ALICE Ch 42

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Starting Positions

P1 Norris (McLaren)

P2 LeClerc (Ferrari)

P3 Hamilton (Mercedes)

P4 Alonso (Aston Martin)

P5 Laakso (AlphaTauri)

P6 Flores (Freedom)

P7 Wilde (FUTA)

P8 Ricciardo (Haas)

P9 Woodcock (Williams)

P10 Darcy (FUTA)

P11 Woodcock (Williams)

P12 Ocon (AlphaTauri)

P13 Magnussen (Haas)

P14 Tanaka (Mercedes)

P15 Pattinson (McLaren)

P16 Bottas (Aston Martin)

P17 Perez (Red Bull)

DNF Verstappen (Red Bull)

DNF Dunham (Freedom)

DNF Sainz (Ferrari)

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

The man who sits is weathered but personable. He wears a simple Haas windbreaker and a tidy, minimalist goatee. There’s plenty of gray in his hair, and he’s grinning.

“Good morning,” he greets the interviewer. “It’s me. I’m back. For season one thousand of Netflix Presents Mario Kart.”

This is Guenther Steiner, Team Principal for Haas. He’s Italian-American but speaks with a noticeable German accent due to growing up in Alto Adige.

“You’re going to ask me about Danny,” he predicts.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you about Freedom and FUTA,” the interviewer counters.

Guenther’s smile flickers. “Yes?”

“How do you feel about the effect on the Haas brand that these new teams are bringing to Formula One?”

Seconds pass. Guenther licks his lips.

For years, Haas was the only American team. FUTA Racing’s owner is American and FUTA is based in the United States, but FUTA itself is deeply international, drawing its players and viewers from all over the world.

Freedom is another matter. Funded by big oil and the same wealthy conservative people that start Super PACs, Freedom is thoroughly American. At least in the way that it presents. Both drivers are American and their livery all looks like stuff that the American Olympic Team would wear.

Not only that but Freedom and FUTA are both outdriving Haas handily this season. Not that Haas isn’t used to losing, but these are brand-new, American teams.

“I think it’s high time that America has more representation in Formula One,” Guenther says diplomatically.

FF1

Alice sits beside Faye, gazing at a massive projection of the Jeddah Street Circuit in the FUTA situation room at the paddock. She’s not happy. They’ve had some bad news about Alice’s engine, which has an issue that can’t be fixed in time for the race. It means she’ll be at a slight disadvantage in power, which is likely to be consequential in a race that is so long and straight. Glynda’s upset about that; she’s upset about this problem going unnoticed for so long, and perhaps even more upset that Faye’s car doesn’t have this problem and yet she’s still driving more slowly than Alice.

There must be a lot of pressure on her. The team celebrated this partnership with Lukoil, but more money is more problems. Alice usually only pays attention to her own social media presence, not so much the team itself. And hers is just posting pics whenever she arrives somewhere new and liking memes.

But there’s a lot of F1 discourse, and FUTA’s at the center of it now. An American Team taking money from a Russian Oil Company. Obviously, that’s not what’s happening in the open, but people see through it.

Glynda has a lot more to worry about than engine trouble.

Alice looks over at Faye, whose foot bounces restlessly.

“You OK?” she asks quietly.

Faye swallows and nods.