Are You Fast Enough? (F1:MV)

Chapter 3

Red Bull Ring, Spielberg. The track where the Austrian GP was held. This was a gentle track. There were few corners, and the turns were wide. Unfortunately, none of this helped Max.

It was Saturday morning, and Max was driving around in FP3. He was nervous; although he had driven on this track before, it was very different in an F1 car. He was off the pace in all three sectors. Max sped along the straights nicely, but when it came to one of the few corners of the circuit, he struggled and ended up turning on the the outside, adding seconds to his time. At the end of free practise, Max finished in P12. Carlos was in P10.

Max was sitting in the garage after practise, his arms crossed, his head down. The engineers were packing up around him, ready to head off for their lunch break. Carlos sat down next to him.

'P12 isn't that bad, Max.' He murmured, but Max shook his head.

'I was expecting better. I thought I knew this track inside out.'

'It's your first go in an F1 car. And don't worry, you'll do much better in qualifying this afternoon.'

'Will I?'

'Of course. I'm sure of it. Just don't stress, you'll do great.' Carlos gently patted Max on the back. Max smiled.

'Thanks Carlitos.'

'No problem, my friend. I'm going out for lunch with the Dans, you wanna come along?'

'No, I've packed food and I want to stay here, to get in the mindset for later.'

'Alright, see you then.' Carlos waved before he left. As soon as Carlos was out of sight, Max pulled out his phone and texted Cara.

Meet me outside the garage. No one's here, they've all gone out for lunch.

After a few moments, he received a reply.

Great, on my way now xx

Max gulped. Kisses? Was that normal or was she hitting on him? Was he supposed to add kisses? Was she patronising him for not adding them? Max's slight paranoia was circling through his mind, when suddenly he jumped, as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to find Cara's face smiling at him.

'You look like you've seen a ghost,' she teased.

'You nearly gave me a heart attack. I told you to wait outside...'

'Relax, no one saw me.'

'Okay.' Max sighed as he got up and stared down at his car.

'What's wrong?'

'Did you see the practise?'

'Yeah, I was in the stands, cheering you on...'

'Well, it fucking sucked. P12! I don't even know what I'm doing wrong.' Max groaned. Cara got up and wrapped her arm around his neck. Max tensed up as he felt her hot breath blowing down his back.

'From what I've seen, it's those pesky corners. That's where you're slipping.' She whispered. Max looked at his reflection in the car's body.

'But I don't know what happened! I should know this track, but my corner times are too slow. This track has few turns, why am I struggling?'

'You're underestimating them,' Cara replied. 'The corners seem easy, but they're still there. You forget that, this track in your mind is easy. And so when you make the turn, it's too late.'

'So...what do I do?' Max asked, looking in Cara's eyes. She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering, making Max's throat go dry.

'Well, you could just focus more, try and turn as soon as you see the corners.'