LDR Ch 27

There was nothing wrong with what Harrison said. As he said, the performance of the other teams was improving day by day, and although ABW was also trying, it was already confirmed that one of its components would be banned.

“If, just if, at the end of the season, I end up in 2nd place because I’m just a few points short, if we don’t get the constructor’s championship because we’re just a few points short, everyone will think of this race.”

Harrison already has experience with that. Not just once, but several times. So if he says it’s despairing, there is nothing I can say. However, what Harrison was mentioning now was a larger scope. Something Leo could not agree with at all.

“Harry, not everyone, you will think that way. Because no one other than you will say anything to you. This is a team sport. Why, when the season is over, when you’re in 2nd place by just a few points, why don’t you think about Melbourne? If the engine hadn’t gone out then, you would have been champion.”

Not being able to participate due to a driver’s problem, retiring due to a car’s problem, losing positions due to a strategy mistake, all of it is a component of Formula One. In that case, everything should be blamed equally. But Harrison is not like that.

“You think that was something you couldn’t control, so it couldn’t be helped. There was nothing you could do in Imola either. But, this, this race, you think you have a choice. But you’re throwing it away.”

But that is not the case.

“You don’t have a choice.”

From the moment he injured his arm, Harrison had no options. The only one who does not know that is Harrison.

“On our team, we don’t use injured people. It’s not because it’s you. Do you think I would just tell someone to work if they were sick, whether they were a mechanic or an engineer or anyone else? You are no different.”

But Harrison answered without any hesitation.

“Leo, I am different. You know that too.”

Then, his voice continued smoothly.

“Because we can’t use the reserve.”

His gaze was as full of conviction as it was from the beginning.

“I don’t know how this season will end. But if we regrettably miss out on the championship, either the constructor’s or the driver’s, when do you think the next opportunity will come?”

Leo deconstructed the pitch of that voice, every single word, to reconstruct the context.

“I became a champion, but the next year, I drove while praying just to be able to finish the race. Just because the car is good this year, no one can guarantee it will be the same next time. If we miss this chance, it could be 10 years later. Maybe it could be 15 years later, or it could even be 20 years.”

That was the current state of ABW Racing. It was not just limited to ABW Racing; it was almost the same for any team that had remained in the midfield for a long time. They had certainly won at some point, but it was an indefinite wait, not knowing when they would be able to do it again.

“Here, there is no one who doesn’t work hard. But still, not everyone wins, right? You are now working at the headquarters with people who have waited and waited despite that. There are even people who didn’t go to other teams even though they could have. Because they wanted to see a victory here. Can you really tell those people to wait longer?”

“On the contrary, you’re the one who doesn’t believe in those people.”

Harrison’s words were realistic, to put it nicely, and short-sighted, to put it badly. But since no one can see the future, one might say there is no harm in preparing for all situations, but in Harrison’s preparations, his own well-being was missing.

“If you truly believed, you would think that even if you can’t participate this time, you can do better from the next race on with the car they built for you.”

You cannot force belief. However, if that is the case, he should at least know that the justification for his actions is weakened. He takes all the risks because he cannot be sure if the team can build a better car than its competitors, but if the team gives him a good car and he wins, then he praises the team’s efforts in an interview.

It was a good policy for media relations, but Harrison had the same attitude when meeting people as people. However, they were a team because they were bound together in good times and bad.

“As you said, I know how hard those people work. That’s why I believe. Unlike you, who thinks it’s all over if you miss this one time, I believe things will get better in the future.”

Harrison did not answer anything. He did not say the obvious, that everyone hopes for that but cannot be sure until the time actually comes. Nor did he say the more negative words, that considering the development speed, the situation could be completely reversed by the time the summer break ends.

However, Harrison simply looked at Leo, without averting his gaze, and opened his mouth without any sign of discomfort or hesitation.

“Leo, I don’t need your permission.”

His tone was, on the contrary, concise and clean.

“This is a team sport. Just like you recruited the engineers, chose the mechanics, and formed the team, you have to use me. You know that too.”

“Then what are you doing right now?”

“I just, Leo, want you to cheer for me.”

“How?”

Perhaps he should have let out a hollow laugh. It was such a ridiculous thing to say. But he could not even manage that small laugh.

“How, could I?”

I can never give that to you.

“Harry, I don’t want you to race tomorrow.”

His voice had become calm at some point.

“But as you said, you don’t need my permission or anything like that.”

He knows that Harrison does not need his permission. There is no way to force him not to race.

“So whether you race tomorrow or not is your choice.”

Leo watched as that expression, which had not faltered even once since he entered this room, slowly hardened.

“But know one thing. I clearly said I don’t want you to.”

Meeting those eyes that wavered for the first time, Leo continued to speak.

“From the moment I entered this room, I have never once been a representative of the team owner, nor have I been a team official. And I, clearly said I don’t want you to race.”

When he stated it firmly, Harrison’s lips parted slightly, unlike how he had answered without hesitation until now.

“We promised not to talk like that.”

Different from a moment ago, so very different from how it had been until now, his voice trembled unclearly.

“Why, is it unfair?”

When Harrison joined ABW Racing, they made one promise. Not to talk to each other in this way. Not to speak as if forcing a choice between work and love. Not to urge him to choose one of those two roles. Because, you will always choose me. So such a question was unfair from the start.

Harrison cannot fight it. Leo also knows which side Harrison will choose, so in the end, it is a form of coercion. Because they both knew that, they made a promise when they first decided to start the season on the same team.

“I won’t hate you for racing. I will be angry, and I won’t be able to understand your decision at all, but I won’t hate you.”

But Leo remembers their promise to each other, so he is not asking him to choose one side.

“So this is not an unfair demand. Because I’m not telling you not to race.”

That was not in Leo’s domain from the beginning anyway. It is not in anyone’s domain. It is only Harrison’s domain.

“Instead, you choose.”

If Harrison says he will take the risk and participate, there is no one who can stop him. If Harrison says he cannot race because of his injury, there is also no one who can force him to. Except for Harrison himself.

“Whether it’s for the team, or because you can’t trust the team, or because of me, none of that matters. Just think about yourself and decide.”

All the reasons Harrison has put forward so far are, in the end, the team. But the team itself felt sorry for not predicting the weather properly, fitting an unstable setup, and ultimately getting the driver injured. No one wants Harrison to ignore medical advice and push himself. The only one who wants that is Harrison.

“Whether this race is worth more than your arm. Not to other people, but to you, is it worth that much?”

He did not stop by the garage. But he knew Harrison was racing. The race, which he watched from the Paddock Club with a few sponsors, was simply smooth. One sponsor, who had bought a spot on the particularly expensive halo among the advertisements, was pleased every time Harrison’s onboard video was shown. It looked the same on Nathan’s onboard, but it seemed there was a difference between a driver with a championship title and just a driver.

And next to him, Leo did not check that halo. Ever since Harrison joined, the name “Kunz” on the halo was particularly grating, even though it was just a brand.

— It’s also important to see what place Nathan Morel finishes in. The current point difference between teammates Harrison Turner and Nathan Morel is 11 points, with Morel ahead of Turner. In this race, Turner is currently in 1st, but if Morel finishes in 3rd place or higher, he can maintain 1st place in the overall standings. A fierce battle between teammates is expected, and ABW Racing has stated they have no plans for team orders.

As there were no notable overtakes, the broadcast camera followed the commentators’ words and showed ABW’s pit wall and garage. Both drivers were doing well, so neither the pit wall nor the garage had bad expressions. Leo looked at each of those faces and naturally recalled their names. After the names, the times spent together naturally follow. That obvious fact felt strange.

Every team member, not just in the pit wall and garage shown through the small camera lens, but throughout the entire headquarters, knows and loves Harrison. Harrison always spent time with the team members rather than with other drivers or the celebrities who occasionally visit the paddock.

So to those people, Harrison is not just a driver who uses the car they built, their strategy, their data. Of course, there is also the aspect of being loved more for bringing in victories, but even without that, even though the world of Formula One looks like car racing on the outside, it is actually about facing people.

And, amidst that, he spotted Heather watching the monitor with the other media team members. In that moment, his heart suddenly dropped heavily, as if it had solidified.

— Harrison Turner once again leads every lap and receives the checkered flag in 1st place! It makes the concerns everyone had about the crash in yesterday’s qualifying seem baseless. It was a truly wonderful race. Following him, Nathan Morel comes in 2nd. It’s a perfect day for ABW!

Leo, while receiving congratulations from the other people he was watching with, simply stayed in his place among the people going out to welcome Harrison.

On the screen, Harrison’s figure, who had completed a lap and parked his car in parc fermé before getting out, was soon shown. Harrison, who ran straight to the team that welcomed him, looked around as if searching for someone, was hugged tightly by Simon, and then was immediately caught and hugged by Manuel right after.

Watching that scene, a thought suddenly occurred to Leo. Some love transcends a person.

Manuel had always been a race engineer, but after the driver he had been with for a long time died in an accident during a race, he stepped back from the field and worked at the headquarters. Then, when Harrison entered McLaren, they brought Manuel back to the field to find an experienced race engineer to complement the inexperienced Harrison. Asking him to take charge for just one year.

That has continued until now. Manuel had maintained a distance from drivers after losing his own driver once. That was the same with Harrison, but still, one could not fail to know how much Manuel loves Harrison.

The race engineer is the most difficult position to work for the team. In principle, they must work for the team, but in the end, they come to prioritize their own driver. For the team, they should share all the information about the driver they are each in charge of, but for the sake of their own driver, it was better to hide some of it. Most race engineers are the latter. Manuel is no different.

So Leo, watching Harrison talking to Manuel without having taken off his helmet yet, had such a thought. How could you do that to that person?

Was it not enough to persuade someone who had stepped back from the field after losing a driver in an accident to be your engineer for far longer than a year, but to also ask him to be there for you in that race, the person who could not say anything beside you when you said you would race even after being injured? The person who would be the first to hear, inescapably and rawly in his ears, if something happened, or the signs that it might happen, or what came after.

And how could we have sent you out onto the track? Everyone loves Harrison. Not just as a driver, but as a person they know. They tried to stop him, but everyone knew Harrison would not bend his will. So perhaps, they did not try to stop him by using every possible method.

— Congratulations on the win, Harry. You put on a great race, making the worries about the accident in yesterday’s qualifying seem baseless. Did you expect today’s result?

— Thank you. It wasn’t a good situation with the accident yesterday. But thanks to the mechanics working hard all night to fix the car, I was able to win like this today. I really want to say thank you. And although there was a problem yesterday, we were able to find and improve on the problem by joining forces with the team members, which led to today’s result. I’m grateful to our team members, and I’m grateful to the fans who believed in us until the end even though they must have been anxious about yesterday’s accident. We will do our best to get a good result in the next race as well.

Harrison, who gave a model answer, looked around at the people who had come out to congratulate them once more before entering the cool-down room. As if he were looking for someone. And watching the expression slowly wash away from that face, Leo stood up from his seat.

The podium was still left, but he knew without watching. That short-sighted self-abuse would eventually be revered as passion, mental strength, determination, work ethic, and the like, and he would be sitting in the position of an accomplice.

[I’m sorry]

That was the message that came right after the race ended.

[Where are you?]

That was the message that came again, probably around the time the interviews and debriefing were all over.

[You don’t even want to hear me say I’m sorry?]

Leo stared at the words that had just arrived a little while ago, and then finally sent a reply.

[Yeah]

After watching the race, he had only done what needed to be done. He had a team member guide the sponsors who wanted to meet the drivers, and after that, he had a meal with them and talked about work. Originally, he had planned to be with Harrison after the race, so he had finished all other schedules in advance, so there was nothing complicated.

Normally, he would be with Harrison, but Leo boarded the private jet right after parting with the others. Right now, as Harrison had asked, as Leo had answered, he did not even want to hear the words “I’m sorry.” And now, inside the private jet heading to the UK, Leo, who had been quietly looking at the laptop spread out on the table, suddenly picked up his phone again and made a call.

[Leo, is something wrong?]

There was a time difference between the UK and the US, but on race days, the necessary personnel at the headquarters also lived according to the time of the region where the race was held. The same went for Anna, whom Leo was calling now. So he knew she would naturally answer, but it belatedly occurred to him that it was almost dawn in the UK.

“Ah, it’s dawn there now, right? I’m sorry.”

At that, a hearty laugh came from over the phone.

[Why are you being so formal all of a sudden? And I’m at the office anyway. I have some debriefing stuff to organize.]

But Anna, calling it her secret to being divorced five times, always stayed at the office until dawn even when there was no debriefing.

[So why did you call? You should be in the middle of a party.]

And to the question that followed, Leo answered calmly.

“I didn’t go. But can I ask you something?”

[That sounds a bit scary, what is it?]

“When I asked you to come to ABW, why did you agree?”

Anna had started her first career in a different category. After that, she came to Formula 1 and was involved for a much longer period, but after losing her affection for the team due to a mix of politics and power struggles, she moved back to her original category. However, just as Anna was enjoying a successful comeback, a driver died during a race.

After that, Anna intended to leave the racing industry altogether and design regular cars, but Leo asked her to come back to F1.

[The salary was good, the bonus items were good, the team atmosphere was good, the will to win was clear, the team’s financial situation had improved, I was satisfied with you giving me all sorts of authority, and oh, above all, being able to be involved in driver selection was quite unconventional. When I was in F1 before, everyone said they’d give me authority but in reality, they made decisions among themselves.]