Q’S SIDEBLOG! @doohanalright - Tumblr Blog

1. a year’s difference

those who play with fire tend to be consumed by it

word count: 15.6k

reminder that this story is a sequel! and thanks for being so patient while I got my life together <3

“I’m not gonna keep going if you keep laughing,” Sam said in a pouting tone.

“Sorry, sorry,” Daniel wheezed between laughs, “I'll stop…” he proved himself wrong by breaking into another cackle at the pout on Sam’s face, “eventually.”

Sam however, didn’t believe him. But the longer she watched him clutch his stomach and roll around uncontrollably on her hotel bed, the harder it was to contain her own laughter.

She tried to talk to stave off her laughter, but she wasn’t successful, “You were adamant about wanting to sit through these sessions with me, and you've been gone for two weeks. We’ve got ground to cover, so focus!”

Wall Work.

Sam had rolled her eyes when her psychologist had told her about this type of therapy, and she rolled them again when she was “assigned” to do it over the summer break. She was put into contact with the creator of this specific type of work, and in a long, detailed email explaining the process to Sam, he let her know what she was to hopefully accomplish the three month break.

The premise of this type of therapy was that you wrote down the entire timeline of your life on pieces of paper. Large, defining moments. Small, memorable ones. Anything that Sam considered to be pivotal in shaping her as a person. Then she was supposed to tape them up on the walls, surrounding herself with what was practically her entire life in words.

What scared Sam the most is what was considered the “work” in Wall Work— she was supposed to present it to somebody. Getting lost in explaining the significance of each sheet of paper and remembering the prices in between was hopefully supposed to help pinpoint what was holding her back mentally. To make matters worse, she had to do the grueling task multiple times… and she didn’t have anybody in mind to present it to.

Molly knew everything about her already, so it wouldn’t be nearly as helpful— it made it feel like a useless endeavor: like telling someone a story over and over again that they’d already heard before.

She didn’t want to force Mick to sit through it. She knew he would, but Sam didn’t want to take him— and therefore Molly, now that they were an official couple— away from their winter break together. It didn’t seem fair.

And then there was Daniel… she felt that was too much to ask of somebody who she’d only been officially an item with for a little less than a month.

It seemed excessive, laying out your entire life, from start to finish on pieces of paper and taping them up onto walls so you can face it all. By the end of the “treatment” her whole life would be a timeline laid out for her to see, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to look at it, laid out in its fucked up glory, let alone force somebody to sit through it multiple times.

She didn’t want to do it, but Daniel told her that if she was willing to allow him to sit through it, he would hold her accountable for putting in the work and let her present it to him. She argued to this new psychologist that she was capable enough to do it alone, and it would probably benefit her even more. But the man had assured her that it was much more beneficial to work through the tougher bits if there was someone there she could work it through with.

Sam was tentative at first— trying to find any way out of it— but Daniel assured her that it would allow her to open up to him even more so he could get to know her better, all the good and all the ugly parts.

And he was right.

She complained at first, like, literally the entire time, about literally every aspect of it: the stack of papers was weighing down her backpack as she lugged it with her on their global-galavanting vacations, the amount of paper was killing trees— and she shouldn’t prioritize her mental health over the sake of the planet (and how could she possibly look Seb in the eye the next time she saw him!), she was embarrassed to talk about the stupid things she’d done as a kid, it took away from time they could be out exploring together, it probably freaked out any cleaning staff that hotel sent up to their rooms, blah blah blah. If it crossed her mind, she found a way to turn it into a complaint hoping that Daniel would concede and let her just tell her therapist she’d completed it.

Yet Daniel wasn’t budging. In the moment she was annoyed by his persistence, but she knew he was doing this for her. Somewhere in the middle of the Maldives she decided she wasn’t going to punish him for that anymore.

So something about having Daniel there and spending that new kind of quality time with him turned it into something she actually started to look forward to, dare she say enjoy. It worked out perfectly, seeing as they had been in the honeymoon phase of their newly established relationship and had wanted to spend the free time of their winter break together.

“Daniel,” she sighed, “it isn't even this funny!”

He kept laughing. She gave up trying to contain her own laughter.

“You didn’t laugh like this the first two times you heard this…”

He sat up, “because the last two times you didn’t mention that there was a photo of you hanging in the indycar headquarters like a mugshot.”

“Hey,” she scoffed, “I had no idea that they would get that worked up over a mindless prank!”

“You let a gerbil loose and it got stuck in the tail-pipe of a priceless indy 500 winning car”

“And Mr. Cooter lived a full life and served his country well,” Sam replied with her nose up.

“He died?’ Daniel gasped, and then started laughing.

“Well, eventually!” Sam interjected, offended. “We got him out of the tailpipe, he just— he got out a year later and I never saw him again.” she crossed her arms over her chest. “It's a sensitive subject!” she joked.

“Oh, well pardon me for not knowing about your attachment to your late hamster Mr. Cooter… Odd name by the way.” Daniel cracked a grin.

“Thanks, It’s a family name,” she quipped sarcastically in response. The two laughed

“Look, can we stop for tonight? I know we’re still,” she stepped back to see the entire room from where she stood, “like two years behind schedule because of your unplanned vacation,” she cracked a smile and Daniel rolled his eyes.

“I was quarantined, I didn’t have a choice!”

“Yeah yeah yeah, vacation… quarantine… whatever same thing.” She waved her hand dismissively and Daniel tried to smack it out the air, missing it completely, his smile never faltering.

“I’ve got somewhere to be in an hour and I want to look somewhat decent before I go. Plus, you already know what happens next. You knew what happened the last two times you’ve heard this…” Sam gestured to the paper-covered walls behind her. She felt guilty; it always felt like too much to dump on Daniel regardless of what he said.

“You know that’s not how this works…” This time, he reached out to grab her hands and was successful, intertwining their fingers between her standing body and his place on the edge of the bed. “Besides, you already look decent. Better than decent matter of fact.”

She looked down at her ensemble. She wasn't sure baggy jeans and an old t-shirt that swallowed her whole, accompanied by her sweaty hair thrown into two braids qualified as “decent”, let alone better than decent... But something about the way Daniel said it made her cheeks heat nonetheless.

“I love the flattery, I really do, but you need to raise your standards.” She laughed and launched herself at him and onto her hotel room bed

“I haven’t seen you in weeks, why are you trying to run off so quickly? Can’t I catch up with my girlfriend,” Daniel hugged her into him even tighter, reveling in the feeling of holding her close after two weeks of being unable to do just that. He’d learned it was one of his favorite things, holding her. Whether it was waking up in bed together on a cool summer morning in Colorado, attempting to hold each other steady while stumbling back from a Tuscan night out where they had indulged in a bit too much red wine, or interlocking hands together under their dinner table in the dim light of the michelin star restaurant in France, or even just their sides brushing while they leaned their heads on top of one another’s while they sat on a bench and took a break during their long hike up the Scottish Highlands. Every moment they’d spent together this summer made one thing clear: Sam was like a drug and he was downright addicted.

Which is what made the idea of the season ahead of them so much more daunting.

She laughed again, “Uh, you’re acting like you were off in the middle of the desert with no cell phone service for two weeks.. I called you like, multiple times a day! But don’t worry, we can do your version of catching up when I get home tonight.”

Daniel wiggled his eyebrows, “I like the sound of that.”

He watched as Sam’s cheeks grew even darker and followed the curve of her lip she tried to deflect so he wouldn’t notice. Next came what she always resorted back to in order to get Daniel to concede; his one weakness she had discovered that even he hadn’t been aware of:

Sam put one of her hands on either of Daniel’s cheeks and cupped his face tenderly, giving him what he could only describe as sadistic puppy dog eyes. “You need to let go of me so I can get dressed.”

Those eyes. His favorite pair of hazel eyes. The ones he daydreamed about getting lost in. The eyes that he had been lucky enough to have their sights set on him. This look was his kryptonite. Something about the way she looked as if she was pleading with him, but also in some way maybe threatening him? He had no idea, but something about it hypnotized him and could bring him to his knees within seconds. Daniel felt like he was a pirate being drawn in by a siren since Sam learned this little trick. He couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t care to.

But in a way, a part of him knew his weak-will was simply because he loved her, and wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for her at the drop of a hat— it was just a bonus that he got to send a few extra seconds with her, where it was completely valid to just be consumed by his admiration for her.

Head still in her hands he raised an eyebrow, “Are you meeting with another boyfriend I don’t know about? Why are you getting all dressed up? Who’s my competition? Actually you don’t need to tell me, I’m willing to fight anybody to the death for your honor—“

She cut him off with a laugh to reassure him, despite knowing he was teasing her, “No men, just Jack.”

Her joke hadn’t registered with him, so she added his last name after a brief pause.

“… Doohan. Jack Doohan?” His features relaxed with recognition. “We’re just grabbing a quick bite downstairs for dinner. He wants a bit of advice before his first full F2 season.”

Daniel sat up abruptly, “bu— he didn’t ask me for advice…” Sam shrugged, “why’d he ask you and not me”. Sam shrugged again. He looked genuinely distraught for a moment, but then he pointed his finger accusatorily at her after.

“You’re stealing my son from me!” Daniel protested.

She threw her hands up in defense, “I am not! And he’s not your son…” her hand flew from beside her head and her finger extended out as she flung it toward her sternum, “He’s mine!” She corrented mischievously.

“Can I come please,” Daniel begged by dragging out the vowel, hissing out the s, before ending his plea with a soft ‘uh’, now giving Sam his best puppy dog eyes.

“I wish. He didn’t invite you and it’ll be suspicious if I just show up with you out of the blue. You’ll survive one night without me, I promise.” She kissed him on the forehead before getting up to change, “You never know, maybe he’s just waiting to get advice from you after he gets advice from me. He looks up to you Daniel. Don’t doubt that.”

He smiled. And then he used his momentum and the spring of the luxury mattress to propel himself forward to a standing position. In one motion he wrapped both his arms around Sam and pulled her back down onto the bed.

She yelped in surprise. But allowed herself to melt into him, falling back onto the bed and against his warm embrace.

“I missed you,” he whispered against the crown of her head.

“I missed you too,” she replied into his chest.

They sat there for a moment. In each other's arms. No obligations. No expectations. No words. Nothing. Just their hearts breathing against one another. Just Sam. Just Daniel. Just Sam and Daniel together. Finally. Every moment they’d spent together since Abu Dhabi had felt like a breath of relief; all the bullshit was done, no more miscommunications, no more hiding feelings, no more NDA’s, no more running.

After a minute more of comfortable silence, Sam spoke up. “So, any nerves now that you’re here in the flesh?”

Daniel hesitated in responding. He inhaled, Then exhaled. “The car…” he trailed off

She heard and felt his heart rate increase with the way her head rested on his chest. The shallow thumping against his ribcage sent small vibrations reverberating against her ear, one’s which Sam had grown accustomed to hearing over the break. But the worry in his tone made her enjoy it less this time.

He’d been voicing his concern of the car all winter. The way it didn’t suit his driving style last season, his declining results, and the highly unlikely chance that the team would make the major adjustments he was hoping for.

And to make matters worse, he missed the entirety of testing… you know, the one place they allow the drivers to really give their opinion on the car— or at least one place where the grievances were actually taken into account.

“I’m sorry,” she rubbed up and down on his arm, listening to his heart rate slow back down. Sam smiled at the action Daniel had no control over.

“Tell me something good,” he said changing the subject, “How’s your car? Think of a name yet?”

She didn’t respond initially. He was down in the dumps about his drive situation this season, the last thing she wanted to do was drag him down even lower by talking about her own situation, which she knew to be better.

“Lilith” she responded quietly, acting as if he hadn’t asked a two part question.

He ignored the name she’d given him. Not because he wasn’t excited at what it was calling back to, but because she hadn’t answered one of his questions— the important question. “C'mon Sammy…we talked about this.”

“I know…” she groaned, rolling onto her back and hiding her face in her hands.

Daniel sat up and spread her fingers apart so her eyes were visible. She opened them, her hazel irises hypnotizing him momentarily.

He whispered, “say it with me…”

“Your win is not my loss” they said in unison. Sam’s words were muffled by her hands still over her face.

The two had decided that this one mantra was a great way to reassure each other that despite what happens out on the track, they would be by each other's sides regardless. There was something taboo about dating an opponent, but Sam had never let taboo get in her way, and Daniel had ever rarely cared about what the status quo had to say. This small reminder was their way to remind each other that regardless of anything, they could be a shoulder to lean on without needing to walk on eggshells around each other.

Saniel smiled warmly. It melted Sam from the inside out. He ducked his head down closer to her, “I’m your boyfriend before I’m your opponent. Now c'mon. How’s the car?”

Sam felt like somebody lit off an entire box of fireworks behind her ribcage. She asked herself the question she’d asked herself more times than she could keep track of over their dreamy winter break together.

What had someone like me, possibly done to deserve somebody as amazing as Daniel?

Her pout slowly morphed into a smile, one Daniel could see even though her hands covered her lips.

Her eyes crinkled… she was grinning.

“Ishhh rwwreee ghhhd,” she mumbled from behind her hands, unable to contain her excitement as she laughed.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Daniel laughed along with her, placing his grip on her wrists and removing her hands from her face so he could see her entire face. Her words had been incomprehensible, but her giddiness and grin gave him a clue as to what she’d said.

“It’s really good. It’s so fucking good! It’s a goddamn machine! Me and her, we’re gonna wreak some havoc on track this season, I can already tell.”

The room filled with their laughter.

“I think I have a shot at this, Danny. It’s not a pipe dream anymore.” She sat up, “after driving the HAAS all last season, this Mercedes car… she just… she moves with so much grace. I’m already so much more confident behind the wheel.”

Daniel looked at her, his smile no doubt genuine. She was positive he was the only one out of the remaining 18 drivers on the grid who could sit here like this and actually smile as his opponent gawked about their incredible car. He was one in a million and again, she wasn’t sure how she’d been so lucky to be able to call him hers.

She gave him a look, “I think we have a championship contending car.”

He was grinning, but then the corners of his lips dropped and he took a deep breath, “I want to ask you a realistic question, not because I don’t think you’re capable— because I do, I absolutely do— I just have no idea what happens in your garage….”

She nodded, nervous.

“How have Toto and Lewis decided who gets priority?”

It was odd hearing Lewis be referred to as her new team principal. Everyone had expected that once he retired, his role within the F1 community was far from over. Shortly after the end of the 2021 season, it was announced Toto would be promoted to CEO, and Lewis would take his place as team principal. They’d both be active in making decisions within the team, but now Lewis had a more permanent position.

What Sam was most excited about was Toto’s wife Suzie being promoted to head of strategy. She’s always idolized Suzie, the woman’s role in Formula 1 was the most ground breaking there’d been since Sam took her seat. So to say she was ecstatic to work with her was an understatement. George had said that she was fangirling, and despite the glare she sent his way during the team meeting, she knew he wasn’t wrong. Sam was totally fangirling.

Their team this season was stacked for victory. 9-time Constructor’s Champions with a record-breaking 8-time world champion leading their team from the garage, with two rookies who know how to fucking drive. A good cop, George russel, and a bad cop, Samantha Thompson. There was balance.

She blew out an exasperated breath, “They came to the decision to just let us race. No first driver-second driver dynamic. They won’t call team orders unless the driver that would be getting passed suggests it… or they agree when the team asks under extenuating circumstances I guess”

She shrugged, “it’s two team rookies taking seats in the championship winning car. Forecast predicts madness. Especially with the looks of RedBull and Ferrari. If you ask me, they’re going to sacrifice this ‘just race’ tactic the second the titles get tight.”

“That’s… a lot.” Daniel sat up and took a deep breath, trying to process the madness within the Mercedes garage.

Sam nodded, eyes wide, “Yeah, I just hope it doesn't ruin me and George’s friendship. He's a by the book kinda guy and I’m… well the complete opposite of that. His temper is short and leads to frustration, mine is short and leads to anger. Honestly it’s kinda a horror story waiting to happen, but I'm hoping we can at least wait until after the summer break before any big arguments”

“There aren’t going to be any arguments. You guys are too good of friends,” he reassured her.

This time, Sam shook her head at his words. “I don’t believe that… Love the guy but we butt heads too often. It’s inevitable.”

Daniel’s expression had turned slightly sour, a pout now resting on his lips.

It took Sam a second to comprehend the look on his face.

“You know what I meant,” she clarified, realizing the reason for his big lower lip and furrowed brow.

He shook his head.

She huffed, “I do not love George Russell.”

Still pouting.

“The only man I love is Daniel Ricciardo,” she said the line as if it was rehearsed, as if she’d had this same conversation time and time again. Because she had. A small part of her knew that Daniel just liked to hear her say that she loved him. Yet Sam obliged without protest; yes she said it often and with ease, but if Daniel wanted to make a big deal out of her saying it, then so be it. It’s the least she could do for everything she’d put him through.

His resolve weakened. He cracked a smile.

She straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, his hands instinctively finding a place on her lower back as she gave the tip of his prominent nose a kiss.

“I love you, Daniel…” Sam said in a sing-song tone, waiting for his smile to break wide open into the grin she adored so much.

“Good,” he smiled. Sam rolled her eyes playfully and fell forward into him so they were laying on the bed again. They both turned their gazes to the ceiling, just enjoying each other's company before all hell broke loose this weekend. Any shrivel of normalcy they had as a couple was about to shrivel up into damn near nothing. They knew it was coming, but they’d been dreading it all winter.

“Our first race weekend as a couple… it feels so…” he trailed off.

“Strange?” she asked.

“Well I was going to say surreal but yeah, definitely strange,” he fiddled with his hands and picked at his fingernails before stopping, aware that Sam knew all too well that it was his anxious tic. “It’s weird that we hated each other this time last year… and seeing us now…”

“What do you mean now? I still hate you…” she joked.

He reached over and grabbed a pillow from above them and smacked it against her face.

She laughed and turned on her side to look at him, “Jokes aside, I didn’t hate you this time last year. Not until Sunday night after the press conference. Plus, you had no idea I was even here until Sunday night,” she looked at her watch, “and last I checked it’s only Wednesday night.”

Daniel did the same so that they were laying down, facing each other. “Since when do you care about the specifics?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. Talking about last season during this stupid wall exercise has kinda brought it into perspective…”

Sam shifted her weight so her face was in front of his, “Do you ever think about how stupid we were. Literally all we had to do was have an adult conversation and we could have avoided so much drama. We honestly might have even gotten together sooner.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “We were idiots… but I dropped out of school during the ninth grade so I never claimed to be smart. What matters is it all worked out”

He kissed her forehead.

“Get all this out of your system now, because this weekend starts a long season of deception, deceit, and everything in between. Because as of tomorrow, according to the entire world, we are simply just friends. And that means no PDA, Daniel. I know that’s going to be hard for you,” she reached over and patted his shoulder comfortingly, but not without the added spark of teasing him about his love of affection.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged, “What can I say? I’m a hands-on learner.”

She laughed and he went on, “I think we’ve mentally prepared enough. I’m not going to enjoy acting like you aren’t mine…” he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, “but if it means this gets to be ours for as long as possible, I’m willing to do whatever.”

The way his insides lit up whenever Sam blushed would never get old. He wanted to look at her forever, and he probably could. He liked the idea of it.

Then Daniel smirked as a thought crossed his mind:

“The real question is, have you managed to practice looking at me like you don't want to fuck me, or is that still a work in progress?”

She scoffed and slapped his chest, prying herself from his arms.

Sam flipped him off and made her way over the bathroom, disappearing through the doorway as Daniel laughed.

“Well,” she shouted from out of sight, the shower turning on in the background, “I’m just a visual learner okay! I’m admiring what is mine!”

He laughed again, but this time much harder. Eyes closed, clutching his chest, and rolling backward.

That was until he heard a quiet thump and sat up to see a gray lump of fabric sitting on the floor in front of the bathroom doorway. It was the same color as the shirt Sam had been wearing. Before he could say anything another piece of clothing flew from the bathroom and landed nearby.

A pair of jeans.

Sam shouted from behind the door again.

“What was that you said earlier about being a hands-on learner?” she shouted as he heard the unmistakable sound of the shower door being opened.

Daniel didn’t hesitate, didn’t say a word, he just shot up from the bed and ran toward the bathroom, discarding his shirt and haphazardly trying to step out of his jeans in the process.

XXX

Jack Doohan sat patiently waiting at a table for two in the hotel restaurant downstairs. His phone was illuminating his face with bright light in the dim dining room. The sound of Sam pulling out the chair and scraping its legs against the linoleum floor is what spooked him out of his scrolling induced trance.

He jumped back in his chair, startled, at the noise and was relieved to see it was just Sam.

“Geez, well hello to you too.”

Shaking his head, he cleared himself from the daze and smiled at Sam, “Sorry, sorry, I’m just a bit distracted.”

Jack stood from his seat and greeted Sam with a hug. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck, the other holding her jacket by her waist.

“It’s alright,” Sam encouraged, “I’m just glad to get to see you. How was the break?”

The two sat and caught up with one another for a bit before a waiter came over to take their drink order. Jack’s winter break— summer in Australia he reminded her— consisted of catching up with family, hosting Mick and Molly, reminiscing about how much more fun they would’ve had if she’d been able to tag along.

She apologized, reminding him of her full schedule that stopped her from flying out to Australia with them, and catching him up on the fun things she did while away. Apartment hunting in London, wine tasting in Italy, hiking the green mountains in Switzerland, and then ending the break back at her family home in Colorado.

All while leaving out the fact she’d been accompanied by Daniel during all of it.

It stung, being unable to tell Jack all the funny, incredible memories she’d made with Daniel. It hurt even more knowing that he was friends with Daniel too— he probably wouldn’t even care; odds are he’d be excited. But it was too soon.

“I saw you and Lindsay were in the same media group tomorrow…” He said tentatively, changing the topic onto the weekend ahead of them.

“Yep.”

Her casual response threw Jack off; the simpleness to it, he would’ve almost thought she was oblivious to the past if he didn’t know any better. He leaned forward and his eyebrow lifted in confusion.

“So do you two still absolutely hate each other, or are we just going to act like none of that stuff ever happened?”

“I haven’t spoken to her at all, and I know it sounds insane, but I’m ready to just put it all behind me and try to offer her my friendship. I'm trying to remind myself that I would’ve killed for there to be a woman on the grid when I started last year… so I’m hoping I can be someone she can depend on when it comes to the insane reality that is not only becoming a Formula 1 driver, but being a woman on the grid.”

Not an ounce of joking lingered in her tone. All the while her words were overflowing with assurance. He hated to think the worst of people, especially somebody he loved as much as Sam, but she wasn’t one to just let things go with this sort of ease… There were no reservations in her plan, no methodical planning ahead, just good old fashion flying by the seat of her pants… Was this a cry for help he was overlooking? His head swirlied with contradicting thoughts… What exactly had she done on her months-long eat-pray-love solo trip around the world? Voodoo? Hypnotism? He couldn’t be sure.

Jack picked up the butter knife sitting to his left and held it defensively in front of him, “Who are you and what have you done with Sam.”

“I’m a changed woman, Jackie Boy. This year is gonna be different.” She smiled, taking the knife from his hand by the handle and using it to butter her dinner roll. “Things are going to be different. They have to be.”

“So,” she started up again before taking a bite of the freshly buttered bread, “what’s the real reason you wanted to grab a bite tonight? Because I haven’t driven in F2 for four-ish years, and that didn’t really end well. Plus, Mick won the championship in 2020. If you wanted detailed racing advice, you would’ve gone to him.”

Jack just sat there and looked at her, eyes wide in shock. She’d figure it out before he’d even gotten the change to ask her.

“You’re good.” He admitted defeat. The all-knowing glint in her eye told him it would be useless trying to deny it, especially since it was why he needed her advice.

“Spill,” Sam grinned, scooting her chair as close as possible to the table and resting her elbows on the tabletop. She was intrigued and ready to listen to whatever Jack had to say. She thought of him like a baby brother, and she was ready to take advantage of this rare occurrence and offer any older sister advice that she could.

He huffed out a laugh and rolled his eyes. Sam noticed his demeanor change to the shy, quiet Jack that she grew up with.

“It’s about this girl…” he whispered quietly.

It took Sam every ounce of self-control in her body to not shout for joy at the top of her lungs in the middle of this restaurant. Her jaw dropped in disbelief— no, not disbelief; she knew how charming Jack was and she had honestly been shocked he had little interest in dating— it was elation. She was so unbelievably excited Jack was finally interested in a girl— interested enough to need advice about it. And even more to Sam’s delight, he had come to her for this advice.

He continued, seeing as Sam was practically stunned speechless. “She’s the new team admin—”

She held up her hand to stop him, “Please do not tell me you finally have your sights set on somebody and it’s a grown-ass woman, Jack.”

“What?” He scoffed, her expression shifted to one of incredulity from across the table. “No, she’s 19. The team took her on as an apprentice or something like that. Something about reaching younger audiences and demographics I guess.”

Sam’s face relaxed. “Oh…well, that’s good.” She felt a tad embarrassed at her assumption. “So what’s she like?”

“I dunno”

The way Jack shrugged and said it so casually had Sam thinking she may have imagined the entire interaction.

She leaned closer to him across the table. She spoke softly, as if whatever they were speaking about was classified.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I— I uh, I haven’t actually spoken to her yet…”

Jack scratched the back of his neck and his face contorted in embarrassment. Sam had no idea how this man had survived this long in the real world. Had he not figured out he was likable enough to literally have an entire fanbase? Lots of those being age-appropriate women who would spontaneously combust if he even smiled at them? Or maybe she’s unsure as to how he hasn’t realized he’s technically motorsport royalty, which means that there's statistically a much lower chance of him ever getting rejected by a girl, let alone one who worked in the industry. A sliver of her finds it endearing that he;s so worked up over a girl he literally hasn’t even spoken to yet, but that doesn;t negate how dumbfounded she is at what she’s hearing.

Her mind was running wild trying to come up with a reasonable explanation as to how oblivious he was, all while her jaw hung open and her brows creased.

Jack broke the silence, trying to plead his case, “She was introduced to the team at the first debrief of the season yesterday”

“Okay…” Sam trailed off. Her eyes were focused on everything and nothing at the same time as she leaned back in her chair. “We can work with this.”

A few more head nods in silence and she finally looked at Jack, “Yeah, we can work with this.”

He leaned forward, “Okay, so what do I do?”

“Talk to her,” Sam said plainly.

At that moment a waiter came by with their drinks. Sam smiled at him as he placed the two glasses down on the table, a lemonade for Jack and a glass of red wine for Sam, she said a small thanks before turning back to the young driver infront of her.

He was staring at her like she’d grown another head and she assumed he had been looking at her like that since she gave him her first bit of advice. She tried to stifle her laugh and just smiled at Jack as she took a sip of her wine.

“Okay yeah, and then what?” He gestured wildly with his hands, eager to hear the rest of her advice.

“Don’t worry about that yet. Just talk to her first. Start simple and go from there. Ask her how her time with the team has been so far, or maybe start a conversation about something she’s working on. For fuck’s sake, just introduce yourself Jack.”

He went to interject, but Sam cut him off and kept going, “And don’t you tell me you’re worried about messing it up. You’re a young, good looking guy her age, not to mention you’re super charming and have a great sense of humor. Who cares if you’re a little bit awkward. You’d have to curse her entire bloodline or fall on your face to ruin it.”

His cheeks warmed bashfully.

“I would add a ‘what could go wrong’, but i'm not trying to jinx you… I don’t have the best luck with that sentiment.”

Jack grit his teeth and sucked in a breath through the toothy expression, “yeah, I’d rather you not doom this before it starts. I say that with nothing but love.”

Sam laughed and tore off a chunk of her roll and lightly tossed it across the table hitting him square in his snaggle-toothed smile.

“So what about you? Any special guy in your life yet?”

Sam’s heart dropped to her ass in panic. She scoffed, hiding her fear with laughter in shock of the question. She shook her head, taking another sip of her wine, “I am not talking with you about my dating life.”

“So that means the answer is no.”

She gasped, “Hey!” Jack laughed and braced himself for another piece of bread to be launched at him. “Why is that the default answer!?”

This time, Sam threw the entire roll at his head.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be alright?”

Mick was trailing behind Sam and Molly as they headed towards the building which was holding the driver press conferences this weekend. He was assigned TV Pen duties, so he was literally walking in the opposite direction of where he was supposed to be heading, but his concerns from Sam’s first interaction with Lindsay outweighed his need to be on time.

Without stopping, Sam looked at Mick, getting a bit perturbed .”Look, I appreciate your concern. But I also appreciated it the first time you asked me… and the second.. and the third. I’m fine, Mick. If you ask me again, I’m going to have to lead you to the medical tent and admit you under the pretense of short term memory loss.”

Molly laughed at the offended look on her boyfriend’s face. When Mick saw Sam’s dramatically cheesing grin, he relaxed.

She was carefully about teasing them lately, ever since the end of last season when she had decided she needed to push her friends away for their own protection, and that the best way to do it was to purposefully be a horrible friend and belittle them, treat them like garbage, point out their insecurities… all of the worst things she could possibly think of. She never wanted them to worry that she was trying to repeat those actions again. So her new way of reminding her friends she was just joking, was to flash them a grin like she was a kid being asked to say cheese in a photo, when either of their expressions would show that hint of worry.

At the sight of her smile, Mick laughed along with the two girls.

“Sugar,” Molly said addressing her boyfriend by his nickname in her sickly sweet Southern Georgia accent, “She’ll be alright. You said it yourself, Lindsay hasn’t even mentioned Sam in the month or so you’ve been teammates. Besides, I’ll be there to make sure she doesn’t say anything she’ll regret. Right?”

Molly turned to her best friend and gave her a threatening glare that could’ve brought dictators to their knees. She may look the role of the sweet Georgia peach, but the blonde knew how to pack a punch when she wanted to.

“Of course, Moo. You can count on me,” Sam said rather unconvincingly with the use of Molly’s childhood nickname.

“What are you going to do, jump up onto the set and stop her?”

Molly turned to Mick rather unimpressed and stuck her tongue in her cheek. “And what if I did?” she said rather menacingly.

The building that had been listed on Sam’s weekend schedule was directly in front of them now. She turned to the couple that had fallen in stride of one another a few steps behind her.

In her best childlike tone she murmured, “Mom, Dad, please stop fighting. My friends are watching.”

The two looked up from their playful bickering to see Sam gesture over her shoulder with her thumb at the front door, where Daniel was standing in his bright orange team kit. As if on cue, he gave the group an enthusiastic wave with the straw of his drinks bottle between his lips. Esteban was beside him and once he saw who Daniel was waving at, he also offered the group the friendly gesture.

Sam could still tell Mick was worried about her. She didn’t blame him… especially after everything she’d put him through last season. They were practically siblings, it was in their nature to worry about each other, especially in such a dangerous line of work. Jokes aside, Sam knew he was just looking out for her; Molly had said he felt even more protective over her seeing as Guenther was still somehow in the paddock as HAAS’s team principal despite everything he put her through last season.

Arms outstretched, Sam rested her hands on Mick’s shoulders.

“I promise, I’m going to be fine. I mean it when I say I want to try and be friendly with her. I’m not plotting a revenge plan. I’m not going to call her names on live television or dig up the past. Despite everything in my screaming to do the opposite, I’m trying my best to be the bigger person. Things are going to be different this season. They have to be.”

Something about the nod he gave her told her he believed her, despite how unbelievable those words sounded coming from her mouth. He closed the space between them and engulfed her into a hug, whispering something in her ear.

“Ich bin einfach froh, dass du hier bist” I’m just glad you’re here

“Ich auch, Mick” me too, Mick

The HAAS driver went his separate ways from the girls, but not before leaving Molly with a quick peck on the cheek.

Sam loved to see that despite the two having been a couple since the middle of last season, her best friend was still giddy when it came to Mick. Molly’s cheeks heated up to a bright crimson, and Sam giggled.

“Oh you are so whipped!” “And what about it!”

Sam threw her head back in laughter and finally made it to where the Alpine and McLaren drivers were standing.

“What’s got you in stitches?” Daniel asked.

“Oh nothing, just Mick and Molly proving the fact that if my racing career does fail, I can fall back on my talent at matchmaking.”

The two men didn't know whether they should laugh at the self-deprecating comment, you know, seeing that her career did in fact nearly four months ago. She picked up on their slight level of uncomfortability.

“Too soon?” She asked.

“Maybe a little,” Esteban replied an octave above his normal voice, all while Daniel held up his thumb and index finger indicating the same sentiment, both drivers having a sour look on their faces.

They all erupted in laughter. For the next few minutes while they waited for the first interview group to finish, they stood outside having casual conversation.

It was a peculiar feeling, having to ask Daniel questions and answer the ones he gave her as if they didn't already know the answer. It was the first time they’d interacted with one another in the paddock, and in the presence of another driver.

Sam hated it.

And so did Daniel.

But they knew it would get more comfortable with time. So for now, they just needed to convince everyone that they were nothing more than friends.

How hard could it be? They were friends before they were a couple. Sure, maybe the friendship had been clouded with moments of faux resentment and unacknowledged sexual tension— filled with moments of constant pushing and pulling away from each other, pretending that there wasn’t always this incessant need to be near one another. Because the two had feigned hatred for each other so well, that they had even themselves fooled for a couple of months.

They had this in the bag.

Before Sam could answer Esteban’s question about her and Daniel’s trip to France the group was interrupted.

“Hey guys! Daniel, Esteban, Sam,” Lindsay smiled as she adressed each of the drivers in the group, “First official race weekend of the season, who’s excited!”

The newest HAAS driver raised her hand enthusiastically, answering her own question.

Esteban grinned and raised his hand alongside her.

Daniel’s eyes darted between his girlfriend and the woman she had been so anxious to see again after years, waiting to see if the stories of them fighting would jump off the papers taped to Sam’s hotel room wall and play out in front of him, or if Sam would stay true to her word and attempt to keep the peace, and even better, he was using his first interaction with his girlfriend’s former nemesis to form his own opinion of the woman…

Sam’s eyes were locked on Lindsay, eyebrows raised in disbelief that they were standing this close and neither of them had tried to strangle one another. What made it even weirded was how she had acted as if Sam wasn't even there. Not by ignoring her, but by acting as if it wasn’t Sam who was standing there. Nothing about her happy-go-lucky attitude showed Sam that Lindsay had even the slightest recollection of how much they had hated each other all those years ago; they’re paths had diverged while hating one another as well, so to her knowledge, they should've still disliked each other just as much.

Despite her own unspoken plan to act like her past transgressions with Lindsay had never happened, it struck Sam as odd that her former F3 teammate was also acting as if they were fast friends.

To put it honestly, Lindsay was kinda freaking her out.

The wide eyes and big smile, the seemingly forced laughter, the calling her by her name instead of the horrendous nickname the girl had given Sam ages ago.

A singular explanation came into mind:

This was a trap. She was trying to kill Sam with kindness. She needed to put her guard up and not trust—

She stopped her train of thought.

No. She didn’t think like this anymore. Not everyone was out to get her. She needed to keep reminding herself of that this season.

Things were going to be different. They had to be.

Lindsay is doing exactly what Sam herself is doing: starting fresh, just two women who know they need to stick together. Letting bygones be bygones.

Starting fresh.

Sam cleared her mind and started over. The odd interaction they’d exchanged had been occupying her mind from outside, all the way into the building, into the red chairs, and through the first three or four minutes of the press conference.

She wiped the glaze from over her eyes by blinking once or twice under the hot lights of the press conference room.

To anyone watching the stream of this conference, it just looked like Sam was zoned out into the ground in front of her, and she knew that’s exactly what she was doing.

So she put a smile on her face and sat up straighter in her chair, making sure the microphone was clutched tightly in her hand so she was prepared, instead of where it previously laid limply across her lap.

Sam glanced to her left. Directly beside her Lindsay was answering a question enthusiastically, something about having to put her modeling career on hold only being possible because of her sponsors, which she then name-dropped. Sam couldn’t help but be the slightest bit self-conscious hearing the list of partners Lindsay had that enhanced her feminine presence on the grid:

Playboy— a bunny emblem on her uniform so iconic it needs no explanation.

The Clubhouse— a popular group agency out of Toronto known for signing models of the same blonde, skinny variety.

Chanel— a company that radiates class, and elegant femininity.

Louboutin— the company responsible for the iconic red-bottom shoe, one that every girl dreams of dawning in their adult life.

There were many other sponsors gracing Lindsay’s attire across the weekend. So many it seemed a tad crowded. But Sam wasn’t surprised; she knew Guenther was all about the dollar signs and how many zeros came after them. Lots of sponsors meant lots of money, and lots of money meant lots of attention and a better car.

Sure, Sam had her sponsors and she was proud of them, especially her retention and the influx of those newly interested after 2021, but seeing the overwhelming amount Lindsay had as the only other woman on the grid, made her wonder what she was doing wrong.

Still looking to her left, Sam’s focus moved past Lindsay and landed on Daniel. His side profile was as captivating as always, prominent nose and large lips adorned by the brim of his orange McLaren cap. As if he felt Sam looking at him, he turned his head a bit and leaned forward just slightly. He offered her a friendly smile. He showed no teeth, but his grin was so genuine his eyes got lost in the skin wrinkling around them and nose scrunched as his dimples made an appearance.

Everything within Sam settled. It’s as if the rough waves of her anxiety had been pulled out by the tide and he was the moon guiding her there.

She smiled back. A wordless thank you.

“Speaking of sponsors, I’d love to bring it over to Sam.”

At the sound of her name echoing over the speakers, she turned forward again and met eyes with the interviewer. Her smile told him that she was ready for the question.

“First of all, it’s lovely to have you back after the uncertainty of whether or not that’d be the case. Lots of new sponsors for you this season as well. But a new title sponsor for you, a rather big one might I add. Victoria’s Secret. Tell me about how that came to be and what it means to you.”

Sam grinned. It was a big deal. The iconic company had reached out to her and wanted to be her title sponsor for the season; they’d never once branched into the motorsport community— they’d never had the means to, she imagined— and had enough trust in her to bridge the gap between a women-centric company and a male dominated sport.

And now, she had earned the title of a Victoria Secret Angel. She was to shoot modeling campaigns with them throughout the year, something definitely out of her comfort zone as an adult, yet something she’d had fever-dreamed about as a young girl.

Plus, it made it even better seeing Daniel’s reaction to the news when she’d told him. Sam thought she had reset the poor man to factory settings the way his jaw dropped and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. It was an incredible opportunity and she wasn’t about to let her fear of judgment or self-consciousness get in the way.

“Yeah, it’s an insane opportunity. One I’m really fortunate to have. Their enthusiasm to work with me and their trust in me to be a representative of their brand in such a male-dominated space had given me a lot of confidence; not only as a driver but as a woman. I guess you could say they wrangled the Hell-Raiser and turned her into an angel.”

She laughed and the crowd within the room joined in.

“I'm elated to have them backing me this season and I can’t wait to proudly wear the Angel wings on my suit and fireproofs this season, as well as continue our work we have planned throughout the season. They welcomed me into their family with open arms and I couldn’t be more honored.”

She ended her comment with a smile, and then felt a hand on her shoulder. Sam turned to see Lindsay with a smile on her face, her freshly whitened teeth making it hard for Sam to look at her too long. The blonde’s hand shook lightly— reveling in the excitement with Sam.

It felt odd… having who she considered at one point— in Molly’s words— to be her arch nemesis, stare her directly in the eyes and smile at her like everything was great… This friendship was definitely going to take some getting used to.

The minutes on the grid between the national anthem and the five red lights turning on were some of the most chaotic moments of any race weekend. Engineers were making their final adjustments on the cars. Celebrities were walking between the parked cars like they owned the place, team personnel were trying to sweet-talk those celebrities, cameras were filming literally everything, while presenters ran from person to person interrupting conversations and sticking their microphones where they didn’t necessarily belong. All while the drivers were trying to get in their racing headspace.

Sam hated this idle time spent on the grid. All she wanted to do was start to prepare for the race. The process of channeling her adrenaline into focus was not something that had come easy, especially for somebody as hot-tempered and impulsive as her. The fear of getting behind the wheel only to fuck up so irreversibly that she could cost herself or another driver their life, followed her from series to series, season to season, continent to continent, country to country, race to race.

It required extreme discipline and focus.

Which is hard to do when Martin Brundle is practically shoving a microphone down your throat.

“Sam! Samantha!”

She pretended she didn’t hear him, adjusting her earpiece as if she hadn’t made sure it was securely in place over five minutes ago, hoping he’d just give up and go away.

But of course, this was the SkySports grid walk, which meant Martin was going to do anything but that.

“Samantha!” He huffs out in relief after he managed to squeeze between a wall of her mechanics that were meant to keep people like him out.

She finally looked up in time to see the short, sweaty man yank his cameraman through the crowd so he could capture the interview he was about to hold.

As if she was delighted to see him, Sam smiled and stepped toward his outstretched microphone.

He didn’t even take a moment to catch his breath before he yelled a question over the noise of the whirring machines and large crowd.

“How are you feeling before your debut race with Mercedes? Are you feeling the pressure of the shoes you’re filling, or do you think you can handle the heat?”

She didn’t know if she liked the question, her facial muscles were fighting the reflex to make an unpleasant expression. She wasn’t sure if he was questioning her abilities, or if this was a question he was asking all the rookies— both team and series.

But instead of making a scene by standing up against his potential doubt, she took a deep breath and answered the question. At this point she was just hopeful that if she answered his question, he’d leave.

“Uhm, I think I’ll manage. The team has been super supportive, they’ve given us an incredibly fast car, and now I’ve got to play my part and bring home the points.”

Martin didn’t even acknowledge her answer before he moved on to his next question, much to Sam’s dismay.

“You struggled a bit in qualifying yesterday, and now you’re here,” he quickly gestured to the asphalt they were standing on right infront of her number 66 car, “starting from fifth on the grid after showing much quicker times in the free practice session, and even testing. What’s your strategy to climb the order?”

This time, her smile was real. She had been counting down to the first race of the season since the last race of last season. There were few things that Sam loved more than sitting in her chassis and feeling the vibrations of the engine, or the pull of the g-forces through the corners, and not much made her feel more accomplished than the exhaustion she felt after finishing a challenging race.

“Good luck to you then!”

And with that, he was running to the next car on the grid. Literally, he sprinted off so fast his cameraman took a few moments to notice he was gone.

Sam turned and watched Martin elbow his way through the thick crowd while his bottom jaw moved faster than his eyes were searching for a notable face to interview. She laughed as shook her head; this was her life, and it was crazy times like this— looking around at the crowded grid and the fans adorning to stands around every inch of the track— that made it so surreal.

She closed her eyes.

This was it. The start of the season she’d been dreaming of since she was a child.

She inhaled.

She exhaled.

Her eyes opened. Nope, not a dream. This was definitely happening.

She grabbed her helmet from where it rested at her feet and removed her balaclava from it. Her fingers ran across the smooth exterior colored in her signature scarlet red. Atop of the red, glittery material protruded two horns that only made an appearance when it was a special occasion.

Devil horns. The crown of the Hell-Raiser.

Sure, she hadn;t found the most comfort in the nickname towards the end of last season, seeing as the connotation of it all led people to jump to conclusions about her personality off the track.

But now, she proudly stared down at the helmet as it glittered under the lights of Bahrain International Circuit. She’d made a name for herself: that was something to be proud of, not ashamed of.

She closed her eyes again, collecting her thoughts while she began her pre race rituals.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

The noise faded into a humm. Her headphones had coe off a while ago, but she had been interrupted by Martin, which put a halt to her usual routine. Usually, she could still feel the bass rattling in her skull, but it had since subsided.

Another deep breath.

Inhale.

Exh—

A light tap on her shoulder yanked her from her zen. The percussive noises from the surrounding track returned instantly. She was trying her best to keep her cool.

Sam swore if this was Will Buxton and his dumb F1TV grid walk she was going to—

Her eyes opened to see Daniel.

The anger evaporated.

Muscle memory took over and her lips curled into a smile.

Her eyes landed on Max to his left. She smiled at him as well.

“Came to wish Max a good race and thought I’d stop by and grace you with my presence,” Daniel dramatically fawned and flipped some imaginary hair behind him.

Sam bit her tongue when it came to what she really wanted to say. She wasn;t about to start flirting with Daniel in the middle of a crowded grid with cameras literally plaguing the small space, but especially not in front of Max. Sure everyone knew they were friends, but she wanted to make sure that's all anyone thought they were.

“How thoughtful of you,” Sam deadpanned.

Max thought that was hilarious.

It took Daniel a moment to adjust his brain back to the friendzone.

The Aussie swung his helmet out between them and tapped it against hers.

Her eyes dropped to their helmets and she looked back up at him, fighting off a smile.

Max interjected, sticking his hand between him and Sam. A fistbump: a friendly offering before they became fierce competitors.

“Good luck out there, tonight.”

She knew her fight would be with Max this season. He wanted his own bit of revenge after barely losing out to the title last season… the title that was won by the man who had been in her seat. He was out for blood.

She connected their fists, sealing the gesture and it some way, she felt like she had just accepted a challenge; his challenge:

Race you to the top.

“Yeah, you too.”

She turned back to Daniel.

His mouth uttered the words, don't choke. But his eyes said, drive safe.

She responded with the words, you wish. But her tone tone said, you too.

The two men went their respective directions. Daniel headed to the back of the grid, which was a sight Sam hated to see. And Max walked up to the front row.

Sam closed her eyes one last time, clutching onto her helmet and grounding her feet onto the asphalt.

She took a deep breath.

Then she blew it out from between her pursed lips.

She opened her eyes.

Yep, still not a dream.

And as the sun has set here in the desert, it's time for a new dawn in Formula 1. New regulations, radically different cars, the most races in a season ever, and one of the freshest lineups to date.

Straight into it. Back row is Nicolas Latifi, starting plum last, followed by our second woman on the grid and Formula 1 rookie, Lindsay Reynolds in 19th. Daniel Ricciardo, only 18th for McLaren, alongside Nico Hulkenberg filling in for Sebastian Vettel. Yuki Tsunoda 16th, Zhou Guanya in 15th becomes the first ever Chinese racing driver in Formula 1. Alex Albon, now at Williams, lines up 14th alongside his old pal Lando Norris who is 13th for McLaren. Mick Shumacher, a career best 12th on the grid alongside Esteban Ocon for Alpine. And then to the top 10 we go. Pierre Gasly, 18 times into the top 10 last season and he’s there again tonight alongside George Russell who is now at Mercedes. In eighth is Fernando Alonso, his highest start here since 2013, alongside Lance Stroll in 7th. Valterri Bottas, now at Alfa Romero alongside the one and only Samantha Thompson, now taking her place to race at his former team. Sergio Perez starting 4th, where he started 7 times last year, next to Carlos Sainz, who matches his best ever start here by sliding into the 3rd slot on the grid. Max Verstappen on the front row, right where he won this race from last year, next to Charles Leclerc who starts on pole for the second time here in Bahrain.

Brand new season. Brand new dawn for Formula 1. It’s the Bahrain Grand Prix.

And it’s lights out, and away we go!

Brilliant start there for Charles Leclerc! Sam Thompson already trying to get past Carlos Sainz. But it’s Leclerc on the inside ahead of Verstappen! Carlos Sainz stays in third, Perez on the inside now with Thompson! There’s a little bit of a kerfuffle going on through turn 2, but Leclerc makes it into the lead. And Thompson has half a car length, now a full car length, ahead of Sergio Perez! And now Perez is being challenged by Lance Stroll!

Leclerc into turn 4 from Verstappen! Sainz— Thompson on the inside of Stroll, followed closely by Perez and Russell!

Yes, Perez got out of shape coming out of turn 2 and had to get out of the throttle, which cost him 2 places in the end. And he tried to get back up alongside Sam Thompson, but a keen start there for the number 66 driver. And it looks as though her teammate George Russell has had a clean start as well.

Look at that gaggle of cars! Oh! Sort that one out, ladies and gentlemen! The two Alpines as well as Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg were getting close together as well. The Williams of Alex Albon is now going wheel to wheel with the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Mick Schumacher was also involved in all of that! And then there's the McLaren of Lando Norris on the outside.

But now, looking back, we can see Mick Schumacher trying to make a move. Gasly cuts him off right at the back. Looks like Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren, Ricciardo has had a very poor start as well as Zhou Guanyu as well. Latifi’s right down there. Reynolds 18th, Ricciardo 17th, and Norris now 16th.

Yeah, it's almost as if they were tucked up behind somebody back there, wasn’t it? And really, it was all bunched up at the back of the field, but pretty neat and tidy up front I must say, as Leclerc leads Vertsappen, Sainz, Thompson and Russell, who are having magnificent starts as newcomers to Mercedes, but a bit further back than I bet their new team principal * time world champion Lewis Hamilton would have hoped.

It’s a lock-up there for Lindsay Reynolds at the far back of the pack going into turn 1. From the looks of it, the rookie is taking much longer to settle into the car than her veteran teammate Mick Schumacher. The car is wildly better than it was last year, the team choosing to allocate more of their funds to the car itself, unlike last year where they allocated 50% of their expected budget.

Yeah, but Crofty, imagine if they’d had this car while Samantha Thompson was still racing for them… I think she’d have at least doubled her number of podiums.

Look at this! Lance Stroll is keeping the RedBull of Sergio Perez at bay! The Mexican driver couldn’t do it out of turn 3, but he might be on the run now down to turn 4. Stroll moves to the inside to try and cut him off. Perez is going to have to go the long way around, and Stroll has that one covered unless Perez can get him on the exit of turn 4.

And he does it! Perez is a front tire ahead going down the hill— he’s now a whole car ahead! Stroll gave him a chance and Perez said ‘thank you very much’.

Let’s look back at the race start, shall we?

It was a perfect launch for Carlos Sainz, wasn’t it? He moved over to the inside to cover off Max Verstappen, making it nearly 3 abreast out into turn 1. And this is where Perez gets the— you can see the back end of the car just snaking there, and that out Sam Thompson through.

Near the back you can see an Alfa— Oh, but remember McLarens are on the medium compound tire, so they will have struggled for grip. Explains a lot.

Looking at Max’s launch now, Oh, really low revs! He just got away with that one, just got away! Picks up a nice slipstream at the start and was already committed then to having to go down the outside. Charles Leclerc had that one covered off and somehow managed to get a decent release on turn 2 despite looking to be struggling with grip. But he got away with it.

All that tire-burnout for Carlos didn’t really give him a particularly good launch, but he was very brave on the brakes down into turn 1; Sam having been quite cautious with Perez on her inside and giving him loads of space. And then Sam gained a nice, clear view ahead of her.

Oh and here’s the contact from earlier between Ocon and Schumacher that sent the HAAS driver tumbling down the order. A full 360, but a great recovery from Mick.

Back to the current driving being done; lap 5 of 57. Here goes George Russell trying to make a move on Lance Stroll. Stroll has gone deep again. That’s going to allow George Russell through, and that’s twice now Lance Stroll has gone too deep into the first corner and has allowed somebody to pass him.

That officially makes our top 6 just made up of three teams. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc leads, followed by the RedBull of Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, leaving Sam Thompson and George Russell in the Mercedes tagging along the back.

There’s only a 2.4 second difference between Charles Leclerc and George Russel… and if this is how the tone of the season is set, I can't wait to see what else lies in store. We may very well have a three way battle for the constructors championship this season, Crofty.

Yes, well that begs the question:

Which driver are each of these teams going to choose to best represent their team?

***

Lap 10 and we’ve got some intense racing going on in the battle for 4th position. Thompson and Perez are at each other's neck, only 0.03 separating them. Perez has DRS and is gonna have a go into turn 4, and he’s done it. That is an awful lot easier than it might have been this time last year if a RedBull and Mercedes were going wheel to wheel. Perez stays within the white lines where Max Vestappen couldn’t manage 6 months ago, and claims 4th place.

That Mercedes looks like it’s working its tires quite hard, doesn’t it… Thompson might have serious skills when it comes to tire management, but the temperature and the fierceness of her defending is really working against her. The race pace is there, but it seems to still be significantly less than the ReBull.

“I really have zero traction”

I take it back, it seems the RedBull of Max Verstappen in 2nd place is also struggling with his tires.

This is anybody’s race, because despite the pit window, for a two-stop strategy, with the soft tire being predicted anywhere between lap 14-24, Mercedes’ pit crew is coming out on lap 12 with a new set of hard tires.

They’re shooting for the undercut, Ted. It’s risky, but with Susie Wolff on the pitwall as their new director of strategy, I think they're in great hands.

Well, it will either pay off immensely, or ruin the start of their season.

And who’s headed in? It’s Samantha Thompson!

We were just praising her tire management, and she heads into the pits two laps prior to the predicted start of the pit window! I did not expect this!

Speak for yourself. We are seeing high levels of degradation, and this is a sure way to get the jump on the cars in front of her.

Car number 66 comes into the pits right past me. This is so cumbersome! They’re heavier, these tires, but that is a pretty sweet stop. Nice work from the Mercedes crew! You’d have no idea these were bigger tires from the ease at which that stop was executed.

A 3.9 stop. Pretty good, but not the 1.9 stop we see from the sometimes, but alright nonetheless. She’s opted for the hard tires to go long in this middle stint, and reenters the track from 4th down to 11th.

Oh, but already some struggling for grip as she goes deep into turn 1 and nearly squirms her way off the track! Zhou Guanyu is going to breeze by and say ‘thank you very much!’

It’s not looking great, but let’s home this gamble pays off for Thompson in the end.

***

Lap 15 and Max Verstappen is into the pits. Let’s just watch how the RedBull guys go about their work. That was not so bad— is he going to be held up by the Ferrari coming in behind him? No he is not! He is away after a 2.9 second stop and that Ferrari of Carlos Sainz has come in for a swift stop as well.

Here’s Thompson over the radio:

“That was a really early stop. Are we sure that was the right idea?”

“Copy that Sam. Boss lady says to hang tight.”

Mercedes’ new director of strategy Susie Wolff, wife to CEO Toto Wolff, is a weapon when it comes to strategy. Sam is a bit hesitant, but it's the first race of the season with her new team so anybody is bound to be a bit skeptical.

Perez, Leclerc, and George are now headed into the pits, only 3 laps after Sam pitted. It’s a tight margin but it could be the difference between a victory and just a few consolation points. It’s anybody’s game.

Verstappen carries on his way now, behind Leclerc who will come out of the pit entrance just seconds before the RedBull is set to round turn 1. And, well, Max Verstappen right on the gearbox of Charles Leclerc. By stopping a lap earlier, Max that is, they’ve managed to give Ferrari something to think about here, That gap was three seconds and is now down to a couple of car lengths.

Yeah, Max has been on it with his brand new tires. Now, Leclerc has to get his used tires up to speed. He used them at some time during qualifying and— wow, Max has really closed that gap here, hasn’t he. The undercut almost worked there for him entirely in terms of track position. But it’s max now with the better time.

Now is the time where we’re going to get a good feel for where and how easily these cars can follow each other in 2022.

Russell Thompson has made her way back up to the top 5 on the hards, with Perez interestingly on mediums chasing the Ferrari of Sainz on softs, while Verstappen hunts down Leclerc for first both on the soft compound.

Stroll holds onto 7th, followed by Gasly, Alonso, and Hulkenberg to round out the top 10. Norris finds himself in 11th, with Esteban Ocon is running in 12th, followed by Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu, Alexander Albon, Nicholas Latifi, and Lindsay Reynolds bringing up the rear.

But it's Max Verstappen who steals the fastest lap of this race, and sends sparks flying as he soars past Charles Leclerc and into 1st position!

Leclerc now has DRS, can he get the position back as we head to turn 4? This has been a bit of a problem for the two in the past—

But it’s no problem this time! He does it! Charles Leclerc retakes the lead!

Another drag race down the pit straight from these two, and Leclerc immediately tried to move around to break the slipstream. You can do that gently, once or twice, but you can't do it at the last moment. And as—

He’s doing it again! He’s going for it again! Max Verstappen has lunged and has gone a quarter of a car length in front! Now they come out, through turn 2 and he's got a couple of car lengths between them! That was so far back!

But once again Leclerc’s got DRS, this time he’s got the inside line! He forces Max a little bit wide into turn 4 and Leclerc, for the 2nd lap running, has retaken the lead!

This is absolutely epic!

***

“They’re almost dead again, the tires”

Lap 28 out of 57 and Max Verstappen is complaining about the soft tires he only put on 13 laps ago.

Some might say they're not surprised with the way he hasn’t been looking after them. Racing wheel to wheel with Leclerc, who has now extended the gap to 3.7 seconds ahead, and trying to keep the 11 second gap from Sainz behind from growing… Now he seems to be paying the price for some of those aggressive moves. But, uh, it's not worked out.

Here’s Samantha Thompson then, coming in for another stop. Hard tires go off and medium tires go on, a quick stop at 2.5 seconds, and she’s going to come back out into this race behind Lance Stroll in 6th… But could that become behind Pierre Gasly who is currently in 7th?

And yes it will.

Gasly heads down the straight and the key for Mercedes now is to get her out ahead of Esteban Ocon, which I think they can. And we’re still not half distance, either—

Sorry Ted, here’s a radio from Sam’s team:

“Sam, it’s important that we don’t push this tire too hard on the outlap.”

It’s a long way, but I think that means they’re trying to get to the end of the race on that set. So that’ll be over half the race on that set of tires… if anybody can do it, we know it’s Sam.

Max is in the pits as well. And Max is on the medium compound as well, which his teammate Sergio Perez has been using since his pitstop, so they have a lot of data on it and how it’s performing.

No, no, I think he’s asked his team what Sam put on her car. She’s the first driver in the top 8 to make a second stop; it's the perfect strategy. If Max thinks she’s got a chance at taking those tires all the way, he wants to match it and make sure he stays one step ahead.

You’re ridiculous, David.

All I’m saying is Max has always been one to try and prove ‘anything they can do, I can do better’.

Max is back around the track, headed down the pit straight. Charles Leclerc is headed out of the pits at the same time. Verstappen didn’t have the DRS from Leclerc, but he did have clean air. Let’s see who will come out on top…

Charles exits the 80kph pit restriction and is back onto the track with Max Verstappen multiple car lengths behind him. The Ferrari fans here tonight absolutely loved that!

Let’s hear a radio from Max:

“Okay this is now 2 times that I’ve taken it easy on the outlap, when I could have easily been in front. I’m never, ever doing it again.”

Alright, he's getting a bit worked up.

Yes, well, never is a very long time…

But he’s angry in that car, isn’t he? I even saw his hand wildly flaring around on the big screen. And he feels that he’s been told to protect the tires and wasted the chance to get in the lead.

Jumping to the back of the top ten, this is Samantha Thompson overtaking Pierre Gasly into turn 1, securing her back up into 7th. If Verstappen’s angry now, Martin, he’s not going to be very happy to hear about her increasing pace… or the fastest lap she just put onto the board.

You’re doing the post-race interviews today right Martin?

I am…

Be a doll and don’t mention to Max that his pit stops were half a second slower than both Sam and Charles….

Stop jabbering and look at this! Thompson goes right for Stroll and picks him off like she’d been driving this car for ages. She looks mighty comfortable in that rocket ship and it’s only the first race.

She’s up to 6th, and slowly but surely on her way to closing the 11.5 second gap between her and her teammate. I'm interested to see that if she does catch him, what the team will have to say about their order.

No, it’s too early in the season for that. Odds are they pull Russell for his second pitstop if it gets to that point, and avoid the whole situation completely.

***

So at the start of this season, with a near 5-second gap between himself and Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc might just be thinking to himself, ‘could have done this before, the engine didn’t really treat me very nicely on that particular occasion, just trying to keep everything together for these remaining 14 laps, here’s to hoping nothing mechanical goes wrong, I want a nice smooth ending to this race, godspeed'

Here’s a radio from the team, let’s see how close I got:

“We have less deg than Verstappen”

And that is exactly the sort of thing he wants to hear.

Look at this, Verstappen coming into the pits for a late pit stop.

Puts him behind Sainz then, doesn’t it?

It certainly does, because Sainz has just gone through, but Sergio Perez is coming into the pits as well… It’s a double late pitstop here for RedBull. Which basically means Verstappen can now go and chase after Carlos Sainz, and Perez will have a bit of ground to make up in the ranks as well.

But now he’s got Samantha Thompson in his rearview mirrors to worry about. She’s 8 seconds behind Verstappen, but if there’s one thing about the Hell-Raiser, it’s that she knows how to make an entrance.

RedBull has been struggling much more than we’d expected them to. Their levels of tire degradation are so high, they’ve gone and switched to a 3-stop strategy. It’s as if they feel they have nothing to lose, especially by bringing both drivers in at the end.

They took the risk that if they were to drop behind Carlos Sainz, they’d have the straight line speed advantage over the Ferraris. They’ve got the new tires; it should be easy.

But that’s where they were wrong. Remember what I said about Samantha Thompson’s ability to make an entrance? Yes, the Mercedes struggled in qualifying and were lacking some pace at the start of the race, but it’s got to be because of their two new drivers, who before this race today had been racing in two of the worst cars on the grid last year. We’ve seen that Mercedes in testing, it’s quick. It’s got the straight line speed and it's got the maneuverability.

And it’s also got one of the most incredible drivers I've seen in years piloting it. During the duration of the 44 laps we’ve raced, Sam has grown immensely more comfortable in that chassis, and I don’t think RedBull expected her to recover as quickly as she did.

I think they may have made the big mistake of underestimating her… but I’m not sure why, seeing as she dragged a HAAS onto a podium three times last season. Incredible, really.

A radio from Max, Crofty:

“Mate, oh my god, my steering wheel is just heavy. The steering is locked. I almost can’t steer.”

Sam gains 2 seconds on Max as Carlos Sainz enters the pits for Ferrari. Do you think that was a decoy by the RedBull pitwall in hopes of bringing Leclerc in?

If it was, it was unsuccessful. But I’m not sure it was. It looks like Max’s team is asking him if he wants to bring it into the pits.

“Let us know if you need to box, Max”

“No, just ******* tell me what’s wrong and I’ll try to handle it”

Oh he’s definitely got an issue.

“Max, is the wheel heavy in both directions? Both left hand and right hand?”

“Everywhere. Everywhere. It’s not even smooth. Like I have to ******* even on the straights.”

Well he’s going to have to slow down anyway because we’re going to have a safety car due to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri having overheated and caught fire. The marshals straight on there with the extinguisher. But that is a very, very hot AlphaTauri. A true testament to the conditions out here tonight.

Virtual safety car has been thrown— no, scratch that. Straight to a full safety car.

Leclerc is being told to box while he’s about halfway around the lap. They need to box him because those behind have just pitted already.

Yeah, it’ll be a cheap stop for Leclerc, won’t it? It’ll cost him a lot less while the others are going slowly out on the track. But of course, then he needs the tires for the restart behind the safety car.

Russell pits, and we’re getting word that the power steering on Max’s is giving a lot of variability in terms of the load that he’s feeling. Which is a software issue, though they’ll try and fix it—

No, it was a hydraulic issue, and there’s not much chance of doing that.

Pierre Gasly’s night is coming to an early end. His special helmet to stand in solidarity of Ukraine will not see the checkered flag, but it’s an incredible message nonetheless.

***

We’ve got 7 laps to go in this race. Leclerc pitted under the safety car, but remains out in front of the pack. Verstappen, who is having major issues with his power-steering, follows behind. Then the Ferrari of Sainz weaves in front of the RedBull of Perez, who gained a place when Thompson pitted for softs just like the rest of the grid. Her teammate Russell is behind her, hoping to hold off the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll who has been putting in a hell of a drive under the lights tonight.

No drag reduction system for two laps after a safety car, of course. And this right here is Max’s favorite trick, isn’t it? Trying to hustle the guy who’s about to give us our restart. And Max has left himself very tight on that corner actually.

Wow, at the green flag, the Ferrari of Leclerc absolutely disappears off in front of Verstappen.

That trick didn’t help him in Abu Dhabi last season against Lewis Hamilton, and it didn’t help him tonight against Charles Leclerc. Look, Sainz is right on the tail of Max Verstappen as they head down the straight.

Leclerc is away and off into the distance! Sainz is alongside Max Verstappen! Thompson is wheel-to-wheel with Sergio Perez! Verstappen is on the inside of Sainz, keeping his lead, but the same cannot be said for the other RedBull as Samantha Thompson passes Sergio Perez down the inside of Turn 1!

Leclerc towards turn 4 from Verstappen. Then comes Carlos Sainz and Samantha Thompson. Perez, Russell, and then Lance Stroll, behind is Bottas, Ocon, and Mick Schumacher on the verge of points for the first time in his F1 career.

Leclerc’s got the restart done nicely, but Tsunoda gets past Mick Schumacher and he drops out of the points! So, still with work to do for Mick Schumacher. Still with 5 more laps of work to do for Charles Leclerc.

But his first job is well done; he’s still in the lead.

Leclerc deserves the race win here, not just for what happened in 2019, when an engine problem caused him to lose the lead, but for the way he’s coped tonight as well. When Verstappen’s attacked, Leclerc’s come right back and now he’s giving it even more.

Now, DRS is enabled. That will be on the run to turn 4. That’ll help Samantha Thompson massively in this battle with Carlos Sainz and to distance herself from Perez behind. She could find herself in a spot of bother in a few moments time, let’s hope she can keep her composure.

That also goes for Verstappen and Carlos Sainz as well.

Sainz is barely 3 seconds behind Verstappen, and Thompson is walking the line between 2.0 and 2.1 behind the Spaniard.

Thompson’s rear flap opens, and so does Perez’s. This three-way battle for third is incredible!

Mick Schumacher slips further down the lineup as he is passed by rookie Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romero. It’s sad for Mick, truly. But I’m sure his chance will come to score points eventually, because the HAAS looks like a car that could be doing well so much more often this season, even without the sheer talent of Thompson to put it up there.

I’m not so sure about Mick’s teammate Lindsay Reynolds though, Crofty. A rookie, but one who is sitting 1 minute and 27 seconds behind our leader Charles Leclerc. A massive deficit. That’s nearly 45 seconds behind Nicholas Latifi in the Williams who is only one place ahead of her.

Sainz is closing up on Verstappen right into turn 1.

Yeah, Sainz is easily within a second there as they turn onto the pit straight. He had that gap in the detection zone and it certainly is showing as his rear flap opens and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz gets DRS on the RedBull of Max Verstappen. He’s got a red car looming large in his wing mirrors, and don’t forget, last time Ferrari won in Formula 1, it was also a 1-2 finish: Singapore 2019 with Sebastian taking the top step of the podium and Charles right behind him. Could this Leclerc-Sainz duo be on for not only ending their winless streak, but putting out a 1-2 too!

“Okay, what’s going on with the battery?”

“Battery is fine, Max”

“No it’s not! I can’t— What the **** is this?!”

Verstappen is losing his cool and he thinks he’s losing energy charging and battery as well. And he might be about to lose out a place here as well!

Leclerc leads as Carlos Sainz pulls out to the inside and overtakes Max Verstappen!

And for the moment, it’s a Ferrari 1-2 here in Bahrain as Carlos Sainz moves up into second place!

Now Max has got the Hell-Raiser in his mirrors, and I’m not sure that’s any better for him. Samantha is driving on another level tonight, and it makes me extremely excited to see what this season has in store for her.

“We can see the issue Max, it’s not battery related.”

“Well what do you expect me to do?”

“There isn’t a lot we can do.”

And will a struggling Verstappen now be passed by the Mercedes of Thompson? Yes he has been! Thompson promotes herself to the final podium spot! And now he’s been passed by his teammate Perez! And there goes the other Mercedes of George Russell past him as well!

And this, from the runner up of the 2021 championship, is certainly not the start he was anticipating. From all the highs of last season, to these lows in Bahrain—

“Try to make the car into the pitlane”

Max Verstappen is out of this race!

Charles Leclerc leads, Carlos Sainz second, Samantha Thompson third, then comes Russell and Stroll.

And I’ll tell you what, Samantha Thompson is not going to be satisfied finishing third when her gap to Sainz is just a tenth over a second. She’s gonna go for it.

For Max Verstappen, what was already frustration here in Bahrain has just turned into ultimate disappointment.

Crofty, we’ve got a radio from Perez now:

“I’m losing power”

My goodness! Not even two laps after his teammate retires, Sergio Perez reports that what’s affected one RedBull, might be about to affect the other RedBull.

Carlos Sainz better hope this doesn't cause a safety car. Because he’s struggling to keep Sam Thompson behind when she’s got a 1.2 second gap; I’m not sure he’ll be able to keep her behind.

Yeah, but look at her car, all those bumps, all that porpoising, I’m not sure she should push that car any further if I’m honest.

We’re on the final lap of this race, David. I don’t think Sam is going to get that chance regardless. Who might be getting a chance though, is George Russell, as Sergio Perez tries his best to hold him off and finish this race as his RedBull slowly loses power.

Despite the loss of power, Perez is doing an alright job at keeping a small gap between him and Thompson.

Tight into the corner as they bunch up in the braking zone—

And Perez tries a risky lunge to pass Thompson— Sergio Perez has spun round!

And RedBull, who were looking at a decent points finish here, in the last couple of laps have not only retired from the race, but seen their other driver tumble out of points!

That bold move cost him his race only a few corners before the finish line!

He’s lucky he didn’t finish Thompson’s race either. His front wing clipped her rear tire and it sent him round. It was a desperate move and I’ll be surprised if the stewards don't have a penalty waiting for him.

Thompson took that outside line, hoping to do some damage limitation, and I think that was the right choice. Now she’s gonna pick up another podium surely!

“I locked the ******* engine”

Perez locks his engine, Max loses his battery. Not the start RedBull would’ve wanted for their season.

But there’s nothing they can do about it whatsoever. Because this man, Charles Leclerc, has won twice in Formula 1 from pole and he’s about to add one more.

Charles Leclerc starts the season off with celebrations for Ferrari! Charles Leclerc wins the Bahrain Grand Prix!

And it is a 1-2 finish for the Scuderia as Carlos Sainz comes home in second!

Samantha Thompson finishes her first race with Mercedes by landing herself a spot on the podium. It’s podium number 4 for her in just 23 races— 22 of which she was a rookie.

What a start to this 2022 season!

-

“P1 mate!”

“LET’S GOOOOOOO! C’mon! That’s exactly how we should start the season! Andiamo! 1-2, baby!”

-

“Sam, that’s P3! Way to put it up there!”

“WOOOOOO LET’S ******* GO! Thank you Bono, and to the rest of the team, what a great way to start our time together!”

“Sam, what a drive. A podium on your silver arrow debut. Congratulations. You deserve this. Really, really stoked to see what else we can do this season!”

“OH MY GOD! WOO! Thank you Lewis! For everything! God, this is crazy! I’m gonna make 2022 my *****!”