The dark blue of the early night sky was filled with specks of sparkling white light, the moon a full circle. Nala starred up at it as she walked out of the hospitality to go to the garages, Ollie by her side.
"Beautiful night for a race, don't you think", Ollie says. Nala looks over at him, who is also admiring the sky.
"Yes, it is, isn't it", she replied, and the two smiled at eachother. His beautiful brown eyes stared into hers, warm and caring, but Nala quickly looked away when she felt the tension slightly building.
They quickly walked into garages, where everyone was rushing around, loud noise filling their ears. They were just in time to see their cars getting wheeled away by some engineers, being taken to the grid.
Nala went over to her side of the garage, where everything of hers was waiting. Helmet, neck brace, ear pieces, gloves and fire proof head sock. She gathered them all, mostly putting them into her upside down helmet and going out into the pits. The lights blinded her eyes as she emerged from the shadow of the garages. The crowd cheered when they saw her, so she smiled widely and waved.
"They seem to love you already, Nals", an angelic voice came from behind, one Nala was instantly able to recognise. She turned around to see Jaidyn smiling her gorgeous smile. Nala brought her in for a hug, breathing in the familiar coconut scent of Jaidyn's hair before pulling away.
"Well I hope so. Let's hope our work has done some wonders", Nala said, taking Jaidyn by the arm and walking off down to the grid entrance.
The girls arrived on the grid with around 25 minutes until lights out. The deafening sound of the fans cheering lightened up Nala and Jaidyns faces tremendously. They walked over to where Nalas car was, 6th on the grid, meeting the engineers and Marley there.
"Wow, I never realised you had so many fans, Nala", Marley joked, looking around at the thousands of fans watching down on them.
"Ha, your funny aren't you, Marley...But yea, I didn't realise either", she breathed, the lights of Saudi shining down onto her face.
Nala went and sat down on the side of the track, leaning against the barrier as she closed her eyes, her leg tapping anxiously in front of her.
"I find that if I have the right breathing pattern, it soothes me", a male voice says. Nala opens her eyes to see Ollie sitting down beside her, resting his head back. They smiled at eachother warmly, and noticing her physical nerves, Ollie placed his hand on her knee. "Just know I'm always here, Nala", he adds after a moment. A warm, cozy feeling wells in Nala's heart when she places her hand on his, which was still resting on her knee, and she rubbed the back of it with her thumb.
"Thank you, Ollie. Your so kind", she smiles.
"THE ANTHEM WILL COMMENCE IN 3 MINUTES. DRIVERS, START TO MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT OF THE GRID", the announcement came through the speakers of the track, loud and blaring. Ollie looked at Nala, flicking his head to the side to gesture to her that they should go. As Nala nodded, Ollie quickly jumped up, holding his hand out to her. She graciously accepted, taking his hand and letting him help her up. They walked down the grid, shoulder to shoulder, not really talking.
But then Lando Norris sidled in beside Nala with his usual adoring smile. Nala sensed Ollie tense up on the other side of her, but she tried her best to ignore it as Lando started to talk to her.
"Good luck today, Cameron", he said confidently with his British accent.
"Thank you, but do you think your ready to be shown up by a rookie, Norris?", she replied, pouting her lip, Lando's smile getting cheeky.
"We will see about that one", Lando says as they get to the front of the grid. After, he walks over to where Carlos, Charles and Daniel were standing, and Nala and Ollie go to find their own place to stand.
They stand by eachother as the Saudi Arabian anthem starts playing through the speakers of the track. For the period that the song was playing, you could hear nothing but the music, everything else silent. It showed great respect to the country, and that was something Nala loved about Formula 1, where ever you went, there was respect and pride shown.
When the music finally came to a close, the fans cheered. And it meant that it was getting very close to go time. Nala and Ollie walked away from the front of the grid, through the dispersing crowd of people swarmed around. Ollie lead Nala with his hand on her back, all the way back to her car.
"Remember, deep breaths. You'll be fine! Your born to do this, Nala...I'll see you after the race, ok?", Ollie reassured her when they stopped walking. Nala nodded her head, a warm smile on her face as her and Ollie fist bumped eachother and he left down the rest of the paddock to his car.
A couple minutes later, Nala started putting everything on. First her ear pieces, then the head sock and her helmet and brace. She zipped up her race suit that was tied around her waist before, securing it so she was comfortable.
"Ok Nala, 4 minutes until you have to be in the car. 6 until the formation lap, got it?", Jaidyn reminded her, flattening down Nala's suit for her. Nala nodded silently and she quickly made her way over. She climbed up and over the halo, sliding herself down into the cockpit and trying to make herself comfy before 2 people came over and helped her secure her belts until she could barley breathe. Nala quickly put her race gloves on, and then the wheel of the race car was lowered down and she secured it in place in front of her.
Nala closed her eyes for a moment, the nerves building up inside of her. She took 2 deep breaths. In, out. In, out. And then she was ready, focusing her eyes forward.
"30 seconds until formation lap, Nala. Be ready and make sure to warm your tires and brakes, ok", came Alyssa's sweet voice through the radio.
"Yep, all ready", she quickly replied. And then the cars in front of her were off, and she swiftly sped after them. Nala zig-zagged her way around the circuit, making sure she was getting her car ready, mentally taking in the track one last fime before she raced. Finally she came around the last swooping bend and onto the straight, slowing down as she neared the grid, yet still doing small skids to keep the temperature up in the tires. When she stopped at her grid place, her heart was skipping beats. This was definitely the most nerve-wracking time of the race. It only took a couple moments before the whole 22 drivers were lined up and ready to go, and that's when the light sequence started.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Nala pressed the clutch button as soon as she saw the lights go out, and it was quick too as she was making a gain on Lando and Carlos in front of her. The first corners came and she went wheel to wheel with Lando, coming out just in front of him. However, that changed when the next corner arrived and Nala had to make room for him on the inside as he was still right beside her, almost bumping shoulders.
All throughout the first lap, Nala and Lando battled eachother, both eager to overtake. When the lap came to an end, Lando was still out in front.
"Come on, Nala. You can do this. Just stay clean", came Alyssa's calm voice through the radio.
The next lap went by, Nala still fighting on behind Lando to try and get in front. But she couldn't do it. In her mirrors, she could see the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon gaining slowly. She knew she couldn't let them past. So she tried as hard as she could to gain on Norris.
When the end of the lap came, Alyssa's voice came through the radio. "DRS has been activated, Nala. You are 0.5 from Norris in front so next DRS zone, you should be able to pass", she said. And that's exactly what she did.
The DRS zone out of the 20th corner had Nala fly past Lando, and she smiled to herself as she could now see him in her mirrors.
Carlos Sainz was in front, but not by much. She still had Lando closely trailing behind, but she was quickly able to get up near the Ferrari driver. The three battled their way through the next dozen laps before the pit window started to open.
"Right Nala, you should be able to stay out in front of Lando if your quick enough", Alyssa said through the radio after Nala was called into the pits. When the lap came to an end, she was straight into the pits, changing her tires in 2.1 seconds, and getting out of there.
She was now in P11, having been passed by a few drivers when having the stop, but she knew that she could get back up there when they all pitted. One, two, three laps more and she was back up to P7, eyeing the back of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris's cars as they fought eachother. Nala followed closely, waiting for them to leave a gap while they were focusing on one another.
Straight out the 13th corner, she could see a gap forming and went right for it. Having a double slip stream from the two in front of her, she sped past them, taking them by surprise as they tried to fight back. But it was pointless, and soon Nala was seeing them far away in her mirrors, and she was able to take a breath of relief.
Nala was now in P5, pushing the limits as she raced around the track. "Ok, so 5.6 to Alonso in front. He still has to pit so you will be able to get him in the next few laps or so when he does", came Alyssa's always calm voice.
It was now lap 34, with 16 more left to go. Nala passed Fernando Alonso as he pitted, though she was already catching up to him anyways as his tires deteriorated. It was like she was racing herself, even though she was trying her best to get to where the three in front of her were. She knew it probably wouldn't happen. Lewis Hamilton, who was in 3rd, was 10.9 seconds in front of her and there wouldn't be enough time to catch up in just a dozen laps. But she tried anyways.
Nala passed the stragglers behind her, Latifi, Albon, Magnussen, and a few others. One of those where sadly her teammate, Ollie Bearman. She knew he had potential and was absolutely an amazing racer, he just wasn't showing it right now. And that was the hard truth.
It was coming down to the final laps and Nala was still in 4th. Lando had somewhat caught up behind after he got new tires, being 6.8 seconds behind, but she knew he wasn't going to be passing by the end of the race. She just kept her head down and tried her hardest until she saw that black and white flag waving and she crossed the line with a giant smile on her face.
"Well done, Nala! Best finish yet. You're going to be on the podium in no time, girl! So amazing", cheered Alyssa through the radio as Nala slowly drove around the track for the final time that weekend.
She got back to the pits, heaving herself out of the car and jumping out. She sat down on one of the front tires for a moment, realising that she was only 1 off from being on that podium tonight. She sighed, as she looked on at the podiums drivers in the near distance, half proudly but half wishing she had done more to be up there.
"You're going to be up there soon. I promise. And when you do, you'll have many more", a older male voice sounded. Nala turned to see Sebastian Vettel standing there with a kind smile and his helmet in his hands.
"Thank you, Sebastian. It means a lot, especially coming from you. Your like my idol", Nala says sheepishly as he comes closer and pats her on the shoulder.
"Ha, thank you, well I think you have done very well. And I also think that you will be very successful. You just have to be patient, young one", he said, before walking off. Nala stared at him as he went, joy crowding her emotions. Her hero just talked to her. And said the sweetest things. She could relive that moment forever.
Back in the garages, Nala was met with hugs from Jaidyn and Marley, as always, and Alyssa too. Of course Mark had to join in as well when he saw everyone embracing. But later, when she saw Ollie, she felt a slight stutter in her stomach.
"You did awesome today, Nala. Soon you'll be up there, don't worry!", he said cheerfully, bringing her into a hug. She hugged him back, feeling warm and safe in his embrace.
'Thanks, Ollie. You did great too", she reassured him.