Don't Blame Me | Charles Leclerc

Chapter 2

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was full of fans ready to watch their favorite drivers compete in one of the last races this season. It was still early, but the grandstands looked mostly occupied. You could see fans of all of the teams, but mostly Red Bull caps were visible. Orange and red peeked through here and there.

Diana slowly walked through the paddock, happy to remain unrecognizable. Or at least recognizable but unbothered. To be fair, she looked like most of the fans with paddock passes. She decided to wear a Ferrari shirt and a cap with Charles' number on it, finishing the outfit with a pair of black jeans and some black sneakers. That's probably why most people didn't pay any attention to her passing by, they were too focused on looking for someone dressed more fancy than she was. Diana made a mental note to remember that dressing like a fan is a great cover-up for races.

On her way to the Ferrari garage, she decided to stop by Alpine and wish Pierre good luck. He qualified 15th due to an electric failure which made him retire the car in Q2 before he set a lap time. She could only imagine how frustrating it was, especially when he was doing so good in the last few races, finishing in the top 5 and even winning one race.

When she got to Alpine's garage, she saw Pierre in the middle of training outside. He was currently jumping rope, but there also were different sized kettlebells lined up next to a wall. Diana decided she's going to wait for him to stop jumping before going up to him. She didn't want to get hit by accident. When he was finished, she called his name from the distance to see if he even wanted to be approached right now.

"Hi Diana! I didn't expect you here, what's up?" Pierre placed a jumping rope on the table and came to hug his friend's girlfriend.

"Hi, am I interrupting your training?" The blonde asked with real concern as the last thing she wanted was to be the reason Pierre's unprepared for the race.

"Oh, no, absolutely" He gave her the biggest reassuring smile and grabbed his water bottle from the table. "This was actually my last exercise. I'm glad it's over if you can't tell" They both laughed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck, I know that qualifying didn't go as planned for you" Diana's voice sounded calm and comforting. Pierre nodded, but didn't stop drinking. "Did your mechanics manage to fix the issue?"

"Thank you Diana" He gave her a side hug. "I think they're finishing as we speak, but we don't really know until I'm on track. I hope it's all good, it would be nice to try to recover some positions and maybe get some points. Not that I'm fighting for anything, but it's fun"

Diana was aware that Max Verstappen has secured his third World Drivers' Championship title few races ago. He was basically unstoppable. This season was essentially 20 men driving in circles and in the end it was Max that was winning. He was on the top of the podium 15 out of total 19 races this season, with one second place and three times he didn't finish. It looked like he was driving a rocketship when the rest of the grid had been given rollerblades.

"Well, I wish you all the best. Drive safe and I hope to see you after" They hugged one more time. Diana guessed it was just something French people had, they were very touchy.

A group of girls asked Diana for a photo in front of Ferrari's garage. As soon as she heard someone speak to her in public, she was on her best behavior. That's why she took all of their caps when they asked if she could give them to Charles to sign as they wait outside.

After looking around for a second  Diana noticed Andrea, Charles' trainer, and decided to ask him about her boyfriend. She was told he's still in his driver's room getting changed into his racing suit. She quickly made her way into the hallway, happy that it's not the first time she's inside and knows where to go. She wanted to give the girls their caps back as soon as possible so they can enjoy the race day.