one more race// l. norris

Chapter 36

omg monza ilyyyy🇮🇹
DANNY RIC AND LANDO 1-2😍😍😍
also thank u for 20k reads <33
i never expected it to get this far :)

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I got myself ready for bed, tucked in and waited for Lando. It was only 7:30. He said he'd be back now. Sure enough, the door clicked open and he appeared. "Hey babe. You ok?"

"Hiya Lan. I need to talk to you about something actually. I'd rather get it out the way if you don't mind." I smiled.

Lando nodded, took his shoes off and jumped on the end of the bed. "So what's up?"

"Well. I don't want to make any assumptions that's why I want to ask you. George came over today. About 5:30. He told me a picture was taken of you with a girl. A girl in which you were hugging quite affectionately. I then heard from George that the comments and articles on it have gone off. Saying I use you for fame and money. Our relationship is fake. It's just for show. Things like that. George also said he has never seen so much hate online for a single person-"

He interrupted me, "Stop there Sky. Which girl? Show me."

I did as he asked, revealing the photo. His eyes widened and he tilted his head back. "Fuck my life. That's no secret lover of mine. That's my fucking cousin, Anna. My Mum and Dad are literally stood right there.". He pointed to the bottom of the picture where you can see the shadow of two figures. "People take shit way too far. I promise you Sky, I didn't cheat on you. I never would. I'm not like that, you're the only one for me.", he was now holding my hands in his. Squeezing them gently. Not breaking the eye contact.

I pressed my forehead against his, "I know. But so many people were saying so many things. Lando. This sport is ruining me."

He looked up at me, confused, "What? What do you mean it's ruining you?"

"Most nights I'm crying because of comments I see, articles I read, posts I ignore. Things like this. Petty things. People automatically assume the worst. It's ridiculous. George said he'd never seen anyone get this much hate. People really do hate me being in F1. I never really suffered from anxiety before, but now it is becoming more visible in my life. I can tell I am starting to suffer from it. It's not fair. On me, on you, on our lives. On Red Bull, on F1 as a whole. Maybe I should just quit." I whispered.

Lando pulled me in, "I am not going to let you quit now Sky. We have come so far, I can't bear to watch you go through this and give up. Give it a couple of months. It might get better."

"And if it doesn't?", the question fell out unexpectedly.

Lando didn't really know what to say, I could tell. "Well you will push through and shut them down. Prove them they are wrong."

Lando's words somewhat encourged me. I couldn't quit now. I hadn't even done a full season. I need to be more motivated to succeed. Win another race, score another podium. Help Max in the championship. I knew I would win. I was currently P4. I was happy with that result, especially for me rookie season. I just needed to knuckle down.

——

It was now Saturday. I'd had a flying weekend so far. It was going strong.  We were entering a triple header. Spa, then Monza, finally Zandvoort. Qualifying had just finished, I was driving my in lap. "How was that Aid?"

"Sky that was pretty good! P2!" he cheered.

"Get in there! To those who it concerns, fuck you bitches!" I screamed back down the radio.

I felt happy with my result, now I just had to keep it up for tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day that mattered.

I ate dinner with Lando that night, he had put his McLaren in 5th. He was exited for tomorrow. Especially with all of his family being here too. I was getting to meet them at a meal after the race tomorrow night. We spoke about everything under the sun. It was one of those talks where you just discuss whatever comes to your head. We did talk about some utter shite. We were in fits of laughter all evening.

However, Sunday morning. It all changed. 7am we were up. I went for a run, Lando hit the gym. We ate, showered, I put my hair in plaits, did an extremely basic makeup look, packed my bag and we were both out of the hotel room by 9:30am. We said our goodbyes in the car and headed for the separate garages, me into Red Bull, Lan into McLaren. The hours leading up to the race absolutely flew by. It was surreal how quick it was. 2pm came around like no tomorrow. I got in the car to head out to do a lap of the grid and then park it on the sport, ready for the mechanics to work on it. I jumped back out and Christian asked how it felt, I said strong. But, I did notice an almost cranky sound in the back of the car. Christian said he would look into it before the race.

Race time approached, Horner gave me the thumbs up that the car was good to go. I gave Lando a wave as we both got into our cars for the final time before lights out. The green lights went out and we were off for the formation lap, I was behind Max. We settled back into the grid. I tightened my grip on the wheel. The five lights went out and we were off in Belgium. The first corner was an early braking zone. Hard. Stick it on the inside and you should be fine, I did just that. Heading into Eau Rouge I managed to stay clear of anyone, that was the last place I wanted to crash. The first 20 laps we smooth, the top 7 didn't change much. Danny Ric was now in sixth behind Lando, Bottas in 4th, Georgie Boy in third, me and then Max. We were now on lap 39. It was all going well until I headed into Eau Rouge again. Shit. I heard a big bang from behind and Adrian came over the radio, "Sky. Pull over and get out of the car immediately. Now please."

I did as he told me, I jumped out as quickly as I could. I soon realised the back of the car was evidently on fire.

SHIT. All the good work I have put in this weekend had gone to waste. Fuck.

It was fair to say I was pissed off, I got back to the garage and headed straight to Christian the minute I took my helmet off. "You told me the car was good!"

"It was fine Sky-"

"Well what happened out there then?", my voice was getting louder and attracting some attention.

"Sky. Just calm down. The mechanical failure was something I couldn't do anything about. We had no idea it was going to happen. I promise." he replied.

Christian could tell I was angry. I nodded and headed back into the garage, I apologised to the mechanics and then headed to my room. Holly was waiting for. She hugged me and then left me to my own accord. Max won the race, as expected. His lead in the championship was edged out even more. Only by 31 points though! George was close behind, then Valtteri. I watched the podium ceremony in dismay and also did some interviews in the media pen. Jules was there to calm me down just in case, but it was a situation out of my control. No one could've predicted it.

The after meal with Lando's family was lovely. It wasn't awkward at all, Cisca's half of the family made me feel very welcome, and I appreciated that more than anything.