Against You

Press Conference

Lando POV

"Hey, Lando." A familiar voice drifts through my cabin door. Oscar pushes his way in from the cool night outside with a small smile.

"Oscar," I say. I put down my folded race suit and walk over to him. "Are you okay?"

He smiles weakly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your first win..."

He shrugs and hands me a can of cola which I take gratefully. Finally, no more dieting until next year.

"I'll get one next season," he says.

I study his face. Half sad and half scared. "Thank you," I say for the millionth time.

He shrugs again. "It's whatever."

"No," I say, taking both his shoulders in my hands and turning him to face me straight on. "You handed me the championship when you could have had the win you'd been dreaming of. You didn't have to do that at all. I really owe you. No shrugging."

It's clear he doesn't know what to say so I let go of his shoulders and open my drink. It doesn't make sense in my head, so it probably makes even less sense in his.

"Can I ask you something?" I murmur.

"I guess."

"Why did we spend the whole season arguing and making idiots of ourselves?"

He laughs, and I laugh too. It still feels alien to relax around Oscar, but it reminds me of years gone by, back when we were kids discovering motorsport for the first time together.

"I guess now I'll never get the chance to step out of your shadow," Oscar sighs.

"When have you ever been in my shadow?"

"Since Formula Renault. We were almost the same age, we had the same experience and the same car but you totally thrashed me. You won the series and I was stuck down in ninth, you got all the attention, the recognition, the praise, and from there it all came easily for you. Formula Three, Formula Two, then straight into McLaren. I watched you the whole time, thinking if only I had beaten you back when we were sixteen. I wished so hard that I could have been you."

I lower my gaze and furrow my brow. "My path wasn't easy," I murmur, not lifting my eyes off the bleach-white floor.

"Easier than for me."

I shake my head, sitting down on the sofa. I meet Oscar's brown eyes as he sits across from me.

"I envied you as well," I say. "I envied you the moment you signed with Prema, then Alpine too, because I knew how much support you would have, from them and the whole academy. I watched some of your videos... The training camps, the games you'd play, and I wished I could have found a family like you did. I didn't get that life. When I did it I had to do it on my own."

Oscar who looks to be deep in thought.

"You were friends with Sacha, though. You even lived together."

"He moved away, we grew apart. I even grew apart from George and Alex when we got into Formula One and couldn't spend so much time together anymore. Besides, your road to Formula One hasn't been that hard. You've just had one season out, and even then you were the reserve driver."

"It still felt like a loss."

"You're too focussed on winning everything," I spit. "You never understood that the most important thing is to show up for your team."

Anger flashes in Oscar's eyes and for a moment I think my words might have ruined the moment, but then he softens.

"I always thought you didn't care enough about winning. That's why it hurt so much that you had so much success."