Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Alex, you’re not allowed to touch the car, step back from it.”

Are they really going to sacrifice him!?

[....]

“Alex, there is no heartbeat!” he said with a voice full of fear and incredulity.

“Zitto Bryan, lo so*. Just shut up so at least one of us can do a proper job.”
(*Shut up Bryan, I know)

How could it just end like this? How did it come so far?

___________________________

It’s the last race weekend before the mid season break and we are at the temple of speed, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza - Italy. The weather forecast predicts full sun without any clouds or rain and a temperature around 24 degrees celsius. Almost perfect conditions for a race weekend.

This time, I am stationed with Ferrari and I’m looking forward to work with Lewis and Charles. Arthurs Leclerc will be here too and doing some laps in FP1 and the guys from F2 and F3 will be here as well - so full house and full schedule for us medics (me and my colleague Connor). Even though those weekends are packed with appointments, meetings and races I really love them. You can see all three racing classes on track and you can also see how they support each other by giving tips or talking about important areas on track. And it also means a lot of fun with F2 and F3 - these guys can never be serious.

Till now the season was good. No major injuries, no big scandals and a lot of different race winners. But one thing was a constant: the Ferrari - chaos. Strategy - what is that? Communication with the drivers during races - it’s optional right? Listening to the complaints of our drivers - they shouldn’t talk so much.

It’s like Groundhog Day. I got no idea how both Charles and Lewis managed to get on the podium this year, but I am happy about it since I don’t think they could stand Ferrari without these moments of light.

Thursday was media day with lots of photoshootings, lots of funny and stupid little challenges for the drivers and a bunch of meetings. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Friday

Friday was practicing day. In FP1 we saw both Leclerc brothers on track and of course no one could tell them apart from each other when they spoke on the radio, well, no one but me. I always know exactly if Arthur is speaking or Charles. Ferrari’s media team even challenged me on media day to guess who is speaking while being blindfolded. Wasn’t a problem for me and I nailed it without a mistake , even Arthur and Charles were surprised. 

During FP1 both Leclercs complained about the car. Arthur had some minor problems with the car, but Charles said more than once during FP1, that the car feels weird and sometimes acts odd. His race engineer Bryan didn’t say much about it, either he ignored Charles or he just said the famous ‘we are checking’ and never came up with an answer. It made me furious but I am in no position to challenge the engineer's actions. Lewis and I just shared a lot of concerned looks. During their FP1-debriefing I had to look after the F3 drivers, so I couldn’t attend the debrief but Lewis told me later that Charles talked a lot about the car’s issues but he was told that they checked it and there was no problem with the car. According to Lewis they even made it sound as if Charles was the problem. Both drivers were unhappy and I felt the same. Somehow, a bad feeling formed in my guts because there are things I’ve learned in the racing sport and one of them was to fucking always listen to your driver when he or she tells you there is something wrong with the car - they are usually right.

I know Charles was a little jittery because of this race, since it was in Italy, home of Ferrari but this was nothing new with him. It wasn’t his first race in Monza and his nerves never got the better of him, it never affected his driving that much, that would explain the current problems with his car.

FP2 wasn’t any better. Charles reported issues, Bryan ignored him. Lewis got along better with his car, but he got the silent treatment too, even when he asked for stats. I know that the radio check was positive, so the radio was working and the garage just didn’t think it was necessary to talk to their drivers. At one point I had enough and took over, answering as much of their requests as I could with the little knowledge I have. Earned me some evil eyes, but I don’t care about the engineers' sensitivities, my top priorities are my drivers.

The debriefing of FP2 was endless and I got a warning to not meddle into things I am not qualified for to which I just answered in an ice cold voice, that I didn’t have to if Bryan and Riccardo would do their job properly and communicate with Charles and Lewis. Thank god I could leave the debrief after about one and a half hours because I was needed elsewhere.

I was on my round to check in with my other drivers when Charles texted me.

Charles to Alex: Hey, how long will you be on track today?

Alex to Charles: I think I’ll be here late today, got a big load of paperwork to do. Why do you ask?

Charles to Alex: I want to stay longer and put in another simulator session. Mind coming over to Ferrari later?

Alex to Charles: If you don’t mind me doing my stuff while you’re in the simulator I can come over. Will Bryan be there too?

Charles to Alex: No problem if you bring your work stuff with you. Bryan won’t be here - couldn’t handle anymore of this bullshit. Only Andrea and Joris will stay with me.

Alex to Charles: I know what you mean. We got a deal, I’ll come by later.

I continued my round, checked in with McLaren, Mercedes and Haas. The last team on my list was Alpine.

Franco had a fan event scheduled, so we just had a quick chat and I checked all the necessary vital stats before he left. Then I went over to Pierre’s room.

As always, I knocked and took off my shoes before entering his room. Pierre’s girlfriend Kika was there too. 

“Hey Kika, so nice to see you” I said with a big smile and we hugged. I am really happy about her presence at the paddock, because we get along super well and sometimes it’s good to have a girl to talk to, after a full day working with the boys.

“Okay Pie, let’s do a quick check up, I’m sure you guys want to leave soon for the hotel.” I said.

“Check up first and then you tell me what’s going on at Ferrari.” Pierre said with a wink and his unmistakable french accent.

We were done with taking all the vitals within 15 minutes and while I sanitized and packed up all my stuff, Pierre sat up on his massage table and leaned against the wall behind him. Kika sitting down to his left.

“So Alex, come on, spill the tea, what’s up with the prancing horse team?” Pierre asked.

“Pie, you know I am not allowed to talk about it to someone outside of Ferrari.” I answered with a little eye roll and a grin.

“Oui oui je sais* but when I met Cha earlier, he was in a really bad mood and vented to me about his team and the car. He did it first, so you can do it too. I’m just worried about Cha.” Pierre said with a genuinely worried look on his face. (*yeah yeah I know)

“Urgh, okay, fine I tell you what’s going on but if someone asks we never spoke about it.”

So I told Pierre and Kika about the situation at Ferrari and what’s going on with Charles. Pierre agreed with me, that the driver is usually right about the car which did nothing to calm the bad feeling in my guts. We talked for about 45 minutes and promised to keep a close eye on Charles before I walked to the FIA building where the two medic offices are located.

When I went down the hall to my office I came across the open office door of my colleague Connor.

“Hey Alex, finally done with your round? What’s up at Ferrari, I heard the RB guys joking about you having to play race engineer for Ferrari. And they said you did a pretty good job.” Connor said while coming over to my office and sitting down on the medical table.

“Urgh please don’t ask Con, it’s a mess with the Scuderia. I don’t know what kind of war I have gotten myself into, but I don’t like it. And yes, I had to play race engineer, with nearly zero knowledge. Thank god I’ve learned a little bit about it from GP, Bono, Laura and all the others.”

“I don’t want to switch teams with you Alex. Doing some late work today?”

“Yeah, I’ll stay a little longer today, trying to finish all the paper work and Charles asked me to come over later to supervise his simulator session. Connor, would you mind taking over the on-call time till I’m back at the hotel?”

“No problem Alex, I can do that. I will put the info in the medic app, so everyone is informed. I’m actually done with all my stuff, so if you don’t need me anymore, I will catch a ride with Red Bull back to the hotel.”

With a little laugh I told Connor to catch his ride since I will get along without him. We bid our farewells, Connor packed his stuff and left. Finally I had a few quiet moments just for me. I checked what work had to be done and made a little list, to not forget anything.

I just finished my check list when my cellphone came to life with my message tone. I picked it up and saw a message from Charles to come over. So that was my quiet moment. I gathered my documents, tablet, laptop, charger, phone and my street clothes, packed it in my backpack and went over to Ferrari. The Paddock was already way less crowded and a lot of staff members had already left and went to the hotels. The sun was setting, the air was getting a bit chilly and the Paddock became calmer. I love those moments, when you get the feeling that the world is finally slowing down for a few seconds and you can take a deep breath.

The Ferrari hospitality was nearly empty, just a few last people left when I walked through the sliding door, crossing the big common room on ground level to take the stairs on the far left wall up to the second floor with the driver rooms. I went down the little hallway and noticed that Lewis was still there. The door to his room was slightly ajar and a little light was spilling into the dimly lit hallway. I gently knocked on his door and when I heard a “come in” I pushed the door a little more open and stuck my head through the door. 

“Hey Lewis, I saw the light in your room. Staying late today?”

“Yeah, trying to figure out the car and how to drive it on track.” he answered with a tired voice.

“Well, Charles is doing the same. He will do some rounds in the simulator and asked me to come over. So I’ll be here for a while, just if you need something.” I told Lewis.

“Okay Alex, that’s good to know.” 

“Okay, I’ll be at the simulator. Please don’t work too long, Lewis and don’t forget to stay hydrated.”

With a little smile and a thumbs up Lewis turned back to his desk and I closed his door, before going down the hallway further and knock on Charles' door.

Charles opened the door. “Ah Alex, there you are. Let’s go to the simulator. Joris, Andrea allez*.” (*Let’s go)

Charles led us down to the first floor to a part in the back of the hospitality that I have never been to before. In theory I know where to find all the rooms in all the hospitalities of my teams, but in all the years I’ve been working in F1 and with Ferrari, I never went to their simulator room of the hospitality. So, it is as I always say: everyday in F1, you learn or see something new.

In the end, the room looked like a smaller version of the factory’s simulator. A computer work place, to put in the settings and gather the data, two chairs, a red bean bag, a little fridge and the race simulator itself.

Charles did the setup for his simulation and sat in the simulator, Andrea and Joris sat down in the chairs and I made myself comfortable in the bean bag and started to deal with my pending work.

After about one and a half hours I was finally done with all my paper work. I saved everything on the FIA server as well as in the driver files and shut down my laptop. I took a sip from my water bottle and nudged Andrea’s knee to get his attention.

“So, how are things going? Any progress?” I asked Andrea in a hushed voice.

“Non lo so davvero*” he answered with a shrug. (*I don’t really know)

I’ve learned not to disturb the simulator session, so I stayed quiet, took out my phone and went through my mails. After another 30 minutes Charles came out of the simulator and went over to the computer to print out the data. I got up and grabbed three bottles of water to give one to each of the boys. They gratefully took the offered water and drank it, while we waited for the printer to print everything. Joris collected the data sheets and gave them to Charles. He quickly flipped through them and pulled out a page with three diagrams on it, each with two lines in different colors. He held the page in front of my face with a triumphant grin.

“Alex, can you take a look at these results and tell me what you see please?” he asked me.

Oh great, sure Charles, ask the person with nearly zero knowledge of the topic, will be a great outcome - I thought to myself but took the page from his hand and studied it.

"Allora*, let’s see. So we got three graphics, the red line represents the data from the simulator and the yellow line are the cumulated data from today's FP1 and FP2.” I said, to lead them through my process of thinking. (*Okay)

Charles nodded, so I continued my analysis. 

“The three diagrams represent different parts of the track. Oh, I see, the first chart is Curva del Serraglio, second one is Variante Ascari with turn 8 and third chart is Ascari turn 9.”

Charles smiled and nodded approvingly, so I carried on.

“In Curva del Serraglio the data from FP and the simulation are quite similar but in Variante Ascare the FP data differ immensely from the simulation. Specially in turn 8. For me, it looks like the car got a problem with the turns, particularly in the left turns. Since Variante Ascari is a left-right combination this could make the whole problem even worse. But maybe we should take a look at all the charts with special attention for the part of the track with left turns.”

“Très bien, Alex. C'est tellement évident que même une personne peu calée peut repérer le problème*.” answered Charles with a grim face. (*Very good, Alex. It's so obvious that even someone with little knowledge can see the problem.)

“It’s getting late and I think all of us should eat something. Why don’t we relocate this to the hotel, order some food and go over the data together?” Andrea chipped in.

Andrea was right, it was shy of ten in the evening, so we agreed to his suggestion.

“Alex, will you come with us?” Charles asked with a hopeful look that I couldn’t resist.

“Yeah, I can support you with this, if you insist, Charles.” I answered.

So we packed up all of our stuff, I excused myself to the bathroom for a few minutes to use the toilet and change out of my scrubs and into my street clothes and while the boys went back to Charles driver room to gather their stuff. We met 10 minutes later in front of the hospitality. We were nearly the last people to leave. Lewis texted me about an hour ago that he will go to the hotel. The Paddock was also nearly empty, just a few last staff members of different teams were left.

We headed to the car park. Since I have to be at the track earlier than Charles (because of my duties in F2 and F3) we came with two cars. I offered to take one of the boys with me, so no one had to sit in the backseat and Joris took the offer and became my passenger princess. We agreed that I will drive ahead of Charles, so Joris and I will be at the hotel first, order food and set up our little research party while Charles will arrive a little later and can take some time for the fans that were certainly waiting for him en masse in front of the hotel. Just like every year. What did Will Buxton say in drive to survive? In Italy there are two religions, the catholic church and Ferrari. That is dead-on.

Joris and I got in my rental car, a wonderful velvet red Ferrari Portofino. The amenities of staying with Ferrari - I can’t complain about the rental cars they gave me. I buckled up, started the engine (enjoyed the purr of the engine for a few seconds) and slowly rolled out of the car park. There were still some fans left on track, waiting for Charles, but thank god they were way less, than about 12 hours earlier, when you could only go walking speed to not run over someone. Now we could drive a little quicker, leaving the track and hit the road to our hotel. As every year we stayed at the lovely Hotel de la Ville and I love this place. Because of the altered traffic routing the ride took us 30 minutes. When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by at least 100 fans who all went crazy when they saw the Ferrari but were quickly disheartened when only Joris and I stepped out of the car and into the hotel.

We made a quick stop at my room to dump my stuff and then went to Charles' room. We laid out the prints from the simulator and ordered some food from the room service. When there was a big commotion in front of the hotel, we knew that Charles had arrived.

After about 45 more minutes, Charles finally made it to his room. The ordered food was delivered just a few minutes earlier, so while Charles went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit and change into some comfy clothes, Joris and I set up everything so that we could eat.

While we ate we talked about the day and about the next one, with qualifying being on the schedule. After we were done with our late dinner, we cleaned up a bit and spread out the data sheets. In the end, we sat together and worked through all the data up till about 1:30 in the morning before we decided it was enough. I went to my room and quickly got ready for bed. I think I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

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.

Chapter Text

Sunday - race day

Here it is  - race day. When I get up, there is still this bad feeling in my guts, but for now, there is nothing I can do about it. I get dressed, grab a quick breakfast at the hotel and then get into my rental Ferrari to drive to the track. The hotel entrance and the sideways are packed with fans, so I have to drive really carefully, even though there are some police officers guiding me through the fans. Same picture at the track, I reach the car park at walking pace and slowly make my way to my parking slot, where I set the indicator and park the car in reverse. I make it in just on try and the car is parked perfectly - a smooth operation. Some male fans watched me park and some of them look a little surprised about the result - I can only smile about it, because yes, women can be good drivers too. I get out of the car, grab my bag from the trunk and enter the Paddock through the swipe gates. The security and some photographers greet me on my way to my office.

At the office, I change into my scrubs, check my medical gear, my racesuit and my schedule before heading over to my colleagues office.

“Buongiorno Connor, come va?”

“Uhhhmm sorry what?” he asks with a puzzled look.

“I said good morning Connor, how are you?” I said with a little laugh.

“Oh yeah, good morning Alex, I’m good, how about you? Ready for race day?”

“Yeah, I’m good too, ready for race day, even though I still got this bad feeling and I pray that I’m wrong and it’s just some false alarm or some nerves.” I tell Connor.

He gives me a sympathetic smile and says: “I hope so too, but right now, we need to concentrate on our drivers. Let's go over to the F3 Paddock and start our check up round.”

I nod and together we walk down the F1 Paddock, through the swipe gate and head over to the Paddock of the F2 and F3. We split up and do our necessary check ups with our drivers. We can clear all of them, so they are all allowed to race today.

I sit down in the PREMA tent and sign the permit form for my drivers. The monotonous takes a while (each permit comes in triplicate and needs to be signed by hand) calms me down a little, but the knot in my guts stays. 

Dino comes over to me and places a cup of fresh cappuccino in front of me before he sits down opposite of me. 

With a smile I say: “Thanks Dino, super nice of you. Ready for the race?”

“All welcome Alex, you take super good care of us, so I can at least bring you your favorite drink to care a little for you. And yep, I'm ready to race, got a good feeling today.” he answers with a big grin.

Both races of F3 and F2 going well and Dino was right with his feeling, he claims P2.

After that, the next point on the schedule is check up with our F1 boys. Usually Pierre would be one of my one of my first appointments, but today I asked him to reschedule, so I can first do the check up with Charles and then go to Pierre so I can talk to Pierre a little and make a fight plan.

Charles is jittery, more than usual. Since his vitals are good, I can clear him to race and we talk through our plan again. When I leave his driver room, he is a little bit less nervous.

My last check in is Pierre. Kika is with him in his driver room and both of them give me a warm hug when I step into the room. After taking all his vitals we take some time to talk about Charles and the situation. 

“One of my mechanics said that both Ferraris look weird going into the corners but specially Charles’ car. They think something is wrong too.” Pierre tells me.

“Is there nothing we can do about the situation?” Kika asks.

“Since there was no accident during the practice sessions, I have no justified reason to demand an investigation. So my hands are tied. I emailed Fred and left a message, but till now, he hasn't called back.” I dejectedly tell the two.

“Merde* the situation is so fucked up and honestly, even I got a bad feeling about it.” Pierre says angrily. (*Fuck)

“The only thing I can do now is support Charles. PREMA gave me a crash course in race engineering and data stuff, so I'm not completely clueless. But I doubt that it will help much.” I answer.

We promise each other to have an eye on Charles and keep our fingers crossed for him.

And then the race starts, it was lights out and away they go. Or better away we go, since Charles, Joris, Andrea, Arthur and I decided that I will not stay at the Ferrari garage after the race start. We don't want to risk more trouble than there already is. So I move to the FIA garage after lap 3 and pitch my tent there.

The Ferrari race engineers try to help Lewis and Charles as much as possible - well, at least some of them, mostly from Lewis’ side of the garage. Charles is stuck with a mostly tight-lipped Bryan. If Charles got more than 2 words as an answer it is like a little wonder. But nevertheless he fights out there on track for every position, every centimeter - even though the car is nothing more than a stubborn shit box.

I help him as much as possible, giving him the info he needs or asks for, keeping an eye on the cars’ data and informing him about abnormalities. Just like now, we are on lap 18 and I see a constant rise on one of the diagrams.

“Charles, your front left brake is getting hot, we don’t want it to overheat.” I tell him with my attention on not saying the much hated LICO (lift and coast).

“Yeah okay, copy Alex.” is his answer.

On lap 20 Stroll goes sideways into Lawson in turn two. Both drivers stay unharmed, but there is a lot of debris on the track. The yellow flag comes out. A few minutes later, the marshals from the incident side radio in, one of them was injured by some flying debris. It's not too bad according to their description but the FIA and I decided that I will head out and take a look at the marshal, just to be sure.

Since it's in turn two and it's not far away, I'll walk there. I zip up my racesuit, put on my gloves and grab the medical back as well as my balaclava and my helmet before I radio the FIA and teams to inform them that I’ll be out on track and head to turn two.

Arriving in turn two, I already see a marshal pressing a towel into his face, some blood already soaking through the fabric in one place. There are still some other marshals, so it’s no big deal if he’ll be unavailable for a few minutes. 

“Hey, I’m Alex, one of the on grid medics and I’d like to have a quick look at your injury please.” I tell him with a friendly little smile on my face.

A little shy he answers: “Ciao, I’m Massimo. It’s really not too bad, you didn’t have to walk all the way out here for just a scratch.”

“Okay Massimo, but for the sake of my conscience, please let me have a look. I won’t be able to sleep tonight, if I don’t certainly know that it is just a little mark.” I say to him with puppy eyes.

 He sighs and nods, so I gesture to one of the camping chairs for him to sit down.

I pull off my race gloves, pull out some medical gloves from my bag and put them on. 

Massimo is a tall young man and when he sits, his head is at the perfect height for me to work. I take the towel out of his hands and away from his face. There is a cut, about 4 centimeters long and a little deeper than a scratch. The edges of the wound are even.

“Well, I’m sorry to say, but this is more than a little scratch and you will need some stitches. But the good news is, that I could stitch it up right here and now, if you wish.”

He looks at me taken aback, blinking a few times before asking: “How many stitches?”

“Mhhh, two or three should be enough.” I answer him.

“And you could do this right now?” I give him a firm nod to answer his question.

“Okay, yeah then do it. You work with the F1 drivers so you must be good.”

I laugh a little and tell Massimo what I am going to do while I get all the necessary stuff from my bag. Before I start the treatment, I hand him my phone, asking him to inform me about which lap we are on and to keep an eye on two diagrams I show him, so I still have an eye on Charles. I start with cleaning the injured area then applying some numbing creme to the injured area, clean his wound and set 3 little stitches. All while F1 cars are racing by and Massimo keeps me updated on the laps. Lastly I clean the area again and put a small bandage over the wound, to protect it from dirt. After maybe 10 minutes I am done and pull off my medical gloves. Over the radio I hear Charles boxing for fresh tyres.

“That’s it, we are done already?” Massimo asks.

I give him a smile and say: “yep, all done, you are good to go back to work if you want. Keep the wound clean, the stitches will dissolve on their own within the next weeks. It will probably leave a little scar, but over time it will fade and will hardly be visible. Please see a doctor, if the area of the wound feels hot to the touch or there is anything else out of the ordinary.”

He nods and hands me my phone back. A little shy, he asks if we can take a picture together, so he can show his friends and family that he was treated by the same medic that treats the F1 drivers. I can’t suppress a laugh but agree to his request. After the picture is taken I bid my farewell and want to head back to the FIA garage when I hear Charles.

“Putain, Alex, something is wrong.”

The way he says it lets my blood run cold.

“Charles, talk to me, what is going on?”

And then there are tires screeching loudly. I turn around to the big fan tv screen and see a red car with number 16 on it, coming into turn 8, Variante Ascari but the car is heavily understeering. Charles’ left front tire comes on the grass and suddenly the car is flipping over again and again, still careening towards the barriers with high speed. The car finally stops when Charles bangs into the tire barriers hard.

I am still staring at the screen with horror but I need to know if he is alright. I grab my radio and open a channel to Charles.

“Charles, are you okay?”

No answer.

I try again. “Charles, stai bene? S’il te plaît dire quelque chose*.”

(*Charles are you okay. Please say something.)

Still no response. I take a look at my phone where the info about the force of the crash just comes in and I see Charles vitals. His heart is beating and he is breathing but the impact was 40G. 

I turn around and start to run to Variante Ascari, using the shortcuts made with the service paths. I hear the announcement of a red flag and I know that the medical car will head out to the scene soon.

I call Charles again, still no answer. 

I can see turn 8 or better the clouds of dust. 

Arriving at turn 8 I jump onto the tire barriers crossing it and jumping down near the crash scene.  Charles is still in the car, no visible movement, no reaction to me calling his name. The car is half buried in the barrier and the engine is still running.

What the heck…!?

There are 3 marshals near the car looking kind of helpless. 

“What is going on here? Why is the car still on?” I shout over the roar of the engine.

The marshal closest to the car shouts back: “we can’t kill the engine. we pressed the N button but it didn’t work. Same for the kill switch and we are not allowed to touch a running car.”

“Alex for Ferrari, the car is still running, N button and kill switch are not working. What do we do?”

I get closer to the car to check on Charles. 

I find a pulse on Charles' neck and his wrist and I can see he is breathing, which is good. But before we can recover him from the car, the engine must be killed, otherwise we are not allowed to touch him according to the FIA rules. 

The seconds ticking down and there is no answer from Ferrari. Nothing.

“Guys seriously, it smells heavily like oil and fuel - we need to do something.” I say on the still open radio channel in the hope that someone got an idea. 

“There is the risk of fire or an explosion, do not go near the car. Alex, you’re not allowed to touch the car, step back from it.” says Bryan flatly.

I got the feeling as if time slows down and the world stops for a second. In my head I hear the voice of George Russell “It looks like they’re going to sacrifice Leclerc” and my blood starts boiling.

I look to the marshal on my right and his face is telling me he is thinking the same. He nods and grabs the nearby fire extinguisher.

“Are you fucking kidding me Bryan? I will not put the rules over my driver's health and safety. I’m not going to sacrifice him, so screw the rules!”

I put on my racegloves and grab a stiff neck from the medical bag. One last look to the marshal who signals me he is ready with a nod and I jump on top of the cars front.

Charles is still not reacting to me calling his name or pain and now the engine is starting to make weird noises, time to get him out. I lean over the Halo, keeping Charles’ head steady and remove the Hans device to replace it with the stiff neck.

Somewhere in the car a line bursts and a high whistle can be heard. Time is nearly up, I need to get Charles out of the car now. No time to be considerate of any injuries.

I quickly open the seatbelts and shove them off Charles. Smoke is coming from somewhere in the car and the marshal is using the fire extinguisher while I step onto Charles' seat, putting me feet left and right of his thighs. I push my arms under his armpits and pull him out of his seat and into my arms where I press him to my body before sitting on the Halo and swinging my legs over it to slide down the cars’ side till my feet are back in the gravel.

The high whistle of the car is getting louder, angrier - we need to get away from here.

I order the marshal to grab the medical bag and my helmet that is laying right beside it and to follow me. I shout to the other marshals, to get away from the car as far as possible.

“Medical car is two minutes away.” someone tells me over the radio.

I start walking away from the car as quickly but still carefully as possible. The alarm of my smartwatch going off, Charles' heartbeat is unregular. Shit!

“Send me the helicopter here, it was a crash rescue and his heartbeat is unregular!” I shout into the radio.

When we reach the other side of the track in Variante Ascari I carefully lay down Charles in the grass. Right at that moment there is a deafening bang behind us. I bend over Charles to protect him from the flying debris. I take a look over my shoulder and see that the car just exploded. A quick glance to my left tells me that the marshal is unharmed.

“Hey, come ti chiami*? I ask him. (*what’s your name?)

“Chiamo Tomaso*” he answers. (*My name is Tomaso)

“Okay Tomaso, you need to help me. You have to hold Charles’ head still while I pull off his helmet and balaclava to secure his airways.”

Tomaso nods and kneels down by Charles' head and does as I asked.

“Good job, put this under his head.” I say while passing him Charles’ and my balaclava.

 After that I just opened his race suit when the shrill emergency alarm of my watch is going off, alerting me that Charles’ heart just stopped beating. Fuck fuck fuck!!!

“Alex, there is no heartbeat!” Bryan said with a voice full of fear and incredulity.

“Zitto Bryan, lo so*. Just shut up so at least one of us can do a proper job.”
(*Shut up Bryan, I know)”

Chapter Text

I’m fully opening Charles’ race suit and ripping open his fireproof shirt. The bruises from the seatbelts holding him back are already forming but other than that there are no other bruises visible. I can feel no pulse and Charles is not breathing.

“Medical car just arrived” informs Tomaso me with a fearful voice, but I ignore him and start to perform CPR on Charles.

Dr. Ian Roberts is kneeling down by Charles’ side opposite of me. He ventilates Charles with a bag valve mask while I do the chest compression. After the first round of CPR Dr. Roberts checks for a pulse but can’t find one so we switch, he does the chest compression and I ventilate.

The second round CPR remains without result - Ian and I switch tasks again.

“Alex, if this round brings no positive results, I will inject him with 1mg adrenalin” Ian informs me. I nod.

During compression I start whispering “come on Charles, come on. Keep fighting, you can do this. It's way to early for a reunion with your papà, your time hasn't come yet”. I can feel tears starting to form in my eyes when the first circle of CPR round three stays without result but I continue the compression.

My hopes are fading when we still got no pulse after the whole third round of CPR but suddenly, Charles is taking a big gasp of air on his own. Ian checks for a pulse on Charles’ neck while I check on his wrist. There it is, a strong pulse and he is breathing on his own. We made it - we brought him back - thank god we made it.

I am relieved and sit back on my heels. Dr. Roberts confirms it, Charles’ heart is beating and he is breathing. We set an IV and connect him to a bag of fluids before we put him on a spine board and he is loaded into the helicopter (I didn’t even noticed its arrival).

“Tell the hospital it was a crash recovery - they have to check his spine and all the nerves to his limbs - this is super important.” I firmly tell the doctor from the helicopter.

“We will tell them, I promise.” he answers with a pitiful smile and pats my shoulder before climbing into the helicopter and taking off to the hospital.

“Alex, what is going on out there?”

“Please talk to us.” 

But it was not Ferrari asking me for an update, no, it was Alpine and Red Bull.

I look over to Dr. Roberts, silently asking for permission to give out some info and he nods.

“Uhm so Charles was in cardiac arrest after the crash recovery, but we got him back. When he was loaded into the helicopter, he had a pulse and was breathing on his own. He’s flown to the hospital right now.”

While giving this update, I notice that my voice sounds a little teary, my hands are shaking slightly and my cheek feels a little wet. I wipe the back of my hand over my cheek and it comes away wet with tears and blood. Oh. I didn’t even notice I got injured. Since it’s not much blood, it can’t be more than a scratch, so nothing to worry about now.

I take a look around and become aware of the amount of people at the scene of the accident. There are firefighters taking care of the car - or better of the remaining car pieces. There is medical staff too, currently checking on Tomaso who looks kind of lost and overwhelmed. I walk over to him, pat him on the shoulder and tell him that he did a great job.

Dr. Roberts walks over to me, informing me where they brought Charles. I thank him for the info and want to walk away, but he stops me.

“Alex, how are you doing? Do you get along with what happened?" Ian asks.

“I am physically okay. It was a lot. But right now, I pray to all gods out there that Charles is okay and there is no damage from the rescue.”

“ It was a hell of a situation and you did a great job. Pulling him out was the right decision, otherwise he wouldn’t be alive anymore. And his life is the most important thing right now. I need you to keep this in mind Alex.” Ian says insistently.

I nod and let him know that I will go back to the pitlane. He offers me to use the medical car, but I decline. I’ll walk back, it’s not that far and I need a few minutes to myself.

“Alex to pitlane - I’ll come back now. And to Arthur, Andrea and Joris, I’ll drive you to the hospital if you want.” I radio the teams.

I collect Charles’ and my helmet and the medical bag and walk back to the pitlane and the garages.

When I come back to the pitlane, there are already some drivers and FIA officials waiting for me. Since I’m still on duty, I first go to the FIA officials. They are asking me some questions about the accident and about Charles and finally wanting to know if I think the race should be cancelled. 

I take a moment to think about it and tell them that I have come to the conclusion that the race should be cancelled. The track is heavily damaged, the other drivers were probably informed about what happened and maybe even know that Charles was dead for a few minutes and some of those drivers are good friends of Charles. It wouldn’t do any good to continue racing.

They write down everything, asking me to sign my advice for the race abortion and telling me to see a doctor for my injuries before letting me go.

What injuries?

For now, I have more important things to do than think about it, so I walk over to the waiting drivers.I see Max, Carlos, Ollie, Kimi, George and a shaking and pale Pierre.

All of them build a circle around me and asking me questions, but I got no chance to answer them, because they are all talking over each other.

“STOP!” I shout and they stop talking immediately. 

“All I can tell you right now, is that Charles’ heart wasn’t beating for a few minutes, but we got him back and he was alive and breathing when they brought him to the helicopter. He was taken to the hospital and I asked them to take further tests on his spine and nerves. But that is all I know for now and I really want to go to the hospital as soon as possible, if you want I give you the address and you can come too.”

They all look at me in shock, Max is the first one to react. He nods and asks me to text him the hospital's address. I look over to Pierre who hasn’t moved a millimeter, Max notices it too and whispers to me: “I will take care of him and drive him to the hospital when he is ready.”

I whisper a thank you back. But before I go to Ferrari, there is something I need to take care of.

“Uhm George, Max - I need to ask a favor of you. Can we talk in private for a moment? Ollie and Kimi, please go back to your teams and tell Ayao and Toto that I’ll call them.”

Everyone nods, Ollie and Kimi leaving for their garages, Carlos will take Pierre back to Alpine and I lead Max and George into an empty office in the FIA garage.

I close the door behind us, take a deep breath and turn toward the boys.

“I know this situation is hard for all of us, but I need your help. I can not stand by and watch how Ferrari fucks up super bad and nothing will happen. So I want to launch an investigation but I can’t do this alone, so I ask for your support.” I explain them seriously.

Without hesitation George answers: “you can count on us, we will help you.” Max nods with a grim face.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

We go over the plan quickly, assign the tasks before splitting up and kicking off our plan.

I return to the Ferrari garage. I ignore all the Ferrari staff members asking me about Charles and walk straight to Andrea, Joris and Arthur.

“Come on guys, grab your stuff, I'll drive you to the hospital if you want.”

Arthur is as pale as a ghost, sobbing. With a broken voice he quietly asks:

“Alex, tell me the truth, is my brother alive?”

I pull him into my arms and hug him tightly before I say:

“Yes Thur, Charles was alive when they put him into the helicopter and since the hospital didn't call me, I am sure he is okay according to circumstances.”

I really have to fight to keep myself together and keep a firm voice, but right now is not the time to give into my fear and pain. Right now, Charles’ family and friends need me to be as calm and collected as possible and will do everything to give them all my support.

“We will go and collect Charles’ stuff, give us a few minutes before we leave. It would be good, if you could drive us.” Andrea says.

I nod and want to go with them, but from the corner of my eyes I see Lewis.

“Guys, go and grab the stuff, we meet in 10 minutes at the car park. There is one thing left for me to do.”

The boys go to Charles’ room and I go over to Lewis. He looks miserable and shaken and the way he is watched by at least 4 Ferrari employees tells me that something is wrong. I am proved right when the staff members try to keep me away from Lewis the second I come close.

“What is this bullshit about? I am the F1 on grid medical attendant and I want to see one of my drivers. So get out of my way!” I tell them angrily.

“Sorry Miss, but we are not allowed to let anyone near him.” one of them tells me.

“Okay, is this Lewis’ wish or did someone else give this order?” I conter.

“This is a Ferrari order, so please step back.”

I snort before telling them with an ice cold voice and a look that could easily kill: “I am the fucking F1 medic and my driver doesn't look good at all, so you will stop interfering with my job and get out of the way, before I make sure the FIA will never let you set a food into a Paddock again. Don't you dare me.”

The four guys share some fearful looks but don't move, so I just push them out of my way. There is no resistance from their side and no more discussions. Lewis gets up, when I got close to him and he hugs me. I can feel him shaking so I tell him that Charles is alive to calm him down a bit.

“Alex, something strange is going on here, it is as if they kind of knew and now they’re trying damage control.” Lewis whispers into my ear.

The hair on my neck stands on end and a cold shiver runs down my spine. These fucking bastards!

“I already had a feeling about something like this so thanks for letting me know Lew. I got a plan, but I really could need your help.” I whisper back. 

“Whatever you need Alex, just let me know what I can do.”

“I will drive to the hospital and I need someone to be my eyes and ears here at Ferrari. Can you do this for me Lewis?”

He ends our hug, steps back a little and looks into my eyes for a few seconds before he nods firmly.

I nod back as confirmation and thanks.

“I need to go now Lewis, I’ll let you know about Charles.” I say with a hidden wink  and Lewis nods to confirm he understands.

I leave the Ferrari garage, grab a big towel from one of the racks and make my way to the car park where the boys are already waiting. Andrea gives me the car keys and we get into Charles' rental Ferrari, a black Ferrari GTC4Lusso with a roof in blood red. Before I take my seat behind the steering wheel, I cover the seat with the towel, since I'm still wearing my dirty race suit and I don't want to get a bill for the dirty car seats. I put the address of the hospital into the navigation system and start driving.

Andrea is in the passenger seat, Joris sitting behind me and Arthur is sitting behind Andrea. 

The police around the grid seem to know what happened on track and every police officer around the car park and the roads to the track helps us to leave as quickly and safely as possible.

When we finally hit the road and get  away from the fans, I push down the gas pedal and speed up the car.

“Did someone call Charles’ mum already?” I ask the boys.

“No, not yet. We wanted to give her at least some information.” Andrea says quietly.

I nod and say “Okay, when we are at the hospital and we got some more info, I will call her.” 

Arriving at the hospital I park the car and we go to the info point. A lot of people looking at us and most of them looking at us with pity in their eyes. What is going on here I think to myself but shove the thought away.  Before we reach the counter, a doctor is approaching us, introducing himself as Dr. Marcello, Charles’ doctor. 

He leads us to the watch station, which turns my stomach. Well, it's not the ICU but also not the regular station. WE stop in front of a typical white hospital door. The room number ist 1316 - is this a sign? I always say I'd choose 13 as my number (always did when I was an active athlete) and 16 - well nothing to explain about it.

Dr. Marcello leads us into the room, it's big, with just Charles’ bed in it, some chairs and a dark grey couch for visitors. The walls are painted in a very light green color. Andrea, Joris and Arthur go right to the bed in which Charles is lying, still unconscious. I stay at the door. 

“So tell us, how is Charles, what injuries did he sustain? I ask Dr. Marcello.

He looks at me for a second with a very light smile on his face before he answers:

“Well, Mr. Leclerc has some bruises from the seatbelts and from the performed CPR but that's it. No broken bones, no head injuries, nothing. He woke up briefly, when he arrived at the hospital before losing consciousness again, but that is not uncommon after a 40G crash and a reanimation.”

I blink at him perplex before I ask further questions.

“Did you do a full body scan, a head CT or MRI? And did you do a detailed exam of his spine and his nerves?”

“Yes we did, if you want, we can have a look at the pictures.” the doctor offers. I nod and he opens the tablet he was carrying with him. I stand beside him and he shows me Charles’ full body MRI. The results of his EKG, the spine exam and the nerve exam - explaining some details or answering my questions.

“So he is okay? And he will walk out of this hospital and can go back to F1 if he wants to?” I ask again to clarify.

Dr. Marcello nods. “Yes signorina*, he is okay, his spine is looking fine and his nerves too. All the test results looking good. We just wait for him to wake up, which should be just a matter of time judging by the results.”  (*Miss)

“Well, but we both know that the results on the paper and what a body is feeling in reality can be two sides of a coin.” I tell him with a flat voice while sadly looking at Charles.

“I know what you mean and we won't have total clarity before he wakes up, but it's looking good and that is what we should focus on.” Dr. Marcello says.

“You can stay here with him as long as you want. Signorina* I can take care of your injuries too.” (*Miss)

“Grazie, ma sto bene*. I'll step out for a moment and call his mum.” 

(*Thanks but I am fine)

With that I kind of flee from the room out in the hallway and into the stairwell I spotted when we entered the station. I pull out my phone and search for the number of Charles’ mum.

I find it and for a second my finger hovers over the call button with fear, but before I could chicken out, I press the button and it rings.

After the second ring the call is picked up.

“Madame Leclerc, c'est Alex, l'assistant médical de Charles.*”

(Mrs. Leclerc, it's Ales, Charles’ medical attendant)

“Alex, mon Dieu, comment va mon garçon*?”

(Alex, oh my god, how is my boy?)

“Il se porte bien, compte tenu des circonstances. Pas de fracture, pas de traumatisme crânien. Nous attendons son réveil. Je pense que ce serait bien que tu puisses venir*”

(He is okay according to circumstances. No fractures, no head trauma. We wait for him to wake up. I think it would still be good if you could come here.)

I do not have the heart to tell her the full truth on the phone.

“Oui, je suis déjà en route Alex. Appelle-moi si la situation change.*”

(Yes I am already on my way Alex. Please call me if something changes.)

“Je m'en occuperai Madame Leclerc. Je vous enverrai l'adresse de l'hôpital sous peu.*”

(I will Mrs. Leclerc. I will send you the hospital's address in a second.)

“Merci Alex à bientôt.*”

(Thanks Alex, see you soon)

“Oui á bientôt*”

(Yes, see you soon)

I end the call and text her the address. I usually call her Pascale, since we get along very well, but this time I called her Mrs. Leclerc, probably to keep it professional and to keep myself together. I take a deep breath and go back to Charles' room.

On the way to the room, a nurse approaches me, gives me a hug and tells me that I made the right decision and she is glad someone finally stood up against Ferrari. I don't even know what is going on and can just stand there and watch her get back to her work. I pull myself together after a few seconds and go back to Charles' room. The boys settled in the chairs around his bed, I keep standing in the doorway.

“Pascale is on her way, she'll be here in a bit.” I say into the room.

Arthur looks at me with watery eyes and thanks me. I nod and want to go back into the hallway, waiting in front of the room, when Adrea stops me.

Chapter Text

Andreas POV

"Alex, wait." Why do you want to wait outside? You can stay here. And what did you mean with what you said to the doctor about the two sides of a coin?”

She looks to the ground and whispers: “If the worst case sets in, I doubt Charles or any of you wants me to be here.”

“Alex, what is going on?” I ask again.

She looks up and there is so much sadness and guilt in her eyes.

“I might have saved his life when I pulled him out of the car, but…. with that I… I also might have ended his career.” she says in a broken whisper.

Joris joins the conversation. “Alex, what do you mean? You need to explain please.”

Alex snivels but explains: “You know, when there is a crash in F1 and the driver can't get out of the car on his own, he is extracted from the car with his seat. That is what we learned and practise before every race.”

She looks at us and we nod to signal our understanding, so she continues.

“Well, this is a safe way when there is no impending danger and you got time. But today, there was no time because of the imminent danger from the car. So this way of extraction wasn't an option. I needed to get Charles out of the car as fast as possible, so I decided for a crash rescue. You extract the person from the danger zone as quick as possible. But there is one problem with this method.”

Alex's voice breaks and the first tear rolls down her cheek. She keeps her look focused on Charles while she explains further with a trembling voice.

“The big problem with a crash rescue is that the main focus is on the time and not on the injuries. Meaning you keep the person alive with no consideration of possible spine injuries. I put a stiff neck on Charles before I pulled him out, but still I took the risk of worsening or causing a spine or nerve injury when I pulled him out. I chose his life over his physical integrity and his career. And now I don't know if he could ever forgive me for what I did. And in case the worst case sets in, I don't think he wants to see the person responsible for it as one of the first people when he wakes up, so I will wait outside.”

Alex keeps a stoned face, but she is silently crying when she turns around and leaves the room. Arthur, Joris and I stay back completely blindsided by her explanation. But I pull myself together and follow her. I find her behind a corner down the hallway.

“Is that why you don't want your wounds to be treated? You're punishing yourself for the decision you made?” I ask her with a gentle low voice.

She looks at me and I fear she will burst like glass because of all the pain and sadness I see in her eyes.

“I am not injured, I don't know what everybody is talking about. It's just a tiny scratch. Nothing that could ever compensate for what I possibly did to Charles.”

“Alex, passerota*, look at me. Your race suit is bloody on your left arm and on your hip, so there is more than the scratch in your face. And no matter if you really ended Charles’ career, you made the right decision. If I would have been in your situation, I would have done exactly the same. And I am sure Charles will forgive you. So please, let someone treat your injuries because there is no reason for you to punish yourself for what happened today. If you want to punish someone, then it should be Ferrari.”

“Trust me Andrea, Ferrari's punishment is something I am already working on. You should get back to Charles now, Joris and Arthur will need you. So go, I will stay around. I still have to make some calls.” Alex says before patting my shoulder and walking to an empty waiting room.

Alex’ POV

I go to an empty waiting room and close the door behind me. I pull out my phone, searching for a specific name and hit call. After the first ring the call is picked up.

“Alex, how is Charles?”

“Hey Ayao, he is okay according to the circumstances.”

“Good, good. Ollie told me you would give me a call. So what can I do for you Alex?”

“Ayao, I need your help and I hope for your support. I want to launch an investigation on Ferrari for what happened today and I want to ask you for your help with it, since I highly doubt that it was a driver's mistake.”

“You can count on me Alex, I will support your demand for an investigation.”

“Thank you Ayao, I really appreciate your support. I will send you further details.”

“Alright. Let me know if you need anything else Alex.”

“I will, thanks Ayao. We keep in touch.”

I end the call. One down, one more to go.

I was quite sure of Ayao’s support, he knows me well and we got a similar sense of wrong and right. But I’m not so sure about the result of my next call, but I pull up the number anyway and hit the call button. This time, it takes 3 rings before the call is answered.

“Hallo Alex, was kann ich für dich tun? Und wie geht es Charles*?”

(*Hello Alex, what can I do for you. And how is Charles doing?)

“Hallo Toto, er ist okay, wir warten, dass er aufwacht.*”

(*Hello Toto, he is okay, we are waiting for him to wake up.)

“Das ist gut zu hören. Kimi hat mir gesagt, dass Du mich anrufen würdest, ich denke ich weiß bereits worum es geht, aber ich würde es gern von Dir hören Alex.”

(*That's good to hear. Kimi said you'd call me, and I think I already know what this is about, but I’d like to hear it from you Alex.)

“Hör zu Toto, ich weiß, dass Du mit Fred Vasseur befreundet bist und ich Dich hier in eine blöde Lage bringe, aber ich möchte Dich um Deine Hilfe zur Einleitung einer Untersuchung gegen Ferrari bitten nach den heutigen Vorfällen.*” 

(*Listen Toto, I know you are befriended with Fred Vasseur and I’m putting you in an awkward position here, but I’d like to aks for your help in launching an investigation against Ferrari following today’s events.”

“Ich werde Dir zuhören Alex. Gib mir ein wenig mehr Informationen, bevor ich mich entscheide.*”

(*I will listen to you Alex. Give me some more information before I make a decision.)

“Das ist nur fair von dir Toto. Ich habe Grund zur Annahme, dass der Unfall kein Fahrerversagen war und ich kann es auch beweisen. *”

(*Fair enough Toto. I have reason to believe that the crash was not a driver error and I can prove it.)

“Wenn Du mir handfeste Beweise vorlegen kannst, dann werde ich Dich unterstützen Alex.*”

 (*If you can provide me with solid evidence, then I will support you, Alex.)

“Okay, Deal. Ich werde Dir die Beweise schicken. Wir bleiben in Kontakt. Und danke, dass Du mich angehört hast und meine Bitte in Betracht ziehst.*”

(*Okay, deal. I'll send you the evidence. We'll stay in touch. And thank you for listening to me and considering my request.)

With that, I end the call. He did not turn me down, so the result is better than I hoped. 

At that moment, Max enters the hospital ward, followed by Pierre, Pierre’s trainer Ben, Rupert and GP. So the race must have been aborted. I greet them and bring them up to date before showing them Charles’ room. GP approaches me but before he can even say one word, my phone rings. It’s Lewis, so I pick up the call immediately. He tells me that Ferrari is trying to get rid of all evidences that the crash could be their fault and he warns me that someone mentioned data print outs from the simulator. I know exactly what they mean. I thank him for the info, give him a quick update on Charles and end the call before rushing over to Andrea.

“Andrea, where are the simulator print outs we used to go over the data?”

“Uhm, I think they are in Charles’ hotel room. Why?”

“Andrea, you need to think now. Are you sure they are at the hotel?”

“Yes Alex, I am sure, but what is going on?”

“Lewis just called me. Ferrari is going full italian mafia mode and trying to get rid of every possible evidence of their failure and they know about the print outs. So I need the car keys to go and get them before them. And maybe we can get a backup from the simulator data or anything. In any case, we need proof to send them over the cliff.”

Arthur snivels and says: “Maybe we can get a copy of the data from the app on Charles phone.”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. Can you get into the app and copy the data Arthur?”

“No, sorry Alex, I don’t know Charles’ phone code.”

My thoughts are running a mile an hour but then I got an idea. I grab Charles’ phone and go over to the couch, where Pierre is sitting, tears running down his face. I kneel down in front of him, placing my hand on his knee as a sign that he is not alone. With a gentle and calming voice I say: 

“Pie, I know this whole situation is hard for you and you fear for Charles, but the doctor said he is okay. I want to help him and prevent a repetition of today, but therefore I need your help. Pie, you are his best friend and I am sure you know his passcode, so please, can you unlock the phone for us.”

I shove the phone into his hands.

He looks at it, then up to me, searching my face for something before nodding and unlocking the phone. He hands it to me.

“Merci beaucoup Pie*” I say before handing the phone to Arthur for him to search for the app and the data. (*Thank you very much Pie)

“Okay, now please hand me the car keys Andrea. I wouldn't put anything past Ferrari right now, so I need to hurry.”

He gives me the key and I am out of the room before anyone got the chance to say something.

I hurry down the hallway to the stairs, sprinting them down, through the foyer and out of the hospital. In front of the hospital are many people, Tifosi as I can see by the Ferrari stuff they are wearing. Before they can recognize me, I quickly make my way to the parking lot and get in the car. The car comes to life and I drive off to our hotel. As soon as I leave the hospital behind me, I speed up, slightly ignoring most of the speed limits. I need to get to the hotel before Ferrari, because we are fucked without the data sheets. And the print version is better than a digital one, harder to flag as fake.

Usually it would take 20 minutes to the hotel by car (without traffic), but I make it in 15 minutes with traffic. The hotel entrance is surrounded by F1 fans, most of them Tifosi and of course they go crazy when they sport the Ferrari Charles used over the weekend. I bring the car to a stop in front of the hotel and ask the park service to park it nearby because I'll be back in a few minutes.

Without acknowledging the fans I hurry inside and into the elevator to get to Charles' room. Usually I take some time to take in the wonderful atmosphere of the lobby but not now, there are more important things. 

I arrive on our floor and run down the hallway to Charles’ room, swiping the keycard to unlock the door and slip inside. Charles’ perfume still lingers in the air, as if he just left and nothing bad happened today. I take a look around the room and spot some papers and a folder on the desk so I go over and start searching for the data sheets. I can’t find them in the stack of loose papers so I open the folder and flick through it. Nothing. Fuck.

I don't want to snoop through Charles’ personal belongings. I go over to his open suitcase, which looks just like shoes and clothes, so I'm not going to go through it. I look around the room, thinking where the data sheets could be. The bed catches my eye and I remember one occasion, where I stood in for a sick Andrea and had to wake up Charles, finding him sleeping on some papers and his little notebook. Maybe they are by the bed. 

The bed side table is empty, the drawer too. I look under the pillow. Jackpot, there they are, finally. I check the stack for completeness, every page is there. Perfect, now back to the hospital and kicking off our plan.

Before leaving the room, I take a look through the peephole, making sure the coast is clear. The hallway looks empty so I slip out of the room, pulling the door close behind me. Something pulls me to the staircase instead of the elevator, so I go left heading to the stairs. I am about 2m away from the stairwell when I hear the elevator ping behind me. Out of a reflex I hide behind a big old dark wood dresser, peeking around the corner to see two men in Ferrari uniform exiting the elevator and going to Charles room and entering it. Just for security I take a video of the whole situation, before rushing to the stairwell, down the stairs, through the lobby and out of the hotel. The guys from the parking service spots me and gets up, wanting to get the car, but I just thank him and wave him off with a little smile. I ask him for the keys, which he hands me promptly, pointing in the direction of the car. I nod and walk over to the car. 

I have to walk through some fans and I can hear them murmur, some seem to recognize me, some whispering my name. I hear someone say something like “la paladina” but my italien isn't good enough to understand the meaning of it. They let me pass without resistance so I get to the car quickly, getting behind the steering wheel and driving off, back to the hospital.

This time, I follow all the rules and speed limits, being a bit more calm now that I got the evidence we need.

Arriving back at the hospital I park the car in the same parking lot as before and walk to the entrance, data sheets safe in my hand. Now there are even more fans waiting in front of the hospital than when I left. This time, I am not as lucky as before. Someone spots me, shouting my name and pointing in my direction. Now the Tifosi surround me, asking for Charles and again I hear “la paladina”. I try to back off, but they follow. I have no chance to flee, so I do the one thing I hope will calm them down a bit. I give them some info and ask for their understanding.

“Allora ragazzi, ascoltate tutti. Purtroppo non mi è permesso condividere dettagli, ma posso dirvi che Charles è vivo. Vi prego di comprendere che ha bisogno di un po' di pace e privacy in questo momento. Ulteriori informazioni saranno disponibili a tempo debito. Apprezziamo tutti molto il vostro supporto, grazie mille. Ma per favore, lasciatemi tornare adesso dal mio autista.*”

(*Okay everyone, listen up. I'm not allowed to share details, unfortunately, but I can tell you that Charles is alive. Please understand that he needs some peace and privacy right now. More information will be available in due course. We all really appreciate your support, thank you so much. But please let me get back to my driver now.)

They back off a little and let me pass. Some of them wishing soon recovery for Charles, some thanking me for the info, some just patting my arm or shoulder. I force a little grateful smile on my face but I am glad, when I am behind the hospital doors, where security is making sure the fans stay out.

I take the elevator up to the watch station and go to Charles’ room, handing the car keys back to Andrea.

“Did you find the papers?” he asks.

I nod with a grim face, pull out my phone and show him the video from the hotel.

“So they really want to make this his fault.” Andrea says stunned.

“But they will not get through with it as long as I am alive. I’ll burn down the factory to its ground.” I answer.

“Count me in.” chips Joris in. Arthur nods, as well as Andrea.

“Me too, they will regret this day.” comes from Max.

“Revenge Cha, I’ll help you take away everything they got.” says Pierre.