Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 106

I met Kudzai shortly after getting out of my car to give my statements. It just wasn't my race today. If only I had spotted the situation that started all my issues quicker and avoided being sandwiched between Fernando and Lance. As much as I wanted to storm over to Williams and give Lance a piece of my mind over the radio, I knew I wouldn't be allowed so settled for sulking about it in my room.

"We're only halfway through the race. Why don't you come sit and watch it with the rest of us? Esteban is up into third at the moment."

I shook my head at Kudzai's offer. I didn't really want to face the disappointed looks of my team after the worst possible weekend. "I might go and sit at Mercedes for the remainder of the time."

"Yeah, okay," she said with a small frown. I knew she was empathetic of my situation and just wanted me to be comfortable. Our friendship has had its fair share of strains over the past few months but I know she'll always have my back. We've been a team since we were young. We win together and lose together, it just hurts a little more when we lose. "Do you mind if I join?"

I took my best friend's hand in my own and gave her a small smile. "Not at all. Let me change into some more plain clothes and we can head over." I was comfortable enough around Kudzai to change in front of her. She's seen me several times when I haven't been in decent attire which is probably another reason why we're close.

After slipping out of my suit, I pulled the white dress I had brought with me to the track out of my bag. I considered wearing my Force India shirt and some leggings but decided against it when I thought about the looks I would get heading over to Mercedes. The dress was made of a light thin material which faired well in the humid Mexico conditions. The straps were thin with a small ruffle detail and the neckline was a soft v-shape. It was one of my favourite dresses and I haven't had the chance to wear it since my holiday in Portugal. Hopefully just having it on will make me feel a little better after such a shit race.

"Could you help with my other braid?" I asked Kudzai. As soon as I had out the dress on, I had started to undo my right braid. It takes me a while to typically do this on my own so I thanked Kudzai for helping. Whilst she was still working on the left side of my hair, I applied a small amount of mascara to my eyelashes. There would almost certainly be cameras since I had publicly kissed the future Ferrari driver; I wanted to look somewhat alive.

"Ready now?" Kudzai queried as I slipped on my comfortable flats. I nodded my head in reply, pushing my hair behind my shoulders so it fell down my back. "Susie actually messaged me asking how you're doing. I'm sure she'd like to hear it from her future driver."

"Best not keep her waiting, then?"

We walked out of the room together, our arms linking together when we came to a crowd. It wasn't an overly long journey to the Mercedes garage but somehow cameras were still shoved in our faces. Kudzai being the carrier of a driver's baby, as well as the media manager for another, gave her a lot of attention which she didn't seem overly fond of. Still, we kept our mouths pulled tightly into a line to avoid making any comments towards the nosy press (mostly from me). I wasn't in a great mood anyway and pressing questions such as 'Did you cheat on Max?' and 'How many other drivers have you slept with?' really rested my patience.

There were many screens in the Mercedes garage all focused on showing the race. Lewis was still currently leading, however Max was sticking close to his gearbox with Daniel only a couple of seconds behind the Dutchman. There were still twenty seven laps to go until the end of the race so it was all to play for.

"Hey, Susie." I gave the woman a smile as I approached. Luckily she had her headphones around her neck so she heard me. Susie turned to greet me, standing up to pull me into a hug.