The Battle Of The Heart

Chapter 3: Practice Day

We went to explore Yas Mall on Friday morning and I filled Mariam in while we shopped. She seemed satisfied with the progress I was making with Lewis. Actually, she was delighted. It probably also had to do with the fact that she had met some rich entrepreneurs last night and got invited to a VIP yacht party tonight. We headed to the Paddock Club for lunch and champagne while waiting for practice to start. The view was amazing. We were right over the pit lane and could see the various teams preparing for the day while the media buzzed around them. I spotted the Mercedes team who looked in high spirits as they would soon be collecting the driver's and constructer's trophies on Sunday.

My family boasts staunch Ferrari supporters and I grew up watching Formula 1 with my dad and my brother. When he found out that I would be attending the Abu Dhabi GP, my brother begged me to take him with me and stopped talking to me when I refused. He only broke the silence on the day of my flight when he texted me two words: Get pictures. My father, on the other hand, simply vowed to disown me if I returned without a Kimi Raikkonen autograph. I noticed the Ferrari garage was just next to Mercedes. I tried to devise ways of kindly asking Kimi to sign something for me but he was well known for his aloofness and unapproachable nature. It was going difficult. I had no intention of asking Lewis to help as I did not know him well enough to predict how he would react to me asking him to help get the autograph of one of him major rivals.

Lewis came to find us after FP1. He took us down to the Mercedes garage and showed us around. His team members were very welcoming and tried their best to give us an insight of how everything worked.

"I thought I had it but Seb took it from me at the last minute," Lewis was saying. "But it's no biggie, I'll get him back very soon."

"Mmmh," I mumbled, taking in the sight of his car. It was a beauty. One of the engineers took a picture of Lewis, Mariam and I with his car, and Mariam instagrammed it with the obligatory caption 'Gang.'

We were passing by one of the business suites when Lewis spotted Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen inside. They seemed to have just finished an interview as reporters were filing out of the room while they were casually sitting inside, having a laugh. Lewis introduced us and I could see Mariam struggling to take her eyes off Daniel.

"So, how are you guys finding it?" Daniel asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Great! This is our first Grand Prix and everyone has been so nice," Mariam replied, returning his smile.

"Yeah?" Max joined in. "Did you enjoy practice?"

"Even though Seb kicked Lewis' arse?" Daniel joked.

"Erm, that's a bit of an overstatement there! Watch what I do to him in second practice," Lewis retorted.

"Haha, I'd love to see him start whining like a child again," Max said. "I hope you and Valteri aren't planning on going easy on him in the race. Valteri deserves the second place more than he does!"

Max was talking about the championship. Lewis had already won but the fight for the second place was still on between Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari and Valteri Bottas from Mercedes. Currently, Vettel was in second place but Bottas could take that place if he won the Sunday race and Vettel came 9th or lower.

"For sure," Lewis nodded. "To be honest, I have Seb to thank for this championship. He practically gifted it to me with his immature and disgraceful behavior in the second half of the season."

They all laughed. I turned to Mariam and she was giggling too, although I was not sure she completely understood what they were talking about as she had yet to watch a Formula 1 race.

"Yeah, you did a much better job at keeping your cool. You deserve the title, man," Daniel said, patting Lewis on the back.

"Although it was fun to see Seb practically in tears in Asia!" Max sniggered.

Laughter again. I felt like I had just walked in a 'I hate Vettel' club. I knew sportspeople were extremely competitive and friction among top athletes was common. But Lewis has beaten Vettel - no, he has trashed Vettel and matched his 4 World Championships. Mercedes has been dominating for years now, and it was very likely Lewis would still dominate next year and surpass Vettel by winning a 5th title. Plus, Vettel had been painted as a villain after the Baku incident while Lewis was at the top of his career. I could see no reason for him to resent his defeated rival. It almost seemed... petty.

"Pop round to our garage whenever you guys have some free time," Daniel was saying. "We'll give you a taste of that Red Bull experience." He grinned and winked.

Mariam giggled her thanks and I took a picture of her with the Red Bull boys for her instagram before heading back to the Paddock Club.

"I thought you and Vettel were good... after that Baku incident," I said to Lewis as we were walking, unable to get it off my mind.

"Yeah, we're good," he scoffed. "But every time I think about it, it just reminds me of what a little person he is. He lost all my respect that day."

"What's Baku?" Mariam wanted to know.

"There was this race where Vettel deliberately hit Lewis for no apparent reason and got a penalty for it," I told her.

"A penalty!" Lewis pulled a face. "That idiot should have been banned!"

"What an idiot!" Mariam laughed.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, we've all done things when we've been frustrated," I muttered. Seeing the look on Lewis' face, I added, "I mean, of course, he was wrong! But you know... He did get a lot of heat for it... And he apologized..."

"What? Are you a Sebastian Vettel fan?" Lewis laughed, mockingly. He stopped and turned around to face us, acting outraged.

"Of course not! She's a Lewis Hamilton fan," Mariam insisted, before I could say anything to ruin my relationship with Lewis.

"Well, I mean of course, I support you but my family are crazy Ferrari fans," I told Lewis. "And I don't really mind Vettel that much."

I shrugged while Lewis shook his head and chuckled.

He raised a hand and gestured to someone behind us.

"Hey, Seb! Come here, I want you to meet a fan of yours," Lewis beckoned, laughing.

I spun around in alarm. And there he was. Sebastian Vettel was walking towards us wearing that classic Sebastian Vettel smile.