La Novellina: beyond the helmet

Kart - chapter 1: Spark

"Be careful honey, I love you!"

Micky is getting into her kart as she is saying goodbye to her mom: she is about to race in the most important race of her career in the world of karting!

She is already 15 years old... It's time to enter in Formula 4!

The talent is there, maybe even too much given that several teams discuss with her manager (her father) to have her in their team.

It's no longer enough for her to have been a student of Dino Chiesa and have come first in the Italian and European karts championships, today she has to give everything to finally convince someone to have faith in her.

Entering the track, together with her mechanics, she can already see some representatives from F1, F2, F3 and F4 teams watching the race and a shiver of anxiety runs down her spine.

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"Drivers... Start! Your! Engines!"

The green flag finally waves and the race is on!

Micky gets a perfect start, which doesn't ruin the wonderful pole position earned in qualifying: luckily she is able to keep her anxiety at bay, her attention is all on the track and on trying to do the fastest lap as well as the podium.

She feels the adrenaline pumping in her body.

She can see Jarret, her rival, behind her, right on her tail: he's attempting many times to pass her and get in front of her, but she keeps him behind effortlessly.

-

The checkered flag is waving and the race is over, it's time to see the final result!

Micky gets off the kart almost trembling, since she and her rival had a hard-fought race and crossed the finish line almost at the same time, but hot tears of happiness start to roll down her eyes seeing her father running towards her and hugging her.

"You arrived first, again! You really are my champion! Who knows how many teams will now fight to have you" he shouts.

As soon as he finished that phrase, she sees that some of the representatives are approaching her and her father, clapping for the performance.

"That was an excellent performance, I must say. You have a very distinct and impressive driving style!" a team member says, clapping as he spoke.

After taking off the helmet to be able to communicate more easily, her eyes almost wide seeing that the person who was complimenting her wasn't just any team member but he is Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Formula 1 team principal!

"Thank you so much, I'm happy to hear that!" says her father, always taking credit for her achievements.

Toto looks at the man quite puzzled but immediately after, seeing that the girl is nervous about that situation, he lightly caresses her cheek, with a knowing look; then he turns his back to her and leaves.

"She's not strong enough yet, or maybe she's too strong... She reminds me a lot of Max, she's dangerous! I can't afford to have a Mad Max 2.0, but especially a Jos 2.0..." he thoughts.

But she sees it! A spark in the team principal gaze...

She senses that, perhaps, the fateful moment has come.

"I think Dino Chiesa taught me everything he could teach me" she screams toward his direction.

Toto stops, still remaining with his back turned, and she continues, with a fire burning in her eyes that shows all the passion and strength that she possesses.

"Is there a place in the Mercedes Junior Team?"

The team principal doesn't even have time to answer that her father violently grabs her arm and takes her by force to the garage of the kart team, leaving the Toto in a dilemma: he wants her, but is he willing to also accept the cumbersome presence of her father?