It's Round 7 of the 2022 Formula 1 season and James "Jimmy" Sirius Potter is having a interesting rookie season so far. But at the same time, his rivalry with Aston Martin driver Scorpius Malfoy is hotting up, especially here in Monaco...
"He brake tested me again! Bloody ****"
That's what the audience heard on the TV as Alfa Romeo driver James "Jimmy" Potter had been forced to apply his brakes for what felt the millionth time that race, this time heading through the tunnel underneath the Casino Monte-Carlo, all because of the Aston Martin of Scorpius Malfoy in front of him.
"We saw it" came the response over the team radio. "Just keep calm."
"Calm? I'm calmer than a yacht in the marina. It's just Malfoy being a pain!"
"Just keep chasing P16. How's the tyres?"
"They feel good. How's Valtteri doing?"
"He's P13 Jimmy" the race engineer replied to him. "Just behind Gasly."
It was the seventh round of the season and, despite having a car which had had its ups and downs, James, or Jimmy as everyone was calling him to avoid confusion with his grandfather, was his first points in the Formula One World Championship.
Unfortunately, his main rival, Scorpius Malfoy, wasn't far behind him in the driver standings.
But Jimmy Potter knew that by the end of the season, he will have the better engineering team. He had his brother, Albus, or Al as he preferred. He had the team that has given him his Formula One seat. He had a feeling that by the end of it he could do well.
Jimmy and Al were the sons of three-time Champion, Harry Potter and the nephews of another three-time Champion, Athena Potter. And like his grandfather James, for who he was named for, he was having an interesting initial season.
Having retired with an MGU-H problem in Bahrain, and then having to retire in Saudi Arabia following damage to his side pods after Scorpius Malfoy collided into him, Jimmy started to have a feeling that his rookie season in Formula 1 was cursed.
With him finishing 11th in Australia, 13th in the Sprint and 15th in the main race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Jimmy felt his fortunes may be changing.
But a water leak in Miami threatened to derail his good luck of not retiring that he had gained in the previous 2 races, until Malfoy also retired after colliding with Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly.
It was the trip to Spain where Jimmy's fortune changed again, when he managed to get his first point, finishing 10th place, and surprisingly the fastest lap point on the final lap, shaving one thousandth of a second off the time that had been set that lap by Sergio Perez.
It was after the race, and all the official procedures and all the media bits had been done, when the Mexican Red Bull driver had spoken to him.
"Well done young man" he had said, whilst shaking his hand "You had a good race. Pipped me to the fastest lap.
It was round 7 now though, and Jimmy had started on the grid in last place, P20, all because of a bad qualifying session, with Yuki Tsunoda clipping the barrier, causing the session to be red flagged, and then getting eliminated.
There again, at least Scorpius Malfoy had got himself eliminated too!
It was lap 23 and he had been on the slick tyres for the past 5 laps.
Despite the session being delayed because of the rain, and then Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon colliding bringing the safety car, Jimmy was hoping for a miracle.
Unfortunately, the way this race was going for him, that miracle might not happen.
"We head over to Athena at Sky Race Control, Athena?" the TV audience could hear.
"Hello Crofty, I've been monitoring the team radios-" Jimmy's aunt, Athena Potter responded.
"Hang on a second."
"I'm getting an intermittent fault with the acceleration." Scorpius Malfoy said over his team radio. "It's happened twice this lap."
"Stand by, we're going to look at the data." The response from the Aston Martin crew came on the television coverage.
"I was about to say that I'd been monitoring the team radios, and Malfoy had been reporting a fault with his acceleration, but I got beaten to it." Athena said from another commentary booth. "It just so happens to be when Jimmy Potter is trying to overtake him."
"Now some people would accuse you of bias, being the aunt of Jimmy Potter, but I admit I saw it myself. Either Malfoy is having a genuine fault, or he's trying to pull a fast one" David Croft said on the television coverage.
"In other news, Lewis Hamilton has been told to box, Fernando Alonso is still on the wets, and Sebastian Vettel on the intermediates, and now Gasly has pitted for slicks." Athena confirmed.
"And that sums this race up right now," Martin Brundle said on commentary, "We've got slicks, intermediates and wets."
"Woah, and there's contact. Jimmy Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, and behind these two is Sergio Perez, your race leader, and the man in second place, Carlos Sainz."
"What the fuck!" Jimmy shouted over the radio as he got hit by Scorpius whilst he was trying to overtake the Aston Martin in the DRS Zone. "He did it again!"
"We saw it" the reply on the radio came from the Alfa Romeo pit wall. "We're keeping an eye on the telemetry to make sure there's no damage."
Heading through Beau Rivage, into the Casino Square and down to the Hotel Hairpin to get midway through the lap, Jimmy realised that he was nearly over a third of the race distance.
"The data shows no damage at the moment" the pit wall called over the team radio. "You need to be careful though as you're close to being lapped."
"I know, its bloody Malfoy causing me to get stuck behind him." Jimmy responded, trying to keep calm.
As he headed over the start/finish line again, there was a call over the radio.
"Blue flag Perez."
Moving to the side, Jimmy let the Red Bull driver through, knowing that as soon as he reached Beau Rivage, he'd probably have to move again for Carlos Sainz.
Heading round Mirabeau to approach the hairpin, the blue flags were out again, this time for him to move out of the way of Sainz, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Heading through Portier, Jimmy realised he had Mick Schumacher behind him heading into the tunnel.
'If I stay on the tail of Leclerc, I might be able to make up a bit of time' he thought, going round the Nouvelle Chicane. Heading into the Swimming Pool, he tried to follow the works Ferrari, but the Alfa Romeo didn't feel as quick as the scarlet and yellow car in front.
Going through the start/finish line, Jimmy was trying his best to keep up with the top 4, gaining time on Tsunoda as the AlphaTauri was being lapped.
"Yellow flag, turns 15/16" his race engineer said over the radio.
Al Potter was watching on the screens inside the Alfa Romeo garage what had happened. The Haas of Mick Schumacher had gone into barriers at the Swimming Pool chicane.
"We've got a Virtual Safety Car, Valtteri. Remember your deltas." One of Al's colleagues said over the team radio.
"They're going to have to red flag that." Al said to himself, looking at the coverage. "It's going to take a bit of clearing up."
"Is he ok?" Jimmy asked on his radio.
"Yeah, he is ok." Al responded to his brother over the comms. "Mick's out of the car. The stewards are moving some of the wreckage out of the way while everyone's bunching up behind the safety car."
"They're going to have to fix those barriers."
"We know. We'll keep you updated."
Al would realise a few laps later that he was going to be right, and a red flag would be shown.
"So, the stewards have given Scorpius Malfoy a five-second time penalty for his earlier collision with Jimmy Potter, but it seems that the Aston Martin driver isn't exactly too happy with that decision that his Team Principal, Mike Krack, has informed him of.
"And talking of Team Principals, we've got the Team Principal for Alfa Romeo, Frédéric Vasseur, on the radio, Frédéric, glad you can join us during this red flag period."
"Its good to be able to talk to you too Crofty" he responded. "It's been an interesting race."
"Yes, it has. The first thing I wanted to ask you is your view on the penalty given to the Scorpius Malfoy in for the collision with Jimmy Potter?"
"Well, I spoke to Jimmy when he came back in the pits, and the team have looked at the car. Fortunately there was no damage to the car, and Jimmy was a bit annoyed, but the Stewards have made their decision, and we've just got to hope that there's no more antics from them."
"We've been told that the race will be resuming in 10 minutes time, do you think that Valtteri Bottas can gain any more places when the race resumes?"
"I think both Valtteri and Jimmy will be able to get a place or two, we're optimistic that it will happen. We've got some upgrades for Baku which we hope can help as well, so its going to be an interesting race or two."
"Thanks Frédéric." Croft said, the conversation ending. "Now, Martin Brundle, we hear time and time again that the Monaco Grand Prix 'oh it's dull, its a procession in Monaco, you can't overtake' and then you get afternoons like this where just about everything happens.
"Yes, you've got the Potter-Malfoy rivalry, one which is getting interesting." Brundle replied. "And we've got Max Verstappen leading the championship."
"You ready Jimmy?" Al said as his brother was getting in his car. Watching as he got a two finger salute, Al sighed. "Ok smart arse, you keep safe out there."
Watching as the safety car led the cars out of the pit lane, he headed back to the computer where he had his headset plugged in. Noticing a message from race control, he pressed the button for the team radio so he could inform his brother about what's happening.
"Race Control have said to unlap yourself. There's just over 40 minutes left on the race clock, so I think that will bring it to around 60-65 laps."
"Understood" Jimmy replied to his younger brother. "Is it a standing or rolling start?"
Al checked the information from Race Control. "Rolling start"
"Thanks."
It would be lap 64 when the race would eventually end, and thanks to a retirement by Alex Albon allowing Jimmy to end the race in 15th, his first trip to the Principality of Monaco in Formula One was complete.
So we leave the Principality with Jimmy Potter having 2 points in the World Driver Championship and Scorpius Malfoy having 1 point. Join us again in Baku, when we continue the 2022 Formula One World Championship...
A/N - There is an obvious reason that the story is tagged Harry/Hermione... you'll see why in a couple of chapters!