Cropped out - an Oscar Piastri x OC fic

Chapter 8- Fine

Oscar:
"Something is wrong with the gear box, can you check" I speak to my team through the radio. The car is going so unbelievably slow, everyone has now passed me and I'm at the back of the pack.

"We will change the steering wheel. Box next lap. Box, box." The radio crackles in my ear.

I pull into the pit lane, driving up to the McLaren box and they change my steering wheel. When I put it in, another error pops up.

"Nothing, again." I say into my radio, lightly smacking my wheel.

"Yes, sorry Oscar, but we're going to have to retire the car." I hear through the radio.

"Fuck sake!" I whisper shout to myself, shaking my head as I get wheeled back into the garage. What a shit fucking first race.

When I climb out of my car a few of my team pat my shoulders, apologising about the race. But it flies past my ears. I keep my helmet on, not removing it till I head towards my driver room, grinding my teeth on the way.

—
I watch the race from my driver room after having a shower and changing. The least I could do was see how lando was doing. Which was, albeit not as bad as me, going terribly. He had a pressure leak or something to his power unit, and so has had to have multiple pit stops, leading to him being last. Cody knocks on my door, letting me know that we should head to the post-race interviews. And as I open my door, I look back to see Lando crossing the line in P17. Great. Shit race, for the both of us.

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I try and get my interviews over and done with, in an attempt to escape my embarrassment and anger at DNF-ing on my debut race in F1. I don't doubt that the team will come back, but your ego takes a hit when things like this happens, and I hope it doesn't show too much to the fans and the media. There's not many other drivers here yet, just the three of us who DNFed, and I hope to leave before the rest arrive. I also don't want to see Eliana, knowing she'll be with Lando, because I don't know what I will say to her if she even looks at me the wrong way. Or anybody, for that matter. So I leave as soon as I can, looking back to see that Lando and Eliana walking around the corner of the interview tents.

When I get back to the garage I talk to a few of my team as well as Andrea about the race. It's filled with the same old promises, 'we'll get it sorted for next race', 'there's nothing we could have done', 'we're sorry, it won't happen again' but I just let it pass me by. I know how racing works, and I know that these things can't always be helped, but right now I'm in a sour mood and just want to finish my duties at the track and return to my hotel room.

So I do the next best thing, and retire to my driver room. When I'm sat on the sofa I let my mind wander back to yesterday, when I saw Eliana in the hallway. I was going to say something. What? Fuck knows. Maybe like, 'how's your first day?' or 'can't believe they deleted my lap time'. God, I don't know. But she just looked at me, no, glared at me. And I saw the fire burning in her eyes. I don't know why she hates me so much, and I'm just as lost as to why I hate her so much. Maybe we're the same side of the same stone.

After that, I needed to escape somewhere that wasn't as closed as my small room. So I went to the McLaren hospitality, which was relatively quiet for the time of day, and grabbed a bottle of water and sat down at a table in the corner of the room. It was peaceful, until my eyes caught a familiar red head walking through the entrance. I can't seem to escape her, even when I try. I found myself following her every movement, only removing my eyes off of her of someone came near me. When she turned around and saw me staring at her, I saw the confusion on her face. Her intimate stare was too much for me, it looked like she cared, so I got up and left.