one more race// l. norris

Chapter 51

Milton Keynes. 

My home for another year. 

Red Bull, my family for another year. 

I love Formula One. It is my life. I can't imagine my life without it, well, I know it would be boring. I was now sat in Christians office with Max and Helmut ready to sign the contract, it would be going live today at 2pm, it was now 1 o'clock. Christian had just signed on his line, now it was my turn. 

I was more confident when I took the pen and sat down compared to when I was in the Veloce factory. 

I let the pen gracefully dance over the paper. I smiled as the three other men clapped their hands. I was now a Red Bull driver again. Bring it on. We then had to use a fake contract for the photographers, they can't see the real contract for legal reasons. We resigned it, they took a shit ton of photos of the four of us, then just Max and I, then me and Christian. 

I messaged Lando that I had officially signed, and he said he would pick me up at 3. We all impatiently waited in Christians office until 2pm, when the Red Bull Racing social media team posted online that I had signed for another year. F1 then released an article, the headline wrote:

Sky Morgan has signed a contract with Red Bull for another season!

Minutes later, messages starting flooding in, from Cisca, Jon, Daniel, Charles, Charlotte, Kelly. It was amazing. I felt so grateful to everyone who had supported me this season. 

Christian mentioned going for some drinks when we were in Brazil. We couldn't go tonight because we were flying out tomorrow at 11. I had decided to fly out with Max and Kelly on his jet, he had also said Lando can join us, which I was very grateful for. He obviously said yes, and the four of us, plus little Penelope boarded the plane and headed for Sao Paulo. 

Brazil truly was a beautiful country. I wish I had more time to spend here. Maybe I will try and convince Lando to come out here on holiday in the winter break. We arrived in Brazil at 5am, because of the time zones. After getting to the hotel, we went into our rooms and Lando and I went to bed for a few hours, it was 9am when we woke up. We weren't in a rush today, plus I'm still on crutches. We ordered some room service and I took a bath, it was now around 11am. Lando had asked if he could go on a walk and explore with Carlos, I of course, said yes. I felt and I couldn't walk around with him, but with a crutch it makes it a bit obvious. Kelly and Max were off visiting Kelly's family, since she was originally from Brazil. I loved it when she spoke her mother tongue, Portuguese. It was like magic, she spoke it so well. I knew the rough edges of Spanish, that was about it really. 

I sat in my room watching tv most of the day, until there was a Red Bull team dinner, plus Lando, in the evening. We both got ready, I pulled on a royal blue dress that touched the floor so it covered my ankle support, and it matched the main colour of Red Bull.  Lando wore a white shirt, and some black chinos. He looked ravishing I can't lie. He came down the stairs with his top button done up, I shook my head. "Lando, its my team going out for a few drinks, relax, undo your top button. You look much better with it undone." I smirked. 

He rolled his eyes and smiled at me as he undid his button, he looked much more relaxed now. It wasn't too fancy, but I wanted to dress up, I had signed for another year -  it was important. 

The drinks were lovely, there wasn't too many of us sat in the restaurant. Horner had booked the place out, there were probably 30 of us. Lando and I sat next to each other in the middle of the table, Max and Kelly opposite, Lady Penelope taking her place in-between them. I loved little Penelope, she was so cute! As the night went on, Penelope ended up coming round and sitting on my lap. We were blowing raspberries at each other and playing around. It was hilarious. Then she got tired so I cuddled her and kept her warm, next thing I know, Lando leant over and whispered in my ear, "You're a natural." 

I blushed, "I'm just getting my practise in." 

"Practise, for what?" he teased back, knowing exactly what I meant. 

"You know what I mean Mr Norris." I smiled back, looking down at P again. 

I eventually had to give Penelope back to Kelly and Max as they called it a night, Lando and I did the same at around 10:30. We headed back up to the hotel room, Lando changed into his joggers but kept his top off. 

"You can't keep walking around shirtless Lan, you're teasing me." I groaned , punching his shoulder. 

He grabbed my waist and pulled me into his front, his chest on my back, "Teasing you? I would never." 

"Whatever." I scoffed and shoved him off jokingly. "Would you unzip me?"

"Of course." he smiled softly. Lan gently pulled the zip down the material of my dress. It eventually fell to the ground and I stepped out, using Lando as support with my dodgy ankle. I put my own pair of joggers on and slid one of Lando's hoodies on.

"Hey! I was going to wear that tomorrow!" he argued. 

"Haha unlucky, because so was I!" I laughed back. 

"I can't even wear my own hoodies these days!" he rolled his eyes sarcastically. 

I smiled, "Lando, you will spend most of tomorrow in team wear. Be quiet. I am wearing your hoodie. End of discussion.". I would in fact, also be wearing my team wear tomorrow, but oh well. 

Lando didn't say anything else, just snuggled into me and we fell asleep in each others arms. 

Even though I wasn't racing this weekend, I still had to do the media side of things, so I got ready with Lando the next morning, I put my team top underneath Lando's hoodie and we left the hotel. A taxi drove us to the track too, Lando walked me to the Red Bull building. Max met me outside and helped me up the steps, all I had to do was hop. The crutch helped, it was a bit of an anchor. 

My first interview was with Sky Sports, Natalie Pinkham was hosting it. Luckily, we had seats, so I didn't have to stand. 

After saying our hellos and asking how each of us was, we got into the interview. 

Natalie began, "Congratulations on being with Red Bull for another season, bet that must be exciting for you! We heard rumours you almost signed for W Series this week? What made you change your mind and sign with Red Bull again?"

I nodded, "It is indeed thrilling to be in the sport for another season, and yes, I almost had put pen to paper with W Series but I changed my mind last minute."

"What made you change your mind?" she asked.

I inhaled gently, "Well, if I leave F1, when will we have another female F1 driver? If I leave, will the spot just be filled with a man? Will anymore amazing women enter the sport if the only woman ever to be in the sport full time only does one season? No. The simple answer is no. I am not only staying because I love the sport. But because I need to prove a point. Women do belong in this sport. I belong in this sport. I want to encourage people to hire more women, whether it be in marketing, or mechanics, or engineering, or aerodynamics. We need more WOMEN!"

Natalie smiled, "I can only applaud what you're doing. Promoting women in this sport is important because it is mainly a mans sport, but you are right, if you leave, who knows when the next female driver will appear."

Natalie asked me a few more questions and then I moved on to some other interviews, they all asked the same questions to be honest, but overall it wasn't too bad. I am still upset I can't race here though, I really do love Brazil. If only I could turn back time...