THERE WERE THINGS THAT did not make sense. a lot of things

for one, why had teleportation not been invented yet? isabel was sick of travelling by plane almost every weekend. as much as she enjoyed racing, she would rather not spend hours upon hours in a metal box and then suffering from jetlag because of it.

another thing was how people didn't believe she was good enough for the motorsport series she had spent four years in . . . and the rest of it that she had spent longer racing. it's not like she almost won a world championship because she paid her way to the top. it's not like she had more podiums and wins than some drivers that had been racing years longer than her because she forced her way into the scene. and, more specifically, it's not like she would up and quit if she paid so much money to drive in formula one. that wasn't how that worked.

and another? how she had gone from not being able to be in the same room as max to spending most nights sleeping beside him. how they had gone from tense silence to comfortable silence. how she could open up to him and he would listen. how he let her drive without feeling the need to argue much anymore. how he trusted her enough to sit in the passenger seat . . . and how she trusted him with the same thing. how he had gotten out of his fucking car and risked dnfing his home race just to make sure that she didn't die in zandvoort. she couldn't find an explanation as to how they had gone from wanting nothing to do with each other to letting their lives intertwine willingly . . . but then again she wasn't sure she wanted an answer.

and finally, how the fuck she had managed to score herself a possible 2023 seat. she hadn't opened the email yet, but it didn't make sense. every team was finalised for next year. there was no room for her, so surely it was a mistake.

red bull had max and checo. ferrari had charles and carlos. mclaren had lando and oscar. alpine had pierre and esteban. mercedes had lewis and george. alphatauri had nyck and yuki. aston martin had fernando and lance. williams had alex and emilia. alfa romeo had zhou and valtteri. haas had kevin and nico. lamborghini had logan and noah. that was a full grid. surely there was a mistake.

"the longer you stare at it, the longer you won't find out," max said obviously as he watched her stare at her laptop in his hotel room in abu dhabi.

"wow, aren't you insightful," isabel retaliated as if what he said had been offensive. he just chuckled and turned off his phone.

"belle."

"what?"

"stop giving me shit and come here," he tapped his thigh, so isabel sighed and gave in. she huffed as she sat down on his lap, arms crossed over her chest.

"you suck."

"thanks," max drawled, "much appreciated. okay," he reached over to grab her phone and handed it to her. "why are you hesitating? this is what you wanted, right?"

she made a noise that bordered a soft whine, "because i don't want to get my hopes up. everyone has finalised their lineups already."

"look, isabel," his voice was a little firmer this time. "you know i adore you, right?" and when she nodded, he continued, "but stop being a stubborn bitch and open the email."

déjà vu hit her like a truck. when she was in his bed beside him in monaco and stressing over quitting lamborghini.

"you're so mean to me—" her english trailed off into fast, unintelligible french when he jokingly tried to unlock her phone by holding it up in front of her face. all he picked up from it was 'mon amour' and his cheeks tinged pink because he at least knew what that meant.

"i don't speak french," he shifted her on his lap so that she was mostly facing him now instead of sitting sideways.

"i called you stupid and a bunch of other things," she pressed a sweet kiss to his lips with a charming smile.

"of course you did," she shook his head with a chuckle. "open it when you're ready. i'm right here."

"ready for my disappointment when it's a joke?" isabel snorted and unlocked her phone.

"you're so negative."

isabel dropped her head down until her forehead was pressed against max's chest. his vision was obstructed from the phone, so she finally pressed on the email that tori had forwarded.

childishly, isabel had to stop herself from letting a giggle slip at who the email was from. "it sounds like one of those funny kahoot names."

max, puzzled, paused. "a what?"

"i'll show you later," she waved off. the email stared back at her, mentioning the usual greetings and—

"holy fuck!"

max didn't even react, waiting for her to elaborate.

"max, max, max, max, max," she mumbled, her hand coming up to cover her mouth when an odd emotional feeling washed over her. the screen started to blur.

"not sad tears, right?" max's eyes widened as he lifted her chin, noticing how watery her eyes had gotten. "oh god."

"i don't know," isabel breathed, the email staring back at her. "it's— it's— it's real," she managed to say. "they are not fucking with me . . . but it does not make sense."

MAIL —

FORWARDED FROM TORISMANAGEMENT TO ISABELECLERC

good morning, isabel leclerc and management team,

we are here to request setting up a meeting between us and yourself to talk about a one-year contract with our team in the event of a current emergency. if you could reply before wednesday it would be much appreciated so that we can schedule a time.

sorry to bother you at this hour of the morning, but we hope to hear from you soon! below you will find our contact details attached.

kind regards,

mike krack, aston martin aramco cognizant f1 team.

"ASTON MARTIN . . . BUT THAT means either fernando or lance are not racing then," isabel said once max scanned through the email full of details. she caught sight of 'sudden emergency' again and her heart stopped for a moment. "i just saw them yesterday and they were fine, what if—"

"instead of overthinking it," max cut her off gently, "message them. it's no use panicking, hm?"

"true," isabel opened up imessage and firstly messaged fernando. she was a lot closer with him than she was with lance, even though her and lance were always friendly, it was easier to message fernando first. if he didn't know, she would then message the canadian.

IMESSAGE —

NANDO + BELLE

BELLE

ciao ciao please tell me you
are alright

asap

please

ily nando <3

it took twenty minutes of overthinking on the balcony while max made them a fruit salad before he replied.

NANDO

hi belle

no i am okay

why?

BELLE

bc i am hearing from your fucking
team at EARLY hours of the morning

and that is not normal

OH you are talking about that

lance said i could tell you

yesterday he had to go to hospital
because he was in a bike accident

but i just saw him yesterday and
he was fine how the fuck does
that happen????

he goes for a warm down ride after races

i do not know fully what happened yet but
he got x rays done asap and he has broken both
wrists

fuck

which means he cannot drive for a while

so when i went to go see him we talked and
decided to bring up your name to the team
to see if they would sign you to replace him

i guess they went through with it :)

holy shit this is awful

please tell lance that i send
my regards and that i will come
see him when i can

i will message him anyway but

of course, belle !! i will see you
in abu dhabi 💙

IMESSAGE —

LANCE STROLL + ISABEL LECLERC

ISABEL LECLERC

you do not need to reply
to this but hi

fernando told me what
happened and im sorry
youre going through that

i know we are not that close
but if you need anything please
reach out ! i'll come see you
when the season is over if you
are okay with that

get well soon 💛

x

ISABEL DID NOT MENTION the email she recieved from aston martin to anyone but max and tori because nothing was confirmed.

a weird feeling had bubbled up in her chest at the fact that lance and fernando had, together, decided to put her name forward as a possible replacement. and the fact that aston martin was considering it. even if it wasn't confirmed, it made her feel warm and invited and loved for once by a team that wasn't even hers yet and may not even be. but, god, it was a feeling she had never once experienced, not since she was at prema in her teenage years. the first two years at lamborghini had been good at first but never to the point where she felt wanted by them, just valued enough to bring in the points and restore the former glory of the team.

she could already imagine how chaotic it would be for aston martin to announce that they had to make changes to their team and instead of signing one driver, they were signing two: a double world champion and a problematic girl who many were happy to hear didn't have a seat for 2023 onwards.

and, if she was racing with them, as much as she would be grateful for the opportunity, she was hoping that they had fixed up their shitbox of a car with all the data they had collected from four-time world champion sebastian vettel. but pair that knowledge with fernando's, another world champion's, insight and isabel's high level of car expertise? that was enough to create a fucking good car.

despite what many thought, lance was a fantastic driver who was overshadowed by the fact that his father owned the team. it was almost as if people forget that he had been in formula one for a long time and had strived to do his best with whatever he was given. in regard to that, isabel felt like she was stealing his seat from him but then again, he had been the one who put her name forward despite them not being that close. of course fernando also did and sebastian would have also had he been there, but lance had. it meant more coming from lance because this was his seat that he was happy to pass to her for at least the year.

and that feeling of being wanted? yeah, that felt fucking good.

IT WAS WEDNESDAY MORNING and that meant one thing: it was the day she scheduled a meeting with aston martin in their conference room.

her nerves had kicked up a few notches to the point where she had struggled to sleep tuesday night. she had fallen asleep beside max when they were watching the first season of peaky blinders ( because isabel was shocked that he hadn't at least heard of it before ), and so she had gone back to her hotel room on the next floor up at three in the morning so she did not disturb him.

at five o'clock, she woke up again and went down to the hotel gym.

at seven o'clock she got back to her hotel room and showered.

at eight o'clock, she left the hotel and drove towards the track with the aim of spending time on the simulator once she got into the lamborghini motorhome.

and at two o'clock in the afternoon, she would be sitting in a meeting with mike krack.

ISABEL spent four hours on the simulator before deleting all the data it collected from her racing, like she did every time she used it now, and leaving to get ready for the meeting. she wasn't planning on leaving any spare data around that they could pull from her racing the sim because quitting a shitty team was one thing, but having them tell her they were going to fire her anyway if she didn't quit was unforgiveable. isabel wanted to watch the team suffer, whether she was still racing next year or not. she knew noah and logan didn't deserve that, but she wanted to watch the team crash and burn after having her no longer race.

"NANDO, MY FAVOURITE," ISABEL hugged fernando tightly the moment she saw him in the aston martin lounge. she didn't think he would be at the track today, but it appeared that he also had the ends of business with his new team to sort out before the end of the season.

"hey, isabel," he returned her hug before pulling away, his smile its usual charming. "you feeling good?"

i am nervous as fuck, thank you for asking, she thought, but instead replied with, "absolutely. yes, one hundred percent. of course i am."

fernando chuckled, "no need to hide it from me. you will do great! we spoke very highly of you."

isabel frowned a little at that because she thought back to lance, "how is lance? is he doing okay?"

he shrugged, "the last i heard, they were talking about surgery. i think they are going to do more scans and all that."

and then sebastian appeared. apparently the aston martin motorhome was busy on a wednesday.

"did i miss something?" sebastian smiled warmly as he approached the two, sliding his sunglasses up onto the top of his head. he had left brazil sunday afternoon and was therefore in the dark about his current teammate and fernando mentioning isabel's name to the team. all he knew was that lance had gotten into an accident and wouldn't be able to race in abu dhabi.

"just sorting out business," isabel returned his smile.

"sorting out—" sebastian's eyes widened, "oh my god. if you are racing," he gestured to fernando, "and you are here . . ."

"i think he is rebooting like a robot," fernando whispered to isabel, her bit her cheek to stop herself from laughing.

"he will start beeping any second now," isabel whispered back.

"i do not beep," sebastian interjected, his gaze finding isabel's. "are you racing next year, belle?"

isabel shrugged, "give me one hour and i will be able to give you an answer."

sebastian went to say something more when fernando interrupted, "i will fill you in while she is gone," he clapped sebastian's shoulder, "come on, old man, you are going to make her late."

"you are older than me!" sebastian exclaimed as fernando started to lead him away. over his shoulder, he called, "good luck!" to isabel before being dragged off to get filled in on the gossip.

IT TURNS OUT, SITTING in meetings are not isabel's thing.

she can put on a confident façade easily and smoothly, but feeling that confidence when you are sat in front of a team principal with a proposal? yeah, the confidence doesn't carry over.

it was easy for her to sit with one leg crossed over the other, leaning back in her chair as if nothing in the world bothered her. she could hold a gaze with a look that screamed power and body language that could rival a queen sitting atop her throne. it was easy to hold a facade after years of needing to look like the ultimate bitch so people didn't undermine her or take advantage of a single visible weakness. it was too easy.

but internally? that was where she still struggled. she was an emotional trainwreck of normally anger and frustration outbursts, but as of recently, newer emotions tangled up in that web and added more fuel to the fire. the tense anxiety that she hadn't felt in years had swarmed back to her as if it were bees and she was covered in pollen in the past two years. it was anxiety laced with emotions she hadn't felt ever since she lost the people that built her up from nothing.

anxiety ate her alive as she sat across the desk from the aston martin team principal, but she wouldn't dare let it show. she never did. she would rather it eat at her insides until nothing was left than let a single sign of weakness show on the outside.

"i am glad we are having this meeting," was the first thing mike said to her that was away from the quick small-talk of asking how they were and anything else to break the ice. "thank you for considering the offer."

"thank you for the offer," isabel's voice laced with gratitude. "i am sorry about lance. it must be difficult on the team right now," the way she was phrasing it made it sound like a lot more had happened than him breaking his wrists, but wrists were some of the most important parts of the body when it came to racing. having just finalised his contract's details ahead of the next season, it was difficult for something like this to happen now.

"which is why lance put your name forward, along with fernando when we last spoke," mike nodded. "as soon as we found out the extent of his injuries, he was first to put you forward for the 2023 season instead of us looking for a rookie driver."

"can i ask a question?" when mike nodded, she continued. "would you have signed me yourselves if lance and fernando did not speak of me?"

mike did not hesitate in answering. "yes, we would have, but we would not have been this instant about the contract decision. however, it is undeniable that you are very talented and so we wish to draw up a one-year contract with you if you will accept."

isabel withheld a smile at that information. someone wants me, she thought, undertones of happiness threatening to take over her face. a team fucking wants me. "can we negotiate, though?" isabel countered his offer. "because i have a few conditions," she was grateful for what they were offering, but now it was her turn to add onto what she wanted under her contract.

"if it is suitable, we can make it work."

this time, isabel did smile. "if you sign me, i bring my race engineer and my pr manager with me."

mike cracked a smile, "we can arrange for that," he agreed. "now, i assume we are alright to go through the rest of the contract?"

isabel took a breath, the ghost of a smile never leaving her lips, "we are. we definitely are."

x

TWITTER — private accounts !

belle éclair 💗🔒| tiinkerbellle

💚

replies . . .

sharl 🔒 | lordperceval
what does this mean
|
|
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belle éclair 💗🔒| tiinkerbellle
none of your business
|
|
|
arthur 🔒| thebestleclercever
belle what does it meannn
|
|
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belle éclair 💗🔒| tiinkerbellle
arthur i will message you <3
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sharl 🔒| lordperceval
what the fuck

max 🔒 | notsidthesloth
you did it!
|
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sharl 🔒| lordperceval
did what

kimi 🔒| user12363727483627
🥳🥳

lance 🔒| lancerun
💚



seb 🔒| everyonesfavourite5
💚💚

x

INSTAGRAM — ISABEL.LECLERC

isabel.leclerc: its sebs last race week if you see me crying no you dont

comments . . .

user1: its your last race week too though :((

user2: belle are you trying to distract us with your emotions or smth bc the third photo- smth is not right
↳ user3: nah its obviously just because shes seeing seb and thats his team

sebastianvettel: i love you always isabel ❤️
↳ isabel.leclerc: seb you cant do this to me i will cry
↳ isabel.leclerc: but i love you too ❤️
↳ user4: im going to miss them together sm wtf 

user5: its also YOUR last race week ????

lance_stroll: 💚

fernandoalo_oficial: 💚💚

user6: what is going on

user7: i dont want seb to leave isabel chain him down do not let him leave
↳ isabel.leclerc: i have sobbed all week how do you think i feel
↳ user8: were you like this when kimi left
↳ isabel.leclerc: there is footage of me on the ground outside the alfa romeo motorhome begging kimi not to leave user8
↳ user9: shes not kidding. kimi literally stepped over her too user8 

user8: seb you cant leave aston martin needs you now
↳ user9: yeah i wonder what theyre going to do about lance
↳  user10: it would be smart if they got isabel in his seat
↳  user11: nah they wont do that i doubt AM wants to deal with her bullshit

noahnichols99: enjoy your last week with us belle ily
↳ isabel.leclerc: ily more
↳  user12: i am EMOTIONAL i do not want this duo to split

user13: isabels entering her wag era officially after this week

user14: mark my words one day mercedes and red bull will be fighting over this girl. theres no way anyone lets her go this easily 

x

ONE THING THAT MAX didn't like about isabel was the fact that when she got excited at really early hours of the morning, he didn't get to sleep in. 

granted, he couldn't really complain too much about it considering he chose to stay the night in her hotel room instead of his own, but still.

in moods like that, she could be completely ready for the day before max even registered what day it was. he also had the feeling that he would never get used to it. 

"get up."

"fuck off."

"get the fuck up, it's nine," isabel huffed, crossing her arms as she stood beside his side of the bed. because it was a night race, it meant that sleeping in was an option, but thursday media days usually ran at the same times as they normally did. "and i am bored. and the news is being released in half an hour so get up!"

"mhm," max groaned, covering his face with his hands as he tried to combat the sun. of course she opened the fucking curtains, he sighed. "can you calm the fuck down?"

"no."

". . . i expected that," max sighed a little louder this time and sat up. "okay, i'm up."

"good," isabel smiled brightly at him before plopping down onto the end of the bed and picking up her phone. "this weekend is going to be so fun, i have so many ideas."

"oh really?" max yawned as he sat up and went over to his suitcase to find his red bull clothes for the media day ahead. "what have you roped me into this time?"

isabel smiled, "you make it sound like a bad thing," she found the clip on twitter of them at abu dhabi last year because the f1 twitter account posted it to serve as a 'one year ago' thing. "okay, we have already decided to recreate last years video . . ." it still surprised her how easy it was to talk about now. to that incident now, she only felt a little bit shitty about the fact that the title was stolen from her, but otherwise it's pretty funny to look back on now. "but i want to become a classic wag. max, we are going to enter our tiktok era."

max paused, shirt half-way over her head before turning around to face her. "no."

"you are boring," isabel shrugged. guilt tripping it is, then. "you do not want to show me off as your amazing, talented, gorgeous girlfriend?" she threw a little pout in there just for good measure.

max rolled his eyes because he knew exactly what she was doing. she was too good at guilt tripping, but not because he didn't realise when she was doing it, no, it was because he happened to give in every single time when it came to her. they were both stubborn, sure, but with some things he just couldn't help but agree because he knew she would enjoy it, and that therefore meant he would enjoy it also. "everyone already knows you're gorgeous, belle," he slid the rest of his shirt on before approaching her, moving to stand in between her legs and tilting her chin up to look at him. "maybe i do not want to share you with anyone else, hm?"

isabel found that she couldn't move her head away from his now firmer grip and it only served to make her smile more. "you say that," she started, "but we both know that you are probably the only one willing to deal with me." 

which was true at this point. lamborghini was willing to drop her because she was too much hard work and it was going to be the reason they fired her had she not quit first. no other teams had brought her on board because of the same issue, spare for aston martin, who had reassured her that they had pretty much no problem with her attitude ( but that was mainly because they worked out that isabel reserved that attitude for those who had fucked her over — and fucked her over was exactly what lamborghini had done ). the only ones who really tolerated her now were her family, friends, and max because they saw through all of the front that she put on to the world. 

and they were both well aware that isabel's love language was primarily bullying before physical touch and quality time, and max's was exactly the same. what she had learnt in the past few years was that potential romantic interests of hers could not handle banter very well, and that did not sit right with her. at least with max, she could bully him and then he would do the same back and have it include no ill intent.

"good point, very good point," max nodded before chuckling. "yeah, okay, isabel, i'll make your tiktoks with you," he gave in and kissed the top of her head before stepping back so that he could finish getting ready for the day. 

isabel grinned excitedly and returned to her phone. "you are the best," she commented happily, "merci."

"je t'en prie," max responded absentmindedly, and isabel couldn't help but smile impossibly more at his words. 

TWITTER —

FORMULA 1 | F1

BREAKING: isabel leclerc has signed a one-year contract with aston martin for the 2023 season.

we are glad to see her back on the grid for next season and wish her the best with her new team! 

read more from isabel, mike krack and lawrence stroll below ⬇️

x

it was my birthday yesterday (the 17th of august) so here's an update just cause it's like a reverse gift !

omg i'm off school all week so realistically i could finish writing this book during it lmao idk if it'll happen though :) (there's only like two more chapters after this)

but speaking of there being two more chapters, im 100% going to do chapters that are them in the future kinda thing bc i know their future plans up until 2025,, so kinda bonus chapters. i am thinking of making this a trilogy though (it depends, but it'll definitely be a duology at the least ! ) if it is a trilogy though,, it'll go up until the 2024 season and that means i wont be publishing all the bonus chapters as ideas cause i dont wanna spoil it yknow, i dont know, we can work that out as we go and what you guys would prefer :)

(i do think that if it is a trilogy, the third will be a lando fic shhh)