The Team // A Formula One AU

Mick

"Where did you even get that?" I ask Daniel suspiciously. Since we got here I've been spending most of my time with the Australian and it wasn't much of a surprise when we got paired together for this so-called 'bonding project'.

"You think Nikita's the only one who knows how to thieve? Don't worry, I just got it from the canteen." He replies, grinning and leaning nonchalantly against my bunk. He continues reading the label on his new bottle of whiskey as I weigh up our options if we get caught. I get the impression he can handle it though. He sees my face. "Oh come on, it's not like we're drinking it. And we'll give it back afterwards."

"Hmm..." I give him a sceptical look as the door opens. We look over as Carlos and Lando stumble in, doubled over in stitches. Daniel casually throws the bottle up into George's bunk before they realise it's more than just apple juice and they hastily scurry back out, skittering high pitched plans between them. I guess they've been doing more messing around than planning their presentation. We share an amused look as Tom bellows through the building, summoning us to come to the lounge. Daniel grabs his bottle and hides it in the depths of his jacket before following me there, and I notice a mischievous spring in the way he walks.

Everyone sits in a vague semicircle around a cleared area which must be the impromptu stage. It's where Checo and Nando are setting up a CD player, anyway. I spot Lando and Carlos, red from laughter and hiding something, and me and Daniel go to sit with them.

"You look like you've been having fun," I say.

"Um..." Lando giggles. "We uh..." He catches Carlos' eye and they burst into laughter, producing a smirk from Daniel and a grin from myself.

"Can't wait to see your presentation."

"Okay, are we all here?" Tom starts. We look around and nod. "Right then Sergio, Fernando, you may begin."

We settle down quite quickly with medium expectations for these two. We're meant to be getting to know each other and although most of our presentations will be elaborate jokes, I think we might get something sensible from these two.

My expectations are thrown out of the window when Checo starts speaking Spanish. He taps on his phone and some sort of Mexican song comes on through the speaker, which Fernando starts to sing along with. Checo brings out a poncho he must have brought with him and puts it over Nando's head, clearly explaining something about it but still speaking Spanish. I glance over at Carlos who is paying close attention.

The music begins to get louder and louder and now both of the guys sing along and begin some sort of dance. A few people from the crowd start swaying their arms in the air but Tom struts up to the stage and turns off the CD player.

"That's enough! Thank you boys, your five minutes is up."

"But I love that song!" Carlos shouts in dismay.

"Too bad..." Tom mutters and writes something in his notepad.

"How was it?" Fernando asks as he sits down, injecting a worried look onto his actor's face.

"It was... So... Intense," Daniel manages to answer between gasps of laughter and I nod.

"So intense."

Dan's still laughing as Kimi and Valterri take the stage. Tom warns them that if their talk is anything like the last one the whole thing will be cancelled before they can start the music. However they just talk about the differences between the Finnish language compared to any other and feed us some weird snacks they brought from home. I glance at Daniel. We're next.

We stand up when a slightly calmer Tom calls us to the stage. I take my place and take a deep breath.

Daniel brings out his whiskey and Tom almost cuts us off before we've even started, but I tear open a pack of German salami and frisbee the slices into the crowd to form a distraction. Shame on me for believing my teammate when he said he wouldn't actually drink the whiskey. He takes a gulp before handing it to the disbelieving Tom and explaining how Australians love to drink. Then we move on to our main topic.

"The main thing our countries have in common is barbecues. We all know Australians love a barbie, but Mick knows a thing or two about sausages too!"

"That's right Daniel," I laugh, "We have all kinds of sausages in Germany, especially around Christmas. I'm sure you've heart of bratwurst, but do you know weisswurst, currywurst and even more?"

"Once day we'll have a barbeque and treat you to all of these delicacies."

"As well as some Australian ones, like kangaroo balls."

"Like what?" Alex covers his face with his hands and my resolve breaks. I laugh and Daniel grins, capping the whole thing off with a jaunty bow and 'thank you' as we resume our seats. I have no idea if that was what Tom envisaged from us. I'm tending towards no, but I think it pretty much sums us up.