to the finish line || ollie bearman

part 23

i grab my bag and head out of my room. to no surprise in the slightest, kimi was sat in his usual spot wearing his normal clothes.

"i'm going to track now, i have some stuff to do that i didn't do yesterday." i tell him.

"lina it's like 9 in the morning, how much work do you have to do?"

"a lot." i reply before saying goodbye and heading out the door.

after i lock the door, i turn around and see ollie walking out of his room. unlucky for me, he notices me straight away.

(english)

"oh hey angel." ollie says with a smile, approaching me. his smile is addicting.

"ollie! i didn't expect to see you." i say, returning the smile.

"yeah, i have to be at ferrari pretty early." he replies, walking beside me.

"i didn't have time to find you after quali, so congratulations."

"thank you! i watched your race yesterday, and you were amazing."

"i guess, but then i crashed so not the best."

"everyone was impressed though, and it wasn't your fault."

"that's what everyone saying!"

"because they're right. you want to share a taxi?" he offers.

"yes, thanks. i have completely forgotten to call for one."

"no problem, so how you feeling about the race today?"

"kind of nervous, but i'm hoping to do well."

"your gonna do great ollie, stop stressing."

"thank you, are you going to watch?"

"of course i am!"

"don't laugh if i mess up."

"i would never. but your not going to mess up either."

"will you come meet me after the race finishes?"

i don't even think about nick before replying. i wanted to support ollie, i mean he's my friend.

"sure." i reply, giving him a smile. quickly, i remember what nick had said. but honestly, i don't care what he thinks. he doesn't get to decide who i talk too and who i don't.

"thank you. what if i do really bad and then that ruins my chances of getting into f1?" he replies worriedly.

"ollie, stop worrying! it's your first race, no-one is expecting you to beat lewis hamilton or something." i say as a joke.

"i definitely can't do that."  he replies, laughing slightly.

"you just want to finish the race alright? don't crash like i did yesterday."

"don't say that." ollie says, his gaze softening. i shouldn't have said that.

"say what?" i ask, my eyes connecting with his.

"put yourself down like that. it was one race, and it wasn't even your fault. it doesn't make you a bad driver. but even if it was your fault, it doesn't make you bad."

"thanks ollie, really." i say, giving him a smile with my dimples showing.

"don't worry about it, we're here now." he says as the car pulls to a stop.

we say goodbye before heading our seperate ways. even though jules had stayed at the track late last night, he was already here. i swear he doesn't sleep.

"angel! ready for data analysis?" he asks, approaching me. i'm not joking when i say he has eyes in the back of his head, he always knows when i arrive at the track.

"yeah, sorry i didn't come last night."

"i didn't think you would come anyway." jules says, walking with me to one of the many trailers of the art gp garage. we were heading to the trailer where the engineers analysis the data.

"my favourite part of the weekend." i say sarcastically whilst sitting down in my seat.

"i know." he says, standing nearby.

"and you still have to take me for a smoothie from yesterdays race." i tell him, a smile on my face.

"how about you stay here and do your analysis, and i will go get it for you." he says.

"great idea jules, thanks!" i reply.

"i'll go get it now." he says before saying goodbye to everyone and leaving.

i was sat with two other engineers as it was still really early. they were called louise and lorenzo, the same ones from my track walk.

other than jules, they were probably my favourites. but everyone at art gp was nice.

"when we got here this morning jules was asleep on these chairs." lorenzo says to me whilst laughing a little.

"really?"

"yeah, we got photos." louise says, taking her phone out to show me the photos.

"i knew he sleeps at the track, he's like always here." i say.

"i know!" louise says.

"has he been back to his hotel and showered?" i ask.

"yeah, we got here pretty early and woke him up."

"how long have you been here for?" i ask.

"maybe three hours?" lorenzo replies. i know that everyone who works here is passionate for the sport, but sometimes it amazes me how much time people put into it. it makes me even more grateful for my amazing team.

"no way." i say shocked.

"yeah, but we left pretty early last night."

"that makes sense." i say before we all go silent and start the work.

|| authors note ~ hope you enjoy 🫶🏼

what is everyone's thoughts on kimi's character in this book?