#paddock ghosts

[flamewizard]

Thinking about how in my ghosts AU Daniel dies before getting to leave Red Bull… the ink on the contract with Renault is fresh when the speed takes him. He will forever be remembered as “Max’s teammate,” which is exactly what he didn’t want when he planned the move.

Max does his best to honor Daniel. Daniel watches and loves him for it, even if it stings.

[flamewizard]

Thinking about the Lewis and Fernando dynamic in Paddock Ghosts- so much potential, jeez.

Fernando taught Lewis how to play mind games. Lewis taught Fernando the importance of remaining detached from your teammate- something he's slowly beginning to reconsider, because even though Lewis has seven WDCs, he is still miserable, and Fernando refuses to let that happen to himself.

They both have their ghosts. It just so happens that Lewis' ghost is living and breathing in the paddock with a microphone, and Fernando's is re-arranging Russell's sock drawer for shits and giggles. Lewis was what made Fernando reconsider his sexuality. Fernando is what makes Lewis realize he needs to retire. They have always been absolutely rancid about each other, and even a decade and a half later, they are both still asking each other's position on track.

They both love Sebastian, in their own ways. Lewis was the one Sebastian called when the whole thing with Webber went down in 2012; Fernando is the one to make Mark apologize for it eleven years later. This is maybe something they can bond over, but why would they want to?

[flamewizard]

Sorry I’m dumb and just realized that you already answered a similar ask LMAO

So now i gotta ask—what’s the scene you had in your head that made you want to write the fic? And if you had to choose a favorite detail, what is it?

Honestly, either the beginning scene or the hospital scene...

Because I am evil I will give you the first few lines of the fic instead of the whole scene!

The first thing Sebastian does to welcome Fernando to Aston Martin is inform him that the garage is haunted.  This, in and of itself, is not entirely unexpected. The team lost a driver last season, so of course there will be traces, little bits left behind that can only be cleared with time. He’s been around long enough to know that some of those traces don’t always go away. He’s never seen a ghost, though. He’s seen other shit– papers flying up in the air during a briefing, the little tremor in Leclerc’s hands as he straps into his car, graffiti on the wall of the Red Bull hospitality that says go fuck yourself in Daniel Ricciardo’s handwriting– but he’s never come face-to-face with a live(?), genuine apparition of one of the many, many drivers he’s watched die in his twenty-ish years of racing. When Lance Stroll strides through the door to his driver’s room that first week of testing in Bahrain, Fernando nearly has a heart attack.  “What,” says Lance, eyebrows raised, “This never happen to you before?”

My favorite detail is the fact that Fernando figured out he was queer after being nonconsensually subjected to Mark Webber telling him every little thing about his and Seb's sexual encounters, and that it became such a brainworm that he had to ask Mark to stop talking about it.

[flamewizard]

I wish I could show you guys the spreadsheet I've put together for Paddock Ghosts tracking who's dead, who's a replacement, and who's driving where/when. Unfortunately, I would spoil literally everything if I did that... maybe after it's all complete.

[flamewizard]

Hi!! I just read paddock ghosts and im so excited to read/hear more about it 🤩 if theres anything burning you want to mention or talk about regarding it, please feel free to use this as ur free pass bc id love to hear it

Glad you're enjoying it!

Something burning I want to talk about is that I can- if you guys want it- write and post the smutty Vettonso + Lance oneshot I've been thinking of as a companion piece... just saying 👀

[flamewizard]

I got a little question about Paddock Ghosts, just for clarity. A while back you said that Pierre is still hating on Esteban after death, so does that mean that he is Esteban's ghost the same way Lance is Fernando's?

Aha! Kind of? It’s not entirely clear who Pierre is attached to (for reasons that would be spoilers if I said) but just know that I haven’t decided whether or not Esteban can see him. Pierre dies in 2021, so he never becomes Esteban’s teammate, and he mostly hangs around Charles, and Yuki is. Well. Yuki is special.

I can’t tell you much more sadly!! You’ll have to wait for the sequel for that, but know that I do have plans for Pierre.

[flamewizard]

You guys asked, I delivered. Chapter 3 of Paddock Ghosts is here!

Mind the upgraded tags. This chapter (and yes, I updated the count again, sorry) is basically the calm before the storm, because Canada is next and we all know what happened there last year.

[flamewizard]

Chapter 1/3 of Paddock Ghosts is getting posted soon... stay tuned...