Simply beautiful

Chapter twenty one:

Aaliyah's Pov:

We spent a few hours at the track hanging out. We laughed and smiled and laughter some more. It was really nice to hang out with Lando. He is so nice to me and Mattheo and I really appreciate that.

It's 20 minutes before the race and Lando has finished getting ready and walks back to us.

"I better say bye no and go to the grid so I can do a quick interview before the race." Lando said. "Ok. Good luck. I know you will do great" I say as he pulls me into a hug. We pull away a little, still holding each others in our arms. "Thankyou." He says. I smile at him and then question something. I decide to be brave and then lean in. I kiss his cheek and then pull away from him hold. Lando is just standing there in shock with a goofy grin on his face. He looks me in my eyes and then smiles even more. Before he can say something Mattheo came running towards Lando and hugs his leg. "Good luck Lando!!" He says. Lando crouches down and then pulls him into a hug. "Thankyou bud" Lando replies. Lando stands to his normal height and then looks at me one more time. "Bye guys" he says. We say 'bye' and then put the headphones on.

The race is about to start. I am so excited but I am also nervous. What if he gets hurt? What if he crashes? Maybe he will be on the podium. We never know. That's why I have mix emotions.

And it's lights out and away we go.

Perez out-braking himself and stalling Sainz's momentum, allowing Leclerc and Piastri to get ahead.

By lap 4 Verstappen has a 1.7s lead over Leclerc, who is defending because Oscar is in his mirrors. There is four tenths between Charles and Oscar. Leclerc looks to be really struggling with his tyres,he is sliding around everywhere.

Perez might have flat spotted his tyres on his first lap because he can't stick with Sainz. Max has starts Lap 5. Oscar slides down the inside into Turn 17 and picks off Leclerc for second. That was a great move but can Charles get him back across the start-finish straight? The answer to that is no. Leclerc is too busy now defending from his team mate Carlos.

The stewards have noted Perez for a false start but they are not investigating it yet. Sainz wants Perez investigated for nearly causing a collision,. The replays show Perez came really close to causing a collision with max and then nearly catching Carlos when he rejoined the track.

Charles is struggling with his rear tyres, he is still sliding around and Sainz has already been on the radio asking if he can pass Charles. This has made Max's job easier because he doesn't have to push so hard which is prolonging his life on his tyres.

Hamilton has made it back past Hulkenberg for seventh and Russell is ahead of Tsunoda for ninth.

Verstappen is leading the race by 2.6s on the medium compound tyres. Further back, it is all going off - Hamilton wasn't happy with Hulkenberg moving under braking, and he won't be happy this time around as he has managed to get back past. A replay is shown and we can see Lewis had a lockup.

We were also informed that there will be no further investigation for Perez false start.

The pit stops have started further back, Albon has pitted for the hards and that has caused a chain reaction because a few teams bring their drivers in to cover off that stop. The furthest forward to pit is Stroll from 11th.

Verstappen's lead over Oscar. The gap is at 2.7s, as both Verstappen and the Oscar manage their tyres. Leclerc is sticking with the McLaren, but he is starting to damage his rear tyres as a result of running in the dirty air.

Hulkenberg has returned in P15 from his pit stop, just behind Ricciardo.

Ferrari could be potentially trying to force McLaren into stopping, that or the message came too late for Leclerc to actually come in. The top 14 have yet to stop.Hulkenberg in P15 the first of the early pitters.