SATURDAY. FP1 AND FP2 had gone smoothly for isabel yesterday out on the track. unknown to her, alicia and christian horner had spoken to each other before free practice had begun, coming to an agreement that they wouldn't put max and isabel on the track at the same time. the team principals had one thing in mind: cause no problems during the free practice so that nothing would go wrong before saturday and sunday. it had worked out in the end, with both max and isabel having exceptional flying lap times that they were hoping would be similar during the qualifying. 

the third free practice had ended hours ago, and that meant that qualifying was up soon now that the formula two drivers had vacated the circuit.

"good luck, noah," isabel said to her teammate as she began to leave his garage.

"good luck!" he called back.

with the balaclava fitted over her head, she reached for her helmet to slide it on. her helmet was black with the iconic lamborghini logo on the back in the centre, 'leclerc' written under it in tiny, golden font. her number, 52, was painted on the side in a mix of yellow and orange to create the perfect gold that matched the team logo. golden lines ran horizontal along the sides to finish the look, leaving it looking neat and sophisticated. 

it matched her race suit that was currently half done up. the pants of her race suit were black two, thin golden stripes running down the outsides of them. the top half was the iconic gold with thin black lines on the sleeves. the logo was imprinted where her heart was, and 52 was stitched into the opposite shoulder. 

quickly zipping up the rest of her race suit, isabel got into her car and allowed for her team to make the final checks to it. the mechanics unzipped the tire warmers, and at the sight of it, isabel's adrenaline began to spike. go for a good qualifying, she told herself internally, go for pole.

"you ready to go?" harry asked as he stood beside her car. 

"definitely," isabel couldn't help but grin from under her helmet. she was in her element. flipping the visor of her helmet down, she felt trapped in a bubble of comfort. it was just her and the car and nothing else mattered. 

"go get 'em," harry pat the top of her helmet before walking back over to where alicia and the rest of the team were.

x

"HOW WAS THAT?" ISABEL asked as her team once she pressed the radio button on the steering wheel. she'd so far passed q1 and q2 with flying colours. noah hadn't been so lucky: his tires had locked up around a corner and sent him spinning in q2, landing him just in the elimination zone with p11. 

"p4, belle," harry's voice echoed in her ears. "30.7. order is leclerc, verstappen, sainz, you."

"fuck," isabel muttered, her radio still on. she was incredibly proud of her brother for earning p1 so far, but she wasn't going to think about it further until after the session ended. "how much time have i got?"

"two and a half minutes until the session ends. i advise you go again."

"copy that," isabel disconnected her voice from the radio and spent the next lap warming up her tires until she hit the line again. she had under two minutes to nail a perfect flying lap. in the meantime, she had to hope that no one else was going for a lap better than her. 

"come on," isabel flicked her gears up higher until she flew past the finish line. as soon as she was past, she began to slow and hit the radio button, "that one?"

"p3!" harry cheered, "30.683," he purposefully neglected to tell her that max had gotten 30.681. "order is leclerc, verstappen, you. well done!"

isabel pushed down her irritation that max had just been able to push her out of the p2 spot. "fuck yeah!" she instead celebrated, slowing down to complete an in lap. "thanks, harry."

"no worries, kid, complete your lap and bring it back in."

x

THE SECOND ISABEL WAS out of her car and had her helmet off, she sprinted over to where her brother was being spoken to by a woman with a microphone and jumped on his back. charles was quick to catch her, his arms linking under her thighs to hold her up. he stumbled forward a little at the sheer force, but managed to catch himself with a laugh. 

the press had no in between. they either wanted to see isabel lose her shit or they wanted to see the cute, childish way she was with her older brother. the fact that they were recording one of those options right now was like christmas for them.

"i'm so proud of you," isabel wrapped her arms around his neck from behind as she clung to him. 

"i'm proud of you, belle," charles grinned as he attempted to look back at her.

the blonde woman with the microphone was looking extremely pleased. "ah, isabel," she said, "we were looking for you next, but now that you are here . . . how incredible is it that you both managed to secure great positions for tomorrow's race?"

"really great," charles spoke first. "getting pole is a great advantage for tomorrow, and i'm very happy that isabel will be starting strong tomorrow. she deserves it," he then quickly added, "as long as i beat her, of course."

"aw," isabel pat the top of her brother's head. "i'm obviously very happy for charles, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to do better than him."

"of course, of course," the woman nodded, "your rivalry tomorrow is certainly going to be a display!" she looked up at isabel, "speaking of rivalries, how are you feeling about missing out on p2 by two thousandths of a second? it was intense for us all watching."

isabel tried to hide her confusion, but charles had felt her tense. two thousandths of a second— that has to be a fucking joke, realisation hit her. she slid off her brother's back and pulled off her gloves. "two thousandths of a second? wow," she whistled, "well, i hope he makes those two thousandths count tomorrow."

quickly giving her brother a side-hug, isabel turned away from the camera and walked back down the pitlane towards her garage.

x

BEFORE SHE KNEW IT, race day had arrived. isabel had managed to fake feeling ill after qualifying yesterday so that she didn't have to sit at the same table as max and talk about qualifying results. kimi räikkönen and her shared the same hatred for anything press related, so before his leave from f1 at the end of last season, they would instead fake an illness and go hide on his yacht until it was all over. their pr managers had never found out about it, so that was a plus. this year, however, she hid in her driver's room and played subway surfers since there was no yacht. 

the race was due to start soon. it was a night race, something that isabel enjoyed since it made everything light up so much brighter. the artificial lights could be blinding, but there was just something about the atmosphere of a night race that made isabel ecstatic to take part in them.

time blurred by quickly, her body on autopilot until she found herself sitting in the car and rolling out of the pitlane. a formation lap later and she was parked directly behind her brother on the grid. 

in the corner of her eye, she could just see max verstappen's head turn to look at who he was starting with despite the fact that he was already aware. holding her stare forward at the back of charles' car, isabel refused to entertain him by looking in his direction. first race of the season and she already could feel that it was going to be a shitshow, her races normally were.

as soon as the man waved the green flag in front of them on the grid, isabel's eyes flickered up to the where the lights would show up. one by one, all five lights illuminated. she took a deep breath when they were all glowing red, and as soon as they extinguished, she took off.

"brand new season; brand new dawn for formula one. it's the bahrain grand prix. and it's lights out and away we go!"

just get around the corner before anyone shows up, isabel thought to herself, defending her position from carlos who was starting to push up from behind her. turn one during the first lap was the one thing that isabel couldn't stand about racing. she'd been involved in too many incidents that meant she had to pit early and fight harder for a better position later on. once she was around that turn she could breathe easy and distance herself from the chaos behind her. 

lap seventeen. charles had dropped from p1 to p3 as isabel moved from p2 to p1 and max had moved up into p2 as he chased her down. 

sparks began to fly drastically as max managed to overtake isabel just before she could reach turn one. her face scrunched up at the sight of him in front of her once again but she followed behind him closely, waiting for a gap to open up. luckily the drs zone was just in front, so, as soon as she got to it, she enabled it and drew wide from max. as they came up to turn four, isabel slid in front of him before he could complete the turn. "fuck yeah," she grinned.

lap eighteen. max had been behind isabel for a whole lap, and she was waiting for him to strike again. she'd kept the space around her well defended for the time being, and by the way he was driving, she could tell he was getting frustrated. just as they were about to make it through turn two, he enabled drs again, overtaking her by a quarter of car's length.

once again, just like the lap before, isabel had drs and used it to bring her car up beside max's, forcing him wide as she drove around turn four before pushing back directly in front of him.

"nicely done," harry's voice came over the radio, "keep up the pace."

lap fifty. after four laps with the safety car after pierre gasly's car overheated and caught fire, the green flag was waved and they were finally able to get back into the race. max had this awful habit where he liked to push whoever was in front of him forward after the safety car ended, and so isabel scoffed when he did it to her before taking off well in front of him. he took the corner too tightly and ended up losing pace, leaving carlos to battle him for p2.

lap fifty-four. isabel had dropped down to p2 with max fighting for dominance ahead of her. just as she was about to flick her gears higher, she noticed that max's car began to slow. "huh," she muttered, glancing back into her mirror and noticing that both ferrari drivers were behind her. 

she couldn't help but smile when max slowed even further, enough for her to overtake him and for the rest behind her to do the same. she didn't overtake, however, without kindly holding up her middle finger to him as she passed. "that's for almost puncturing my tires five times, dickhead."

"isabel, your radio's on," harry said, but even he sounded amused. isabel could only chuckle to herself as she disconnected herself from the radio, slightly amused at the fact that millions of people had just heard and saw that interaction. tori probably wouldn't be too happy about it, but that didn't matter as of right now.

lap fifty-seven. last lap. an ongoing battle between isabel and the ferrari boys had been taking place for the past three laps. the leclerc siblings were battling for first place, but with the tactics that charles was pulling out, isabel knew she wouldn't be able to catch him in the sprint finish. instead, she focused on defending against carlos. 

laughing to herself, isabel couldn't help but cheer on her brother in front of her as he swerved from left to right in a celebratory manner. she crossed the line barely a second after him with carlos behind her. 

"that's p2!" harry cheered, "that's a podium, kid! top ten is leclerc, you, sainz, hamilton, russell, magnussen, noah, bottas, ocon, tsunoda. twenty-four points!"

"thank you, harry!" isabel smiled as she slowed her pace. "let's fucking go!" after completing a slow lap around, she made it back into the pits where she parked just beside her brother's ferrari. 

as soon as she was out of the car, isabel tore off her helmet and dumped it on her seat. unzipping her race suit, she let it loosely hang off her hips and left her gloves in her helmet. the second that carlos parked in his designated spot, the three drivers all huddled together in what was a sweaty group hug, but none of them minded, all too happy that they had gotten a podium together. 

"i kicked your ass," isabel grinned up at carlos as she embraced her brother and her best friend.

"and i kicked your ass," charles cut in. he pressed his palm to the side of her face so that he could pull her head closer to his own and kissed the side of her head softly. "proud of you, ma petite fleur."

"charles," isabel rolled her eyes as she quietened her complaining, "i'm not seven anymore." the term little flower had been one that her two older brothers — and for some reason, her younger one — had called her as kids since she was the only girl. the nickname had stuck much to her dismay, but she couldn't deny that it would sometimes manage to make her smile. 

"you look seven," carlos added, earning a playful shove from the girl in response.

x

CHARLES WAS PRACTICALLY BOUNCING off the walls as they stood on the podium. a ferrari cap now covered his and carlos' hair as they bounced around excitedly, spraying champagne all over each other. isabel couldn't help but laugh and join them, making sure to attack alicia with the champagne before she was finally caught by carlos, who she had been escaping for the past two minutes. his arm wrapped around her waist from behind to keep her grounded as he handed his bottle to charles. "got her!" he grinned before lifting isabel up and tossing her over his shoulder. 

"no!" isabel squirmed as she tried to escape. no matter how strong she was, carlos was clearly stronger as he held her down. "charles! you better not!" her voice broke with giggles when he approached her with both bottles of champagne. 

"you got it in my eyes," charles reasoned, "this is payback."

isabel could just spot her younger brother, arthur, laughing out in the crowd of people below the stage. she managed to flip him off for not helping before she was completely doused in champagne. "oh mon dieu," she gasped, bumping her fists against carlos' back. "you are evil," she grumbled as the cool, sticky champagne dripped down her.

"love you, belle," charles handed one of the bottles back to carlos as he finally put isabel down. she was completely drenched in alcohol, the liquid making her face shine under the artifical lights. this was one of the only times she had been this genuinely happy up on a podium, and it was all because a certain boy had succumbed to a dnf a few laps short of the finish.

x

THE WORST PART OF getting a podium? the post-race press conferences. those you couldn't avoid. at least she was sitting at the desk with carlos and charles. isabel had zoned half of it out until she heard her name being mentioned once again. the questions were the usual ones of 'how did you feel?', etc, as well as bringing up the fact that the siblings were on the podium together, and more shit that she'd probably gave bullshit answers for.

"isabel, incredible race by the way," a man said as he stood up from his chair. 

"thank you," she voiced with a tight-lipped smile.

"no one's touched on this yet," his words made isabel tighten her grip on her clasped hands under the table. "but we saw towards the end of the race that you had a celebratory moment when max verstappen had to retire."

"i did," isabel nodded, not seeing a reason to deny it whilst wondering what the question could possibly be.

"i was wondering if you at all thought that was harsh?" her mouth dropped open at what he had said. beside her, charles even tensed. "i mean, he isn't a terrible driver . . . was it possibly jealousy?"

in her peripheral vision, isabel could see tori facepalm. she couldn't control her mouth, her vision was tainted red at the mere assumption. what could i possibly be jealous of? she thought.

"if you had heard me over my team radio like thousands of other people did, you would have heard that he tried to shove me off the track five times that race," isabel crossed her arms over the desk as she leaned forward in her chair. "i never said that he was a terrible driver because that would be false, and i certainly am not jealous about anything to do with him when he clearly can't have a fair fucking race."

isabel wouldn't realise until her cooldown that she'd fucked herself over further with the press. but right now, she was fuming. 

"fair enough," the man continued, but there was a look in his eyes: he knew he had hit a spot within isabel. "but you can't help but understand why many think this, correct? you are the only female in this sport, and—"

"fuck you," isabel spat as she stood up from her chair. the chair slid back until it hit the backdrop behind her. she laughed in disbelief. "just because i don't have a dick doesn't mean i can't be a good fucking driver." without another word, she pulled the mic pack out from around her neck and dropped it on the desk before walking out of the conference. 

charles sighed and looked at the man pointedly. "that was very unnecessary of you," he stated. 

"and very sexist," carlos added, taking off his own mic and standing up to leave.

isabel didn't stop walking until she was navigating through the pitlane to get back to her garage. however, things were never that easy. to get to her garage, she had to walk past red bull's and ferrari's . . . and a certain dutch driver had just walked out of his with his bag slung over his back.

"fuck sake," max muttered, but she had heard it as she passed. she stopped just near him. "nice conference," he said when he saw that she wasn't moving.

"yeah, i'm sure you loved that it was all about you," isabel said darkly. that was the thing that she hated the most. almost all of her interviews and press conferences were hardly ever about her, they somehow always managed to make it about max, even if he wasn't present.

"you're right," max nodded, "i did."

the fucking ego, she rolled her eyes. "i guess you needed some kind of reassurance that you're still being thought about after you didn't finish." isabel began to walk away from him.

he lifted his middle finger to her with a, "fuck you." she reciprocated his actions and added a sarcastic wink in there before turning on her heel and walking into her garage to get her things.

luckily for her, alicia had already left the garage and was nowhere in sight. unluckily for her, tori had just walked into the room.

"there's going to be a meeting tomorrow morning," tori didn't bother with reprimanding her friend right now. she was far too tired for that. "eight in the morning, don't be late."