Chapter Text
It was saturday which means FP3 and Quali were pending. For Connor and me it was an early start, meeting up at the paddock at 7 o'clock to set up everything for the F3 and F2 drivers and preparing everything for the F1 boys. I was a little tired because of the late night work session with Charles, so I was super happy when Dino Beganovic approached me with a big grin, a cheerful “buongiorno* Alex” (*good morning Alex) and handed me a cup of my beloved Ferrari cappuccino.
“Oh thank you so much Dino, you are an angel. That's exactly what I need right now.”
I took the offered thermo cup with the wonderful smelling drink and gave him a big hug.
The qualifying of F3 went well, same for F2 and the mood was good. Just as Connor and I finished up our round with our “little drivers”, the first F1 drivers started to arrive. Charles was one of them, so we said our temporary goodbyes and went over to the F1 paddock and met up with our drivers.
Charles told me that there will be a meeting before FP3 to discuss the results of our late night data analysis. I checked my schedule, but unfortunately I had a meeting myself, so I couldn't accompany Charles and we parted to go to our meetings.
Shortly before the start of FP3 I made my round through the F1 paddock and checked in with my drivers to confirm they're healthy and can hit the track.
Last one on my round was Charles. I went to his driver's room, knocked on the door and took off my shoes before entering. The second I stepped into the room I felt something was up, there was a black cloud hanging over Charles’ head and Andrea and Joris both looking worried.
I stopped in my tracks. “Uhm, okay, what's going on guys? What happened?”
Charles moaned crestfallen and puffed out some air.
“They didn't even let me finish my presentation of our research. They didn't even want to listen.” He said heavy-hearted and slumped on the massage table.
“Wait, what? What do you mean Charles?”
“I mean what I said. I started to present them the data from the simulation and our research, but they stopped me not even halfway through. Just said, that there is nothing wrong and I must have set up the simulator wrong. Everything is fine with the car and I should better concentrate on my driving. And with that, they were done with me.”
I looked at him completely dumbfounded and blinked a few times before I finally comprehended what he just told me.
“So they chose to ignore you and the problem. Fucking idiots. Is Fred aware of what's going on here? I mean he is not here this weekend, but did someone inform him about the situation?”
Charles just shrugged, so Andrea answered in his place: “We don't think Fred knows what's happening here and even if he knew, I highly doubt that he could do anything about it.”
"So we are on our own. What is the plan? How are we gonna handle this? I'll help you wherever I can.”
“Merci Alex, j'apprécie vraiment.* The plan is to lay low and just try to get through the weekend. Maybe you'll be needed as a backup race engineer again, so it would be great, if you'd be ready, just in case.” Charles said with a completely depressed voice.
(*Thank you Alex, I really appreciate that)
He looked so utterly broken, I really would like to give him a big hug and offer him a better team. But all I could do for now was stand by his side and give him all the support I can offer.
“Okay, understood. You can count on me Charles. Just say the word and I'll be there to help you. But now let's do the checkup, since you're not allowed to go on track without it.”
FP3 was as disastrous as the other practicing sessions. The pitwall-crew ignored Charles and Lewis for most of the time and I had to step up again and play race engineer. Arthur, Joris and Andrea helped me as much as possible, getting the necessary data or analysing it and telling me the results so I could tell Charles and Lewis what to do. I was glad when FP3 was over and I could leave the garage. When I walked down the pitlane a lot of the other teams gave me strange looks, some looked annoyed, some amused and some of them were pitiful. I ignored them as best as possible and did my job as an on grid medic, checking in with my drivers.
I didn’t have much time with the F1 boys, since F3 and F2 were getting ready for their quali and race, so I hurried over to their paddock and finished the last check ups. During their on track activities, I stayed in the PREMA-garage, keeping an eye on the track while getting some paperwork done. After F2 and F3 finished their sessions, two engineers of PREMA approached me, one of them was Dino’s engineer.
“Hey Alex, we heard of the problems with Ferrari and your new role as engineer. You’re doing a good job so far, but we know, it’s not really your field of responsibilities. So if you want, we can offer you our help, explain some stuff to you.” they said with a rueful smile.
“Oh uhm yeah, to be honest, that would be great since I don’t really know much about all of this stuff you guys do. Is there a chance we can meet up and go over some things, maybe tonight?” I asked them with a hopeful face.
“Yeah sure, we’re glad we can help. Text us time and place and we will be there.”
“Thank you so much guys, this really means a lot to me. I’ll text you the details.” I said while packing up my stuff before saying goodbye and going back to the F1 paddock.
Sure, it was stressful with 3 racing classes on the grid and the schedules are always tight, but right now, I was glad all of them were here and even offering me some help. Maybe, just maybe we could get through this weekend without a total fallout.
Next up was the F1 qualifying and it was kind of surprising.
Q1 had the usual suspects on P16-P20. Stroll (no surprise at all), Lawson, Albon, Hülkenberg and Ocon.
Lewis was out in Q2 on P13, but Max was on P14 and out as well. Same goes for Carlos, Gabi Bortoleto and Kimi.
Both McLarens (no surprise) both Alpines, Fernando and Ollie made it to Q3. And Charles also managed to get to Q3. I have no idea how he managed it, but he was always super strong in quali and today was no exception. In the end, he managed to grab P3, even though he really had to fight the car and swore a lot (which no one ever heard because somehow the radio channel was set on private during his swearing session - what a weird coincidence).
After quali all of the drivers went to their media duties. My colleague Connor went to the media pen with the drivers on P20 to P4 , while I went to the media room with the top 3 finishers, which were Lando (P1), Oscar (P2) and Charles (P3). As always, the reporters were like vultures, dissecting every little mistake or difference in driving and one reporter in particular made my blood boil with frustration.
“Question for Charles: during Q3 there were some periods of time where it seemed like your radio wasn’t working or cut off, can you tell us something about it?”
Charles just put on his boyish grin, leaned back a little and answered: “Well, I think that was Alex, cutting off the radio and saving me from punishment for swearing. She’s really doing a good job of protecting her drivers.”
“Follow up question for Charles: over the weekend, we heard your medic very often on the radio, even more than your race engineer. Can you tell us something about it - is she thinking of a change in career and do you think it is wise to have her giving you information?”
That was the point where I really thought about throwing something at the reporter. I was in the perfect position since I was standing in the back of the room and had a free view on the back of his head.
Charles answered the question as charming as ever: “Yeah it’s true that you can hear our medic Alex more often on the radio this weekend. She is helping us out a little, since there are some problems with our radio connections, making the communication between pitwall and drivers more difficult. We are all deeply grateful for her help and she is doing a great job. I can’t tell you anything about her career wishes, better ask her.”
I thought this would shut the reporter up, but no, he really had the audacity to direct the next question to me, completely passing over the questions of the other reporter.
“Okay, so question for the medic: do you think about a change in career - switch from medic to engineer?”
I could see the three drivers looking at me and realizing how pissed I was. Lando started to chuckle and whisper something to Oscar and Charles, making them chuckle too.
The reporters were all turning their heads towards me in the back of the room, where I leaned against a wall with my arms crossed in front of my chest and a cold facial expression.
Keeping my cold expression and my position I answered with a firm and cold voice: “I do not think about a change in career, I’m happy where I am. And by the way, I got a name, which was even mentioned by Charles just a few minutes ago.”
The host finally became aware of the tense mood and stepped it, diplomatically ending the interview and dismissing the drivers. The three came over to me, still giggling a little and together we left the room and returned to our hospitalities or in my case my office.
I texted the guys from PREMA and we agreed to leave together and have dinner at 8 o’clock, giving me about 30 minutes to freshen up and change into my street clothes. When I arrived at the parking lot, the two engineers were already waiting and with them was Dino, who would come with us. We headed to my rental car and the boys climbed in. I was driving, Dino sat behind me and the two engineers sat on the passenger side. I put my stuff in the trunk and took my place behind the steering wheel. Dino’s engineer had chosen the restaurant and would navigate me there, so I started the engine and we drove to a very small but super cozy restaurant a little outside of Monza.
The food was delicious and when we were full and the table was empty again, we dove into some important basics that every race engineer should know. The boys gave me a lot of helpful input and I wrote down as much information as possible. In the end, it was about 11 o'clock when we left the restaurant as the very last guests and drove back to the hotels.
All that hard work and chaos led us to today, Sunday - race day.