GIMME!GIMME! | Lando Norris

Thirteen ✨

Lando had to admit that he was a little surprised when he got a call from Max, telling him they needed to go meet Pietra at the club. Even more so when his best friend promptly explained that his girlfriend was accompanied by none other than Isabela, who, apparently, had a little too much to drink and needed someone who could look after her.

He quickly got out of bed and put on the first thing that came to hand—a very comfortable and, also, super expensive LV tracksuit. Upon arriving at the club and realizing how drunk Isabela actually was, he understood the severity of the situation. Admittedly, he had never seen her this drunk—he had never seen her drunk at all, for that matter—but there was something unsettling about seeing her like this. Seeing her this vulnerable made his skin crawl. Had it been because of him?

Although he wanted to figure out why she had reached the point of taking a 25-minute train ride to meet and hang out with someone she barely knew, the only thing he could think about was what she had told him.

"You're kind of my favorite person right now."

Lando had everything—money, fame, a family that loved him, and true friends who stood by him no matter what. But there was one thing he had been craving for some time: love.

We could argue that he was one of the most loved people on earth, and we'd be right. But that didn't fill the void of being romantically loved, and he knew that.

His first real relationship ended on a bad note. He loved her, she loved him, but even though they were from the same social status—he a Formula 1 driver, she an influencer and model—she eventually broke it off because the pressure from the media and the negative comments was too much. After that, all his relationships had been orchestrated by his PR team.

And he had to admit, all his flings with those women were somehow fulfilling—at least for his ego. That's why he still kept one or two of them around for his own selfish reasons. But nothing could compete with the feeling of involuntarily falling for someone. That's where Isabela came in.

He obviously knew of her before she joined McLaren at the end of the 2023 season, but he had to be honest and admit that was the first time he actually saw her. Funnily enough, their first interaction happened when Isabela drunkenly tried—and succeeded—in getting inside his hotel room in Singapore. He had to admit that he took some joy in seeing her all flustered during their subsequent encounters. Encounters that he also started to orchestrate.

As time went on, he realized that she was indeed beautiful, inside and out. She was smart, determined, and kind. She always had a smile to offer and never backed down from a challenge. And she was so caring. He knew she lacked love; he could see it in the way her smile never quite reached her eyes, how she never shared stories about her weekends with family and friends, and how she always worked late on Fridays. But he knew she was capable of loving others unconditionally without asking for anything in return. Selfishly, he wanted that—to be loved unconditionally without having to give it back.

It pained Lando to admit it, but at first, he had pursued her for his own selfish reasons. It felt like a challenge, like he could prove to himself that someone "normal" could fall for him—his true self. Not Lando Norris, the Formula 1 driver. It pained him because now he was the one who was "falling."

So, he couldn't help but wonder if people were right when they said drunk words are sober thoughts, because he would give his favorite car for the idea that maybe, just maybe, he really was her favorite person.

While navigating the storm of his thoughts, he decided the most sensible thing to do was drive them both to his London apartment. That's how he found himself half-carrying Isabela to his door. He would have carried her inside entirely, but she insisted she was too heavy for him to lift, and try as he might, he couldn't persuade her otherwise. If only she knew all the ways he had thought of lifting her, she certainly wouldn't be arguing with him this much.