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Chapter Text

The week has flown by with its excruciatingly long training days and meetings with the team to talk strategy. There are only 4 weeks left until the new race season will kick off which means that there have been no days off for Lewis.

Except for Sunday. The only time of the week where he can clear his head and enjoy his final offseason days. Sundays are usually reserved for Roscoe. Exactly like today.

Lewis and his companion were enjoying the sunny Monégasque weather, strolling about the park idly. He’s put his worries of how the new season will play out on the side and focused on his surroundings - kids playing in the distance, the sun shining between the close knit trees and the gentle breeze ruffling his shirt.

He’s excited about the prospect of travelling again but he’ll always miss this small park that’s become his and his bulldog’s favourite.

He snapped out of his daze when Roscoes’ leash started pulling in his hand. He looked down only to notice that his grip had lightened and the dog that had once been walking at a snail's pace was now running overly excited towards a group of ducks on a patch of grass. Although the ducks weren’t what Lewis was the most worried about.

Close to the birds was a woman taking pictures of them, paying no mind to the large dog coming right at her way. She seems to have just stopped on a run, judging by her activewear and running shoes. Her silky hair was blowing in the wind while she was slightly bending down to get a good angle of the adorable ducks.

“Roscoe stop! Come back!” Lewis tried to get the dog’s attention while starting to run right after him. Instead the woman turned around, now confused by the commotion, only to be greeted by a barking dog speeding towards her.

It all happened in a few seconds. She tried to sidestep backwards but instead knocked into her water bottle that she had previously put down in order to take pictures. She lost her balance and started falling over, just as Lewis had made it to her. He had grabbed her, but it was no use. They were falling together now, and because of Lewis’s quick reaction time, he held the woman closer and twisted himself in order to not fall on her.

It took them a few moments to recover. Lewis felt how his back hurt a little, which was a bad sign nr 1. The other bad sign, he realized, was that he was now lying down, in a public space, with a strange girl. He quickly scanned his surroundings, finding no one around with a camera pointed towards them at least. ‘Thank god, Toto’s not going to have my head,’ he thought quickly before turning his attention to the woman facing him.

She was still in a daze, trying to focus on her surroundings, or rather the person in front of her. Lewis was now staring back, momentarily taken aback by what he saw.

He noticed that the sun behind her head created a beautiful halo which glistened similarly to her eyes. He couldn’t stop staring. Not only that but her frame on top of him felt firm and strong, like an athlete’s. Although, now that he thought about it, she couldn’t have been more than twenty years old.

After gathering her bearings and getting a good look at the person holding her, it finally clicked - the man who had just saved her from a nasty fall was very similar to a certain F1 driver.

“Are you alright?” the man asked, growing worried at the woman’s wide eyes staring back at him now.

Before she could answer him, Roscoe suddenly came over and started licking her face all over, causing her to start giggling while she rolled off of the man. Lewis himself got up, patted down his clothes and offered his hand to the woman still being licked by the bulldog.

“Roscoe come on now, leave the lady alone,” he ordered the dog, who in turn backed away defiantly. The girl watched how the dog, who she now recognised from pictures on social media, made its way back to his owner.

“Here,” he offered his outstretched hand to the woman still on the ground but now looking up at him. She quickly realised that she must look silly to him sitting down like that and decided to get up.

“Thanks,” she said while reaching out her own smaller hand to his bigger one that was now pulling her towards him.

Once she was up she also smoothed her clothes and hair which had gotten a bit tangled up during all of the craziness.

“Are you sure you’re alright sweetie? I’m so sorry about my dog Roscoe,” he said in a calm tone scanning the girl for any injuries.

“I’m okay, please don’t worry,” she responded while giving him a small smile, “thank you for catching me, did you hurt your back?”

“It’s fine, nothing serious,” he said, giving a small smile back while rubbing his lower back.

“Don’t worry I don’t blame your dog, it was just an accident,” she crouched down to pet Roscoe, who let her do it happily.

Lewis looked down at the sweet interaction between his dog and the woman that he realised he still didn’t know the name of. Next to his leg he also noticed her water bottle and phone which he went to pick up. At the same time she had the same idea, causing their hands to meet in the middle.

Lewis could feel a slight electric shock that happened between their touch, or at least he thought he did. The woman confirmed it by looking into his brown eyes with a surprised expression as well.

“Sorry, here,” he picked up the things and they both stood up. She thanked him yet again as he gave them back.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your na-” Lewis tried to ask.

“Oh no, I have to go,” she said as she saw the time on her phone, not hearing what he said, “it was nice meeting you.” She gave one last pat to the top of Roscoe’s head and addressed him: “Don’t scare your daddy like that anymore, okay?” The dog answered with a happy bark. With that she stood up, turned around and started lightly jogging back the way she came from.

Lewis was taken aback by how abruptly she had left, remembering that he still didn’t know the woman’s name. Before she could get any further he called: “Wait! I didn’t catch your name?” She turned around, still running, with a mischievous smile on her face. “Something tells me you’ll find out soon enough.” And with that she gave a slight wave and ran further into the distance.

—————

‘She was right,’ Lewis thought while looking at the large projector in front of him, showing a picture of a very familiar woman he had run into not even a week before. ‘I did find out her name,’ he mused. Although, never in a million years would he have imagined that he would find out this way.

Vanessa. Her name was Vanessa Fleurant. And as Lewis had understood from Toto’s speech, she was about to become his new teammate and the first female F1 driver that the world had ever seen.

The Mercedes team had gathered for an important meeting, now sitting together at a long desk looking at the projector where the new driver’s info was displayed.

She was only 19 years old, racing for France. Her list of achievements and race wins were impressive to say the least. Not only did she come out on top in all of her previous races in F4 to F2, but she also did it while being the only woman on the grid.

“This is huge,” Lewis said in disbelief, “how am I only hearing about her now?” He leaned forward on his chair, eyes full of amazement and curiosity by this newfound information.

“It’s a bit complicated,” Toto tried to explain, knowing that this was the first of many questions that his best driver would need the answers to.

“What I can tell you is that the FIA decided to protect her identity in order to keep the media from interfering and making it harder for her to join F1.”

“Because she’s a woman?” Lewis wouldn’t be surprised at that - he knew what the media was capable of.

‘Partly,’ Toto thought. He imagined the look on Lewis’s face if he would come to find out the real reason for all the secrecy surrounding her. He recalled the memory of Lewis receiving a replica of Senna’s helmet in 2017 for matching his idol’s 65 career pole positions. ‘That surprise wouldn’t even come close to being as unexpected as Vanessa Fleurant’s real identity,’ he thought.

“Yes,” he answered instead.

“Hmm,” Lewis contemplated, “well doesn’t that put her in an even tougher position now? The media will be even more suspicious about nobody knowing where she came from and how she was even able to make it to F1.” Over the years, Lewis has learned how to ignore and deal with what the articles and reporters have to say about him, but for a newcomer like her? It won’t be easy.

“We are well aware of the circumstances. Our team as well as her are ready to face whatever the media has to say.” He glanced around the room then, looking at the press and media officers who gave him a slight nod of understanding of what was to come. “We’ll be announcing her on social media in a couple of days but she’ll make the first appearance during the pre-season conference.”

“Wait, what will happen to Bottas?” Lewis suddenly remembered his current teammate.

“Since Räikkönen and Giovinazzi both retired, the Alfa Romeo team has two open spots. As you’ve probably heard already, the new rookie Zhou Guanyu will join the second seat and the first goes to Valtteri.”

“Huh, doesn’t seem too bad for him then, although it’s still sad to hear,” Lewis looked back on the last five years where they helped Mercedes win five consecutive Constructors' Championships, “he was a great teammate to have.” Lewis considered him a great colleague, not exactly friends, but a teammate who he respected.

“Yes, we’ll be holding a farewell celebration to thank him for his hard work for our team, but more importantly we’re excited to see the performance of Fleurant and what she can accomplish with us.”

“You really have high hopes for her, don’t you?” Lewis asked, wanting to know what it is about her that would make Toto take such drastic steps, even though they’ve been performing well as a team.

“She’s got talent,” the principal said with a knowing smile on his face, “talent that we haven’t seen since you joined F1 9 years ago.”

“That’s a pretty big statement to make,” Lewis joked half-heartedly, “are you sure about this?”

“Do you trust my judgment?” “Of course.” “Good, you’ll be meeting her in a week, we’ll go over the new strategy and changes to the car. That’s all for today.”

Chapter Text

The news was out. And everyone was talking about it.

The official F1 account made the posts on multiple social media platforms, informing that Valtteri Bottas would leave Mercedes and join Alfa Romeo.

People were sad about him leaving one of the current best teams on the grid, and confused as to why that decision was made, since he was performing well and helped Mercedes get the WCC five years in a row.

Not only that - everyone was eager to see who would replace him. The speculations were endless. In just a few hours after the post came out, the headlines read:

“Mercedes protege George Russell tipped for promotion”

“Former Mercedes junior Ocon - a possible reunion”

“Will Lewis want someone less threatening?”

“Is Toto looking for a No.2 or a future No.1?”

People were coming up with all sorts of stuff. It wasn’t often that a top team like Mercedes would announce such changes to their team - and a few weeks before the start of the season at that. People were confused, excited and curious as to what was to come.

No one, however, could have been prepared for the reveal of the new Mercedes driver.

For over seventy years, Formula 1 had been a sport built by men, for men. The roar of the engines, speeding cars, flashy trophies - all carried the weight of tradition and testosterone. And yet, change never asks for permission - it arrives, unapologetic, exactly when no one sees it coming.

And no one saw her coming.

————

She was enjoying such a nice dream. There was sunshine shining down on where she was sitting on a big warm rock next to a very still lake. The sky was clear and no one was around to break the silence, not even wind. It was like the calm before the storm. She wanted to stay there forever. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ignore the constant buzzing coming from her phone for much longer that was bringing her back into consciousness.

She picked up her phone, and to her confusion, her mom was calling, which she answered without much thought.

“Good morning mon chéri,” her mom said, sounding less chipper than usual.

“Morning mama, why are you calling so early?” she asked, after seeing the time on her stand, which read 7 am. She talks with her mom over the phone every day, but usually during the afternoon, or evening, if she had a busier day. “Is something wrong?”

“They announced the news, I wanted to see how you were doing” she answered. It took her a few moments to realize, having woken up a mere minute ago. “Oh,” she thought, “that’s why my phone’s blowing up.” She checked her notifications and caught a glimpse of some of the messages from her coaches who had been with her over the years, congratulating her on the big news.

“I’m sorry I can’t be there with you, you know how my work is,” she said apologetically. Her mom had been working as a doctor for over 30 years now, and her work kept her away most of the time. She still came to support her daughter during her races over the years, but mainly stayed in France and let her daughter travel with her coaches and mentors.

“It’s alright mama, I’ll be fine, you know that,” Vanessa reassured her, “I’ll see you in Bahrain for the first race right?” It was already 2 weeks away, but before that, she would have to survive a lot of media. Thinking of that made her even more anxious than she already was for today.

“Oui, I wouldn’t miss your first race for the world, I know you’ll do great no matter what.” Hearing that calmed Vanessa’s mind - her mother always had the ability to do so. “I’ll talk to you later, okay? You have that meeting with Toto today right, send him my best wishes.” That reminded her that she should start getting ready. “Alright, talk later mama.”

“Bye, my love,” she said back and ended the call. Before Vanessa got up to get ready, she decided to see how the people on social media were reacting to the news. There were already thousands of comments under the official post, saying how great it was to finally see a woman in F1, but also people questioning her abilities and if she was accepted only for the ‘sake of diversity’. Vanessa dismissed those instead and kept scrolling - she wasn’t going to waste her time on others opinions. ‘Let them make their assumptions after they’ve seen me on track,’ she thought. There were hundreds of articles and many sports news reporting, in their words, the biggest news in F1 history. Everyone and their mom was talking about it.

She came to the realization that from this moment moving forward, everything will change for her. There were now a lot of people, especially young girls and female fans of F1, counting on her, by the looks of it. It was a scary thought, but she was ready to show the world what she was capable of.

‘I really should start getting ready,’ she groaned and got out of bed.

————

Vanessa Senna Fleurant knew that she was destined for the racetrack ever since she first set foot on one. The speed of the cars, crowds cheering, teams celebrating - it had been all so exciting for a 2 year old, seeing her first Grand Prix in Brazil with her father.

That same year, her father had taken her karting after her constant questioning of when she could drive like him. Her mother had wanted to wait a few more years but her 2-year-old had been so adamant in her efforts that she had finally given up and allowed it. She had still been too young to drive on her own so she had sat on her father’s lap while he speeded and rounded the corners.

“Are you having fun Princesa?” he had asked with a big smile under his helmet. It had been a while since he last sat in a racecar because of his injuries, but sharing that experience with his daughter had been one of the best things in the world.

“I want to drive faster Papa! I want to race just like you!” she had answered, which brought a small smile on his father's lips. “Speed will come, skill will grow - but never forget: the most powerful thing on the track is your coração,” he had pointed his finger to her heart and looked at her with his brown eyes lovingly, “trust it, drive with it, and you’ll never be lost, even when I’m not always there.”

She never forgot those words, or that day. She had a heart locket, that inside had a picture of them two sitting in the kart together. Her father had gifted it to her a few days before he had died in 2004, saying that his heart was always with her. Since that day, she has always worn it to keep her father close.

Ayrton Senna’s death came hard for everyone - his family, the racing world, and everybody else who knew and loved him. The funeral took place in São Paulo, where Vanessa was born. With over half a million visitors, it was the largest funeral procession in city history. Many prominent motor-racing figures attended his funeral, some of whom Vanessa recognised. That day for her felt like all the joy had been sucked out of the world and everyone around her. It seemed like the whole of Brazil was mourning the loss of such a legendary figure.

Vanessa had been much too young when her father passed. She had realized that his father wasn’t in the best condition, and after asking about it, came to know that it had been the result of a racing accident. She tried to be strong for her mom, who had been devastated and was left to raise a daughter all on her own. But at times, she found herself crying for her papa when she fell down while playing or while experiencing a nightmare. During those moments, she would reach out to her locket and imagine her father with her. For her, it was the only piece of her father that she had left of him.

Staying true to her promise, she wanted to start racing and become a driver, but now, with a new purpose of carrying on a legacy.

Shortly after the funeral and getting other affairs in order, Vanessa and her mother moved to France, where her mother was from, to live with her grandparents for support. It was hard to convince her mother to put her in karting practice - it was all she could talk about, but her mother, who had lost the love of her life to racing, wasn’t so keen on letting it happen again.

It had taken two years of convincing and nagging until her mother gave in and reached out to some of Senna’s old friends and colleagues from the racing world, asking for guidance for her daughter to get started with racing. With the help of some close connections, Vanessa was able to go into karting. It was everything and more than she imagined it would be like. Every time she got in the car, she could feel her father with her, and the happiness that came with that helped her to push more and give her all in order to pass everyone else and come out on top. It was clear that she had talent which couldn’t be matched nor ignored. She had a lot of support from her family and a few of the most trusted friends and mentors of Senna’s that helped her in the following years.

Training was rigorous - the strength and mobility that racing required was immense, and as a result she needed to work harder and put more pressure on her body than all the boys, who due to pure genetics, had it easier. So, to be on the same level strength wise, she worked her body to the bone almost every day, trying to gain and maintain her muscle and endurance, as well as build neck strength. When all the other girls her age were focusing on boys, social media or their looks, she was working towards her dream of becoming a world champion one day.

Unfortunately, intense competitions and long training days weren’t the only things she had to deal with. Being one of the only girl in a male dominated sport, she had to endure a lot of backlash and negativity from other coaches and team managers, who weren’t used to seeing a girl on track. People made all sorts of snide remarks - telling her to quit before it was too late and that she should dream of other, more ‘girly’, careers. Because of that, she was already under a lot of pressure at a very young age. Those closest to her decided that it was best to keep her identity related to her father hidden, in order to not raise even more unwanted attention. She went under her second surname Fleurant and kept away from any media.

Soon enough, she had become a living legend who showed up, raced, won and disappeared. She got along with people, but never made friends. No one really knew her, but knew of her.

At the age of 14, Vanessa made it to Formula 4. Getting to drive a real formula car solidified her belief that this was what she was meant to do. She finished on podiums consistently in her first year and even won in her second season. During that time, Toto Wolff reached out, after noticing and hearing about her achievements. They met, and he offered her a spot in the Mercedes Junior Team program, which after some consideration with her coaches, she took. Toto turned out to be a huge support for her, claiming that he wanted to help her succeed and make it to F1, even more so after learning of her real identity and her dream of carrying on Senna’s legacy. Besides helping with the funding, Toto was a great mentor and someone who she could always lean on with any problems along the way.

Reaching F3, her media attention grew, as she was outperforming her male rivals. Once the media caught wind of her, they started publishing articles, but before it could go too far - the FIA stepped in to restrict the amount of information that could be shared of her. They knew who they were dealing with wasn’t an ordinary driver, so it was decided that these special measures were necessary.

Finally, at 17 years old, Vanessa entered F2. She had even tougher opponents than ever before, but despite that, she made it onto the podiums and again, managed to secure the victory in her second season against all odds.

Now, starting F1, through all her struggles and efforts - having worked twice as hard as everyone else - she gets to prove herself to the world, and show what this sport is lacking. She will be the change that needs to happen - for herself, other women, and - for her father.

—————

In front of Vanessa stood the Mercedes Monaco HQ, where inside she would find the whole team waiting for her to be officially introduced. She had met a couple of the Mercedes team members during her time in the Junior Team, but never the top guys like the strategists or mechanics who would certainly be there for the meeting. And, of course, Lewis Hamilton. She just prayed he wouldn’t mention the awkward incident that was their first interaction. Despite that, she was looking forward to racing alongside him and learning from the 7 time world champion. It was still hard to believe that she would be in the same team with one of her biggest role models - it was kind of intimidating.

Fidgeting with her phone and car keys in hand, she opened the door and made her way to the second floor, where the meeting rooms were. Fortunately, Toto was waiting for her down the hall with a phone next to his ear. “ - Alright, she’ll send them to you later today,” he said to the caller, while spotting the person he was waiting for, “call me if there’s any problems, I have to go now.” He ended the call and turned to Vanessa. “Hey kid, right on time. How are you?” he asked, hinting at the news that had definitely affected her this morning. “I’m good, mom called already, she told me to send you her best wishes,” she said while smiling up at him. Despite her lightheartedness, he could still see that she was fidgeting with nerves. “I don’t need her wishes,” he answered with a grin, “I’ve already got you and Lewis on my team, what more could I wish for.” At that, she started laughing, feeling her nerves slightly fade away. “Shall we go in and formally introduce you?” Toto asked with his hand on the doorknob. “Let’s do it,” she responded, straightening her back and putting a confident smile on her face.

—————

Lewis was sitting at the front of the long table, chatting with Bono. Some of the other team members were also sitting down and talking to each other, others were standing around the room, chatting with a coffee in their hands. It was a nice atmosphere, full of intelligent, hard-working individuals who were excited for the new season and ready to get to work. The view was gorgeous - with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the coast of Monaco and its many yachts along the water.

Toto had gone outside to talk on the phone a few minutes ago. He wondered when his new teammate would arrive and whether or not he should mention their previous run in - it was probably best not to - at least not in front of everyone else. He still couldn’t believe that he had run into his new teammate so randomly like that. Every time Lewis recalled the memory, the image of her piercing eyes came to mind that had left him haunting.

Along the chatter, he picked up on a woman's voice laughing just outside the door that pulled him out of his thoughts. It was a lovely sound, illuminating his senses, but before he could focus more on it, two figures entered the room, both of whom he recognised - although one better than the other. Toto entered the room first, looking serious, and Vanessa right after him. She was wearing Mercedes’ black shirt that looked like it was made for her, Lewis thought. Around her neck she had a beautiful heart locket necklace that shone under the sun. She looked very mature for her age, but her eyes glistened with excitement and wonder.

While everyone else who took Toto and Vanessa’s entrance as a sign to find their seat, Lewis got up instinctively and made his way over to her. He locked eyes with her while reaching out his hand formally. “Hi,” he opted with a smile on his lips, “I’m Lewis, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, trying to come off in a friendly manner. He saw those same piercing eyes widen in surprise and then turn to normal, probably relieved that he hadn’t mentioned their actual first meeting.

His presence was magnetic but calm, Vanessa found. He had his braided hair pulled back into a bun, a few strands catching the sun. She focused on his brown eyes, smiled politely, and went to shake his hand back. For a millisecond, a small electric shock connected their fingertips before their hands could meet. It was so small, but both noticed it, again. “Hi, Vanessa Fleurant, your new teammate,” she said professionally. Before he could respond, Toto chimed in: “Okay, now that we’re all here we can start,” he said while motioning Vanessa to stand next to him, which was Lewis’s queue to find his seat again.

“Team, I would like to introduce you to Vanessa Fleurant, Formula One’s first ever female driver, as well as Mercedes’ new rookie,” he announced with pride while holding his hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

To Vanessa’s surprise, the team started clapping while she stood across from them, feeling her face grow hotter. She wasn’t used to standing in front of about 20 people like that - she had never even given a presentation to a whole class in school because she had been homeschooled. Still, she was grateful for the team's enthusiasm, so she decided to put her nerves aside and address their warm welcome.

“Thank you for having me, I’m very excited to join this team and work with all of you to deliver the best results for this new season,” Vanessa said with a smile on her face, looking at the people sitting down and then to Toto.

“I would say it’s about time that Formula 1 had a female driver, so it’s a great opportunity for Mercedes to be able to have her on our team,” Toto said in a pleased voice, “we don’t have much time for longer introductions, and since most of you already know of her background and details I’ll go into other matters that we came to discuss today,” he said while motioning for Vanessa to sit down with the others, “but I’m sure our team will give her a warm welcome and get to know each other better during the season.”

She took her seat at the head of the table, straight across from Lewis, who gave her a quick smile and then turned back to what Toto was saying.

The team principal turned on a big screen where a presentation opened up with a picture of the new car model. The colour was silver, different from last year’s black, she noticed. “Let’s start with the car - this is the W13, we decided to bring back the silver from 2019.” Vanessa quite liked the silver with the cyan but also thought that Mercedes’ black couldn’t be beaten. “Besides the colour, the engineers have made some very promising upgrades.” He skipped to the next slide, which had some complicated sketches of the car’s structure. “Some changes include significant aerodynamic updates, particularly to the sidepods, front suspension, and rear wing, as well as changes to the front suspension to improve anti-dive characteristics. But the most important change we’ve made is to our tire cooling strategy.” This got Lewis’s attention, since tire cooldown was something that they had been struggling with last year. From the corner of his eye, he also saw that Vanessa was very immersed in what Toto was speaking about.

“The new system utilizes a design involving phase-change materials, or shortly PCMs, within the brake drums to regulate temperature,” Toto explained.

“How does it work exactly?” Lewis wondered.

Another person sitting a few seats away replied to his question: “As the brakes heat up, the PCM absorbs the excess heat, preventing it from transferring to the tires and keeping them within the optimal temperature range.” He must have been the chief engineer, Vanessa thought.

“Exactly, thank you Shov,” Toto said and continued on explaining, “this change will greatly improve the performance on track, helping the tires wear out slower, especially on tracks where the climate is warmer.”

“Have you tested it out?” Lewis asked again. “How much of an improvement are we talking about?”

“Yes, some of our test drivers have tried it on the simulator, and both of you will get to drive the W13 next week,” Toto looked at Lewis and Vanessa, “with all the changes made, we might have one of the top cars of this season.” Toto and everyone else looked very pleased with that.

“That sounds amazing, good job everyone,” Lewis said with a smile, clapping his hands silently in approval.

“Yeah, this seems very promising,” Vanessa chimed in, “I can’t wait to try it out.” She was amazed at what the engineers managed to come up with, looking at the sketches and graphs on the screen that she tried to understand.

Toto turned to Lewis. “Our chances of beating Red Bull are higher than ever. Abu Dhabi was a robbery, this year we will do whatever we can to get you that 8th Championship.”

Lewis went silent for a moment before replying. “Haha yeah, don’t think I’ve given up or something, I’ve got even more determination now than ever before. Besides, we also need that 9th Constructors Championship win as well.”

“You’re right, and we’ve decided that we’ll focus on the constructors points for the first half of the season. Lewis, you know what’s expected. You’re here to fight for wins whenever the car allows it. Vanessa…” Toto turned towards her, his tone softening slightly. “… you’ll need to show consistency - focus on finishing races, learning the strategy calls and adapting to the car and new tracks. No risks that don’t pay off. Every point counts. After summer break we might give you more freedom to fight for positions - it all depends on your performance.”

Vanessa shifted in her chair, the words weighing on her.

“So… I’m not supposed to go for wins?”

Toto’s brow furrowed. “If the opportunity is there, and the numbers make sense, yes. But your first duty is to learn, and to score. Remember, a P6 with the car intact is worth more than a DNF while chasing a podium.”

Lewis finally spoke, voice calm but firm. “I get it, Toto. But don’t box her in too much. She’s quick. Let her fight when it’s right. Playing it safe forever doesn’t make a champion.”

The room fell silent for a moment. Toto exhaled, giving a small nod.

“Fair. We’ll reassess as the season goes on. But until then, stability first. No mistakes. No unnecessary risks. Clear?”

Vanessa met his gaze, her jaw tightening before she nodded. “Clear.”

Toto cleared his throat before he went on. “Well then, do you know what your schedules are for next week?”

Vanessa went to answer but suddenly stopped and remembered - they were supposed to go to the press conference on Monday. She would meet all the drivers and face the media. Her leg started to bounce under the table and her gaze went down.

“Yeah, we’ll fly out to London on Sunday. Monday is the conference and Wednesday is filming,” Lewis answered.

Filming. Right. She wanted to ask about that.

“Emm… I was wondering what the schedule you sent meant by filming?” she asked Toto, putting her other worries concerning the media to the side for now.

“Don’t worry, it’s not interviews. You’ll film the opening title and Grill the Grid. Lewis can help you with those.”

Lewis gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s actually quite fun to shoot those. I bet the producers are excited to have you on set. You’ll do great.”

Vanessa felt herself relax at his words. At least it wasn’t more media.

“Thanks. That actually sounds quite interesting, I’ve always wanted to see the behind the scenes of those things.”

“It’s really cool how they put things together. I’ve always wanted to produce and direct something myself. To tell a story with a certain vision with many other talented people.”

“Really? Anything racing related?”

“There have actually been talks of Hollywood making a movie about Form—“

“Alright guys, you can talk about it later,” Toto cut them off, looking at the time.

Vanessa and Lewis fell silent and faced back towards their team principal, having lost themselves in the conversation.

“Next Friday you’ll be testing the cars in Silverstone. Keep them in good condition. No crashing. If it rains we’ll postpone it to Saturday.”

“We can’t promise not to test the car to its full potential,” Lewis disagreed, “with new changes we need to see how far we can push it.”

“Just get a feel of them at first. Get familiar with it and then go as fast as you want.”

“Alright man,” Lewis answered halfheartedly.

Toto dismissed him and continued on. “This is a very important and promising year. With the new regulations, Red Bull and Ferrari are expected to be strong contenders, but we are the ones who have 8th straight years of successful wins, the best driver on the grid, and a very promising rookie. So let’s keep it up. We’ll have the pre-race strategy meeting for the first race in Bahrain when we get there in two weeks. That’s it for today, enjoy your last weeks off.”