Formula 1 AU Greek-Australian Damen was indirectly responsible for French rival driver Auguste's career ending injury because of his choice of aggressive overtake, which through a chain of events causes Auguste's steering to lock up at high speed and send him flipping seven times through the air before careening into the barrier and having to be dragged out of the resulting inferno. He is left with facial scarring which even his shining smile cannot deflect from, and reassurances to Damen that he places no blame on his shoulders does little to absolve Damen of the guilt.
Cut to four years later and four seasons of lackluster performance, Damen is reinvigorated by a seemingly out of nowhere Swiss seventeen year old with shining gold hair and icy disposition towards him from the word 'GO'. Rivalry blossoms between the pair and Damen has a comeback that shoots him into the top spot race after race, with the other scarcely missing out.
The younger boys' attitude towards Damen worsens, to the point he is heavily reprimanded for his scathing remarks towards him behind closed doors and threatened with heavy fines if he cannot maintain a professional working relationship.
Hoping for a chance to talk, Damen seeks out the other driver at the hotel the night before their race in Budapest, the same race four years ago where Damen ended Auguste's racing career.
Just before turning the corner in the corridor, he overhears a mans voice he cannot place encouraging the boy to act even more aggressively towards Damen during the next race, and to ensure it "... happens on the 12th corner of the fourth lap, as we discussed". Damen hears the man say that the necessary changes had been made and that all that needed to happen was for Laurent to play his part, like a good boy.
Damen hears the conversation come to a close and sneaks away. Who was the other man? What 'changes' had he been talking about? Damen sleeps fitfully that night.
The next day, in the hours leading up to the race, Damen is being interviewed when the presenter asks him if he had had a chance to speak with the F1 President who had been making the rounds that morning. Damen freezes, realising that the voice he could not place last night had been none other than that of Auguste's uncle, who also happens to have overseen the entire Formula 1 for the past three years since the accident. It was he who had encouraged Laurent.
Oh fuck, Damen thinks, Auguste had talked of his younger brother who he was fighting with the courts for guardianship over. Damen couldn't believe he hadn't seen it earlier. Laurent was Auguste's brother, and the President of Formula 1 was his uncle, and they were conspiring to take Damen out of the race.
Damen finishes the interview with as much tact as he can muster, and leaves trying to think of what to do. He demands his team check over the vehicle with a fine tooth comb for any signs of tampering, citing intuition, which his crew take to be paranoia.
Finding nothing, Damen is sent out onto the track with a call to snap out of it and race. Before he climbs into the car, he locks eyes with Laurent across the pitstops. Laurent doesn't look as he normally does, with fierce anger and ice in his viens. He looks afraid. He looks seventeen.
The race begins and Damen attempts to put as much distance between the two of them as possible, which is more than difficult considering the circumstances. Laurent is driving recklessly, far closer than he should be to Damen's wheels. He takes chances to overtake and then loses pole position just as quickly when he doesn't consider a follow through. As they enter the fourth lap, however, Laurent's vehicle swerves violently before straightening again as they come up to the 1st corner. Again at the 6th.
Damen doesn't know how or why, but the voice in his ear is not Nik. It's a voice he hasn't heard in person in nearly four years.
"Damen," Auguste says, "You need to crash into Laurent before the 12th corner."
It's hard to think clearly when going three hundred kilometres per hour. "What?"
"You need to take him out, Damen. He's going to die on the 12th corner if you don't stop him."
They've just passed the 9th, and Damen can scarcely breathe. He doesn't understand what he's supposed to do.
"Damen," Auguste says sternly. "You need to crash into him hard, and now. He wouldn't listen to me. He's going to crash."
They've just passed the 10th.
Damen slams into Laurent, spinning them both off the track and leaving debris scattered everywhere.
Laurent jumps out of his car, as Damen climbs out of his, and comes screaming. He rips off his helmet, demanding Damen tell him what the fuck he's doing, looking for all intents and purposes as if he is about to beat Damen's helmet open with his bare fists. Auguste is yelling in his ears, thanking him and telling him to give his helmet to Laurent. Track officials are pushing them away from the wreckage.
It's in the chaos, Damen realises.
"He tampered with your car," he says muffled by his balaclava, after he's pulled off his helmet.
Laurent stops in his barrage and glares at him, incredulous. "What?"
"I overheard you last night, and I thought he'd tampered with my engine or steering or something, but he hadn't. He wanted you to crash, Laurent. Your brother knew it too."
Damen hands him his helmet.
"Your uncle is trying to kill you."
dailybridgerton
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
andulkaphoto
stormborns
