#cross the finish line vcarb

[perfec11on]

this is so cute tbh

[gayf1hoe]

Risking It All

Scenario - Logan joins a brand new team to Formula 1 and is finally able to showcase his true talent however his new team principal catches his eye in more ways than one. But is his team principal willing to risk it all for his new driver.

“Y/N we have been going over this you need to choose the driver line up” 

“God if I had known it would be this stressful I would never have agreed to invest in this team” 

As Haas is leaving after this season in F1, me and my best friend, which is a term I use quite loosely, decided it would be a good idea to invest in an F1 team. We have always been passionate about F1 and it wasn't until we heard about Gene Haas pulling the Haas F1 Team out of the sport we decided to shoot our shot with the FIA and for some reason they agreed. 

As I have the biggest stake in the team I'm practically in charge of everything and I have been appointed team principal because our budget doesn't extend to the stage where we can employ thousands of staff. I have also been tasked with finding our driver line up and it's harder than it sounds because every driver wants a certain amount of money we don't have or wants to know what car we will have when it hasn't even been finished yet. I currently have a wall full of drivers' faces in my office with loads of red crosses on their faces. It basically looks like a hit list at this point. 

We have one driver confirmed and that's Pietro Fittipladi who was a reserve for Haas and we have decided to give him a chance in a full F1 seat. If he's shit then it doesn't matter because it's our first season so we can all blame the car. 

I'm down to my last 2 options and they are Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant. I can't decide which one I want but they are our only options as they are the only 2 people not trying to bankrupt us with their salary requests. Kevin is a good driver however his fines and penalties he likes to get from the FIA could be a problem but Logan is also a good driver but I fear what he may do to the car. 

“We need a decision,” my friend presses on.

“Listen Jarno I will give you an answer soon don't worry, but the more you press on the more it pisses me off” 

“Oh and by the way the new race engineer contracts are on your desk” 

That's another thing that has been a pain some of these Engineers have been asking for more than the drivers themselves but we eventually managed to get Pierre Hamelin who is Danny Rics engineer at VCARB and Steven Petrik who is Valtteri Bottas' engineer at Sauber. 

I stare Intensely at the photos on my wall of Logan and Kevin and make a decision like the responsible team principal I am going to be, I will make my decision by inputting their names into a random generator and choosing whoever it lands on and when people ask me how I made my decision I will provide them with some professional bullshit lie.

I press generate and look away from the screen and when I spin my chair around I see Logan written in capital letter on my screen so I pick up the phone and dial. 

“Is that Logan's manager” 

“It's Y/N L/N team principal of Apex Racing I was just calling to confirm logan as part of our driver line up for next year” 

We spent about an hour on the phone and when I left the factory it was pouring down with rain. 

Everyone else left to leave me to do the breaking stuff which is no surprise. I feel like it was a bad idea to create an F1 team with an Esports driver. Me and Jarno have been friends for ages but I was always into what I call “proper” racing not racing on the computer but the past year we have grown closer I mean we have had no choice we have been up until 2 am trying to find sponsors because there is no way either of us has the kind of money to spontaneously invest in and start an F1 team unlike some people cough cough Lawrence stroll. 

I go home and collapse on my bed ahead of tomorrow when we announce our driver line up. 

“Y/N maybe you should stand in the centre” 

“Maybe you should hurry up and take the photo” 

Who knew the media could take so long like it's just taking a photo? Why do I have to act like a model and do all these weird stances and things with my face which apparently is called smiling? I haven't done that since I set out to make this team. I mean there's not been a lot to smile about late night meetings, early morning meetings, travelling, emailing. I think I've forgotten how to sit down without doing some form of work.

Logan and Pietro are coming by to the factory later to finish signing their contracts, the current F1 season isn't finished yet and technically a team wouldn't be allowed to start manufacturing their car now but the FIA gave us permission as we have had to make major changes to the factory. We brought it from Red Bull it's one of their old factories and I guess they felt bad for the new guys so gave us a good price, well a good price for an F1 factory I guess, because I have never seen that amount of zeros on a price tag and been told “that's actually reasonable”. 

The first thing I notice about Logan is his smile and calm demeanour. He's had a tough time of late so it surprises me because I have had a tough time and I am probably the last person anyone wants to piss off. As I'm also team principal I will be seeing a lot of the guys at the track so it's imperative we get along, but the two drivers seem to get along. But it's how they get along on track I'm more focused on. 

Just because they are besties off track it doesn't mean they will be like that on track and I don't want any Hamilton Rosberg or Verstappen and Ricciardo situations because it will kill me and my bank account. 

We give the drivers a tour of the garage and I get talking with Logan as up until this point everything has been done through his manager. 

“So are you looking forward to joining the team?” I ask. 

“I am but I must ask how did an Esports champion and a former racing driver start an F1 team so quickly as well”

“It's a long answer and quite painful”

After a tour of the factory we get to singing contracts and doing the media posts and stuff. No one is surprised that Logan is leaving William's given they literally announced Carlos Sainz a week ago but I'm sure everyone thought he was done with F1 given his 2 year stint at williams has been far from extraordinary. 

Pietro I guess is a bit of a shock as well as he's been on the sidelines for a while he only really made an appearance after Romain crashed in Bahrain a few years ago but he's been pretty active in indycar and not been doing too bad.

“I will see you in Melbourne next year” I say closing waving logan off. 

I'm going on a long break and any issues Jarno or someone else can deal with. 

Pre Season testing was nothing to write home about, we had a few minor issues but I would be more concerned if everything was working fine because then we would have done everything right and not even teams like Ferrari can do that. 

Now FP1 is in session I'm looking to see what the two guys can do against the clock. 

We have a pretty decent car and by that I mean we are ahead of Sauber, Alpine, VCARB, William's we are sort of fighting between the Astons and Mercedes cars. 

“Let's do a simulated quali run on logan” I suggest turning to the race performance engineer. 

Logan comes in and puts on a fresh set of tyres and heads back out. I wish I could say I'm not sitting here thinking “please don't crash the car’ but I am. I mean Logan hasn't given me a reason not to think that my opinion of him is based on what he was like at Williams. But I'm not letting him know that as that would ruin his confidence. We have given him our full support and let him know of that. He has been told he will receive upgrades as soon as they are made he will never be sacrificed for his teammates mistakes and its seemed to improve his morale. 

Logan crosses the line and goes up to P4. It's not P1 but I will take it nonetheless and Logan's elation over the radio tells me we are in for a fun year. 

I'm on the pit wall with Sky Sports so after Logan's run I get the joy of talking to Karun Chandhok in the commentary box. 

Karun: Y/N first weekend as a team principal and a team owner of a new team and you have a driver in P4 and P6. It must feel pretty good right?

Y/N: Of course we have worked hard to put ourselves in a strong position and we want to give our drivers a car that can showcase their abilities. 

Karun: Well a question everyone is asking is why logan? His career at Williams surely couldn't have been the reason to choose him. 

Y/N: Well what I told Logan was forget William's ever happened or existed whatever happened or was said at Williams is the past. We have faith in him and we know what he can do with a good car and he showcased that to us on his simulated qualifying run. 

Karun: Lastly Y/N what is the goal for Apex Racing both this weekend and for the end of the year where do you want to be? 

Y/N: Ideally and realistically with the car we have we would like to finish P5 in the constructors with our main rivals being Aston Martin however with Mercedes taking on a rookie driver maybe we could capitalise on the lack of experience at the team as we have two experienced drivers. We haven't told the drivers where we would like them to finish in the standings, it's just go out race and have fun. 

At the chequered flag of FP1 I head up to the engineering office in preparation for the debrief, that's when I hear someone calling my name. I turn around to see Logan doing a light jog over to me. 

“Is everything OK?” I ask. 

“Yes i just wanted to say thank you for giving me such a good car and having faith in me I guess it was really nice to go out and show my full potential to everyone” 

“You're more than welcome Logan” 

He embraces me in a hug and as an automatic response I hug back not contemplating the implications of a team principal being this affectionate with their driver. But surely this won't come too much. Engineering meetings to someone who doesn't understand half of what they are talking about are quite boring. I mean I haven't got the first clue about the brake shape setting into turn 1 but I just nod as if I do. 

Throughout the whole meeting every time I look up I make eye contact with Logan. It's kind of like when you're in school and look at your crush and they are looking right back at you, not that I have a crush on Logan. 

Most of the day is spent doing admin stuff, things are still all over the place and we are just seeing how we function as a team. Most of our team is from Haas and we have taken on a lot of staff from F2 as it seemed the most economical way, as people with less experience don't cost as much. 

Qualifying. 

“OK before we go out I want to just say that this is our first weekend and anything above P20 I will be grateful for but we know what the car and both drivers are capable of so let's work hard and show to everyone we are not a joke” 

Both drivers hop in the cars and we time it so that on both drivers flying laps they get a tow which will gain us a few vital tenths. Logan's first lap puts him in P8 and Pietro’s P6 so they will definitely have to go out again.

We send both out at the same time and by now I have no nails, my eyes are just fixated on the live feed and sector times and as they cross the line Logan shoots up to P4 and Pietro P5. 

I can hear the team cheering behind me as the chequered flag waves on Q1. Q2 was just as successful with both drivers making it to Q3 knocking out the likes of Stroll, Piastri and Antonelli. 

Now the pressures on I can see the live telemetry showing how much Logan is pushing his car and I quite literally can't watch. And I don't look up until I hear the ecstatic cheer from being. 

Pietro P8 and Logan P4. Not bad for a new team I guess and a driver people had written off ages ago. 

We may be the only team happy with not being on pole but this is a great start in comparison to other teams when they first joined. 

In the team meeting later that day I don't have much to say other than “That was fucking exceptional”. I have never seen Logan smile so much. 

We are using Honda engines which are known for being quite powerful and the drivers are constantly praising the amount of power they have. It was a great day and I can't really fathom how any of this is real. 

As I'm sitting in my office writing a press statement about our first day there is a knock on my door. I get up and open the door revealing Logan standing there. I motion for him to come in and he takes a seat at the table so I pull out a chair and sit next to him. 

“What can I do for you?” I ask. 

“I was wondering if it would be possible to go out for dinner one night this week”

“Sure I think that would be a great idea, allow everyone to get to know each other it will be good”

“I sort of meant it as just me and you”

I don't really know what to say. I don't want to ask if it's a date because that makes it weird but then if I don't ask I will be left with this looming question of what does it mean. 

“Why do you look so confused?” Logan asks. 

“I'm just wondering why a driver would want to go out for dinner with their team principal”

“Well because I would like it to be a date” he declares whilst rubbing his hands together.

I stutter for a moment and Logan's face flushes with a pale red colour of embarrassment. 

“Sure I would love to go on a date with you” 

I haven't even been a team principal for one race weekend and I'm going on a date with one of my drivers that surely goes against every professional standard ever. I know that if I end dating Logan I will never hear the end of the fact that I am ‘biassed’. 

I spend ages looking through my limited outfit choices, I mean 85% of my clothes are work clothes and the rest are beach clothes. I eventually settle on a pair of light blue shorts and a white shirt that doesn't look too formal but also looks like I made an effort. 

Apprehensive, I open my hotel room door and make my way down to the car where Logan said he would meet me. It's kind of awkward as I'm just stood by his car whilst everyone looks at me weird or that's what I think they are doing I could just be very paranoid. When he finally turns up he already has an excuse ready. 

“Sorry I got held up by Alex who wanted to show me photos of his new cat” 

Dinner goes well, I mean we don't get spotted and the food is nice, the waiter did refer to Logan as my boyfriend although we booked a table for two at a romantic restaurant it's understable as to why he would make the assumption about us. 

Being on the pit wall before the race is a strange alien feeling. I mean sure I've been sat here for testing, free practice and qualifying but there's a completely different atmosphere today. Both me and Jarno are intently staring at the screens and both drivers know it so the pressure is on. 

Before the start of the race I make sure to give the drivers a few last words of encouragement over the radio and then I sit back and close my eyes for the next 2 hours. 

It's a fairly good start if you minus Lando’s jump start and Ocon nearly taking out Gasly. Logan gently introduces his tyres which will give him the edge on other drivers later. Today I'm not worried about gaining places or getting a podium. I would be happy with P9 and P10. 

There is a brief problem with Logan's car but the engineers give him some sort of code that fixes the issues, how that works I do not know but if I could fix my car with a few numbers I would have saved a lot of money. 

Pietro is first to pit and all attention is on the pit crew for their first Grand Prix pit stop and it goes fairly well being a 2.6 second stop. It's not as good as Red Bull and McLaren but we have to start somewhere. Logan's next and as he's coming down the pit lane William's release Albon way too close to Logan and he enters the box, it's almost as if they are jealous of the unlocked potential Logan has. 

5 Laps to go. I begin to see everyone's faces become more focused in the crucial last laps. Logan is in P6 Pietro P9 if they could just hold on to this I can cancel my meditation class. 

2 Laps to go. Yuki has been lapping on average a 10th faster than Logan each lap and is within attacking distance. 

“Tsunoda 0.8 with DRS” I hear the engineer say and this is when I spin my chair to look in the pit lane. 

Last Lap. Logan manages to fend off Yuki each time and they are approaching the finish line. All the team members are stood up out of their seats and are cheering. 

Anyone who said Logan was talentless must be regretting their words now. 

There's a firm knock on my door. 

“hey” I say looking up to meet a smiling face.

“hey, I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to prove everyone wrong I never thought I would get P6” 

“You are welcome logan” 

“How about I show you how grateful I am” 

“How will you do that?” 

He pushes me against the fibreglass wall and pulls our faces together. I can still see the shimmering layer of post race sweat on the bridge of his nose. He inches closer making a firm connecting between our lips. Edging his tongue out of his mouth to connect with mine. Then the moment of pure euphoria is disowned by the sound of the team obnoxiously singing in the hallway. 

“I guess we will have to continue this later” I say with a suggestive smile whilst opening the foot to be greeted by the entire team in a small corridor.