Racing For Love

Chapter Forty Six

I wake the following morning to a message from Jono to say he had to leave early to prepare for Germany. I'm relieved that I don't have to face any awkwardness this morning after the tension and closeness of last night. I put it down to our grief, trying to shake the feeling that whatever's between us is intensifying the more time we spend together.

Whilst I've avoided checking online since the announcement of Joe's death, I am pulled back in today because of an alert I have set up. It notifies me that FormulaOMG! have posted a new video to YouTube. The title is "The Astonishing Scandal From F1's Mancini Fireball Crash" and my interest is piqued at the mention of that Giovanni Mancini incident.

The video starts with an introductory sequence before delving into the scandal surrounding Giovanni's near-fatal crash and the question of who was to blame. As the narrator mentions Team Principal Joe Stephen's speedy departure at the end of the season and the mystery surrounding the decision, a chill runs down my spine.

Joe's illness was never widely announced, but the statement on his retirement said that he would be leaving to focus on his health, so there has always been speculation. This was dismissed by Bianchi and Giovanni at the time and the crash put down to a combination of driver/track errors. This is the first video I have seen where they have made the blatant connection between Giovanni's crash and Joe's health.

As I continue watching, anger takes over me. I had believed FormulaOMG! could offer me a potential career move, and solution to my predicament of what to do at the end of the season. I researched them before I took the opportunity to freelance with them, but the insensitivity of this video has blindsided me. I didn't think they were as ruthless as this - the video is clearly clickbait - the weird wording of the title, the stills used to promote the video of a car engulfed in flames. I feel bad for Giovanni also - to have to be reminded of this when he's retired from the sport, and nearly died.

Checking through some more content on their site, and I can see that over the past couple of weeks, more of these types of clickbait articles and videos have appeared - are they moving into a new direction? What is clear is that they are releasing this to capitalise on the recent press surrounding Joe's death and it makes my stomach turn. They knew my connection to Joe, but the title of the video and the editing clearly shows this more sensationalist side to the content they are creating, with a complete disregard for integrity - half of the information they use is incorrect because they would rather focus on the drama of it all. Before thinking, I email Morgan and tell them that I am no longer prepared to work for FormulaOMG! - they are clearly not the kind of company I was led to believe and I certainly do not want to be associated with them if this is the kind of content they are willing to put out.

I also send the link to Kate, wondering if we can get it shut down through Bianchi - it's certainly not publicity she will want to deal with going into another race week, and I feel guilty for not being at work, even though I know that I would not be able to focus on my job with everything else I'm going through.

After sending the emails, I sit with a cup of coffee and mull over the video. Now the initial shock and anger has eased, doubts have crept in and I wonder if I reacted too soon. There is a part of me that can't help but question whether there's an uncomfortable truth that I've been ignoring because of my loyalty to Joe.

I go back to Joe's office and look at the neat piles of Joe's notepads that are stacked across several surfaces. I easily locate the ones from the 2015 race season, and begin to flick through the pages. Jono's name jumps from the page at me several times - it was his third season with Bianchi but having won the championship the year before, it was a much harder year all round. I want to read all about it, but I need to focus.

I scour the pages, finding the dates for the week of the Mexican race - it was late in the season with only three races before the championship battle was over. Bianchi struggled throughout - despite the car looking promising, there were multiple issues with strategy, culminating in the accident that happened at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.