Not A Verstappen || CL16 & LN4

Untitled Part 24

The Triple Header - Austin

Between the distraction of Lando and Charles arriving together, and Daniel making his grand return for Alpha Tauri, you were able to sneak into the paddock through the secondary staff entrance. You were sweating beneath the hoodie that swamped you but as soon as you were in the McLaren garage you took it off.

"This feels weird," you murmured as you watched Lando get into his racing gear.

"It will probably take a while to get used to," he said, kissing you as he reached for his balaclava. "But you heard what the doctors said, it's a miracle we didn't lose her with what happened. You know how hard the races are on our bodies."

"I understand that, but it still feels weird. I don't like missing out on things." You sighed and opened the door for Jon who was waiting for Lando to start his warm up. "I'm going to check in on Charles. I love you."

"Love you too."

Though you could hide in Charles' garage for the race there was nowhere to hide when Lando pulled into the third place parking spot. There was nothing that was going to stop you from waiting with the rest of his team and between your mother and his father, they kept you safe from the jostling engineers eager to clap their driver on the back.

Everything seemed to be going great and you had avoided all the media crews wanting to get a statement. You had to admit it was satisfying to watch Aston Martin struggle to pull 9th place for Lance and a DNF for Fernando so it was a good thing a microphone didn't come close to you.

Everything was going great as you and Charles watched Lando take the podium before they both went to shower and change. Unfortunately word came that there had been two disqualifications. Charles seemed to have a sixth sense when bad news was coming and his smile dimmed before his engineer even relayed the information. Charles and Lewis were both disqualified.

Sinking into the couch in Lando's room, he hung his head in his hands and sighed. The sound made your heart ache and you could feel all the pressure he was under in that heavy exhale. He was already concerned about how his points compared to his teammates but this would make the gap even closer and add to that worry.

"I'm sorry, babe," you said as you sat beside him, lacing your fingers with his while Lando took his other hand.

"This sucks," he groaned before looking at Lando. "At least you're second place now."

"Suppose," he murmured. "Doesn't feel like I earned it though."

"You don't know how much Lewis' car could have been affected by the worn plank, it might have been a matter of tenths off the second without the proper weight," you reminded him before biting your lip and looking at Charles. "No offence. It wasn't your fault anyway, you're the driver, it's your mechanics who should be checking that the car meets the regs."

"I know," he murmured as rose to his feet. "I'm going to the pit then I'll head back to the hotel."

Lando had more media duties expected of him and he nodded his head towards Charles's back. "Go with him, love, I'll catch up after."

You hung back in the shadows while Charles gave a statement in the media pit. You could feel the disappointment in his words but he tried to be positive for his fans and you knew he was a better person than you, because there was no way you could have praised your team in that moment like he did.

Thinking about your team, you looked over to Fernando who was able to smile despite his DNF. He was just happy to be back in a race car after finding his brief retirement too boring for his liking. Unfortunately the two disqualifications had bumped Lance up higher in the points and he spotted you watching their interview, sending you a cocky smile that had your fist closing.