Page 29 of Formula Chance

I take a sip of wine and let my head rest back on the couch, the tension from yesterday still prickling under my skin. The race in Jeddah did not go to plan, to put it lightly. But it wasn’t my strategy that failed—it was my drivers. I’d like to say they’re not good enough to handle the stress of it, but they are. They simply didn’t want to listen to me, and I can only gather it’s because I’m a woman.

It was not a pretty sight after the checkered flag was waved. Lex Hamilton took first, Carlos second, and Reid Hemsworth held on to third. Titans Racing didn’t partake in watching the podium trophies or spraying of sparkling juice (since champagne isn’t allowed).

Instead, we gathered in a debriefing room large enough to hold twenty around a conference table, but the group was small—just me, Luca, Hendrik, Nash, Bernie and Matthieu. I knew it was going to be a bloodbath by the look on Luca’s face. Bernie didn’t finish the race and Matthieu ended up at P11, one spot out of the points.

The walls of the room were bare except for a large screen showing a replay of the race, with telemetry data running underneath it. Matthieu and Bernie slouched in their seats like sulking schoolboys, while Luca and Hendrik stood off to the side, arms crossed, watching with quiet intensity. Nash stood beside the door, casually leaning against it with his hands tucked in his pockets.

Before we walked in, Luca had touched my shoulder and said, “This is your meeting to start. I’ll finish.”

I was fired up, pissed at all the lost opportunity because of big egos, and the moment Matthieu opened his mouth, I pounced. “You screwed up big time,” I said.

“Your strategy was shit,” Matthieu whined, his French accent thick with disdain. “The undercut wouldn’t have worked.”

I didn’t even blink. “It absolutely would have worked if you’d followed the call. Reid used it and look where he finished.”

Matthieu’s jaw tightened. “That’s different. His car—”

“Is comparable to ours,” I cut him off, my voice sharp. “The data doesn’t lie, Matthieu. Your lap times were falling off a cliff, and instead of trusting the process, you decided to play hero. You cost not only yourself a shot at the podium but crucial points that this team needs. And for what? To prove you’re smarter than the data?”

Bernie looked like a caged animal when I turned to him. “And you… you think you’re smarter than the data?”

His gaze dropped, refusing to look at me.

Fucking coward. “Because you couldn’t have patience and follow the plan, you tangled with another car and damaged yours beyond repair. You ignored my call to maintain pace because you thought you knew better and look where that got you—retired.”

Bernie bristled, but I didn’t let up. “You want to know why you’ll never be more than a backup driver, Bernie? Because you think this is a one-man show. It’s not. This is a team sport. And until you figure that out, you’ll be sitting exactly where you are—on the second string.”

The room was deathly silent as Bernie sank lower in his seat, his face a mix of anger and humiliation. I turned back to Matthieu, glaring at me like he wanted to throw something. “Matthieu,” I said in a low voice, filled with a request to listen to reason. “If you keep ignoring strategy calls, you won’t win anything. You’re not just sabotaging your races—you’re sabotaging the team. And let me be clear, I’m not going to get fired for this. You are. So go ahead and keep acting like you know better. See how long it takes before Luca and Brienne decide you’re not worth the trouble.”

His face darkened, but before he could respond, I went in for the kill. “And one more thing—your attitude toward me? The dismissiveness, the arrogance? I have a hard time believing you pulled this crap with the previous chief strategist. So unless you’re going to tell me you’ve suddenly developed a personality flaw, I can only conclude it’s because I’m a woman. You need to get over it because I’m not going anywhere.”

Nash rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide what I know was an amused smirk. I saw Luca and Hendrik exchange a glance and I swear, Luca might have been trying hard not to smile.

But it slipped right off his face when Matthieu confronted him. “Are you going to let her talk to me that way? I’m the fucking driver and she’s just an engineer. Without me, you have an empty car.”

I don’t know how things are done under Luca’s leadership and he’s new in the position. It’s true the drivers have more clout than I could ever hope to have, but I am a senior management executive with this team. I provide a huge part of the formula for success, and I’m the one who puts driver and car on the road to victory.

Luca didn’t answer Matthieu at first and turned to Bernie. He merely nodded to the door. “I’d like you to leave.” He then looked to Hendrik and Nash. “I’d like you two to step out as well.”

Oh shit. Luca was clearing the room, and it was just going to be me, him and Matthieu. I immediately became concerned I’d overstepped, wondering if I’d just flushed my career before I’d even gotten started.

Matthieu looked smug as Nash was the last to leave and then turned his ire on me. He pointed an accusing finger. “Let this be a lesson in the way that—”

“Shut up, Matthieu,” Luca growled, slamming his hand on the table, causing both of us to jump. His glare was ice cold. “The only thing you’ve proven to me today is that you don’t know how to be a team player, and in case you didn’t notice, this is a race team. Titans Racing employs a little over eight hundred people at any given time, and this woman”—Luca pointed at me—“is one of the most important. Without race strategy, we win nothing. Without engineering, we fail. And without a fundamental belief that you depend on Bex to make you the best possible driver, then you are not worthy of being on this team.

“From this moment on, when you speak to her, you do so with respect. When she tells you to pit, you pit. When she passes you in the hall, you fucking smile at her. Anything less than that and I’ll get involved, and that’s going to make me very irritable. You saw how fast Brienne Norcross moved when she wanted Nash on this team. Imagine how fast she’ll move when I inform her of your disrespect to our chief strategy engineer. Now, I don’t intend to talk to you about this again. I’m only going to ask you one question: Do you understand me fully?”

Matthieu’s head bobs so fast, I’m afraid it might fall off his shoulders. “I understand,” he rasped, his face red with embarrassment, eyes wide with shock.

Luca kept his gaze pinned on his driver but asked me, “Do you have anything to add, Bex?”

I cleared my throat. “I’m good.”

And that was that.

Matthieu left without another word and Luca called Hendrik back in so we could break down the race and file the data away for a rainy day.

Snuggling into the couch, which is quite comfortable thankfully, I replay Luca’s words to Matthieu. They were brilliant and seem to sound better every time I go over them. It was such validation that my strategy was spot-on, and it set the tone for behavior that will be expected among the team. I certainly don’t know what type of team principal Michel Dubois was, but I’m grateful to be under Luca’s leadership.

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