Deals with Daisy // LN4

67 ~ Guardian Angel

Lando's POV

"I'm really sorry... but I'm going to sign with Mercedes. This week," I tell Zac, my heart beating in my chest harder than I had thought it would as Zac's smile disappears completely. "I know that it means I'll be fighting hard against you guys next season but I want to focus on this year and this title right now. It's kind of good that this is coming at the end of an era because it means you won't really need to cut me out of much because I can just stop inputting on the new car. But I need to do this, McLaren is all I know and I love it here and maybe I'll regret it when you kick our ass next year but I really need to try out a new team. I love McLaren but..."

"You're ready for something new..." Zac fills in the blank for me, stopping from rambling as I scratch my neck, incredibly nervous to be saying the words out loud and specifically to be saying them to him. Maybe this was even a little stupid because I hadn't actually signed the Mercedes contract yet and if Daisy knew I was here and saying this then she would kill me but I just didn't want to go on holiday and be constantly receiving messages from him as he waited for updates on our contract. "I can't say I'm happy... we've given a lot to you over the years." He says glumly and I feel my ego bruised a little bit as the anxiety fades and I take a deep breath. It was to be expected because he wasn't wrong, we had been on this road for a long time, he was the reason I was the youngest rookie in the modern era after Max and those years had been a huge advantage for me over the drivers who were my age but with four years less experience. It's one of the many things that made me an attractive option for so many teams - Mercedes in particular.

"And I am now able to focus on thanking you for it with the championship this year. Oscar and I can definitely get the constructors and we both know that I can take the driver's one," I tell him passionately, trying to refocus the conversation as he sits back on his office chair and sighs, dragging a hand over his face before wiping away his disappointment, nodding and smiling like he had when I first walked in here.

"Let's give 'em hell," he agrees, shaking my hand across the bed before I pull him into a hug. This was going to be so weird... not being in this team. Not having Zac as my team principal was going to be bizarre and I really would miss it.

"Can we hold off on announcing anything?" I ask him nervously when we pull apart and he nods his head in agreement. We both know that them announcing someone else would sow seeds of confusion when the team really needed to have everything together in order to win the championship. I was relying on that and the fact that Oscar wasn't particularly close to me in the standings to guarantee my position as lead driver wouldn't be compromised... maybe it still would but it was a risk that I was going to have to take.

"We're in this till the bitter end Lando... I appreciate you telling me and while I don't like it, I am proud of you. Searching for something new, a new challenge... it's very adult. But you're right, we will kick your ass next year," he jokes and I feel relief flood my veins. While I knew other driver's couldn't trust Zac... I had a weird confidence that he wasn't in danger of going against me... I wouldn't know for sure but until he gave me a reason not to trust him, I was going to believe that he respected me enough to not make this a mess.

I'd thought about not telling him but when I was standing on the top step of the podium with Daisy exactly where she was meant to be, I knew that I just wanted to be able to enjoy our holiday. I wanted to focus on her and I didn't want to be stressing about how I was going to tell the guy had been a second father figure to me for almost a decade that I was leaving the team that had been my family and given me my first drive in F1. So I told him before we left the track, avoiding Daisy's questions when she saw me return because she had made sure to tell me that under no scenario was I meant to tell Zac until after I'd signed on the dotted line because if he replaced me too quickly then I might find myself getting a worse contract from Mercedes.