ALICE Ch 230

Sounding like the biggest, angriest bees in the world, the twenty fastest people on earth tear into the fourth corner.

“Are you kidding me?” Alice demands, adjusting desperately as Bottas crowds her and Val pulls away. There’s a harsh bump as Alice nearly loses it. She stays in and ahead of Bottas, barely.

“I feel something,” Alice reports, staying on target.

“We can’t take those bumpers, Alice.”

“Like I had a fucking choice!”

Bottas is coming in again, this time ahead of the curve.

“Alice, we have to defend.”

Val is now probably half a second ahead.

“Oh my god! Fuck off!” Alice shouts as Bottas muscles in again.

“Was that a touch?”

“I don’t even know. God. He’s worse than Kevin!”

The corner becomes unexpectedly busy. Alice brakes expertly and Bottas capitalizes on her good manners, shooting past and nearly hitting Val, who doesn’t budge.

“What the hell was that?”

“It was Sainz, Alice. Max has a big lead now. You’re a second up on Tanaka.”

“Bottas,” Alice growls.

FF1

“Dunham has DRS.”

“Give me strength,” Faye says, feeling another distinctive jitter that she has come to recognize. She says nothing about it and changes gears. Her jaw is killing her, but she’s not about to stop clenching. Maybe there’s a better mouthguard that she could be wearing. Fernando Alonso might be a two-time world champion, but he’s not finishing this Grand Prix ahead of her.

The seconds elongate.

“DRS, Faye,” Glynda says in her ear.

Faye hits in and moves in, laser-focused on Alonso.

“Watch—” Glynda doesn’t get to finish whatever she was about to say.

The impact slams Faye’s head back. The car bounces violently as a tire shoots away, glass, plastic, and metal shattering. The **** of the spin pins her to her seat and straps dig in painfully, but it’s nothing compared to the impact when she hits the wall.

FF1

Erica is frozen in place. It’s not the first crash she’s seen, but something about how tiny the contact between Patty Dunham and Faye Darcy is juxtaposed against the **** of its outcome fills her with dread. Patty’s red, white, and blue car rolls brutally across the track, shedding bits while Faye’s pink and blue is a blur as it spins countless times to slam into the wall well off the track. Black smoke pours from Faye’s engine. Laakso punctures on Patty’s debris and goes off but manages not to crash. Pattinson gets through clean, although it’s a near thing.

Loads of debris. There will be a safety car, Erica thinks, as she gazes at the crumpled remnants of Faye Darcy’s car. Rather detachedly, she hears the ongoing race. Both Mercedes cars have overtaken Alice Wilde, and only the yellow flag has saved her from Charles LeClerc.