Keep the rain [CL16]

Chapter 21 - Athena's P.O.V.

The Porsche felt amazing beneath me.
I was flying over the circuit, corner after corner, straight after straight.
I had to get acquainted with the power within the car but I enjoyed the adrenaline as I once again sped past the crowd in Bahrain with over 300 kilometres per hour.

The qualifying yesterday went amazing. I started in P5 today and thanks to a good strategy, I managed to fight my way all the way up to P3.

„1.5 seconds to Verstappen." Hank, my new strategist with Porsche told me.
„How many laps left?" I asked.
„5." he answered.

„Copy."

He stayed silent for the rest of the race, letting me do my job. I caught up to Max in almost no time, the RedBull struggling in the straights where my Porsche was definitely advanced. With only two laps left and an early breaking of Max, I overtook him on his left. I sped past the RedBull, focused on not causing a crash while doing so.

Even though Max was still up my ass, he didn't manage to overtake me in that last round, since I managed to stay in the DRS window behind Charles. He has been leading the race for the past 10 rounds and would turn out to be the winner of the first race of the 2022 season.

We crossed the finish line one after the other, Ferrari, Porsche, RedBull. Daniel right behind Max, sandwiching him between the new brand on the grid.

„Nice job guys! What a weekend! Next time we're going for the win." I yelled in the radio line.

„You did great out there Athena. Amazing start into the season."Hank replied.
I drove my car to the pit-lane, got out of it and waved at the fans cheering for me.

I walked over to my team, shaking hands, and patting backs, watching Charles jump over the barrier into the arms of his team. I thanked my helmet for shielding my eyes so that my gaze couldn't be followed to Charles and for covering the smile that formed on my lips.

I knew I should be disappointed that I didn't win this race. But seeing Charles succeed gave me an almost equal amount of joy.

Next I went over to Ace and Ares, both of them hugging me tightly.
„You were amazing." Ares smacked my helmet.

„Jules would be so proud of you. We are so proud of you." Ace added, a bitter smile on his lips. My smile turned bitter underneath my helmet, thinking about how Jules was the one who motivated me and Charles the most with racing. Who would've thought that years later we would be driving with the big ones, sharing a podium. And Jules was the one not witnessing it in person.

A thing that made claws run over my skin, so my body felt like it was being turned from the inside out, was the thought that Jules would've been racing with us right now. If everything went well, all of us would be driving in Formula One right now, fighting each other for the title. But instead, it was Charles's and my job to do it in his legacy.

I shook off the thought, focusing back on the present world, the FIA people guiding me to the cool-down room and later to the ceremony.

Me, Max and Charles went wild on the podium, drenching each other in the champagne.
My heart was filled with joy.
This would be my season.
I could feel it.

After the celebrations and some media I made my way to my drivers room.
Charles stoped me right before I could walk into the Porsche hospitality.

„You were amazing out there." He complimented me.

„Thank you." I smiled at him.

We just stood in the middle of the paddock, just stupidly smiling at each other, a little bit too close for the secret we were trying to keep.