Chase You -1- Formula 1

109. Never thought I'd be the one giving advice

It rained in Mexico. A few minutes before lights out, and during lights out, and after lights out. It poured out of the sky and I didn't see much more than the rear lights of the cars ahead.

The track was slippery, which I already noticed during the formation lap. I started the race on P11, so my position wasn't great with all the other cars surrounding me, with minimal place to go in case of a collision. At least I didn't swerve as much as the guys near me. Even a few laps after the starting moment of the race, the pack stayed close, due to the safety car that had to get out of the pits on lap three as a crash in the back resulted in a yellow flag. Joey claimed a Haas crashed, but unlike the car, the driver was still okay.

I only overtook one car on the first lap, which happened to be my dear friend Pierre. I kinda felt bad whenever I overtook him considering he had a tough season. However, when we were on the track, I managed to push those feelings aside.

With the reoccurring safety cars, I was nothing but bored all race. I guessed that about a quarter of the whole grid had retired by the time I boxed for slicks, nearing the end of the race. It was a risky move, most drivers still used their intermediates, but as the track was drying up I assumed I could pull this off, meaning I'd be much faster. I didn't suck at driving in the wet, frankly, I was damn good at it. The last time it rained this much I scored a podium. Now I knew I wouldn't achieve that kind of result as everyone in the top teams still drove where they belonged; at the front. Valtteri was the only exception. After a disappointing qualifying on his part -crashing in the barriers- he needed to start from the pitlane and he struggled to work his way up on the grid. He was still stuck two cars behind me, as I worked to P8, again behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz. Only after the summer break, he became more and more of a competition, and I despised it. At least Lando retired, good for the standings to say at least, on the other hand, it was my teammate who took him out, so we didn't make much progress.

I crossed the line eight, unable to keep up with the incredibly fast McLaren. I wasn't too unhappy with the result, every point was welcome, which was exactly what I told at the post-race interviews.

It rained when I sat comfortably in the Ferrari hospitality, the raindrops pattering on the windows, the grey sky getting darker as it got later in the evening. I wore my old FDA hoodie, making my appearance not as questionable. At this point, most of the people here knew I'd be driving at Ferrari next season, giving me the full opportunity to speak about it, and share my excitement with them.

"Great race," Seb told me as he sat opposite of me on a different couch, he had a paper cup filled with a dark coffee in his hand and put it down on the table between the couches. Charles sat next to me, but we hadn't spoken much.

"That McLaren guy was a true bother though," I sighed, "I used to have the advantage but something happened and now he's outperforming me." Was I really going to complain about McLaren, sitting in the Ferrari hospitality, as an Alfa Romeo driver? Yes. "I don't even know what I've done wrong for it to happen." I paused for a moment. "Okay, I haven't shown a lot of loyalty towards my team after I got a contract here, but honestly, there is no need for him to steal my points."

"And your best friend," Charles pointed out, chuckling slightly. He stopped when I snapped my head at him, didn't give him a readable expression, and looked back at Seb. I was mainly talking to Seb anyway. "P8 is very good, you should be happy with that."

"I was." I let my head fall back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. "Until I started thinking and now I have decided I'm not happy." I crossed my arms and let out a deep exhale.