DRIVE TO SURVIVE : EPISODE 2 : Better M̶a̶n̶ Woman

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

"Formula One, is a male dominated sport. It always has been, however, things are starting to change." Will said as he talked to the camera man.

"Alfie Grattan is the first ever big change that has pushed the sport into the right direction. She came up from Formula Three after dominating the two seasons she raced, then moved up to Formula Two, where she was scouted by Fred Vassuer. Now she's in the big leagues, and really making a difference."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH ALFIE GRATTAN

"I've always been told that I'll never make it, because I'm girl." Alfie explained. "But, if I'm honest it's that pissed of feeling I get from stuff like that, which drives me harder."

"I had quite a good upbringing. I had a lot of friends, uh two wonderful parents who loved me very much." She said with a chuckle. However, her face became more stern as she spoke her next words. "But, when I got into karting and said, I want to be a Formula One driver, a lot of that changed."

"All my friends, didn't see the point in as they called it 'driving around in circles' and they didn't understand why I thought I would do well."

"I would, loose focus in class, just thinking about driving and memerising different tracks and how fast I could go down a straight. Uh, did not go down well with my teachers at all. I was told, if I didn't pay attention I would fail at everything and I wouldn't be able to get a job when I was older. When I told them my plans they would literally laugh in my face and say I would have no opportunities at all . "

Alfie sighed."My mum wasn't the biggest fan of me risking my life and my dad didn't want his little girl in danger, so for the first five years of my interest in karting, I wasn't able to do it, because they were trying to turn me away from that sort of lifestyle."

"But then, we moved. Uh, so we moved to King's Lynn and that was where I met George and we both obviously shared the love of racing." Alfie grinned at the memories. "He actually once, took me to his karting track, we snuck of out school and we drove around on the track all day." She laughed with others in the room.

"When my parents found out that I was still hooked on the idea of being a racing driver, they gave in and started saving up for a go kart. I joined the same program George was on and the rest is history, I guess " she chuckled.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIE GOW

"After Alfie Grattan's announcement that she would be joining F1, the world seemed to split into two. Half the fans thought it was a good change, making F1 more of an inclusive sport, and the other half seemed to think that Grattan wouldn't live up to that standard that drivers are expected to have. " Jennie sighed."It was very hard for her to come into the sport, especially with social media accounts, being harrased with messages from people telling her she wouldn't succeed."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
FOOTAGE OF ALFIE GRATTAN ON TRACK

Alfie got into the passenger seat of her Alfa Romeo, whilst her PA, Tony, got in the drivers seat. Two Netflix camera men were also in the back of the car, as to film the interaction between the two.

"Got a panel today." Alfie said sleepily, rubbing her face with her hands.

"Two actually," Tony said apologetically.

Alfie groaned. Tony looked back at her for a spilt second before turning back to the road. "How's the media been?" he asked. Tony knew that Alfie's social media was a hassle, so he wanted to check up on the young girl, hoping the pressure had lifted of her shoulders somewhat.

Alfie shrugged and pulled the team jacket she was wearing around her body more." Not bad. Usual type of stuff nothing I can't handle." The Grattan girl sent her Pa a smile, but it didn't quite reach her ears. Alfie rested her head on the window and closed her eyes, the camera in the back zooming in on her tired figure. When her eyes opened, you could see the faint outline of her eyes were red, almost as if she had been crying.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

"Grattan has made exceptional progress during her time at Alfa Romeo, and her driving just keeps getting better with every race. So, when Alfa announced their driver line up for next year, I think it was a bit of a shock to everyone when they found out that Alfie, wasn't going to return."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH ALFIE GRATTAN

"What was your reaction to finding out about Fred's decision to replace you with Antonio Giovinazzi?" the interviewer asked.

Alfie blinked a few times, before responding. "Pissed."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIE GOW

"When Frederick Vassuer announced that Grattan was being replaced, there was a lot of commotion and the whole F1 fanbase went up in flames." Gow explained with vigorous hand gestures

"People began to research who Giovinazzi was, and they discovered that the two had actually raced together in the past."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
FOOTAGE OF A 15 YEAR OLD ALFIE AND A 18 YEAR OLD ANTONIO AT A KARTING TORNEMANT

A young Antonio was being interviewed by a local journalist. "Antonio can you tell us what happened out there with Grattan?"

Antonio shrugged. "W-well it's not fair you know? She tried to overtake me and I defended myself. The penalty was unnecessary, she didn't give me any room to move." he said, his face stone cold. His father held him by the shoulder and began to walk away with his son at his side, whispering to him as they went.

The reporter turned around and spotted Alfie walking towards a young George Russell and Lando Norris. He quickly caught up to her and asked her the same question he had Antonio. Alfie blew out some air and re-adjusted her cap, before speaking. "Well he tried to overtake me, so I defended my spot, he got infront of me, so I tried to get my spot back, I pushed him, he pushed me but her took me off the track." She said simply.

"That's not how Antonio recalls it."

"No surprised. He's the one complaining about the penalty he had." the girl said, her British accent coming through.

"Giovinazzi described to us that 'You gave him no room' around the corner"

Alfie raised her eyebrows. "Is that what he said?" she shrugged again. "Well if he thinks I didn't give him room the boy can go back and watch the footage, I gave him what was needed, he twitched his steering wheel not me."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

"When you look back at all the statistics, you can clearly see that Alfie has had better results than Giovinazzi, so why would Fred swap the two?" Will pursed his lips together. "That's when the theory's started to come in."

"People all over the Internet were accusing Fred of sexism, saying that he kicked Alfie out because of the fact she was a woman, and replacing her with a, and I quote, 'less talented male racer'. It caused a lot of trouble behind closed doors for Alfa Romeo, as Fred was being investigated by the FIA. "

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH ALFIE GRATTAN

"I'm still not sure of the real reason Fred decided Antonio should have my seat, but I'm not one to pry, I just wanted to focus on trying to see what I could do to stay in Formula One." She said with a shrug.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

"Que entrence for Renault." he said
with a slight smile.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH CYRIL ABITEBOUL

Cyril shrugged, "We had been observing Alfie's preformance throughout her first season in Formula One, and our expectations were blown out of the water." his French accent thick as he spoke.

"Grattan is a very determined driver, and I am very happy to have her with us. I know that she will be a big help in closing our gap to our rivals at Mclaren."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

Will had a slight smile on his face as Alfie's Renault Contract was mentioned. "Alfa Romeo have never been let's say friendly with Renault. Granted they aren't massive competitors, but they aren't exactly best buds. So when it's was announced that Alfie would be moving to the French team, it would have been a kick in the face for Fred."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
PANEL WITH CRYIL ABITEBOUL, FREDERICK VASSUER, TOTO WOLFF AND ZAK BROWN

"Question for Cyril, what was the defining factor that pushed you to offer Alfie Grattan a seat for next year?" the reporter asked.

Cryil's face turned into a slight smirk as Fred shifted in his seat. "Well we have been monitoring Alfie's progress throughout F1 and she has exceeded our expectations. She is a fantastic driver and we at Renault believe she will give us the edge we need to stay ahead of our main competitors."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH WILL BUXTON

"Alfie's move to Renault was exactly the kidnd of thing she needed to prove that her scouting wasn't a fluke, and that she is able to drive just a well as any man on track, which she does."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN HORNER

"She's got sort of that fuck you attitude, that you need in an environment like this, because, if you don't, you'll let yourself be pushed around by other people." Christian said with a shrug.

"Alfie is a big talent in a sea of big talent, so she has to make herself visable, stand out to make herself seen, and therefore catch the eye's of people like us who support their careers, and she's done just that."

DRIVE TO SURVIVE
INTERVIEW WITH LEWIS HAMILTON

"The name Alfie Grattan won't fade quickly, she's going to be one of those names where people hear it and think, oh yeah I remember her, you know? Uh I think she's pushing herself, harder everyday, trying to keep herself her and that's what I think will keep her her for a while. "

hey I'm sorry I took so long to updated, but here's a chapter ✌️

I don't really know if I like this chapter or not...... I wasn't sure how to write an episode of a documentary......

BUT OMG THE GIF I MADE ABSBBSBSBSBS