Crash and burn

Chapter 58

I woke up at around 7am to the sound of my alarm nice and refreshed. Feeling good, momentarily before yesterday crashed it all down. I hated George with every fiber of my being and couldn't believe I gave him a second chance.

I got up and dressed into casuals so I could walk down the street and get a juice and a muffin before I left.

A: "are you yn yln?"

A girl and a boy around 13 stood behind me as I waited for my order.

YN: "yes I am!"

A: "I'm aria and this is manu, we are going to watch you race!"

YN: "that's amazing! Do you support McLaren?"

M: "redbull."

I laughed at his stone cold expression, he wasn't as keen on meeting me as his sister was.

YN: "max fan? He is great."

M: "he is the fastest on the grid."

I pursed my lips but nodded along, Belgium locals did not hold back.

A: "but I'm a Stan of you and lando. See my background!"

She showed me her phone, it was a picture of lando at the airport kissing me on the cheek to sell our story. I was smiling as I was talking to him simultaneously, it was actually a really nice photo.

YN: "I haven't seen that pic before, i love it."

A: "where is lando?"

A sigh escaped my mouth, I had no idea.

YN: "still sleeping, he struggles to get out of bed. But on race weekends we keep to ourselves to get focused."

She nodded intensely, taking in every word I said.

A: "can we get a picture?"

YN: "I would love too."

I took my hoodie off as her brother set up the phone to take a photo. When my name was called I said my goodbyes before collecting my food and walking off.

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M: "okay yn we want to do two practice starts and gauge the cars starting speeds with the new set up. After that come in to the pits and we will fill up with a little more fuel and you can practice push laps and get your breaking points right and so forth."

YN: "sounds like a plan."

I gave fist bumps out to everyone on my team before putting on my helmet and sliding in my car. We designed yesterdays practice to be intense in data collection and to sort out other mechanical preferences so that today could be to focus solely on feeling comfortable for the race.

AS: "Okay yn yesterdays practice you were at the bottom of the timesheets, this time you've finished P1."

Andreas took me by surprise as I was summoned back into the pits at the end of practice. I was the quickest in FP2?

YN: "Thats because the team pushed yesterday to get all the nitty gritty work done. We shouldnt be too comfortable just yet but thanks everyone!"

After practice I spent an hour with my team analysing my push laps to look for what went well and what didnt. When that was over I had some time on my hands so I wondered around the hospitality tent.

ML: "YN! Come over!"

I couldnt pretend I hadnt heard her because I met her eyes straight on. She was sitting at a table with lando and jess. Jess was on her phone with headphones in, I imagine she was just there as a buffer so the other two could be together.