LIKE MOST FORMULA ONE drivers, isabel leclerc resides in monaco. with monaco being the only home she's ever known, she never felt a reason to move elsewhere, especially once she entered formula one. half the damn grid lives there, anyway.

unlike her older brother who owned an apartment, she bought herself a house on the outskirts of monte carlo. it was technically one storey with a large enough basement-like area underneath the house that she had turned into her personal gym with an indoor pool beside it. it was peaceful being away from all the bustling streets of inner monte carlo, but it was also lonely. especially when she was forced into house arrest by her pr manager.

the 2022 season was due to kick off in a few weeks, but isabel's main problem was the looming threat that hung dangerously over her head like an axe. in december of last year, she'd been called to sit in a meeting with her pr manager, tori, and alicia, the principal of lamborgini's race team, and she had been given a choice.

quit the temper tantrums with max verstappen or lose her seat at lamborghini.

that alone should've been an easy pick; obviously quit the 'temper tantrums' because isabel's dream had always been racing in formula one alongside her brothers. she was ready to call alicia's bluff because, call her arrogant, but she knew that they wouldn't be able to find anyone as talented as her on such short notice. however, she instead listened because she couldn't afford to let her dream slip away after all the work she'd put in over the years. but there was one problem.

max verstappen was the most irritable person she had ever met.

years and years ago, isabel's brother charles had been more involved with max verstappen when they did karting. max had fucked over charles a few too many times before the monégasque had snapped and pushed max off the track. they'd both been disqualified for that, and years later when they eventually met again in formula one, they'd pushed aside their differences and got over the rivalry.

you'd think the verstappen-leclerc rivalry would have ended there when they reconciled. but it didn't. isabel leclerc was offered a seat in lamborghini's race team a whole year later, and a new verstappen-leclerc rivalry arose, both desperate to prove something.

isabel had to prove herself worthy to be in a male-dominated sport. max had to prove to his father that all the sacrifices and torment had paid off.

it was an absolute disaster from 2019 onwards because of it.

but that's what happens when you mix two complete hotheads who just want to win races.

isabel wouldn't call herself a good person. hell, she wouldn't even call herself a decent person. she was exactly what the media had portrayed her as: a selfish, cold-hearted bitch who couldn't handle losing and especially couldn't handle criticism.

you have to be selfish in order to gain something, right? that was how she'd climbed her way to the top in the first place. but, you know what they say: once you get to the top, you can only go down from there.

her public image was dragged through the mud by no one but herself. she was surprised that her own brother risked his reputation by even wanting to still associate with her. she'd been referenced all over social media as bringing down the leclerc name and being someone who doesn't deserve her position on the grid. unknown to her, charles disagreed with the media; he knew who his sister really was and what had caused her spiral to this point. but even he knew that some things were too far gone for saving.

tori hayes was someone that isabel treated much more than just a pr manager. they had grown close over their years together and had easily become friends, so when tori said she had a plan as to how isabel could even attempt a turn around for her public image, she trusted her entirely; you couldn't sink any lower than rock bottom.

IMESSAGE —

TORI + ISABEL

tori

i've got a plan for when
we're in bahrain. try not to
be too controversial before
then !

isabel

you've got me on house arrest
won't even walk to my letterbox!
love you <3

having absolutely no idea how tori was going to turn this whole thing around left isabel restless. surely it couldn't be anything bad because it wasn't possible to be in a worse position than she's already in.

with a sigh, she pocketed her phone before heading down to her home gym. bahrain was a few weeks away, and she was determined to make that race count.

x

"CHARLES!" ISABEL EXCLAIMED WHEN she caught sight of her brother in the same bahrain hotel lobby as her. excitedly, she dropped her luggage and sprinted over to him. he caught her in his arms with a chuckle as they embraced, "it's been so long!"

"that's because you never visit," charles pointed out as he let go of his younger sister.

"tori had me on house arrest because apparently i'm a problem," isabel's smile was innocently charming as she glanced up at him, and he looked at her with a playful eyeroll.

"you are a problem," he pointed out quite obviously.

"ay! my favourite troublemaker!" the voice of carlos sainz called out as he hurried into the lobby, pulling away from the rest of the ferrari team to go see the leclerc siblings.

"ay!" she echoed him with a smile as she accepted a hug from him. "my favourite ferrari driver!"

charles let out a quiet laugh. "that is such a lie."

"shush," carlos gave his teammate a pointed look over isabel's shoulder before he let go of her. "i'm sensing jealousy."

"you're about to sense me hitting you," charles shot back with an innocent smile that matched the one his sister had given him.

"boys, boys," isabel shook her head, patting their shoulders as she stood between them. "anyway," she changed the subject as she glanced around the lobby. "which teams are staying in this hotel?"

"uh," carlos thought for a moment. "us, yours, red bull and mclaren, i think," he nodded as he had counted them off on his fingers. "mercedes might be, i'm not sure."

isabel couldn't stop her smile from dropping immediately at the simple team name of red bull. they hadn't shown up in the lobby yet so she was hoping to catch up with her team as quickly as possible so that she'd be out of the lobby before they entered. "uh huh, okay," she nodded, giving carlos the thumbs up. "thanks, man," she smiled up at him before reaching up to ruffle charles' hair. "see you later," she said before turning and walking back towards where her team and luggage were.

noah glanced up from his phone and slipped his headphones down around his neck the second that he noticed isabel near him. "we got our rooms if you wanna head up," he mentioned.

"thank god," she offered him a smile as she picked up her things she'd dumped on the floor when she ran over to her brother. "are we near each other?"

"across the hall," he grinned as he handed her a keycard to be able to get into the room. "tenth floor."

"and i'm next door," tori's voice cut in. she had her laptop and a notebook under her arm whilst her phone was in the other. "yep, i'm your babysitter, belle."

isabel had to close her eyes to stop herself from rolling them. "mhm, hotel arrest," she smiled sarcastically, "thanks, mum."

"if i were your mother you'd be six feet under already," tori muttered, pushing her glasses back up higher with the back of her hand. "go get some rest, we'll talk schedules tomorrow morning."