ALICE Ch 109

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Results:

P1 – Verstappen, Red Bull

P2 – Perez, Red Bull

P3 – Alonso, Aston Marin

P4 – Flores, Freedom

P5 – Sainz, Ferrari

P6 – Hamilton, Mercedes

P7 – Norris, McLaren

P8 – Leclerc, Ferrari

P9 – Darcy, FUTA

P10 – Bottas, Aston Martin

P11 – Pattinson, McLaren

P12 – Woodcock, S, Williams

P13 – Woodcock, M, Williams

P14 – Riciardo, Haas

P15 – Magnuson, Haas

P16 – Tanaka, Mercedes

P17 – Laakso, AlphaTauri

P18 – Dunham, Freedom

DNF – Wilde, FUTA

DNF – Ocon, AlphaTauri

The race is over. The noise is deafening.

“That will be yet another Grand Prix victory for the dauntless Max Verstappen. A strong one-two finish today will no doubt leave Christian Horner with a smile on his face.” David Croft cringes in his commentator's booth. “And there’s Alice Wilde, looks like Glynda Darcy has something to say, oh! Oh, dear. Alice Wilde is not happy. Alice Wilde is not happy at all.”

FF1

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

Colby looks deeply uncomfortable out of her usual FUTA coveralls. She clearly hates the polo and cap that she has to wear.

“You look good,” the producer says kindly.

Colby blushes and looks away.

“You were there, of course. You were closer than anyone when Alice got out of the car,” the producer prompts.

Colby nods, avoiding eye contact. Her mouth is a tight line. It’s not as though she needed to be there; it’s now the most commonly used gif on social media: footage of Alice ripping her helmet off as Glynda hurries toward her, only to stalk past the Team Principal, leaving her looking shellshocked.

“People on the internet thought it was funny,” Colby offers hopefully.

“Was it funny?”

Colby shakes her head.

FF1

A decent result in Bahrain. Pit troubles in Saudi Arabia. A podium in Australia.

Now this.

Glynda stands in the pit with Lora, Colby, and the rest of the technical team.

“Instrument failure,” the lead engineer reports. “That’s what it amounts to.”

“Instrument failure that prevented us from knowing that her engine was failing,” Lora corrects gently. “She could’ve been killed.”

“She was right.” Glynda, face tight, removes her glasses and rubs her eyes. “Wasn’t she? What if she hadn’t pushed?”

“It might’ve lasted the race. Difficult to say,” one of the techs pipes up, drawing a dirty look from the lead.

“What about the pressure loss?” Glynda asks, gazing at the floor.

“We’ll look into it.”

Glynda nods, eyes distant. “You’ll look into it,” she echoes.

FF1

Filled with nausea, Faye lifts a trembling hand and knocks on Alice’s door.

“She isn’t in there.”

“Eep!” Faye jumps and turns to see Kylie, damp with sweat, holding a sports drink.

“She’d have opened the door for me. She didn’t. She’s out. It’s probably for the best.”

Faye turns away from the door miserably.

“Right,” she says.