Don't you dare - Lando Norris

16

Qualifying was here. For me, this was probably the most important qualifying this year. I was in my car, ready to get out and running. I tried to focus on the job I needed to get done today, but Lando's comment earlier this week had been running through my mind since.

"At least my parents want me, that's more than you could say."

It was probably the worst thing he could have said to me, and for some reason I was surprised it came from his mouth. It shouldn't surprise me that he was able find that one thing that hurt me the most.

Soon enough I was on track. My first flying lap in Q1 put me in p14, giving me a lot of motivation to make the next one perfect.

I started my second flying lap and felt better than the previous one. I swerved around the corners and actually felt good. I took the last corner perfectly and went over the finish line with confidence. The was a good lap.

"P9 Nat. Q1's over, you're through." The disappointment spread across my body. I hit myself mentally when realizing how unfocused I'd been. I had to do better than this.

Q2 went slightly better than Q1. I placed myself in p6, and told myself that anything lower than that as a result would be a disaster during Q3. That was my way of pushing myself to greatness. Or at least it was today.

I pushed my last flying lap, praying it would take me far up the list of drivers. I went over the line and waited for the result from Maya. I even closed my eyes for a second. The track was clear so I didn't have to look out for anyone. And I know the turns by heart.

These seconds were the longest ones I'd ever experienced. "Okay Nat, that will place you in p8." I crashed down onto my steering wheel. Fucking hell. That's awful.

"I'm so sorry," I said to her. I didn't mean that to just her, but to the whole team. "What's the order?"

"P7 Piastri, P6 Ricciardo, P5 Leclerc, P4 Hamilton, P3 Sainz, P2 Verstappen..." that was when my heart dropped. There was one driver left to fill up that pole position. It couldn't be anyone else. "And P1 Norris."

Fuck

He took my place. It was my home race. I couldn't believe he'd taken pole. That was the place I should've placed at. But I didn't, because of him. I'd been so unfocused on the race ever since our argument on Wednesday.

I drove back to park the car next to the rest of my colleagues, except the top three. My brother, Max and the man I hated. At least I could be happy for Carlos, he'd placed p3 in our home race. I went over to the top three and waited until he saw me. Once he did, he rushed over to me and brought me into a big hug and lifted me up.

"I'm so happy for you!" He smiled once he brought me down but frowned when he saw me.

"You don't look too happy."

"I wanted to do better," I shrugged. "I'm just happy you did at least." He smiled at me and nodded.

"You'll do better tomorrow, that's what matters anyway" I nodded back to him and then pushed him to do his interview.

I waited for the interview, when I'd seen my brother I walked over to get weighed and then inside to do some interviews.

I stood in the media pen listening to every male interviewer telling me what I did wrong, asking why I didn't perform like my teammate did. I sighed.

"I wish I could blame it somewhere else but right now I have to say this is on me. I haven't had the best focus this weekend but I'll be sure to change that tomorrow. No one's scored points on a Saturday, it's Sunday that counts." He nodded to me, obviously not believing that I'll be able to do anything good tomorrow.