ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ - ꜰᴏʀᴍᴜʟᴀ ᴏɴᴇ
Harley is an upcoming talent in the sport, but her opportunities for a better seat seem to vanish in front of her eyes despite winning the Formula Two championship for the second time in a row. Her gender seems to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ALBERT PARK STREET CIRCUIT, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
The first race of the season was something everyone looked forward to. The fans buzzing with excitement and the teams ready to unleash their proudest possessions on the track.
The new regulations had everyone at the edge of their seat, the media all dying to answer the one question everyone was interested in: Who would come out on top this season?
Most people's bets were on Mercedes, they were good at engineering and they had been concurring the championship for way too long now. Others were on Red Bull Racing, having good drivers on their side that were most definitely world champion material, and with the cars more prone to close racing the drivers were simply getting more important this season.
Only a few people would place their bets on the Italian team. The car being less than impressive the past couple of years, not even starting about their questionable strategies, and their sudden decision to sign a rookie was not very reassuring either.
Harley Davis, the big question mark on the grid this season. The youngest ever Ferrari driver and their first debutant since 1972. It was most definitely an out of character decision for the Italian team, but with Sebastian Vettel's sudden retirement and neither of the Alfa drivers considered good enough, the team had no other choice to sign the teen.
The girl had won the Formula Two championship twice- in a row. A perfect candidate for a Formula One seat, yet no other team showed even the slightest of interest in the reigning champion and she was once again, just like the year before, left without a seat in the top.
Harley was used to it by now. It had happened ever since she started karting. She was the last choice, always had been and she had learned to live with it.
The girl used to be on the side of the circuit watching while the other kids - read boys- raced together, completely missing the apex every lap and if Harley had finally convinced the track owner to let her drive or saved enough money to bribe him she'd always get the shitiest kart there was.
She was the young woman who was leading the championship watching all the other young adults- read men- below her climb up the order.
Nothing's changed.
Ferrari would not even have considered her if they had not been so desperate, yet Harley could not find it in herself to complain, at least she was finally climbing up the order with them.
⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝
The girl quickly walked through the paddock. Her head down low, ignoring all the questions thrown at her. She only had one thing in mind: getting to the garage quickly with as little encounters as possible. She was not a people person.
Her trainer, Mila, was a couple of meters behind struggling to keep up with the teens long legs and getting through the crowd gathering around the newly signed Ferrari driver was close to impossible.
It was to be expected, a week ago she was still without a seat and only now she had been introduced to the world as Vettel's official replacement. So, it was fair to say Harley was not deprived of attention. From journalists trying to get the latest statement to fans dying to get a picture and autograph. Harley had seen it all.
The girl did not want to be rude but being the centre of attention was not really her thing and people were getting seriously on her nerves.
Her quiet "Excuse Me's" were not working anymore and before she knew it an elbow roughly collided with her stomach. The air got knocked out of her lungs and she would have toppled over to the ground if it were not for the steady hand grabbing her arm.
Harley let out a surprised yelp, tucking her arm out of the grip. It was Mila, who had finally caught up with her and she did not look happy at all.
"This is why you don't go running off without me, alright? I know you're not used to this yet, but there are rules for a reason." Mila was quite noticeably frustrated with the girl, but she could not stay mad at her for a long time.
Harley's life had quite literally been flipped upside down. Just a week ago she did not even have a job and now she was the hot topic of the paddock.
"I'm sorry." Harley really was, she did not mean to be rude to her freshly introduced trainer. She did not want to be that person. She couldn't believe she was being that person right now.
Mila just sighed, profusely typing away on her phone. "It's fine, just- do not do that again or I will have to assign you security."
Harley cringed at thought of that. Constantly having someone by her side would be an actual living hell. "It won't happen again, I promise you." And maybe she promised because of the wrong reasons. Because she was selfish and she didn't want to be assigned to a random person babysitting her all day, but at least she promised and that was progress.
