Racing Hearts || Lando Norris

3 - Team Turmoil

Sophie went home later that evening after spending the rest of the day talking to all of the mechanics and engineers at the McLaren HQ. She knew if she wanted to make her rookie season a good one she needed to befriend all of the people working on her car and with her so she would have people to talk to at all of the race weekends other than her brother.

Sophie drove herself home to find her brother and Carmen had already let themselves into her house and were sitting on her couch watching Tv as they wanted to be the first people to hear about Sophie's first official day at McLaren. Sophie walked in looking extremely drained as she touched herself next to her brother on the couch. George asked Sophie how her day had been and she replied saying she was so nervous on the morning because of the amount of press there and what they were going to write about in all the articles but Carmen reassured her saying "no matter what people say about you online whether it is true or not, they have never met you and they don't know the real you so remember that and ignore the false comments." Sophie really appreciated Carmen as she always acted like her older sister. Although Sophie has another older brother called Benjy and an older sister called Cara she was a lot closer to Carmen as her whole life she has spent more time away than them then she has with her other siblings therefore since Carmen and George started dating a few years ago she has become a lot closer to Carmen.

George asked Sophie about Lando and how he had acted during the media and interviews and Sophie told them how he was extremely rude and how when she pulled him up on it he was even worse to her. This obviously made George furious as he hated hearing how someone he would consider as a friend could be so mean to his younger sister especially when she is so vulnerable already because of the media. George threatened to message Lando himself and tell him how awful he is but Sophie stopped him saying that she doesn't want to cause even more tension between them before the season had even started. Carmen and George stayed round till very late in the night before going home and leaving Sophie to go to bed after the long day she has had.

A few weeks went by and Sophie spent almost every single day training and going to the gym in preparation for her rookie season in F1. Sophie felt the most prepared she could before heading to Bahrain with George and her family to start the pre-season testing. The testing went well for both Sophie and Lando as everyone on the grid recognised that McLaren have really stepped up their game and have an incredible car this season that will definitely put them as one of the top teams to compete for the constructors championship. Although this was amazing news for Sophie and the team it also put even more pressure on her as she knew if she didn't perform well in a championship winning car she would receive even more scrutiny from the public and the teams.

Zak Brown had taken Sophie under his wing already as he could see how exceptionally talented this young girl is which is why he was so adamant that McLaren should take the risk and sign her in the first place but he also recognised jos hard this rookie F1 year was going to be for Sophie as she has so much more stress to deal with than any other rookie in the history of F1 as she is under the watchful eyes of every single F1 fan as she is the first female driver. Zak felt sympathy for Sophie as he saw all of the articles online saying she doesn't belong in F1 and how she shouldn't have taken another man's place however he was confident that as soon as Sophie got out onto the track she would definitely prove them all wrong and show how worthy she is to be in F1.

Throughout the different practise and testing sessions things between Sophie and Lando were still awful as they ignored each other most of the weekend unless they were in front of the cameras or the crowds as they would always fake smiles and pretend everything was amazing between them just like they did at the McLaren car launch. They both wanted the world to think that this new partnership was amazing and a really good asset to the team to show how strong McLaren plan to be this season however in reality things could not be worse. The McLaren garage was a tense and awful place to be and everyone working there could tell it all stemmed from Lando and Sophie however the pair had no plans to reconcile their awkward relationship as they both disliked each other a lot.

Sophie had pictured that her first partner in F1 was going to become her best friend who she would share some amazing memories and moments with throughout the season on and off the track but things couldn't be further from her dream. Instead she had her big brother George and Zak Brown to comfort and support her which meant she still had high hopes for this season and wouldn't let Lando ruin her first season in F1, something she has worked towards all of her life could not be ruined by a selfish boy.