isn't working as Jono decreases the gap between our two cars, and then overtakes as Lorenzo's car slows. Gareth shoots past him too as he pulls the car over to the side. A safety car is deployed as Lorenzo's car is recovered back to the pit - confirmed by the engineers that the power unit failed. Jono's race continues in the slick conditions - working hard to keep the car on the track as rain pours down and cars slide across the tarmac trying to stay on. There's a big crash in the midfield and the red flag is out sending everyone scurrying into the pits.