Being Esteban Ocon's press officer and personnal assistant, that was the dream job. When the dream becomes reality, Charlie discovers a whole new world, new friends and new challenges.
Based on the 2018 season.
Esteban Ocon fanfiction, featuring Pi...
When I came in Monaco, Esteban and I spent some quality time together. I did the best I could to prevent him from thinking about racing and worrying too much. Before flying to Spa, Charles, Dorian, Pierre and Caterina spent the night at Esteban's apartment. No one dared to speak about the Force India situation, like it was a taboo subject, but it definitely felt good to have a simple night, just like before.
"How is Esteban doing?" Caterina asked me on the balcony while the guys were preparing some cocktails.
"Not good, you can imagine. He acts like he doesn't care but it's obvious he does."
"At least he has you. It looks like you have solved your problem of being too intimate with him."
"Let's just say that I don't think about this anymore. We act professional when necessary, and if we don't, I don't care. I'm tired of fighting my feelings, you know. I'm drown to him in an inexplicable way. I thought some time apart would do us good, but it was pure torture and we actually texted every day. With Esteban's future being unclear, it feels like we need to enjoy each moment we have together."
In the same time, Pierre was offered Daniel Ricciardo's seat at Red Bull next season, which is a really good thing for him, but we all know it comes at a bad time because of Esteban's situation. Dorian also got good news during holidays, his team giving him a seat in Formula 2 for the rest of the season. Esteban is not egoistic, so of course he's happy for his friends, but it's tough seeing your friends succeed when your losing your job and can't do anything about it. Except racing.
And hopefully, Esteban is really good at that. In Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, for the first race after the summer break, he did quite well in FP1, FP2 and FP3, and we have good hopes for qualifying. Being here in Spa is full of memories for me, as it's the first ever GP I've been to and it's where I realized I wanted to work in the motorsport world. Of course, all the journalists are asking about is where Esteban will be next year. Not the best preparation for a race when you keep being reminded that your seat has been stolen.
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Esteban does well in Q1, qualifies for Q2 and then Q3 when the rain starts pouring over the track. Force India still sends both her cars without intermediate or wet tyres on a fast lap. And it's a huge mistake. The track offers no adherence and the tyres are slipping on the wet track. Esteban almost runs into the wall in the Raidillon, my hands covering my mouth to prevent a cry from coming out. My eyes catch Dan's who nods at me, a way to tell me not to worry and that Esteban got this. Still, my heart only starts beating again when his car comes into the garage and the mechanics change his tyres.
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The minutes are flying. Lewis Hamilton scores an incredible timing and there is Esteban, improving his own time and even Hamilton's. He's a bit slower in the last sector, but my eyes widen in surprise when I see his timing and his position on the grid for tomorrow's race. P3. He's fucking P3!!!
The whole garage jumps and shouts and hugs each other. We've had some tough times, but we didn't surrender, and today's result shows everyone that Force India is not dead yet. Esteban's reaction on the radio is probably the best thing I've heard in a long time. The French driver joins Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, two 4-time world champions, to be interviewed on the track. There's no word to describe how big his smile is, I've never seen him like this.
