Disclaimer: The boys aren't mine and F1 isn't, either…although I wouldn't mind owning a few of those boys *lecherous grin*
A/N: Right, so. Most of you are probably a little perplexed at this fic, so let me tell you first of all that I am a huge fan of Formula 1. I watch every Grand Prix and am a big fan of Kimi Raikkonen even though I'm British and we have four Brits in it at the moment (who aren't exactly doing very well), so I wrote this over the weekend whilst watching the qualifiers and the race. I think that some of the anger in bits of the fic were inspired by Raikkonen having to let his teammate Romain Grosjean pass him to get third on the podium, even though I know they had to do it otherwise Alonso would have passed and they wouldn't have gotten a podium at all but— I digress. So, anyway, in this fic Sirius replaces Nico Rosberg on Mercedes and Remus replaces Felipe Massa on Ferrari. Enjoy!
My Pole Position
"And Black crosses the line with a time of one thirty-two point three four and it's surely enough to get Mercedes pole this week. Lupin has yet to finish his final lap, but I don't think he'll beat such a solid time, even though it's looking quite close at the—Oh! Lupin nearly comes off the track as he tries not cut the corner on turn seventeen!"
"I don't think he wanted to lose any more time like he did in the second sector. He knows his times haven't been up to his usual standard, but he's pushing the car too hard around the corners. The level of G-force at that speed—"
"Lupin crosses the finish line with a time of one thirty-two point three two! Lupin has rocketed across the line with only point zero two seconds to put him ahead of Black and brings Q3 to a dramatic finish with his third pole position of the season so far. Sorry about that, David."
"Don't worry about it, Ben. Lupin's always been one to surprise us and today isn't any different. Black will be disappointed and Mercedes are, again, against another set-back and are yet to win a race this season."
"I'm sure Lupin will be happy for the moment, but Ferrari were on the radio throughout that whole last lap as…yes, as that reply just showed us. Not listening to your team will have consequences and you know from your days on the track, David."
"Yes, Ben. Your team see more about the car than you do when you're behind the wheel, so their instructions are important. Lupin has to use those medium tyres tomorrow, but I'm not sure how long he'll be able to last on them after that lap. Pirelli gave guidelines for how many laps the medium would last, but—"
The sound was muted on the flat screen television and James turned on his heel to face Sirius with a scowl, waving the remote vaguely at the screen that still showed images of replays from the qualifiers. Sirius, his feet kicked up on the coffee table of the hotel room and his hands folded behind his head, sighed heavily.
"You can't keep letting that Lupin make a fool out of you." James said with feeling, setting the remote down and coming to sit beside Sirius, "He's making a mockery of you by beating your times at the same time as nearly skidding of the bloody track! I don't know what's gotten into you this season, but you're not driving well, Sirus."
"Jeez, I know." Sirius muttered, looking away from his best friend.
"Your team sent me to speak to you because they can't get through to you." James continued, but then paused, "There's a rumour going around Mercedes that they're thinking about replacing you with Jenson."
"Tosser." Sirius muttered, thinking about Jenson Button from McLaren who was the world champion four year ago with Brawn GP. "Yeah, I've heard the rumours. They won't, though. I'm too good."
"You were, Sirius." James stressed, "You can't be so stupid that you haven't noticed your points in the driver's championship, or they wouldn't let you drive that bloody death machine. You're forth, Sirius. You haven't been forth since you were twenty."
Sirius squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed them furiously with one hand. After a moment of hopeful silence from James and awkward silence from Sirius, he looked up to watch his friend polishing his glasses on his shirt.
"I know," Sirius admitted, "I know I've been shit this year. It's Remus Lupin…he gets under my skin and just—"
"You can't throw this away just because you've got this ridiculous public feud with that French bastard!" James exclaimed, grabbing Sirius by the shoulders and shaking him a little, "Win that race this afternoon, okay?"
"Right. Should be easy." Sirius muttered, getting to his feet. He turned to James as he picked up his towel and bottle of water. "I'm going to head down to the gym like I was about to before you stormed in to lecture me. Coming?"
James snorted sarcastically and waved a hand at him to leave, "Yeah, right. Getting up this early just to talk to your ugly mug was enough work for me, thanks. You head down. I'll see you in the garage later."
A few hours later, Sirius could be found dressed in his overalls and his helmet under his arm, discussing his race strategy with his teammate and their team. A commotion outside the garage distracted him and he glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar figure in red overalls walking past, followed by a couple other in the same colours and a group of reporters. Sirius told his team that he needed to check on something before hurrying out into the pit lane and jogging to catch up with the entourage heading towards the Ferrari garage.
"What zee hell is eet now?" Lupin asked shortly as he turned around, expecting it to be a member of the press who had pulled him to an abrupt halt. Sirius watched the Frenchman's expression turn instantly sour as he realised who it was. "What do you want, Black? Make eet quick. My team and I take zis sport seriously and we need to be preparing."
Sirius stepped closer, near enough to the other man to be threatening, but staying far enough away for it to look like a private conversation to anyone else. Of course, the press would blow it up into anything from a death threat to a love confession, but he didn't care about that at that moment. He was used to the flashing cameras, the microphones shoved under his nose and the questions being fired furiously, so he wasn't going to be bothered by it now.
"You're on my home turf, here, Lupin." Sirius warned in a low voice, "This is going to be a fair race with no investigations."
Lupin laugh, running a hand through his blonde hair and shaking his head in amusement, "For eet to be a fair race, Black, you would need to be driving fair also."
Before Sirius could make a retort, Lupin had turned away with his team and he was instantly attacked with dozens of questions from the reporters surrounding him. With an annoyed sigh, he spun around and marched back to his garage, the press dispersing and flocking back around him as he moved, like an excited shoal of fish.
"There you are, Sirius," his teammate shouted above the noise of the team in the garage, "You can't keep walking off like that. There's talk of—"
"Replacing me, I know." Sirius finished sombrely, "I need to win this race."
"I know, mate."
The line-up for the race didn't particularly intimidate Sirius. None of the other drivers except Lupin were much of a match for him even on a bad day. The championships over the last few years had been dominated by him and Lupin, so he wasn't overly concerned that he hadn't won any races yet – there were eleven more races yet to come and he had been on the podium for all but one of the ones that had already passed, so he wasn't in any danger of truly scuppering his chances of winning overall. Lupin hadn't won a couple races so far, but he had also ranked fourth and twelfth in other races. Even so, Sirius knew that if he didn't perform today, there was a good chance the team would consider more seriously his replacement.
As he sat in the cockpit of his car after the warm up lap, checking that his crash helmet was properly secured again and that all of the dials on the steering wheel were showing the correct readings, he concluded that he was okay and confirmed as much on the radio to his team. After listening to their response, he turned his attention to the car in front and then the track ahead, his peripheral view concentrated on the lights above them and on the people clearing the track around them. Silence wasn't something often heard on the track and that was evident by the low hum of the powerful V8 engines from the other cars. A rush of adrenaline flooded through Sirius, sending his heart rate racing and his fingers clenching around the wheel in the moment of limbo.
Then the lights signalled the start of the race and he pushed his right thumb down, forcing the engine into a neck-breaking acceleration forwards. His start was slower than he would have hoped for judging by Lupin's Mercedes pulling away in front. He seconded this opinion this when he glanced in his wing mirrors to see the other drivers gaining on and surrounding him, cutting him off from making a clean turn around the first corner. Forced to swerve to avoid several cars on the inside, Sirius grunted with the effort of breaking and steering at the same as trying not to cause a collision.
Once the start of the race – the most volatile and dangerous part – was over and done with, Sirius was able to pull away from the other drivers and create what his team told him over the radio what was a ten second lead. He was still running on the medium tyres seventeen laps in when he was advised to go to the pits and change to the softs for a few laps. What? He thought in disbelief. He flicked a switch behind the wheel to contact his team.
"No pit stop." He insisted, "I can catch the Mercedes."
There was only a crackle over the radio for a moment as his team allowed Sirius to concentrate on steering the car around turn three and opening up the DRS before slowing for turn four, the quick changes of direction causing his neck to strain under the pressure of keeping his head upright. Once he was on the straight and watching a Force India weave to the side to allow Sirius to lap him, his team radioed back, "Negative. Pit stop now. Lupin is only ten point five seconds ahead. Lupin is coming into the pits now. Repeat, pit stop now."
"Fine, fine." Sirius muttered, concentrating on not cutting across the last turn before the pits as he had during the qualifiers and slowing before hitting the pit lane speed limiter button and entering the pit lane at eighty kilometres per hour. Coming to a quick stop in front of his garage, it felt like an age as he waited for his tyres to be changed to the softs, but when he was released back into the pit lane, he knew it would have only been between two point five and three seconds.
Once he was back out on the track again, he discovered that he was able to catch up to Lupin pretty quickly and discerned that there might have been something wrong with the Ferrari that had taken longer to fix than a tyre change. Sirius was smug at the realisation that Lupin was paying for his reckless driving in the qualifying. His moment of smugness was cut short, however, when – just as he was about to cut on the inside of Lupin on a sharp corner – a couple of cars ahead that they were about to lap collided. He wasn't sure what happened, but Sirius didn't care until he had swerved onto the grass to allow Lupin room to avoid the two uncontrolled cars. With a glance in his wing mirror, Sirus discerned quickly that the involved drivers were okay, but theirs cars most definitely weren't. A front wing and a battered nose cone were forcing other drivers to slow and swerve around the debris. Sirius sighed heavily – a safety car was on the way.
Sure enough, he passed a waving orange flag on the side of the track and soon after met with Lupin driving at a reduced speed behind the safety car. As much as Sirius despised having to go so slowly behind the silver car, it still amused him to see the way the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT had to wrestle with breaking around the sharper bends and skidded when the G-force challenged the traction of its tires; it was required to go at a certain speed to ensure the other cars' tyres stayed at a high temperature. Not to mention, with the safety car in play, Sirius had a clean shot at overtaking Remus once they were allowed to race again. With a swift check in his mirrors, he confirmed that the other Ferrari behind him was keeping its distance. Sirius listened obediently to his team's instructions to check his car stats on the wheel display as he weaved about on the track to keep the temperature of his tyres up.
Finally, the safety car left the track, signalling that the track was once again clear, and Lupin was given the decision of when to set off. Sirius stayed on his tail, careful not to get too close in mind of any investigations the stewards may try against him. He needed to win this and with only twenty three laps left out of fifty two, he had no time for drive through penalties. He would need to stay clean and hoped Lupin would, too.
Lupin took off on the longest straight on the track and Sirius cursed, knowing already that that had been the other driver's plan. According to Lupin's plan, the Ferrari sped away, its speed easily superior to the Mercedes. Sirius checked his mirrors to see Alonso closing the gap in the other Ferrari. Luckily, they reached a turn before he could be overtaken and Sirius was quick to realise that he had a chance at overtaking Lupin on the next couple of bends, his team telling him the same thing over the radio. Sure enough, a couple of turns later, he was able to pull up on the inside of Lupin. Making a decision that it was now or never, Sirius held his position and steered around the corner, pushing Lupin out wide. Lupin didn't give any space immediately, though, and there wheels made contact.
Silently, Sirius jerked the wheel to and fro to gain control again when the car jolted away from the contact. Glancing over, he briefly saw Lupin swerving and regaining control. But it was too late. Sirius was already ahead, finally in lead of the race with just under half of the race to go.
"Pits in five laps." His radio crackled, "Your front wing is showing damage and we need to put time between you and the Ferraris."
In any other situation, Sirius might have made a sarcastic response, but he was too busy driving the best he had ever driven in his life and pulling away from the other cars with every turn. By opening the DRS only when Lupin was still around the bend behind him, Sirius stopped the other drivers from gaining in his slipstream and created a substantial lead by twenty three seconds in the next eleven laps. The five lap limit for his pit stop had been and gone by instruction of his team so that he could increase his lead. When he did pull into the pits, the change of his tyres to medium again and the adjustment of his front wing took too long and by the time he was back out on the track, he found himself behind Lupin.
The gap was close enough for him to overtake within the next six laps and with two to go, Sirius was hanging on by the edge of his teeth. Lupin was on his tail, challenging him at every corner and pushing him on ever straight. Sirius held on though and when he finally crossed the finished line, he checked his mirrors and relaxed, slowing down to enjoy the roar from the stands and waving to his British supporters. He had done it – he was back on top form and he knew that he had driven a good race. They wouldn't dream of replacing him, now. Not when he had just won his home Grand Prix.
The celebrations were cut short though, when his car jolted and he lurched forwards, stopped by his safety harnesses from head-butting the steering wheel. The car spun and screeched to the side of the track where the fences were, but Sirius wrenched the wheel to straighten up before he could hit any of the running men and jerked to a stop. Furious, he undid his harness, detached the steering wheel and struggled to his feet, climbing from the tight shell of the cockpit to stand in his car and look for what had caused him to almost kill a group of workers on the track.
"Lupin." Sirius growled angrily, finding the smoking Ferrari beside his and a frantic Lupin scrambling out. He was about to ask the other man why he thought that ruining his victory with a collision was a good idea, when Lupin ran at him, pulled him from his car and pushed him over to the side of the track, where dozens of men in orange overalls ushered them into the pits. Sirius turned, confused, but his silent questions were answered when he saw smoke billowing from Lupin's Ferrari and Lupin yelling about a failed alternator that his team didn't tell him until the last minute and a gas leak caused by debris that hadn't been cleaned up properly on the track.
Before Sirius could speak to anyone, though, he was stripped of his helmet and cap and ushered away up into the room where the podium winners waited before the presentation of the trophies, with no one to answer their questions and no one to placate them. A lone camera man milled about with them, occasionally sending Sirius a thumbs up for his victory on home turf.
"What the hell?" Sirius asked no one in particular.
"Zat eez exactly what I would like to know." Lupin said in annoyance, running a hand through his hair before turning to the table in the small room and taking a long drink from one of the bottles of water. Sirius watched with narrowed eyes as Lupin started to talk with his teammate, discussing the incident after the end and the other dramatics of the race. Sirius, not exactly close with either driver from Ferrari, went over to retrieve one of the caps from the table and jammed it on his head, turning to watch the screen in the corner as it listed the results. With a sigh, he noted that his own teammate had come eighth. He unzipped his overalls and slipped it off his torso, leaving his chest and arms clad only in his white suit beneath. It was hot and he was only just realising how much he was sweating, his adrenaline dying down to allow him to notice his bodily needs.
After a while, a man Sirius didn't recognise entered the room and whispered something to Lupin urgently. When he had left, Lupin cast Sirius a derisive glance before approaching him with a grimace that might have been a smile. As he neared, Sirius' eyes took in the scar that stretched across his jaw. It was faint, having been years ago now, back when he had moved up from Formula 2, but Sirius remembered accident as though it was yesterday. He had been convinced that Lupin had been dead in his cockpit when he had watched the car flip and land upside down before scraping across the track for a few meters. Naturally, Lupin had blamed Sirius – who may have been or may not have been the real cause for the accident, it was never decided officially – who had snapped back and their feud had been born.
Presently, Lupin was holding a hand out to Sirius with an almost indiscernible sneer as he said, "I am sorry for zee arguments we has been having, Black. I believe we must not have zeese arguments any longer, no?"
"What?" Sirius asked in disbelief, "You nearly killed me out there and you want me to say sorry, I forgive you and make friends? Not likely, mate."
"I did not almost kill you," Lupin scowled dropping his hand and adjusting his cap, "Eet was my team. Zey did not see the problem wiz zee engine until zee last lap."
"Fair enough." Sirius nodded and Remus looked surprised until he added, "Don't see why you had to aim your fucking car at me when it was about to explode, though."
Lupin worked his jaw as Sirius noted with some amusement that Alonso was minding his own business and chatting amicably with the Mercedes manufacturer, before he realised that Lupin was reaching out and grabbing him by the arm.
"Zees is because I thought you caused my accident zee year I started driving," Lupin demanded, "Eez eet not?"
Sirius didn't answer – he didn't have the chance too, seeing as someone familiar with a wide grin and glasses had grabbed both of their arms and shoved them through a door. Sirius turned too late to see the door closing and hear the lock clicking. Slowly, cursing his 'best friend' James, he turned to find himself and Lupin in a small meeting room with six chairs around a square table.
"Now what zee hell eez happening?" Lupin asked, throwing his hands up in the air, "Your friends are all crazy."
"He's not my friend." Sirius replied loudly enough to be heard through the door. Much to his chagrin, the only response was the four other men, including the camera man, on the other side of the door laughing at him. "Well, shit."
"We have zee victory ceremony." Lupin snapped as though this was Sirius' fault, "We would not be in zees mess if you—"
"If I hadn't accused you of purposefully hitting me at the end of the race?" Sirius asked, his voice rising with each word, "You mean just like you did the year we both joined Formula 1?"
Sirius was surprised by Lupin marching over to him, assuming that he going to be punched in the face and be made to go out and accept his trophy and champagne with a swollen, purple eye. What actually happened, however, was quite the opposite.
Lupin grasped his shoulders and brought their faces close together. Sirius made to ask what the hell he thought he was doing, but he couldn't as Lupin's mouth was suddenly on his. A tongue was on his lower lip instantly and Sirius automatically parted them to let him in, his hands lifting to tangle in Lupin's hair. That stupid hair though which he always ran that stupid hand whenever Sirius was trying to confront him.
When they pulled apart, Lupin looked down at Sirius with a smug smirk that made him want to smack the Frenchman and kiss him at the same time. Instead, he pulled the Velcro strap at the neck of Lupin's overalls loose and yanked on it to bring them closer again. Ignoring Lupin's chuckles that sounded as surprised as Sirius felt, he looked his rival in the eye and said, "Why have we been fighting when we could have been doing that all this time?"
A/N2: Wow, okay…I got a little carried away with the description of the race there…if any of you actually managed to read the whole thing, I will give you a doughnut. R&R if you read through the drivel of detail xD