legends || formula one

never ending.

YES, THE SUN WAS ONLY JUST PEEKING ABOVE THE HORIZON- but that didn't mean that josie was going to wait a few extra minutes curled up in bed.

no, she did not get a full night's rest despite leaving the team dinner early.

her eyes felt irritated and dry, probably from rubbing them constantly to stay awake. in the distance, the sakhir tower grew ever closer.

the paddock was in its usual state of organized chaos, though there were definitely fewer people in the alfa romeo garage compared to the others. to be fair, it was only just before 7 am. there was no doubt that the rest of the team would stream in over the next hour or so.

josie was the lucky person chosen to lead a presentation over conference call to some team members back in the sauber factory regarding the performance of some new parts.

she exited the taxi and scanned her pass, taking in the few moments of quiet that were no doubt rare in an f1 paddock.

she headed upstairs after reaching the main motorhome, grabbing a few folders from jorn's area and setting up her laptop in a comfy corner. after getting her belongings in order, josie made a quick run to hospitality to grab a bit of breakfast.

much like habit, she grabbed a cup and went to the fresh and untouched coffee station. however, she caught herself- remembering yesterday's coffee incident- and paused. on the corner of the table, she spotted a small thermos of hot water and a few bags of tea.

make no mistake- josie needed that caffeine jolt, but maybe a weaker one. she took two bags of black tea, a few healthy (but small) spoons of sugar and a splash of cream before heading right back to work.

luckily, the day was not looking long after the presentation. guanyu had finished his turn at testing and today was all for valtteri. there were debriefs and meetings- there was no question about that, but the opportunities for power naps were plenty.

and that's exactly what josie spent the rest of the morning doing after finishing the call. she made sure to let the team- namely jonathan and elena- know to call her if anyone was urgently looking for her.

sleep was sacred, after all.

CHARLES LECLERC HAD THE MORNING CUT OUT FOR HIM AS WELL. he would be spending the morning session of the final testing day in the sf-23.

it wasn't that he didn't love his job... but the sf-23 was a little bit like a thorn in his side. it was like him growing impatient. he had hoped that this year's car could be a challenger for the whole season- the drop-off of the f1-75 still sat sour in his mouth.

his head still ached a little following two days of porpoising- but, in all honesty, the car itself did feel like it had improved in some areas. by how much, though, was what worried charles.

at the end of the day, he just needed to put his head down and get laps in. charles headed to the back of the ferrari motorhome and did some warm-ups with his trainer, andrea, before finally heading back to the garage for the third day in a row.

as they walked, a little bubble in the back of charles' mind wondered if he would have the pleasure of running into josie. he felt a the ghost of a smile forming on his face and immediately dropped it.

he found his race engineer, xavi, hovering around the car and ready to explain the newest component on the car- a new rear wing. charles put his mind into full focus, climbed into the car, and sped out onto the asphalt of the bahrain international circuit.

LIFE IS NEVER ENDING CIRCUS, especially when valtteri bottas' car was porpoising badly.

josie had been undisturbed long enough that her nap had turned into deep sleep. imagine her frustration when awoken in the middle of a peaceful dream where she was watching a sunset in the swiss alps while sipping on a decadent hot chocolate.