FORTY ONE

TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

CHARLES LECLERC TO JOIN FERRARI ON A MULTI YEAR DEAL

"Bwoah, the boy will be good at Ferrari."

Kimi Raikonnen spoke to his niece as he carried her out of his car, since he was well aware of how tired she was.

He knew that Monza was approaching.

The death of her father.

He knew that everybody who knew Luiz would be struggling with the anniversary approaching and his death, but he knew that nobody would be struggling like their little girl.

It was her first race in Formula One at Monza.

It was eleven years since his death.

He knew that both Fernando and Sebastian would be struggling, as would he, like they did every single year because of their attempts in vain to save their best friend.

But he also knew that the three of them would have to put aside their grief to comfort and support their niece, since the little girl of their best friend was going to be needing them more than ever.

"Uncle Kimi, what was the real reason that you left Ferrari?"

Larissa mumbled tiredly in to the neck of her Uncle and godfather, since he was carrying her as her legs were wrapped around his torso.

It was how he carried her as a child when she was too tired to walk.

She hadn't been able to sleep the previous night, since she had suffered from yet another nightmare, which caused her to wake up on the middle of the night with a loud scream.

The only good thing about that night was that Charles had immediately woken up and ran to comfort her.

"You."

Kimi spoke quietly to his niece as he carried her, running his fingers through her hair gently as he did.

"Huh?"

"Kid, I left Ferrari because of you. I wanted you to have my seat, but because you didn't want it, I did not want to stay at a team where you would be fearing for my life both on and off track."

"I love you, Uncle Kimi."

Larissa muttered quietly to her uncle, as her eyes were struggling to stay open. She had not wanted to leave it because of her, but she knew that he could not go back.

She also knew that even if she had told her uncle not to, that he would have done it anyway.

Kimi's lips twitched up in to a smile as he heard her release a small yawn.

"I love you too, kid."

____________________________________________________

"Mon Cherie."

Pierre Gasly spoke as he rushed in to the garage of Larissa Cohen whilst wearing his driving suit.

Larissa jolted up and awake from her slumber from the sound of her team mates voice, forcing herself to lift her hands up to rub at her eyes.

She had been so tired due to her lack of sleep that she hadn't even realised that she had fallen asleep in her garage, and almost missed qualifying.

She couldn't help it.

Her body had been shutting down during the past few weeks, since her mind and body were both very well aware that her father's death anniversary was now only one race away.

Spa was the only thing left remaining in the way of the worst day of her life.

"Mon Cherie, it's your turn for qualifying. Franz didn't want me to come and get you, but you would end up missing it and I couldn't let you miss it."

Larissa scrambled over to the coffee machine to quickly make a coffee so that she didn't fall asleep whilst in the car and gulped down a double espresso as quick as she could.

"Docinho, you are my life saver." Larissa slurred as she spoke quickly, before she pressed a soft kiss to the cheek of her French team mate, and took off running towards her car, ready to put in a good qualifying lap.

As soon as she got to the car, Franz was glaring at her, though she didn't even bother to stop and say anything, since she immediately jumped in to her car and set off before he could even give her a briefing.

The Belgian Grand Prix was not one of her favorites, it never had been, since she knew that it was the last race before the Italian Grand Prix where she had lost her father.

She just hoped that maybe someday, that she would grow to love the Belgian Grand Prix.

Because the track was amazing.

Part of her was hoping that it was next year, when she would be able to drive the track in a Mercedes.

"What do the tyres feel like, kid?"

Larissa's radio engineer, Matthew spoke to her through the radio as he had the team principal beside him, who was listening in very closely.

He was definitely not happy with the fact that he was losing her next season, especially to Mercedes.

But Lewis Hamilton had bought out the remaining year on her contract in order for her to take his seat, without her knowing.

"They feel like zebras, Matt. Tyres, what do you think?"

Larissa Cohen responded through the radio as she drove around the track as fast as she could, with her tone filled to the brim with sarcasm, which encited a small laugh to leave the throat of her trainer, Lucy, who was also stood behind them.

"Are they performing alright?"

"Well, I'm not upside down yet, so I'll let you take your own guess on that one."

Larissa gripped her cars steering wheel as tight as she possibly could as she took a corner, feeling the G force pushing at her head.

Pierre was waiting for her as soon as she climbed out of the car, since he was wanting to inform her of her place and the time that she had got, all whilst having a very bright smile on his face which he had on his face, just because of her.

He had missed her during the summer break, since she had only seen him for three days, and whilst he really enjoyed the three days that they spent together, mainly messing around, he really did wish that she had stayed with him for a lot longer.

Her arms clasped themselves around the French man's waist as she buried her helmetless face in to his chest, and found his arms immediately wrapping around her small frame.

"Mon Cherie, you've only gone and got P4!" Pierre beamed in excitement for his best friend and team mate as he hugged her tightly, since he was well aware that she needed the comfort.

"I don't care." Larissa muttered, before turning her head up to stare up at her team mate. "What did you get?"

Pierre's smile began to soften slightly as he noticed the redness in her eyes and the dark purple color that was underneath her eyes.

"I am starting in P7." Pierre admitted as happiness and pride swelled inside of his chest.

"Red Bull will be lucky to have you, next season." Larissa murmured, causing her team mate to snap his head rapidly down to stare down at her in disbelief.

"H-How did you know that I've been asked to go to Red Bull?" Pierre questioned as he furrowed his eyebrows together.

The Brazilian let a proud smile coat her features as she took a step back from the French man.

"Your performances are great, and because I'm going to Mercedes, I may have put in a good word with Horner about you. You know, about how determined you are to do well, how dedicated and loyal you are to your team, how hard working you are, how skilled of a driver you are."

Pierre rolled his eyes as he stared at the young woman, seeing her smile fade in to a smirk.

"You refused to join them, didn't you?" Pierre smiled at his team mate, recognising her grin.

"Oh, I was never going to join them. Red Bull is your team, and it will be the place where you get to shine."

Pierre slowly nodded his head up and down. "But what if I don't?"

"Then I'm changing the name of the Larissa Cohen fan club to the Larissa Cohen and Pierre Gasly fan club so that we can all riot."

A loud laugh burst its way out of the throat of the French man, with the sound echoing around them.

"Of course you would, mon cherie, of course you would."

____________________________________________________

"Lis, have you slept?"

"No."

"Seriously?"

Zahra Bailey stared at her best friend with concern, as she took a step to collide her body with that of her best friends, hugging her tightly.

"I can't sleep, Z. My body won't let me." Larissa whispered in to her best friends neck as she hugged her best friend as tightly as she could.

Zahra was always giving her the comfort that she always needed, whenever she was low or at her lowest since the Brazilian had always been there for the Bailey woman whenever she was needed.

Zahra was her best friend.

She knew that she called multiple other people her best friend, but nothing and nobody could ever compare to her real best friend.

Zahra Darya Bailey.

Nobody else would ever put their neck on the line for her like she had always done, whether it was attacking and kidnapping her murderous grandfather, or running on the race track in six inch heels to pull her best friend out of a wrecked car.

Whether it was rushing to stand in front of the Brazilian when a man had pointed a gun at the driver who was, at the time, in formula three.

Whether it was being hit and suffering a beating when the Cohen girl was being hassled off the track on formula two because she had pushed the racing driver out of the way.

Whether it was arriving in a taxi to the place where the Brazilians phone seemed to be stuck at, only to find Larissa trapped in a car that had suffered a tyre blow out and collided with a tree, to pull her out.

Whether it was calling an ambulance and staying with her best friend after she had arrived at her best friends apartment to find her unconscious next to multiple bottles of pills, the day before the birthday of the Cohen girl.

Zahra remembered that day as if it was a nightmare, which quite frankly, it was.

She had gone to the Cohen girls apartment on a hunch, and was the only reason that the one and only Larissa Cohen was still alive, since she was less than an hour away from death.

They had agreed to never tell anybody, or never talk about it, but Zahra could not stop thinking about it.

Because Larissa's birthday was approaching very, very soon.

____________________________________________________

"Kid, you're currently in p13, Gasly is in p7. Try and get up and in to the points."

"Are you sure? Crashing out seems like fun, I might try that."

Larissa Cohen released a laugh at the sound of mumbles of agitation from her team principal and her radio engineer through the radio, knowing that she had succeeded in annoying both of them.

Her car had gained damage early on in the race as the Red Bull of Verstappen had clipped her car, not long after a crash caused by the Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg took out multiple drivers, including himself.

Her car was battling to stay working and whilst she knew that she would definitely have to rinse the car until it fell apart, there was almost no way that she was going to be able to get it in to a position where she could get points.

She had already been forced to pit three times, since her team had attempted to repair the damage on her car but couldn't, therefore meaning that she would just have to try and hold on.

She had then dropped down in position, quickly.

She hadn't even bothered to defend from her team mate, so as soon as she was aware that the Gasly boy was behind her, she turned her cars steering wheel to allow the French man more than enough room to overtake her without having to struggle.

The Brazilian glanced in her mirrors to see a familiar Williams belonging to Lance Stroll approaching her.

She didn't have many laps left to keep her place, so her job for the last few laps would be to just defend from the two drivers behind her for as long as possible.

She turned her steering wheel abruptly in an attempt to defend from the Canadian, before having to do the same the other way as he attempted to swerve past her.

They were soon joined by the Mclaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, as he too joined the party to overtake the Brazilian and her stricken car.

Would she be punished for taking out the both of them?

With less than one lap remaining, her team back in the Toro Rosso garage could only watch on in fear and worry for their driver, who was still battling as hard as she could to defend from the two of them.

She had been battling with the two of them for just over four laps, and whilst she had about half a lap left, she knew how it was most likely going to go down.

"Stick with them, kid. Hold them off for just a little while longer."

"No shit, sherlock."

Larissa rolled her dark brown eyes from the inside of her helmet, before she noticed how the two drivers were attempting to trap her in the middle so that she couldn't defend from the both of them.

She would have to choose which one to defend and which one to allow through.

And she liked Stoffel much more.

Whilst Lance Stroll had caught her from almost collapsing after her fireball crash at the German Grand Prix, she still didn't like him.

She knew that he had only ran to help her since none of the drivers were aware of how injured she was and with marshals holding everybody else back, he was the only one who was able to squeeze past them to be able to inform them of her condition.

The foot of the Cohen girl was flat to the floor as she was able to push her car ever so slightly in front of the two cars of Stoffel and Lance, before she forced her car to turn abruptly in to the way of the Canadian, forcing him to swerve and break in order to not collide with her.

Stoffel started to edge in front of her as they reached the final corner, since he had firmly believed that he had been able to get his Mclaren in to thirteenth place.

Though it didn't last long as much to his horror, Larissa's Toro Rosso was with him as he got to the final corner, and she was determined to not give it that place without a fight.

Her car rattled violently as the metres counted down before the finish line, before she noticed the speedometer of the car rapidly dropping down in speed.

Shit.

Much to her relief, her car managed to stay working, just long enough for the front wing of her car to finish ahead of Stoffel, finishing in thirteenth place, whilst Lance Stroll came in last in fifteenth place.

Barely two seconds after crossing the finishing line, her cars speedometer reached zero as her car came to a complete stop, due to the severe damage to it caused by that of Max Verstappen.

The other two cars had already driven past her, causing the Brazilian to climb out of the car and start pushing it towards the pit lane where she could get it to her team.

As she neared the entrance to the pit lane, she felt three different sets of hands push on the car to help her get it in to the pit lane, glancing to see three very familiar faces smiling at her.

"What? You didn't think that we would just let you struggle did you?"

Lucy Appleton smiled as she helped push the car back in to the Toro Rosso garage, along with her two other helpers.

"Lis, you owe me a pamper night after this, jeez, its like ten workouts in one!" Zahra Bailey laughed as she too pushed the car, in her heels, hearing loud laughter from beside her.

"Can I join the pamper night?" Pierre Gasly grinned at his team mate like that of a golden retriever, pushing the car as much as he could.

"Girls only, Pierre." Lucy gave the young boy a soft smile as she noticed the look of a kicked puppy that he was giving her.

"He is one of the girls, aren't you, docinho?" Larissa laughed as the four of them eventually were able to push the Formula One car in to the garage of Toro Rosso.

"For you? Yes."

Pierre carefully helped his team mate remove her helmet and balaclava as they were able to rest from their pushing of the car.

"Where did you place, docinho?" Larissa questioned as her best friend handed her a very cold bottle of water, since she was sweating profusely.

"I ended up finishing in ninth." Pierre gave his team mate a proud smile, since he was incredibly happy with his result, since he was able to get a couple of points.

"So, pamper and celebration of Pierre's points night?" Zahra raised her eyebrows as a bright and caring smile covered her face.

"Why not? It's not like I've got anything to look forward to for the next month."

The three people in the company of the Brazilian stared at her in disbelief at the words that had left her mouth before the three of them spoke in perfect unison.

"LIS, WHAT THE HELL?"

____________________________________________________

A/N

SPONTANEOUS PIECE OF SHIT TIME AGAIN

MONZA IS THE NEXT RACE, BUT THERES ONE CHAPTER BETWEEN THAT, SO EXPECT BREAKDOWNS

Anyway,

I have a new cover on its way, so when the next one comes, it may have been delivered by then so you should be able to see the work of art that I have created.

(In my mind, somebody else is creating it because I can't draw a stick man correctly)

I can barely spell words correctly in Dutch and that's my first language.

Once again, go and check my other books out, especially the formula one books that I have, because my goal is to create a book for every driver on the current grid, and I plan on making my characters from all different backgrounds, minorities and all sorts, so if anyone has any ideas about what they want to see in books that they don't see enough of, please do not hesitate to drop me a private message or drop it on my message board.

My aim in life is to give every body fair representation, since its only fair that people see every body as the same and as equals, because its what we should all be .

ENJOY MY SPONTANEOUS PIECE OF SHIT THAT I WROTE WHILST WATCHING A DOCUMENTARY OF A BRILLIANT COMEDIAN KNOWN AS BOBBY BALL, (he was one of the greats, RIP)

Enjoy this and I'll see you all soon for the next one

I'm proud of you all, my loves!

Love you all

-RUBY