I remember

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

One year later...

Abu Dhabi GP – Nov 24th 2024

Sienna POV

Zak comes up to me whilst I'm walking back into the McLaren garage, having just wished Lando luck for the last race of the season. He's currently level on points with Charles so whoever wins this race, becomes world champion. In all honesty, I feel sick and I'm not sure how I'm going to watch this race without doing so through my fingers. I don't think I can take another re-run of 2021.

'Did you see Landos helmet today?' he asks me

'It's the same helmet he's been wearing all weekend isn't it?' I reply.

'Not completely, no' he chuckles and walks off to take his place on the pit wall.

What was all that about? I mutter, making a note to self to take a good look at Landos helmet as soon as the opportunity arises.

I grab my headphones and take my usual seat in the garage, watching all the cars do their formation lap. Lando is trying to go as slow as physically possible but still fast enough to keep the heat in his medium tyres, he knows sitting at the front of the grid waiting for all the others to get into position will disadvantage him when the lights go out.

'That's it, the last car is in place and it's the last race of the season' I hear Crofty say, I hear the beeps as the red lights go on one by one and then 'it's lights out and away we go!' I never tire of hearing Crofty say that, I get goosebumps everytime.

My heart is literally in my mouth as Lando gets an amazing start off the line, my leg is shaking already and they've not even got to the first corner yet. Lando stays ahead of Charles but I know Charles won't give up that easy, not today, not when there's a championship on the line. Charles fights hard to stay within one second of Lando waiting for when DRS will be enabled and he can get that extra bit of speed to increase his opportunity to overtake. But it seems like destiny is on Landos side and he starts to pull away. By the time he comes in for his pit stop he's 5 seconds ahead. I cross my fingers and close my eyes, as his car enters the box 'please be a good pit stop, please be a good pit stop' I open my eyes again but he's gone already and I sigh in relief.

Lando POV

I see the yellow flag flash up on my dash, 'virtual safety car mate' comes the confirmation over the radio. 'Fuck!' I yell to myself, this cannot be happening. I'd been having a great race up until now. All I could do was hope they didn't bring out the actual safety car and bunch up the pack behind me. I look into my mirror, I can't see Charles' red Ferrari behind me so I bring my eyes back round to the front and take a deep breath. 'Virtual safety car ending in 15 seconds, let's finish this, 18 laps left, get it done!' 'Thanks Will, can I have silence until the end of the race please' A simple 'copy' came back at me and I concentrated on being ready when the green light appeared.

Sienna POV

Because the cars were going around the track at a slower pace, I finally got a good look at Landos helmet. It appears the media had as well because the cameras stayed on it a long time which enabled me to take it in. His helmet for this weekend had deviated from his usual bright yellow and had instead been white, with an intricate gold pattern around the sides and on the top. He had claimed it was because gold was the colour of a champion and it made him feel lucky going into this final race. However, it now had two simple words on it which hadn't been there the past two days, Marry Me? I looked up at the tv screens which suddenly had my face on them waiting for my reaction. I smiled as my heart swelled with love but I wagged my finger and shook my head at the cameras. There was no way I was letting the millions watching know before I gave Lando my answer.