(on-screen interview with daniel ricciardo of mclaren-mercedes)

"... dakota is a very emotional person. because of that, she has a lot of anger, and a lot of sadness, but she has twice as much joy. she feels everything so deeply and she can be a wonder to be around when she's in her element, she makes everybody around her feel that same joy. but when she's upset, it can be a really scary thing, like this swirling vortex. nothing really gets through to her, nobody knows what to do.

when yuki got through to her today, it was like watching a miracle happen. i've known her since she started out in toro rosso, and nobody has been able to get through to her like that in four years."

TWITTER

As you probably already know, there was a violent missile attack on one of the Aramco oil plants near the track today. We are all fine, and a meeting with all of the drivers has been held in which the FIA determined that there was no safety risk to our Grand Prix today. The race will go ahead as planned, just a litle later. Thank you, Jeddah.

- Dakota Elaine Mac ( DakotaElaineee)

2022 Season

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA

ARAMCO SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

SUNDAY - RACE DAY

Everybody was on edge that weekend, there was no doubt about it. Because she wasn't a driver, Dakota hadn't been let in on the meeting with the FIA, but the meeting had lasted almost five hours, and some of the drivers looked very shaky when they left the boardroom.

At the end of the day, there was nothing that they could do. If the FIA wanted to race to go on, it would.

Instead of worrying about it, Dakota allowed herself the luxury of donning pit crew coveralls and helping the mechanics check the cars over, paying special attention to the water pressure issue that Yuki had been having the day before. The last thing that anybody wanted was a serious issue that would cause the entire unit to be replaced, which could result in a grid penalty that nobody needed.

As the formation lap grew nearer, and Mac had to change out of her pit crew coveralls and back into her polo shirt and cutoffs so she could sit at the pit wall, she couldn't quell the dull ache in the back of her skull, or the bad feeling in her stomach.

Something was wrong with the car, she could feel it. Even though Jordy and Franz had told her that it was fine.

She was restless as she sat on the pit wall, popping two migraine tablets before she put her headset on, dailling into Yuki and Pierre's comms.

"Alright boys, how are we doing?"

"Could be better." Pierre joked. "I hope I don't combust into flames this time!"

Dakota chuckled "Not funny, Pierre. You've gone and jinxed the whole thing now. Let's get both cars over the line today, please."

The formation lap began, and everything started to fall apart.

Yuki;s AlphaTauri was at the back of he pack, rapidly slowing down. Figures, you fix one thing and another one has to break.

"Look at the power levels." Jake groaned internally, directing Dakota's view to his screen. "What the fuck is even happening there?"

"No power, no power." Yuki's voice chimed in over the headset.

"Okay, baby, stay calm, Jordy is going to guide you through a few things you can do, let me see what I can do form here." Mac tried not to let her voice waver.

Two DNF's in a row, two races where only one car would cross the line. Her hands were shaking as she pressed the buttons on her control panel, listening in as Jordy and Yuki tried to fix them problem on the driver's end.

"There's nothing we can do anymore, Yuki." Dakota's voice broke. "We're done, you'll have to get out of the car. Fuck. We didn't even finish the formation lap."

As the Sky Sports cameras covered Yuki getting out of the car, coupled by the commentators stance on the disaster, Mac fell apart. Despite the pills she had taken not even an hour earlier, her head was roaring.

"Fuck!" She screamed, ripping off her headset and throwing it down onto the pit wall, unaware of the Drive to Survive crew that was following the team around. She cursed again, kicking at the plastic sign that had Pierre's qualifying results written on it.

As she walked back into the garage, she was seeing red, some of the mechanics an the engineers moving toe get out of her way.

"Fuck Honda engines, and fuck Christian Horner, and fuck Helmut Marko! Red Bull Racing think they're so high and mighty and that they can give us shitty fucking parts as a way to control the fucking competition!"

After getting out of the safety car and entering the garage through the back entrance, Yuki could hear Dakota yelling. Honest to god, it scared him a little bit. He had never seen the Aussie like that, at least, not to this scale.

But when that yelling turned into crying, he crumbled, crossing into the garage. His heart ached when he saw Dakota weakly punch one of the magnetic walls, hair falling into her face as she sobbed.

"Lovebug?" the driver said softly, reaching for his girlfriend's hand. "It's okay, it's not your fault. There was nothing you could do."

In a moment that would be broadcast to the entire world, Dakota wrapped her arms around Yuki, the pair sinking to the floor as a fresh wave of tears seized her body.

She couldn't go out there.

She couldn't face anybody.

"It's okay, baby." Yuki tried to sooth her, running one hand through Mac's tangled mane of hair, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "I'm right here."