ALICE Ch 78

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

Alice Wilde sits, slouching slightly. She appears languid and relaxed, but there’s tension in her eyes.

“Saturday morning in Melbourne. Were you angry when you went into your qualifier?” the interviewer asks.

“Angry?” Alice frowns. “Uh… no. Get your facts straight, Netflix.” She waves a hand. “I didn’t know yet.”

“You didn’t know what Diorgasm had in mind.”

“That’s right. I guess the, um,” Alice trails off, and her smile is complicated. “I’d only just met them. Diorgasm.”

“And you had a lot on your mind, no doubt.”

“After Saudi Arabia? You bet your ass I did. I was worried. I was thinking about how we were a new team. A real new team,” Alice adds. “Not like the others. Everyone else just buys an existing team and renames it. But FUTA and Freedom were both new. Everything was untested, and you can’t go from brand new to making good F1 cars overnight.”

“You were worried about the car.”

“How could I not?”

“And the pit crew? I understand that you made a change.”

Alice snorts, then grins. “I had plenty of confidence in them,” she assures the interviewer. “I’m not throwing shade at FUTA. Formula One engineering is no joke.” She sighs. “My anxiety took that and ran with it.”

“And, of course, that was where things grew perhaps a little more complicated on the team, wasn’t it? The Australian Grand Prix?”

Alice shakes her head. “That was a hell of a weekend.”

THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFIER:

P1 Verstappen (Red Bull)

P2 Flores (Freedom)

P3 Sainz (Ferrari)

P4 Hamilton (Mercedes)

P5 Norris (McLaren)

P6 Bottas (Aston Martin)

P7 Darcy (FUTA)

P8 Perez (Red Bull)

P9 Woodcock, S. (Williams)

P10 Ricciardo (Haas)

P11 Woodcock, M. (Williams)

P12 Wilde (FUTA)

P13 Alonso (Aston Martin)

P14 LeClerc (Ferrari)

P15 Magnussen (Haas)

P16 Laakso (AlphaTauri)

P17 Tanaka (Mercedes)

P18 Pattinson (McLaren)

P19 Ocon (AlphaTauri)

P20 Dunham (Freedom)

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

Glynda Darcy sits with her back straight, as always. The severe look on her face is a familiar one.

“What did you make of the positioning going into Sunday in Melbourne?” the interviewer asks.

There’s a long hesitation. “Vexed,” she says finally. “Faye drove well.” She takes a deep breath through her nose. “Alice did her best.”

“That was a notable qualifier for a variety of reasons. What were your thoughts looking toward the other teams?”

“Valeria Flores stood out. For a moment it looked as though she might take pole over Max. And then her teammate in last. I was pleased that I didn’t have that situation in my stable. Bottas drove brilliantly in such a slow car. Several teams had difficulties with their cars, not just us. I suppose there’s no harm in saying it now. There may have been some additional nerves going into Melbourne because we knew that wasn’t Alice’s strongest circuit. But it was a good one for Faye, and the qualifier showed that.” Glynda frowns and gestures with her hands. “Things were starting to make some sense.”