Online Rivals, Offline Lovers

Chapter 16 - Manipulation

Max hadn't been wrong; by the time we landed, I wasn't thinking about Red Bull, Horner, or broken chassis at all.

Instead, I couldn't believe I had been brave enough to follow through on his suggestion, even though we were in a private jet and not in a commercial airplane. Although... after that flight I could no longer say that I was completely opposed to the idea either. It really had been rather exhilarating.

I grinned at the thought of proposing the idea to Max and was sure my parents would be mortified if they ever found out about any of it.

***

As we flew out to Silverstone, I couldn't contain my excitement. Racing on this iconic circuit had always been a dream of mine, and now I had the chance to make that dream a reality.

This time, everything seemed to work as planned. I made it through FP1, 2 and 3 as well as qualifying. My car was behaving exactly the way it should, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying every moment on the track. The crowds seemed excited, and the weather was perfect.

Max and I were in a fierce battle for the first position during the race, but unlike our intense clash in Barcelona, we were much more cautious this time. We never got too close or forced each other off the track, ensuring a fair and competitive race.

It looked like a guaranteed 1-2 finish for Red Bull, and the prospect of standing on the podium alongside Max filled me with an exhilarating sense of pride and accomplishment. I couldn't wait to hear his thoughts in the cooldown room.

Max was behind me right now, having pitted in the last round, not yet visible in my mirrors. The pit stop must have taken longer than I expected, but it didn't matter. He would catch up with me eventually.

Everything was going well until I tried to turn my steering wheel slightly going into the 'farm curve', but my car wasn't cooperating. I tried harder, turning the steering wheel farther than I would need to make the curve: but nothing. No response from the car whatsoever.

Panic surged through me as I fully realized what this meant. I yelled into my mic, "I can't turn! Something's wrong with the steering!"

Luckily, the curve wasn't particularly narrow, so somehow I still managed to avoid hitting the walls.

My engineer's stressed voice crackled through the radio, instructing me to try and stop the car as soon as possible. But when I slammed on the brakes, nothing happened. My heart raced as I realized I had no control over the car whatsoever.

"I-I can't... It won't brake... I'll never make it through the next two turns..." I gasped, my body now trembling with fear.

I could hear my engineer taking in a sharp breath. He didn't know what to do either. Sh*t.

Sweat trickled down my back as I desperately searched for a way to avoid disaster. I knew I was going to crash.

With a sickening lurch, my car rolled onto the grass.

All I could do was hope and pray that the grass would slow me down enough to avoid a collision.

But then, my front suspension got stuck on the damp ground, and my car spun out of control, flipping over several times. It was as if time slowed – I could see the grass and then the sky, then grass again. I felt every heartbeat and heard my blood rushing through my ears, but I had no time to think.

And then: I stopped. Pain shot through my body as I groaned in agony, feeling the impact of the crash. At least I had landed right-side up.

"Lex! Lex! Are you okay?!" My engineer's voice echoed in my ears, filled with concern.