ALICE Ch 79

“And it is race day in Melbourne!”

Those words echo through the air and through plenty of speakers as Kylie hustles through the paddock, racing to join the crew in the pit. She’s not really part of the crew, but a perk of her role as Alice’s trainer is to be able to watch races with celebrities. There aren’t any celebrities in the FUTA pit; they’re all with Mercedes and Ferrari and Red Bull, although a part of her hopes that this job will be her ticket to meeting Jason Momoa at some point. She careens through the corridors and bursts into the pit. Noise and mechanical smells hit hard as she pushes through people in pink jumpsuits to snag a folding chair for herself. She sucks hard on her boba straw, eyes glued to the row of screens hanging from the ceiling.

The lights go out.

“And they’re away! That’s a clean start for Verstappen, out in front!”

“Tremendously interesting positioning in this race with so many issues during qualifying. And into the first turn! Norris and Hamilton! Will they touch? No! No, everyone is OK! Darcy going over the apex a bit, but straightened out now! Danny Ricciardo looking hard at Woodcock!”

“And that’s a fight! Barely seconds it’s into the race and Fernando Alonso has designs on Alice Wilde, but he’s out of luck! Alice’s car had battery trouble for her qualifying lap, but we’ve been told that’s fixed now!”

“I certainly hope it is, Simon! After what happened in Saudi Arabia, Wilde is surely tired of car trouble, and here comes Bottas! We’re in the DRS zones, and these drivers are very frisky indeed today!”

“And that’s Charles past Alonso, very tidy!”

“Dunham retiring! Looks like they didn’t get her engine sorted after all! Kevin Magnussen falling behind Kirsi Laakso! She’s taken him on the inside! Absolutely fearless!”

“Meanwhile, Flores is utterly glued to Verstappen while Sainz holds off Hamilton for fourth. Nobody’s sparing a single thought for their tires! It’s a bloodbath!”

Kylie’s boba’s empty; she’s been sucking on pure nerves. She knows a bit about F1, although she’s no particular racing enthusiast. This seems… like a lot going on when they’ve barely gotten into the third lap.

“Checo overtakes Darcy and he’s got his eye on Bottas, who has steadily lost pace! And poor Carlos Sainz knows he’s one lapse in focus away from P4 because Lewis is absolutely badgering him!”

“And that’s it! She’s done it! Flores is in DRS range of Max Verstappen!”

“No! He’s fended her off! One does not simply overtake Max Verstappen, Stephanie!”

“Right you are, Simon! Can Alice Wilde get back into the points? She can! That’s Danny Ricciardo into eighth, unexpectedly cautious there on the third corner. He wants to finish this race, but no desire to fight Alice Wilde.”

“Bottas expertly boxing out Norris and Checo’s seen his chance and missed it! Oh, Christian Horner’s not going to be too happy about that!”