legends || formula one

unexpected.

"I GET THAT IT'S ONLY THE SECOND DAY OF TESTING," JONATHAN BEGAN, "so maybe it's too early to hope. but..."

the clock was winding down, and soon the second day of testing would be over. as a race engineer, josie knew better than to put all of her faith into one day of testing results. but after a whole day, from her side of the garage, zhou guanyu was still the one with the fastest lap. "it's always the 'but', isn't it?" josie sighed.

it would still be something to celebrate with the team, but that only meant that the team needed to work even harder to ensure that it wasn't just a one-off fluke. josie had hope for guanyu, but alfa wasn't in the upper midfield- better to manage expectations than to be disappointed.

"the mclaren has been pretty clunky though, no? they had quite a few issues with norris' run earlier," jonathan chimed in.

josie hummed in agreement. "i sure wouldn't be upset if their car happened to just slip down the constructor's standings."

"no mercy, huh?" jonathan laughed.

she just shrugged. "any extra dollar of prize money is gonna push us firmly into the midfield. and i, for one, would sure love a few less hours in the garage!"

"what, you don't like spending time with me?" jonathan pouted.

josie turned to face him. "oh, and you enjoy spending your waking weekend hours with a coffee-buzzed zombie?"

jonathan's eyebrows furrowed. "i thought you hated being back at the factory most weekends?"

"i did, and i still do," josie confirmed, "but after being promoted to on-track halfway through last year, i realized how exhausting it is. and testing... it's felt like one sleepless fever dream."

"chin up. we still have one more day of this 'fever dream' left." jonathan noted.

josie sighed. "yeah, i guess you're right." she glanced at her phone to check the time. "oh, shoot. i need to go and find jorn. i will see you at the team dinner tonight?"

her phone chimed as a message flashed on the screen from another mechanic on the team, theo.

alpine have a rear axle issue

heard walking by their garage

"looks like alpine have a rear axle issue." josie shared.

"makes sense, their practice pits have been slow. but we can talk later- get to your meeting!" jonathan ushered josie, pushing her in jorn's direction.

she chuckled at jonathan's eagerness. the mechanic was no doubt eager to be leaving the garage early to get some well-deserved race before the team dinner.

josie's chance at a having a power nap would have to wait though, as she needed to attend the mandatory debrief to understand where alfa romeo stood compared to the rest of the grid. she had been with sauber's f1 teams ever since she finished university, not to mention that she had been a fan of the team for years.

this was her chance- she had been promoted to the on track team, and she was determined to prove that sauber ran in her blood by helping the team develop a good car.

jorn was looking over a few papers already when josie reached the meeting room. "josie, great timing. i was just about to walk back to the motorhome. any updates?"

she walked beside jorn and shared some of the recent updates she had about other teams on the grid. jorn becker was guanyu's race engineer, so he was the person she answered to as a member of guanyu's side of the garage.

"i just got confirmation from theo that alpine are having some rear axle issues impacting pit stop times. you already know about russell's hydraulics issue. unfortunately, the aston martin is continuing to look like it will fight at the top this season. i don't think it's just alonso either- the rear is stable and the pace is much above any of our expectations..." josie lamented.