The Long Lost Sister (F1 x Eurovision)

Chapter 13

Lando's POV

The next day I made my way to the track ready for the Grand Prix, starting P9 didn't favour us at all and knowing that the other cars around us would be quicker was going to make this a difficult race. My friend Alex Albon was also starting in sixth in a Williams that had an incredible amount of top speed, getting past him was going to be difficult if the opportunity arose. After various meetings with my engineers and the driver's parade it was finally time to race. I sat in my car driving around the temple of speed for the formation lap.

"Alright Lando, this is going to be a tough one lets brave through it you know what to do."Will replied on the radio.

"Yes mate i'll do my best."I replied unsure of how the race was going to go as i saw the 5 red lights in front of me.

I launched of the line as quickly as possible gaining a position on the Mercedes of Lewis in front of me as I accelerated into the first corner. I had good traction off the line allowing me to go side by side with my teammate Oscar as we braked heavily into the tight first chicane getting through without any damage luckily. After that I could see the Williams of Alex ahead already pulling a gap to me.

"Try your best to overtake Albon ahead, mode 5 when you can."Will replied as I pressed confirm on my steering wheel and set off after him.

After about 10 laps or so, I started to get frustrated. Alex was staying ahead easily with the top speed in the car and even if my car was faster in the corners allowing me to close up to him, he had the advantage of DRS from the car in front. I was stuck in a DRS train now and I was being pressurised from Oscar behind me. In the hot temperatures this weekend as well my yellow walled medium tyres started to degrade pretty quickly and lap after lap it was getting more difficult to catch Alex whilst keeping an eye on Oscar behind.

"Mate I cannot keep this pace up, the Williams is so fast on the straights and my tyres are degrading fast."I spoke into my radio.

"Copy Lando, we see it and your brakes and engine have started to overheat slightly, so lets pull back a bit but stay within DRS if possible."Will replied.

"Mate I'll be vulnerable from behind then, Oscar and Lewis are close behind me."I replied.

"Unfortunately we have no other option Lando, we don't want to risk retiring the car when we can still get some hard fought points."Will replied back.

"Alright, what are the lap times I have to target?"I questioned.

"Low 1:26's is what we need."Will replied as I pressed confirm on my steering wheel.

I continued in the race staying close behind Alex whilst managing to cool my engine and brakes down to an optimum level. I pitted off my worn mediums on lap 22 onto a fresh set of hard tyres.

"So that's the first and final stop of the day, there are 29 laps remaining we need to see these tyres to the end."Will replied as I emerged behind Alex.

"When did Alex pit for his hards?"I questioned.

"He pitted on lap 15 so you have 7 lap younger tyres, stay with him and keep your tyres in check, we should be able to mount an attack towards the end."Will replied.

I managed to save some life in my tyres by the final laps of the race, but the pace difference was still too huge as I got overtaken by Lewis and Oscar was breathing down my neck now. I had decided to start using them up considering there was 5 laps to go. I was able to close up to Alex on a few occasions whilst defending from Oscar thanks to the DRS I had. I almost managed to overtake Alex but he was defending that 7th position with all his life as I went into the run off area two times thankfully not losing a position. In the end I finished the race in 8th whilst Oscar finished down in 12th after a late contact with Lewis.