Hollow River

69.

His qualifying was okay, but the next day at the race he was definitely struggling.

It started drizzling and for some reason Mclaren always stressed when it started to rain.
I tapped the table with my nails as I was looking up at the broadcast.

Jon gave me headphones so I could hear Lando's radio. "What do you think Lando? Do you wanna pit for inters?" His engineer asked.

That's exactly what he was talking about yesterday. His team had to make this decision for him, that's why they hired a strategist.

"Uh I-I don't know, not yet I think" he answered. He started to doubt himself, his team and that's when I realized he wasn't gonna win a race like this.

I didn't even need a weather radar to know they had to put him on inters. Now.

Mercedes and Red Bull did exactly that, as expected. They probably didn't even hesitate.

"C'mon, put him on the damn inters" I mumbled to myself. "What did you say?" I didn't even realize Zak was standing next to me.

"You have to put your drivers on inters. They shouldn't have to make that decision. Your strategist has the weather radar." I pointed at the pitwall. "Your strategist has to make that call"

"And he better does it quickly" I added.

Zak looked at me for a little while before walking to the pitwall and not much later, both drivers pitted for inters.

Lando was flying after he put those tires on. He was so good in the wet, he was so confident.

He still finished fourth and Oscar sixth, it wasn't what they expected but I knew they were still happy with the result anyways.

Zak gave me a quick nod and he was even smiling a little. It was the first time he smiled at me.

Progress.

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Lando's debriefing meeting lasted what felt like ages.
It wasn't a big surprise after a race like that.

I decided to just walk around the paddock a little. I actually wanted to check on Christian. It's been a while since I saw him.

They had a good race, so their debriefing should be done by now.

I was right, Christian and Max were already sitting together outside the hospitality.

"Hi guys, congratulations" I said with a smile. I had to pretend as if I was happy they won.
I wasn't, I wanted Lando to win but I had to put that aside for now.

"So why were you standing in the Mclaren hospitality and not sitting on the Mercedes pitwall?" Christian asked immediately, not even giving me a chance to sit down.

"Because they fired me" I said as I sat down next to Max. They both looked at me with a frown. "Why?" Max immediately asked.

"It doesn't really matter Max" I shrugged it off. I could open up to Lando, but I definitely wasn't gonna tell him everything.

"Well, that's good for us, right?" Max looked at Christian. He nodded, knowing exactly what he meant.

Christian looked at me, his face always softened when he looked at me. "Are you okay River?"

And he always saw when something was wrong with me.

I shrugged. "I'm fine" I definitely needed some time alone with him.

After a little while, he left me alone with Max. Intense Max.
He looked at me with a smirk.

"So you and Lando fixed things?" He asked, he leaned closer and I leaned back.

"We did" I nodded and looked at the imaginary watch on my wrist. "Oh look at the time, I have to go" I got up but as expected, Max grabbed my hand.

"If he makes you happy, then I'm happy too" he looked up at me. I smiled. "Thanks Max, he makes me happy"

And he definitely makes me happy but I could feel Lando wasn't happy.
He might be happy with me, but he was cracking under the pressure.

He desperately wanted to win a race. I couldn't help him with that, but I could support him and that was exactly what I was gonna do.

After I dealt with Nate.