TURN OF FATE, cl16

55.

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE.
SAUDI ARABIA.

The sun had set over Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the floodlights illuminating the track as the second practice session got underway. The high-speed street circuit looked even more intimidating under the light sky, but Charles barely noticed.

FP1 had been about making a statement. FP2? This was where the mind games began.

From the moment he rolled out of the garage, something felt different.

His out-lap was clean, but as soon as he started pushing, the radio crackled in.

"Charles, we need to abort the lap. Engine temps are running higher than expected."

He frowned. "Higher than expected? We didn't have this issue in FP1."

A pause. Then, "Yeah... we'll check it when you box."

Charles exhaled sharply. Something wasn't right.

When he returned to the pits, the mechanics were already swarming his car. He watched as they huddled around the date screens, whispering among themselves. No one was looking at him.

And then he saw it— Carlos Sainz's car was already back on track, running uninterrupted.

Dariyah, watching from the paddock, felt a chill run through her. The way Ferrari moved, the slight hesitation, the subtle shifts in priority... it wasn't obvious to the camera, but she could see it clearly.

They were already treating Charles like he wasn't their future. Because he wasn't.

After what felt like forever, the radio came through.

"Charles, you're good to go. But let's focus on long runs for now."

He knee what that meant. They didn't want him chasing lap times. No more fighting for P1 like in FP1z Just data collection— the job of a driver they no longer needed to impress.

Charles gritted his teeth.

"Understood."

But as he pulled out onto the track, he made a silent promise to himself— they could try to hold him back, but they wouldn't silence him.

His long-run pace was strong, but he could feel it— small hesitations in strategy calls, a lack of urgency in the radio updates. He wasn't being frozen out completely, but the shift was undeniable.

Still, he kept pushing.

On his final run, he was supposed to lift slightly into Turn 22, but instead, he kept his foot planted, sending the car flying through the high-speed section.

The result? A blistering sector time— faster than Sainz, faster than Verstappen.

"Charles, that was a bit aggressive."

"Noted," he replied, unfazed.

The session ended with him in P3, but the headlines had already started writing themselves.

"Ferrari Slowing Leclerc Down?"

"Signs Of a Shift: Is Ferrari Already Prioritizing Sainz?"