Fight

P. Five

LUNA
'Gearbox ain't working,' I say to my engineer. Third race and the first one I'm not going to finish. I shouldn't have said it to Lewis on Thursday. Karma. But I didn't crashed, so also not. 'Stop the car, stop the car.' Fuck. That was my race. Now I have to wait two weeks before getting back in. At least I'm having an exiting week in front of me. Flying to Los Angels on Tuesday, tomorrow I'm gonna be a tourist here in China. Can't wait! In also visiting the Honda fabric again, I'm exited to learn some stuff. I stop the car on a save spot. Once I'm out the car, I wave to the crowd cheering. The rest for my wound is a good thing. Now it can finally heal. I'm moving my leg too much, with the stitches still in my leg. I can feel them pulling in my leg when I'm in the car. It's on such an unhandy spot. It's disappointing retrying though. I like this track, the corners. I wished we could've taken home some points. I could react angry but it doesn't help. And we need to see the positives. There is always next year. I step on the back of the motorcycle and hold on to the man.

Do you ever get too excited when you're about to take a sip of your water? No? Me neither. Well sometimes, when I really thirsty. But do you ever bring your glass way to fast to your mouth and it spill it, the water dripping down the sides of your mouth and there is more water spilled than in your mouth? Well that's what I have right now. And it's all caught on camera. Of course. Why does that always happen to me? Awkward I smile it the camera, wiping away the water from my face. I look down at my Toro Rosso shirt, a little wet. In 30 minutes I'm going to the square to give some interviews.

***

I take a seat in the single seater sofa next to the brown desk. 'So do I call you Luna or Guusje?' Pronouncing my first name in the best way he possible can. 'You can call me Guusje if you want, but I think Luna is easier. Most foreigners call me Luna.' 'Yeah I'll call you Luna, now you pronounced your name right.' I giggle. 'Okay.'

'When did you found out you wanted to become a formula 1 driver?' My story isn't as all the man their stories. I wasn't three when I found out karting. 'When I was 13 I had a birthday party from a friend where we went go-karting, that was the moment I fell in love with karting. When I was 14 I moved to Holland, to my grandparents. My opa was watching formula 1 one day, I watched it and I fell in love. I started watching every race weekend; I literally was addicted to it. In my head I was like, I wanna drive a car like that one day. Not much later I started karting.' He nods. 'How did your mom approved it? It's a dangerous sport.' I softly smile. Nobody told him? But it's fine. 'I don't know. My mom passed away when I was little.' His facial expressions change. 'Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know.' I assure him with a soft smile. 'It's fine. But my grandparents weren't sure about it. My dad though it was cool, an unique sport, but he was terrified too. My father struggled with money if he didn't had a buzzy summer, and karting is very expensive. But he wanted me to follow my dreams and I'm thankful he let me.' My father raised me to be free, to take risks, let me go on adventures. He wanted me to discover the world with Lola, we were hard to separate. I can't remember one of us having house arrest. 'He never tried to talk you out of it?' I shake my head. 'My father never. My grandparents did, my opa saw the bad crashes, because he came with me every race; sometimes I still wanted me to stop. But we already bought our go-kart and we were already racing. I was like; we can't turn back now opa.' He smiles. 'Yeah you've got your kart, there is no stopping now.' I nod. 'Exactly.' Jimmy moves to the side to grab a picture, he places it on the desk, showing it to the camera. 'This was your first kart.' I nod. Looking at the old blue kart, with me standing next to it with my helmet in my hand. 'Yeah it was a, what do you call it again? Pre-owned?' I'll just go with that word. He nods in understanding. 'It was a pre-owned kart, we bought some other equipment that were needed, better than the parts that were already in it and I was ready to race.' I'm glad I turned out here. I think my mom would be proud of me, reaching my goal. 'Who helped you with the kart?' 'My opa helped with everything, my sister was interested in it too and helped out sometimes. My oma giving us enough food, for on the road or when we were buzzy in the garage. I'm so thankful for them. My opa brought me everywhere and went with me every time, no matter what. He's definitely my biggest fan.' I know my grandparents put allot of effort in it and without my grandpa I wouldn't be here right now either. I'm working on a present for them, but I don't know what to give them other than flowers to be honest. Every month they get a new bouquet. Every time they sent a picture and tell me how much they love it. So sweet. 'Grandma's an their food obsession.' I giggle. How come every grandma has it?

'Let's go over here.' I follow Jimmy, closer to the band. Taking a small step down. 'We're going to have a competition.' I nod. I liked the idea when I first heard it. There are two steering wheels with chairs. 'I'm not letting you have a test round, because you're pro.' He takes a seat. I giggle. 'I don't need one.' He looks up at me, because I'm still standing. 'Alright, we'll see. Not that I dough it.' I love Jimmy's humor. 'Which track you wanna do?' I aks him. Looking at the tv screen in front of him. 'Let's do Monaco.' 'That's a street circuit, so you'll crash easier.' He changes the track, looking around for another. 'I mean we can do it, we're playing ghosts, so it doesn't matter.' I forgot for a small second it was a game. 'No we're going to do a different one now.' I smile, softly shaking my head. I don't mind, I know the tracks. 'Abu Dhabi?' I nod. 'Just talk me through please I don't know how this works.' I smile as he starts driving. 'Just follow the line, slightly brake when it turns orange. You can drive over the curbs that's no problem. Just follow the line it's that easy really.' That was a bad explanation. Focused he drives a lap. 'You haven't driven on this track right?' When he's getting close to the end I take a seat behind the wheel next to him. 'Not in a real formula 1 car, but I've driven in on the simulator multiple times. So technically it isn't new.' 'O, I thought I had a small change of beating you.' I giggle. 'You drove pretty alright actually,' I compliment him. Not a big one, but you can do worse on your first time. 'But I ain't letting you win.' I smirk.