The price to pay

I - The beginning

~Asher pov~

Today I'm going to the Redbull headquarters in Austria. I'm meeting with the team for the first time because of an important pre-season meeting. I'm a bit nervous honestly. Zak wasn't able to come with me because McLaren also has a meeting later in the day and also because he is the CEO of the rivalry team. I will also be meeting my teammate for the first time, Luca Francesco Lucchese, he drove for Redbull last year as well, finished 5th in the championship, that's amazing for a rookie season. Especially if your teammate is Max Verstappen.

I scanned my team ID as I entered the building to clock in. Wow, so many trophies. I stepped up to the front desk and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Asher Alexandrovich, I'm here for the pre-season meeting, but I'm not sure where to go." I said politely to the lady sitting in front of me. "Oh hello, don't worry about it, I can show you to the meeting room." She replied as she stood up and signaled me to follow her, which I did.

I followed her trough a very long hallway with a ton of meeting rooms that were separated from the hallway by a glass wall. We came to a stop in front of one of them and I could see the team principal and a few other people already inside.

"Here you go, have a nice day." Said the nice lady and I thanked her for her kindness. I took a deep breath and got inside.

"Oh hello, you must be Asher, it's nice to meet you." Christian immediately came up to me to shake my hand. "Likewise." "I thought you'd bring your manager with you. Take a seat here." He said pointing to a free chair right next to him I'm assuming.

"He isn't available today. And even if he was, I don't believe it would be ethical." I said as I took a seat where he told me to. He sat down at the end of the table right next to me. "Why not?" "Because he's Zak Brown, so I believe it would even be against the rules to bring him here." I answered honestly.

"Oh, I thought he just helped you get into F1, I didn't know he was your manager, that's interesting. Then you are completely right not to bring him." Christian said laughing a bit. I wanted to add something, but before I could I heard the door open and quite a few people walked in.

"Great, everybody takes a seat and we can start now." Christian said as he stood up and walked towards the white wall with a projected image of a PowerPoint presentation. A man in his early 20s took a seat opposite of me, I'm guessing this is Luca. Next to him was sat a man in his late thirties, probably his manager, while the seat next to me was empty.

"As you all know we welcome a new driver with us this year." He said smiling at me. "I welcome you into the team and I hope we will have some great memories. Asher is replacing Max who just retired after winning the neat 8 championships with us. I hope he has a great retirement. But back to our newcomer, Asher will be the youngest ever driver to race in Formula 1 which is a huge achievement. I hope it won't harm you for skipping Formula 3 and 2, but I believe you have an outstanding career ahead of you." I returned a smile back to Christian, also I could see Luca raise an eyebrow when Christian said I skipped F3 and F2.

"So with that being said, we will be revealing our car tomorrow for the public which you have probably seen already. We believe we have constructed an amazing car even with new regulations. So Patrick please come tell us more about the car."

We were explained what was new on the car and how differently it operates to the old ones and so on. The head engineer, Patrick, seemed quite nice.

After that Christian told us a few more encouraging words and the meeting ended after almost 2 hours. "Asher, Freddie, can you two stay a bit longer?" I nodded and so did Freddie, I'm guessing my race engineer. Everybody left the room except us three.

"So Freddie will be your race engineer Asher, I'm sure that you two will work together well." Christian said as me and Freddie shook hands. "I just have a favor to ask, I prefer being called Ash instead of Asher, so I would appreciate if you could call me that." I quickly said before Christian continued. "Yes of course. You could've told me earlier" He laughed a bit.

"Okay thank you, both of you, I just wanted to introduce you two. You are staying in the nearby hotel right?" I nodded in response. "Okay great. Tomorrow we reveal our car at 15:00, try getting here about 30 minutes earlier if you can. And in 2 weeks time it's pre-season testing in Bahrain, I advise arriving 2 days early. I will email you the hotel information later this week, alright?" "Yeah that's fine."

"Thank you for your time, have a great day." We shook hands again. I said good-bye and made my way out of the meeting room. The meeting went pretty well so I was nervous for nothing like usual. I thanked the nice front desk lady again and made my way out of the headquarters.

I had a 15 minute walk back to my hotel so I started walking in that direction. "Do you need a lift?" I heard a thick Italian accent in the voice of the person who asked. I turned around to see Luca standing there, waving the keys of his Lamborghini. "No thanks, it's a short walk." "Okay, just remember I offered." He said smiling as he turned around and walked away.

I continued my way towards the hotel. I put on my headphones and turned on some music, just a random playlist. F1 took a lot of rookies this year, because a lot of drivers retired in 2029. One of the rookies will be Antonie. He signed with Ferrari last year while still in F2. He became a F2 champion last year as well, that's why they wanted him in Formula 1, it was also Charles Leclerc who recommended him as his own replacement.

I don't want to face him again, but I know I would have to sooner or later. I miss how close we were. But our friendship is completely gone now and there's nothing I can do about it. We had so many great memories, traveling around Europe and then the World, but Formula 4 changed everything. I don't know what's gotten into his head.

I arrived back at the hotel in 20 minutes, because I walked a little slower. I really wasn't feeling like taking the stairs so I just walked to the elevator. I will go to the gym later anyway. But first I need to eat something. I will probably just order some room service, because I don't feel like going to the dining room.

The elevator was quite crowded which was not to my liking, but I just had to suck it up. I was at the highest floor so a lot of people exited before me which gave me some breathing room. I really don't like being squished between that many people.

As I arrived at the door of my hotel room I swipped my card and entered. I immediately walked to the bed and threw myself on it. Honestly I was exhausted. I haven't slept properly in weeks.

I picked up the phone and ordered some food. It arrived rather quickly and I also ate it quickly. Then I changed into some sporty clothes. I really wasn't up for it, but I had to do my routine.

I took my water bottle, towel, phone and headphones and then left my room. I headead towards the hotel gym and to my luck it was pretty empty.

I did some weight lifting, some legs workout and a few situps as well as push ups. Honestly I didn't know what to listen to so I just put on a random pov playlist and went with it.

Suddenly a song came up. A song that reminded me of him. It was our favorite song to listen to together. Riptide. A song carrying most beautiful but also most painful ones. We listened to this song so much that it is imprinted in my mind. I loved that part of my childhood.

I smiled a little and skipped the song. I got up from the mat where I was doing my sit ups and wiped my face with my towel. I took the rest of my stuff and made my way out of the gym, back to my room. I actually met Luca as I was leaving the gym. We greeted each other and continued our separate ways.

When I got back to my room I imediately took a shower. As I got out of the bathroom I laid down on the bed and took my laptop. I put on the series I was currently watching. I also took my phone and did a few laps around Bahrain just to get a better grip of the circuit.

It's a circuit I quite like actually and I'm happy it's the first race of the season. But for my favorite race I will have to wait until October. It's also a silly season to join Formula 1. Quite a few drivers retired or went into a different racing category at the end of last season and it is also the longest season in the history of Formula 1.

I did 86 laps and decided to go to sleep. I turned off my laptop and the light. Then I set my 5 alarms for tomorrow and set my phone on the bedside table.

Honestly I'm really excited for tomorrow and I don't even know why. We are just showing the car that is probably the same as the last 15 years with maybe a few sponsor changes. But it doesn't really matter, I'm just happy I'm in F1 now.

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Word count: 1724

07/22/24