bucket list || l. norris

08

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08 || 24/08/2018

"You were amazing!" Mila rushed towards her best friend as soon as he emerged from the chassis of the MCL33. Lando lifted the visor of his helmet so that he could see Mila, dressed proudly in her McLaren uniform, as he lifted her into his arms. FP1 was officially over, meaning Lando had officially finished his debut drive in Formula One. Mila's heart was racing. She'd never felt such pride in her life. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

Mila was lucky to have been given the opportunity to enrol on McLaren's internship programme in their social media department. She agreed without even giving it a second thought. With Lando signing as their test and reserve driver, Mila knew that he was one step closer to achieving his dream and she'd always wanted to be part of that. Lando told her that he wanted her by his side through it all, so when she was offered the internship role, she was delighted, maybe even ecstatic. She couldn't believe her luck.

She didn't travel to every race with McLaren, particularly at the beginning of the season. Lando spent a lot of his time travelling for Formula Two, meaning that they had to spend more and more days apart, something which neither of them were used to. Mila struggled when Lando was away; she missed him dearly, but she knew that this was exactly what he'd always wanted, and she couldn't get in the way of that. Soon enough, they would be able to work and travel together, if all went well with her internship.

"Thanks, Milly." Breathlessly, Lando removed his helmet and passed it to Jon, running his fingers through his curls before a tired exhale fell from his mouth. Mila thought he was amazing. She couldn't believe this was finally happening. Lando managed to outperform Stoffel's best lap time after putting in twenty six laps, finishing P18 which, for his very first time on track in a Formula One car, was impressive.

She wrapped her arms around her best friend again, burying her face into his race suit as he tightened his grip on her body. She was so pleased that they could be here together. Of course, whilst growing up, she'd watched many of Lando's races and she made it known that she was his number one fan. At McLaren, everyone knew of her close relationship with Lando. Mila always feared that it would impact their decision to welcome her as their intern, but she was pleased when she was able to prove them that they had nothing to worry about. She was professional, as was Lando, and it didn't get in the way of their friendship.

"I need to hurry and get back for qualifying." Lando yawned as Jon patted his back firmly, Zak appearing from the pit wall after entering from the front of the garage. He was headed in their direction and Mila knew he would be coming to congratulate Lando for such a good drive.

"Great job, Lando," Zak took Lando's hand firmly and pulled him into a brief hug, patting his back as Mila watched the smile lift on Zak's face. He was lovely. She felt so lucky to be surrounded by such a great team. The main focus of FP1 today was the aero testing aspect, something which Mila barely understood, because science and engineering was definitely not her thing. From what Lando explained before the session, and after overhearing Will whenever she listened in to the team radio, Mila understood that they wanted to simply see how the car felt at Spa. The middle sector contained plenty high speed corners, meaning the downforce on the car needed to be at its maximum. The straights needed much less downforce, and whenever Mila overheard that conversation on the radio, she simply pretended like she knew what was going on. "How did the car feel?"

"Pretty good, actually. I think it went well," Lando smiled shyly as he wrapped his arm across Mila's shoulder. He did so well, but what he didn't know was that he outperformed Stoffel's best lap time and finished ahead of him. Mila thought, for his very first Formula One drive, that it was pretty impressive. "I would love to stay but I need to get back to Carlin. I need to get straight into the car for  qualifying. I'll be around for the debrief later, of course."