Pierre had arrived at the paddock bright and early. There was one last practice session before qualifying was due to take place and he really wanted to make the most if it and get himself the best possible chance for the race as possible. However, the race wasn't the only reason why he had shown up so early.

After dumping his stuff in his trailer, he quickly made his way to the gates. The Frenchman had promised Alessia that he would meet her and Clara there and so he waited.

Alessia hobbled towards Pierre, a grin appearing on her face as she caught sight of him. He was leaning against the gate, scrolling on his phone in an AlphaTauri team polo and a pair of cream tailored trousers. His hair was styled as it always was; messy yet placed perfectly. And with the sun beating down on him, his tan made him glow.

An odd clicking sound was what initially caught Pierre's attention. He looked up from liking posts on Instagram and spotted Alessia and Clara. Only, Alessia wasn't as she usually was. This time, she was accompanied by a pair of crutches.

"Shit," he mumbled to himself before striding towards her, hoping that he could help her in some way.

"That bad, huh?" He asked as he fell into stride with her. Alessia paused for a few seconds and Pierre and Clara waited alongside her. The crutches were far more strenuous than she had imagined. Alessia could rest her foot but at what cost? Her arms were screaming at her to stop.

"I'll be fine. A few weeks rest, build myself back up a little and I'll be all good for the Olympics." The Italian gave him a wide grin, relieved that her plans for the biggest event of her athletics career were still in tact.

Just as they were about to start walking again, a gust of wind came from behind and blew Alessia's curly hair into her face. Carla had had the foresight to wear hers in a claw clip. Noticing, Pierre stood in front of her and tucked the hair behind her ears, inspecting her face as he did so. He had never noticed the very faint freckles that were dusted over the bridge of her nose and her cheeks and he had never noticed the small specs of green that complimented the brown of her eyes.

"Pierre Gasly!" A loud, Australian voice called out, the ending of Pierre's surname being emphasised.

Still facing her, Alessia watched as the Frenchman held back a laugh. He gave her an amused look to which she felt the butterflies in her stomach erupt and he turned back around to find the man that had been calling his name. With his hand lingering by hers, Alessia felt their skin brushing against each other's and her whole arm was set on fire.

"You're getting better every time!" Pierre exclaimed to a man who was dressed almost entirely in an incredibly bright orange. Alessia could only assume that he was a driver but she wasn't entirely sure since she had seen a lot of people in similar attire to Pierre and there was no way that they were all drivers.

The man approached them, pulling Pierre into a 'bro hug'. Alessia looked to her other side and noticed Clara drooling over the man in orange. Sure, he was definitely good looking but as it was, Alessia only seemed to have eyes for the Frenchman.

"Daniel, this is Alessia and her friend, Clara." Pierre introduced the two girls to his friend. He had barely finished his sentence when Clara was sticking her hand out for the Australian to take. She was a sucker for an accent.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Daniel," he started and Alessia couldn't help but notice the large and contagious smile that was on his face. He certainly seemed to be the type that was always happy and for that, Alessia envied him slightly.

"Why don't I give you a tour of the paddock? I know Pierre could do it but I know your friend has already had a tour and I'm not sure she'll want to, given the fact that she's in crutches." Daniel offered to Clara. It seemed that the blonde's mind was only on the man in front of her. Alessia and Pierre were barely an afterthought as she took him up on his offer and was gone without so much as a farewell.

After their encounter with the eccentric and energetic Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre and Alessia made their way to the AlphaTauri area.

"I didn't get to show you this before but this is our area outwith the garage. We have all of our meetings in here, relax and warm up in here." He lead her into a cosy trailer. It was deceiving in its looks. Even from the inside, it looked relatively small but with all of its corridors leading to somewhere else, Alessia was amazed at the size.

Alessia continued to hobble alongside him with her crutches. She took it all in and she found it quite difficult to wrap her head around. Formula One racing was huge and yet she had never noticed it until she had met Pierre.

"Bonjour, Pierre." A much smaller guy greeted the pair. He too was dressed in very similar attire to Pierre and from the way that Pierre ruffled his hair and poked fun at his French accent, or lack of, Alessia decided that this man must be Pierre's team-mate.

"Bonjour, guiseppe Yuki." He shook her hand and Alessia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. His lack of French accent and his lack of knowledge of the language told her that he most definitely was not French.

Alessia looked to Pierre for help. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the introduction that had been given by Yuki.

"She's Italian, not French although that wasn't even close to being French. I don't know how many times I've told you." Pierre laughed at Yuki as he took Alessia's crutches from her and helped her take a seat beside him at one of the tables.

With Pierre's arm slung over her shoulders, the pair sat and spoke to Yuki about the weekend ahead.

1046 words
4th July 2022

note from e !

Hello, loves! Another update for you all today. I fell out of my active era again a bit but I'm trying to be better! The current F1 season does not help with inspiration either because it's just disaster after disaster for Ferrari and Charles 🙃

Anyway, I hope things are going well for you all! I hope exam season wasn't too stressful and I hope that you've all treated yourself in some way for surviving exams.

Surprise of the F1 season so far?
- for me, how well Aston Martin are doing! I thought they would do better than last season because I knew that Seb helped them out loads on the simulator and all that but they've exceeded my expectations.

Enjoy and stay safe!

Lots of love, e x