Better than me - Charles Leclerc x Reader Part 1
Plot: You are a rookie in your first f1 season, adding to the ever-growing amount of Brits performing in the grid.
Credit to countingstars-17 for the GIF
"And we here at Audi on our debut into Formula One are happy to announce our line up for this year. We have taken on Alexander Albon, and a new driver from the last F2 season to keep the youth of the grid, Y/N Y/L/N, the first female Formula One driver of the century" Andreas Seidl announces and cameras flash all around the press conference.
"So Alex is moving from Williams to an Audi, after not having a great seasons from 2021 in his reserve roll in Red Bull to him moving down as a Williams driver, why have you put your trust in a driver that hasn't been performing?" the interviewer asked. Andreas shuffles in his seat a little leaning closer to the mic.
"Well Alex's performance in Red Bull were phenomenal especially for a rookie. Unfortunately Red Bull decided to pull their finances into one car and one driver which led to Max over-powering many of his team-mates, which was one of the reasons Ricciardo switched to Renault. We want to give Alex the chance to prove his skills in a well-made car that once on the track will rival the Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari's" Andreas says looking towards Christian Horner who didn't look pleased at all.
"It's good to see Albon given the chance, as we saw George Russell improve the minute he joined Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes. There's also talk that there was an offers for Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc what happened there" another question is thrown out.
"We sent offers to anyone we thought would benefit from a contract with us, so Leclerc and Norris were both on that list"
"And you ended up choosing Albon, or were the offers rejected?"
"We chose Alexander before Norris and Leclerc turned the offer down. Norris is out-performing in his McLaren and as part of their young drivers scheme, he wants a win for them before ever moving on if he does. For now he is comfortable there. As far as Leclerc goes, he has dreams in Ferrari that they unfortunately aren't helping him pursue, which we hoped we could. The Volkswagen Group is an open arms family and our relationships with all drivers are ones we hold a lot of respect for" he explains nodding at the man who was asking the questions.
"Obviously Audi have now not only kept up with the youth of the grid but have added the first female since Lella Lombardi. Where did this choice come from, and did the other drivers know before today?" he pushes and Andreas smiles looking over towards you at the back of the room, hidden by your Audi cap.
"Well, she won the last two F2 championships and she's a very promising driver, she has a degree that she completed three years ago in Aerodynamic Engineering and has some great opinions on her car and knows it very well. I'm sure her rookie season will be one nobody will want to miss" he smirks and the cameras click for more photos, you could already see the amount of headlines.
Now it was time for your first race of the season. Your first race was Bahrain and you were extremely nervous, you could see the camera on your left filming you as you pulled up the fireproof race suit over your shoulders. The mix of red and white fabric had your sponsors over it, as well as the four rings of your teams logo.
You eventually got into the car rubbing your hands together waiting to be handed the wheel by an crew member. You check that you radio is working with your engineer and give the pit crew a nod.
"Okay lets make this a good lap! Looking to try and get P12 or up" your engineer voices as you as you come out of the pits.
You had a good start, going into turn one slower, wanting to just test the waters. Turn two and three were similar, the car was wider and more powerful than that of an F2 car and even pre-season testing didn't help settle your nerves.
"Need to speed up on this straight to make up the time from the turns, stop overthinking and just drive. We believe in you" you hear your engineer and release a breath that you didn't even realize you were holding. You fly down the straight managing to still keep up quiet the speak into the sharp turn 4.
"Coming into sector 2 now, your currently in a predicted 14th place so we really need to catch up in Sector 2" he explains again.
You speed round the turns up until the hairpin on 8, breaking later and managing to overtake Russell who was slightly ahead of you on the track.
"Nice Y/N, you've got Lawson and Ocon ahead of you, if you can catch up to them you'll be in the top 10. Lets get you flat out on that straight in sector 3 yeah?"
As you get through the second hairpin with a little skidding from your misjudgment and managed to make up for time in turns 11,12 and 13 before putting your foot down so you sailed down the straight.
After another go you were called back to the pits.
"Well done, you got P9. That's amazing for your first drive"
"What position was Alex in?" you ask, hoping your team mate was getting on well in his new car.
"He was P4, Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez all infront of him, Verstappen P5 along with Norris, Piastri and Alonso just a few seconds ahead of your time. Wonderful driving" he says as you pull into the pit. You jump out the car, looking to see who was now out and didn't make it into Q2.
"Well done Y/N, you did do well! P9 is crazy!" Alex said rushing up to you pulling you into a teammate hug.
"Let's go get a drink, you wanna go toilet?" Zahara one of the crew asks. I nodded immediately realizing how i hadn't gone to the toilet before hand.
Q2 went a little worse, you crawled in P11, not making it into Q3. You'd made the typical rookie mistakes which is what angered you the most. You slapped you hands onto your halo in annoyance as your engineer tried to explain that P11 was amazing for a rookie, and if you had a good pace tomorrow you'd be able to get within the top 10.
You watched Alex compete for his position headphones on and seeing his overtake Norris who was currently in P5.
Eventually tomorrows start was set, Leclerc P1, Hamilton P2, Perez P3, Sainz P4, Alex P5, Verstappen P6, Norris P7, Russell P8, Piastri P9 and in P10 ahead of you was Alonso, he wouldn't make it easy for you tomorrow.
You hug Alex, congratulating him on a great start to the weekend and a great start to this season. You headed to your drivers room, changing out of your suit and into your Audi shirt and shorts. You head out and get to your R8, a benefit of working for the Audi team.
"Hey, Y/N right?" a voice calls you before you can even open the door to the car. You whirl round, worried it was a fan that had somehow managed to follow you to the carpark. In turn you actually saw the racer who finished in P1 today, Charles Leclerc.
"Oh, hello" you smile nodding you head down awkwardly in greeting.
"I just wanted to let you know, you did well, this wasn't my first race in F1 Australia was but you finished ahead of where i was in 2018, so take this as a win" he smiles placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.
"Oh, thank you. I didn't even think I'd be here this year, I was shocked when Audi reached out to me. I'm just annoyed at the mistakes i made in Q2, I could have made it to Q3 if I had just ..." you admitted softly, until he interrupts you.
"You've already had your debrief and you know what you did wrong, move on from it and come back tomorrow and get into the top 10" he smiles at you. He starts to walk away but stops when your hand wraps round his wrist.
"Thank you Charles, i needed to hear that. Congrats on P1 today, see you on the track tomorrow" you smile, letting go of his wrist before jumping into your car. You sighed revving the engine, thinking of the kindness you'd just been shown. You knew that people would probably be looking for you from other teams, as most people were still there but everything was a little overwhelming for you right now.
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