I put my balaclava on and then my helmet before sliding into the car and adjusting myself and clicking the steering wheel on. I wire the radio into my ears to make sure i can hear Albert throughout the race.
"Radio check." Albert says over the radio.
"Hey Albert." I respond back, being able to hear him.
"Good luck today, Maeve, I'm sure you'll do great." Albert says over the radio.
"Thank you, I'll try my best." I respond back, trying not to sound cocky.
The time I spend in the car waiting for the lights to appear above me feels like an eternity, the mechanics still beside me, waiting to take the covers off of the wheels and the special countdown as to when they could leave.
"Thirty seconds Maeve, thirty seconds." I hear Albert over the radio.
The wheel covers come off and the mechanics get to the pitlanes and the garages waiting patiently for the lights. It's just me and the car, me the car and the track. The surrounding sounds of birds and the roaring of fans shuts off, all I can hear is my breathing, the adjustment of my hands gripping the wheel and my feet shuffling around without hitting the pedals. I close my eyes slowly and open them back up and notice the lights have appeared. Slowly one by one the lights appear and the last one appears.
The lights go out.
I immediately hit my foot on the accelerator to gain speed and possibly a place too. My reaction time is impeccable and I manage to gain P3 on the first corner, Charles also gaining a position behind me, P4. This leaves George in P5. Max and Lewis battle for P1 ahead of myself and Charles, who are battling for P3, but also trying not to kill each other as we are racing for the same team and we don't want to crash out.
"Careful of Charles, he's getting a bit close and wants to fight Verstappen, he might try go past you in the next corner." Albert explains over the radio.
We all want to fight for P1, whether that's with Verstappen or not, I don't see why I should be weary of him or let him through so that he can fight for that position.
"If he wants to get past me, he's gonna have to try harder than that, he's just like every other driver on this grid, just in the same colours." I respond in a stern tone to Albert, trying to fend Charles off.
"Copy, copy." Albert says nervously over the radio.
Charles continues to try and get past me the next few corners but I manage to steal the inside line from him each time and accelerate quicker than him on the straights of the Australian track, making me pull away from him slightly. I manage to keep him at a distance where he can't use DRS on me by lap 3 so that he can't get past me on the straights for free. With the DRS then going to my car I manage to get closer to Hamilton and pull away from Charles who is racing pretty aggressively trying to get that P3.
I catch up to the Hamilton and Verstappen fight and find myself just a second or so behind them, slowly catching up in the corners.
"This is a dangerous fight, we'd rather you not get involved, and Charles is angry that you didn't let him through." Albert explains over the radio and I scoff under my helmet.
"Tell him to grow a pair. And why would you let him fight these two and not me? You said I could let him pass to fight these two." I query him and the strategy, making me wonder how much ferrari actually value me. Obviously they'd prefer their golden boy over a rookie who's only here for Carlos' injury such as myself.
"Maeve, keep a distance until it's clear." Albert tries to instruct me but I ignore him.
"Maeve!" Albert repeats my name as I cut another inside line of a corner making me at DRS distance with the two battling drivers.
I release a breath I don't realise I'm holding when I realise I'm in the middle of the two around the corner before the straight, none of us have DRS so none of us can pull in front of the other, and no one is braking either. Everything goes in slow motion and time basically stops when I make the decision to activate my DRS and I manage to push the accelerator down as well, this makes me push in front of the two, which we are all on soft tyres, making this more difficult, as no one is slower than the other.
Max and Lewis are left beside each other while I pull through the middle and quickly get the inside line for the corner after the straight. I hit the accelerator perfectly in the corner which only pushes me further in front of the two, and I can hear my heartbeat in my chest, my whole body throbs at the adrenaline that I'd just experienced.
"Well done Maeve, but seriously, we need to focus now. Don't do that again." Albert says over the radio and I sigh, a sigh of relief and pride for how Albert is telling me not to do that again, but I definitely will if I have to.
After a couple of laps, Max catches up and I notice Lewis is a bit further behind him, I decide to push for the next few laps and manage to get a bit further ahead, or so I thought, Max is in DRS distance so he gets a bit of extra speed down the straight and manages to get closer to me and I block him off from the inside line and take it, before he does. The two cars of mine and Max's are very close, he pulls out to the outside, only a tiny bit of his car is next to the back of mine, and I try to remember the track and I realise that I have the inside line for the next corner as well, Max then tucks his car behind mine, as if I'm going much slower than him.
I then feel a slight push on the back of my car and I jolt forward on the accelerator, only making me go faster, not realising that I'm approaching a corner, I quickly put the brakes on, although a little too quickly. The car suddenly stops, locking up in the middle of the corner, I quickly accelerate again, to try and gain the speed I had, but it's hopeless, Max is past and Lewis is trying to gain a position too, Charles just behind Lewis.
"Any damage?" I ask Albert.
"Unfortunately, Maeve, you have rear wing damage, we are deciding if we should retire the car. Max pushed you pretty hard, and yes he's getting a penalty, the FIA are discussing it as I speak to you." Albert explains over the radio and my heart drops.
Having to retire the car is the worst thing I want. Hearing this only makes me push the car more, although damaged it can't be that much slower. I quickly notice going around the next corner that the car is extremely unbalanced at the back of the car, and I can feel the disappointment and anger in my body, I want to beat Max, to get past him. But deep down I know, this car is really damaged and I can't finish the race if the car is this unbalanced. The car continues to stay really unbalanced at the back and I have Lewis overtake me and Charles gain speed behind me, I practically tow him for an entire lap. My heart throbs for the disappointment in my body, I don't want to retire the car. Should I have just let Max past in the first place? He wouldn't have pushed me otherwise. Thoughts on how I could've done better race in my head.
"Unfortunately Maeve, you put up a good fight, but we have to retire the car." The last three words ring in my head.
YOU ARE READING
Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc
RomanceMaeve Walker is a talented f2 driver who has the dream of being champion of the world in her favourite f1 team, ferrari. Her teammate however is proving to make her dreams a little difficult, what started a friendship, may end up going downhill, can...
