Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 29~

I begin to decelerate the car onto the side of the track, as it is too dangerous to drive it back to the pits, as the car is so unbalanced and I could spin off track and cause a collision. When the car comes to a stop I take out the steering wheel and put it on the nose of the car and do the same with my gloves as I pull myself up and out of the car. My head drops when I see the fans in the stand in front of me, I shake my head and jump out of the car. My feet hit the gravel and I feel the disappointment more, kicking the gravel I take off my helmet and balaclava.

At this point the marshals are taking me off the track and I walk back to the paddock. I hear the ferrari fans and I feel as if I can hear their disappointment too, only making me feel worse. I walk over to Albert, where Fred is too, as well as Viola, all wired up with headphones and microphones. I put on a set of headphones and sit next to Albert.

"There's nothing you could've done, Maeve, you tried your best." Albert places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"I should've listened to you." I reply, not looking him in the eye.

"You were clearly ahead, it wasn't the fighting between Max and Lewis that destroyed your rear wing, you took a risk and it worked, against my word or not, it worked." Albert states, making me feel a bit better. Now looking at him, giving each other a warm smile.

"Charles, box box, for medium tyres." Albert says over the radio.

"How's Maeve, is she alright? What even happened?" I hear Charles over the radio with the headset on.

"Speak to her yourself." Albert says to him over the radio looking at me.

"Max went into the back of my car, completely destroyed the rear wing, which gave me balance issues." I explain to Charles over the radio pressing the button so that he could hear me.

"It's weird hearing you on the radio, glad your alright, does Max have a penalty yet? If not I'll give him one." Charles says over the radio sounding angry, I don't know if that is directed at me or Albert, but I look over at him signalling that he should respond.

"Charles, don't do anything stupid, your P3 right now and that's a podium, the FIA are discussing the penalty, as he clearly went straight into the back of Maeve's car, I don't think he'll be let off." Albert explains to him over the radio.

"I never do anything stupid in a car that goes over 300km/h." Charles claims over the radio making myself and Albert laugh while Fred just rolls his eyes, making sure Charles doesn't hear us.

"Just listen to Albert, Charles." Fred confirms over the radio, sounding relatively serious.

Charles doesn't respond but he stays a safe distance from the two cars ahead of him, avoiding traffic. Suddenly the two cars are wheel-to-wheel and Charles speeds up a little more, getting closer to the two really close drivers competing for first place. We also get notified that Max is serving a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision, and it will be served the next lap.

"Charles, leave a gap, Max has a penalty to serve next lap." Albert says over the radio to get him to lay off the two battling drivers, Max still in the lead, Hamilton just behind.

"How long is the penalty?" Charles asks over the radio.

"5 seconds, you don't need to push." Albert reassures him over the radio.

Charles doesn't slow down but keeps a safe distance between the drivers.

"You do realise you are asking a driver to slow down?" Charles jokes over the radio.

"Yes, yes I know, but we'd rather have one car score points than none." Albert says over the radio.

Max pulls into the pitlane to serve his penalty, being overtaken by Lewis, Charles and a few others, leaving him in 7th place. As Max pulls out the pitlane he gets stuck in a lot of traffic which causes him to lose another position, leaving him in 8th place. Charles catches up to Lewis quickly and is within close distance to overtake him down the straight. As Charles overtakes Hamilton down the straight, the whole garage roars with joy and Albert and Fred stand up and hug each other patting each others backs. With only one lap to go, Charles just ahead of Hamilton, the ferrari team all head out of the garage ready to cheer Charles on for the win while he crosses the checkered flag.