Against You

Pre-Season Testing

Oscar POV

"I hate him," I say, shaking my head simply. Jordan walks by my side as we head up the main road towards the McLaren hospitality area. The paddock in Bahrain is huge, but during testing it's nowhere near as busy as on a normal race weekend.

"You've hardly spoken to him for six years," he replies, "he might have completely changed."

"He hasn't." I look down at my younger cousin and smile slightly, trying to take in this perfect scene. The evening sky is clear except for a few white wisps of cloud, the light breeze pulls at my shirt refreshingly, the paddock is calm after the day's testing. This is my favourite part of the evening.

But I can't relax.

The first two days of testing went well, with both of us doing analytics runs and having nothing to compete about. Now we've started trying to get the best out of the car, and Lando is destroying me. Of course I should have expected as much, he spends all day and all night on the simulator, and he has four years worth of experience behind him. But some part of my mind had been dreaming of turning up, a rookie, and obliterating him.

"You just need more practice. That's what this week is all about, right?"

I invited my cousin to come to pre-season testing so he could see whether he wants to go into Formula One himself as a mechanic. Sadly I didn't realise how secretive everything is and nobody will let him in the garage, let alone tell him what they're working on. So here I am entertaining him when I should be talking to the engineers about how I can improve tomorrow morning.

"Yeah, I need more practice. But how am I meant to make up for four years' experience in three days?"

"With your natural talent?" Jordan suggests. I smile and push him a little. My cousin has always been my biggest fan. After spending so much of my childhood karting in Europe it's nice to finally be able to share this part of my life with him now he's older.

"I'll do my best. But my plan was to destabilise him from the inside. Let him know I'm snapping at his heels, you know?"

Jordan looks up at me, nodding. "You should, like, make a mess in his garage or something."

I shake my head. "I don't want to mess with testing. I was thinking of putting a fish in his bag."

"What about something that'll just freak him out? Not a fish to disgust him, but maybe a napkin or something that'll just make him confused?"

I grin and nod. "Something like that."

The next day of testing goes smoothly with my testing times nicely in line with Lando's. I can hardly concentrate on him though, because its so much fun to finally have a Formula One car and be able to drive it around a track all day. I love making my own changes to the car, I love the way my seat fits my body perfectly, and I love improving bit by bit with every corner I take.

When the sun is beginning to set and I'm released from the garage for the day, my cousin runs up to me carrying an orange napkin.

"I wrapped a biscuit in it to make it seem like a gift."

"Is giving him a gift really a good prank?" I ask.

Jordan shrugs. "At least you're guaranteed not to get in trouble for it."

"I've got an idea. Give me that pen."

My brother hands me a pen and I use it to write on the napkin, on the inside so it won't be visible before Lando opens it. My brother sniggers and then all that's left is to smuggle the gift inside Lando's bag.

It isn't hard as he has a feedback session this evening. I had my own testing and feedback in the morning as I wanted to have the evening free to explore a little bit. Lando hates getting up early though, so he took the afternoon session. It might be the first thing we've agreed on.