INSTAGRAM — ISABEL.LECLERC

isabel.leclerc: uk!

comments . . .

landonorris: no uk slander
↳ isabel.leclerc: its cold and miserable and i hate it

maxfewtrell: cmon its not that bad
↳ isabel.leclerc: this is a safe space you dont have to lie here

user1: another silverstone gp . . . another round of uk slander from belle! good luck this weekend
↳ user2: im new .. is this a yearly thing?
↳ user1: yep!

user3: oh god,,,, silverstone gp
↳ user4: i cannot go another year with this curse

user5: top ten things to do in the uk: film with quadrant
↳ isabel.leclerc: no <3
↳ landonorris: aw :(

charles_leclerc: ❤️

user6: kinda scared for this race ngl
↳ user7: same. silverstone curse is real
↳ user2: whats the silverstone curse?
↳ user8: charles and isabel have 'cursed' tracks user2 his is monaco and hers is silverstone

x

"SILVERSTONE CURSE THIS, SILVERSTONE curse that," isabel mocked as she sat with tori during breakfast. "it happened like two times."

"not to be that person," tori pointed her fork at the girl, "but you have only raced at silverstone three times."

silverstone 2019: isabel spun off the track during wet weather and hit the wall from p7. she dnfed.

silverstone 2020: antonio giovinazzi took out isabel's front tire. she refused to retire and had to circle back around the track with no tyre until she got to the pitlane. she eventually finished in p9.

silverstone 2021. the race had gone fine and she finished p5, but she had qualified in p8 because of a mechanical issue mid-lap.

"okay, fair," isabel shrugged. "what do i have to do tomorrow?"

tori turned her laptop around to show isabel her schedule. "i've emailed it to you. it's just the standard interviews in the paddock."

isabel wasn't having a good morning, but that was good news. it meant not needing to sit on a couch like a prized possession while being asked questions about her private life that made her uncomfortable.

she'd woken up with a start after spending an hour trying to fall asleep. she had slept fine back home in monaco, but there was just something about hotel rooms that left her feeling restless all of a sudden. listening to old press conferences helped, but it was not fun when you're woken up with a start because all of a sudden you can hear max's voice in your head when you don't want him to be. even worse, it happened to be a press conference that her, sebastian and lewis were also in, and towards the end of it, isabel and max end up getting into an argument about something that she can't remember anymore. she wasn't going to rewatch a second of it.

"oh, also," tori brought up, "the new reserve driver is heading to the garage on friday. i don't know who they are or anything, i just know that much."

she perked up at that. "oh?" she hummed. she was excited, no doubt, and she hoped that noah was right and that they were getting another girl in the garage. she was still a little on edge about it, nonetheless. "that means alicia, doesn't it?"

tori grimaced, "it does. i doubt she'll say anything, though."

x

IT WAS FRIDAY. THE day of the new reserve driver. noah and isabel impatiently hung around in the motorhome, both in their race suits since the first free practice was soon.

"i'm excited," noah whispered once he heard the sound of alicia's unmistakable heels coming down the hallway, still out of sight.

isabel eyed the lamborghini employees that made their way around the motorhome in thought. "same," she agreed. "anyone's better than the last one."

noah snorted, "is it bad i don't remember his name? he was there for like two races."

isabel had no room to reply. alicia and the reserve driver appeared in front of them. she was first to stand, and noah copied his teammate's actions.

"noah, isabel," alicia said. "meet emilia gold. she's the new reserve driver."

isabel grinned brightly and held out her hand to emilia. "hey, i'm belle," she greeted warmly, her gaze not moving to alicia once. "this is so exciting!"

"tell me about it," emilia matched her smile as she shook isabel's hand eagerly.

"i'll let the three of you get acquainted," alicia stated before turning on her heel and leaving.

noah rolled his eyes once alicia's back was turned before smiling at emilia. "it's great to finally meet you! i'm noah."

"this is so surreal," despite the fact that the girl sounded american, isabel was just able to pick up on the remnants of a french accent. it laced through some of emilia's words naturally, but it was evident that she'd been raised in america.

"oh my god, wait," isabel realised, "did you race for motopark in . . . 2017?"

"yeah!" emilia nodded. "i can't believe you remember that."

"i just remember that you took out lando that one time and i thought it was really funny," isabel laughed.

"i remember hearing about that," noah chuckled. "hey, also, did you have anyone showing you around the garages or anything? we're heading there if you wanna come."

"uh, well," emilia turned around to see if alicia was anywhere nearby, but the team principal was nowhere in sight. "sure!"

ON THE WAY THROUGH the paddock to get to the pitlane, carlos and charles approached the three. "belle! carlos ju— oh, hello," charles cut himself off once he noticed that there was a new person standing with the teammates.

"charlie, this is emilia," isabel introduced, "she's our new reserve." and it was no secret that emilia was drop-dead gorgeous, and isabel was well aware that charles could see it too. she shot him a look and said, "don't even think about it, i know that look," in italian.

charles rolled his eyes. "you don't know shit. shut up," he responded back in the same language. noah informed emilia that this was normal even though both had no clue what the siblings were talking about, and carlos could make out a few of the words that they were saying.

turning his attention back to emilia, he offered her a smile. "ciao! i'm charles."

"and i'm carlos," carlos interrupted, catching onto the same thing that isabel caught onto before. "the better ferrari driver, obviously."

"bullshit," charles coughed.

"anyway," noah clapped his hands together. "free prac's soon. we gotta go."

"it was nice meeting you guys," emilia told the ferrari boys.

"don't miss them too much," isabel said as she waved goodbye to the boys before turning back to heading towards the pitlane. "they are around way too much."

"you are related to charles," emilia pointed out. "i'd assume so."

"no, no," noah shook his head, "it's not even that. sometimes they just hang out in our motorhome for no fucking reason."

x

ISABEL WAS IN BETTER spirits going into the free practices. she'd eavesdropped on paddock conversations and scrolled through twitter, finding out that almost everything said about the announcement of emilia gold joining lamborghini was positive. sure, a part of her was envious that she hadn't gotten that same treatment, but it was outweighed by her genuine happiness over the fact that emilia was already well-liked.

in both practice sessions, she held a decent p5 spot. it wasn't her best, but because it was silverstone, she couldn't be happier. as long as she wasn't crumpled into a barrier, she didn't care.

despite the fact that emilia wasn't driving, isabel found herself showing her how parts of the car worked, much like how kimi and sebastian had onceshowed her. she learnt that emilia spent a few years longer than most in formula three before dabbling in formula e and indycar, and so isabel was even more inclined to show her the car. it was also important if she needed to fill in anytime soon for whatever reason.

AFTER SPENDING FP3 DRIVING at a slower pace to test everything about the car, it was now time for qualifying. isabel needed to make sure the car was perfect for qualifying because it's usually where her luck runs out in silverstone.

"we're getting you out there first," harry flipped up isabel's visor for her as he crouched beside her car. her eyes flickered open before she peered over at him, breaking out of the trance she was currently in as she prepared to drive out there. "you alright?"

"manifesting that i don't end up in the wall," she joked lightly, eyes crinkling with her smile.

"you won't," harry told her. "now c'mon, you ready to go out?"

"yeah," she nodded at him. harry reached out again to flip her visor back down before standing up. "i'm happy with whatever you get, but we both know i would love a q3," he tapped the top of her helmet twice. "go get 'em , kid."

as soon as she was given the all-clear, isabel pulled out of the garage first and rolled into the very end of the pitlane where she waited for the session to begin.

MAX'S GAZE HARDENED AS he stared straight ahead, forcing himself into the his pre-racing zone like he always did whenever he got into the car.

"alright, we're ready for you to head out," gp told him over the radio. "it looks to be just you and leclerc so far."

max finally blinked. "which one?"

"isabel."

"no, no, i'm not going out yet, then," he shook his head and looked over to where he could just see some of his crew sitting in front of the monitors. "she's gonna give it her all because it's silverstone. i don't wanna be caught up in that."

this time, it was christian who responded. "alright, max. she gets one lap in and then you're out there. i get it." because it made enough sense. isabel was going to complete an aggressive first lap to set the pace, and max getting in the way of that would almost definitely not end well. christian understood that well enough because he was sick of having to rebuild max's car because of their collisions.

THE TRACK CONDITIONS WEREN'T that ideal. it was all misty despite there being no visible water on the track, and it meant that isabel had to keep wiping her visor to be able to see properly.

"weather update," harry said. "looks like it might be getting heavier. you're sitting p5 right now, so bring it back into the pits."

"who's dropped from q1?"

"from last, stroll, schumacher, vettel, magnussen, albon, latifi."

isabel almost laughed. "latifi almost made it to q2?!" her heart hurt for sebastian and mick nonetheless. she had a feeling that if mick had been in a team other than haas, his career would have advanced further by now. he had the talent, it just was being limited.

"slower than ricciardo by two seconds."

i was not expecting that, isabel nodded to herself before rolling back into the pitlane with the others.

the rain was picking up more now in q2. with every lap, the rain was getting heavier and she could start to feel the tyres lose grip.

"you don't have time for another," harry told her. "p6 currently. noah's been eliminated."

"shit," she frowned, slowing down more now to head back to the pitlane. "that sucks."

the rain was at its heaviest now that it was q3. "can i take pole?"

"i'd be ecstatic if you did. ferrari and red bull are dominating, though."

starting a flying lap behind max, isabel stayed somewhat mindful of her tyres so that she didn't overdo it and lose positioning.

on turn fifteen, max lost grip and spun around entirely until he managed to correct it to continue on like nothing happened. isabel had to brake and swerve to the side to go around him, and that therefore meant her lap was ruined. "fuck," she groaned.

"take a breath, kid," she heard harry say, "roll it back through, you've got time."

"i don't think i'm going to get another lap like that," isabel said as the start/finish line was in view. "that was almost perfect."

"try your best."

at the end of her next flying lap, the session ended.

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

"holy shit!" isabel pretty much yelled. "carlos got pole?! i think i might cry." she couldn't think about her own grid spot when she knew that carlos just got his maiden pole.

when she was out of the car and saw that carlos was talking to someone under an umbrella, she couldn't help but steal him away. "vamos, carlos!" she laughed, visor flipped up. "first pole!"

"first pole, baby!" carlos laughed with her, gratefully accepting her hug. the woman interviewing him stood awkwardly with the umbrella for much longer when charles joined their hug.

"i told you carlos was the better ferrari driver," isabel teased her brother as she slipped out from their hug. "now turn this into your maiden win, yes?"

carlos grinned, "will you let me past you for it?"

isabel scoffed jokingly, "fuck no."

x

LINING UP ON THE grid in p4, isabel took notice of how max's car was in front of her and charles was beside her. max would immediately push carlos and charles would follow, which left her to either try beat charles to turn one or defend p4 from checo.

the track was dry now thankfully with there finally being a break in the seemingly never-ending rain. yeah, isabel hated the uk for that very reason.

the red lights above extinguished, and she accelerated, dropping in immediately behind charles.

"it's the british grand prix . . . and it's lights out, away we go!"

approaching turn one, isabel gasped when she caught sight of a white car spin and tumble on its roof before it was out of sight. a yellow flag for sector one appeared immediately, and isabel didn't even focus on taking the turn properly as she hit her radio. "who?" she asked. everything was suddenly going way differently than it should have. cars were missing the turns and going wide off the track on top of whatever happened straight off the grid.

"zhou," harry said. "no word yet, but there's a red flag."

she only heard word about it when she was in the pitlane with the others since a race restart was being called. she witnessed the crash that had taken out a good chunk of the back of the grid. noah had just managed to avoid any collision when alex got knocked around by everyone, and zhou was uninjured and speaking to domenicali, which was a good sign.

"okay, belle, you right?" harry asked.

"good, good," isabel said.

"good, because everyone's heading back out to the grid. p4 again."

this time, isabel managed to beat charles to the first turn, bumping her up into p3. carlos almost pushed max into the wall of the pitlane on the way in and managed to hold onto his pole position.

checo was on isabel's other side, trying to challenge her around turn two, but she held him off and continued to do so on the next straight.

lap ten. with carlos losing p1 to max because he misjudged and went off-track, isabel found herself gaining on carlos, planning on waiting until the next drs zone to overtake him for p2.

lap twelve. once she overtook carlos, she fell into the the slipstream behind max. halfway around the track when she was about to activate drs, max's speed suddenly changed. he was going slower, which was not a good sign when you're sitting directly behind him. isabel made the move to her left to try pull out before she clipped her front-wing but his back wheel suddenly flickered unnaturally. it turned his car a little and caused isabel to try move before his car touched hers. she got around him, but not without half of her front-wing being crumpled in the process.

"fuck off," isabel slammed her hands against her steering wheel as she continued around the track nonetheless. she was overtaken by both ferrari drivers immediately, and it was only a matter of time until lewis and lando did the same. max was slowly moving again, too, but it didn't look good.

"it's not ideal," harry sighed as the mechanics prepared to change her front-wing. "just try make it around the best you can. you can pick the positions back up later."

isabel couldn't find a way to respond to him. it fucking sucked watching all these cars stream past you to take over the position you earnt. maybe she wouldn't have been so angry about it if it wasn't max. if it were checo she would have cursed him out all the same but moved on. but max made her skin crawl and everything hurt because he pissed her off like crazy.

she finally made it back to the pits to get her front-wing changed and once everything else was cleared, she headed back out onto the track in p15 behind lance.

lap thirty-nine. the race continued on normally from the interesting first couple of laps. isabel held p10 behind mick as she gradually tried to bring back in a few positions, but now she would have to wait longer because esteban stopping in the middle of the track called for a safety car.

lap forty-two. with the green flag waved, the race picked up again, and isabel immediately made the move to overtake mick. once she did so, she was stuck behind max again, who she was told was going to be suffering performance issues because of a problem with the car. which made sense because she couldn't recall a time that he was in p8.

lap forty-seven. isabel made it back through to p6 in front of lando, but even she couldn't comprehend what she was witnessing up in the front.

with carlos out of sight, checo and charles were engaged in a full on battle for p2 when lewis appeared and overtook them both to steal the spot they were fighting over.

her attention was brought back to lando as he crept up behind her with drs. she swiftly moved over to block him and held onto her p5 spot, choosing to start gaining on fernando instead.

lap fifty-two. final lap. isabel couldn't advance further to any other position, but she did manage to finish p6. she was more in shock about how chaotic the first four positions were in regard to the race win.

"p6, belle! order is sainz, perez, hamilton, leclerc, alonso, you, norris, verstappen, mick, vettel. i know it's not what you wanted, but well done!"

"thanks, harry," isabel nodded before disconnecting from the radio. it was an alright end result, but it wasn't what she wanted. fucking silverstone.

THE ONLY PART THAT really managed to irritate her was the stare from max when she walked past the red bull garage later on.

and that really got to her.

"fuck it," she mumbled and walked into their garage pretty much unseen. a few mechanics saw her but kept their mouths shut and continued on like they saw nothing.

"what the fuck is your problem?" isabel walked straight past him into his driver room, prompting him to follow her.

"it was an accident . . .?" max trailed off as he shut the door behind him before leaning against it. "and it was on an early lap—"

"not just that!" she groaned, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at him. "you keep fucking staring at me like i did something wrong."

"no—"

"you do," isabel cut him off. "what the fuck is your issue? because if you find some other way to blame me for your car fault then—"

max rolled his eyes, "just— just shut the fuck up," he told her pointedly. "i didn't mean to 'stare' at you, or whatever," he defended, walking past her to go stand near the table of his room. "my bad."

"my bad," she mocked quietly out of habit, turning to look at him once again. she didn't like how close he was to her now.

he looked up at the ceiling to stop himself from rolling his eyes again. "what the fuck do you want from me, isabel?"

"to not blame me for any of your problems," she snapped, unknowingly taking a step closer to him. "i heard you in that interview trying to push some of the blame off on me. that's not okay."

"you can't call it my fault when you were right behind me," max retorted. "that's on you for losing the front-wing."

her glare hardened further and matched his own. those cyclones that she hadn't seen in a while had returned in full and were staring back at her, clashing into her own and making her frustration boil over. out of habit, she brought her hands up to his chest and shoved him backwards, planning on turning and leaving immediately after, but he ended up sitting on the table from her shove, and she was way closer to him than she ever would've liked.

and then something changed. something shifted and suddenly she was falling and falling and falling and . . . and she was well aware of how many mistakes she had made when she was angry. this was just another one.

somehow her lips came into contact with his in a split-second, and her already hazy mind only became more of a daze. especially when she felt his teeth accidentally nip into her bottom lip. and then it was real. and it was even more real when her hands were latched onto his race suit.

"get your hands off me," isabel mumbled against his lips, trying to force herself to pull away but it felt like she was stuck.

"my hands aren't on you," a lazy smirk was plastered across max's face as he held his hands up in surrender. and he was right. his hands had originally been by his sides, but now they were resting against the surface of the table to stabilise himself properly.

isabel's eyes snapped open in realisation. her grip on his race suit loosened, but she didn't step back. she couldn't. their faces remained centimetres apart. "i don't want you," she shook her head wildly. she wanted to melt into the floor with the way max was looking straight through her.

"i don't want you either," max's right hand moved up to cup her jaw as he leaned in to connect their lips again. isabel hated the way she melted into him immediately, her hands situating back on his chest as if on instinct. it wasn't hot in silverstone but she felt like she was melting in the monacan sun back home, all because of his touch.

it got heated so quickly that there was no tact: messy kisses, uncontrolled actions . . . both needing more, so much more. it was as if they had both forgotten how they ended up here in the first place . . .

until she let go and pushed herself away. breathless, she ran her fingers through her hair, disbelieving of what she had just done. "fuck you, max."

max let a laugh slip. it made her fists clench, pulling at strands of her hair. "yeah, yeah, fuck you too, isabel," he crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her across the room. it was hard to keep his composure when his body still felt like it was on fire.

she turned to leave, hand on the doorhandle when she heard him speak again.

"but just know that you're the one who started that. not me."

pausing, isabel glared at the door with enough irritation that a hole almost burnt through the centre of it. with a little more force than necessary, she opened the door and slammed it shut behind her.

"did you kill him?"checo's voice snapped her out of her daze.

"huh?" isabel looked over at him. he was in the hallway with his helmet in one hand and his water bottle in the other. "oh. no, but maybe i should have."

checo only shook his head, his eyes sparkling with humour. "there's no cameras near here," he told her. "go around through the back though, yeah?"

"yeah," isabel nodded, trying to give him a small smile despite the fact that everything inside her currently felt like a mess. "thanks."

x

IMESSAGE — HOTTEST ON THE GRID !

LORD PERCEVAL + CHILLI + TINKERBELLE

TINKERBELLE

LORD PERCEVAL

isabel?

CHILLI

oh god here we go

TINKERBELLE

i did something stupid
by accident

CHILLI

yeah it runs in the family

LORD PERCEVAL

mate.

CHILLI

sorry

continue belle

TINKERBELLE

i dont know what to do

LORD PERCEVAL

are you going to tell us?

we cant help unless you do

TINKERBELLE

...

nevermind forget that i messaged you

sorry

CHILLI

what

x

IMESSAGE —

CHARLIE + BELLE

CHARLIE

belle

what happened?

BELLE

can i tell you about it
after i work it out?

im sorry

i was going to but its weird
and i fucked up and

CHARLIE

its okay!

if youre in trouble let me know

love you❤️

BELLE

love you !! ❤️❤️

x



"through goes hamilton!" gives me the chills every time. silverstone by far is one of the best 2022 races. you cant tell me otherwise

idk if im too happy with this but im liking it for now so :)

also . . .

MEET EMILIA GOLD !