sins & safety cars - m.v

chapter one - 'you shouldn't smoke, you know'

P6. Fuck.

I really didn't know what my problem was. We'd spoken before qualifying about our pace, and Seb seemed to be doing fine. He was on pole, and I was P6. Honestly, what the fuck.

"We need to do press" Antonio told me, placing his hand on my shoulder, "Come on, what's with you this weekend?"

I lifted my self out of the car and took off my helmet and balaclava, leaving it balanced over the 99 painted on my Ferrari.

"I have no idea" I responded, begining the walk to the paddock with Antonio, my race engineer.

"Mauritzio isn't that bothered about it. I think everyone's a bit more focused on Sebastian at the moment, but on a personal level you really need to get this sorted. You're not that far ahead of Ricciardo on points and-"

"Yeah, I know all this. Monaco just doesn't suit me"

"You have to make it suit you babe" he advised, dodging Williams engineers and Sauber reserve drivers. Qualifying had finished about 15 minutes ago, so the paddock was in full swing.

"Yeah I know. Mercedes aren't that good on this circuit so I don't think it'll be that much of a problem in the actual race"

"That's not the problem we're worried about. The Red Bulls are insane on this track. So in theory, you could quite easily get past Hamilton and Bottas to take P2, but you've got Verstappen and Ricciardo in front of you. That's the issue"

"I know. I'll do my best but there's nothing I can do about it now"

Antonio meant well. I know he did. He always does. Ferrari's probably the most matcho team on the grid, so being the only girl in F1 and choosing to drive for them probably wasn't the best idea. I'm good though. I can do it, I just need a chance, and I think Antonio sees that.

I think they all see it, to be honest. The problem is that they're all so wrapped up in what Vettel's doing that they haven't even thought to give me a chance. So I just do what I'm told, bring in the points, and then leave them alone to talk championship with Seb. Wonderful.

"Alessia, not your best qualifying this year, and you seemed to be off the pace compared to your teammate. Is there a reason for this, and what can you do in the race to move back up the field?" Natalie asks. She works for Sky Sports, and she's one of the only press people that I like. Under any other circumstances, I would hardly listen to the question, give some generic answer about motivation and 'pushing hard', and move on to the next pointless question, but I feel like I owe it to Natalie to give her something to work with.

"Yeah, I think it's just Monaco really. The circuit doesn't suit my driving style, which is to go quite wide around corners. There isn't really any room for mistakes so I tend to end up going a bit slower around corners to make sure I don't hit the wall. I think that's it really. The car's good, which Vettel obviously showed, so I think the solution is to hope for a safety car" I laugh, "To be honest, a collision in front of me would be good so I've got a bit of clear track to pick up the pace, but we'll see. I feel quite confident and I'm excited to see what I can do with 6th"

Following about 7 more near-identical questions, I'm done with press. I head to the entrance of the circuit and jump into one of the cars, ready to lie in bed, order a Chinese and talk to absolutely no one for the rest of the day. As a shuffle to the furthest seat, a hand grabs the door as it's about to close.

"Hey, are you staying at the Waldorf?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can I jump in here? Everyone's leaving now and the driver to taxi ratio doesn't look good"