RED LIGHTS | LANDO NORRIS

Monaco

"I should've listened to Max."

"Sorry?"

"This is boring mate."

Lia could hear Duncan stifle a laugh at her radio message. It was near the end of the Monaco race and absolutely nothing had happened. She had no opportunity to test her driving skills due to the narrowness of the track.

"The most exciting thing that's happened was me nearly missing the anthem earlier," she stated.

"That was pretty amusing to watch."

She chuckled and came through the tunnel. There was only a few more laps thankfully.

"You're P4 right now."

"As I have been for the last thirty laps."

"We could play some music if you'd like. I think Lando might be listening to Friday on repeat."

She laughed and agreed to the gift. Duncan began to blast Rihanna through the radio.

"Oh hell yes!"

The music motivated her to push the car to the line. The final laps passed by and she finished in P4. Duncan congratulated her as she went for the cooldown lap before she pulled back into the pits.

She sat in the car a moment longer to take a deep breath, lifting her visor to see the engineers crowd her car. She waved at them cutely as they decided to just wheel in the car with her in it.

"It's like I'm a passenger princess in my own car," she smiled. They laughed at her before making space for her to get out. She took her helmet and balaclava off and ran a hand through her hair.

"Hey let's go!"

She looked back and saw Lando facing her, pulling off his own balaclava. He shook the curls on his head and came towards her. Lia didn't know where the heat in her cheeks came from but she assumed it was from the race.

"How'd you do?" she asked. They both began to rip off the sleeves of their suits and reached for their waters.

They continued to chat about the race as they moved towards the row of reporters waiting for them. Together, they stood in front of them waiting for the first question.

"Good day for McLaren, don't you think?"

Lando nodded and placed his cap on backwards, "Yeah, P4 and P6. Good points for the team."

"How do you think the race felt today?"

"Kind of slow," Lia admitted, "There's not much you can do at a certain point."

Charlotte tapped on Lando's back. He turned to give her his attention so the reporter solely focused on Lia for the time being.

"And how do you feel about Charles Leclerc's DNF on lap fifteen?" they asked.

Lia scratched her throat and tugged at the collar of her shirt. She merely shrugged, "I feel bad that he didn't get to finish his home race. I know it meant a lot to him."

Charlotte then tapped on her shoulder too and gestured for her to follow Lando down the line. Lia turned back for a moment and thanked the reporter for their time.

"Have fun celebrating tonight!"

She smiled, "Trust me, I will."

•••

Monaco parties were no joke. Not a single person was sober. Lia had been in several clubs since before the sun even thought about setting. Her and the other drivers were now in their third club of the night.