ALICE Ch 13

“Alice, get ready.”

“I’m ready,” Alice mutters, gripping the wheel. There’s too much to process. She can’t even retain who is even still in the race. A safety car on her first Grand Prix.

She’s behind a Williams.

“Green light, Alice.”

Alice hits it for the second time today, mindful of her tires. The spin was not kind to them. The engines roar and the track blurs past as she rockets after the Williams car.

“DRS is available. I want you to overtake Woodcock.”

“Which one is it?” Alice asks.

“What difference does it make?”

That’s a fair point. Alice makes her move, going for the inside. Woodcock moves to block her. Alice grinds her teeth and holds steady, edging out and going wheel to wheel. They nearly touch, but she runs out of room. Woodcock pulls ahead again.

“We take her on the outside. Turn three,” Lora says soothingly.

“Who’s behind me?”

“Charles. He’s not making his move yet.”

“He can’t. You can’t see it, but there’s still debris,” Alice bites out, feeling something from her right wheels. “Why do you say his name like that? Why does everyone?”

“It’s the correct way.”

“Is not,” Alice says obstinately. “See anything on the front right wheel?”

“What do you feel?”

“Some jitter.”

“Nothing’s showing here. We’ll be looking at an early box, but not too early. Just drive.”

“You just drive,” Alice mutters. “Where’s Faye?”

“Still P12.”

Alice winces. That’s not good.

“How far am I behind Max?”

“You don’t need to worry about Max, Alice.”

“How far am I behind Val?”

“Alice, I want you to concentrate on driving. You have DRS.”

“I am concentrating!” Alice snaps, pushing harder. She sees her chance and takes it. The Woodcock twin doesn’t have time to react; Alice is past before she can do anything about it.

1. Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Bottas (Aston Martin)

3. Flores (Freedom)

4. Hamilton (Mercedes)

5. Sainz (Ferrari)

6. Ocon (AlphaTauri)

7. Wilde (FUTA)

8. Woodcock (Williams)

9. Leclerc (Ferrari)

10. Magnussen (Haas)

11. Woodcock (Williams)

12. Darcy (FUTA)

“Nicely done,” Lora says. She never sounds impressed, which just makes Alice want to work harder to impress her. Maybe that’s on purpose. Alice never thought about it. She’s thinking about it now. “Now we have to manage those tires. You’re four seconds behind Ocon.”

Alice knows that she lost time on the last two corners, but she’s being conservative. Yesterday’s DNF has definitely traumatized her. That won’t do. F1 is no place for caution.

“We’ll get him,” she promises Lora.

“Charles has overtaken Woodcock. You’ll have to defend.”

“How many laps left?”

“You’ve got plenty of time.”

Alice smiles in her bright, pink helmet. That’s a funny thing to say to an F1 driver.

“Charles is in DRS range,” Lora warns. “Get ready, Alice.”