AFTER FORCING HERSELF TO show up to the paddock on thursday for media day, isabel didn't go anywhere near the lamborghini motorhome. if anything, she decided that she'd go to the ferrari or mclaren one before her own. god, she'd even rather step foot into red bull's before her own.

before anything else, she'd gone to hug sebastian and thank him in person for sending the baked goods to her house. it was such a small thing but it had really managed to bring a smile to her face. he had briefly mentioned going to the bakery on sunday evening once the race was over before he had to rush off when his pr manager collected him ( because when wasn't sebastian late? ).

the conference was going to be interesting. it was her, lewis, max, carlos and daniel sitting on the couch, and it was no doubt going to bring up last weekend's drama.

lewis gave isabel a quick side-hug when they got to the conference area. "we've got your back," he shot her a reassuring smile before heading inside. it made it a little easier to know that, but with max present . . . god, her skin was crawling at the thought. her mood was on very thin ice all week, and one wrong comment about max and she was going to lose her shit.

carlos and isabel sat next to each other on the couch, half-zoning out when she finally heard her name being said after all the introductions. "isabel, hi," a man said, a microphone in his hand, as he stood up.

"bonjour," she greeted, pasting a small smile on her face.

"we actually wanted to hear your opinion about what happened last week in spain," he said, "and if everyone else could weigh in afterwards, thanks."

ants felt like they were biting underneath her skin. her gaze flickered down to her hands for a moment as he knee began to bounce idly against her will. to steel herself, she picked at the skin around her fingernails, hardly wincing when she accidentally drew blood. "i don't really have an opinion," she lied simply, "i am of course disappointed, but i am happy for noah. that's all that matters."

max, on the other end of the couch beside daniel, had to hide his scoff by coughing. bullshit, he thought. he'd lived in the same house as her all week and the tension was unbearable. it was a different type of tension than the air-restricting one it normally had been; it was instead a dull mix of upset and frustration that left him walking on eggshells to not set her off with one wrong move. maybe she was the timebomb after all.

"you did sound a lot more than disappointed on the team radio," the man commented. he looked like he was about to speak again when a voice suddenly cut him off.

"i think everyone was disappointed," a quick interjection from max had the camera zooming more to focus on him. "up in the front, everyone was collectively disappointed that isabel wasn't there to challenge. everyone in the back . . . they were probably disappointed because she's a better driver," he shrugged nonchalantly like he didn't just completely leave the rest of the drivers speechless.

isabel's head snapped to glance down at the other end of the couch. max didn't look up once, just kept his expressionless gaze on the journalists and such ahead of them. the main surprise was that daniel didn't have some type of comment to add; aussies were just as notorious as the dutch for not fucking around. everything was blunt and honest. but daniel, too, looked speechless.

"i'll agree with that," carlos finally said, shuffling over so that his arm was thrown around isabel's shoulders. "it sucked not having belle up with us. she's the best competition you'll get." he then looked across her to lewis, "no offence, lewis."

lewis shrugged with a laugh. "none taken. i agree with you. i reckon she should've been up with everyone else." isabel had to tell herself to keep her jaw shut so that it didn't fall to the floor. her cheeks were no doubt flushing red because of all the compliments she was currently recieving after the week of shitty, lamborghini backlash. the grid was her family, and if they had her back, then all would be well.

"belle was way too close for my liking," daniel spoke up with his trademark smile. "i prefer it when she's up front rather than near me in the midfield." he looked across at her, "you're a crazy driver, man."

"thanks, danny," she laughed and felt her body relax a little more.

the questions bounced between the other drivers for a while. when the questions weren't on her or the two beside her, she fell into conversation with them since they were the closest. except most of it was just carlos complaining about how he wanted to go and sleep and lewis giving isabel updates on roscoe.

surprisingly, she hadn't been asked about max once, which was a first. it was probably because of the lamborghini drama that kept being brought up by different people and that outweighed anything isabel and max related. in all honestly, she would've preferred the questions about him after the amount of times alicia and barcelona were brought up.

x

ISABEL WAS DREADING WALKING inside the conference room. she could see the outline of alicia through the frosted glass door. not exactly what she wanted to see because she'd assumed that noah would also be present at the sudden meeting. apparently not.

she hated how anxious she felt. it was biting at her stomach and clawing through her chest until she felt sick. she wanted her confidence back. it was so obvious to the public that her morale was breaking down that multiple articles had been written, outlining a timeline of events that were leading to her demise. it was beyond tragic, reading out a real timeline online about her fall from grace of being one of the best drivers on the grid to being tossed aside and beaten down in just a few months.

isabel leclerc had a little over two weeks to change everything around. she had two weeks to prove that she was still the same isabel leclerc who waltzed into lamborghini and proved her worth to stay. with that in mind, she pushed open the conference door and sat down in the chair next to the head of the table, where alicia was sat.

alicia's eyes snapped up from her laptop. the team principal closed the lid and slid it further away from her before resting her eyes on isabel. "isabel, good afternoon."

she's still your team principal, isabel had to remind herself. be civil. "good afternoon," she said, and to get the ball rolling, she jumped straight into the matter at hand to avoid the pointless and irritating small talk. "i assume this is about spain?"

"and the team's statement," she nodded, "as well as your very kind message to me."

isabel kept her composure. her insides were simmering, the anger trying to remain at bay in her best interests. "i apologise for the message," i really don't, "but you must understand my frustration. i would have liked to have spoken about it with you first."

"isabel," alicia crossed her leg over the other and clasped her hands in front of her. it already felt condescending. "i understand that, i do, but i've known you long enough to know what your reaction would have been."

there it was. alicia mentioning her temper tantrums. the last one had been in australia with max, but even then, that surely couldn't have been counted as one. if max had clearly gotten over it, why couldn't everyone else?

"i am not a child anymore, alicia," isabel kept her voice level. "i am not the eighteen year old you signed four years ago. if you do not think i can handle an adult conversation than there is an issue." her twenty-third birthday was in two weeks, the monday after race day in baku. even if she still had her moments where many regarded her as a bratty child, they were rarer now. she had matured, much like max had from his first season as a terrible seventeen year old. both had their moments, but that didn't make them any less of an adult.

"my apologies," but it was clear in her tone that she wasn't all that sorry. "either way, that's not the reason i asked you here. i want you to understand why we made the decision we did in spain."

isabel said nothing, only leaning back in her chair, a sign for alicia to start talking.

"your drs wasn't working," alicia started. "i understand that you can still make up positions without it, but this was a real opportunity for noah to make a mark. your defending skills are better than most, so having you sit behind noah and allow him to only worry about attacking was crucial in him climbing positions."

"sure," isabel shrugged, her face sitting expressionless. "but you are aware that, to race at this level, one driver should be focused on defending their own car and attacking when they can. it does not make sense to have me drop so many positions and so many points when i know that noah can do both of those things on his own. i do not understand what has changed. why am i dropping points that are crucial for a world title? even better, we have a shot at a constructor's and you're throwing that away?"

alicia sighed, "you're missing the point here. this isn't about you—"

"isn't it?" isabel was surprised at how calm she sounded still. "you're scared to re-sign me, aren't you? you were so ready to fire me months ago and just a few weeks away from baku, you fuck up my chances to prove myself further while i'm still fighting your orders to remain in this sport. you set the cutoff date to be azerbaijan. isn't it a little convenient that this all occurs a few weeks before that?"

"have you thought about noah's future?" alicia had nothing to say to her claim. "his future is here for now. we also have to start prioritising him because his contract is much longer."

"then why haven't you thought about re-signing me?" she asked. "how many times have i proven myself to be a world champion under your name? last year i missed out by nine points. even if you suddenly don't like me as a person, i would have expected you to at least use me to your advantage because you know i have talent."

isabel almost laughed at the way alicia had no comeback. it was just silence, and so isabel took that as her win and stood up from the white wheely chair. "by the way, i found out about your statement because max showed me. if that isn't the world caving in, i don't know what is." we don't get along but he still showed me. that says a lot about you, alicia, she thought. "have a lovely rest of your day." isabel turned and left without another word, leaving alicia to sit at the long table by herself.

x

THE NEXT FEW DAYS went far too quickly. for a brief overview:

the drs on isabel's car was working again. fp1, fp2 and fp3 went flawlessly for her and noah, with isabel not dropping past p5 per usual and noah comfortably sitting within the first ten. things felt like they were going back to normal back on the track.

harry had apologised profusely despite the fact that it wasn't his fault in the slightest but either way it didn't stop him.

max and isabel had been silent at home since all their focus was now on the upcoming weekend. it was a little strange since throughout the whole week they'd made comments about things in passing but the silence wasn't tense. it was just . . . regular silence.

QUALIFYING WAS ABOUT TO start. the plan was to have her first out on the track so that she could set the bar for the fastest time. red bull would no doubt get faster times than her because their car had mechanical steroids but monaco was her home circuit. she'd driven this road a million times during the times its not a track. monaco was her race. she was aiming for a podium, no doubt, but any spot above p5 was happily welcomed because it meant she wasn't scrambling for a singular point like last week.

first out on the track and first to set a time, isabel found herself easily entering q2 in p3 with charles in p1 and carlos in p2. max was in p5 behind checo, but then again, street circuits weren't his best performance in comparison to his teammate's flawless street circuit results. noah was sitting in p8 behind lewis.

in q3, isabel had just fallen short of a p3 start because checo had only just managed to get a quicker time. it was annoying to fall short by such a small gap but p4 wasn't terrible at all.

"starting grid for tomorrow is leclerc, sainz, perez, you, verstappen, norris, russell, alonso, hamilton, noah," harry's voice chimed through the team radio. "fantastic placing! we'll debrief when you're back."

"thank you, harry," isabel couldn't help but smile behind her helmet.

x

IMESSAGE —

MAX + JOEL FROM MARKETING

JOEL FROM MARKETING

im surprised you didnt push
me into the barrier in the hairpin

MAX

that was two years ago grow up

JOEL FROM MARKETING

it was also last year

MAX

that wasnt in the hairpin

JOEL FROM MARKETING

same thing

nice lap though

sorry mine was better :)

MAX

yeah yeah alright whatever

at least i didnt almost full send it
into the turn 1 barrier by spinning

mazepin era

JOEL FROM MARKETING

ew not mazepin why would
you bring him up

stop messaging me goodbye

MAX

you messaged me first the fuck

x

IT WAS RACE DAY and isabel could tell that noah was playing nice around alicia. isabel was yet to tell noah all about the conversation she had with alicia because she wanted them both to be more focused on the race weekend, so instead she turned to pettiness in other ways.

for example, ever since she had been signed to lamborghini, she always wore a touch of gold or something that symbolised the team when she turned up to the paddock. sunday morning, however, she wore nothing that symbolised them. the media were quick to pick up on it but isabel didn't care at all.

instead, she wore a pale green and white, chequered miniskirt with a white bustier top. isabel found herself enjoying the brighter outfit she had thrown together, rather than her usual darker colours. it turned out that noah wanted to match with her anyway, so they both wore green.

monaco was her home grand prix and she wasn't about to let alicia ruin it for her.

x

INSTAGRAM — ISABEL.LECLERC

isabel.leclerc: im noah nichols' number one fan

comments . . .

user1: you and noah looked so cute in green stop
↳ user2: their matching outfits was the look >>

noahnichols99: im the coolest
↳ user3: so real

user4: NOT THE MEME-
↳ user5: "is the ice cream machine working?" "yeah its working but our engines arent"
↳ isabel.leclerc: foul user5
↳ user6: charles liked your comment user5 😭

landonorris: YOU LOOKED SO GOOD !!!
↳ isabel.leclerc: THANK YOU LANDO !!!

user7: isabel breaking her paddock tradition proves that alicias right
↳ user7: shes def leaving the team
↳ user8: yo chill its just an outfit change. i wouldnt wear team colours after last sunday either
↳ user9: accusations are wild
↳ user10: also she always dresses up extra for monaco gp. she looks good all the time i dont see what the problem is

user11: not a fan
↳ isabel.leclerc: me neither buddy
↳ user12: BELLE-

x

LINED UP ON THE grid, isabel went over her strategies once more.

ferrari were up in front of her which meant that she was content with defending her p4 from max for the beginning. she was sandwiched between the red bulls once again, but checo was definitely going to attack carlos so isabel only really cared about defending from max off the start since he was diagonally behind her. charles and carlos were most likely going to hold p1 and p2 for as long as possible, so defence would be their main concern.

the session had already been red flagged during the first formation lap because the rain had gotten too heavy. forty-five minutes later, isabel was only now just seeing the crimson lights blink to life up above. it was still raining at a decent rate but it looked like it was going to clear soon according to the forecast.

the lights flashed dark and everyone collectively accelerated, tires screeching against the wet tarmac.

"it's the monaco grand prix and we're in the heart of it all, it's lights out and away we go!"

lap one. isabel managed to hold p4 through the first turn by out-braking max. checo had immediately put pressure on carlos so she wasn't too worried about that for now. her main battle was with max at the moment.

it was a blessing and a curse that it's hard to overtake in monaco. it's great off the start to consolidate the position you achieved from qualifying, but after that? that's when it all goes to shit.

by the time isabel was past the turn six hairpin, she had been informed that nicholas latifi had gone straight into the wall like he hadn't even tried to turn. on the exit of it, lance stroll brushed the barriers.

lap six. barely any changes had happened in terms of positioning with the first few drivers. isabel was annoyingly stuck behind checo while she was fighting max because lando, who was sitting eight seconds behind him, couldn't catch up. she was sandwiched with a one second gap in front and behind her.

"i can't shake off max," isabel slowed as quickly as possible, keeping tight to the inside as she drove around the hairpin. she couldn't let max get any advantage because then she would have to fight two red bulls.

"wait until the drs zone," harry informed. "stay within a second of perez and then try get through. as soon as you're behind sainz, immediately go for the attack after turn one."

it sounded like an alright plan to isabel. "copy," she said before disconnecting herself

lap twelve. the perfect moment. perez was pitting and isabel was ten seconds behind him. the perfect opportunity for her to overtake him if she risked the tires and went faster.

"keep me updated on the tires," isabel said to harry before glancing back in her mirrors and accelerating faster than she had before. she needed to push towards the end of the drs zone on the straight because otherwise max would catch her from the two second gap between them. max wasn't going to risk his tires so early on, especially with his teammate in the pits, so he just stared at isabel's car ahead and mentally prepared himself in case he had to quickly dodge a crash.

the track was way too wet to be pulling risks but then again, isabel felt as if she had nothing else to lose. if she couldn't take a risk to prove herself at her home race, then she really was done for.

isabel almost cheered when she just beat checo to the first turn, his car only just behind her exiting the pitlane. she pulled wide and spun the steering wheel as she braked, effortlessly pulling into the ninety-degree first turn on the eventual inside. checo got stuck behind her and max was barely a second behind him.

with this, red bull was either going to get max to pass checo or have him attack instead, which either way would let isabel focus on ferrari for the time being.

lap nineteen. with charles pitting, carlos moved up into being the race leader and isabel slipped into p2. max had also pit, leaving checo to move up into p3 with a ten second gap between them.

lap twenty-three. almost everyone was pitting. ferrari was double stacking but as isabel drove past their garage as she left the pitlane on hard tires, she caught sight of charles smashing his hands into the steering wheel in frustration.

"that's not good," she muttered with a grimace, quickly pulling back onto the track behind carlos. checo was leading and isabel was sitting in p3 behind carlos with a five second gap. max was behind her since he had just managed to pull back in front of charles upon the pitlane exit.

lap twenty-four. isabel's heart caught in her throat as carlos began to drift sideways in front of her because of the rain. she'd swerved off to the side out of instinct just in case he flew into the barrier. this however did allow max to overtake her so she fell back into the slipstream instead and waited for the drs zone later on.

lap twenty-seven. "that's a safety car, belle," harry announced over the radio. "schumacher's car's in two at the swimming pool chicane. he's unhurt."

isabel's chest hurt. he's fine, she reminded herself. she wasn't that close to mick but she enjoyed his presence immensely. they'd hung out a number of times because of sebastian over the past few years, and although they believed a bit of it was because sebastian felt like he owed something to them because of jules and michael, sebastian instead really just loved them like his own kids. it was similar with charles but he and charles had been teammates at one stage, so their bond was already tight because of it.

"keep me updated on mick, please," isabel abided by the safety car conditions.

"will do."

lap thirty-two. the safety car conditions were over and that meant that the race was back on. the current order of the first five was checo, carlos, max, isabel, charles.

they just moved into the thirty-third lap as checo suddenly locked up, his tires smoking as a loud screech pierced the air. isabel just caught why in the corner of her visor. a fucking bird flew straight towards his car, and if he hadn't locked up, he would've hit it.

isabel was impatiently waiting to overtake max again. overtakes in monaco were difficult but possible, but every overtaking opportunity she had was around the hairpin turn and that therefore made it difficult because the track was too narrow.

lap forty-nine. "fucking finally!" isabel cheered as she activated drs and pulled out of the slipstream. she skillfully darted to one side to force max over that way defensively before darting back to the other side, slamming her foot down harder on the accelerator as she approached the end of the straight. as soon as she approached the end, she pulled on the brakes, forcing max to surrender and give up on turn one and allow her to go through first since she already had the apex. 

"let's go!" harry cheered for her once she was clear from the corner. "focus on holding p3. if you can snatch a fastest lap, go for it."

lap fifty-four. "there's twelve minutes left of the race," harry said briefly, and isabel figured that all the laps probably wouldn't be completed anyway because of the forty-five minute buffer from the red flagged formation lap.

carlos was pressuring checo as much as possible, which made it harder for isabel to attack him so instead she remained defending against max. if she couldn't catch carlos throughout the remaining time then she could happily settle with a p3 if she could keep it up.

lap fifty-six. under ten minutes to go and it was causing the first five drivers to pull out a variety of risks. in the hairpin, they were all nose-to-tail, trying to bunch together as smoothly as possible to go for any possible overtakes once the slowest turn was over.

lap sixty-four. the time ran out. isabel couldn't catch carlos whilst she furiously defended against max and claimed a p3 finish.

"that's p3, isabel!" she could hear harry's smile as he celebrated. "that's the tinkerbelle we all know and love!"

isabel couldn't help but laugh as she slowed her pace. "love you, harry!" she grinned, "couldn't have done it without you." perhaps she put too much emphasis on 'you' on purpose just to spite alicia. perhaps.

"final classification is perez, sainz, you, verstappen, leclerc, russell, norris, alonso, hamilton, noah."

she slowed a little more as she began to circle the track again to prepare to pull into parc fermé. she veered to the left as max's  car pulled up alongside hers on a straight part of the track.

baku is in two weeks, she reminded herself with a preparing breath. make the effort, stay in the team. with the thought in mind, she lifted one of her hands from the steering wheel and gave him the thumbs up. it was a lot clearer than the one he had last given her and she knew that many would see it, but it was close to the home stretch. make the effort, stay in the team.

max had to blink a few times to comprehend what he was seeing. they were about to enter the turn three bend so if he was going to do something, he had to do it now before one of them backed off to take the turn without collision. he copied her hand gesture and gave her the same with a quick nod before braking, giving her the all-clear to take the turn first.

she'd gotten the podium after all, it made sense for her to go first to park her car in front of the numbered sign.

getting the hint, isabel sped up a little to take the turn first out of the two.

"this is so fucking weird," isabel mumbled as she thought back to a few seconds ago. "this is unnatural." but there was a voice in her head telling her that it was anything but unnatural, that it was normal because this is the way things should be. make the effort, stay in the team. it hadn't made sense before because it was just word of mouth, something she could pretend didn't exist. but all the races had gone by so quickly and now azerbaijan was next on the calendar. it was all real now. make the effort.

as soon as she was out of the car she flipped up her visor and embraced carlos. their helmets knocked together as he rocked them side to side, buzzing with excitement about their positions. "ay, troublemaker!" carlos grinned as he tightened the hug.

"ay, my favourite ferrari!" she laughed, squeezing him once more before pulling away. "congrats!"

"you too!" he flipped up his own visor. his eyes were crinkling, a telltale sign of his hidden, bright smile. "you never disappoint in monaco."

"just had to prove that i'm still worth my seat," the nearby camera could probably hear her but isabel didn't care so much anymore. it was probably obvious to some that alicia's plans in spain were bullshit, so what was the harm now?

"i'll see you on the podium," carlos laughed before walking away from her to go over to talk to his team.

isabel walked over to checo as she pulled off her helmet. "congrats, checo," her smile was visible as soon as she pulled off the balaclava. "the king of the streets strikes back."

checo shook her hand in a congratulatory fashion. "thank you, thank you," he smiled back. "and you! congrats on p3! a good home race for you, yes?"

"of course," isabel agreed with him, "i'll see you on the podium."

"see you then," checo said before they went off in different directions.

on the way over to go see her friends, isabel got stopped by a camera crew and a blonde reporter.

"hi, isabel!" the woman said. "how are you feeling after the race?"

"really good," isabel tucked her helmet under her arm as she smiled politely. "very happy with my result."

"we noticed the thumbs up you shared with max at the end of the race," she continued, "is there anything you'd like to comment on that?"

isabel could only shrug. "not really. it was a clean race from us and we were just, uh . . ." she trailed off, trying to think of the english word for it, "acknowledge . . .? yes, acknowledging it."

"it looks like things might finally be turning around for you both, we're all surprised," she said. "any celebration plans?"

"seb and i have a tradition with monaco grands prix," isabel nodded, "and i have kimi's yacht for all of next week so . . . i have many plans."

"we won't hold you up any longer, then. enjoy!"

x

MEMORIES FLOODED THROUGH HER the second they walked along the footpath in front of the bakery. isabel's arm was looped through sebastian's as she stared up at the sign that had been nailed into the brick for as long as she could remember.

lizzie's boulangerie had been jules and isabel's tradition since forever. charles, arthur and lorenzo all had different things with him, but the bakery was theirs. and it had become sebastian's, too.

the burning feeling washed over her eyes like waves against a sandy shore. sebastian stopped with her just outside. "c'mon, belle," sebastian smiled comfortingly over at her. "we can all celebrate together."

"i miss him," isabel whispered, her hold on his arm tightening and the burning worsening.

"i know," sebastian sighed softly, his eyes watering. "so do i."

lizzie, a woman in her late forties and the bakery's owner, stepped outside and smiled warmly at the pair that she had grown to adore over the years. "belle, my dear," her voice was accented heavily in french as she held her arms out to the girl. "congratulations!"

"grazie! grazie," isabel pushed away the sadness she was feeling and replaced it with a smile. she broke away from sebastian and stepped into lizzie's welcoming arms, hugging the woman who had basically watched her grow up fondly. "i have missed you."

"i've missed you, too," lizzie let go of her. "come, come, i already have your box ready," she ushered isabel inside before smiling at sebastian and briefly hugging the man. "have you been well?"

"of course, liz," sebastian chuckled before following the woman inside. "i'm going to have to take some of your pastries with me before i leave monaco. my kids'll love it."

"let me know when you're leaving and i'll get a box together for you," lizzie said before heading back around to the other side of the counter. a pink box was already sitting on the counter waiting. "okay, so here is your usual here. it's—"

isabel placed down a couple notes of cash on the counter beside the box, equaling to a lot more than was necessary for the treats they bought. lizzie had learnt a long time ago to stop arguing with multi-millionaires over how much things cost. "thank you, liz," she told the french woman.

"thank you," lizzie shook her head as she slid the cash into the till. "we're always your home, you know that," her eyes flickered up to the photo of jules and isabel on the wall, and isabel didn't have to turn around to check that that's where lizzie was looking.

"i know," isabel smiled as she took the box and turned around, her arm looping back through sebastian's as they went to go get comfortable at their usual table outside.

the main thing that stood out when she opened the box was the caramel éclair that was inside. jules' favourite. that was the one that sebastian and isabel always split. beside that was a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and a custard donut. isabel took the cupcake out and began to peel off the casing. "i wanted to talk to you about something," she didn't look at him as she spoke.

"mhm?" sebastian hummed as he picked up his donut. "is everything alright?"

"i want to leave lamborghini," her voice was so quiet that it could be considered a whisper. she hadn't admitted it aloud properly yet and it shocked her with how easy she was able to say it. "as soon as the season's over, i'm done."

sebastian was already expecting this. "i support you decision always, you know that," he reassured her. "what plans do you have afterwards?"

she shrugged. "maybe i get back into gymnastics," she scuffed the bottom of her shoe against the concrete. "if i do not have a team to go to next year, i am okay with that. i've come to terms with it and . . . i've had a good four years, you know?"

"yeah," sebastian nodded immediately, and isabel finally caught his eye. "you have. and if you don't end up with another team, maybe you will have one in a few years time. you've proven yourself so much that you probably will get offered a seat somewhere, even if it's not just in f1." he paused for a moment, his expression falling a little. "i know you feel like you owe it to jules and everyone else, but you really don't. they only care if you're happy, you know that. and if you're miserable like you currently are," isabel wasn't even shocked that he could tell, he was a father, after all, "then whatever is best for you, do it."

isabel was sure she'd be crying right now if she could. all that happened was her eyes burning worse than before, her chest constricting like it was stopping any pain from escaping. "you're too good to me, seb," she chuckled humourlessly as she fiddled with the cupcake in her hand.

"hm," he hummed as he swallowed a bite of the donut. "but i did have something to bring up with you, and i've been thinking about it for a while."

"oh?" isabel asked, setting her bitten-into cupcake down onto the lid of the box.

"this is my last season racing in formula one," he gave her a small smile. "it's time for me to spend more time with my family; to watch my kids grow up."

the emotions were bubbling back up inside isabel again. "oh my, seb," she wasn't as shocked because she was expecting him to retire at some point soon for that reason, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. "first kimi and now you? i forget you are both old."

"hey," sebastian defended. "fernando's still around. i'm not that old."

"sure, okay," isabel giggled, "but i am happy for you, really. i'm going to miss you, of course."

"i'm just so unforgettable," sebastian teased. "here's a deal, though," he proposed, "if you're quitting the team at the end of the year and i'm retiring . . . then let's go out with a bang."

isabel grinned at that, holding out her hand. "i think we have a deal, mr vettel."

"we're doing donuts in abu dhabi, miss leclerc," sebastian shook her hand with a matching smile. "we'll make the most of the rest of the season. but first you have to show me kimi's damn yacht because i'm still mad that he let you on one before me."

everything felt right again as she laughed with sebastian. "don't be jealous that your bestie loves me more."

"he does not!"

x

every time i watch this race it just makes me think of how much i 100% believe latifi was an f1 social experiment. like how he crashed into the barrier on the slowest turn of the calendar under safety car conditions kills me every time

anyway i love belle and seb sm <3

im dying at the moment the change in weather has fucked me up so im at home pretending to do school work. how are we all? :)