Lando's Love (2021)

Chapter 4

I heard my alarm but decided to snooze it. I was too tired to get up now. 5 minutes later, my alarm has rung again. I get up and went to Astrid's room to wake her up. When I entered the room, I looked at the bed and there was nobody. I decided to go downstairs where I found her making breakfast. She was wearing a black tank top with a grey sheer t-shirt over it and grey shorts that looked like yoga shorts. Her hair was pulled up in a loose bun. She was baking pancakes and mixing scrambled eggs at the same time. She had set the table: 2 plates, 2 glasses filled with apple juice and 2 cups. Likewise, she took the kettle filled with hot water and put it in the teapot in the middle of the table.

When she saw me, she was slightly startled but looked at me with a smile. "I woke up early this morning, so I decided to make breakfast. When I heard your phone ring, I put everything on heat." As she said this, she looked at me as if waiting for my approval. "I don't know what to say... You didn't have to, there was bread in the cupboard and jam and Nutella. Thank you, that's truly kind," I replied. "My parents taught me that a good day starts with a good breakfast." she sighed with a smile. "Now that everything is ready, on the plates, and hot, let's eat before it gets cold." She sat at the table and started to eat. I joined her with a big smile. We enjoyed the breakfast and talked about everything.

Around 8 o'clock we were in my car. I could see that she was stressed and tense. So, I just talk to her.

You look stressful.

It's the first time I'm going to meet people from F1 and my favourite team at that. Of course, I'm stressed.

Don't worry, we are more than a team, we are like a family. Zak and Andreas are nice and are like fathers to everyone. Jon will be calm and friendly in front of you but as soon as he's alone with me, he'll tease me nicely. Will is nice and smart. He loves meeting new people especially when they are people I like. This allows him to get to know me better and understand my reactions to this or that information. I'm sure everyone he will be happy to meet you.

You didn't mention Daniel.

I don't know Daniel that well, but he's very friendly with everyone.

Do you miss Carlos?

Yes, very much so. We really understood each other well. If we felt something on the car, we would talk to each other, and he would understand perfectly, and then we would look for a solution together: his team and mine. When one of us was not doing well, I mean mentally, the other one saw it and helped him. We were a great team. We are still friends and we talk regularly. He's one of my best friends, but I miss having him around for meetings, debriefs, and making videos for the sponsors and for the McLaren channel.

How did you feel when you heard he was leaving?

I was angry with him because I didn't hear about it from him. I found out like everyone else from the post that the F1 account made. Then I saw his post and realized that it was real and that I was going to have to learn to run McLaren without him by my side. As everyone knows, I commented on 'Soy Lago' under his post because I really wanted to cry at that point. Then he called me... He explained to me that he had not been allowed to tell me, Ferrari had forbidden him. We talked for a long time and all he asked me was that his departure should not change our way of being towards each other, our friendship. So, we just continued to be ourselves when we took over in July. I was not shy to throw a few scathing remarks at him about his departure, but it was all jokes between us. When we arrived in Abu Dhabi, that's when it really hit us. It was our last race together. This last weekend was full of emotions between Carlos' departure and the 3rd place in the constructors' championship. We all went home with good memories of Carlos, and we know that we will continue to see him on the track. But after me, it is Charlotte and Tom who suffer the most from the loss of Carlos.