The Brickyard

Five Years Later

Five years later

Kathrin had still not gone to the IndyCar series.

Instead, she was still languishing—in her mind, at least—in the Formula 2 series.

You wouldn't know that watching her light up the track at Monza, Italy, however. Her car weaved through the slower competition, making them all look like morons. In a black-and-white livery not unlike her country's national football team, the #14 looked like a blur on the track, even more than race cars usually do.

Given that the Bahrain International Circuit is one of the most technical road courses in the world, this is more surprising. But for Kathrin, it didn't really matter. She had her focus on the checkered flag. She'd already lapped a good deal of the competition by now, and was coming up on the 20th place car on the track.

But with 2 laps to go, she was not going to put the entire field a lap down, even as she passed the car in front of her at turns 14 and 15. The race was almost over, but for Kathrin, it was long over by now.

"Be patient, Kathrin," a voice crackled through her in-helmet radio, the voice belonging to Hans Gunther.

She didn't listen as well as she should have. She positioned her car behind the 20th place car entering the final two turns on the circuit. She tapped the car in front of her gently, causing it to wobble slightly at high speeds. The other driver managed to save the car going into turn 7, and Kathrin could hear Hans groaning on the other end.

"What did I say!?" he growled.

Kathrin ignored him and maneuvered her car around the car in front, slipping past him to put him another lap down. The car moved to the inside of those final turns, starting out tight but getting lighter as it turned towards the front stretch. Now she had an open track and moved past the car. With time running down , the official waved the white flag as time had already run out. She smirked under her helmet, satisfied with the race. "Final lap," said Hans's voice.

She gently maneuvered through the first two turns, a sharp right-hander and quick left-hander, and pressed down on the throttle to speed up the long straightaway between turns three and four. She was essentially on cruise control by now, as the second-place car was well behind, about with about a 7-second deficit between her car and the second-place car. There was a temptation to just slow down and coast to the finish line.

But instead, she pressed down on the pedal and went faster. Oh, she did slowdown in the chicanes, but she just wanted to get this race over with as soon as possible.

She checked the RPM on her steering wheel, and smiled seeing that she was still in the safe zone.

But she still didn't feel any satisfaction knowing that the race was almost over. She should have, but...

After maneuvering the tricky and technicaly seqments, including the back straight, she turned onto the final straight between turns 13 and 14.. Now she could slow down, since there was no possible or conceivable way for the second-place car to catch her. She turned through the last two turnsand onto the front stretch as the checkered flag waved in the air.

She'd won.

But it was the usual, dominating win she'd raced so often in Germany and around Europe. And it was getting tiring.

"Good work, Kathrin," Hans said over the in-helmet radio, "Another excellent win. I can already tell this season will be a great one."

"Of course," said Kathrin.

After driving around the course, she pulled into pit lane. Her crewmen gathered around the car while she stopped it and got out. She did the expected 'raise your arms in celebration' victory celebration, but her crewmembers knew this was not the case.