I scrub my face before fisting my phone out and clicking on my dad’s number. He answers on the first ring.
“I’m assuming you’ve heard,” he grunts down the phone. He is walking, I can hear the sound of his shoes hitting the ground.
“Heard what?” I blink, nerves prick at the base of my neck, and I know where this is going.
“You and Cowan have both had your times deleted. You’ll be starting from the pit lane tomorrow.”
“Fuck.” I slam my hand on the table, pushing to my feet as anger rips through me. “Did you know?” I hiss into the speaker. “Did you know that our car had been reported due to an upgrade?”
“No… No, I didn’t.”
“Course you didn’t. I don’t see the issue, though. We’re allowed to make changes before parc fermé?” My dad goes to interject, but I stop him. “You know what, I suggest you getdown to briefing now and speak to Glenn.” I cut the phone off and look down at Cowan.
“Hope you’re up for it, mate. We’re both starting from the pits tomorrow,” I scoff, shaking my head again as I walk towards the door. “Fuck this, man.” I push the door with force and wince when it hits the wall.
Cowan is behind me, just as wound up as me. “What the fuck?” He walks towards me, hands up in surrender.
“I have no idea,” I whisper, my voice cracking. I pace, hand curling around the back of my neck as I squeeze the tension that is rapidly growing. “We’re fucked.” I look down at my race boots, I’m still pacing back and forth.
“Royce, Cowan,” my dad’s voice booms down the corridor, and we both look up at him. “I’ll go to the stewards, see what the deal is.”
“There is no point.” Cowan sighs, his eyes on me.
“They’ve made the decision, they’re not going to overturn it,” I say deadpan. “He should have never touched the power unit.”
My dad glares at me. “Power unit?” he asks and I nod.
“This is what it’s about, no?”
“No, the problem was with the drag reduction system. Both of the flaps on the rear wing were found to opened beyond the regulations.”
I face palm myself.
“I’m still going to try and get it sorted.” My dad’s optimism kills me.
“It won’t make a difference, it’s done. We’re fucked.”
“You don’t know that,” my dad snipes.
I roll my eyes. “Okay, good luck with that.” I pat him on the chest as I begin walking towards Nora and Edel, who are both hovering.
“Royce,” Nora whispers, her eyes wide.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I shut her down and she sighs.
“Well, it’s all that they’re going to be talking about in press.”
Edel is behind us, talking softly to Cowan. I gaze my eyes over my shoulder; she’s holding her phone and the recorder.
Edel has been working for Saint Onyx for a few weeks now. Nora heard she was made redundant from her PR job, so Nora thought she would be the perfect fit. I think deep down Nora wanted Anaïs, but what with her being with my dad, it can get messy. She still runs our social media but has taken a step back over last month or so.
“Royce, I need you to keep calm.” Nora stops me from walking through the next set of doors, and I can see the worry in her eyes.
“I am calm.” Sarcasm drips from my tone as I force a smile onto my face.
“If you go in there and blow your top, you’re only going to make this so much worse for the team and yourself.”
“Fuck the team.” I edge my face closer to her. “We told them not to touch the fucking car, told them to just do their tweaks, if need be, but make it minimal. And what did they do? Fuck with the whole power unit and for what? To ruin it for us. And to make matters worse, our DRS flaps were open, that’s what we’ve been disqualified for!” I grit my teeth.
