peridot | lando norris

15|brazil|

lando pov.

november 3rd.

i was starting p6 after a 3 place grid penalty from quali.

things were not looking too great but i knew i was gonna push myself to my limits out there.

brazil was hot today. there was an hour until the lights went out and it was around 39 degrees already, expected to rise later in the race. oscar and i both had been in an ice bath for a hot-well cold- minute. i was walking around the garage with jon following me with a fan, it was quite funny i must say but the heat was horrific, and i wasn't even in the car yet.

we had a couple of guests today since brazil was an important race for mclaren. we had heritage guests as well as sponsors present at the pit today.

to say the paddock was packed was an understatement. it wasn't like miami, thankfully but there were still more people here today than there are at any other non-european race.

"um lando?" "what?" i ask jon while i unlock my phone to check the time back in london. "loraine, 3 o'clock" he said and i looked to my right. "why is she here?" i asked him, locking my phone and turning around to walk towards the car.

not the time loraine, not the time.

"lando!" i heard her call out to me and i had to stop walking because there was no way i could go further and risk being caught on camera.

"loraine, didn't see you there. how come you're here?" i asked, giving her a polite hug because it would be more awkward to step back. i don't need that kind of tension before a race where i'm already behind.

technically, i ghosted her so i probably made it more awkward with that greeting.

"it's my home race. and i'm here with -"

"let me guess, coca cola?" i asked, looking at the drink in her hand and she shook her head. "no, richard mille-wait you didn't know?" i purse lips and shrug. "no, not really"i roll back my shoulders and sip on some water.

"i literally did a photoshoot with oscar like 2 days ago" she said, sounding a little taken aback and my obliviousness.

in my defence, i actually had no clue oscar had a richard mille shoot on thursday.

"oh, interesting" i try not to look at her and she tries her best to get me to look at her.

"good luck for your race. i'm hoping we can talk after it. just the two of us" she says with a hopeful smile and i shudder. "umm, i'm kind of not -" "norris! it's go time" i heard my race eingineer call out for me.

her smile is beautiful and was a weakness of mine, but i wasn't like that anymore. i knew what i felt and it was far from a romantic attraction.

"so that's a yes?" she asks and i start walking towards the car.

"no- that's not a yes. thank you though!" i run sprint towards the car, getting my balaclava and helmet on and grabbing my gloves. "lando, weight check!" right. forgot about that.

once everything's done, i get into the car and the eingine's powered up. i give a thumbs up to the team and am cleared to leave the pits.

the formation lap goes well, the weather was already too hot so my focus was to make sure that my tyres don't over heat. the track had already rubbered in over the past 2 days and the f2 race that'd taken place earlier today.

we were back at the starting grid, waiting for until the inspections were done.

'radio check- radio check lando'