Chaos on the F1 Grid

Chapter 9 - Arthur

Arthur: Thanks Charles, and thank you for believing in me, I love you brother and I will see you in my mirrors after I overtake you in turn 1 ;)

Lorenzo stood in Arthurs driving room watching the text interaction and laughing at the two drivers. If there was anyone who was more proud than Charles that day it was Lorenzo. Both of his brothers had accomplished their dreams of getting into Formula One, he was immensely proud of them. Proud of how hard they worked, proud of Arthurs determination, and Charles support of Arthur. He knew that their mother was going to be a bit emotional and on edge today. She knew that they were safe in the cars, and that they loved their job, but it wasn't easy for her. Lorenzo gave a final good luck speech to Arthur and then went in search of their mother.

As he watched Lorenzo walk out of his drivers room he saw the loving gaze of his girlfriend in the doorway, Carla. Arthur knew that he was the luckiest guy on the planet because he had Carla by his side. They had been together for 3 years, and every day he found he fell more in love with her. She was intelligent, funny, kind, beautiful, and stubborn – to Arthur she was everything he had ever hoped for. Carla was one of those people that gave unwavering love and support to those in her life, and support also meant telling you when you were in the wrong – which she did when Arthur was misbehaving or trying to wind her up. Arthur loved winding her up and would grin gleefully whenever she fell into a trap of his making. As she walked into the room she could tell he was a little bit nervous so she decided to tease him a little.

Carla: just checking which anthem you told them to play if you win?

Arthur groaned, rolled his eyes, and then slapped his palm against his forehead – he was never going to live down that bloody twitch stream. Carla had been in the room with Arthur when he was on the stream, and had doubled over from laughing so hard at her boyfriend's complete lack of knowledge about his own nationality. She even grabbed his passport and waved it at him to show that it said Monaco and not France on it. For the next two days she had not stopped teasing him – including buying a French flag and hanging it in the living room while he slept, and placing little French flag pins on all of his jackets. When he had arrived in Bahrain he had found a little French flag patch sewn onto one of his McLaren shirts. Carla had a fantastic sense of humour and loved to prank people, so when Arthur had delivered the absolute gem of calling himself French, she hadn't hesitated. Arthur had laughed every time he saw a French flag, and loved his girlfriend all the more for how she teased him, because never once did she make him feel stupid. His mother had sat him down for a civics lesson the evening of the twitch stream, and Lorenzo and Pascale had spent about 3 hours explaining the difference and history of the two countries, and why he needed to remember he is Monegasque. Charles had joked that he could just move to France, study for a few years, and then become French if he found it so difficult to remember he is Monegasque. Pascale had remarked:

Pascale: yes, he could, or he could remember that he is Monegasque.

Arthur: I do remember... I just forget.

Arthur had replied, trying to defend himself. He had seen the confused expression on Charles face and knew what was coming.

Charles: I don't understand how you forget your nationality – you have never been French.

Arthur: I don't know, I get confused.

It wasn't long before Lorenzo joined in.

Lorenzo: sometimes I wonder how you don't forget your name.

Pascale: I did used to have to put little name labels in all of his clothes when he was little.

Charles: I remember those!!!

Arthur had sat quietly and listened to the conversation about his forgetfulness, and the chaos he had helped to cause with the twitch stream. Though he maintained to the present day that Lando was ultimately at fault, and the conversation that followed was far worse than his forgetting he isn't French. He had sauntered into the living room triumphantly when Eleanore had confirmed that his blunder wasn't that big of a deal and seen how his brother had lit up at the mention of the woman's name. Something that made Arthur awfully uncomfortable when Lando had messaged him that he had a date with the woman that night. He had felt torn between his brother and his teammate, ultimately deciding it was none of his business and he wasn't going to get involved. Carla had agreed with the approach, but given how much she loved the Leclerc family she hadn't hesitated in proclaiming that evening when her and Arthur were alone that:

Carla: frankly I'm surprised she would go for Lando over Charles. I may be biased about the Leclerc genes, but Charles is better!

It had made Arthur proud to hear her say this of his brother, and that his girlfriend was firmly team Charles. Arthur chuckled to himself remembering all of the drama and Carla brought him back into the present moment with a soft kiss on his cheek.

Carla: you can do this Arthur! I know you are going to be on that podium today, and I am going to be in parc fermee waiting! I love you!

Arthur wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist and held her close to him. Taking a deep breath and watched as she left his room to go join his mum and Lorenzo. After a few moments alone, focusing his mind for the race, Arthur got dressed and then headed to the garage to do warmups with his performance coach. The long waits were hated by drivers, they always wanted to just be in the car, so once the national anthem was done with they all rushed to get ready. Arthur sat in his car, staring at the lights, waiting for them to all light up, then lights out. The race went according to plan, the pitstop strategy had worked perfectly, and while he hadn't managed to overtake his teammate or his brother, when he crossed the finish line third he was beyond proud and happy.

A podium on his debut F1 race! Not even Charles had managed that. The moment he got out of his car in parc fermee, Charles and he had run to each other and thrown their arms around the other in a tight embrace. Both saying how proud they were of the other, and he could hear the emotion in Charles voice. He knew that Charles was beyond proud of him. Arthurs smile was beaming when he walked up to the third-place step on the podium, and he looked down at the crowd, winking at his girlfriend and smiling at his mum who looked up at both he and his brother with so much pride he thought he would cry then and there. He pointed up to the sky when he received his trophy, a gesture Charles did every time as well, it was there way of saying: for you papa, and for you Jules. When he was heading to the car at the end of a very long but happy day he saw in the distance Eleanore. She had texted to congratulate him on his podium, and he wanted to chat with her quickly. He ran over and called after her.

Arthur: Q, wait up!

She turned around and smiled at the now shortened name.

Eleanore: hey C! congratulations on your podium!!!

Arthur was beaming with pride and joy at his performance and his friendship with Eleanore. He wanted to ask how things with Lando were going, but it wasn't his business and so he just gave her a quick hug and then ran back to join his family.