Sparks - Daniel Ricciardo

Nine

📍28th March 2021 - Sakhir, Bahrain

"Ready to go, DR?" Michael asked as Daniel was in a world of his own, ready to make his first official driving debut with McLaren.

He had been in full concentration mode ever since leaving London, not wanting to reiterate the conversation he had with Michael at the beginning of the week; starting from scratch, a fresh new start.

Even though his mind still went back to Amber, he had made the executive decision to block any thoughts of her out of his mind by focusing on work, cramming in any bit of simulator time, training time and even joining the development teams for meetings.

Daniel found these meetings a drag, but to him, it was better than sitting around imagining her.

This dedication ensured that Daniel qualified sixth for today's race, coming shy of Lando who was now sat in seventh.

As the cars lined up on the grid, Daniel sang along to his music to block out the noise of anyone else, ignoring Michael's previous question to determine whether Daniel was ready to go.

But Michael didn't need words, he could see the focus, the drive and the determination within the Australian's eyes. Michael had told Daniel to take it easy this following week as he hadn't had a moments rest, but everyone knew that it was Daniel's greatest coping mechanism.

Find something else to do to occupy your time. That way, you won't have time to think about things you shouldn't.

The only part of the day where Daniel struggled was at bed time. His thoughts would drift into another dimension as his dreams would populate Amber in any way they could. This lead Daniel to waking up nearly every hour of every night, restless sleep consuming his body as the exhaustion was surely about to hit.

But that never once stopped him, he carried on as if he'd had twelve hours rest, soon becoming delirious as the day went on. Even more so than usual.

Lando settled into his vehicle which was placed just behind Daniel's papaya car, sending a small wave over towards his teammate in support. Even though Lando desperately wanted to win, he always wanted Daniel's first race for the team to go well.

"Good luck, Lan. Come back in one piece." Francesca said as she whisked around the car to make sure Lando was comfortable and prepared for today.

"Don't worry, Franny. Your precious little Lando will come back." Lando teased as Francesca screwed her face up and tried to reach over the halo ring to give the Brit a playful slap.

"Stop it now, you two." Zac scolded as he walked past, doing the rounds to check up on his drivers as the moments ticked by before the lights would go out. "Come on Fran, let's leave Lando to it shall we?"

Francesca rolled her eyes as she gave Lando the middle finger, causing him to chuckle slightly as he gripped onto his steering wheel with anticipation.

Zac and Francesca passed Daniel's car and, of course, Zac wanted to stop to wish his new driver good luck.

"Go smash it out the park, DR!" Zac's American accent bellowed as Michael moved around to Francesca so Daniel and Zac could have one final conversation before the race commenced.

"I'm worried about him." Michael whispered to Francesca, both of their arms were folded across their chests as they stood side by side, watching as Daniel and Zac conversed. "He's not eating right, he's not sleeping. I'm worried in case he does something stupid today."