Deals with Daisy // LN4

52 ~ Daisy Chains

The night before
Lando's POV

"What are you doing?" Elena asks with a smile while settling into the sofa next to me with a mug of hot chocolate in her hand. God, I'd love some chocolate, she can clearly see that as she offers it to me and it takes all the restraint in me to shake my head and return my gaze and grimace to the pages in my hands, two contracts that Daisy had conjured out of thin air over the last twenty four hours. God knows how she worked this hard, this fast constantly. My best guess was that she'd had them written for a while but it was still impressive. She'd already advised me not to sign either because 'they weren't good enough' but she'd captured the important agreements from our chats with Mercedes and McLaren and I needed to figure out what I liked from each - that was going to be the goal of the summer break. Silly season was already in flow and I wasn't convinced that any of the drama around me or my name being everywhere was coincidental. Every story I saw about me, I could tell from the writing and the quote exactly who it had come from and why it was saying what it was... Daisy's services might be expensive but they were worth every penny. She was damn good at her job even if she'd been a little MIA within my personal life the last couple of months.

"Lando wants to stay with a team in the UK. He loves living in Monaco but he's always felt as though England is home so giving up the opportunity to live part time and so working in England is a nonstarter for the young veteran driver. It's a priority for him, making sure that he stays with a UK based team - ideally close to his family and if not, then whatever the team is offering has to be worth losing that time. These things have a heavy price tag affixed to them," a source close to Norris disclosed to us last week.
This makes the frequent sightings of Lando's manager in Monaco at dinner with Toto Wolff more of a worry than ever for Zac Brown. If that is the driver's priority - the England based rival team thought to be the main competition for Norris's talents going forward, not the Ferrari opposition that had been discussed all season long. Even the Red Bull seat is looking less attractive, hence the choice for Ricciardo his former teammate to sign an extension to continue driving alongside close grid-friend Max Verstappen.
With the regulation change-up coming next year, Norris has made it clear in recent weeks that he is less interested in winning with McLaren and more just wanting to make sure his name is in the record books. With a 'driving style and tenacity for speed comparable to Lewis Hamilton, he would be the ideal replacement for Mercedes' - in Toto Wolff's words. This shouldn't be a surprise since Lewis Hamilton's retirement announcement there was discussion that Mick Schumacher might be moving into the seat but with the German due to continue his partnership after a year with Sauber (soon to be Audi), it's now thought that Mercedes would like to keep a double-British driver line-up and one as popular as Lando with his many sponsors is desirable for anyone.
This all links to Lando being open for a move as he said after Imola that what mattered for his new contract was 'who might win next. This year doesn't really factor in that because it all changes, so you know, it's all about looking forward. Whoever has the best strategies for that and best chances then that's who I need to look at and talk to'. If Lando does find himself signing on the dotted line for Mercedes, he might find himself the subject of a lot of angry McLaren fans who were hoping he will bring the team their first WDC since Hamilton in 2008. However none of them will fault him for his lack of enthusiasm after seven years with the team, only rewarded with a handful of wins. It is difficult to believe that he might choose to leave the team that has him in the middle of a title fight though - but if history is less of a concern, it seems Lando might be ruthless and leave the team after getting that long awaited win?

"Just reading through them although I can't make any of it make sense," I groan as I run a hand through my hair and lean back on the sofa, looping an arm around her waist to give her a kiss on the cheek as I do before pressing one to her lips, enjoying the chocolatey taste without struggling with the calorie impact or Jon's glares tomorrow. It means I'm slightly distracted when she goes to pick up one of the papers from where I had abandoned them on the coffee table but when I realise, I hate myself a little as I grab the paper to stop her from looking any closer and seeing the words written on the page. "It's not personal but I just..." I don't even finish the sentence before Elena drops her grip on the paper like it was fire. "Sorry..." I mumble as I gather the papers together in a slight panic before turning them face down on the table.