Drive to Survive [Lando Norris]

-4-

Green light. Willow rolled out of the garage and quickly onto the track. The team had decided to put her out there as early as possible to try and avoid as much traffic as possible. 

Currently, it seemed to be working as she had just done her first lap with ease. 

"Everything is looking good, how's the car?" Mark asked through her radio

"It's good, but it looks like more cars are starting to enroll on the track. I think, I should just try and make one good lap before I end up in traffic" she replied pushing down the radio button. 

"Okay confirm, starting lap now" 

She pressed the confirm button and hit the speeder going on about 300 km/h down the track and into turn one hitting the breaks slightly. She flew through the first couple of corners and only hit the apex a few times shaking the car a bit. 

"Purple in the first sector"  Mark said. 

Willow felt herself getting more and more comfortable in the car, and the adrenaline was pumping through her body making her more focused. 

As she crossed the finish line, she felt herself feeling very satisfied like she couldn't have done much better that lap. 

"Great lap that is currently P3, you should be safe for Q2. Come in to the pit" 

She did as Mark said and rolled back into the garage. A few moments later Pierre's car drove into the garage again, and the two drivers fell into a conversation while waiting for Q1 to finish. 

Both drivers got safely into Q2, but this time it would be a lot more tricky, and everyone knew that. Q3 was obviously the ultimate goal, and both drivers wanted that more than anything. 

As predicted, Q2 was a lot more tricky than Q1. Lewis kept beating his own time, and it was hard to follow. Willow became more frustrated as she kept messing up turn 4 and 5 loosing precious time on that. 

"Okay that is P11, you only have time for one more lap. Make it count" the pressure on Willow's shoulders became heavier and heavier. 

"Come on, Willow, come on" she whispered to herself with her radio turned off. She took a deep breath and adjusted her position in her seat. 

She pressed the speeder with much force sending a smile on her face as she felt the car practically flying across the track. Her nerves became sky high as she approached turn 4. She kept clipping the apex too much, so she tried and go a lot wider a few moments before the turn. 

This time she didn't hit the apex too much into turn 4, but still clipped it in turn 5. 

"Dammit" she whispered again hoping that she still got through to Q3. 

The moment she crossed the line, Mark's voice spoke over the radio. 

"Well done, Willow. That's P9 and Q2 is over. You made it" she could hear the joy in his voice and felt happiness spread in her body. 

"Fuck yes" she slightly yelled and came back into the pits before Q3 would begin. 

"We're both onto Q3" Pierre cheered hugging Willow tightly, and Willow couldn't stop smiling herself. 

"I know, it's amazing" she smiled, but the two drivers didn't get much more time before Q3 would begin. 

With only 10 drivers left it was now or never. This was the moment that counted. Willow knew that she had to improve on turn 4 and 5 if she wanted to score higher than P10 and maybe have a slight change of a podium or at least just a better finish than P10. 

So when she rolled out on the track for the third time, her nerves were even worse and the adrenaline was pumping through her body at max speed. She had to improve. 

She instantly began her fast lap pressing the speeder and changing gears. Everything seemed to be going pretty well, and though she did slightly clip the apex in turn 4 it didn't seem to affect her lap very much. 

"That was a good lap, currently P6." Mark spoke over the radio

"Do I have time for another one?" Willow asked

"Yeah if you start now" he responded. 

She pressed the confirm button and began her last qualifying lap hoping to set a better time. 

She mentally clapped in her hand as she nailed both turn 4 and 5 feeling much more confident than the last lap. She took the shorter way around turn 11 flying through the first sector. Soon she was closing in on the finish line, but just as she rounded the last corner another car was blocking half of the lane. 

In pure maybe shock and also because the car was blocking her way, she had to turn away and over in the other side of the lane loosing precious time. When she crossed the finish line, she had an angry expression on her face. 

"What the actual fuck was that guy doing?" she exclaimed much frustrated. 

"I'm sorry, Willow. P7" Mark said simply letting the driver get all her frustration out instead. 

Since another driver got a better time, she had to start P7 for the race the next day, and though P7 is still good, it was annoying to think that she could have maybe qualified P5 if it wasn't for the car blocking her. 

"Fucking stupid" she mumbled to herself on her way to the media pen that Clara had dragged her to.

"Cheer up, Willow. P7 is still a good result, and you'll have plenty of time to make it even better tomorrow" Clara said trying to cheer her up, though it wasn't really working. 

"But P7 is a shitty result, if I will ever get the change to even dream about that Red Bull seat. I need to do better" she said before putting her cap on and taking a zip of her water to end the conversation. 

Clara sighed knowing that when Willow's mind was set on something, she wouldn't stop fighting for it.