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wondercircuit · 12 days

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lance and the ferrari driver academy: a brief timeline

this covers lance getting scouted into ferrari, his junior career at prema, and the surrounding connections he's had from his fda days that were pretty notable for his development up to his f1 debut in williams. i wrote this as personal reference for myself at first a while ago while writing something else, thus the added subjective commentary in a few bits, but if anyone is interested and can count some of this as useful information for his ferrari-related lore, then great. feel free to tell me if anything is inaccurate!

2008 - 2009: lance jacob strulovitch started competing in canadian karting was winning canadian national karting championships before this, such as the coupe de montreal and coupe du quebec micro max championship in 2008 and 2009. he placed 6th in a world finals at lonato, italy in the mini roc category and in addition, he was winning championships in florida karting competitions. racing coach and karting champion mike wilson tutored lance and mentioned that lance was born with that “killing instinct, and was surprised at the determination he had as a child to fight the back of a pack," comparing this attitude to a young fernando alonso, (who mike had also mentored (interview source ; you can read a brief version without paywall here).

2010: lance was scouted by ferrari at 11 years old, the youngest person signed to an f1 development programme at the time. luca baldisserri, ferrari’s chief track engineer and former engineer to michael schumacher was running the academy as director. lance was allegedly said to be an experiment for the fda to see if they can mold potential into developing an f1 driver from a young age.

baldisserri said the programme to nurture and shape kids with potential was never originally a part of the culture of ferrari and said it was a shot in the dark, knowing how young lance was. it was mentioned as well that mclaren offered lance a spot for their development programme, but lance chose ferrari's offer:

"Though Lance was eager to accept, his parents were reluctant. He was still a boy, and this was a major commitment. "I wanted Lance to digest it," [Lawrence] Stroll says. "With the time and money Ferrari is spending, you've really got to know you want to do this." But Ferrari wasn't the only one interested. Within days, Ferrari's bitter F1 rival, McLaren, heard what transpired in Florida and lobbed in a competing offer. After mulling his options, Lance chose Ferrari, and a few months later, boarded a plane for his first training session at the academy."

— The grooming of Canada's next Formula One driver, The Globe and Mail, 2011.

lawrence initially thought that the scout's offer for lance to join the fda was fake and a scam: "[Lawrence] Stroll didn't believe it. This man was a con artist, a fraud. He was incensed. "I told him, you're full of [expletive] this isn't true," the father recalls. It took a phone call from Italy later that afternoon to change his mind." the article also goes through the sort of training ferrari started him out with and talks about how luca gave lance the token red racing suit when he joined, but lance preferred to stick to not wearing the color, which i think is interesting:

"With the eyes of the racing world upon him, Lance is now trying to keep a low profile. When Ferrari welcomed Lance to its team, Baldisserri presented him with the rarest of gifts: a bright red Ferrari racing suit, just like the one Villeneuve wore. It is the most famous uniform in racing. But Lance told Ferrari it's probably better if he doesn't wear it. "It's like having a bull's-eye on my back," he explains. "The other kids are going to be saying: 'He's a Ferrari driver – go and get him.' " Baldisserri agreed. Everyone is chasing Lance Stroll. So on race day, the famous red suit stays at home and he zips himself into an anonymous blue-and-white uniform."

lance wearing the chiesa corse overalls with the tiny ferrari logo

in the same year, lance participated in a 'friendly' staff karting event at montreal where he's karted with fernando and felipe massa.

(L), lance in 2010 at a staff kart race organised by ferrari in montreal. lance scored p2 in this race behind fernando | (R), fernando and felipe massa who got p3, pictured with lance at the kart race

the ferrari driver academy was very newly established--aside from lance, the programme had checo perez and jules bianchi, who were in sauber and manor, the one other team using ferrari's engine respectively in f1 at the time.

2011 - 2014: lance continued to compete in karting and won the SKUSA supernationals in 2012. throughout this, he continued to train with ferrari. by now the fda had gained a total of 5 members with brandon maisano (who would then go on to be lance's teammate in prema) and rafael marciello added to their roster. jules was the eldest out of the five at 23 years old, while lance had been the youngest at 13.

(L) lance pictured with a few fellow fda members and ferrari drivers of different categories, including (R) giancarlo fisichella and fernando on ferrari's passion day event (essentially an exclusive event shared with fans at mugello) (2012)

one of the trainers at the fda, andrea ferrari (i'm so serious, his last name is literally ferrari) talked about how the five academy drivers had unique training sessions specific to their ages and classes. he's mentioned how he occasionally gets to work with the "senior" driver team aka fernando and massa and the time he spends with them and fernando's physio helps him construct the training plans: "The opportunities of dealing with Alonso and Massa are occasional but significant, according to his accounts. “When Fernando comes to Maranello he has some training sessions with us. We often go for a bike ride in a group of 5-6 people and, needless to say, Fernando always wants to win”, Andrea states. “In addition, I’ve to say he’s a very sociable person. He creates a very friendly environment when we go out for a dinner or five-a-side matches among Ferrari staff members" — (source) fernando has mentioned training at the strolls' home in mont-tremblant, canada after the 2014 canadian grand prix — (source). in the same year, prema released a fun short little interview of lance in f4 where he mentions that his favorite driver is fernando. (even aston martin's team principal mike krack has acknowledged that their meeting in ferrari and the strolls maintaining that connection with fernando since then was an important catalyst to their present time at aston.)

lance debuted in single-seater racing in that year's florida winter series, which was not a championship series, but was organised by the fda. max and nicholas latifi also participated in this series (here is a comprehensive post on lance in the 2014 florida winter series that @lil-shiro kindly put together). lance competed in the italian f4 championship and took 13 podium finishes with prema racing, thus winning the champion title that year.

lance at the podium in 2014, adria, italian f4

2015: lance competes and wins in the 2015 toyota racing series in new zealand in the winter, which consisted of 5 rounds. he competes in f3 europe and ended 5th in the standings for his first f3 season. it was around this year where there were rumours of the fda discontinuing; for context of the situation, luca baldisserri was stepping down from his director's role at the academy, checo left when he signed on to mclaren in 2013. lance also left the fda to sign on to the williams driver development programme in november that year with the aim of getting to work closer with an f1 team. lance described ferrari's training programme to be 'basic' and he was looking for more intensive sim work and actual testing for f1 cars, which the williams' junior programme offered.

on the topic of who else was leaving ferrari, felipe massa was in williams by 2014, and fernando in mclaren in 2015. the strolls still continued to visit fernando in f1 races here and there to show their support:

(L) lance and fernando at the monaco gp, 2015, and lawrence with fernando at the canadian gp, 2015

2016: by now, it was known that luca moved on to race-engineering for lance and working with him directly throughout his f3 euro season that year. luca also had a hand in prema racing's dominance for the respective gp2 and f3 euro categories where he acted as a consultant for the prema junior development team and helped manage structures there, which looked to be a testament of how effective luca was in nurturing and managing young talent, despite having left the fda which he himself had allegedly 'masterminded'. luca was also overseeing mick schumacher's development. there wasn't other known reasons as to why luca stepped down from the fda other than the sources i found implying that the decision was supposedly, or at least partly influenced, by lance choosing to leave ferrari. luca then continued to help oversee lance's development himself even when he signed on to williams junior programme. lance talked about luca a bit here in an autosport article:

"It's extremely important to have him with us and it's great that he will continue working with us. "He's been with me since a very young age, when he chose me to come on the Ferrari programme. "He's very good at watching what's going on between the team and the driver - he's quiet when he has to be, but when it's time to speak up he says some very good things."

— source, Autosport, 2015

it makes sense to want to fully continue seeing through a young kid's development to successfully graduate them into f1 despite it being with a different team. the fda was a new programme, and in comparison to other teams' driver academies eg. williams, mclaren's, red bull junior's programme etc, ferrari doesn't promote rookies directly to their f1 seat, assigning them instead to sauber or haas first before offering opportunities. lance also mentions how he knew it was pretty unlikely that ferrari would let a driver with less experience into the team. i think this says things about ferrari's culture, at least in comparison to the other teams that are more willing to put rookies in their seat (this is constantly debated by fans and pundits across the sport to be extremely pressurizing for young talent but i do feel that you have to also question the alternative that seems to be ferrari's methods. again, all this is highly dependent on other factors as well involving a single driver's experiences and their individual junior trajectory so ultimately, the debate to whether or not a young driver is 'ready' for f1 before they're even actually there is personally moot to me. but alas, i do find it vaguely interesting......)

i'm only focusing on lance's development here so i can't say much on the fda now except for an added anecdote that charles leclerc is currently the only graduate so far to be promoted to the ferrari seat after the obligatory sauber stint for his rookie year. again, solely speaking from a point of comparison to other driver programme's success rates on getting their talent into their f1 team, it makes the fda's effectiveness look a little bit questionable.

anyway, here's more of what lance said on his switch to williams:

“I feel like we can be closer right now with Williams, and I’m working with them rather than just being part of a training camp like at Ferrari. For the future, it’s the right move.” And Stroll also feels Ferrari is unlikely to promote a rookie driver into one of its race seats, while Williams has a proven track record with the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button. "Williams has a great history of believing in young drivers, they’ve given many rookie drivers a chance in Formula 1. That was important for us, because Ferrari has a different approach; they tend to take more veteran drivers to fight for the championship."

— source, f1i.com (2016)

[Question] Tell me about your role with Williams… [Lance:] "It’s been a great eight months with them. It’s been fantastic. The cooperation with me in F3 is great, they have the right understanding of me focusing 100 percent on F3 and not getting distracted with Formula 1. They just want me to finish the championship, they’re not pressuring me to jump in an F1 car and doing testing and things like that. They want me to focus on one thing at a time, and that’s great."

[Question] If the opportunity to jump into a Formula 1 race seat in 2017 came up, do you feel you’ll be ready? [Lance:] I do… but it’s easy to say it. I haven’t driven an F1 car yet, so I don’t have a complete understanding of what it’s like. Once I have a couple of tests under my belt, a bit more experience, then I’ll have a much better idea of if I’m ready to make that step just yet or not. At the moment I’m blind in terms of F1. I’ve driven F3, I’ve driven a couple of other categories, but I’ve never really sat in an F1 car. So I don’t know how much different it is to what I’m doing now, how much more complicated it is, how much tougher it is. They are all things I’ll figure out along the road. But if… if it is just another step, and if I’m comfortable in the car, then why not? F3 is a very high level, we’ve seen guys like Max – and I don’t want to use him as the example every time because maybe he’s an exception – but even guys like Ocon, Rosenqvist, these are guys that could do it as well."

— source, Motorsport, 2016

the headline for the motorsport excerpt above is extremely misleading but i think the interview shows pretty good insight to lance's attitude towards his own development and how he's got a good head on his shoulders with self-awareness of his own capabilities, despite having had more opportunities and the financial advantage that motorsports typically needs. he also talks about his former prema teammates felix rosenqvist (currently in indycar) and jake dennis (currently competing in formula e) and how instrumental they were to him in learning about his race craft during his first year in f3. here is a clip on lance back in prema talking about his teammates feat. esteban and lance's long-time driver coach nuno pinto.

at the end of his race season, lance won the f3 euro championship in 2016, the first north-american who's won in the category.

lance celebrating his championship win for f3 euro in 2016.

2017: lance accumulated enough points by then to get a super licence for f1 (which allowed him to skip f2, like max did). this makes lance the second-youngest driver to debut in f1 at 18 years old. while lance isn't tied to ferrari anymore, luca baldisserri continued to be his race engineer for lance at williams to keep seeing through lance's development in his rookie and sophomore years.

lance with luca on the paddock and garages (2017)

overall, the 2017 williams had a decent car (they were 5th in the wcc that year) and lance managed to score his first points at his home race. he also became the second-youngest to win a podium in f1:

lance's first podium at baku, 2017.

that's it! the rest is truly history ♡

if you're interested, here is an external post off tumblr that briefly and neatly goes through lance's f1 career including his racing strengths, driving style and teammate relationships up to the present, written by @strulovic and linked with her permission. i'm sharing it here just because i've found it to be personally useful myself as a starting point when i went down the rabbit hole of digging up research of his fda days.

#lance stroll #ferrari driver academy #a lot of this was canonical reference i was using while writing 1418 f***** au #and i thought to put it up here and share a bit of history* in a condensed fashion #*important and fundamental info i compiled the week after i kept staring at dave's life-changing fanart of ferrari au #*info #disclaimer i don't know how ferrari runs their programme now under jock clear so my own feelings of side-eyeing the fda still remains

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clxja16 · 1 year

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Since Day One

Part two

gifs not mine

Arthur Leclerc X Reader

Genre: childhood friends to lovers

Warnings: little angst, language, i think thats it

Word Count: 6K

Author’s Note: this is way longer than I thought it was gonna be, i am sorry. I also hate the ending of this, so lmk if you guys want a part three with a better ending. This story went a lot better in my head, not too sure what happened.

Part One

—————————————

“Wait wait wait, you’re gonna be in the UK?” Charlotte asked, as you told her your plans for the next few weeks.

“Yeah, my work is sending me out that way for a conference,” you said, “I should be back in Monaco by the first.”

“Can’t you just extend for the weekend, and come back on Monday?”

“I mean I am able to work remotely so I can extend the trip yeah, why?”

“That’s the Silverstone Grand Prix, you have to come,” Charlotte said, with a bright grin.

“Charlotte no, I really…”

“Y/n please, Arthur and Charles will both be racing that weekend,” Charlotte began to plead, “I’ll be with you the entire time, promise, and we won’t party that weekend.”

You wanted to laugh at Charlotte’s eagerness and preparedness, but in reality you were so afraid to be seen at the Grand Prix. “I don’t know Charlotte, I’ll think about it.” You watched her face, that was filled with hope, turn to disappointment. You wished you weren’t so afraid.

You were in the UK, your job had you set up in Oxford, just a forty minute drive from the circuit. You already had extended your trip until Monday. You didn’t make any mention of the extension to Charlotte. Knowing that if she knew of your extension she would drag you to the circuit herself. You weren’t 100% opposed to going to the Grand Prix, you just wanted a few more days to think about it. A few more days to prepare yourself.

Charlotte arrived in Silverstone on Thursday, when she got to her hotel she texted you that she had gotten your paddock pass and credentials for the weekend, should you decide to come. Your conference had finished earlier than expected, so you didn’t need to go in on Friday morning.

Charlotte: Are you coming?

Charlotte: Arthur’s sprint race is today, I’m sure he would love to see you there.

You: okay, I’ll come

You packed a small bag to take with you to the circuit. Your heart was pounding for the entire drive there, that you thought you were having a panic attack, but you did your best to stay in control of your emotions. Charlotte met you outside, to give you your credentials before going in. She suggested that you guys watch from the monitors in the garage, instead of being with most of the spectators. Not to mention that’s where Lorenzo would be watching too. You were eternally grateful that Charlotte considered your feelings. Charles had carved out a little time to watch the race instead of being stuck in strategy meetings with Ferrari.

The three of you, had a cozy little spot that Lorenzo made, away from a lot of the fans and a lot of cameras to watch Arthur privately. Arthur ended up finishing 8th in the race, which really wasn’t his best, but it could’ve been worse. When Arthur finally made it back to the garage Lorenzo brought him to you, Charles and Charlotte. You swore you had never seen Arthur’s face light up so much, until that moment. He completely disregarded Charlotte and Charles, coming up to hug you. He swept you up in his arms, twirling you around for a moment.

“Arthur,” you whined, “you’re all sweaty.” Finally when Arthur put you down did you try to wipe off the sweat he rubbed on you.

“Oh can’t I just be happy my best friend decided to come to my race,” Arthur said with a smirk.

“I hope you’re staying for the rest of the weekend, you have to see me race too,” Charles said, wrapping his arm around your shoulders.

“She is, I’m dragging her to everything this weekend,” Charlotte said as she crossed her arms.

“Fine, fine, I’ll be here for the rest of the weekend,” you gave in to their demands. You really couldn’t deny them, especially when Arthur looked so happy seeing you in the garage at that moment. And when Charles looked at you with stars in his eyes at the possibility of you coming to his race. And Lorenzo’s face looked so proud to have all of you together again. They looked so happy, that you really didn’t want to disappoint them again.

You came back the next day, for Arthur’s feature race. You and Charlotte sat in a more open space to watch the race, but still away from the majority of the fans. Charles was in meetings that he couldn’t join to watch the race, but knowing him, he would catch every moment on his phone.

When Arthur crossed the finish line first, at the checkered flag, both you and Charlotte jumped out of your seats. You and her were jumping up and down cheering for Arthur. Charlotte grabbed your wrist, “we have to be there, under the podium.”

Charlotte dragged you across to be there right when Arthur parked his car. “Charlotte, I don’t,” you tried to speak up to tell her that you don’t think it's a good idea. But the cheers from the Prema team were too loud to talk over. You took deep breaths to control your emotions. You and her made it to under the podium, just as Arthur parked his car. When he finally got out of the car, Charles and Lorenzo were already there waiting for him. Arthur hugged Lorenzo and Charles first, not even taking off his helmet.

After getting congratulated from his brothers, did Arthur see you and Charlotte with the crowd. He removed his helmet, and the smile he was sporting had all the nerves fading away. Arthur put his helmet on the ground next to his car, coming up to you. He grabbed your face, kissing each cheek with a laugh. Then he leaned his forehead against yours, “I’m so happy you're here,” he whispered to you.

“Me too,” you whispered back, with the largest smile you could manage. Arthur kissed your forehead, and then went to get his congratulations from Charlotte.

When Arthur finally stepped away to head up to the podium, did Charles say, “good thing you came.” However when Arthur was finally out of sight, did you feel your nerves start up again.

It felt like all you could hear was the clicks of cameras. Your heart started to pound out of your chest, your breath was getting shorter with every second. You felt your hands begin to shake, and your stomach began to flip. This feeling of absolute dread filled you. “I don’t feel too good,” you tried to whisper to Charlotte but you don’t think she heard you. You stepped away trying to get some fresh air, the area felt too crowded. You walked until you felt like you could breathe again.

When Arthur made it to the top of the podium, you had disappeared. Arthur looked around to where you were supposed to be, he saw Charles, Charlotte, Lorenzo but he didn’t see you. His face clearly showed his disappointment, that even Charles and Charlotte looked around for you. You were nowhere in sight.

“Where is y/n?” Charles asked no one in particular.

“I’m gonna look for her, you wait for Arthur,” Charlotte said, as she hurried off to find you, knowing that Arthur would prefer his brothers there rather than her.

When you stopped walking, you realized you were by the Mclaren motorhome. You were practically on the other side of the paddock.

“Y/n,” you heard someone call your name. You turned to see Lando waving at you, “are you coming to the races again?”

“Huh?” You asked, trying to collect all your thoughts.

“You were at almost every race last season, and the season before that,” Lando laughed, “the entire grid has been wondering where you went.”

“Oh, I just happened to be in Oxford for a work trip, that’s why I’m here this weekend. I don’t think I'm gonna be able to come to any more grand prix’s this season.”

“That’s a shame, you were fun have around the paddock during the weekend,” Lando said with a disappointed look, “not to mention it was fun to watch the F2 boys attempt to flirt with you and it go over your head completely, especially Liam”

“What are you talking about? Liam…”

“Liam was always flirting with you, but you were so focused on Arthur that you never even noticed,” Lando laughed more.

“Y/n,” you could hear, what sounded like Charlotte, calling out your name, “i’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry,” you looked at Charlotte who was clearly out of breath, “it was really crowded at the podium.”

“Hey Charlotte,” Lando greeted.

“Hi Lando,” Charlotte responded, being polite.

“I need to get going, but it was good to see you y/n, and you too Charlotte,” Lando said, with a small hug, “tell Arthur I said congratulations on the win.”

“We will, bye Lando,” Charlotte said for the both of you. “what happened?” She asked, turning to you now.

“I’m sorry, it was just so crowded at the podium, and I needed fresh air.” You hang your head not being able to face Charlotte. You let the fear get to you again.

“It’s…” Charlotte paused, she remembers when she and Charles first started dating publicly. The amount of criticism she got was unbearable, it was to the point where she considered ending it with Charles. “It’s okay, just tell me when it’s too much next time,” Charlotte said. She was trying her best to make sure you couldn’t stay away anymore.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” you nodded. Charlotte did her best to look out for you, because she knew you didn’t deserve the amount of hate you got.

Later that night, after you extensively apologized to Arthur for missing his podium, you got back to the hotel. After you had showered, you laid in your bed, scrolling through your social media. There was a picture of you and Arthur. It was the moment when he kissed you on the forehead. Your heart began to pound against your chest and your hands were shaking.

The caption said ‘they’re the best friendship on the grid, I’m glad she’s back at the races.’

You thought that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. Your heart slowed, your hands steady. And you began to look at the comments.

‘I missed seeing them at the paddock together’

You began to think that maybe you shouldn’t have stopped going to the races, that maybe you were being irrational.

‘Arthur is so cute’

‘Who is she? Sorry I’m new to the sport’

‘That’s Arthur’s best friend, y/n, she stopped coming to the races’

‘Does anyone know why she stopped going to the races?’

‘There was a scandal with her and Charles’

‘One leclerc wasn’t enough for her’

‘Wait isn’t this the girl that Charles was cheating on Charlotte with?’

‘She collecting Leclercs like infinity stones’

‘Imagine having two leclerc brothers’

‘It’s my dream to be her’

‘Waiting for a picture of her and Lorenzo’

‘Or maybe she’s just actually really good friends with Arthur and Charles’

‘That picture of her and Charles looked more than friendly’

As soon as you started scrolling through the comments, you couldn’t stop. It was like falling into a bottomless pit, never ending. There were plenty of nice comments. People that adore your friendship with Arthur, people that thought you were pretty, people that thought you were living the dream. However it was only the nasty comments that stood out to you. The people that thought you were a whore, that you were only using Arthur to stay close to Charles. People that thought you were only using the Leclercs for 15 seconds of fame.

When you woke up the next morning, your phone was still in your hand and your eyes were puffy from all the crying you didn’t realize you were doing. After you got ready for the day, you began to pack your bags. You were gonna go home, you knew that being at the races wasn’t a good idea.

There was a knock on your hotel room door that interrupted your packing. You opened the door to see Charlotte on the other side, wearing a bright smile. You forgot you told her your hotel and room number. She must’ve decided to come get you herself when you missed her call earlier this morning.

“Why aren’t you ready?” Charlotte asked, her face slowly turning to disappointment. Before you could answer Charlotte asked, “why are your eyes puffy? Were you crying?”

“I don’t think I should go to the race today,” you answered, stepping aside to let Charlotte into your room.

“Why? What happened?” Charlotte looked around the room to see your bags half packed.

“It’s not a big deal, I just feel that it’s best I stay away,” you answered, as you continued to pack your bags. You went into the bathroom to gather all of your bath stuff, when your phone went off.

Charlotte, knowing your password, opened your phone, seeing all the comments you were reading last night. She then went to the direct messages, reading everything that people had sent you. You let the words of strangers get to you again. When you came out from the bathroom, Charlotte held up your phone to you, “this is why you’re staying away again.”

Tears welled in your eyes, you didn’t want her to know, “it’s…”

“I told you,” Charlotte looked angry, “you can’t allow them to get to you like this, you’re giving power to people that don’t even know you.”

“It’s not that easy Charlotte,” your voice began to waiver, “It doesn’t help that Arthur still, very publicly, has a girlfriend and then he goes and does that,” you gesture towards your phone, “after the race.” You ripped your phone from Charlotte's hand, as you wiped away the fallen tears.

“You’re coming to the race today,” Charlotte said, shaking her head, as she began to pick out clothes from your luggage.

“I am not,” you argued, trying to pull Charlotte’s hands from your luggage.

“Y/n,” Charlotte snapped, “you don’t even realize what your absences did to all of us. You don’t realize how far away you stayed.” There were tears in Charlotte's eyes too now, “You didn’t come to Monza that season, you moved further away from all of us, you didn’t even come to the first race of this season, or the Monaco Grand Prix. You stopped hanging out with any of us, even privately. You broke all of our hearts by staying so far away, especially the boys since they didn’t even know why. You’ve been so focused on making sure the fans aren’t mad at you, that you’re hurting the people that really care about you. Don’t even get me started on Arthur.” Charlotte rolled her eyes as she mentioned Arthur.

“What about Arthur?” You asked, taken aback by her tone.

“Arthur thought,” Charlotte paused, you were never supposed to know this next part, “he thought that you stayed away because of me. Because he thought I was angry with you,” Charlotte confessed.

“What? That wasn’t…”

“Arthur knows now that that's not the reason, Lorenzo really chewed him out about it. But he didn’t talk to Charles for almost three months,” Charlotte said, the pain still very fresh. You had absolutely no idea that Charles and Arthur got into it because of you. “You haven’t realized the amount of hurt all of us felt from you staying away y/n. It wasn’t only you that was affected that night.”

“I-I didn’t know…”

“How could you?” Charlotte threw her hands up in defeat, “you stayed so far away how would you even know how any of us felt?”

“I’m sorry, if I had known…”

“That’s the problem too,” Charlotte said, cutting you off, “you feel like this is solely your fault.” You raised your eyebrows at Charlotte, unsure about what she meant. “Charles could’ve tried harder to stop you that night, but he’s always had, and probably always will hold a special place in his heart for you. The fans didn’t need to say anything about that night, it wasn’t any of their business. I could’ve tried harder to keep you closer, but I thought you staying away was gonna be temporary. Arthur could’ve talked to us more, he didn’t need to cut Charles off for those three months.” Charlotte paused, she was actively crying at this point, “it’s not only your fault, it never was just your fault.”

“Charlotte,” you were at a complete loss as to what to say next, you didn’t know what part of her confession to address first. “Charles loves you, he loves you more…”

“I know,” Charlotte said quickly, regaining her composure, “and I know there’s nothing going between the two of you currently. But I also think that if Charles had never met me, he would be with you, and I’ve made peace with that, because I also know that you gave up on being with Charles a long time ago.” You nodded your head at this, you didn’t lie at that dinner when you said your crush was long gone. “However,” Charlotte continued, “that doesn’t mean for you to stay away.”

“Charles is so lucky to have you, I don’t know what he ever did to deserve you,” you said, as Charlotte cracked a small smile.

“Come to the race, please.”

While Charlotte was trying to get you to come to the race this afternoon, Charles and Lorenzo was trying to get Arthur to confess his feelings to you.

“Aren’t we supposed to be helping Charles get ready for his race?” Arthur asked his brothers, no longer wanting the attention to be on him.

“There’s plenty of time to do that,” Charles argued, “y/n is what’s more important right now.”

“I don’t think y/n has any feelings like that for me, she had a crush on you not me.” Arthur reasoned, recalling all those moments in your guy's childhood when you clung to Charles.

“I have a girlfriend that I’m not consistently arguing with, already.” Charles knew you had feelings for Arthur, because when you kissed him in Amsterdam, you moaned ‘Arthur,’ not Charles.

“I have a girlfriend already too,” Arthur reasoned.

“Do you really though? The last you told me, you didn’t know if you guys were together or not.” Lorenzo finally spoke up, raising his hands up at Arthur.

“Doesn’t mean we’re not together,” Arthur reasoned.

“Do you want to be with your current girlfriend?” Charles asked, in a somewhat rhetorical manner.

Arthur just sighed, he really didn’t want to be with his current girlfriend. It wasn’t because she was a bad person or anything, he had just fallen out of love with her a while ago. Arthur picked up his phone, calling his current girlfriend, because even if he didn’t like to admit, Charles was right.

Charles and Lorenzo could only hear one side of the conversation that Arthur had, but from what they heard it sounded like the relationship was ending on mutual terms. When Arthur hung up the phone, it looked like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. His jaw unclenched and for the first time in a long time, he looked relaxed.

“Did that feel good?” Charles raised an eyebrow at Arthur.

“She said that it was time. That we stayed together longer than we should have. She wished me the best of luck and congratulated me on my win.”

“That’s all?” Lorenzo asked just for confirmation that there weren't any hurt feelings.

“She said that she will continue to support me and my racing, and that she hopes someone will love me the way I once loved her.” Arthur said with a fond smile. It would be a lie to say he never loved his girlfriend, but he knew deep down that he would could never love anyone like he loved you.

Arthur has had feelings for you since the first grade, since the moment he decided putting glue in your water bottle was a good idea. He used to think your hair was shiny and you smell like strawberries. Those were his reasons for liking you then, and as time passed his feelings for you grew and his reason’s evolved.

However, when you were 12 and you looked at Charles like he was the brightest star in the sky, Arthur broke just a bit. It wasn’t until your 18th birthday when you tried to ask Charles out again, that Arthur thought he would always come second to his brother in your heart.

Clearly Arthur has been blind, because everyone could tell, you now look at Arthur like the brightest star in the sky. That Arthur is second to no one in your heart. That Arthur was your sun, moon, and stars. That Arthur was the one you longed for.

You allowed Charlotte to drag you to the race. You didn’t fully realize that amount of hurt you caused. You didn’t realize that you haven’t fully made amends yet. And you were done letting strangers dictate your life. You were done sitting at home, watching the races through the screen.

You were gonna support the boys to the fullest, in person, live. You wanted to be there at the end of every qualifying, under every podium, and in person at every moment. For the first time, in a very long time, you didn’t feel so anxious to be with them in public.

However you wouldn’t lie, the clicks of the cameras still made you shudder. The sight of the walls of photographers made your palms sweat. The sea of fans made your heart pound, and the overwhelming amount of cheers made your stomach twist. Your fear of being in public wasn’t so easily forgotten, but it no longer stopped you.

“Y/n,” Arthur called out to you, when you and Charlotte finally made it to the paddock. He was quick to sweep you up into a hug. Both Arthur and Charles were decently taller than you, but when you stood right beside them, they felt like giants. “I’m so happy you came, come on, we can catch Charles before he goes out onto the circuit. Lorenzo is with him right now.”

“Well hello to you too,” Charlotte said sarcastically, causing you to giggle.

“Hi Charlotte,” Arthur blushed bashfully.

As the three of you walked towards the Ferrari garage, Arthur’s hand found yours. He hooked your pinky with his, you smiled as your hands swinged back and forth connected by your pinkies. It was a joke between the two of you as kids to see who had the stronger pinky. Over time it became a way to comfort each other. You watched Arthur as the three of you walked, your eyes never left him.

Arthur was like his brothers in more ways than he realized. He talked, walked, and dressed just like Charles did. He had Lorenzo’s smile, attitude, and way with words. Although there were key things that made Arthur stand apart from his brothers. His humor was definitely his own. His way of never letting anyone’s words affect him in a negative way. His ability to make the rest of the world fall away when you were with him. Arthur was his own person, that you so dearly love. You just wish you had realized earlier how in love you were with him.

When the race ended, Charles was only able to bring home fourth place. Which really wasn’t bad, but when you was looking at a first place finish, and end up fourth, it’s not the best. However Carlos did get his first victory, and you went with the rest of the group to congratulate Carlos.

“Congratulations mate,” Lorenzo said first as he hugged Carlos. He was the oldest, so the default spokesperson for the group.

“Congratulations Carlos,” Charlotte said, as she hugged Carlos.

“Thank you,” Carlos said clearly out of breath, he had just finished up with the podium, and was back at the Ferrari garage for picture taking.

“Congratulations mate,” Charles said, as he came up from behind.

“Mate, I-“ Carlos looked like he was gonna apologize.

“Don’t worry about it, you deserve this,” Charles smiled brightly. Charles was never the type to blame anyone for his misfortune.

“Congratulations Sainz,” Arthur said, as he hugged Carlos as well.

“Ah, thank you,” Carlos didn’t know what to do with all the congratulations.

“Congratulations,” you said when Carlos finally noticed you.

“Y/n,” Carlos exaggerated your name, wrapping his arms around you. You blushed, wrapping your arms around Carlos in congratulations. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

You laughed, as Carlos continued to hug you. “It hasn’t been that long.”

“It has,” Carlos said, as both Charles and Arthur placed a hand on each of Carlos’ shoulders, slightly pushing him off of you.

“That’s enough hugging already,” Charles' eyes narrowed slightly.

“You’re gonna get her all sweaty,” Arthur said, raising an eyebrow at Carlos.

You and Charlotte both giggled at the two Leclerc brothers, always being so protective. Carlos took their overprotectiveness kindly, holding his hands up with a smile, “forgot she was a Leclerc girl.” Carlos laughed, as you just shook your head.

“Yes she is,” Lorenzo confirmed, causing all of you to laugh.

As night began to set in, when media duties were done, and you guys were preparing to head out for the night, did you think now was a good time. Charles had just gotten back to the rest of the group.

“I have something to say,” you stepped away. You looked at Lorenzo, Charles, Arthur, and Charlotte as they stood opposite of you. They watched you carefully, and you don’t even know how you stayed away. These were the people you grew up with, you spent every other holiday at their house. These were the people that taught you how to drive, that celebrated your high school graduation, that took you traveling around the world. “I’m sorry,” you didn’t even know you were starting to cry until Arthur stepped forward.

“What’s wrong?” Arthur asked softly, wiping away your tears.

You grabbed his hands, pulling them away from your face. “I’m really sorry,” you said more to Arthur but it was meant for the entire group. You pushed Arthur back to his spot opposite from you. “I didn’t realize how far away I stayed, and it wasn’t fair to any of you. I never gave any of you an explanation or a reason, and now I realized the reason for staying away wasn’t that important. It isn’t as important as you guys.”

The three brothers looked at each other, none of them expecting an apology from you. “Took you long enough,” Lorenzo said, first coming to hug you.

“No more staying away y/n,” Charles said, joining yours and Lorenzo’s hug.

Arthur stayed frozen in his spot looking at you, as Charles and Lorenzo pulled away. “Does this mean you’re gonna come to my races again?” Arthur asked, he chose his words carefully for that question. ‘My races,’ he wanted to park his car and come out to you at the end of each race. He didn’t realize how much it meant to him to have you waiting at the finish line for him, until you weren’t there anymore. He didn’t want anyone else to be waiting for him but you.

“All that I can attend,” you said, knowing that was all you could promise at the moment.

“Okay,” Arthur whispered, coming to hug you.

When he pulled you close, wrapping his arms around you, did you bury your head into his chest, “I’m sorry,” you whispered once more. As the two other Leclerc’s looked at you and Arthur, they wondered when you guys were just gonna get it and start dating.

Later that night all five of you guys decided to get dinner together. You and Charlotte left the table to go to the restroom. You left your phone by your seat next to Arthur. No one paid any min, until your phone kept going off. Arthur picked it up to see what was going off. He was amazed at how many notifications from social media you had.

Curiosity killing the Leclerc, he opened your phone. It was a picture from a photograph of you congratulating Carlos on his race win from today. Arthur thought nothing of it, until the top comment caught his eye.

‘And another one bites the dust’

Arthur, finding the comment odd, began scrolling through the comments, trying to find the meaning behind it.

‘Maybe she’s after Ferrari boys’

‘Isa better throw hands with this b’

‘She’s just congratulating a driver, I don’t understand’

‘This is the girl that Charles was cheating on Charlotte with’

Arthur wasn’t that bothered by the comments, knowing people will just use anything to tear someone down. However it was the direct messages that really got him heated. People were sending you death threats, telling you that Isa would ‘kick your ass for touching her man.’ Someone told you that if they ever saw you, it was on sight. Another person said that if Isa and Carlos breakup, they would find where you live and end you.

“Have you seen this?” Arthur asked his brothers as he showed them the phone, displaying all the messages.

When you and Charlotte made your way back to the table. The two of you saw the three brothers huddled close together looking at one phone. You looked towards Charlotte, to which she just shrugged. As you got closer you could see it clearly on their faces, all three of them were upset.

“What are you boys looking at?” You smiled, hoping they were looking at something funny. When their expression didn’t change you began to get nervous.

“Is that y/n’s phone?” Charlotte asked, noticing the color of the phone in Arthur’s hand.

“Arthur, what are you doing with my phone?” You asked, getting defensive. Arthur knew your password, but he never went into your phone without asking. As you moved to try to grab your phone from Arthur’s hand, he moved back, not allowing you.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Arthur asked, he sounded so angry.

“How long has this been going on?” Charles asked, looking at you.

“Is this why you stayed away?” Lorenzo asked, his tone clearly upset. You felt like a child caught red handed.

You went to grab your phone from Arthur’s hand, this time being successful. “It’s not a big deal,” you took a seat across from Arthur now. Charlotte sat next to you.

“There’s death threats in there y/n,” Lorenzo said pointing to your hand, holding your phone. Lorenzo’s tone scared you, he was always the most reasonable between the three of them, that you knew if he was angry it was bad. “Is that why you moved?”

You stayed silent, not wanting to tell any of them.

“We could’ve done something, we could’ve said something, why didn’t you tell us?” Charles asked, his tone being more sad than angry. You knew already from his voice that he was feeling at fault. You watched as Charles looked at Charlotte, the gears turning in his head. “You knew,” he said to Charlotte, “you knew the entire time.”

Charlotte didn’t say anything. Lorenzo continued to scold you for not speaking up or coming to them about this. The entire time Lorenzo talked you stared at Arthur, as he stared back at you. There were few moments when you couldn’t read Arthur, few moments when he didn’t wear his heart on his cheek. Moments like Jules’ funeral, moments like his father’s passing. And at this moment you couldn’t read Arthur. You had zero clue as to where his head was right now.

The next morning, you awoke to thousand and one social media notifications. Your first thought was what did I do now? When you opened your account, you saw lengthy social media posts from Arthur, Charles and Lorenzo. Each reading the same thing.

‘Recently, it has come to our, me and my family’s, attention that a close family friend has been harassed online by people claiming to be our fans. We want to preface this message, that our friends and family have never asked to be in the public’s eye. They are people that are continually affected by our own personal career choices.

Firstly, they are human, just like the rest of us, their every move does not need to be critiqued. They make mistakes, they repent, they apologize, and they make amends just as all of us have done at some point in our lives.

Secondly, it is unacceptable to be sending anyone death threats. Especially if they are receiving death threats for actions that require two people.

Thirdly, some of the online harassment of our friends and family has transferred to in person harassment. Any type of harassment is inappropriate, immoral, and unethical, we do not stand for any harassment.

Lastly, it is wrong to blame one person for actions that involve more than one party.

We, as the Leclerc family, ask that you stop harassing our friends and family. If not, we will be forced to take legal action.’

You thought about clicking through the comments, but you stopped yourself before you could even open it. However you noticed Charles’ post was just a little longer. Charles post added on;

‘I did not speak up earlier about Amsterdam, 2021. I know now that I should have spoken up sooner. Me and Charlotte have addressed the incident privately and both of us have talked to the person involved. We know what happened, we addressed and dealt with it privately. As that incident was a private matter. Myself and Charlotte have a good relationship with the other person involved. We ask that you respect our right to deal with personal matters privately, and we ask that you respect our decisions about who we continue to be around.’

Just as you finished reading the post there was a knock on your door. You went to open it, to reveal Arthur standing on the other side. He was standing there in a loose button up with a pair of jeans. Sunglasses at the tip of his nose, his head tilted down, staring up at you. You giggled at his appearance letting him in.

“Good morning,” you said with a stretch as you made your way to the bathroom.

“Morning,” Arthur said, as he went to lay on your bed. “Charles and Charlotte want to spend the day together.”

You were brushing your teeth, and you mumbled out a question that no sane person would understand. But Arthur got it perfectly.

“Yes Lorenzo is coming too,” Arthur answered, “so are you coming too? Or are you gonna stay away again.”

You finished brushing your teeth, walking out of the bathroom, “no more staying away,” you said clearly.

“Good,” Arthur smiled.

When you and Arthur showed up to the adventures of today together, both Charles and Charlotte smiled at each other. They were both happy that you were back and Arthur had his best friend back. Now if they could only get the two of you to finally confess your feelings then maybe they’ll be completely satisfied.

“Y/n,” Lorenzo said, grabbing your attention, he decided if he was gonna be fifth wheeling the two couples, he would have fun, “Arthur has a crush on you.” Just a little older brother mischief thrown around. No one could miss the red creeping up Arthur’s ears, confirming Lorenzo’s words.

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