Lando's Love (2021)

Chapter 36

The Hungarian Grand Prix was the last race before the holidays. I was looking forward to having a break, going to Croatia with Oliver, Savannah, Max, Tom, Tris and all the others. I wanted to get away from the crazy world of F1 for a while. Before that, there was one more race. One race to keep the momentum going: 15 consecutive races in the points (= best McLaren driver), only driver to score points in every race this year, 9 top 5s in 10 races, 3 podiums. My start to the season was really incredible and I wanted to finish my first part of the season in style: maybe not a podium but another top 5! I was in a good mood when I arrived at the Hungaroring circuit on Thursday morning. I went for my track walk with Will, Jon, and Jose. Tris had joined Charlotte, Carmen, and Isa to do some laps on the bike. I passed them 2 or 3 times while I talked with Will on some of the corners. Once my track walk was over, I had to go to my press conference. I did it with Max, which was fine with me.

"Lando, you're on a run of 15 consecutive races in the points, that's better than any other McLaren driver, what do you think?" a journalist asked me. "It's impressive, isn't it?" I replied. Meanwhile, Max had to answer the same questions over and over again... It was the one topic on the lips of every journalist in the paddock: Red Bull's attack on Mercedes after the Silverstone incident. I was chatting to Max and learned that he had a video conference with the FIA at 4pm. They could have left Max and Lewis out of it. They should let them concentrate on this weekend's Grand Prix... It's really annoying to hear about this. I can't wait for the holidays!

Testing went smoothly, apart from a crash by Yuki on Friday morning. Our results were consistent over the 2 sessions, and we were more than happy.

With a few drivers, we planned to meet on Friday evening at the restaurant to discuss and enjoy each other's company before the summer break. There was Pierre, Carlos, Charles, George, and me. The girls had preferred to go out on their own and so were not with us. Each of us had a girlfriend, well, I have to say it quickly for Pierre who has more of a thing with a certain Katerina but is not dating her yet. We are all waiting for him to tell us that they are a couple rather than that he has met someone... However, it was not Pierre who interested us the most during this dinner. While the conversation was going on and we were talking about many things, Carlos caught the attention of the whole group.

CARLOS: I have something to tell you...

LANDO: YAY!

*General laughter until we saw the look on Carlos' face. He was serious, like very serious...*

CARLOS: You've all known Isa for a while now.

PIERRE: Yeah, how long have you been with her?

CARLOS: A little over 3 years now. And actually, everyone knows her in the paddock. She spends all her holidays with my family, and I would like her to become a full member of the Sainz family...

GEORGE: You are going to propose to her ????

CARLOS: I'm thinking of doing it on our holiday in Majorca...

CHARLES: That's fantastic! You're such a beautiful couple!

PIERRE: That's great Carlos, I'm sure she'll say yes.

LANDO: I'm happy for you Carlos, you are happy together!

I excused myself and walked out of the restaurant. My best friend was getting married... Wow! I'm really happy for him that he wants to take the plunge, but I didn't think he would do it now. I know he's 26, he'll be 27 in September, but I mean, my best friend wants to get married to the woman of his life, and he knows it after only 3 years together. What if I didn't know when it was time to propose to the woman I love? What if I asked too soon and she got scared? What if I waited too long and she got tired of waiting and thought I didn't want to? Thank you, Carlos, for the night of reflection you just gave me...