The days at the track passed so quickly. Max and my father showed me a lot of processes and I learned a lot about Formula 1. It was all much more complex than I would have ever thought and interesting at that, somehow I regretted not having been interested in it sooner.
Max was just explaining the stats I could see on the screens. "Wow, I'm really excited.. I always thought you were just driving your car in circles, but it's so much more," I said, genuinely excited.
"I'm glad you like it so much, so I have to go now free practice starts soon, see you later" he said and went towards his driver's room to get ready. "Don't do anything stupid," he called out to me.I stuck my tongue out at him and then went through the pit lane. There was a lot of activity everywhere.
I was walking past the Mercedes garage when I stumbled upon one I knew, before I hit the ground someone caught me. "Thanks, I should really look where I'm walking" I say before looking up.
"You really should, unless you like walking into me" then he laughed and added "You do have a polite side, I thought your British side was lost." He had a big grin on his face. I tried not to grin...but couldn't. How could he be so polite and cheeky at the same time?
"Very cheeky answer Mr. Russel, otherwise I only know you more politely." I say with my smile. "That smile suits you much better than your serious expression, let me show you my car," he said and took my hand and pulled me into the garage.
Had he just complimented me on my smile and why did I just let myself be dragged into the garage of my father's biggest competitor. I followed him without comment, otherwise I wasn't really speechless. George's hands were so soft, his skin feels really great. Hold on... why am I even thinking about it.
George explained a lot to me and also differences, of course not exactly but I always thought the cars are almost the same except for the color, but George was able to refute that."Wow I mean I have to say the design of your car is even nicer than RedBull" I mean it the Mercedes colors looked much more elegant.
At some point I noticed that George was still holding my hand, we had been standing like that for at least 10 minutes and neither of us had really noticed it. George also shows me around the garage and introduces you to a few people. He introduce me to Mick, Angela and Bono they are all so nice.
Suddenly someone behind us cleared his throat, we turned around and nobody but his team principle was behind us. He looked at me seriously. I immediately noticed how I assumed a more tense posture. I breathed in and held out my hand to him. "Hello Herr Wollf, I'm Lily Horner"
He seemed a little more relaxed now. "You can call me Toto" You're Christian's daughter, aren't you? I smile politely and nod."Lily, please don't get me wrong, the daughter of our biggest competitor shouldn't be here in our garage," he said, while being kind but serious.
I was still thinking about how I should react when George started "Toto, I just showed you around here, there's nothing wrong with it." Now Toto's face darkened again "George, we're not discussing this here"
"It's fine, I have to go back now anyway" I said and added "It was nice to see you again, I wish you a lot of success for free practice George" I gave him a smile and he gave me an apologetic look before I went back to the Pit lane and direction RedBull went.
Just a moment I had just seriously said to him that I would have been happy to see him again?
Friday and Saturday fly by again. It's Sunday and the running is already in full swing.
I was allowed to sit next to my father on the pittwall which was really a great experience, but of course I wasn't allowed to give that in front of him. "Dad, can you explain to me what these buttons are for?"
I notice how happy my father is that I am so interested in his work and he explains everything to me. As I look on the screen Max is first, he's really been very dominant this weekend with his performance. "Can I actually see where the other drivers are?" I asked curiously.
My father looks at me in surprise "Are you looking for someone in particular?" Somehow I felt caught, I actually wanted to see where George is, but I didn't want to tell my father that either "no nobody in particular, I'm just curious"
The race was relatively unspectacular. Max won ahead of Charles and Carlos. Ferrari seemed to be having a good year this year. After the podium celebration there was a mini celebration in our garage.
"Max asked me to go to the after race party tonight, is that ok?" I looked at my father asking and hoping.He immediately looks at me seriously "You really want to go straight to the first party?...." He paused for a moment but then continued "Lily... you know the conditions right?" Of course I knew what he meant, how many times have we had this discussion, although in England I never stuck to it. "Yes, I know you, a maximum of three drinks and no other "substances".." I said annoyed and rolled my eyes.
I drove back to the hotel with my father and got ready. It wasn't long before Max picked me up and we entered the club. Many were already there and sitting in the lounge, apparently someone had already bought drinks, at least the table was full.
"Take what you want, we always do it that way," Max said to me and immediately mixed a gin and tonic himself. We sat for a while and chatted with everyone. George was also here but sat further away.
"Let's all go dancing," Lando called across the table and everyone got up and headed towards the dance floor.I don't, I can't dance when I'm so sober. I thought that would only be embarrassing.
Apparently George noticed right away that I didn't go with him because he came back to me. "What's the matter is dancing too uncool for you?" he asked me directly. "I know it sounds silly but I can't dance that sober...I need ten more drinks or something first." I said lightly, shrugging my shoulders.
"I haven't heard such nonsense for a long time," George said cheekily. He grabbed my hand again and pulled me towards the dance floor. I didn't know why I didn't rate myself... Otherwise I never gave in so quickly.. In general I wondered what he always had with my hand that he just took it to take me somewhere just like Friday to the Mercedes garage.
It's really almost everyone on the dance floor. It felt really weird at first.. but song by song I loosened up and really enjoyed myself. After a few hours Max came to me, I hadn't even moved from the dance floor.
"Hey, I would like to go to the hotel now, would you like to come with me?" asked he.
"Oh come on grandpa, half an hour?" I smiled at him.
"Well, let's do it like that," he said, walking back to the lounge.
George danced next to me the whole time and surprisingly well too. How should it be that at some point he took my hand and we danced together. A fast song played and George spins me across the dance floor. I had to laugh and then hold onto his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes. "George stop, I'm getting dizzy"... I say breathless "sorry, I couldn't hold back on that song" and there it was his cheeky smile again.
We danced until Max got on my nerves that he really wanted to go to the hotel. When I was back in my room I took a quick shower and then got into bed. The evening was really great, I haven't had so much fun for a long time. I realized that I only had the one drink at the beginning.
When I went to celebrate with my friends in London it was different.. half of the evening was often missing in my memories, but I had to admit that the evening was so much better than the celebrations in London
YOU ARE READING
Wrong Decisions - George Russel
Fiksi PenggemarLily Horner has never made it easy for her father. Christian Horner almost despaired that he could not protect his daughter because he was away so often. Lily had many bad friends but at some point Christian had enough and he took her with him t...
