the man- f1

eighteen

dieciocho

the man

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australian grand prix

australia was making tali's peace of mind waver. a lot.

p9 in practice 1 which isn't great, p4 in practice 2 which is way better, same thing in practice 3 which gets her hopes up to then qualify p2 for the race.

the problem is that it's sunday, it's lap 14 and the car has no power while she's leading the race.

"no, no, no, no." she began to mutter as she turned on her radio to tell the team. "guys, i have no power. what do i do?!" she began asking as she tried different settings as she started lap 15.

"it's ok tali, just keep trying setting d." marcus said calmly as he checked his own computer for the problem.

"i've tried a, b, c, d, the whole fucking alphabet, marcus. it's not doing shit." she said through the radio as she began lap 16.

"i'm sorry, tali, you'll have to return to the pits. you'll have to retire the car." marcus said with a sad tone.

"damn it." tali cursed. "i'm sorry guys." she shook her head, as it was seen on the onboard camera as she went back to the pit lane where they immediately took her car towards the garage as she pulled the steering wheel out of the car.

"it's not your fault tali." marcus said before she fully undid her seatbelt to get out.

the knot in her throat was hard to keep at bay. she was leading a race for the first time and she looked to have a relatively good gap with max behind her. it would've been tough, but she could've held on easily.

she couldn't go to her trailer and cry because she had interviews, but she couldn't cry in front of everyone because of the comments people would make.

"look at that. it's just hard for the rookie tali rodriguez to get out of what could have been a great race had the mercedes' power unit not given out." said one commentator.

"i can't imagine the disappointment behind that lilac helmet. the number 13 mercedes is officially out of the race." said the other commentator.

"definitely something mercedes definitely feels for. their young talent needs a reliable car to show what she's capable of. the backlash the team has received after hiring a female driver has been tough and so far they have beaten the negative allegations but this only risks the team's liability." said the first one.

"definitely something for mercedes to pay close attention to." said the second.

elias was just glad tali couldn't hear that under the helmet she still refused to take off as she caught her breath.

the mexican-french driver was trying to calm down as she watched the mechanics cover the car for the rest of the race to begin their analysis after the race was over.

tania approached her and before she could ask the teenager anything the girl interrupted her.

"don't." she said as she held her hand to signal her to stop. "don't ask me if i'm okay or i'll cry and i have the media zone to attend to." she said as she took off the balaclava.