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Chapter Text

Emilia Romagna.

In Charles opinion it was one of the prettiest tracks in the calendar. While Monaco would always be his favourite track due to the fact that he gets to race along the streets he’s walked up and down his whole life. To Charles Monaco has been a race that he has had memorised practically since birth.

However, part of the reason why Emilia Romagna was Charles’ second favourite track of all time to drive was because of the greenery surrounding it. The edge of the track was surrounded with trees and the wild flowers that grew through from underneath the metal fence that stood between the barrier and the stands.Nature always gave Charles a sense of happiness as he speed past them in his Ferrari. Especially compared to the built up cities that surrounded quite a few of the other races in the 2025 season calendar.

Another reason that Imola was one of Charles favourite Grand Prix’s was a the Tifosi. They were Charles people. He himself had been a Tifosi for as long as he can remember, probably his whole life. Charles love driving in the red Ferrari and he’s been loving racing with Lewis for the past 6 races and he hadn’t expect for Lewis to quickly become one of his best friends outside of the races. 

However, the disappointments with Ferrari had continued to grow. There had always been doubts since he started to drive for his fathers dream team back in 202. This year Charles’ disappointments with Ferrari were the car he was racing in and the Strategy that was being implemented. It was always the same strategy. A strategy that was constantly proved to never worked.

But it was on days like today that Charles wished that he was driving with Jules. Don’t get him wrong, Charles has always loved his teammate but sometimes, well always, Charles wishes that Jules was alive and that they were racing and winning together in the two Ferrari’s that had the capacity to race and win against, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren.

Charles sat on the top of his Ferrari, with his back leaning on the front of the halo, inside of the quiet garage. Charles had managed to get to the garage early enough that it was only him in the entire paddock. He knew loads of people would say that it isn’t good for him to be up early on a race day but Charles had always been an early riser. Which ends up with him being at the races before everyone else. In fact the only person Charles knew who used to get up earlier than himself, Sebastien Vettal, the first teammate he had when he signed with Ferrari.

Charles looked out onto the race track in front of him. He had a bad feeling about this race. It was a nagging feeling in the back of his head and a twisting feeling in his stomach that felt like if it went on any longer he wouldn’t be able to breath due to the build up of pressure in his chest. Charles could count on one hand the amount of times he had had this feeling before. And that number was four. Four times where he couldn’t do anything but stand by and watch.

The frist time Charles had felt this feeling of dread was back in 2014 when Jules had crashed. Charles had remembered speaking on the phone to Jules not long before the race and not telling him about how he was feeling. Even now Charles regrets not saying anything resulting in that phone call being the last time he heard Jules’ voice.

The second time was in 2017. The day his dad died. That morning Charles had woken up with the same feeling that something bad was going to happen, just like the day that Jules crashed in Suzuka. Charles had cancelled his plans with Pierre at the first chance he got and spent the day sat with his father until he passed.

The third time was in 2018 in Spa. Charles had only started feeling wrong once the race had started. The pain he felt was nothing like when his Dad and Jules had died. It wasn’t until Charles had seen the footage back of the crash with Alonso that realised that the Halo, something he truly believed in, had saved his life. 

Charles had gone back to his drivers room after that race and had broke down crying, wishing that either Jules or his Papa was there to hold him. His godfather had given his life so that Charles could later live, just like Jules had promised Charles he would always do, no matter what was to happen to either of them. It was in that moment that Charles vowed to always speak up when he felt something would go wrong with the race.

The most recent time had been when he had entered the paddock at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020. Charles knew that something was going to happen in the race. He’d gone to the FIA and the stewards before the race but had his concerns dismissed as he didn’t have any concrete proof that something was going to go wrong in the race.

Charles could only watch on thinking what could have happened if the race had been cancelled as he watched the Haas car split in half and go up in flames. Charles, along with everyone watching, let out a sigh of relief when they saw Grosjean walked through a part of the blazing inferno.

Charles sat on top his Ferrari moving his gaze down to the helmet that he held in his lap. Charles knew that whatever bad thing that was going to happen would happen to him. He knew that the FIA never took his complaints seriously, he also knew that Ferrari wouldn’t do anything if he went to them with a concern. 

There had been problems with Charles’ Ferrari all throughout Free Practise and qualifying this week. Charles had been have the same problems in all of the Grand Prix’s so far but this time it had been worse. The car felt like it would fall apart from underneath him with one wrong move. When Charles had brought it up with Ferrari they simply brushed him off, telling him that nothing was wrong and that he would just have to keep driving.

“Hey Jules.” Charles spoke, looking at Jules’ name on the side of his helmet. “It’s race number 7 of the season. Monaco’s not been yet, it’s the next race, but I don’t think someone will make it to the start line.” Charles took a deep breath as he looked up to the clear Italian Sky. “The two times the feeling has been this bad was when someone died. And I’m hoping it’s me, I don’t want anyone else to die and if I have to die to prove to the FIA that all concerns need to be taken seriously. Then so be it.

“Is it a bit selfish that I want to see both you and Papa again? I miss both of you. Last year winning Monaco was a dream come true but Ferrari is not what we thought it would be Jules. They don’t care about the drivers. The amount of times that if a race went wrong I would most likely have died. The FIA must be in cahoots with Ferrari because there is no way this car is up to protocol.

“The car’s been really bad all this weekend and anytime I try and say something I get shut down. ‘You’re a racer not an engineer. Just do your job.’ I swear that’s all I hear now.

“The only regret I would have if it was me who dies will be not telling Max how I really feel about him. But what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Anyway, I miss you Jules.” Charles got up of off his Ferrari and placed his Helmet back in the box in the wall next to his car. “Oh. Don’t forget to tell Papa that I love him.”

“Charles?” A voice came from the entrance of the Ferrari garage. Charles turned around to see a slightly confused Lewis Hamilton walking in. “Everything okay? Your not normally here this early before a race?” Charles toyed with the idea of telling Lewis about his feeling of dreed for the upcoming race later that day. But he ultimately decided that it was for the best that his teammate didn’t know as he didn’t want to also affect the elders race. Especially after he done so well in qualifying.

“I’m fine Lewis.” Charles said putting on his best PR smile, the only smile he was ever given throughout his time in F1. So to those that weren‘t his family, Charles was always giving a proper smile. “Just looking forward to crushing Red Bull today.”

“Man. I wish I had your optisims Charles.” Lewis exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around Charles shoulders and dragged him back towards the Ferrari hospitality area in the paddock.

The rest of the morning felt like a blur as Charles prepared for the grand prix to begin. Charles can clearly remember walking out of the garage with Lewis to suddenly being stood in between Max and Kimi during the Italian National Anthem. It wasn’t Charles fault that he was stuck in his head over the possible death in the race. And it wasn’t until the end of national anthem did he realise that it would be the young Italina’s first home race and there was a large chance that someone was going to die. Charles could only hope that it would be him to die and not the eighteen year old Italian.

Charles sat in his Ferrari waiting for the red lights to go out. This was the moment that it truly dawned on Charles that there was nothing he could do about the outcome of the race and he would just have to drive like it was any other race in the season. 

Light’s out and Charles slammed on the accelerator of his car to move out of his box on the grid. He speed through turn one just behind Lawson, while being followed closely by Kimi. 

It was during the fifth lap that Charles really noticed the problems with the Ferrari. Going around turn 11 Charles’ breaks took longer to reduce the speed of the speeding car. Charles immediately got on the radio to his race engineer Xavi. “There’s something wrong with the brakes. They are taking to long for speed to decrease.”

“Data looks fine Charles.” Came Xavi’s immediate reply, causing Charles to know deep down that Xavi had not taken a look at the breaking data from the past few turns. “There is something -”

“Just keep driving Charles.” Xavi cut Charles off before turing of the radio.

Charles let out a noise of frustration as his complaint was ignored but he kept driving. On the tenth lap Charles started to notice the weird noise that his engine was creating. Charles toyed with the idea of getting on the team radio and mentioning but decided against it knowing that he would just be shut down again. Lap forteen was when the steering truly became an issue, with Charles having to fight the steering wheel to be able to go around the bend of turn 19.

The radio crackled to life as Charles crossed into the fifteenth lap. “Box?” Charles asked knowing that he needed to box and retire the car. “No. Keep out.” Xavi responded. Charles looked in his mirrors not seeing Kimi behind him. “Xavi if I don’t box next lap something will go horribly wrong with this car.”

“No. Charles you’ll stay out.”

“I need to Box.”

“Charles.” Fred’s voice came on the radio. Charles prayed that Fred was going to allow him to box the car or even possibly retire it. “You will stay out.”

“But Fred -”

“That’s the end of it. If we say that we have no data saying that there is anything wrong with the car then the car is able to keep driving.”

“Fred.” Charles call was meet with silence. He turned into turn 11. “I need to Box. Please for everyone on this track safety. For mine. I need to Bo-”

Charles last conscious thought of the day was ‘Merde’ as the car went into the barrier at full speed.

Chapter Text

Fourteen laps became fifteen laps in Kimi’s first ever home race. 

So far Kimi has been enjoying his rookie season of F1. While he has yet to get a podium or a win so far in the 2025 season, Kimi did have to remember that it was his first season and he was only 7 races into the calendar of 24 races. 

Kimi has wanted to drive on the Imola track since he started Karting and now he couldn’t believe that he had made it. All those days when his dad had had to drag him out of bed just to get to the Karting track after a hard day at school had been worth it.

There had been some crashes during his short time in the sport, so far they had never been truly bad. And Kimi wishes that he will never be the one to find a car crashed into the side of the race track.

“How’s the car feeling Kimi?” Toto asked as Kimi turned around a corner. Now Kimi knew that it would normally be his race engineer checking in on him. But with the young Italian did not having an engineer that he trusted completely so Toto had offered to steep into the role in the meantime. “Feels fine. Tyres should be goo -” Kimi had thought the sentence he was going to tell Toto as Kimi had slowed down to go into turn 10.

In the barrier at turn 12 was the front half of a car smashed into it. Kimi let himself break until coming to a complete stop when he noticed a limp hand hanging just under the halo. The car was a complete wreck. Not only had it split in two, but the way it had split was not up to the safety standards that the FIA had for if a car was too get split in half. It was clear that the car had still been running when the car had crashed. The broken engine was flickering dangerously with sparks that where getting ever so larger and closer to the slowly dripping oil.

“Kimi?” Came Toto’s voice on the radio. “You’ve stopped the car?” Kimi knew what Toto was thinking, the data said that the car was fine yet for some reason the young driver was stopping. “You need to contact the Stewards to have the race Red Flagged straight away.” Kimi spoke as he scrambled to get out of his car.

“Are you okay?” Toto asked, worried for the driver who has quickly become apart of his small work family, as he fired off the email to the stewards. “I’m fine.” The Italian said as he ran towards the car to try and get the Ferrari driver out of the wrecked car. “A Ferrari has crashed badly and I don’t think anyone knows.”

“Fuck.” 

It only took Kimi five seconds to run over to the crashed Ferrari. Only when he had rounded the corner of the Ferrari did he know who the driver in the raised front half of the car. While the number on the wing of the car was not noticeable it was the pattern of the red and white Monaco flag colours on the helmet that let Kimi know who the driver is.

Charles’ arm was slumped in the gap between the Halo and the red livery of the car, while his head was leant against the opposite side of the Ferrari to Kimi. Before he did anything else Kimi slipped Charles glove off and checked the elders pulse. Upon feeling Charles beating pulse, Kimi quickly checked over of Charles for any obvious injuries that could affect how Charles would get out of the car.

The only obvious injury that Kimi could see that could possibly affect getting Charles out of the car was the large gash on his upper thigh. Kimi knew that getting Charles out with the cut would be an issue. However, with the amount of blood that Kimi could see spilling out in waves he knew that he would have to move Carles out of the wrecked Ferrari before he could truly asses if he would need to place a make shift tourniquet.

Kimi thought that it would have taken longer to reach in and pull Charles out of the car. Maybe it was a bit quicker because Kimi had expected the belt to be jammed shut. Or maybe the reason that it felt like it had gone quickly was due to how much Kimi’s brain was spiralling with the worry of what other injuries he might find. 

Kimi may be first aid trained but there was only so much that training could prepare him for and even what he could confidently deal with before a trained medic/doctor would be needed. He could deal with burns and cuts that Charles may have had but if the monaqaneses’ leg needed to be amputated then a doctor would truly be required. 

With Charles laid on the ground in front of the Italian driver, Kimi was able to get a proper look at Charles. What Kimi did first of all was to check Charles pulse while he spoke to the elder to try and get a response from him. Kimi knew that Charles was consues because he had heard the french mumbling of pain as he was moved from the wreckage. “Okay Charles. Can you hear me? A simple yes and no will do.” Kimi spoke, prepase slower than usual as he was assuming that he was working with a concussion as well. “Oui.”

“Okay.” Kimi said as he pulled down his own fire proofs to his waist. Now knowing that the only glaring external injury was the cut on Charles leg. “Here’s what I am going to do. I’m going to tear the sleeve of off my fireproofs.” As Kimi finished his sentence he reached down and yanked his sleeve from the shoulder stitches in a clean movement that saw the arm, miraculously, come off in one piece.

“Now I’m going to tie it about 3 inches above your wound. I’m going to need you to nod in understandment for me Charles.” The nod from Charles was a small one but Kimi still caught it. Kimi quickly tied of the arm of his fireproofs around Charles thigh, making sure to secure it as tight as possible.

The eighteen year old let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the blood flow starting to slow down. Kimi let his shoulders drop as all of the tension from the last 2 minutes seemed to disappear. He knew that Charles still needed help but there was nothing that he could do. 

“Kimi.” Came Toto’s voice from the radio in the helmet that Kimi had yet to take off. “I’m going to need a quick  update from you about Leclerc.”

“I’ve had to place a tourniquet on his leg to stop anymore bloodloss from there. I haven’t removed him helmet due to the possibility of causing anymore or any head injuries. The leg was the worst of his visible external injures.”

“Okay. We’ve been fighting with the FIA to allow medics on the track but they’ve said no as they don’t believe there has been a serious crash.”

“Hang on.” Kimi spoke, outraged at what he had just been told. “Can’t we just send them a clip from my onboard.” 

“We have. And they’ve allowed us to send for an ambulance. Which will get to you two in around a minute.”

Kimi reached over and grabbed Charles wrist. Through out his entire conversation, Kimi had kept an eye on Charles chest to make sure that he was still breathing. However, the monegasque’s breaths where quickly becoming less and less. 

The young driver scrambled to find Charles pulse on his wrist. It took Kimi a few seconds to find the weak pulse that seemed to be beating less and less as the seconds moved on. “Charles. Can you hear me?” Kimi asked, still keeping his hand wrapped around the elders wrist to make sure his pulse was still there. What Kimi heard in a quite voice from the injured Ferrari driver wasn’t in a language that he could understand. Yet it still worried him to no end. “Non... je veux rester... je ne... lui dis jamais... Jules... s'il te plaît”

As soon as Charles had finished speaking, Kimi knew something was wrong. In the next few seconds it felt like many things had happened at once. Charles arm went limp in Kimi’s hand, his pulse came to a sudden stop, Kimi could hear the sound of an ambulance in the distance but he knew deep down that they would possibly get there too late.

Kimi unzipped Charles fireproofs and moved it slightly to the side of that he could easily get to the sternum. Flinging his leg over Charles stomach to get at a better angle, Kimi linked his hands together one on top of the other. He positioned his hands over Charles sternum as he let out a deep breath, he was very happy that he had gone to that first aid course in Monaco a month ago. 

Without much more thought Kimi pressed down on Charles chest.

Chapter Text

Kimi pressed down on Charles chest, using all the skills that the younger had learnt from the first aid course he had taken before the season had began.

The streets of Monte-Carlo weren’t as crowded as Kimi had expected them to be. Logically Kimi knew that the city would be quite on the early February morning but he had only ever been to the city on a race weekend before.

The only reason that Kimi was in Monte-Carlo this particular February weekend was actually Toto Wolff’s idea not the young Italians. Kimi’s new boss decided that it would be a good idea for him to meet his new teammate in Monaco during the winter break, so that they could get to know each other outside of racing.

Kimi had thought it a wonderful idea. Kimi booked a hotel for a week to explore Monte-Carlo, try new food and to ultimately get to know George better. When planning his week Kimi had seen an ad for a first aid course in the Monte-Carlo city hall, Mairie De Beausoleil. Upon seeing that the course was open to anyone of any Nationality the Italian had immediately booked on for the Saturday morning.

While having a qualification in first aid was not necessary to become a F1 driver, Kimi thought it would be good to have in case anything happened while he wasn’t on a race track.

Kimi walked up to the receptionist in Mairie De Beausoleil. “Ciao.” Kimi said, catching the attention of the women. “I’m here for the first aid course. It should be under the name Andrea Antonelli.” Kimi spoke in English that was a bit broken.

“Can I see some ID?” The lady asked in perfect Italian, which upon hearing Kimi let out a sigh of relief knowing he didn’t have to struggle through speaking complex sentences in English. The young driver gave the women his driving license. “Your all booked in.” She spoke as he was given his license back.

“The course is spoken in French. However, from the list of people booked in I can see that Charles is renewing his course. Charles can speak Italian so will be able to translate what is being said for you. If that’s okay with you?” Kimi nodded. Having someone to translate for him would be much better then guessing what the trainer was saying. “If you wait over in the sofa under the painting, Charles shouldn’t be to much longer.” She said gesturing over to the Sofa.

Kimi didn’t know how long he waiting before the doors opens again. In stepped Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who walked straight over to the kind receptionist. “Matin.” Charles said. “Matin, Charles.” She said in response. “Pourriez-vous traduire le cours en italien pour le jeune homme là-bas?” She said, pointed over to where Kimi was sat.

Kimi could see the realisation on Charles face when he saw who was sat down on the sofa. “Bien sûr!” He said with a bright smile on his face before he started to addresses the eighteen year old. “ Dai Kimi, puoi venire a sederti con me. Almeno sono un volto familiare in un corso di primo soccorso in una città straniera.”

Charles led Kimi into a room with around five other people in it, sitting the 2 F1 drivers more towards the back. The instructor stood at the front of a board with PowerPoint slides projected onto it. Upon seeing Charles they waved, cementing that fact that Charles is a frequent flier of the first aid course.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Charles spoke in perfect Italian, if Kimi hadn’t known better he would have said that Charles was Italian and not Monegasques. “I’ll translate what is is said as well as what is written down. If you have any questions about what is happening feel free to ask. All good so far?” Kimi nodded, still a bit shell shocked that he was sat next to Charles Leclerc. “After the course we’ll go out to a cafe and talk some more. Unless you have any plans for after.”

“I’ve got no plans.”

The first aid course passed with no time at all. Not only did Kimi learn useful skills such as CPR, how to treat burns and what to do in the event of someone was bleeding out. But Kimi also found out that Charles was fun to hang out with, jokes that reminded Kimi of one’s his dad would tell him as well as stories from when Charles early days of racing. 

Before they both new it the two drivers where sat in a quaint little cafe about a 5 minute walk from Mairie De Beausoleil. Kimi was about halfway through his cup of Hot Chocolate when he got the courage to ask the question he had been think of since he had first noticed Charles that morning. “So why do you do the first aid course, Charles?”

“Do you remember Jules Bianchi?”

“He was your god father right?” Kimi responded. He had only been 8 when Jules had died and therefore only knew of him through his legacy not through actually seeing him race.

“I always remember Jules trying to convince me to take a first aid course since I started karting. And as a kid I always thought why would I need to know first aid, someone else will know what to do. Once Jules had fallen into a coma, after the crash, it felt like I was betraying him and something he was passionate about by not doing a course. 

“So I booked onto the first course available. The day before Jules passed, I was walking back from the hospital to the hotel I was staying at when someone collapsed on the other side of the road. It turns out they were having a heart attack. And in a few seconds I noticed that everyone else just walked by or watched expecting someone else to help. The next thing I knew I was performing CPR while on the phone to the ambulance. It turns out that had I not had intervened the lady who was in trouble would have died.

“I remember telling Jules about that. An hour later he passed away peacefully, in no pain at all. So I continue to do these courses to remember Jules and to continue to be the person who will help anyone in a situation.” Charles said, taking a bite out of his cake as he discreetly whipped away his tears.

Kimi reached over and grabbed Charles hand rubbing circles into the back of his palm. “I get it.” Kimi whispered, “I want to be able to help someone in case the paramedics can’t be fast enough. Or so that even if I can’t save them that they won’t be alone. But mostly I want to help someone to fight.”

“You’re a good kid Kimi. If anything happens to me I know who I want to be with me.”

Kimi pressed his hands down onto Charles chest as a paramedic came rushing over with the defibrillator. “How long?” They asked not wanting to waist anytime. “About two minute. And I am not giving up on him.” Kimi spoke with a harsh tone in his voice.

“Good.” The Paramedic said as she started to hook Charles up to a machine to get his vitals. “He needs someone to help him fight.