"Welcome back to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix! The stakes are high for RedBull to pull of another win after last weekend's incredible weekend for Max Verstappen. It's the Dutchman on pole once again with Lando Norris right behind him in P2, followed by Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton on the second row."

"It'll be quite a weekend for the McLaren team, the car seems to do well at this track."

"Certainly and I'm sure Lando Norris will be absolutely delighted if he gets a podium today."

"What about Alessandro Moreno? Had a pretty terrible race last weekend."

"Yeah and again he was unlucky this weekend when his qualifying session was messed up by an apparent change in aerodynamics on the car. He starts P13 today."

"He'll have to make his way through the field if he wants to claim a spot in the top 5."

I listened to the commentary blaring out into the motorhome from the SkySports F1 coverage playing on the TV. There was 30 minute till lights out and I was running late. My hair was still damp from my shower as I zipped up the dark blue racing suit.

I stuffed the balaclava into my pocket, carrying my helmet out of the motorhome.

Mark stood waiting for me, impatiently tapping his foot.

It was a cloudy day in Austria, making me wonder if there was a possibility of rain.

"No rain on the forecast today, it should clear up midway," Mark said, reading my mind.

I hummed in agreement, walking down towards the FIA garage where my beautiful car was waiting for me.

The FIA had requested that I alternate between the Mercedes AMG and the Aston Martin safety cars, but I found myself using the Aston wayyyy more often.

But the fans preferred it anyways so I wouldn't get in too much trouble. At least I hoped that was the case.

I spotted Alessandro standing by the pit wall, nodding his head to something his strategist was saying.

The orange number 15 stood out against the white material of his fireproof. His muscles rippled under the thin material as he pointed to something on the screens.

A few moments later, he took a step back, sipping on the straw of his water bottle.

Alessandro squinted as he glanced around the pitlane, nibbling on the straw.

Before I could look away, his eyes met mine.

I was too far to make out the look on his face, but neither of us made any move to acknowledge each other.

"Oi, get your head out of the clouds. We've got work to do," Mark called, catching my attention.

He tossed me the keys, rounding the car to the other side.

"My head was not in the clouds," I grumbled.

My head turned to glance back at Alessandro, only to find him still watching me.

I frowned.

Asshole.

Raising my hand up, I have him a salute that turned into me showing him the finger.

He can fuck off for all I care.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, kid," he smirked, sliding into the passenger seat.

----------------------------------------------

My eyes locked with Dakota's.

My mind screamed at me to look away, but I couldn't bring myself to avert my gaze.

Her long brown was tucked into her race suit, the front strands swaying in the breeze.

She raised her hand and for a moment, I thought she was going to wave.

But of course, this was Dakota Sanchez.

Instead, she flipped me off.

I couldn't help the quiet laugh that escaped my lips at her actions.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Ivan asked.

I jumped, my head snapping towards him.

"Wondering if this race is going to get fucked up," I muttered, turning my attention to the braking analysis sheet in front of me.

"Relax, Dave won't be calling the shots today. It's Daren and I that will be on the radio," he said, a hand on my shoulder.

Ivan was like an uncle to me. He was kind, empathetic, and extremely intelligent. He had the same drive and passion I did, but more on the engineering aspect of racing. He wanted to be the best and bring McLaren to the top.

Daren was my chief mechanic, he too was like a guardian angel sent from heaven. No matter how many times I fucked up the car, he and the crew managed to fix it.

Even with 15 minutes on the clock.

My helmet seemed to suffocate me as I pulled it over my head.

I watched Dakota's car drive past me in the pitlane, done with her warm up lap.

7 minutes left till lights out.

My heart beat in my chest, the sound of my blood rushing through my ears.

I flipped my visor down, but it quickly fogged from my rapid breaths.

I had been racing for almost 16 years now. Ever since I turned 3.

And in all those years, I had never felt like this before a race.

Race days were exciting. Full of thrill and adrenaline.

But as I pulled my gloves on, I noticed something had changed.

My hands were shaking.

And not from excitement.

But from anxiety.

The fog in my mind cleared when Zak patted my shoulder, snapping me out of my daze.

"Good luck out there mate, you got this."

I simply nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

"Time to get in the car," Daren said.

I stepped up to the left side of the car, hesitating for a moment.

Should I be doing this?

I looked up, catching Aaron's curious gaze. He raised a brow at me.

Who am I kidding, of course I'm doing this.

With that, I climbed over the halo and lowered myself into the car.

The vibrations of the car calmed me, despite being trapped in the confined space.

The cars lined up on the grid before the Rolex clock ticked forward.

My anxiety eased as I drove around the track for the formation lap.

It was time to race.

-

C> "And it's lights out and away we go! It's Verstappen ahead of Norris, Perez ahead of Hamilton! As we approach turn 2, the top ten look to go through safely."

M> "And Perez it trying to make his car as wide as possible to keep Hamilton behind."

C> "And now we've got a Safety Car."

I frowned when the yellow flags were waved by the marshals. Despite being in the thick of the midfield, I didn't see any incident happen.

As quickly as it came, the yellow flag was gone and replaced with a green.

C> "Perez is trying to go around the outside of Lando Norris! Perez goes wide as they almost touch!"

M> "And look at that! Hamilton and Bottas swap places as Hamilton loses a place!"

My eyes wandered to the giant TV screen, spotting a Red Bull going off track. The same Red Bull appeared behind me in my mirrors as it rejoined the track.

C> "The Red Bull dueling with Lando Norris as Perez now goes off onto the gravel! He loses 6 or 7 places as a result of that and is now down in 10th.

The radio was silent, a rare occurrence when Dave was my engineer. I was able to focus so much better without the constant buzzing that etched into my skull whenever he spoke.

I had made up 4 places already, now in P9.

E> "Track limits turns 9 and 10."

A> "Copy. How are the tires?"

E> "All good for now. You can push."

I smiled to myself, feeling even more relaxed.

The car seemed fine, no odd vibrations or steering twitches. It gave me confidence to push the car to the limit.

I watched the lap count grow every time I passed by the pit board. A bright neon sign displayed lap 20.

C> "Five second penalty to Lando Norris for forcing another driver off the track. He won't know about the penalty yet, but he may have gotten the double whammy here of being overtaken by Hamilton and getting a penalty as well!"

Far up the road, I could see Lando's orange car dart into the pit lane, followed by a Mercedes.

My tires seemed fine for now so I wasn't worried about boxing any time soon.

E>"Lando has a 5 second penalty for pushing Perez off the track so he will drop back to P4. Try and pick up the pace so we can get you up there as well."

A> "Copy that. Let me know when the pit window is open."

E> "Copy, will do."

Sweat was slowly starting to trickle down the nape of my neck. My fingers felt stiff as I shifted gears.

I had no intention of getting a podium, but I was willing to help Lando out.

It was a team sport after all.

I could hold off drivers from potentially overtaking Lando.

E>"We need you to back up Bottas so Lando can extend his lead. We want to guarantee the podium."

I sighed to myself, going full throttle down the straight. Mercedes had incredible straight line speed and it would be easy for him to catch up to Lando. His P3 was under threat, meaning I had to keep that Mercedes behind for as long as possible.

A> "Yeah, what are his lap times?"

E> "1:21:03. Perez has a 5 second penalty as well for pushing Leclerc off track. Be careful if you're racing hard."

The team was asking me to slow down and defend against the Mercedes. This would allow Lando to gain a bit of ground and increase the gap between them.

That meant sacrificing my tires as well as a part of my own race.

But hey, someone had to take one for the team.

I watched him in my mirrors and for 8 laps, I tried my hardest to defend.

He would get extremely close on the straight, but fall behind in the turns.

C> "Look at that, Moreno is making his McLaren as wide as he possibly can. That's no doubt giving Norris an advantage by widening the gap. A bit of team play going on here."

M> "Of course, as a driver, you never want to hear that on the radio. But racing is a team sport so at some point, you'll have to sacrifice your own race."

At about lap 48, Bottas managed to overtake me and I had to fall back.

E> "Great job, Alé. Box and pit confirm."

I pressed the confirm button on my steering wheel, darting into the pitlane. My tires were gone from all that defending. It was a clean stop, but I was put back on track in 8th place.

A> "I did everything I could there guys."

E>"And it was great, focus on your own race now."

I smiled to myself, pressing down on the gas.

"Holy shit, this boy might just get a podium," Mark mumbled to himself, staring at the screen.

Lando was currently P4 and had managed to get himself impossibly close to the Mercedes in P3. Alessandro had helped him immensely by holding off Hamilton's teammate so Lando could catch up. Now he was mere tenths away from P3.

C>"The McLaren's getting closer here and with a decent exit, is inching closer to Lewis Hamilton. Turn 4 could get very interesting as Verstappen leads from Bottas. This is the battle for the final podium place!"

I sucked in a breath as Lando tried to overtake Lewis around the outside.

Alessandro was stuck in P7 behind Perez's RedBull, but Lando was fighting for P3 with the man himself, Lewis Hamilton.

Lando had almost gone off track trying to overtake and it was clear he was getting desperate.

C>"This time he's managed to keep the McLaren at bay."

"Damn it," I muttered, slumping in my seat.

"No look, he's coming back!" Mark exclaimed, pointing to the screen.

C>"But here comes Norris again at turn 6!"

"Yes! Let's go!" I exclaimed, wiggling in my seat in happiness.

Mark grinned, clapping his hands in approval.

C>" Lando Norris has got Lewis Hamilton and he moves back up into the podium places!"

We could hear the cheers from the McLaren garage as the team cheered for Lando.

There was still 17 laps to go, but the deal looked sealed.

Mark and I were buzzing with energy, both of us ecstatic about Lando's podium finish. The final laps went by quickly and before long, Max was crossing the line as the chequered flag waved.

C>" They came. They saw. He conquered. Max Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix! Valterri Bottas and Mercedes coming home in second!"

I felt goosebumps rise on my skin as I listened to Crofty's commentary as Lando came across the line.

C> "Lando Norris started on the front row, picks up another podium! That's career podium number 4 for Lando Norris."