#so ive kept the Gap in honour of him

[boarloved-art]

meet the chasers....this au might be taking up too much of my mind gang ngl........

[formula-what]

Brocedes time line for a very patient anon

Lewis quotes in orange, Nico quotes in pink, everyone else is blue.

okay first some background knowledge:

Nico is rich as fuck. only child, born in Germany, brought up in Monaco. son of world champion Keke Rosberg

Lewis was born on a council estate in Stevenage and his dad had to work multiple jobs for him to start karting

Honestly I think the difference in their backgrounds is one of the things that pushed them together, they were both isolated from the rest of the kids, but I’m keeping this purely facts rather than speculation.

2000

They’re both 15 years old and are karting teammates for MBB (Mercedes Benz McLaren) in Formula A

Robert Kubica: “there was always competition. But they didn’t fight. It was friendly competition. There was always laughing afterwards.” // “they would even have races to eat pizza”

They often shared hotel rooms at the races which was a “scene of many wrestling matches between them”

Dino Chiesa (their karting boss) – “many times I was called by reception about some problem in the room. It might be noise, or they might have broken something. They would never sleep so they were always tired the next morning”

“they both liked ice cream so much, particularly vanilla. During the night they wanted to eat ice cream always, so I had to go out everywhere to find some and keep them happy”

Lewis would often persuade Nico to buy him sweets

They would have competitions over LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Lewis: “we always had great competition whether on the racetrack or computer games or playing football”

“probably the first bit of competition we had was when Nico used to ride a unicycle everywhere so I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn how to ride this unicycle. Ive got to be better than him.’ I spent all my time outside the go-kart learning to ride this unicycle”

Apparently it only took Lewis 2 hours to teach himself how to do it

In maybe 2013 ish (when they were still friends) Lewis reflected with– “I have never laughed so much than when we were racing together. Nico was kicking everyone’s butt at that time. We had so great races together and built a great relationship”

“we were just arriving and enjoying go-karts and eating pizzas every weekend, fighting all the time and just having fun, whereas now it’s all business.”

many times they would talk about what they would do when they got to f1, made plans hoping to be teammates and become world champions together.

“Nico would say ‘when I’m in formula one’ and for me it was always ‘if I ever get to formula one’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a formula 1 driver- he knew he was going to make it.”

F1

Nico joined f1 in 2006 with williams, Lewis 2007 with McLaren. And man I WISH I knew what went down with this two when Lewis nearly one his rookie season (missing out by one point to mr fernando alonso) and then WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP in his SECOND SEASON (again by one point thank you mr alonso)

2008 Australia

Nicos gets his first podium, and ofc Lewis is there (he won it) and they are jumping around in the cool down room. Just, two kids who are literally living the one thing they have spent their whole lives dreaming about together. Lewis won the championship that year and oh wow I can only imagine their celebrations together.

2013

They’re teammates in Mercedes!!!

Nico: “every other day there are moments or things that pop up and I can smirk and thing, ‘that’s exactly the same as it was 15 years ago’”

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix gets an honourable mention. This is the race with red bulls good old multi 21 but merc also had their own team orders, stopping nico from fighting for his first merc podium, but Lewis disagreed with it so it didn’t really spark that much tension between them- more the team.

2014

the start of the turbo-hybrid era so y’all know this was good in terms of performance.

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

They were both fighting for the win and had a collision which prompted a “mock fight” in parc ferme after the race (which I really hope there’s a video of).

Turns out, Nico won because he had used engine modes banned by Mercedes to get a power advantage in the closing laps. which kinda pissed Lewis off

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis’ fourth win in a row and took lead in the championship. They were fighting till literally the last second and Lewis crossed the line 0.6 seconds ahead of Nico, who says he could have passed him with one more lap.

Lewis defended using the same banned engine modes that Nico had used in Bahrain. Yeah.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

This is IT. This is peak petty bitch. This is the one people still cry about.

It’s the end of Q3, both of them are out on a lap, Nico ahead of lewis. Nico’s already on provisional pole but Lewis is pretty close.

And then,, Nico just,, parks his car?? He says he made a mistake but the guy doesn’t even crash he straight up just,, rolls to a stop into a slip road. So the yellow flags come out forcing Lewis to abort a lap that was in the makings of pole.

The stewards say it was a-okay but Lewis was convinced it was intentional (and let’s be honest, yeah it probably was) and he even claimed that merc’s data proved it. (low key surprised he didn’t just tweet out the telemetry but I guess he got a stern telling off from mclaren last time)

But *this* is when Lewis tells the world that they aren’t friends anymore. An iconic interview.

Nico then wins the race too, ending Lewis’s four win streak and putting Nico in the lead of the championship.

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis has an engine failure in quali meaning he starts from the pit lane, but he does good to make his way up the pack but THEN there’s a safety car which puts him ahead of Nico but on a different strategy.

Nico asks if Lewis can let him past as he needs to pit again before the end of the race, which will give him the place back anyways. Lewis straight up refuses, he’s on a role here. He started from last, and Nico started from pole, why should he slow down to let his title rival through.

Mercedes strongly suggest that his blocking fucked up Nicos race but Niki Lauda is on Lewis’ side so he doesn’t get punished (We stan a supportive father figure) even though he did blatantly refuse to be a team player.

And guys, this is the last race before the summer break so you know Nico was left seething for four weeks.

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Second lap, Nico attempts a clumsy move and there’s contact, giving Hamilton a puncture and knocking him out of the race.

There’s a lot of controversy but basically it turns out he crashed with him intentionally, not backing out of the corner to “prove a point”. Nico ended up finishing second but was punished by the team, forced to apologise, and even booed on the podium.

2014 Abu Dhabi

For some reason it ran for double points?? The first time in History??? But idk???

Lewis had a perfect start and went on to win it and take the title, Nico had a problem and was told to retire the car but he kept going anyway and finished 14th. Nico went into the cool down room to congratulate Lewis on the championship win, which. cute.

Lewis claimed his second championship. Which not only was huge because of the inter team rivalry, but also because of the large gap between his first win. This guy had lost out on winning the championship in his ROOKIE season by ONE POINT, and then WON it in his SECOND season, and then there was like a FIVE YEAR gap before he won it again.

2015

Damnnn this car was fiiiinneeeeeee.

They do more laps in testing than any other car AND do it on a single power unit. And then. Australia. They take a one-two THIRTY FOUR seconds ahead of the third place Ferrari.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix

Nico is second in a one-two but claims that Lewis kept backing him up into Seb, trying to compromise his race (and help out his boyfriend).

Lewis gave zero shits: "It's not my job to look after Nico's race, it's my job to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible. That's what I did."

2015 U.S. Grand Prix

If Lewis wins here he could also claim the title with three races to spare (you have to remember back then the title fight often went up to the last race so this was pretty cool)

Lewis very aggressively forced Rosberg wide at Turn 1 to claim the lead, and then there was some sexy fighting between the Mercs and Redbull all race. Nico led in the closing stages but made a mistake, running deep into a corner and letting Lewis past with only a handful of laps to go.

Nico finished P2 and had not only lost the race but the championship title. Nico was fuming, saying Lewis’ move at the start was “one step too far”.

This is the infamous cap throw in the cool down room. Lewis throws Nico his P2 hat, Nico straight up yeets it back at him. I tear up just thinking about it. They grow up so fast.

2016

Nico had came so close to winning and I guess this was just, the last straw. All or nothing. This year he literally gave it everything he had. Lewis and him stopped speaking, Nico gave up literally the rest of his life and even stopped sleeping in the same bed as his wife and taking care of his kids, instead spending every moment trying to get into Lewis’ head. Honestly, I think he might be the only one that could beat Lewis. Just because he knew him *so well*. He literally threw away like 16 years of friendship. But also it’s like, he had to be world champion. He *had to*. His dad was champion and his whole life he’s been preparing to win it too. Tough luck that he raced in the same era as Mr. Best Driver The Sport Has Ever Seen.

Nico won the last few races of 2015, and the first four races of 2016. Lewis had a couple car problems and Nico had a good lead on him in the championship.

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Gentlemen. A short view back to the past. Nico had made a switch error on the formation lap causing the car to go into the wrong engine mode. So he was running a lot slower than Lewis, who was fighting to claim back the lead.

Nico closed the door to keep him back, and Lewis lost control on the grass, and spins into Nico and taking them both out of the race in the first lap. This is probably one of the most iconic crashes. I’m pretty sure there’s a clip of this somewhere in black and white with the titanic music over the top.

Niki Lauda blamed this one on Lewis (I guess even a supportive dad has to be critical sometimes) "Lewis is too aggressive. It is stupid, we could've won this race".

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

Nico had been struggling with a brake issue all race but was still on the way to win it. But in the last lap Lewis had caught him up and gone in for the overtake.

Typical Nico not taking any shit, refusing to be the guy that backs out and they collide. Lewis took the win and a damaged Nico dropped to fourth. From first. In the last lap.

Both of them blamed each other and tired dad team boss Toto Wolff threatened team orders in future races.

The stewards blamed Nico for the incident, issuing him two penalty points for failing to allow "racing room" and causing a collision.

2016 Abu Dhabi

In the final laps of the race, Lewis ignored team-orders from his race engineer and the technical director.

He deliberately slowed and backed Nico into the pack hoping they overtake him, and there would be enough of a points difference to win the title.

Nico finished second and won the title by five points.

And then,,, Nico announced a surprise retirement during the FIA prize giving ceremony.

Lewis’ response:

"This is the first time he's won in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop.” (We stan a petty king)

“But he's also got a family to focus on and probably wants to have more children. Formula One takes up so much of your time."

“In terms of missing the rivalry, of course because we started karting when we were 13 and we would always talk about being champions. When I joined this team, Nico was there, which was something we spoke about when we were kids. So it's going to be very, very strange, and, for sure, it will be sad to not have him in the team next year."

And now they are kind of on speaking terms but not really, they are both pretty private but I think they are at the ‘awkward small talk when we run into each other at the supermarket’ stage of the break up.

[inhalingwords]

Monthly Wrap Up || October 2017

Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare || Henry V by William Shakespeare || The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare || A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare || Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare || As You Like It by William Shakespeare || Hamlet by William Shakespeare || Instrucciones para salvar el mundo by Rosa Montero || Kudottujen kujien kaupunki by Emmi Itäranta || Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay by Annie Proux, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana || Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë || The Gap of Time: The Winter’s Tale retold by Jeanette Winterson || Puhdistus by Sofi Oksanen

Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare

Disease, darkness, decay. 2 Henry IV is a sequel and it shows tbh. It’s boring, Prince Hal is obnoxious, there is not a thing in this play I much care for. The prologue is alright.

Henry V by William Shakespeare

Henry V continues and -- thankfully -- ends the story in the Henriad. Like 2 Henry IV, I didn’t enjoy this one either. I mean, it’s a fine play (and tetralogy) about war, kingship, honour, patriotism, etc., except that that’s precisely the problem. All of that presented as it is in the play(s) is directly opposite to my own values and morals. I don’t think it’s honourable that king Henry V wants to wage war with France only because of some titles and dukedoms to add to his name/”imperium” (+ to distract the populace with external unrest away from civil unrest) or that he threatens French towns with rape and pillaging if they don’t let them in so he can have them surrender “peacefully”, and that’s all supposed to make him out to be this great, amazing king because “band of brothers! we happy few! he totally gets down with the lowly commoners! wooo”, like, no thanks.

The entire concept of these plays is to bump up English/British nationalism/patriotism and be a reminder of these “”””glorious””” things done in the past “under God’s will”. lmao. It’s jingoistic propaganda and that doesn’t interest me.

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

Now, The Winter’s Tale is a severely underappreciated Shakespeare play imo. There are not sufficient words to explain how much I loved reading this play!

The Winter’s Tale is a lovely tragedy-that-turns-to-comedy about jealousy, family, time, redemption, rebirth, healing, and hope in the middle of darkness. There are some real kickass female characters (Pauline! what a woman! i love her! and Hermione, who is Great™), one of the most famous stage directions of all time (”Exit, pursued by a bear”), queer subtext, cute romance, and one of the most beautiful scenes in Shakespeare (that last scene with the “statue” Hermione, damn!).

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

This was actually my second reread of this play this year, I already reread it back in March. But because I recently bought the beautiful Arden edition of the play, I just needed to reread it once more. And I’m glad! This is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays (hence why I bought the separate edition). I love the whimsy, the fairies, and the aesthetic, but I also really appreciate the plot, the running away into the woods and all the love-magic shenanigans.

I greatly enjoyed the Third Series Arden edition’s emphasis on the theatrical staging history across the world. It was very interesting to read about (also: wtf I didn’t know there’s a history of female!Oberons, that’s my new favourite interpretations at the mo, so yess, thanks). The entire Introduction was top-notch and I found much to think about; my favourite things is how the play has very much a dreamlike quality with many alarming things bubbling underneath the surface that are never quite brought into focus and problematised.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Holy moral ambiguity and manipulation, y’all! There’s no clear villain in this play, everyone’s a bit sketchy, and the central theme is of political rivalry and machinations. My favourite thing about Julius Caesar (and other plays like this) are the many layers, like when you consider the historical time depicted in the play, the context of Shakespeare’s time when the play was written in, and also the context of present time when I myself am reading this play. 

I ended up liking this play much more than I expected to, and I’m looking forward to reading it again in the future (and seeing some great adaptations in the meantime!).

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

As You Like It is a wonderful pastoral (romantic) comedy that both brings the pastoral to life and parodies/critiques it. It’s absolutely charming and also very queer (thereby claiming it’s place on my list of fave Shakespeare plays pretty much automatically). It’s also the play with the female character who has the most lines out of all Shakespeare’s female characters (woop!). The characters are what really make this play for me: Rosalind, Celia, Orlando, Jaques, I love them so much, and I might even go so far as to say I even enjoy Touchstone.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I have to admit: this was my first time reading Hamlet, I haven’t seen a movie or stage adaptation of it, and, going into the play, I only had a very general idea what it was about (along the lines of “there’s a Danish prince called Hamlet, it’s a tragedy, people die”) and I knew a handful of quotes out of context.

That said, like for many others, my experience of reading Hamlet was that of recognition. I kept encountering quotes I knew and it proved super interesting to finally get the full context for them. I find Hamlet an intriguing play, (especially philosophically, psychologically and metatheatrically speaking) and I’m looking forward to seeing some stage/movie adaptations of it.

Instrucciones para salvar el mundo by Rosa Montero

Instrucciones para salvar el mundo is a milestone book for me: it’s the first book I’ve ever read in Spanish. Sadly, I can’t whole-heartedly recommend it for others. I like it... I think??

The problem I have with the book isn’t that it’s bad, it’s that I feel like I really love the theme and the central concept of the book so much -- there’s beauty in life, sometimes you don’t even realise how privileged you are and how much you have, how much life in itself is worth until you’re staring death in the face, that these darkness in the world but also so much goodness and beauty and happiness -- BUT something about the execution was just lacking. The characters felt a little bit too much like stereotypes (the two boring white male protags, one of whose wife is death so he’s grieving and the other who is cheating on his wife; the black sex worker who is Good and needs to be helped; the Moroccan suicide bomber, etc.). I did like two of the female characters (Cerebro, an old scientist, and Fatma, the sex worker) but they were more peripheral characters, just passing through the bigger plot of the two dudes, one of whom was so obnoxious I nearly put the book down because of him.

So, yeah. The book is good but not awesome, and I feel a bit let down.

Kudottujen kujien kaupunki by Emmi Itäranta

Kudottujen kujien kaupunki (UK: The City of the Woven Streets, US: The Weaver) is easily my favourite book of the month.

Earlier this year, in April, I read Itäranta’s first book Teemestarin kirja (engl. Memory of Water), which I loved, so I was expecting to like Kudottujen kujien kaupunki, and it honestly still managed to blow me away and even exceed my expectations. Once again, there’s a dystopian setting, environmental themes (this time, water pollution), beautiful writing, and fascinating worldbuilding, but with explicit wlw main pairing this time. My heart soars. Itäranta has definitely landed a spot on the list of my fave authors.

Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay by Annie Proux, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana

Proulx’s writing style isn’t necessarily my fave -- it’s quite sparse, unornamented and to the point -- but the story is beautiful and touching in all of its horror and it definitely packs a punch. It’s about rural homophobia, internalised homophobia, love and desires, repression, and life.

This edition also featured three short yet insightful essays about adapting the short story to the big screen.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I…. like Wuthering Heights?? I’m baffled because I was pretty much prepared to dislike it due to so many people talking about how the relationship is really unhealthy and shouldn’t be romanticised, so I was expecting some sort of 1800s version of Twilight/50SoG, but… that’s not what this is?? 

Wuthering Heights is not a love story, it’s not a romance, and it’s not supposed to be. It’s not written as such. The relationship (between Cathy and Heathcliff) is not in any way portrayed as a romantic, healthy pairing you’re supposed to root and strive for (like in Twilight/50SoG) with the expectation that the reader is supposed to be sighing about how romantic and thrilling everything about the romance is. In Wuthering Heights, the abuse is portrayed as abuse, as negative and abusive, and the narrative does not support the reading of Heathcliff as a romantic hero and “Mr. Perfect”.

So, yeah. I like Wuthering Heights. In terms of the locale and characters, the scope of the novel is very small and almost claustrophobic, but the emotional magnitude is astonishing. Some of the characters are vile, selfish, and repugnant much of the time and yet I was so swept up in the story and invested in knowing what was going to happen, that I really enjoyed reading about them and I couldn’t help but symphathise with them because of the masterful storytelling. The portrayals of passion and revenge are so vivid I got chills. And I enjoy the double nature of the book; we have the one half (Catherine and Heathcliff) and the other half (Cathy and Hareton), and I love how it’s one of those hopeful stories about breaking the cycle of abuse, the younger generation doing better than the older.

The novel is also highly atmospheric. The moors, the nature, the wilderness. It all reflects the characters and the fact that the novel is so pointedly not about high society and social niceties.

The Gap of Time: The Winter’s Tale retold by Jeanette Winterson

My first venture into the world of Shakespearean book adaptations -- and I am so glad it was with such a great one!

The Gap of Time is a remix of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (a tragedy-turns-to-comedy that I read for the first time this month and love a lot!), and to me it’s a very successful one. There are so many things brimming with insight (I feel like I marked up at least 2/3 of the book!), some nice winks at the source material and Shakespeare in general, and tbh I gotta love anything that takes the queer subtext in Shakespeare and makes it explicit. I really enjoy the way Winterson modernised the story and dived a bit deeper into themes like time and family, which were already present in the original play.

However, The Gap of Time did feel a bit rough and unpolished at times, although I wonder whether it was intentional and meant to reflect the way reading one of Shakespeare’s (or anyone’s) plays feels like (since obviously they are meant to be seen and not read per se, and consist of nothing but dialogue).

Puhdistus by Sofi Oksanen

In February, I read the first book in Oksanen’s Kvartetti series about Estonia’s recent history and the East/West dichotomy of Europe. This month, I finally picked up the second novel (and the most well-known of the three books that have been published in the series). I was much impressed reading it, and I can see why it became such a sensation.

Puhdistus is a story about shame and sexual violence from the PoV of two women of two different generations set against the backdrop of Estonian history (from 1940s to 1990s, mostly preoccupied with the occupations of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, deportations, the Forest Brothers, and surveillance). The novel is at times brutal and sad, you might even call it a psychological thriller (though I myself wouldn’t go that far), but there’s also a constant thrum of hope of survival persisting throughout an the ending is hopeful. I find Oksanen’s writing a joy to read and I think I’m going to pick up the third book in the series sooner than I picked up this one.

[thisdaynews]

Monaco GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Valtteri Bottas to pole

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/monaco-gp-lewis-hamilton-beats-valtteri-bottas-to-pole/

Monaco GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Valtteri Bottas to pole

Lewis Hamilton snatched Monaco Grand Prix pole position from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas with his last lap of the session.

Hamilton, often on the back foot in qualifying, took pole by 0.086 seconds.

But the story of the day was in many ways Ferrari’s strategic error that saw Charles Leclerc knocked out in the first session.

Ferrari elected not to send Leclerc out for a second run, and the Monegasque will start 16th for his home race.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who was the man who knocked out Leclerc.

Monaco Grand Prix qualifying results

What were Ferrari doing?

“Very difficult one to take,” said Leclerc, who added he will need to take risks in Sunday’s race

Vettel was struggling after a poor first run in first qualifying and needed to go out again to get past the first session.

But Ferrari did not see the danger facing Leclerc, despite the fact that his time at that stage was 0.3 seconds slower than Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Leclerc was delayed when he missed the weigh bridge and had to be pushed back by his mechanics for the car to be checked, but he said that had not been the cause of the problem.

A distraught Leclerc, who grew up in a flat just next to the main straight of the Monaco track, said: “I asked whether they were sure. They said we think we are. I said, ‘Shouldn’t we go again?’ I didn’t have any explanations yet in detail.

“Very difficult one to take – we had plenty of time to go out again. The weigh bridge was not the problem. We had the fuel to go again, we just needed to put some tyres on. I need some explanations.”

Ferrari are yet to say what happened.

Vettel, struggling all day after crashing in final practice, was 0.781secs off the pace, after hitting the wall at Tabac on his final run.

The Mercedes battle

Hamilton is running with a red halo head-protection device on his car in tribute to Niki Lauda

The Mercedes, sporting a red halo head-protection device in tribute to the late three-time champion Niki Lauda, their non-executive chairman, who died on Monday, were in a private battle for pole.

Bottas had looked quick all weekend and the Finn was more than 0.2secs up on his team-mate after the first runs in the final session but when it mattered Hamilton managed to pull a lap out of the bag, while Bottas failed to improve on his final run.

Hamilton said: “I love it here. It’s my home. this is the race every driver dreams of. We’ve arrived with a great car, a great battle with Valtteri. He has been quick all weekend. The desire and the will to get this pole, it means so much to me.

“I’m really grateful to my team. The lap was just beautiful.”

“The lap was hard. All of us drivers take our car, fast or slow, to the limit. And when you’re at the limit, it’s like wrestling a bull. I had an oversteer moment in the Rascasse, and I just held on. I don’t know what the gap is, but I’ll take it – it’s perfect.”

It was Hamilton’s 85th pole position of his career and the reigning world champion added: “This is definitely one of the best poles I can remember.

“We have had lots of success over the years but I can’t remember one that means as much as this one. It has been such a difficult week for the team. We have had a cloud over us all weekend and we have been trying to lift each other up.”

Bottas said he had been affected by traffic preparing for his final run.

“I’m disappointed. The first lap, there was still plenty of places I could improve, on the out lap I had a lot of traffic and I couldn’t get the tyres hot enough for the fast lap. I thought I had it today but it wasn’t to be.”

A tribute to Lauda

In addition to the red Halo, there is also a red star in honour of Lauda on Hamilton’s Mercedes

Hamilton was given an exemption from media duties on Wednesday in the wake of Lauda’s death, a decision that has received some criticism, and after qualifying he explained his feelings on the matter.

“The other day I didn’t feel I was ready,” he said. “It wasn’t the time to dig into our feelings.

“I was really in touch with Niki a lot through this past eight months. We’d be sending videos back and forth to each other. It was always difficult because sometimes he looked good and was perky and said he would see us at this or that race, and others days when he didn’t.

“Ive always talked about how Ross [Brawn, former team boss] was the convincing element of me coming to the team but Niki was the one who phoned me up and said: ‘Mercedes is where you should be.’ I had never really spoken to him before that. He brought it to me and really got it across the line.

“All these years he has been my partner in crime. He was such a racer. He was part of the process of changing my life.

“If I hadn’t had that call, I’d be a one-time champion now. I sit here as a five-time champion and I owe him a lot. It was really difficult earlier in the week and I don’t feel I have to confirm to what everyone else thinks. Wednesday was not the time. But he will live on in all our memories.”

The rest

Behind Vettel, Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly took fifth but faces an investigation for impeding Haas driver Romain Grosjean.

Magnussen was sixth, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and the second Toro Rosso of Anglo-Thai rookie Alexander Albon.

British novice Lando Norris was 12th in the second McLaren, while George Russell kept up his clean sweep of Williams team-mate Robert Kubica in 19th place.

Paris-Saint Germain and France striker Kylian Mbappe was doing the rounds in the pit lane before qualifying

It was a good day for Toro Rosso as both Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon qualified in the top 10

Charles Leclerc had a happier time on Friday night alongside Williams’ George Russell as the pair took part in the famous Amber Lounge Fashion Show

Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly meet Mexico’s three-weight world champion Canelo Alvarez

Read More

[officergrimes-daddydixon]

The Walking Dead fanfic part 12

Note: Sorry this one took long to come out, ive been busy writing other requests, anyway i hope you like it!!

Warnings: angry Merle, swearing, blood, mentions of loss of breath and consciousness

part one  part two  part three  part four  part five  part six  part seven  part eight  part nine  part ten  part eleven

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“Let ‘em go boys” Merle spoke

The two men who held you and Daryl in place let you go and you quickly took a step back. You noticed he had a long blade sticking out from his hand and you didn’t want to be anywhere near it. Merle noticed this and laughed a little, but he decided not to say anything about it and he turned to Daryl.

“Lookin’ like shit lil’ brother!” he laughed and patted Daryl on the back. “You got no showers where you are?”

“Na, we’re in a prison” he replied.

You wondered if it was a good idea to tell Merle where you guys were staying, but you didn’t say anything as it was now back to how it used to be; you against your brothers.

“You still with that bitch group who cuffed me to the building?” he now turned and walked over to you.

You nodded your head and glanced over to Daryl who was staring intently at you. You wondered if he would back you if Merle tried anything. You two had gotten close without Merle around, maybe he’d go back to his old ways and let it slide.

“I’ve missed you sis” he grinned at you.

You completely ignored him and turned to Daryl. “We need to head back” you said.

“Head back?” Merle answered before Daryl. “Na, you’re coming with me”

“We have a group” you argued.

“You may have a group but they’re not family. Plus, we have supplies back where we are, you don’t need to go scavenging like animals” he pointed to the truck full of baby supplies.

“So now you wanna recognise me as family?” you crossed your arms over your chest.

“(y/n), you’ve always been family darlin’. I was just playing around back then” he offered you a playful smile that made you sick.

“So, come on, let’s get going” Merle said, starting to walk away. Daryl followed and you stood in your place, shocked that he was going with him.

“Daryl, you’re not serious” you said, disappointment in your voice.

“He’s family (y/n)” he replied.

“We don’t know these people!” you shouted, pointing to Merle’s two friends. “We need to get this back to Rick and Lori” you finished.

“I’m sure Glenn and Maggie found some shit” he snapped back.

There he was, the old Daryl who followed Merle around like a sheep. You heard a gun click behind your head and you didn’t even realise one of Merles men had moved behind you.

“You don’t get a choice (y/n). Don’t make this harder” Merle said.

“Now come on!”

You took one last look at the truck before starting to walk through the woods.                                                                                   ****

You stayed quiet the whole journey. You didn’t want to make it obvious that you were leaving yourself a trail that you could follow back to the truck. That’s the only good thing about Merle, he taught you how to follow a trail. You walked for a long time before you reached a wall that was guarded by men with guns. They sat on top of it and had the guns trained on you until they saw Merle and his two men.

“Open up” Merle shouted.

The gates squeaked as they opened just an inch to allow you all in. You were mesmerised by what you saw. People walked calmly down roads, there were trees, grass and actual buildings. The people looked like they hadn’t touched a walker since this whole thing started. Maybe they hadn’t. You saw that the place was surrounded by tall walls, protecting it from reality.

“Welcome to Woodbury!” a man approached you and Merle went to greet him. “You find more people?”

“Actually, this is my brother” he pointed in Daryl’s direction. Daryl offered him a nod but that was about it. “And this” Merle looked back at you and hesitated “is my half-sister” Merle forced a smile.

“So you brought back family? How wonderfully amazing!” the man said.

He approached you and Daryl and stretched out an arm. “I’m the governor” he introduced himself. You shook his hand and said your name, Daryl did the same thing but without shaking his hand. You almost wanted to laugh at how blunt he was being.

“Hey, (y/n? Daryl?”

You looked behind the governor to see someone awfully familiar approaching you. Andrea. She walked with pride and she linked her arm with the governors.

“Long time no see” she smiled at you and Daryl.

“You know them?” the governor questioned.

“Yeah, we were together in the beginning” she said, there was a hint of spite in her voice but you brushed it off.

“So where are you guys now? I mean, the last time I saw you the farm had burnt down”

“Don’t worry about that” you spoke up. You didn’t want anyone to know where you were based, you wanted to protect the group.

“I thought you mentioned something about a prison?” Merle said, an evil grin on his face. He clearly wanted revenge against your group.

You looked to Daryl who was the one to mention the prison but he avoided eye contact with you. Something about this whole place seemed off and he knew it too.

“Well how about we get you settled in?” the governor spoke. “Merle, you can have the honour of showing them around and allocating a room for them. It’ll give you time to catch up” he smiled at us before walking away.

Merle showed you and Daryl around the place. To be honest, you weren’t actually listening or looking at everything he was showing you. Instead you were looking for spaces to escape, and luckily you spotted an opening in one of the walls. A huge plant pot was covering it up, but you saw past it and decided to use that as an escape.

“(y/n). You listening girl?” Merle’s voice made you freeze up and you immediately looked towards him. You hoped that he didn’t see what you were looking at but his eyes wandered to the flower pot. He said nothing as he cut his eyes at you and continued around the place.                                                                                        ****

You laid in your bed looking up at the plain ceiling. You had decided to leave in the early hours of the morning. There was no way you’d be able to see the tracks you’d left in the dark, and you probably wouldn’t last out there with the walkers. You had no source of light.  You felt bad for leaving the baby supplies out in the open like that. It irritated you that you couldn’t tell Rick what happened. He probably thought you were dead and that made you feel anxious. You sighed and wondered what you would tell the group. What if Daryl felt betrayed? Fuck that, he betrayed you by going with Merle.

You watched the hours pass by and before you knew it the sun had started peering above the horizon, it was now 5am. You quietly threw your boots on and creeped out the door. Daryl was staying next door to you and you made sure not to make noise. Once you made it outside you saw the street that was once full of people was now deserted, the only humans you could see were those who were guarding Woodbury. You ran to the plant pot and moved it aside. You contemplated getting a weapon before you left, but the urge to get out of that place was too much for you. You quickly wiggled through the gap and you started running into the forest. You thought you had made it but you were wrong.

“HEY!” one of the guards shouted.

You turned around while running and nearly tripped over a rock. Next came the bullets. They sprayed the floor next to you and all you could do was pray none of them would hit you. You were getting further away but you heard the squeaky gates opening, and your heart skipped beat. Your legs felt weak from fear but that’s what kept you going. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears, that was the only sound you could hear besides your now heavy breathing. You risked a look behind you and you wished you never did. You felt tears come to your eyes when you saw Merle in the distance, he was running after you with that scary blade of his. You knew you couldn’t outrun him this time. You slowly felt yourself slowing down and you begged out loud for your legs to keep going.

The sound of footsteps got louder behind you and it sounded like there was more than one person chasing you. You didn’t dare look round again in case you tripped, so you carried on going, pushing the burning feeling in your calves and thighs aside. A moment later you heard a gunshot go off and it hit the tree beside your head as you ran past it. Was that bastard shooting at you? You made a sharp left, almost forgetting that you were following your trail. Almost moments later you felt an agonizing pain in your leg and you dropped to the ground. Your eye sight was going in and out of focus, your brain hurt with every pound of your heart and your chest and lungs burned every time you sucked in air. You lay on the ground, defeated, and that’s when you noticed you were shot.

You gripped at the wound in your thigh, masses of blood flowing out of it. You saw Merle jogging towards you and that’s when you started to hyperventilate. Your breath went short and you were sure your brother was about to kill you there and then. He stood in front you and leaned his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“Shit, you got fast (y/n)” he said after each breath.

Tears were now streaming down your face, you were choking on your saliva and that was making your breathing worse. You felt weak and you were ready to die, you were ready for Merle to finally put you out of the misery he had created for you. He finally stood up and took a last breath before smiling down at you. Out of nowhere, Merle was tackled to the ground. You squinted your eyes to try and focus them, and you saw Daryl was now wrestling Merle on the floor, trying to grab the gun from his hand.

“Get off me!” he struggled under Daryl’s weight, but Merle kicked his knee up, landing a straight shot to Daryl’s privates. He rolled to the side, clutching them and pushing his head in the ground.

“You’re both weak!” Merle shouted at both of you.

Merle kicked Daryl in the stomach one more time, before coming over to you and bending down next to you. You had calmed down now, but you were still trying to catch your breath back, and the pain from your leg was killing you.

“Why’d you leave? You don’t like your big brother Merle no more?” he asked sarcastically. “Answer me!” he demanded, jamming a finger into your leg wound.

You cried out in pain, it was excruciating and the burning sensation now moved to all over your body.

“Merle stop!” Daryl shouted.

“Shut up!” Merle spat back.

“So, why’d you leave darlin’? You know you can tell me if-” you cut him off by spitting in his face.

He paused for a moment, he wiped it away and then slapped you hard. You saw stars when his hand impacted with your face, you coughed twice and then spat out blood on the floor next to you.

“What the hell is he doing here?” you suddenly heard voices and footsteps from behind you. You looked around and saw Glenn and some lady with a katana running towards Merle. Rick quickly ran in front of the girl and pointed his gun at her, Daryl quickly getting up and doing the same with Glenn. You were so confused, how were they here?

“Woah, we got a party going on” Merle joked as he backed up to the tree, his arms raised in surrender.

“Shut up!” Daryl shouted at him, holding Glenn back.

“He has Maggie!” Glenn shouted, his voice cracking.

“Ah yes, she’s very beautiful” Merle joked.

“Merle!” Daryl shouted again.

Everyone was shouting and it was making your head pound. You felt the blood still oozing from your  leg and now your busted lip from where Merle slapped you.

“We’ll deal with him after, (y/n) needs to get back to the prison now! She’s bleeding out!” Rick shouted.

Daryl moved towards you to help you up and Merle spoke.

“So, you on their side now Daryl?” Merle asked, a hint of hatred in his voice.

You didn’t hear Daryl’s answer as you were going in and out of consciousness. Everyone’s voices became louder then really quiet. You let out a groan from the pain and Rick looked down at you.

Everyone still had their guns pointed at Merle, he was outnumbered.

“Aint nobody gonna care about you except me little brother” Merle said to Daryl.

Daryl ignored him and helped you stand but your legs gave way and you started to fall, but Rick quickly moved forward and caught you. Daryl took the gun from Rick as he picked you up bridal style, your arms tucked into his chest. After that moment, you passed out and remembered nothing more.                                                                                 ****

Throughout the journey back Rick held you close to his chest and looked down at you every once in a while. You didn’t know this, but Rick missed you so much, he wanted to feel your touch again and just having you here in his arms in pain made him miserable. He felt bad for the pain that he was putting you through with Lori and the soon to come baby. He knew that as long as Lori was around he couldn’t be with you. His priority was to his family, but he would always look out for you, he was starting to fall in love.