Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
“Three cars coming up on you, Nico.”
Roxana Soler’s voice cuts through his concentration.
“Copy that.”
The vibration of the steering wheel travels up Nico’s arms as he pushes the Formula One car through turn 18 at Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit.
He’s hitting his racing lines, braking points, and millisecond-perfect gear shifts.
This is what Nico Belmonte lives for, pure speed and precise control.
“Wyn’s pace is improving. He’s two tenths up in sector 3.
” Roxana is Nico’s racing engineer, his guide to what’s going on ahead, behind, and inside his car.
She helps him win and keeps him safe. After six years together, Nico’s faith in Rox is absolute, and she’s one of fewer than a dozen people he trusts unerringly.
Everyone else he views with suspicion or ignores because they’re irrelevant.
Blue and gold flashes in his mirrors, the identical livery to his own car.
Wyn Pritchard, his teammate, is pushing hard, closing the gap Nico’s worked five laps to build.
Wyn’s aggression has been escalating all season—riskier overtakes, harder defense, racing that edges past competitive into dangerous territory.
“Vale.” Nico adjusts his line through the final turn to maximize exit speed into the starting straight.
But the gap shrinks. Wyn’s car looms larger with each passing corner. He’s on fresher tires—soft compounds—so he has the greater speed.
“He’s in DRS range, Nico.”
DRS—the Drag Reduction System—lets F1 drivers temporarily reduce the drag on their cars to increase their speed and allow them to overtake a competitor.
“Tell him to hold position.” Nico doesn’t know why he bothers saying this. Wyn’s ignored team orders far more than he’s respected them this season.
Roxana confirms after a moment, “Message delivered.”
Wyn pulls within striking distance and Nico can almost hear him scoffing at the team orders message he just received. It tells him to remain behind and defend Nico’s position for the good of the overall team.
Obviously, that’s not happening.
Nico defends the inside line into the corner, forcing Wyn to take the longer route if he wants to pass, but he dives for a gap that will only exist if Nico gives way.
“Mierda.” He calculates options in the split second available. Give Wyn space Nico doesn’t have, risk contact that will damage both WolfBett cars, or surrender the position he’s earned cleanly.
Fuck him.
Nico holds his line. He’s ahead and they’re supposed to be teammates. Wyn should back off.
But he doesn’t.
Because he’s a prick.
Wyn’s front wing comes alongside Nico’s rear tire. A touch will send Nico spinning into the barriers at two hundred eighty kilometers per hour. His car shudders as the downforce is disrupted, the rear end momentarily light before Nico counter-steers.
This isn’t racing or teamwork. It’s bullying with carbon fiber and engines at dangerous speeds.
Nico gives way just enough to avoid contact, and Wyn shoots past, taking the position with a move that should’ve ended in the barriers with both WolfBett cars out of the race. Somehow he’s squeezed through, and Nico would be impressed if he wasn’t so furious.
“He pushed you off!” There’s rare frustration in Roxana’s voice. Nico’s race engineer is known for being unflappable.
Nico figures Marcus Wolfberg is seething back on the pit wall, stringing together German expletives and giving the TV audience a good show.
He’s Nitro’s team principal and a partial team owner.
He would have severed Wyn’s contract—and his cojones—months ago, except Graham Pritchard owns part of WolfBett Racing too, and he’s Wyn’s father.
The other owners are Marcus’s uncle, Jürgen Wolfberg, and the Betterton brothers, Karl and Damien, Sr.
El nepotismo. Formula One is rife with it. But it’s not an issue because performance always tops genetics.
Well, almost always.
“We’re ordering him to give the position back, Nico.”
He won’t. Nico’s been racing with and against Wyn Pritchard since Nico was thirteen and Wyn was eleven. That’s thirteen years of experience.
The gap grows as Wyn pulls away. Team orders fall on deaf ears when it comes to his teammate. Just like the last three races. Just like every time Graham Pritchard’s influence matters more than team strategy.
“No te molestes con eso, Rox.” Nico tells her not to bother with it.
He already knows how this ends. The power of any team penalties resulting from Wyn’s on-track actions will be undermined by Graham. His influence outweighs obvious rule violations and team protocols. It always has.
“Nico—”
“?Basta! Let me drive.” He focuses on managing the car. “Something’s changed. The rear’s fighting me.”
“We’ll check it.”
Ahead, another battle unfolds—a dark green car with pink accents against a red and white machine.
Petra Hayter and Lynch Sutton, fighting for P2 behind Reece Pritchard, who nailed the timing on his tire change.
As the track dried, he switched to mediums while others stayed on worn inters, building a gap that should hold unless there’s a safety car.
Petra’s lines are perfect and her defense is textbook clean. Everything Wyn’s last move wasn’t.
Roxana’s voice intrudes. “Telemetry shows minor aero loss.”
That explains the loose rear end. Wyn’s move didn’t leave Nico’s car unscathed.
“I’m sliding in the corners.”
“It’s not critical. Manage it.”
“Where’s the problem?”
“Floor, we think.”
Puta madre.
As he closes on the battle ahead, his teammate’s blue and gold car nears Petra’s line. Wyn’s on the hunt for a podium at any cost.
“Rox, is he in DRS range of Petra?”
“Not yet, but he could get it this lap.”
“Remind him we need both cars to finish for constructor points.”
Silence is her reply because what do you say to the obvious?
Nico pushes harder, trying to close the gap before the inevitable happens.
Wyn edges closer and closer to Petra’s racing line. He’s reenacting the time he clinched the Formula 2 championship by running her into a wall. Not for the first time, either. Wyn Pritchard still has a spot on the grid because Graham Pritchard’s influence protects him from consequences.
But that protection can’t last forever. Wyn’s luck will run out.
“Gap to Wyn, three seconds,” Rox updates.
“Gap to Petra?”
“Five seconds.”
Not close enough to intervene. Not yet.
Maldita sea. Nico should be focusing on his own podium finish, not on distracting his teammate from causing a crash.
He squeezes everything from his car. The floor damage means less downforce, less grip, but Nico pushes beyond the car’s new limits.
“Sector 2, purple.” There’s surprise in Roxana’s voice. It means he’s got the fastest time of the field. “You’re outperforming the car, Conejo.”
Because he’s not just racing for position now.
Four seconds to the battle ahead.
Three point five.
Wyn’s car is in DRS range of Petra’s now, closing at top speed.
“Hostia.” Nico wills his car forward, knowing he’s still too far back to do anything.
Braking into turn 7, Wyn makes his move. It’s the same brutish lunge he used on Nico, but with none of the teammate consideration. Petra defends perfectly, leaving just enough space for a clean overtake if—and only if—Wyn respects the racing line.
Of course he doesn’t.
He drifts wide, forcing her dark green car toward the barriers. She swings into the run-off area, fighting to maintain control at one hundred twenty km/h.
“Mierda!” Now Nico’s anger boils over. “Same move, different corner.”
Petra’s skill saves her from the barriers, but she’s lost positions. Now she’s behind Lynch and Wyn, fighting for third after spending most of the race protecting Reece’s lead.
Nico could file a protest. Back up whatever Nitro’s already lodging with Race Control and force the stewards to review Wyn’s moves.
It would piss off Graham and do nothing to change today’s result.
No. WolfBett will “handle it internally.” Again.
He moves to challenge Petra, jaw tight. How many more times before someone gets hurt?
Teammates like Wyn don’t just drive dangerously. They break the code—that you push to the limit, not beyond it. That safety matters more than winning.
This can’t continue.
“Fourteen laps remaining, Nico. Reece in P1 with a seven-point-nine-second lead.”
“Gap to Petra?”
“One point eight seconds.”
“Vale.” Not enough time to capture the lead, but P3 is still possible. So complete the race, get WolfBett Racing as many points as possible, then knock Wyn’s teeth down his throat.
Nico focuses on the green and pink car ahead. He can overtake Petra, maybe, if he pushes hard enough.
That’s his new goal.