Work Text:
Lance Stroll was on lap 40 of the TuscanGP, he had been doing very well, he was currently running in P4, chasing down Daniel Ricciardo and he had Alex Albon in the Red Bull behind him, working hard to try to get into the DRS zone of Daniel and trying just as hard to keep Alex from getting DRS on himself, he could not really afford any mistakes, but he was confident that he would get Daniel within the next few laps, he was running very well and his self confidence was at a all time high after a string of good results in a row and a podium just in the last race, life was good, he felt like people were finally starting to see that he was more than just a pay driver. He was not oblivious of what a large sum of the F1 fanbase said or thought of him, but he had tried to keep those people out off his head, it did not always work, but he was getting better at blocking everything out and just listen to the people close to him, That was something that he had worked on, 18 year old Lance had cared way to much and the first year in formula 1 had been very hard on him mentally, he knew that he could smile more and try more in interviews, but it was hard when you are a bit socially awkward and introverted. He really did not like the media aspect of F1, he knew that he had to do it, but he did not really like it, and he knew that he came across as boring, but he did not really care anymore.
"how are my tyres, can I push more?" Lance asked his race engineer Brad,
"all good, keep pushing" he heard back and he smiled, he wanted a back to back podium, that was another life goal of his, he had many goals for how he wanted things to go, but Formula 1 was not something that was a given, he had to work his but off to get anything, they had a good midfield car and it was possible with some luck to get high points and even podiums, but as Lance was getting into top speed the car suddenly blew a tyre, sending him into the wall at almost 140km/h, the tyre wall collapsing around him, trapping him in the wall.
"what happened Lance?" his engineer asked, but as Lance did not respond the worry in Brads voice became much more clear as he tried again to get in contact with his driver, but the hit made him worried, he could hear the impact the car had taken as it had gone into the wall, he knew this had been a hard hit, and he was getting more and more worried, his driver was not responding to his calls. His mechanics and the crew was now all around the TV, hoping to see any signs of life from Lance, this could be bad, they had seen some bad accidents over the years, this was a bad one.
"Lance, are you alright?"
"can you hear me?, Lance?"
"Lance, come in" Brad tried again and again, keeping a close eye on the vital signs of the driver in the car as the medical car had been sent out strait away and double yellow flags with a safety car had been sent out, but only a few moments later the flag got upgraded to a red and everyone was asked to get into the pitlane, there was nothing on the track that they would need to cleared, but the tyre wall was in almost as bad of a shape as the Racing Point that Lance was still inside of, all there focus was now on getting the driver out and hope that he was OK.
“who is in the wall? are they OK?” Sebastian Vettel asked his engineer as he parked his car in the pit lane, with many of the other drivers asking the same
“Stroll, we don’t have any info yet, he is not out of the car”
“was it Lance?” Sergio Perez asked worried, he could not see the other pink Racing point in the pitlane,
“yes, it was”
“is he OK, is he out off the car?”
“we don’t know, he is not responding to his radio, we don’t have any information” Sergio got told as he turned off his car and ran strait to the Pitwall were he was with his team, looking on to see if his teammate was OK, he hoped that he was just stuck and that his radio was busted.
The engineers could see the vital signs from there pit wall, and Lance was alive, but he was not moving about, he was not responding to there calls, they hoped that his radio was just damaged, but they were worried, Lawrence had grabbed himself a headset, just hoping to hear from his son, he needed to know if he was OK, he needed to see his son come out off the car.
"Lance, are you OK, can you hear us?" Lawrence then asked, worry painted onto his face, his child was not responding, that was terrifying for everyone in the paddock, but most off all for a worried father that just wanted to hear his sons voice after a very high speed crash into a tyre wall, Lawrence needed his son to be OK, He also knew that Lance’s mother and sister were watching from there homes, this could not be easy on them either, he could feel the camera on him, his worried face was probably not helping to ease the panic for his ex-wife and his daughter, he turned away from the camera, not wanting to have the worst moments of his life broadcasted for the entire world. He just wanted to know if his son was OK
“Lance it’s dad, can you hear me, are you OK?”
---------------------
Lance could feel that something was wrong, he was waking up slowly, he did not fully understand what was happening, his thoughts were foggy, he did not grasp the situation at all and he was not fully aware of what was around him and what had happened, he could feel pain in his body, but he was numb, he was very out off it and there was this annoying voice in his ear that he did not quite understand telling him to come in, witch he thought was very strange because he was inside, he was inside the cockpit, were would he be going in. He was not aware of what had happened, he had no idea what was even going on around him, he had no idea that he was inside a tyre wall, he did not understand what had happened, everything was dark, there was sun just a few moments before, why was it dark?. he closed his eyes again, just for a minute, he was so tired.
"are you OK?" he got asked as someone stood over him, was it even safe to stand on a race track Lance thought, this did not even make any sense, how was someone in a medical suit standing next to his car, he was driving the car, how was he standing still, Lance did not understand what was happening, but his head was starting to hurt, his body was starting to hurt a lot more and he wanted to go to sleep. The light then became unbearable as the paramedic that was with him opened his visor and let the way to bright light into his eyes, making Lance flinch in pain as his eyes were very sensitive and very heavy, he was trying to keep them open, but at the same time, he really just wanted to give in to it, he wanted to sleep, but he could not fall asleep, he was in the middle of a race, right?
"you can't fall asleep, try to stay awake, we are going to get you out" he got told, Lance just looked at him, not fully understanding what he was being told,
“don’t move, just stay still, let us check you out” he got told
"what is going on?" Lance then asked, his voice shaking and he was fighting with his eyelids to stay open, he wanted to lay down and go to sleep, maybe he would feel better in the morning if he could just get some sleep, his head felt heavy and he could not collect his thoughts together, he was all over the place.
"you hit the wall, are you hurt?"
"I don't understand, what happened?" Lance asked again, not understanding what was being told to him, he was trying, but words did not sound right, everything was so confusing and hard to understand, there were so many people there, why were they all there, there was so much shouting, there was no need to shout this much, what was going on
"are you hurt?"
"I don't know, what is going on?"
"you hit the wall, we are getting you out of the car, just stay calm” Lance got told, he understood that this guy sounded stressed out, but he did not understand why, what the fuck was happening, It was getting harder to breath as more panic was starting to set in, everything was getting more painful and everything was getting a bit more clear, he had hit the wall, it had hurt, but he did not remember hitting the wall at all, he did not even remember what was going on in the race
“did I crash?” Lance then asked as the medical team was preparing to take out the seat and get him to the ambulance that was waiting for him
“yes, you hit the wall hard, we are taking you to the hospital”
“I’m fine, I can get out” Lance tried, but after the medical team had been trying to talk to him for the last few minutes and him not understanding a thing that was said to him, the paramedic called bullshit on that strait away.
“do not move, we are taking you to the hospital” Lance got told and then the hearest was taken off him and then the pain got very intense in his shoulder
“owww”
“where is the pain?” he got asked
“my shoulder” Lance moaned out, now that his head was getting a bit clearer the pain in his body was multiplying a lot faster.
“we can give you something for the pain when we get you to the ambulance, just hold on for a moment, are you ready to be lifted out?” He got asked and Lance just nodded slightly, this was not how he had seen this day going, this was going to suck tomorrow, or even the next couple of days.
Lance was in the ambulance and on his way to the hospital, his father had gotten the go ahead to come with him in the ambulance and Lance was glad, his father looked worried, now that his head was getting clear he was scared and he wanted someone with him, thankfully his father was always in the paddock, as he was the owner of the team. The ambulance crew had taken his helmet off and looked him over, it was clear that the left shoulder was dislocated and that he probably had a concussion, they were worried that there were more injuries that would uncover themselves as he would be taken for scans of his head and his body, he felt sore all over, but his shoulder was in pain and it was building, he had gotten oxygen and morphine to ease the pain during the drive to the hospital, but he was still feeling every bump in the road, every roundabout and every single turn on the way to the hospital.
“dad, it hurts” Lance moaned out as his shoulder moved a bit with every turn and Lawrence could see how much this was hurting his son, the pained expression on his face was quite obvious.
“I know, it’s going to be alright, you will be alright”
“I want my mom”
“I’ll call her with an update as soon as I have something to tell her”
“was she watching?”
“yes, I’ve already spoken with her, she knows that you are on your way to the hospital, and your sister too, they were both watching, I’ve told them what I know, we will call them again when we know what is going on, just focus on yourself now OK, It’s going to be OK” Lawrence told his son who just nodded and tried his best to breath through the pain.
The hospital was waiting for his arrival so he was start into assessment, and then it did not take to long for them to take a quick X-ray of his shoulder and then pop it back into place, he would need to go for a proper scan to see if there were any ligament damage or something else wrong with the shoulder but Lance felt a lot better when his shoulder was back into alignment, but man that had hurt a lot, he did not want to do that again, the father and son duo then got told to get some rest as it would be an hour or so before he would be taken to get a CT scan of his head and then start to the MRI to get a complete look into the shoulder and X-rays to see if there were any brakes in the joint or if it had only been a dislocation, the nurses then set up an I.V and pushed some pain medicine before they got him out off the raising suit and into a hospital gown.
———————————-
Lance managed to fall asleep after getting pain meds, he got woken up as he had to go and get scans, but he managed to fall asleep during that as well, his head was hurting so bad, it was feeling worse and worse, he was struggling to keep his eyes open when he was awake as his eyes were very sensitive to the light and the hospital lights were way to bright, it was getting more and more intense, it was like someone was drilling into his temple.
“are you feeling OK?”
“can you turn off the lights?” Lance almost begged the nurse that came into his room, she gave him more pain meds as it was clear that the young man was in pain.
“how is the pain now? where is the pain?”
“in my temple, left side”
“and on the scale of 1-10 how bad?”
“I don’t know, like an 8 or something”
“try to relax, I’m going to get you something cold to put on your temple, lets hope that helps” she told him as Lance just nodded, he was feeling so shit, his dad was sat with him, but he had to duck out to make a few phone calls as Lance tried to sleep. but that was not working, he was feeling worse and worse, his stomach was starting to bother him and he just wanted to curl up into a ball, but with his shoulder hurting he could not do that.
“Otmar is asking for an update to tell the media, everyone is asking him”
“I don’t know what to say, just say I’m having tests or something” Lance said as he shot up and managed to grab the sick bag that was on his side table, then he threw up, his head pounding. he was feeling so bad, his father grabbing the bag as Lance could nearly hold on to it with one hand, Lawrence then just stroked over Lance’s back while he got it together again after that, his shoulder was really bothering him again.
“can you get a nurse?” Lance begged his dad but a nurse came running in as she heard him throw up. She had two icepacks, she placed one on his temple and forehead, and another on his shoulder, she then told him that the doctor would be in to talk to him in a a little while and she gave him more meds so he could hopefully fall asleep and get some much needed rest. but that was a much harder task than Lance thought, because he could not get comfortable, his head hurt when he had his eyes open, but he felt nauseous and the room felt like it was spinning around him every time he closed his eyes. It was an endless cycle of pain and frustration.
The doctor came in two hours later, they had gone over his scans, grade 1 concussion, it would heal up in 2-3 weeks with rest, his shoulder had dislocated and he would need to have surgery to stabilise the joint and that with rehab would take him around 5 months, and to top that all off, he had broken his collar bone as well and that needed surgery as well to put a plate and a few screws in, he was most surprised about that as he had not felt that bad after the shoulder had been popped back into place, Lance could see a lot of PT in his future and he was not really looking forward to it, but it had to be done, he knew that it would be painful and that it would be long and it was already getting him a bit down.
“I’m missing the rest of the season with this?” Lance said is disbelieve, he never thought this was going to be this bad.
“I’m sorry kiddo” Lawrence said as he took his sons hand, it was quite a shock to get news that he was out for probably the rest of the season.
“but I’m 4th in the standings” Lance said as a few tears managed to escape down his cheeks, he could not believe that this was even happening, it was all like a big nightmare, he was in 4th place in the standings, he could not be out for the rest of the season.
“want me to make a statement, everyone is asking about you, they are worried”
“no they are not, a lot of people are probably gonna be over the moon that I’m not there”
“Lance”
“most fans don’t even like me, they will probably be glad that I’m gone”
“honey, no one is glad that you crashed, the crash was not even your fault, it was a tyre failure”
“people will still find a way to blame me somehow”
“Lance, don’t talk like this”
“I want to try and sleep” Lance said as he laid down and closed his eyes, he wanted his dad to leave him alone for a bit, but he also did not really want to be alone, so he did not say anything.
“I’m going to phone around and find a specialist to do the surgery, are you OK alone for a little bit,” Lawrence asked
“yeah” Lance lied, he was far from OK
“I’m going to try and get you moved tomorrow so we can get the surgery done as soon as possible, your mom will meet us there, I’ve talked to her and she is going to stay with you after the surgery is done” Lance just nodded, he was done, it had been a hard day and it was going to be a few more hard days before things would get better, he hoped it would not take 5 months as the doctor had said, he hoped that his father would find a specialist soon, he did not want to waste any time to get back, but he also knew that he would not rehab his concussed head, that would need rest. Lance managed to fall asleep with the help of sleeping pills that he had been given and he managed to mostly sleep through the night, he was already feeling a bit better by then and more hopeful that things would work out OK, he would have to work for it, but he would be able to drive his formula 1 car again, even if it was not until next season. But he might never be racing for racing point again, next year he would be driving for Aston Martin. But that was to soon to tell, Lance hoped that he would be able to get in the car before Turkey, he hoped so.