Page 74 of Red Queen
And given how many dangerous turns and corners there are on this track, another safety car would come in very handy. Not that I’m wishing that the others will collide, but it would be a good thing for me.
“Times, please,” I ask as we complete another lap. Hayes’s barely behind me, so either I let him pass to go after Asher and try to overtake him, and I could stick on their asses, or I fight him. But right now, the first option seems more optimal.
“Hayes 0.6 behind, 0.6. Asher 1.3 ahead, 1.3.” Fucking hell. Asher’s getting away. I have to make a decision now, or I can most probably say goodbye to winning the race.
“Which plan are we on again?”
“B, stick to B for now.” This is definitely a C plan, and they might hate me for it til the end of time if I mess this up, but I have to go on.
“I’ll go with plan C.” Wiley only sighs, not even trying to talk me out of it. I guess he knows by now it’s useless to try.
I step on the brakes, slowing down my car so Hayes can overtake me. He goes past me about half a lap later, then he steps on the gas to reach Asher. Perfect. Just the way I wanted it.
Hayes quickly reaches Asher, as there wasn't a really big gap between us. I watch them fight, back and forth, overtaking each other, then at one corner, Hayes goes off track.
“Was that on purpose?”
“We’re looking into it.” Every single thing needs to be analyzed now. I need to run a perfect race, and preferably overtake Asher at the next pit stop, but hopefully even before.
“It wasn’t on purpose. We reported it.” Nice. Let’s see how the FIA decides.
A couple of minutes pass, and Hayes has managed to overtake Asher. Since he basically gave his position back, he didn’t get a penalty for it, so now we’re back to plan B. Hunt down Asher.
He started on a different compound, and we’ve reached the window where he should be changing tires now. I guess they’re hoping that the tires he started on will grain more on other cars, and he can go long with the tires he’s about to switch to.I’m doing the exact opposite, using the hard compound first, to go long, then changing to mediums so that overtaking will be easier. May the best man win.
As the race goes on, we’re constantly overtaking each other, which degrades our tires a lot. His are probably worse, since, to my luck, there was another VSC deployed, and Asher changed his tires just before it happened.
“Don’t forget, Asher has a five-second penalty for unsafe release, so try to stay in that window.” How could I forget? My race depends on this.
If he goes out to pit again, there’s a chance he’ll finish second, and I won’t be able to overtake him. Then I can say goodbye to the championship title. Let’s hope he doesn’t have any more good tires and they won’t serve the penalty in the pits.
“Asher’s pitting. Seems like they’re serving the penalty.” Seriously? Fucking amazing.
“No!” I shout, already mourning the title. My god. I can’t believe this.
I step on the accelerator out of rage, wanting to reach him, to try and overtake him in the last eight laps, even though I have a low chance of that happening.
“Time?” I ask when I spot him coming out of the pits, right before me.
“He’s 1.9 ahead. 1.9,” Wiley answers, and I step on the gas, giving it my all.
Seven laps left. Six left. Five left. Four. Three. Two. One. And I just keep driving behind him, without success.
“And that’s P3. P3. Good job, mate.” I scoff, but appreciate his attempt to try and cheer me up.
“Yeah. Good job of me for losing the title.” I go on one last lap around the track, waving to the fans. I’m sorry I couldn’t do it.
“Mateo, FIA’s reviewing Asher’s pit stop,” Barney says on the radio.
“Why? What happened?” I try not to sound hopeful, but I’m guessing they’re reviewing it for a reason. “Hello? Can someone answer me, please?”
49
ROSA
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the championship title of 2025, Mateo Acosta!” The familiar voice calls out, and fans scream when Teo steps on the podium.
“Woohoo!” I shout, waving at him, hoping he’ll notice where I am, but he’s too busy spraying champagne all over the podium.
