Next day you and George drove the two hour ride to Brackley, chatting away about the upcoming events. Once you got there, the driver was taken to the simulator to stay there the best part of the morning, trainer and engineers included. You've been offered an office to work on but otherwise you would be able to roam around the place as you liked. The only thing you did ask though, was to watch at least one lap on the sim. George said he would train all he could before you could go inside and watch.
After catching up with your team in Monaco, you went out to do some sightseeing around Mercedes HQ.
By lunchtime, he came out and suggested a salad at the cafeteria. You protested, saying you were craving a pub burger.
"Not now, I cannot lose my focus, I'm about to beat my own lap time in Monaco," he explained.
"What's your time so far?"
"12:7"
"Hey that's quite good, isn't it?" You said as you ate your dish.
"Well, it's not ideal. I am a Formula One World Champion, but Monaco has always been elusive to me, and it drives me mad, I need to polish that lap time..."
"And you will, George, your time there will come and it will be more than satisfactory..."
"Thank you," he smiled and finished his last bite. "I'll go train for another hour, then will call you in for my final lap, okay? Then we can go."
You raised your hand for him to high five. "Go smash that lap time! I'll be saving some content for social media..."
He winked, as charming as usual and jogged towards the sim again. You gave yourself a small slap on the lips to wipe out that stupid grin than came out every time he winked at you and finished your lunch.
—
You took the rest of that hour to save some clips of the car, the factory, the offices and even the simulator entrance, that would be most useful to to social media team. They asked for some George footage so after the sim, you'd film him at the exact spots you needed him to boost his work image.
When George called, you went directly to the simulator room.
"I think I got it, I can improve it still though..." he said.
You patted his shoulder and gave it a nice squeeze. "You've got this, G."
He smiled and started driving. He had such focus on his face that he might as well think he was all alone in there and not surrounded by the best part of his team.
His hands grabbed the steering wheel tightly as his thumbs moved around the controls to get the best lap time.
"12.1," his engineer stated.
George sighed. "I Can still do better! Can I stay two more hours?" After he got the approval he looked at you. "Do you mind if I stay? You take the car and go home, I'll ask for another one here..."
"No need to ask for free cars, G," you chuckled to lift his mood. "I'll go to the office they gave me and do some work in advance, don't worry."
"You sure?"
"Of course, you call me for final lap time, you're doing great."
He smiled. "Thanks," he mumbled and watched you go.
—
Two and a half hours later, George came out to let you in again in the sim room.
"Fuck, this was a long day! Coming to see the last lap? It might impress you..." he giggled.
"Looking forward to it," you smiled and went in, watching him sit again and crack his neck before grabbing the steering wheel.
Started very good, first sector in green, face steady and fully focused. Second sector in yellow, made him groan and frown, pushing harder and tightening the grasp on the wheel.
"Move B13, George." His engineer said and he went for it. "1:11:453, amazing job."
"Yes team!" He exclaimed and clapped happily. "I can go home and be in peace now!" He stood up and went towards your area. "You bring me luck, I know it."
"That's why I stayed," you nodded and high fived him again.
After a few briefing notes, you hopped onto the car and drove back to George's.
"Tired?" You asked.
"I was thinking," he started. "Are you still hungry for that pub burger?"
"At home? I'm always hungry for pub burgers..."
"Then let's go, shower, have some proper tea and head out for dinner and some pub food quiz, sound good?"
You chuckled. "Aren't you tired?"
"Nah, driving doesn't tire me, it makes me hungry. And I have been hungry since you mentioned the burger today!" He laughed.
"Okay then, it's a plan! But I have to warn you. I amaze at pub quizzes!"
"Good, because I'm shit at it!"
—
You went to a pub near his house, just a short six block walk, to a place where he always went with friends and he'd be among them with no danger of being too exposed. Everyone knew the youngest of the Russell's.
"I understand that, but one of us should be responsible and not drink that much," you told him. "Things could still happen..."
"I won't drink that much, had an intense day and probably lost a bit of weight so it wouldn't be the best idea," George explained. "I'll take care of you."
You chuckled. "Thanks, won't drink that much either, it was just to set the PR limits."
He saluted you and smiled as he went inside. Someone already received you with a piece of paper to start the quiz and the menu. You ordered and waited for the questions to start.
"Since all you did was show off how good you are at quizzes, let's make it interesting," George proposed.
You narrowed your eyes at him. "How?"
"Whenever you miss an answer, you drink a three second sip," he said.
"And if I don't miss?"
"I will drink."
You extended your hand to him. "Deal!"
—
"On what continent would you find the city of Baku?"
"Asia!!" You both screamed the answer and laughed.
"How many European capitals does the Danube flow through?"
"Um... Vienna, one..." you started. George then started to make a silly dance and poke you on the arm. "That's cheating!" You accused him and laughed. "Budapest... stop it!"
"Times up!" The quiz master said.
You then had a discussion about how he shouldn't distract you, then George saying you never stated how he was going to win the bet. It ended in nothing so the game continued and you'd have to focus harder, which proved to be difficult, since George took out the big guns.
"What character have both Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch played?"
You knew you had to write 'Sherlock Holmes' right away, but George leaned over the paper and a strand of his perfectly styled hair fell over his face and he used his hand to put it back on its place. It was way more distracting than anything he could've tried.
"Times up!"
George looked at you. "You knew this one! Don't you love Sherlock?"
"Fuck, that's the answer!" You acted as if it slipped off your mind instead of only thinking of his hair.
You had to drink one more time.
"What character have both Glenn Close and Emma Stone played?"
"The... the.... Ahhhh what was the name?" George tried and again played with his hair, parting it in two to try and say "The Dalmatians movie!"
"Cruella!" You said and wrote it on the paper. "Your hair!" You laughed and helped him style it back. George let you do it and smiled softly as you did it, funnily enough making you lose two questions you two never heard.
It goes without saying that you ended up quite drunk, because George noticed you getting distracted by him and almost every question was lost with him playing with his hair or giving you charming smiles. You would giggle and try to write the answers but the time was done most times without any answers.
It was a problem, and not for the quiz.
—