Pole Sitter

by Desiree Champagne

Season 2, Book 1

Despite winning the Formation 2 championship, reserve driver Julien Dubois has sat on the sidelines for three years, frustrated and unable to show anyone he can still race. When full-time driver Rafael Souza suffers a collarbone fracture, Julien is given six races to prove he deserves his own seat.

But real cars are harder to wrangle than the simulators he's accustomed to. To get the best result, Julien makes a deal with Rafael—his hand for driving advice, his mouth for a good Qualifying result, and the rest of his body for a spot on the podium.

Their strategy might not be PR-approved, but Julien will do whatever it takes to come out on top.

For fans of

Driver x Reserve Driver
Brother’s Best Friend
Power Bottom x Service Top
Found Family
Workplace Romance
Tutor x Student
Guy Who Needs a Hand x Guy Who Has Two Hands
🏎🏎🏎🏎🏎/5
🌶🌶🌶🌶/5


Though the Formation 1 series is a series of interconnected stand-alone novels and novellas, this book is from Season 2. It happens after the events of the first season (Dirty Air, Switch Positions, and Coming Second), so I would recommend reading those books first.

Genres: Sports

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 2, 2026

About the author

DESIREE CHAMPAGNE is a Sparkling Author, produced and fermented on the west coast of the United States. She pairs well with her wife and cats, but keep her away from social obligations and out of direct sunlight.

She is passionate about single seat racing series and the characters who bring the sport to life. She can only hope that her Formation 1 series does them justice.

Reviews

[Lily S (Cover Lover) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story: 3.5 stars

Cover: 4.5 stars

This was a longer book than the first stories were but I think it would’ve worked better if it was shorter. There was a lot of driving in this and I do like that but it was a bit too much. Rafael had a lot of feelings I’m sure but we needed his pov.

I really disliked Thomas here but I thought the sibling rivalry was a great idea. I did like how the hook ended though.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

this year was ferraro's year

[Olive · Rating 5 out of 5]

meet your new favorite book

This installation of the Formation 1 series has everything I love about the first three books—including cameos from the MCs and lovable side characters—mixed with the spicy sweet story of Rafael (earnest, cocky) and Julien (determined, skeptical). Diehard f1 fans will love the way racing politics encapsulates the couple as they navigate their tricky arrangement

[Sandy Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for the incredible racing and for Julien.

I highly recommend this entire series. POS book 3 and all. Because one thing this author does incredibly well, better than many, is create fascinating, flawed, authentic characters whose interactions are as entertaining as the most melodramatic telenovela. Impressive professional determination, gut-wrenching emotional stakes and mistakes, realistic and super steamy sex, just great chemistry all around for the cast of the entire racing circuit.

Question…is everyone in Formula—oh excuse me, I mean, Formation—One secretly screwing a colleague?! (I mean…I’m here for it, obvs. But the odds…?! LOL)

Anyway, this book… After one bad race (book 3), the author is back on track in P1 with Pole Sitter.

(Ha ha sorry couldn’t resist. I’m awful.)

This series should be the standard all other Formula 1 romance series are held up to. The racing remains authentic and stellar. I felt like I was in the car with Julien all the way. It may be too much racing for some but, even when I didn’t understand the lingo, I understood the drive and passion and was absolutely fascinated by the decisions both in the car in split seconds and in the strategy sessions in the pit and team rooms. This is just great stuff.

Got a competency kink? This series is for you.

Julien is the little brother of Thomas, hero of the book-that-shall-never-be-referred-to-again-by-me. Rafael is…oh shoot. The guy Thomas was obsessed with in the book-that-shall-never-be-referred-to-again-by-me. Whoops. Well, that is important! It’s a huge part of the romantic conflict and crops up at the most awkward possible moment for both heroes. 😁😱😂😂

Rafael is sidelined due to breaking his collarbone, and Ferraro team reserve driver, never-been-in-an-actual-F1-race Julien gets his big chance to show what he can do.

And for some reason, Rafael is hanging around him and advising him…for a price. A hand job. A blow job. Why not?! (Honestly that seemed weird, it came outta nowhere for Julien, and previous book, Rafael kinda tricked himself into thinking maybe he does love Thomas, Julien’s big bro (and MAN is that shit cringey and funny and tear-jerking… But he’s been hooking up with tons of women, so…why Julien, why now? Enquiring minds wanted his POV.) And his help…helps. And so Julien keeps…helping Rafael out, but, now, Rafael wants to get Julien on the podium for the ultimate hookup…!

Okay this has a major bump in it, and that’s Rafael’s bizarre whiplash character evolution. He steps in to help Julien, treats him like a peer, seems to respect him, does so much. Then when things turn around and Rafael is back in the driver’s seat and not doing well yet, it turns out—and this is clearly Shown very well—that he does not have any respect for Julien, calling him “just” the reserve driver, not worthy of giving Rafael help/advice despite Julien’s YEARS of winning records in sims and e-racing (which actually helps a TON with racing) and his championship from one league below in F2. AND, to add insult to injury, he also is very clearly Shown to think less of Julien sexually for being in the “woman” position. He doesn’t say that, but, when Julien tests him and says now you give me the blow job, Rafael’s consternation and response is so gut wrenchingly, selfishly terrible that I genuinely hoped Julien would move on, and for good. And it didn’t feel right for Rafael’s characterization either. I could have understood resentment/fear when Rafael wasn’t performing as he’d expected, but the genuine disrespect was gross and diminished him forever in my eyes. And he did NOT make up for it in any way. Sorry Rafael, finally deigning to give a BJ and finding out you love it is not groveling or making up for any of that BS. Rafael was at first amazing, and I loved him quite a lot…until all this happened, and wrecked him for me. Major spin-out. The taking-back his subscription to Julien's e-racing team thing was the final dump on a big shitpile of Rafael turning out to be a petty person who was great when all was going well for him and not someone you could could on at all when things went wrong. I was beyond disappointed in who he turned out to be.

There’s also an OM drama moment while they’re at odds, with Julien and his longtime friend and former F-buddy, that went over the line for me. Not sex, but, Julien was fully prepared to bring him home and have sex and definitely would have, which also diminished the romance. It doesn’t happen, stayed relatively safe, but emotionally it didn’t hit right and also was never resolved with that friend later. He disappeared from the narrative.

Julien’s fraught relationship with Thomas, his big brother and the racing champion whose shadow he can’t get out of, is fantastic. Thomas, as I thought, is an absolute classic egotistical selfish asshole who condescends to Julien, also doesn’t respect him or his space, and drives Julien and me nuts. But it’s so well done that it is pure, ragey entertainment, and if there’d been no romance in the book at all, I still would have loved it for seeing underdog Julien eventually get the best of Thomas. he has better moments, but, overall I loved to hate him and kept wishing he'd fail. And I still disliked him and Sam together. They annoyed me and didn't feel #endgame.

And of course, one of Rafael’s biggest missteps happens involving Thomas right after a tension-filled moment that should have been Julien's big triumph, but in which Rafael Shows just how low a priority Julien is for him, how little understanding of Julien’s point of view he has, and it made me sick. Yet another thing Rafael never “got” or made up for. And Thomas the whiny baby got the attention Julien, yeah sure, didn't ask for, but, he should not have had to.

I adored Julien and being in his head, but, once again with this solo-POV story, I wanted more insight into Rafael. What made him approach Julien in the first place? Did he sense Julien had the dom-ish side that would really turn Raf’s crank? (oooh they really are a GREAT combo in bed!) How? They have strong chemistry and were a great fit physically and mentally sex-wise, but, not sure how it really came about because Rafael is too much of an enigma.

Finally, can I just say, the ending? With Julien making the rounds, making the right very unusual decision for himself? And then getting such an unexpected reward, I was practically pooping rainbows of joy for him? Holy wow. THAT is how you end a book.

This book and this entire series is riveting, and I want more. Complex flawed characters and all.

Anyway, it’s a strong “we’re just fooling around no big deal….oh shit oops I think I fell for you…” read from Desiree Champagne.

Shout out to Julien’s streaming race buddies who had no idea who he was, and how all that came out. That was a lot of fun and even though they talked shit about him before they knew who he was, hey, at least he got honest opinions, and they turned out to be cool.

HFN that both hope will be HEA. Overlooked reserve driver agrees to fuck-buddies situationship with the injured champion driver he’s standing in for. No OM action (that I could tell); OM drama from Julien’s past lover and Rafael’s friendship/previous not-situationship with Julien’s brother Thomas (which hurt in a great way). Safe enough for me, but, the Julien OM drama moment nearly lost me.

Oh well. I had a blast and cautiously am excited for more from this author. Books 1 and 2 were strong, then 3 was not for me, but now we’re back on the podium. Start your engines!

Highly, highly recommended series. Even though I’m still PO’d at book 3’s poor decisions.

[Nicole Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

💙🏁💙

Desiree, my friend, you’ve done it again. I am absolutely obsessed with the Formation 1 series and this book was no exception.

If you like friends with benefits, workplace romance, power bottom and lots of racing strategy PLEASE read this book.

After an injury during off season, Rafael is under able to start the season. Julien is Ferraro’s reserve driver and a Thomas’ little brother. Thomas is the other driver for Ferraro. All Julien life, he’s been in the shadow of his older brother. He sees this opportunity to really showcase his racing skills. With a little help from Rafael, Julien is crushing the circuit and the two find themselves in a friend’s with benefits situation.

I am absolutely obsessed with how bossy Julien is in the spicy scenes. He just takes over and makes Rafael putty in his hands. I will never look at a paper cone water cup the same way again… thank you for that. The spice in this book was next level and I absolutely ate it up. Julien is such a power bottom and Rafael can’t help but submit to him.

I cannot recommend this series enough. Everyone needs to read this and discover how truly talented Desiree Champagne is. I cannot wait to see what’s next 👀

[ronniebug !! · Rating 5 out of 5]

devoured this in one afternoon... i love life i love being born in this century