When all is said and done, it's only history books that remind us of the past. The legends that were true and those that were merely stories. The Legends were no stories and as a new generation of Formula 1 drivers step forward, they are the future...
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The Gasly family were small but they were mighty.
Mai Chen was born in Singapore to a family who believed in success but still made sure their children were well-loved. Mai moved to Italy at a young age to study music and had stayed there ever since.
She still had her career now, as a well-known pianist and university guest lecturer in Milan. She'd lost some of her shyness that she'd hosted in her twenties but her nerves still made an appearance every now and again.
Her brother had been there as much as he could but he had his own family. Huan and Mai Chen made sure to keep in contact
The Singaporean had been born with heart problems and she'd had a service dog for most of her life. Popcorn, a golden retriever, had been with her for seventeen years and it devastated Mai when he passed. A few months after, she had no choice but to get another service dog to monitor her and a biscuit came into her life. Biscuit wasn't the only one who looked out for Mai.
Pierre Gasly had never met someone as stubborn as Mai Chen, a young woman who had been convinced love was a con and didn't exist at all. Pierre had set out in showing her that love wasn't like the movies made out but it was something real and something to be cherished. If it weren't for Mai Chen fainting on the street, he never would have met her.
Pierre had to adapt to a new life like Mai had. Pierre easily got use to the dog that trailed after its owner and the fact going places wasn't as easy as jumping in the car and driving. Mai learnt that having Pierre travelling around the world and not with her was difficult but it was his career. They made it work with little arguments.
Kaelynn Gasly was born on the 25th of January 2025. She was a careful plan, as odd as they may have seemed, due to Mai's medical condition. Mai didn't know she'd wanted or could have children but when she decided she wanted to, she wanted everything to be right. Pierre had just wanted her to be safe and when he looked into her pleading eyes, he knew he had to help.
Pierre didn't know he could have loved anyone more than Mai until he looked down at a little baby girl. In his eyes, his wife and daughter were perfect and no one could convince him otherwise.
Mai hadn't been well with the pregnancy and she was told it wasn't safe to have anymore. It broke her and Pierre's hearts but they were thankful for their daughter and the little girl suddenly became even more precious than she already was. A girl with a French father and a Singaporean mother but was born and raised in Italy.
He'd tried everything to stop Kaelynn from wanting to kart in fear she'd get hurt. After a while, he gave up disagreeing and put his time into making sure she had the best shot she could have. Now, with his daughter in Formula 1, he just had to worry about his wife not having an anxiety attack whenever she watched her daughter race.
"I'm so excited!" Kaelynn exclaimed as she took her clothes out her suitcase.
"I can see that," Mai chuckled, kissing her daughter on the cheek.
"Renée and I are going to make such great teammates," Kaelynn determined. "Don't you think?"
"I hope you do, just make sure you talk any disagreements out. It'll help, okay? Never go home angry," Pierre explained. "I'd hate you to fall out."
"We won't," Kaelynn sang. "I just don't want to mess this up."
"Don't think like that, don't be negative," said Mai softly. "Your father used to do that when no one else was around and it never helped."
"I'm trying not to be, mum."
"Don't let Aari bully you either," Pierre spoke up, not having a clue what his wife or daughter were saying. "He can be pushy so don't let him tell you that you did something wrong if you haven't."
"Okay," Kaelynn nodded, rubbing her arm. "I was excited. Now I'm nervous."
"That's your fault," Mai commented, glaring at Pierre. "Why'd you bring up Aari?"
Aari Verstappen and Kaelynn Gasly had never gotten along. They didn't dislike each other but Aari had always been tall and well build, which could be intimidating for someone as small and shy as Kaelynn was. Renée was tall, as was Lily, so neither of them had as much of a problem. Kaelynn wasn't good at standing up for herself so Aari and her clashed accidentally.
"Sorry," Pierre frowned. "You'll be fine, Kae."
"I know," Kaelynn tried to tell herself. "Oh no, it's six. I only have an hour to get ready, I have to go!"
Scrambling to grab everything that belonged to her, she headed back to her own room.
Mai couldn't help but frown as she watched the nerves get to her daughter. They'd only arrived in Bahrain that morning and with testing still to go, she didn't want Kaelynn to feel the pressure to early. She'd been racing all her life and she knew what she was doing...the anxiety could just be too much at times.
As a child, she always needed reassurance to do anything and when someone complained about her or tried to put her off, Kaelynn would falter. Pierre tried to instil resilience into her by teaching her to never let anyone's comments bother her. It worked in regards to comments from others but it never stopped the comments she made to herself.
"I didn't mean to make her nervous," Pierre apologised. "I'm just nervous for her."
"That's okay, Pierre," Mai assured, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him. "That's my genes. My fault."
"No, you're perfect," Pierre insisted, kissing the top of her head.
"Nobody is perfect."
"You are."
No matter how many years they'd been together, Pierre had never treated Mai any less than perfect. He tried his best to never upset her and whenever they got into arguments, as all couples did, they made sure to talk it out before they went to bed. Mai was someone who didn't like to argue so it wasn't hard to fix it when they did.
The only thing they could never agree on was who's home country was better.
Even so, what they had never faded and their daughter had nothing but love in her life. Nothing was going to change anytime soon and the Gasly's just hoped they survived the world of Formula 1 once again.
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