matilda | MV01

04 | blinding lights

++++ guess we weren't meant to last

i can't move on from that ++++

IN MY ROOM chance pena

----

"Just don't do what you did last time." The sound of his voice filled her head and Senna let out one last sigh before the formation lap began.

With a world champion starting next to her, and an Aston Martin and a McLaren in front of her, Senna knew this wouldn't be an easy day. But as she drove around the track for the first time, she felt at peace.

Here in the car, she had no one trying to push her. Just her engineer, Winston, trying to help. No Denzel, no Christian, no pressure.

"Radio check." Winston said over the radio and Senna placed a thumb on the radio button.

"Why do we still do this? Of course it works." Senna sassed back and Winston tried his best not to laugh. If he did, he'd probably get in a bit of trouble.

"Noted. I'll ask the FIA after the race." He said sarcastically and Senna laughed. They were all lined up once more on the grid and the radio went silent.

One light. One for Checo, of course. It was his car after all that Senna was in.

Two lights. For Liam, for not being jealous of her getting this seat. He was always understanding, and that's all she could ask for.

Three lights. For Christian, may Senna perform for him.

Four lights. For Denzel; of course he needed his own light. She had to do well for him.

Five lights. Finally, for all of the drivers she was about to upset.

The lights went out and Senna immediately came out on a beautiful start, quickly overtaking Lance. He wasn't too hard to beat anyways.

"Stroll, Norris, and Alonso made impact." Winston said immediately, and she was a bit surprised. Senna was also glad that she had narrowly avoided that by the immediate overtake.

"Copy, keep updates." Senna said as she focused on defending from Nico, who was now directly behind her. The impact had brought her up to a comfortable sixth, but she had to focus on extending that cushion first.

"Norris is out, Alonso is down to eighteenth." When that news came over the radio, Senna was a bit shocked. It had come through about half a lap into the race. She had increased the gap to about a second now.

"Stroll is in the pits- scratch that, he's out." Winston said and Senna fist pumped really quickly. She hadn't really remembered that there was always a camera on her.

"Thanks. Updates on top five?" Senna asked. For the first bits of race, she always started professionally. But then it would fade quickly.

"Verstappen's lead was extended to two seconds. Sainz overtook Ricciardo, wait, no, they're back in starting position, we're looking to push Piastri for fifth." Winston explained and Senna hummed.

"Gap?" She asked him.

".201, plan the overtaking. He's been doing wide on turn eight." Winston explained what he had noticed so far. Senna paid close attention as they approached that turn on the third lap.

"Beautiful. Hey, is Liam still in the garage?" Senna asked. Her thoughts already straying from the race as she cut off Piastri in the inside of the turn.

"Push for Sainz, .873 ahead. But yes, he's listening in. Same as your manager." Winston warned. He knew how Denzel felt about Senna getting distracted so she sighed and pressed the button again.