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"To this day, I am still two and a half pounds lighter than I was when I entered the RBDA": McManus comes clean on negligence in the Red Bull Driver's Academy.

Helmut Marko, Dietrich MateschitzΒ refuse to release statement regarding McManus Allegations.

2022 Season

MONTE CARLO, MONACO

MONACO GRAND PRIX

SUNDAY - RED FLAG

Dakota McManus was leaning against the garage doors, looking out on the pitlane as rain fell from the Monaco sky. Her phone buzzed in her back pocket, but she ignored it. Reporters had been trying to get in touch with her all week, and she had half a mind to refer them all to Carolyn or Fabiana, who would tell them to fuck off in a much nicer way than the Aussie would have.

Everybody in the garage looked at her differently after the story broke. And she wished she could erase the pitied stares that the crew gave her when she walked into the garage Sunday morning.

She was almost thankful for the red flag, because it would give her an extra hour or so to get her head back in the game. She'd ignored everybody all weekend, and it hadn't done her any favours.

"We're worried about you." Franz Tost had said. "We just want you to be okay."

But how was she supposed to tell Franz that things hadn't been okay for a very long time.

She felt an arm encircle her waist, a warm embrace that she knew well. Dakota closed her eyes, resting her head on her lover's shoulderΒ  as Yuki pressed a kiss to the top of her beanie hat.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. The rain isn't helping to improve my mood. You know how restless I get during red flags."

Yuki turned to face her. "We both know that's not why you feel like this."

"P won't talk to me. He avoids me every time we're in the same room. I know that he feels responsible somehow. This isn't easy for me either, but I could really use Pierre's support right now."

"I'll talk to him. Right now, you just need to focus on you. Have you talked to Liam yet? He's worried about you."

Dakota nodded, thinking again about her old roommate. "I talked to him on my way in this morning. He's beating himself up for not noticing while we lived together, but I told him it was fine, that he probably couldn't have done anything anyways. The worst of it happened while I was living with Ilies."

But she knew that the weight Pierre was carrying was a heavy one, even more so than what Liam Lawson and Dan Ticktum must have been carrying. Dakota's Red Bull year would affect more people than she ever would have thought, which is why she never wanted to say anything in the first place.

Because Pierre had found her at the beginning of the end. The beginning of her downward spiral that ultimately was only stopped by COVID-19. Without the pandemic, Dakota McManus could very well have wasted away to nothing in front of everybody's eyes.

She remembered the locker room the day it happened, a layer of steam hanging hazy over the top of the room, the smell of Axe body spray strong enough to make her gag. She remembered the way her legs shook, knees knocking together in her Red Bull-branded Athleta leggings, hands gripping the shelf in her locker for support as she bid goodbye to the other juniors, waiting for the group of young boys to leave before she began to undress herself.

The next thing she remembered was waking up on the floor, a half-dressed and panicked Pierre standing over her, a balled up Under Armour shirt underneath her head as Pierre screamed for Pyry to call an ambulance. She remembered telling Pierre she was fine, even thought she felt anything but fine.

She'd insisted on not going to the emergency room, and had returned home just to sleep for twelve hours. Liam and Ticktum hadn't even noticed.

Pierre felt like if he had done something sooner, maybe he could have stopped it there. But that was wishful thinking. It wouldn't have solved anything, Dakota thought. If anything, it could have made things way, way worse. More ridicule, more exercise regimes, more diets.

But god did she wish that P would just look at her. She needed her best friend right now, and he was too busy feeling sorry for himself.

"Dakota?" Fabiana's voice was quiet, the media rep not wanting to disturb the peaceful moment between the two lovers, knowing that Dakota needed Yuki close by now more than ever. "Ted Kravitz is here, he said you wanted to speak to him?"

"Tell him I'll be there in a second." Dakota nodded, straightening her posture before giving her boyfriend a tight hug. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Kota." He squeezed her hand as she turned to leave. "Give Ted the notebook. the world deserves to know what they did to you. Show everyone who Red Bull Racing truly are."

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