#possible and runs all over mclaren next season

[thepersonnamedsam]

grin to win - the genz!driver

pairing: the genz!driver x 24!grid (pre and during singapore)

summary: it’s the gzd first ever win, but getting there was a bumpy road

word count: 4.3k

warning: not proof read and some angst, talks about not feeling enough and all that

note: i am so sorry for not having updated in such a long time, i do hope you still like my stuff :)

masterlist / taglist

it has been weeks since our beloved gen-z driver has had a positive experience. silly season started earlier than she thought - daniel was rumoured to be dropped soon. max hasn’t won for a long time, she wasn’t sure if that’s positive or negative, but she feels sorry for her favourite dutch. carlos finally announced he’s signed with williams.

oh, and logan’s been dropped.

oliver is driving for haas next year. mclaren overtook redbull in the constructors championship. lando has started his transition to mad-lando (get it? because he’s starting to drive like mad-max? anyway). kimi signed with mercedes.

but there weren’t any news surrounding y/n. nothing negative, but also nothing positive. no rumours of her signing with a new team, or staying at her current team. her contract will run out at the end of the season.

she hasn’t heard from her team ceo or principal yet. she wasn’t underperforming, no she’s just performing as expected. but also not doing better.

she needed that something. that something that reassured her, that she’s in the right place. she needed at least a podium this season. that’s what she was telling herself for the last weeks. beating herself up, every time she didn’t perform well enough (in her eyes, we have to say. because if you looked at it from a neutral view, she was doing more than fine).

the stress has been eating her up. she was staying longer at the gym, eating less, seeing the guys less, not seeing her friends or family. even her boyfriend broke up with her, because she’s been ignoring him and focusing too much on her racing.

lewis was the first one to suspect something, knowing this behaviour all to well from himself. but he didn’t know what to do. should he ask her about it or say something to someone professional?

the first thing he did was tell george. george usually knew what to do. except this time.

„lew, im sorry man, i don’t know what do do“, he sighed and looked over to his teammate. „we could just tell the principal, but i don’t know if we‘ll brake her trust this way.“

„she just needs to see, that she’s good enough, i know that that’s the issue she’s having right now“, said lewis to george.

the taller one just shrugged, „maybe we should just, you know, talk to her“, he suggested.

lewis agreed, but he was sure, that he was the wrong person to talk to y/n. that’s why he called seb.

and as her phone started to ring and her favourite picture of her and seb appeared on her screen, she instantly knew, that someone noticed her weird behaviour. why else would sebastian call during race week?

with a heavy sigh she picked up her phone and tried to sound as happy as possible as she said: „hi seb! what’s going on?“

the german scrunched up his face as he heard the rather happy voice of the young girl. „hi there, pretty lady. i heard you’ve been absent lately“, he said softly.

the moment y/n heard her current situation from someone else, her tears fell. she didn’t think that it’d effect her this much, someone knowing what’s been going on lately, but it did.

„how do you know?“, she sniffled. her cries broke sebs heart, he could only imagine how his daughter’s future teenage cries would take him out.

„a birdie noticed and told me, hun.“ - „who was it? tell me it wasn’t my ex, because that bloody pig told me, if i couldn’t care enough about him, he wouldn’t care about me and if he called you, that means he’d still care about me and that would only make me feel more guilt over the whole situation“, y/n started to ramble.

„hey hey, no, it wasn’t him“, seb stopped her rambling. „i won’t tell you who, im just gonna tell you, as someone standing on the sidelines, you’re doing more than fine, okay?“

she shook her head no, even though the retired driver couldn’t see her. „no im not, everybody’s getting to sign their new contract or has been rumoured to be let go, but nothings happening with me“, she sighed.

seb told her, that this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, that teams usually like to torture their drivers to see how far they’re willing to push. and that she just had to let the team get to her and not assume anything.

„but what if it’s like the situation with daniel? or logan? what if it’s the same with me?“

„then so be it, you can come to switzerland for a few weeks, we‘ll forget the whole thing and organise something new, it’s as easy as that“, seb told her.

„and honestly, y/n, you’re not being dropped, or rumours would have already been going around. as i said, just go with the flow.“

that’s what she tried. she tried to engage more with the other drivers. she tried to enjoy little things like eating chocolate.

she started to regularly talk with seb and talk about her feelings and worries - which helped her a lot.

and as time flew by, she got back into her zone. back into that racing mode, back into the fight.

it was singapore, hot and humid, but she was ready to fight. right before qualifying lewis visited her garage. looking relieved to see her spirits back where they belong.

„kiddo, you ready?“, he asked. y/n grinned at him and threw two thumps up. „good“, he murmured.

„good luck!“, he shouted. „you too, you’re gonna need it with my pace“, she laughed back.

„i hope so“, whispered the mercedes driver. „i really hope so.“

y/n sat in her car, she felt that something good would be happening. she never felt this ready for qualifying before.

q1 and q2 went by as a breeze. her lap times were phenomenal, she’s done better, but they were still great. easing into q3 with a good feeling and good lap times.

„y/n, you’ve been doing great out there, don’t push yourself too much, okay? i’ll tell you when to give it your all. we’re going for the front row“, her race engineer told her.

front row, that was really something.

„you think we can do it?“, she asked nervously. „i think that you can do it.“

with that statement she drove out of the garage onto the track. driving some laps to warm up her tyres. feeling the track and the car. she took a deep breath in and let it out and waited for her race engineer to giver her their sign.

tears stained her cheeks as she got out of the car. everything was blurry. confusion was written on her face. qualifying just ended and she will start the race from p2 on sunday.

she couldn’t believe it, neither could her team or to be honest, every other driver on the grid.

journalist started to surround the garage, friends of the young girl had trouble getting to her. the first one who made it through the masses, was oscar.

as soon as she saw him, she started screaming; „oscar! can you believe it?“

the aussy looked at the girl, or rather young woman, and only grinned at her. „you’re giving me the creeps with that smile, os“, y/n giggled. „you look like the joker, who are you about to murder?“

„the one who’s been making you feel worthless, but that’s a different story“, he half whispered half sighed.

the young driver had to sigh, she knew the other drivers had caught on her emotions. but she didn’t think, that they’d know in this detail.

y/n grinned through the pang and hugged the australian. „thanks for being there for me“, she whispered.

the moment oscar wanted to say something sentimental, his teammate barged through the journalists and jumped on them both.

„i cannot believe it! my best friend, starting front row, my goodness“, he exhaled and inhaled again: „together! we’re starting front row together!“

y/n giggled once again, she felt, that this wasn’t the last giggle of the day. „will you let me pass?“, she asked jokingly.

lando looked shocked: „are you kidding me? nuh-uh, no way in hell will i let you pass, now that im a race winner, you’ll have to earn it fair and square!“

„fair“, oscar laughed. y/n shoved oscar outraged. „you’re on his side?“ - „i am a race winner too, you know?“

„indeed he is“, carlos called from the end of the garage. „oi, this isn’t your garage“, a mechanic of her team shouted, „this isn’t all of you guys‘ garage“, he said, as he realised two more drivers were present.

„let’s go, we‘re going to some hospitality or something“, y/n suggested. with an apologetic look towards the mechanics, the drivers left the garage.

„i’ll update the groupchat and tell them where we are“, lando mumbled. oscar’s and carlos‘ phone dinged, but y/n‘s was left out.

„wait, what groupchat did you text?“, she asked confused. „the one about you’re crisis-“ lando just saw carlos‘ and oscar’s head shacking no, as he slowly finished his sentence, realising his mistake, „-without you in it.“

„what?“ - „lewis and seb created a groupchat, to discuss some tips on how to lift your spirits, s‘all“, oscar slowly explained.

„okay“, said the female driver slowly. „thanks, i guess?“

„wait, so you all knew? i mean i kind of suspected you knowing, but you all knew? and what did you discuss?“

the three drivers thought carefully about their next words. carlos was the first to speak out: „nothing really. lewis just told us, that your behaviour reminded him of himself when he first joined mercedes and seb just told us, that he was talking with you about it and just kind of updated us.“

„y/n you’re very important to all of us, we love you and want you to be well. if somethings going on, we worry about you and want to fix it“, oscar supplemented.

„why didn’t you tell us?“ lando was the last to speak. his voice full of hurt. „oh lando, im sorry, i didn’t want to bother all of you with my shit“, she admitted.

daniel could see the falling tears on her face from far away. he could also see the many cameras realising their existence. he sprinted over to the four, to mainly shield them from the media, but his weird running drew more attention to the drivers.

„hi there, don’t cry, cameras“, he huffed. the little smile came back to y/n‘s face, as she looked at daniel’s red and out of breath face.

„hey i thought you were a high performance athlete?“, she smiled and wiped away her tears. „i am, athletes sweat, baby“, daniel said.

„i heard that that’s your last race, is it true, danny?“, she changed the topic from herself to the smiley australian.

„don’t change the topic, girly“, he smiled sincerely. „there’s no truth, until you get that breaking post on insta.“

„hey, but front row, huh? how nice does it feel?“, he asked her. still on the move, she nearly tripped, not only over her next sentence, but also over a curb; „very good but also kinda scary.“

„i got lando here in front of me and max behind me, just a little bit scary“, she elaborated further.

at the mention of the dutch, he appeared in front of the group suddenly. „i heard my name, what’s going on?“

„i get it, max is scary“, oscar whispered more to himself. „dude, how’d you do that?“, lando asked impressed.

„magic“, max waved his hand in front of his face and laughed. he high five’d y/n next and smiled at the other drivers.

„max is scary when he smiles“, said oscar slow and quietly towards lando, who agreed soundlessly. „hey, watch it“, max then pointed out.

on the other side, daniel was standing close to y/n, studying every twitch on her face. looking at carlos they silently communicated. the older two each grabbed a hand of hers and pulled her towards the next hospitality.

as usual, lando, max and oscar didn’t notice the other three‘s disappearance.

the two mercedes drivers, fernando and charles were already waiting. as soon as the female driver noticed lewis‘ braids, she sprinted towards him.

he though that she would gleefully hug him, but thought differently. with an angry step she stood in front of him. „how dare you make a groupchat about my feelings!“, she pointed a finger at his chest.

although she was small, she was fearful. her finger digging painfully into his chest, twisting every other second.

the older driver caved under her touch and slouched: „i’m so sorry, i just wanted to help.“

„by creating a groupchat? you could’ve just talked to me“, she sighed. „i know, but i thought i wasn’t the right person“, he admitted. „lew, you’re always the right person to talk to me“, she smiled lightly, „don’t ever do that again though!“

„okay“, he agreed, „but front row, love! how excited are you?“

and then she explained her thoughts all over again. noticing max not being here to make a scary entrance again. she explained happily, how the dutch suddenly appeared in front of her and how he reminded her of the flying dutch.

george and nando stood there listening to their favourite driver and grinned at her expressions and exclamations. her arms were up in the air, face twisted to match each of her words.

if that young woman would not be like this ever again, they swore to change the whole world for her.

„i’ll miss her“, daniel whispered to lewis. „oh buddy, it’s official then, this your last race?“

daniel nodded: „they have to recruite liam or he’s free to whichever team signs him.“ lewis looked at his friend, they’ve known each other for so long. it‘ll be weird without the australian on the grid.

„does she know?“, he then asked. „no, wouldn’t want to jinx anything and take her spirits away“, daniel hummed. „i get it, you have to tell her after the race though. wouldn’t be fair if she found out through insta.“

oscar, lando and max then trailed in with pierre, alex and charles. looking at the scene in front of them;

y/n telling some sort of story with fernando and george watching them and lewis with daniel standing on the side talking with hushed voices.

„we should celebrate“, lando said out of the blue. the female driver gasped upon hearing the random suggestion and turned around to face her best friend.

„yes, oh my god, that is such a good idea“, she excitedly said. „what should we do?“

charles said, that they could order pizza. pierre disagreed and said, that they should rent out a restaurant and eat authentic food. oscar thinks, that they should treat themselves with some spa time (they think, that lily really has a grip on that man).

lando suggested they’d go to the cinema. carlos said, that they should just go back to the hotel and do a relaxing movie night. lewis suggested they take a stroll with roscoe and leo. max thought some laps on the sim would be enough to celebrate.

george thought, that exploring singapore would be fun. fernando was just happy to tag along. daniel wanted to go swimming somewhere. and y/n, she really wanted to bury her face in ice cream and enjoy the time with her boys.

so that’s what they did. bought loads of ice cream, rented some movies at her hotel, turned her room into a home cinema and ordered some pizza too, just for fun. and of course roscoe had to stay there too.

after all that celebration, y/n was so tired, she fell asleep on fernando. he gushed and ushered the others to take some pics.

after tucking her in, setting the alarm for the next day, they all bid their goodbyes and left y/n alone. except lando - he stayed.

he was her best friend after all and he had to talk about all of the stuff with her. but it could wait until the morning, he was pretty tired himself.

as the alarm clock rang, y/n jolted up, confused as to where she was. seeing her hotel room, she remembered yesterday and what they did. she then felt someone moving beside her, turning around she saw a head full of curls and knew not to worry.

„lando, what are you doing here?“, she giggled. the mclaren driver groaned and stuffed his face into the pillow. „i have to talk about the stuff with you“, he then said.

„and you had to stay here why?“ - „because i knew i wouldn’t catch you before you would leave for the paddock, only logical solution was to stay here with you“, he finally lifted up his head and grinned at his best friend.

she laughed a little and ruffled up his hair. „you’re cute, but we don’t need to talk.“

he shook his head and made some grunting noises, disagreeing with her statement. „but we do, i need to talk about it.“

she told him everything he wanted to know. from the first time she thought she was not enough, to the phone calls with seb and to her feeling better over time.

„just promise me you’ll talk to me next time, okay?“, he begged her at the end of their conversation. she nodded. „say it, say that you’ll talk to me.“ - „i will, i will talk to you, lando, i promise.“

„good, but now, let’s get ready to race“, he grinned and changed the subject. y/n almost forgot, that they had a race to drive. and that she was starting from p2! „let’s go“, she excitedly said.

the day almost went by like a blur. the two arrived at the paddock, parted ways at her garage, bid good luck to each other.

she started her training session? warmed up with her trainer, ate some food, went to the toilet, that’s important. and then she already had to attempt the drivers parade.

she has never felt this nervous before. standing on that wagon, waving to the fans, not wanting to let anyone down, but mostly not herself.

the compulsive thoughts were coming back and she tried to remember what seb taught her. she breathed in for eight seconds, held her breath for seven, breathed out for eight again and held for seven. she repeated the box breathing method and tried to focus on the here and now.

lando saw her struggling to maintain a happy face and went over to her. „s‘all good?“, he asked in a hushed voice.

she nodded softly; „just trying to stay in the moment and not drift too far into the future.“

lando nodded, kind of understanding what she meant and just stayed by her side until the parade was over. as they parted ways for the second time that day, he hugged her and wished her only the best of luck.

her pre-race-ritual was listening to music, so she whipped out her headphones and blasted her loudest music on her playlist.

she almost jumped as her race engineer tapped her shoulder, to inform her that it was time to get into the car.

even though the first half of the day felt sped up, now everything was moving in slow motion.

she felt like james bond or any other action movie hero. her headphones still blasting music, she imagined herself looking total badass getting into her car.

step by step, nodding her head along to the music. arms flung up into the air to squeeze herself into the car. she mouthed some of the words as a mechanic gave her her steering wheel.

slowly she placed it into the socket and clicked it into it. still, everyone was moving in slow motion. she closed her eyes for a second, just trying to find her inner peace.

the music faded, she concentrated on her heartbeat. feeling it slow down, beat per beat. as she opened her eyes, the world was back to normal speed.

she took off her headphones, handed them to someone standing around the car. she lifted up her gloves, put them on and clapped her hands together.

„let’s get going then, ey?“, y/n then said to her crew. no clear answer came back, just some reassuring noises from around.

her helmet was laying in front of her, she looked at her drivers number, traced it with her finger and swiftly put it on.

the car was then rolled on to the track, everything was buzzing. she heard her race engineer checking the coms. hustling around her were all of the mechanics.

y/n went over the track once again. she knew every corner, she felt every bump on the road. her body knew when to turn, when to slow down or speed up. she knew what to do, this was her race.

she proved it by overtaking lando on corner one, lap one. right after the start there was a new race leader and they were called y/n l/n.

a woman was leading a formula one race.

she took off, she didn’t have to think about it, it was all muscle memory.

little did she know, lando was cheering behind her. even max was grinning like a mad man. for once both of them were content with not winning.

history was made on that day. as y/n crossed that finish line she couldn’t believe what was happening.

„y/n l/n, you are a formula one grand prix winner!“, she just heard her race engineer through her coms.

„and there it is, the first woman to win an f1 race, can you believe that we’ve just witnessed history?“

„i cannot, oh this is just fantastic! y/n proved that she could win, even with a mediocre car, just imagine her in a redbull or ferrari. this is beautiful, unbelievable.“

the female drivers head was spinning. what does she have to do now? in her whole career she only had one podium. but she was pumped with adrenaline that moment, she really just can’t recall what she has to do now.

she figured she’d just follow lando in her car and behold, she ended up at parc fermé. parking her car in front of the stand with the number one on it, she climbed out of it.

fuck, what cool pose was she gonna do? she hadn’t thought about that. just, improvise, she thought.

i’d will be embarrassing either way, she thought next. she took out her steering wheel, disconnected her helmet from the car and coms and jumped out of the car.

and then she just fell to her knees. at first sobbing into her helmet and not believing everything that has happened so far.

but the sobs quickly turned into laughter. she bowed, just like sebastian did, in front of her car.

sighing with happiness she stood up from the ground. lando came running to her, scooping her up and basically throwing her around.

„my god, you did it! you really did it!“

that was the actual moment, y/n realised what just had happened. that she had just won a grand prix. that she had just written history. that she had just done it.

max was coming from the other side, almost skipping. when have you ever seen max verstappen skipping?

„oh wow, this must feel so great, huh?“, he asked. „like a mountain falling from my shoulders actually“, she said.

she wanted to say so much more, but she was pulled aside to weigh. that procedure she knew. and then, there was her team, ready to celebrate the young driver.

just like lando, she sprinted towards them and jumped into the team. she was lifted up, chants were heard throughout the whole parc fermé.

„congratulations y/n, i knew you’d write history one day“, her team principal congratulated her.

from the side of her eye she saw christian horner giving her two thumps up. the next moment he mouthed: „let’s talk.“

does this mean? oh my god.

her chain of thoughts were broken, as lando pulled her along in to the cool down room.

she laid her helmet on the pillar and took the pirelli hat from the stand. her heart had finally time to calm down.

max and lando were grinning like crazy, as they approached the young girl woman. „congratulations, y/n, well done, perfect driving, couldn’t have done it better myself“, max told her. „ahhh, we’re both race winners!“, lando then shouted.

„that’s true! oh my god, i can’t believe it, and in the same season, high five!“

„who do i spray with my champagne, you or max?“, she suddenly asked. both men laughed at her question. „you spray whoever you want.“

so that’s what she did. before that, she closed her eyes at the national anthem. quietly sang along. never felt this much pride before. received the trophy and placed it far, far away from lando and shook that chanpagne bottle to spray all of the people present at the podium.

she took a swig of the god awful champagne, she remembered from last time how nasty it tasted. and she held her promise she once had with daniel.

at her first win, she would do a shoey, without any hesitation. she took of her sweaty shoes, sat down on the podium, filled the shoe up to the rim, hopefully the first sip would have the least amount of sweat and just started chugging it.

if you were present that day, you heard daniel ricciardo shouting and yelling at her from parc fermé. his whistling may have been recorded by the cameras, but who knows, the whole world was whistling for her in that moment.

nothing would ever beat that feeling ever again. drenched in sweat and champagne, chugged the mix of it and a heart full of love in that moment. she grinned at her win.

°°°

taglist: i feel like, im not gonna tag anyone for this, bc i haven’t posted in such a long time and i don’t wanna bother anyone…

so if you’re on my taglist and don’t want to be on it anymore, just post a comment under this and i’ll remove you :)

[pia-nor481]

Long night, Hard ride

Oscar Piastri x reader smut

1.3k words (sorry it’s so short I struggled with the actual smut)

It was made very clear from their first interaction that Oscar didn't particularly like social events; work social events were no exception. As much as he enjoyed working with, and for, Mclaren, he didn't like any of the launches or parties. This party did not evolve the car and so Oscar was especially angsty, his whole body felt heavy, and it was starting to get difficult to keep proper posture. "You will be okay." She said, trying to comfort him, running her hand over his bicep clad in the black blazer. His eyes were slowly begging to fall, "I know, it's just too much and I'm so tired." Oscar liked to sleep in as much as he could, but the training combined with the early morning to prepare for with event didn't help. The divers were there to secure sponsors for next season, Lando was capable of speaking with sponsors for hours, he was so full of energy that it came easy to him. But Oscar struggled and so was hiding in a corner with his girlfriend. "It will be over soon, at least we have some peace for now." She looked around quickly before pecking his cheek; he smiled wide as she rubbed the lipstick off of his face. "Do you think we could sneak out?" Their drinks have long been empty and Oscar was leaning against the wall for a few minutes now. "I think Zak might give away your seat." She giggled 

"I think we can get away with it." He whispered, wrapping his arm around her waist, guiding her towards the door. They practically hugged the wall trying to avoid human contact. She had to hold him up  as they walked down the stairs towards the car. She held her hand out for the car key, not letting him drive in such a condition and ever the gentlemen, he still opened the door for her. The drive home was long, Oscar definitely fell asleep a few time, but the roads were rather deserted at this late hour, his hand remained firm on her thigh as she continued to hold the wheel. "We are almost home, ten more minutes." She whispered, his only response was a quiet hum. Oscar could stay awake now, but he didn't have the energy for much more; Completely lethargic, he stumbled out of the car and in through the front door. 

"Come on." She said, dragging him up the stairs towards their shared bedroom; It was still very much a mess from the morning, Oscar was in a complete rush after waking up for the third time, she helped him get ready, not that it would have taken him very long on his own. He took a brief moment to stare, the dress was beautiful, and it fit her so well, Oscar would say it made her look perfect, more than usual. But that was all he could think as she pushed him out the door. It was not often that they were late, a skill Oscar must have perfected in his early years. She looked at him with an almost smug look, handing him the car keys. "I know I drive for a living, but surely you drive fine." His statement fell upon deaf ears. Oscar did not expect his words to change her decision, so he proceeded to the driver's side, with a quiet whine. 

Even now, quiet huffs left his mouth, making a poor attempt to walk up the stairs. She knew he was tired, yet she couldn't help the feeling of desire. Seeing Oscar in a suit really did get her going, even just the sight of him could do the same, but tonight in particular, she just couldn't stop the arousal from coursing through her body. Oscar reached the bathroom rather swiftly and slowly began to remove his clothes, struggling with the buttons. "Please, Love, I need help." She giggled, walking closer, seeing the dishevelled man pouting. Selfishly, she undid each button as slow as possible, staring at him with a sultry look. Oscar noticed, but chose not to say anything. If he was honest, Oscar would say he preferred morning sex, a sure way to wake him up, and have a good start to the day. He also understood that waiting wouldn't be wise.  

She turned slowly, as Oscar motioned for her to, wanting to help unzip her dress. He did so as fast as possible with the little energy he had. He was shocked at the sight before him; the matching set before him framed her perfectly. He felt a rush of blood flow through his body, warming him up slowly, with a lightly blush painting his skin. She turned back around slowly, meeting his lust filled gaze. Already feeling fuzzy, Oscar grabbed her hips softly to pull her closer, desperate for close contact. He didn't say a word as she began to kiss his neck slowly as he wanted her to feel good, blissful even. Yet she was nervous, curious as to how this would work; Oscar didn't have the energy to fuck her the way she desired, the way she deserved, but that wouldn't stop him. 

His hand found a home on the small of her back as he guided her back towards the bed. "As much as I want to, I can't fuck you tonight." Oscar whispered, laying down on his side of the bed with a loud sigh. She pouted at his remark as he smirked, closing his eyes. "Come here." There was a moment of silenced accompanied by hesitation, it took a while for her to register that she actually had to move towards him. He smiled up at her as she rested on the bed beside him,  he was giddy despite the late hour, perhaps becoming slightly delirious. Oscar head the quiet pads of her feet against the floor and smiled, he got truly excited when he felt the bed dip slightly. "Be good...And straddle me." She was originally sat there peacefully, knees together, waiting for an instruction, so she was keen when she heard Oscar's voice. 

With her knees around Oscar's hip, she smiled, endorphins running through her body. "No, no, Baby, I need one of your legs to be between mine." His voice had dropped an octave and likely some volume, not quite a whisper. She was confused to begin with, expecting to ride him. "Straddle my thigh, that's it." She listened carefully to every word, focusing on every syllable. She pushed her cunt against his thick thigh, enjoying the pressure. Oscar's hands quickly, made way to her hips, grasping lightly. "Now, I need you to slowly rock your hips for me." She did so in awe, moving slowly, feeling pressure build up in her lower abdomen. Rocking back and forth was easy, getting the right pressure and speed was difficult; She placed a hand on his chest, needing support.  "That's it, Good girl." Oscar's grip harshened, he pushed and pulled on her hips, helping her grind faster and harder, heightening her pleasure. "Please, Oscar, need you." Her mind was too full, all full of Oscar and how he feels. 

His thigh was covered in her, soaked in her wetness. Her whines quickly became moans as he edged her on, sucking lightly at her neck. Oscar could feel her cunt twitching with every movement. "So good for me, cum, cum for me Love." Her eyes were closed as her head dropped back, Oscar smiled at her legs shaking, struggling to keep her body up right. She collapsed on his chest, seeing stars while giving raged breaths. Oscar's hands began to draw shapes onto her skin as he hugged her close, pulling the blanket over their bodies he spoke, "I'm wide awake now" 

[disneyprincemuke]

family day * fem!driver

her siblings are in attendance for her race, wreaking havoc wherever their sister steps foot in

pairings: sebastian vettel x fem!driver, oscar piastri x fem!driver, max verstappen x fem!driver, alex albon x fem!driver, logan sargeant x fem!driver

warnings: siblings is the warning

notes: i tried to make this as anonymous friendly as possible but it's deemed very difficult when there are too many nameless characters... LOLSIE

(series masterlist) | (📂 the rookie season)

"oh my god. that's fernando alonso!"

the squeaky voice amidst all the chaos in the paddocks makes her snap her head, only catching her younger brother starting his run for the older driver up ahead.

her hand darts into the air, grabbing him by the back of his shirt's collar. she yanks him back towards her, stumbling back steps but still managing his stability to stand tall. "where do you think you're going, dalton?"

"dude. that's fernando alonso. i've got to say hi!" he points excitedly towards the man towards the aston martin home. he tries to swat her grip on him off, the front hem of his shirt pressed up against his neck. "come on!"

"this is my first year here, you're not embarrassing me by acting like a crazed fan."

"i'm not acting like a crazed fan. he's my hero!"

"you weren't even interested in the sport until last year when i told you i'm moving up to f1."

"he doesn't have to know that."

"but he will."

"he will not."

oscar sighs, reaching forward to forcefully remove her hands from the deathly grip it had on the mclaren shirt that dalton had on. "come on, kid. i'll take you to him."

"no, you're not," she repeats, physically moving him away from the australian. she turns away from oscar and puts her hands on her hips. she points a stern finger towards her brother. "you're not to talk to any of the drivers without me."

his mouth moves, mocking her as she tells him off with a roll of his eyes. "fine, whatever."

"i have to go meet seb for a team meeting. please behave," she pleads, palms pressed together. she looks at oscar with an expectant stare and glances at dalton. "like, seriously. i have enough on my plate today."

oscar nods, scrunching up his nose to reassure her. he gives her a thumbs up while his arm slings over the younger boy's shoulders. "i got it. don't worry about us."

"i'm serious, oscar!" she widens her eyes and takes a step forward. the two boys flinch with a step backwards, throwing their hands up in the air to fend her off. she turns to her brother once more. "i can't babysit you guys today; i'll be working! it doesn't help i've got dumb, dumber and dumbest for siblings."

"hey, you're related to us! you're the leader of the dumbs," he scoffs, arms folding over his chest in frustration.

oscar puts a hand on her shoulder, shaking her body slightly to calm her down. he retracts his hand when her stare cuts to him. "i'll find them and i'll show them around."

her stare lingers without another word. finally, she slouches slightly and she drops her arms to the side. she unclenches her fists. "okay. my meeting shouldn't take too long. i'll text you when i'm done."

a small smile finally stretches her lips. she turns around to start walking towards her team home.

she only takes a small step forward before paranoia engulfs her again. "seriously, no talking to the other drivers without me!"

oscar gives her two thumbs up, waving her off as she gets further down the pathway.

oscar squeezes the boy in his arms and pats his chest. a mischievous smile on his face, turning the other way towards the stretch of racing homes. "how'd you like to meet fernando alonso, kid?"

"oh, don't stress," sebastian waves her off, tapping his phone against his palm. he's walking slowly with the driver next to him, head turning as he searches for the siblings she's losing her mind over. "i'm sure oscar is taking care of them."

"no, he's not! they went to meet fernando and max behind my back when i specifically told them not to!" she screams over the music, pushing through the crowd to find the group wreaking havoc on behalf of her name.

she's desperate to find them. she's tiptoeing and craning her neck in attempts to spot them in the crowd. but with her lack of height, it's deemed almost impossible to complete her mission.

"how do you even know that?" he chuckles, glancing at her frantic state. truth is, he spotted her group of siblings with the bright orange-dressed driver just a few seconds ago.

"because i saw dalton's instagram story! he's posted a selfie with fernando!"

"okay. well, i found them." sebastian grabs her arm, dragging her towards a quieter area.

there, in fact, stands all her siblings with a couple of drivers. and the main source of all her stress, oscar piastri.

"hey, (y/n)!" max beckons her over, beaming with a wide smile and faltering laughter. "you never told us your siblings were so funny! i can see where they get it from."

"that's because they're not funny," she frowns, taking a spot next to the red bull driver who's moved slightly to include her in their circle. "i'm the only one blessed with humour in my family."

alex throws his head back, giggling. with several siblings of his own, he definitely can feel for her. especially being the oldest. "well, they're a delight to be with. they should attend more races, you know!"

"i agree with alex," ciara points at him with a knowing nod. and a smirk that drives her crazy. "it's kinda fun being here."

she scrunches her nose, shaking her head mockingly. "you wish. you've still got school to attend and i have better people to give my race passes to and it's not you."

"so, (y/n), ciara was telling us about your first boyfriend," alex laughs, covering his mouth to cover the smile growing on his face. "was he ugly?"

"he was ugly," dalton confirms with a frown on his face, flashes of his oldest sister's ex-boyfriend flashing in his head. "a total douchebag."

"how would you know, you were like 9."

"you've had a boyfriend!" sebastian grins, staring at her with an open smile. "you never told me about that! i thought you've never had one."

"he is ugly," oscar adds on, shrugging at alex when he receives a shocked stare. he reaches for his phone in his back pocket, stepping to the middle of their circle. "let me show you guys!"

"we dated for 6 months, it doesn't count!" she scrambles forward, trying to swat the phone away from oscar's hands. "don't show them!"

max tilts his head. "why, how ugly was he?"

"considerably," ciara laughs, nodding as she purses her lips together.

"who was ugly?" logan pops up behind alex, furrowing his eyebrows at the female wrestling oscar for his phone.

the height difference always plays a part: oscar simply holds the phone up with extended arms as she tries to physically climb hin to get ahold of it.

"her ex-boyfriend," max grins, clearly enjoying the chaos that her siblings have brought him this race weekend.

"she won't kill you, here you go," oscar laughs, tossing his phone towards the dutch leaning on the wall.

"he was nice, okay!" she defends, finally detaching herself from oscar. she stares at max, hands stiffly extended down in embarrassment as the phone gets passed around the circle. "and i was 16! come on!"

"i'm not judging," max shrugs, though eyes still stuck to the screen in his hands. alex is leaned in towards the phone, glancing up at her then back to the phone again as he tries to form an opinion. "but i would have done better if i was a girl as pretty as you."

"aw, he thinks you're pretty! dude!" dalton teases, punching his sister's back very gently.

she throws her head back and groans when sebastian joins the huddle around the phone. "not the point!"

sebastian's face contorts to a look of disbelief. he looks up at her, nose scrunched up and mouth agape. "and what did you look like when you were 16 again?"

"here." ciara extends her hand with her phone, clearly prepared for somebody to ask that question.

sebastian takes it into his hands, ignoring the girl's pleads to not take the phone. he pushes it next to oscar's phone, the three drivers now forming their final verdicts.

max pouts his lips out. "definitely too pretty for him."

"that's what we told her." logan looks down at his feet and shakes his head in disappointment.

the conversation that they used to have over the phone briefly flashes through his mind as she defended her young relationship. oscar would then roll his eyes over the phone screen and simply tell her to fuck off.

"well, you're in the big leagues now! it won't take long for you to bag a famous boyfriend," oscar teases, pulling her in for a side hug. "he'll be cute this time, we'll make sure of it."

max nods, lips pressed together as he agrees with oscar. "you won't even be allowed to get hit on by ugly guys anymore now that we're here."

the girl shied away behind ciara, very silent this whole time, pokes her head out and chuckles. "sounds like they're trying to set you up with somebody already."

"blythe, please!"

"i hope you guys enjoyed media day," she shrugs, swinging her bag over her shoulder. she puts a hand on her hip and flicks her head towards the exit of the paddocks. "first and last race you'll be attending, by the way."

"hater," ciara scoffs, scrambling to get up from her position on the floor. she straightens her shirt and sighs. "but i guess it was kinda fun."

blythe sends ciara and stern glare. "it was fun. your colleagues are all very nice. i hope they're treating you well?"

"they're very protective," she shrugs with a shy smile.

"and oscar's a menace as always? i don't expect anything less from him, having grown up with three sisters as well." blythe glances at dalton trailing behind them.

the younger boy is now silent, dragging his feet against the floor and shoulders slumped as he follows them blindly.

"i swear he has a crush on you, dude," ciara giggles, bumping shoulders with her older sister. "you've gotta ask him or something."

she furrows her eyebrows. the thought of oscar being romantically interested in her is absolutely absurd. "oscar has a girlfriend, ciara. god forbid i be friends with a guy and keep it platonic."

ciara shrugs, "either he wants to hit or he thinks you're ugly - it's the rule of thumb. matt rife said it."

"just end the conversation before you get into a fight," blythe sighs tiredly, putting her hands up to separate the two. "it was a good day. thank you for giving us your passes this weekend."

"absolutely," she smiles. she hangs back a couple of steps and wraps her hand around dalton's arm. "i hope you enjoyed today. you met charles too, right?"

dalton nods, eyes half closed. "you were right - he is very pretty up close," he says softly, voice sore from all the excited screaming he's done all day. "my favourite is still sebastian."

she rubs his arm gently, giggling at his short responses. "okay, let's get you guys back to the hotel for some dinner and a good night's rest. that's only 1 day out of 3."

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @inejismywife

[valyrfia]

If Red Bull continues to falter, it won't even be a fight for P2, it will legitimately be a fight for the WDC between three or more drivers.

Every race for the rest of the season will make or break a driver's WDC chances.

Of the top drivers, who suits the remaining tracks the best? Charles and Ferrari usually do well in Baku and Singapore. Austin I'm not sure about. Maxico could return if Red Bull get their shit together. Brazil is always a toss up. Not much to go on for Vegas but Max and Charles did well there last year and Lando had a terrible crash. Qatar being hot could go McLaren or Ferrari's way, and Abu Dhabi is normally a Max track but we'll see!

This is gearing up to be one of the best seasons in recent times.

I would not count Max, Lando, or even Charles out of this WDC fight. Red Bull have essentially committed to writing off the next two races (which are historically their weakest) in order to bring upgrades to COTA–but some of the midfield are bringing upgrades to Baku which, if they work, might result in the frontrunners eating into the points delta that Max has. Even worse, the RB20 could be fucked in that the upgrades could simply not work. Red Bull are gambling that Ferrari, Merc, and Oscar Piastri won't let Lando close in too much on points.

McLaren typically do well on the next run of tracks, but so do Ferrari and especially so does Charles. Singapore, Mexico, and Qatar are high downforce which McLaren has always had the edge even last year on so I would bet on them to have the best chance of winning those, however that team is on the brink of a civil war and it'll be interesting to see which McLaren driver pulls it off and crucially–Charles Leclerc is an absolute wildcard at this point in the season. We're finally seeing four or so years of Charles being forced to drive unpredictable cars paying off–he has proven time and time again this season in Suzuka, in Monaco, in Zandvoort, in Monza that he doesn't now actually need the best car, it only needs to be good enough in order to be a real strategy and racing headache for everyone around him. McLaren thought their 1-2 was secured in Monza because they didn't think Charles had the pace nor the tyres to win on the one-stop and yet. Charles is completely unpredictable and at the end of the day McLaren may be correct in prioritising their team harmony and a WCC (which some see as a done deal) over Lando's possible WDC because if Charles keeps pulling off performances like that and Carlos keeps up the good consistency he's been showing recently....yeah the WCC could swing. There's only 41 points, Ferrari are very much in contention for that championship still and could win it if McLaren aren't very careful. That's why honestly, as cringe as papaya rules are, McLaren HAS to enforce them because if Oscar and Lando had crashed out in lap 1 yesterday and Ferrari secured the 1-2, Ferrari would suddenly have overtaken them for P2 in the WCC

I think it's likely the gap between Lando and Max could close to less than 20 points before Abu Dhabi, however it could be entirely possible that the gap between Charles and Lando could close to less than that, and indeed all the gaps close up so that the championship is still mathematically possible down to Oscar by the time Abu Dhabi rolls around. And we've still got three sprints to go too, which are complete wildcards with eight crucial points up for grabs in each. Yeah, hand to my heart I would probably still predict that Max takes this WDC but these next eight race weekends are absolutely crucial. One misjudgement, one DNF, one bad strategy call, one safety car, could win or lose the championships. It's going to be exciting, it's going to be tense, I don't think I'll be able to breathe until December.

[rb19]

what tracks do you think max has a chance to win (or at least podium) at for the rest of this season? & which one's are probably going to be hard due to the limits of the rb19? & thank you for being the voice of reason right now at a time when everyone, including me, is feeling really down about max's wdc chancdes.

in one of waché's interviews before the summer break, he said rb20's strengths are rear-limited tracks and hot conditions. we saw that in austria quali, when max managed to qualify ahead of lando by +0.4. and he would've won that race if not for the slow pit stop. it wouldn't have been a comfortable win, but we ain't gonna see those anymore. every detail needs to be perfect.

but what are 'front-limited' and 'rear-limited' tracks?

front-limited: tracks that ask a lot from the car's front end. so the speed you can carry through the corner is limited by the maximum grip the front tyres can generate. circuits with long, interconnected, fast corners.

rear-limited: logically, tracks that ask a lot from the car's rear end. circuits with higher prevalence of slow corners, characterized by heavy braking followed by significant acceleration on corner exits and long straights.

for example, hungary and zandvoort are heavily front limited. bahrain and austria are heavily rear limited. but most tracks are only slightly biased in one direction, so it's not possible to put each one of them in a little box. the track condition can also affect these traits, if the track is too green or if throughout the weekend there's big variations in temperature, the balance can switch from slightly front limited to rear limited or vice versa.

i can see the mcl38 performing in every track. zandvoort might have been only their second big upgrade of the season, but they've been introducing track-specific parts almost every round and will continue to do so. qatar is heavily front-limited, that's mclaren's playground. even in 2023, lando could've won that race had he started in the front row.

the rb20 underdelivered in zandvoort. they need all three practice sessions to setup the car and they got only one. in the end max ran an old spec floor (for comparison purposes) and a monaco rear wing (in case it would rain in quali and help with the tyre deg on sunday - it didn't, the unloaded setups worked better). they saw max wouldn't have the pace to challenge for the win and decided to take risks. it doesn't matter if it was max's home race, think of the big picture. they still need to run experimental setups in order to understand the car better and improve it for the late stages of the season and even next year. this car STILL has potential to win races. it would've won in spa had max started from p1, i don't know why max fans choose to ignore that. its aero efficiency is still the reference.

SO. with all that said and considering recent performances...

i am optimistic for monza. it's a a neutral track, the low drag favors the rb20. it might not have the same straight line speed advantage it enjoyed over competitors in 22/23, but it's still a factor. track has been resurfaced and it looks like temps are gonna be around 28/30ºC which can help.

+baku: yeah it's a street circuit, but a very rear limited one, low deg and low drag. the rb20 can perform well. -singapore: knees on the floor. start praying for a top 5 finish. ferrari we need your help. singapore is actually rear-limited, like monaco, but its curbs and bumpy nature won't allow the stiff rb20 to be stable. -cota: neutral... but i'm leaning towards mclaren bc high deg +mexico: maxico and inshallah. rear limited and low deg but bc of the high altitude it needs a lot of downforce.. still have faith we can take it tho -interlagos: mcl38 +las vegas: low deg and low drag, rear limited, but cooler temps.. rb20 can you help me out here -qatar: mcl38 +abu dhabi: bit rear limited, low deg, rb20

btw this stuff is not black and white. it just gives you a reference. shovlin has said the w15's weaknesses are hot conditions and rear limited tracks. the w15 was expected to perform well in zandvoort.. but you see, it didn't. a lot of surprises to come. mercs and ferrari are gonna play a big part in this championship.

but don't quote me on any of that!! 😁

[harley-sunday]

Feels Like Home [01]

Summary: When an unexpected three-week break between Monza and Singapore finds Daniel back on his farm in Perth he’s desperate to use this time to clear his mind, figure out his future in Formula One, and find his way back. He didn’t expect a new neighbour, a sassy two-year old, and three alpacas would make him realise that sometimes, what you’re looking for is right in front of you.

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x reader (unnamed OFC)

Warnings: Language

Word count: 2.7k

AN: Yes. Hi. Hello. Believe it or not but I started writing this fic because I desperately needed some good guy!Daniel being cute with kids in my life. The idea was just a short one shot. Ha. Who was I kidding? Because here we are, six months and nine chapters later... I really hope you like it, please come yell at me in the comments, on anon, or in my DMs about any and all things about this story you want to yell at me about. I probably deserve it. ♥

Masterlist

There’s something about being here, on his farm outside of Perth, that he doesn’t experience anywhere else in the world. Not in Monaco, not in Los Angeles, not even in Austin, or Montana. 

Because here- Here, he doesn’t have to be Daniel Ricciardo, Danny Ric, DR, or the Honey Badger. He doesn’t have to be a Formula One driver, an eight-time race winner, the most beloved driver on the grid, and the fan favourite. He doesn’t have to be Red Bull’s wild card, Renault’s saviour, or, most recently, McLaren’s scapegoat. Here, he is Daniel. And it’s enough. 

Or, at least, it used to be.

Lately, there's been a yearning in his heart that he's unfamiliar with. Or he pretends to be anyway because he’s not ready to put it into words yet, not ready to speak into existence what he really wants from life. Afraid he'll jinx it if he does. 

And so he keeps it to himself and lets his heart ache for something more in silence while the life he does know slowly keeps on falling apart around him.

***

Daniel rests his wrists on the handlebar of his dirt bike and lets out a breath he seems to have been holding in ever since he retired on lap forty-five of the Monza Grand Prix four days ago. Looking out over the valley below, he feels more grounded than he has in a long time and he hopes that the next two weeks will give him the peace he so desperately needs after the shitshow that has been his season so far. 

The sun’s already low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the somewhat still barren trees and shrubs even though he can tell winter is slowly coming to an end from the sprouts of green that have started to grace the landscape with their presence. There’s a kookaburra laughing somewhere in the distance and he takes it as his cue to fire up his engine again for one last run around his dirt track before it gets too dark. 

He knows technically he isn’t supposed to ride his bike during the season, knows technically McLaren could issue him a hefty fine for breaching his contract, but if they ever were to find out he figures they can just take it out of the settlement they’re due to pay him at the end of the year. He’s promised Zak he’ll do whatever it takes to score as many points as possible in the last six races but he also decided early on that he’s no longer going to let the team dictate what he can or cannot do in his time away from the track. 

There’s a meeting tomorrow, with Blake and Michael, where they’ll try to figure out his future in Formula One. There have been a few offers, both from teams who want him as their second driver and from teams who want him to become their reserve driver, but he’s still undecided, not sure if he wants to settle for another midfield team or stay in Formula One without really being in Formula One. 

By the time he completes his lap his head is somewhat empty, too busy instead to focus on keeping his bike under control and not ending up in the dirt. It’s almost dark now and so he opens the throttle wide and guns it home, a race against an invisible clock that, unlike this past season in Formula One, he wins every single time.

Once his bike is safely back in the shed he makes his way over to the house, hosing his boots down before he takes them off at the back door and leaves them to dry on the shoe rack his Dad made for him when he bought the farm. He changes out of his gear in the mud room, making a face when he takes his socks off and catches a whiff of the smell but laughing then because he remembers them smelling so much worse after a race in, oh let’s say, Singapore. With nothing but his boxer shorts on he steps into the kitchen and heads straight for the fridge, taking out an ice cold bottle of water. The sigh of relief when he rolls it against the back of his neck almost obscene. It might be winter but temperatures in western Australia are still as high as a beautiful spring day in Monaco.

It’s then the intercom rings and for a moment he debates ignoring it, not sure if he’s up for telling yet another local journo looking to make it big by trying to get an interview with ‘shunned McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo’ that now really isn’t a good time  and that any requests for interviews should be made through Blake anyway.  

Plus, he gave his family and friends the access code to the gate when it was first installed, so he doubts any of them are waiting for him to open it, not in the least because they know better than to just show up without a text or call in advance.  

In the end, his curiosity gets the better of him and so he walks over to where the control panel of his alarm system hangs in the living room and pushes the button needed to connect to whoever’s at the gate, “Hello?”

“Hi,” the screen comes on then, the black and white image showing a woman wearing a Stetson hat. She’s staring somewhere into the distance, her face obscured by the shadows the brim of her hat casts under the streetlight, but her voice comes through loud and clear, “Sorry to bother you this late-”

“It’s seven thirty,” he shoots back almost effortlessly.

“-but I wondered if I could maybe ask you to keep it down with the dirt biking a little?” 

“I’m sorry, what?”

She looks up and into the camera then, pushing her hat a little higher so he can finally see her eyes, “It’s just- We’ve got a flock of alpacas over in Eagle's Nest and they tend to get a little jittery from all the noise. Especially when they try to settle in for the night and-”

“I’m sorry,“ he can’t help but grin, running a hand through his hair, “but I’m going to need a little more context here.”

She laughs and he thinks it’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard and so he’s a little distracted but then he sees her taking her hat off, revealing her face and- Fuck. She’s gorgeous. He watches her as she shakes her head, a smile tugging on the corners of her lips, “Shit, sorry. I probably should have given you a bit more to go on.” Putting her hat back on she straightens up and points to somewhere over her shoulder, “Your neighbour on that side, Oscar Linton? He’s my granddad. I think you know him, right?”

“Old man Linton!” He smiles and nods, “Of course I do.” When he first bought the farm he made sure to introduce himself to his neighbours and while he likes to think he has a good relationship with all three of them he’s always had a soft spot for the elderly man further up the road. So much so that he always makes sure to drop by for a chat whenever he finds himself back in Perth. It’s then he connects the dots and recognises her from some of the pictures Oscar has up in his living room. All of a sudden he feels guilty for not going to see his neighbour yet even though he has been home for two days already but maybe he can do that tomorrow or-

“He fell a few days ago-” her voice pulls him out of his thoughts unintentionally and his guilt triples in a matter of seconds. There’s a sad smile tugging on her lips which makes him prepare for the worst. 

Surely they would have let him know if- He remembers the pile of unopened letters waiting for him on the kitchen counter then and curses quietly, “Shit.”

“He’s ok,” she’s quick to reassure him, as if she knows what he was thinking. “He spent a couple of nights in hospital and still has a long way to go but at least he’s home again.” She takes a deep breath, “They had to replace his hip and he’s got a broken wrist but,” she shrugs, “it could have been worse.” 

It’s then the absurdity of the situation hits him, with him in his boxers in his living room and her on the other end of his kilometre-long driveway, talking into a metallic box. He shakes his head and pushes the button that opens the gate automatically, “I think maybe we shouldn’t have this conversation over an intercom. I could make you a cup of coffee if you want? Or something stronger? I make a mean-”

She bites her lip and seems to hesitate.

“Just a quick cuppa. It’s the neighbourly thing to do, right?”

He sees her nod, “Yeah, ok.”

He can’t help the grin that spreads across his face, “Happy days.” 

***

The house is not at all how you expect it to be, much more modern and open-planned than any of the other farm houses in the area. The west-facing wall has been completely redone in glass panels, offering a stunning view of the valley and surrounding paddocks and you can’t help but admire the interior design of both the kitchen and the living room, which is masculine but still inviting. You wonder if he decorated the place himself or if he hired some interior designer to do it for him.

“Here you go,” Daniel, who told you ‘You can call me Dan’ when he greeted you at the door with a bright smile and an outstretched hand- offers you a cup of steaming hot coffee and motions for you to join him at the kitchen table. He’s wearing white sweatpants and a matching white sweater that look incredibly comfy and that make you want to wrap yourself around him and hang onto him like a koala bear. Wait. What? 

You take your hat off to try and keep from ogling him, placing  it on the chair next to you before you sit down and smile at him, “You know, all these years I thought you were called Danny Ric because that’s what Granddad keeps calling you. I’m not sure I can get used to Daniel.” 

Daniel laughs, the laughter lines in the corners of his eyes even more prominent now, “Trust the old man to keep that gag going.” He shakes his head then, “I can’t believe he fell though.”

“Yeah,” you agree quietly, blowing into your coffee. “We’re lucky Mrs Mackenzie found him when she did or-” You let out a ragged breath and see him nod, his eyes kind, and it makes you continue, “His hip was completely shattered and his wrist is broken in three places so it’s going to take a while before he’s up and running again- I mean, if his new hip ever heals completely- He’s already seventy-eight so-” You hear yourself starting to ramble and so you fold your hands around your cup and try to calm down a little. You’re not even sure why you’re even telling him all of this, but he’s a friend of your granddad and so you figure he’s good people. “Mum and Dad wanted to come back from New Zealand to help out but-” you look up at Daniel and shrug, “I spent a lot of time on the farm as a kid, right until I left for uni, so it made much more sense for me to move in with him for the time being.” 

“That’s a pretty big thing to do,” Daniel says with a kind smile, a warmth to his brown eyes that you can feel yourself get lost in. “You sure your family can miss you that long?”

You don’t really know what he’s getting at, whether he’s talking about your Mum and Dad or the husband and kids he thinks you might have left behind to come back to Mundaring, and you don’t really know you want to tell him your truth either, after all you’ve just met him, so in the end you shake your head and settle on an honest, “I’ve got everything I need right here.” 

He eyes you suspiciously but doesn’t push it and instead he says, “If you’d have me I’d love to come over to see him some time. I’m still here for almost another two weeks  and-” 

“I’m sure he’d like that,” you offer with a smile. “He always tells me what a nice bloke you are.”

Daniel leans back in his chair and grins, spreading his arms, “Can’t say I blame him. I’m the best.” 

“He says the same thing about the postie,” you tease with a casual shrug, “so don’t get too excited.” 

“Ouch,” Daniel brings a hand to his chest, “that hurts.” 

You pout, “So sad.” 

“Very,” Daniel agrees quietly, trying his best to keep a straight face. He puts his arms on the table then and leans forward, “Before you stomp on my ego some more, why don’t you tell me the real reason you’re here. What’s up with that eagle’s nest over in some paddock?”

“Oof,” you pull a face and shake your head, “you were so close.” You can’t help but laugh when you see him pretend to be hurt at your comment. You take a sip of coffee before you explain, pointing in the general direction of your paddock, “Your dirt track borders Eagle's Nest, the paddock Granddad uses for the alpacas in September and October, and I guess normally it isn’t a problem because you usually aren’t home during this time of year but I heard you yesterday and today and-”

“Yeah, we had an unexpected three-week break this year so I figured-” Daniel waves his hand around for you to continue then.

“It’s just, we have three pregnant females this year and- I don’t know if you’re at all familiar with alpacas?”

He shakes his head, “I didn’t even know you guys had alpacas. Your granddad and I just tend to talk shit about Mrs Mackenzie and them over a cuppa but I've never really asked him about the farm to be honest."

You throw him a look, knowing all too well your granddad doesn’t drink coffee.

He quickly backs down, “Fine, I drink coffee, he drinks tea.” 

“There you go,” you mouth with a wink. “Anyway, alpacas are basically scared of everything, even their own shadow, so you know, someone riding a dirt bike close by doesn’t really help with keeping them nice and calm during these last few weeks of their pregnancy.” 

“Gotcha.”

“They’re usually out on the other side of the paddock during the day, so anything until five in the afternoon is fine” you offer, not wanting to deprive him of his hobby completely, “but we have their feeders and the shed they can hide in during the night out over in your corner, so-”

“You’re giving me a five pm curfew, basically,” he says with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Just until the end of October.” You bite your lip, “I’m sorry, it’s just-”

“Nah, no worries,” Daniel puts his hand on your forearm and gives it a squeeze to let you know he means it. “I’d do anything for old Oscar.” Then, with a grin he adds, “And his girls.” 

You can’t help the heat that rises to your cheeks and try to hide it with a smile, “Thank you.”

He squeezes your arm again, “He’s gonna be fine by the way. He’s tough, that one.”

“Speaking of Granddad,” you risk a quick glance at your watch, letting you know it’s almost eight fifteen, “I should probably head back.” You push your chair back and grab your hat, putting it on as you tell Daniel, “Thank you for the coffee.”

“Anytime,” he says with a grin as he stands up as well, following you to the front door. “Tell him I’ll come by soon, ok?”

“Will do.” You turn around then and smile again, something about not getting your hopes up but doing so anyway when you ask, “I’ll see you around then?”

Daniel tips his imaginary hat, “Yes ma’am.” 

[robinfrinjs]

2023 24H of Le Mans - All you need to know

It's almost time for Le Mans! Tomorrow it's test days and next week we're racing!

This year we see the 91st running of the oldest active endurance race in the world. Its inaugural race was in 1923 which means this year its it’s 100th anniversary, this means it’s the Centenary Edition. the 24 Hours of Le Mans is recognised as the most prestigious and gruelling test for innovations and improvements in motorsport technology.

It’s not only a special edition because of the 100th anniversary, but also because we’re seeing the most cars in the top class in a while. 16 cars will take the start, representing the biggest manufacturers in the world; Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota, Cadillac, Peugeot & Glickenhaus.

Because it’s the Centenary edition, we have a special trophy for the overall winner as well. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, has sealed a partnership with the Monnaie de Paris. The oldest institution in France has thus created a unique Trophy, which will be awarded to the winner of the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Before the race it has travelled the world to places such as Goodwood, The International Concours of Elegance St.Moritz, Bahrain and more.

Before the race it has travelled the world to places such as Goodwood, The International Concours of Elegance St.Moritz, Bahrain and more.

History

You might know Le Mans for the running starts. A type that has been used for many types of racing. When the start flag dropped drivers had to run across the track to their cars, climb in, start the car and drive away.

Those kinds of starts were obviously rather unsafe. Drivers would rush to fasten their seat belts to get as fast of a start as possible. This was the reason why it was banned in English racing from 1962.

In 1969 Jacky Ickx decided to walk to his car instead of run, and then took the time to fasten his seat belt. This meant he effectively started last but he still ended up winning the race. In this same race, a driver named John Woolfe died on the first lap after he hadn’t secured his seat belt properly.

This meant it was abolished the following year. Nowadays this type of standing start is only used in Endurance Motorcycle racing. Nowadays at Le Mans, a rolling start is used where cars line up alongside each other at a slow pace and start to race once the green flag is dropped.

The 24H of Le Mans has a rich history, but not a very pretty one in some parts. Back in 1955 one of the biggest tragedies in motorsports occurred. On the straight around the pit wall a huge collision occurred. Usually referred to as the 1955 Le Mans disaster, 84 people died and over 120 were injured. For many countries this meant an immediate ban on motorsport, though a lot of those bans were lifted within a year.

One country, that did not lift the ban, is Switzerland. In 2009 a proposal to lift the ban was defeated by the Swiss Parliament but in 2015 the ban was relaxed for electric vehicles only. Which meant Formula E could race on the streets of Switzerland, even though the ban was technically still there. Now in 2022, at the end of May the ban was finally lifted and motorsport is allowed again in Switzerland.

Please proceed with caution, the Wikipedia page includes one uncensored picture of the incident. The BBC documentary includes footage and pictures and the Reddit post does not include any pictures or videos but does link to the them.

/u/CookieMonsteFL made a post about the incident

The Deadliest Crash Is a BBC documentary on the 1955 Le Mans disaster

Wikipedia Page about the incident

Some more documentaries and movies on Le Mans’ history:

Truth in 24 and Truth in 24 II - The story of Audi’s victories against testing conditions and the might of Peugeot in 2008 and 2011.

Michael Fassbender: Road To Le Mans Season 1 and 2, Season 3, Season 4

Our Return: A documentary of our road to Le Mans 2015 - Porsche’s youtube documentary about their return to Le Mans and their eventual win.

McLaren at Le Mans: Pursuit of Perfection - The story behind McLaren's 1995 victory

The fastest ever lap at the Circuit de la Sarthe by Kamui Kobayashi

The Track

The track that is currently used is 13.6 kilometers long. It combines the permanent Ford Chicanes, pit straight, under the Dunlop bridge and through to tetre rouge as well as normal everyday roads of the Mulsanne straight through to Indianapolis and Arnage.

The track used to have a 6km long straight where Group C prototypes could reach up to 400km/h. This was changed in 1990 as the FIA required the track to have a straight no longer than 2km to be sanctioned. This is why nowadays two chicanes can be found on the Mulsanne straight. The fastest lap ever on the track was driven by Kamui Kobayashi with a 3:14.791 in 2017.

If you have the time, try to get familiar with the corner names as that’s often how commentators will refer to them.

T1, T2 etc stands for turns 1, 2 etc.

MP1, MP2 etc stands for the Marshall posts. This is important as yellows are often located by race control under the marshall posts.

Points

The race is part of the World Endurance Championship and this means there are also points to score for that championship. The winner of the race will receive 50 points, meaning this race means a lot in the championship.

Points to score:

Women at Le Mans

All credit for the info in here goes to Twitter user @smokingpuppy841 he created these two threads: Women at Le Mans & Why Women Were Banned at Le Mans

This year Lilou Wadoux is one of the women to compete at the 24H of Le Mans. in 2021 year she turned heads when she managed to completely destroy the field in one of the support series at Le Mans. In the French Porsche Sprint Challenge, she beat the field in qualifying by several seconds and then went on to win the race by a huge margin. Within just five years she went from racing in a Peugeot 206 to racing in a World Championship.

Last year she raced in LMP2 but for this year she switched to GTE as she has become a Ferrari Factory driver. This season she already took a win and hopes to do so again at Le Mans.

In 1930 Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Siko become the first women to compete at Le Mans, they finished 7th overall and second in their class.

Odette Siko also finished 4th overall in 1932 and took the win in her class which makes her the best finishing woman at Le Mans. In 1935 a record of 10 women competed at Le Mans, Anne-Cécile Rose-Itier was the best placed of them when she finished 18th overall and third in class.

Unfortunately in 1957 women were prohibited from participating. In 1956 Annie Bousquet, who was known as a spectacular but risky driver, tragically lost her life in the 12 Hours of Reims. As well as driving, Bousquet was also responsible for the preparation work, which involved picking up the car the day before and driving it 500km through the night to the race.

She started the race, but unfortunately, tragedy unfolded when her car would roll on lap 17 after it lost a wheel. She broke her neck and passed away immediately. Following the 1955 disaster which nearly ended motorsport, the ACO were very nervous about another accident. These nerves were only heightened by another tragedy at the 1957 Mille Miglia which saw the Italian government intervene to prevent a repeat.

These worries, combined with Bousquet’s reputation as a risky driver, meant they banned women from the event. A woman hadn’t even competed at Le Mans since 1951, which madethe ban, kind of pointless. The ban was eventually lifted in 1971 and this yearwe will see 5 women at the start again. Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting share a car in the GTE Am class while Lilou Wadoux also drivers in the same class. Doriane Pin drives in the LMP2 class.

All the women competing at Le Mans this year have already taken a podium in the regular season. While Lilou Wadoux even took two with a 2nd and 1st place. Expectations are high as all these women have the pace to win their respective classes.

Qualifying

Just like last year we will see the Hyperpole format. This sees a one hour session on Wednesday evening where all cars of all classes are allowed on track to set a time. The top 8 cars of all classes (Hypercar, LMP2, GTE AM) at the end of the session move on to the Hyperpole session on Thursday evening. This sets the top of the grid for each class. The remaining order is already decided by the one hour session on Wednesday. During the one hour qualifying session every team is allowed to nominate two drivers that can set a lap time.

Refuelling is forbidden during the Hyperpole.

For the LMGTE Am category, only a Bronze driver can participate in the Hyperpole.

Any car causing a red will have all or some laps deleted

Any car causing a red will not be allowed to rejoin the qualifying session

Schedule

This is all in local time which is CEST/GMT+2. Here’s a link to the detailed schedule in PDF version.

Sunday June 5th

10:00 – 13:00 FP1 (Official Test Day) 15:30 – 18:30 FP2 (Official Test Day)

Wednesday June 8th

14:00 – 17:00 FP1 19:00 – 20:00 Qualifying 22:00 – 00:00 FP2

Thursday June 9th

15:00 – 17:00 FP3 20:00 – 21:30 Hyperpole 22:00 – 00:00 FP4

Saturday June 11th

12:00 – 12:15 Warm Up 16:00 – 16:00  Race (24H)

Support Series

Not only WEC will be racing the coming week, also on the agenda are:

Ligier European Series

Porsche Carrera Cup

Ferrari Challenge

Road To Le Mans (Le Mans Cup)

Regulations

Balance Of Performance

As both the Hypercar class and the GTE AM class have several manufacturers running in the class, there’s a balance of performance in place. BoP” was introduced by the FIA with the aim of achieving a level playing field for the different vehicle concepts.

After an initial grading by the FIA, the performance data of the vehicles are acquired during the races via telemetry in order to adjust the balance of performance. This data input is automatically analysed and incorporated into the “BoP”. The most frequently used means of adjusting the performance level is through adding or subtracting weight as well as increasing or limiting the engine output through a restrictor or boost.

Here’s a short video on BoP

Tyre Allocation

Down below you can see the tyre allocation for dry weather tyres. GTE Pro is crossed out as that class does not exist anymore. Wet weather tyres aren’t limited. This is tyres, not sets. This makes it 14 sets for LMP2 & Hypercar during the race for example. Meaning the tyres will definitely need to be double stinted at times.

Drive Time

The maximum driving time for each driver is limited to 4h for any period of 6h. Every driver has to drive a minimum of 6H across the whole race or the team will be penalised. Every driver is only allowed to drive a maximum of 14H across the whole race.

What's a stint?

A stint is the time the car spends on the track between pit stops. So when tyred are “double stinted” at Le Mans, it means the driver didn't change their tyres during the last stop and only refuelled. Also allowed, is only changing two tyres on the car.

Safety Car Rules

The safety car rules for this year's race have been completely revised. These changes have been made in hope of having less influence on the race. As previously being caught by the wrong safety car could loose the teams a lot of time.

However, these new rules could be a disadvantage for the class leader as it does bring cars closer together. Some critisicse these new rules as they will “manufacture battles at the front.”

When the order is given to deploy the Safety Cars, all marshal posts will display waved yellow flags, and “SC” boards. Pit exit will be closed, and the pit exit light turned red, while the pit entry will remain open.

There will be 3 safety cars, starting from their respective positions, (as can be seen on the track map below). They will join the track regardless of where the overall leader is. All the competing cars must then form up in line behind the Safety Cars no more than five car lengths apart.

Pit exit green light will be turned on after the last car in line behind a Safety Cars has passed Safety Car Line 2, to allow all cars at pit exit to rejoin the track at an appropriate speed until they reach the queue behind that Safety Car.

When the Race Director deems it is safe to proceed with the merging process, the race control message ‘Incident clear – Prepare for Merging’ will pop up. This is followed by the Pit entry being closed Then safety Car B and Safety Car C will proceed to turn on their green lights, then cars which were positioned behind Safety Car B and Safety Car C will overtake their respective Safety Car and will continue as quickly as possible without compromising safety and without overtaking between themselves until they reach the line behind Safety Car A.

Once this is done, a pass around will be started. Any car that has their class leader behind them in the safety car queue will be allowed to pass the safety car.

After this the drop back procedure starts, first in line are the LMP2s. Race control will notify “Drop Back LMP2”, then all LMP2 cars will pull to the right-hand side of the track, then the rest of the cars, will overtake them to take position behind the Safety Car. Then the LMP2 cars will join the line again.

Once this is done, race control will notify “Drop Back LMGTE”. LMGTE cars will drop to the right side just like the LMP2s did. The rest of the cars will overtake them to take position behind the SC.

Once this is done it means that all Hypercars are together at the front, followed by all LMP2s and then the GTEs.

This wave around procedure won't be used in the last 60 minutes of the race.

Red Flag Rules:

During red flags it is not allowed to work on the car, only if allowed by the race director for safety reasons teams are allowed to change the tyres.

Slowzones:

To not immediately neutralize the complete field in case of an accident or debris. There's slowzones in place. The track is divided into 9 zones, when a slowzone is active cars will have to adjust their speed to 80 kph.

It is possible to have several slowzones going on at the same time. For example when an accident happens on the border of a slowzone, it is likely both zones will be deployed.

Penalties:

Speeding in the pitlane during Practice or Warm Up results in a fine of 100 euros for each kph over the limit. Besides that the driver's lap times leading up to the infringement are deleted. During the race the 1st infringement will result in either a drive through (between 60 and 70kph) or a 5 sec stop & go penalty (70kph+). The 2nd infringement will result into another drive through (between 60 and 70kph) or a 10 sec stop & go penalty (70kph+). The third infringement will result into a dsq in both cases.

It is prohibited to spin the wheels when a car leaves its pit, this will result into a stop & go. Aside from that refuelling may only be done when the car is completely on the ground which means tyres can't be changed during refuelling.

Links

Here’s a link to the regulations for this year’s race

Here’s a link to this year’s WEC regulations

Here’s a link to the noticeboard

Here’s a link to the timing results

Here’s a link to committee decisions

Media Guide to WEC

Might seem like a weird one to link but it’s really interesting to read. It goes into further depth about classes, and talks about previous winners etc

Entry List

R/WEC Scratchpad - This is the landingspage, you'll be able to find the scratchpad for practice & qually and for the race here

By this you’re able to catch up on any missed action, penalties and retirements. Obviously it’s difficult following a 24H race in its whole so this is a great way to catch up.

The Classes

The WEC grid consists of three different classes during the complete season, those are Hypercar, LMP2 & GTE. However for Le Mans two subclasses join the race. Neither of those score points for the championship (LMP2 Pro/Am & Innovative Car/Garage 56)

Each class has its own driver requirements, meaning both Amateur drivers and Pro drivers will be on track together.

Hypercar

Red number board with “Hypercar” next to it.

The current top class in endurance sportscar racing is “Hypercar”. This combines cars built to the LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) and LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) specifications.

The ultimate aim of the ACO, FIA and IMSA is for these two types of car to compete against each other in the FIA WEC and in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and, therefore, to race in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

LMH (Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot, Glickenhaus & Vanwall)

These regulations leave scope for a wide variety of architectures and allow a front-axle hybrid system to be fitted. They are designed to a strict set of requirements dictating maximum power, drag coefficient, and weight.

LMDh (Porsche & Cadillac)

In LMDh, the backbone of the car – i.e. the whole car minus the internal combustion engine, the body and the hybrid system – will be supplied by one of four chassis manufacturers: Dallara, Multimatic, Ligier or Oreca.

The driver line ups in this class consist of only pro drivers, with all drivers rated platinum or gold. Technically, lower rated drivers are allowed in the class, but that’s not likely to happen.

LMP2

Blue number board with “P2” next to it.

The LMP2 class features a spec drivetrain and gearbox, using a Gibson V8 producing 400kW, and a selection of three chassis to choose from, of which the Oreca 07 has been the chassis of choice. So much, that every single LMP2 car on this year’s entry list is an Oreca

Driver’s line-ups have to consist of at least one Bronze or Silver driver. When one of the drivers is bronze rated a car is automatically scored in LMP2’s sub class “LMP2 Pro/Am”

A Pro/Am car is easily recognised by the “Pro/Am” sign under the car number

GTE AM

Orange number board with “AM” next to it.

This is the last year we’ll see the GTEs at Le Mans as next year the GT clash switches to GT3 cars.

Although there is no Pro category, the driver quality in GTE-Am is still incredibly high. The grid features factory drivers, young stars, experienced champions, and every level of experience in between. Each car features one Bronze and one additional Bronze or Silver rated driver.

Innovative Car/Garage 56

Black number board with “IC” below it.

Garage 56, is reserved for innovative cars. In recent years we’ve also seen a modified LMP2 car that allowed paraplegic drivers to race. The car was modified and fitted with a braking, clutch and throttle system controlled by a hand-controlled steering wheel.

The Garage 56 entry runs outside the official classification, and will start last no matter where they qualify. This year it will host a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entered by the Hendrick Motorsports team for its maiden appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This is a heavily modified version of the Next Gen NASCAR that competed in the 2022 Cup Series. The car will be symbolically numbered #24 and driven by Jenson Button, former Formula One World Champion, Mike Rockenfeller, winner of the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, and Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Spotters guide

I used to make my own ones but there’s no use in making one myself when @GrosiakMateusz already makes perfect ones. You can find it on spotters.guide. The planned release date is June 6th.

Where to Watch?

Official stream OUTSIDE US ONLY - The Le Mans package gives you access to all WEC sessions (Practice, Qualifying, Warm Up and the Race) with a choice of on boards. It’s a rip-off quite honestly, it costs 13 euros and the platform is prone to crashing. If you’re buying I’d recommend just buying for the rest of the season, usually WEC will put up a discount code - PAID

Multiviewer F1 (Source) - The developer of this app says their goal is to get it ready before Le Mans. It will be integrated with FIAWEC.TV - PAID (Need FIAWEC.TV subscription)

Robin Frijns server, I will be streaming the WEC Coverage, all sessions from qualifying on Wednesday evening - FREE

Eurosport will likely be broadcasting the event in a variety of locales throughout Europe. This will be updated when confirmed - FREE WITH ADS OR PAID DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU WATCH IT

Radio Le Mans will be streaming live radio for every session (Including the test days) - FREE

For American audiences, unfortunately the Official stream is geoblocked for your area. American and English-speaking Canadian audiences can access coverage through Motortrend On Demand. Motortrend should have a free trial so you can try that if needed. - PAID (BUT FREE TRIAL)

Complete Broadcast distribution list

Live Timing

This is Official Livetiming it’s okay, but I recommend using the Timing71 Beta extension

As said the creator of Multiviewer F1 is trying to integrate WEC into the app as well, this would also likely include live timing. If there’s an update on that, i’ll post it.

I hope this is all, but for any questions, my askbox is always open!

[leclerced]

angst in the carhop AU ?

the pressure from race wins and WDC points gets to lando and oscar and they break up mid season , how does reader cope with this/ work around it esp with lando and oscar living in texas and her living with them ? is she responsible for them getting back tg or do their trainers and friends get in on it ? maybe lan is visiting one day and she misses calls from oscar and he shows up but lando is there and he gets jealous?

-🪼🪼🪼

omg breaking up with each other and not her... how do they do it? mclaren drivers fighting each other for the championship? multi 21 moment? where are they when they do it? how do they tell her? do they ask her to pick one or do they know they're just going to have to work out something so they can both keep seeing her? what does it mean for their future? so many thoughts...

lets talk living situation since you said they live together. they're rich enough to have multiple properties and it's good for investment reasons and shit. monaco is a tax shelter and because irl he lives there, i think lando would maintain residency there rather than legally move to america because of that. oscar would probably keep his place in the uk bc irl he hasn't moved anywhere that i know of. so post break-up, they'd both go back to their old places when the other is at the home in texas. they're not home very often anyways so it's not the biggest change. (does any of that make sense?) she does her best to spend equal time with each of them like switching who she talks to on the phone every night and who comes over on non race weekends.

i think at first, she wouldn't meddle. they're together constantly so they can talk and work things out on their own when they're ready. she believes they'll work it out on their own. she would want to, especially during nights where she's listening to one of them rant about the other. sometimes they're angry over a race result, that the other got an upgrade and they have to wait, etc. and she's pretty sure they're going to run each other off track the next time they race. other times, they're just sad and apologetic, and that's when she has hope they'll make up with each other.

she thinks about trying to trap them, make plans with both of them to come home so they have to sit and listen to her. but she's scared that'd piss one or both off, and that's the last thing she wants. there's just too much tension during the season for anything to be resolved. they'd interact when needed for work, interviews, and promo, but keep the interactions limited. they try to talk but they're both still angry about a lot of things, so they're just running in circles until they give up again.

then, winter break rolls around. lando has all these big plans to go skiing and mountaineering with his friends and invites reader but she can't suddenly take weeks off work without notice. she gets a couple of days off around the holidays and agrees to fly out then, but she's working on a big project and can't go jet-setting around the world with him. he understands and they'd make plans to talk every other night like usual and they're counting down the days until they see each other again. oscar's not that type though, got no plans other than to see her as much as possible. as soon as the last race is over and his media duties are done, he's flying back to her.

when lando calls her, oscar leaves the room to give them privacy and she doesn't tell lando he's there, a habit from the season when they always knew the other was there because they weren't. lando takes his absence from their calls as a sign that oscar isn't there and halfway through a ski trip decides to head back home, to her. his friends are understanding, wish him a safe flight and hours later he's unlocking the front door after getting dropped off. it truly doesn't occur to him that just because she didn't mention oscar, it doesn't mean he's not there. he hears them laughing as he kicks the door shut, he can tell they're in the den and it's close enough that they hear the door close and go quiet. he can hear murmured voices, did you hear that? was that a door? is someone here?

he wishes that he'd checked before flying all the way out. he’s not angry anymore, but he saw oscar leaving the track right after the race and heard he was flying home from someone in the garage and assumed that meant the uk, but now he knows it was here. he also assumed oscar didn’t want to talk to him and that’s why he rushed out, before lando even had the opportunity. he’d spent his break thus far fretting about texting him and seeing if they could meet up to talk, he hasn’t even had time to think about what he would say and now that he’s confronted with it, he doesn’t know what to do or say.

before he can figure out what to do, oscar's stepping into the hall with a baseball bat before freezing, "oh, you're not a burglar." he sounds more bored than relieved if anything, like he was excited to use it.

lando just laughs, "were you- did you plan to take down a burglar with a bat?"

reader comes scrambling from the other room as oscar is inspecting the bat, “lando’s here? did i hear him hating on my bat? i'll have him know my aunt gifted me that and she used it three times, so it definitely works."

the absurdity of it all sends oscar and lando reeling, the idea of an aunt of hers attacking three burglars with an old wooden bat. reader just standing there wondering what is so funny like, "i'm serious. there are dents in it, look!" they laugh even harder, oscar drops the bat to the ground in favor of clutching his stomach. reader picks it up with a huff and stashes it back in the closet. when they finish laughing, most of the tension is gone. it's a little awkward, but lando just says, "i didn't know you were here." and oscar replies, "i didn't know you were coming, we ate all the pizza already." the statement eases lando's worries a bit, like if he'd known he would have saved him some. he doesn't know what that means, but it means something to him.

they just avoid the topic for a bit. oscar and reader tell him there's leftover take out in the fridge and go back to the living room and cozy back up on the couch like they had been. lando eats left overs from the fridge from the arm chair and they catch him up on the show they just started before playing the next episode. lando tells them about the ski trip he was on and the mountain he summitted. eventually, reader falls asleep on oscar and when the episode finishes he gets up to carry her to bed. oscar asks if he's coming to bed before he leaves the room and lando knows things will be okay after they talk.

they're both up before she is the next morning, neither could sleep well with the impending conversation on their minds. lando gets up first when he can’t fall back asleep and deems it early enough to go for a run to clear his head. oscar wakes up sometime after that and sees lando's gone, but before he can worry that lando's left, he notices the open dresser and clothes tossed around and knows he's still around somewhere.

he's cooking breakfast when lando comes home, a full spread of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, french toast. mostly to give himself something to occupy the time, and something to focus on while he waits for lando to return from wherever. lando wants to talk as soon as he gets home, still sweaty and panting from his run. oscar offers him a glass of water when he sees the state of him and lando gulps it down. before oscar can ask if he wants a refill, lando starts apologizing for everything on his part. every time oscar tries to interrupt, lando cuts him off with a, “wait, i’m almost done!” even though all oscar wants to do is say everything is forgiven and he’s sorry too, and also that he doesn’t need an itemized list of all the things lando is sorry for.

reader wakes up to them joking around while finishing up breakfast and she’s a little anxious going into the kitchen, unsure if they’re avoiding the topic and playing nice for her safe or if they talked finally. oscar sees her walk in and makes his way over to greet her, she gives him a good morning kiss and tries not to wonder if lando’s upset or jealous watching them. before she can think too hard about it, lando’s whining that he didn’t get a kiss. reader thinks he’s whining about her, so does oscar, so they pull apart and she makes grabby hands at lando and coos, “come give me a kiss then” and he mumbles, “meant oscar, but i’ll take what i can get.”

[umgeorge]

george russell during the press conference, qatar - october 5, 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "George, coming to you now, so more padel here. I feel I have to start almost every conversation with a padel conversation, 'cause it's what seems to be going on when you arrive at a new racetrack." George: "Yeah, I think golf is out the window for most of the drivers now. It's into padel. No, it's such a great sport, and it's good to get together and have a bit of a game before the race." Interviewer: "Now, I've just spoken about Pierre Gasly's frustrations after the race in Japan. You struck me as a frustrated figure, as well. Having debriefed with the team and spoken to Toto Wolff, how do you reflect on that race?" George: "Yeah, I think there's not really much more to say, to be honest. We was on different strategies. Obviously when you're in the car and, as I said, straight away, emotions are running high. It's a long race, physical race, trying to make the one stop work, but at the end of the day we were on different strategies. And I can circle back to Miami this year, when the roles were reveresed and we were on different strategies, and the team came in to say let's not hold one another up, so yeah, nothing more to say from my side." Interviewer: "And were you happy to be on that one stop strategy?" George: "Yeah, because I think we would have finished P7, regardless, even if we was on the two stop. It gave us a small oportunity to get a much bigger result, but we knew it was definitely a long shot, but I think in the position we are at the moment, in a race like that, we've got to roll the dice and there was nothing gained, nothing lost." Interviewer: "Okay. And this racetrack's got lots of fast corners, similar to Suzuka, so do you think you're gonna have to roll the dice again this weeknd?" George: "I think the sprint race mixes things up a little bit, but for sure McLaren are gonna be really quick here, I think, as we saw in Suzuka. Obviously Max is, as always, week in, week out, so that will be a challenge. Our fight is with Ferrari, at the moment. P2 in the team's championship is our goal to achieve, so that's what we're chasing." Interviewer: "Twenty points, the difference between you and Ferrari. How intense is it? How predictable is it?" George: "Yeah, I think it's gonna be close towards the end of the season. I think there's been a lot of missed opportunities on my side this season, so we should have had that sewn up already, but I'm confident we can secure that while still, on the journey, putting a huge amount of emphasis on next year's car, because P2 is obviously very important, but making sure we hit the ground running next season is the most important." [time jump] Journalist: "David Croft, Sky Sports F1. It's a question to all of you, because you've all got views on this, I'm sure. As drivers, congratulations, you've made it into Formula 1. Liam, we hope you're gonna be around for a long time to come, even after Daniel gets his seat back. But there's the possibility of an eleventh team; the FIA have approved Andretti Racing, but there's a lot of hoops to go through. But, as drivers, do you want to see an eleventh team on the grid? Would it be better for you, in terms of racing against more drivers, and would it help drivers like yourself, Liam, who might be struggling to get into Formula 1 because the seats just aren't there at the moment?" George: "Formula 1's the pinnacle and we wanna see quality competition, so I'm not for, I'm not against, but definitely if there were to be an extra team, it's gotta be a quality outfit, one that can add to the sport, and we wanna see competition. In an ideal world you wanna see all ten teams fighting against one another, so I'm sure F1 will come to the best conclusion and answer, whatever it may be, but it's just we've got to have quality over quantity. But, as I said, I don't feel strongly."

[landinrris]

Hey! I’m still buzzing over Lando’s win, but I’ve got a couple of questions. Before the race Andrea was saying this set of upgrades wouldn’t be as significant as the ones they brought to Austria last year, but they have more coming. Do you think it’s possible that McLaren could actually challenge for the constructors this year? Also they were also saying that Miami as a track doesn’t really suit the car. Why is that and which tracks do suit it?

God, I am also buzzing, and it still feels surreal tbh. Like wow, he finally did it 🥺😭

I saw a post saying Lando's upgrades looked to contribute around 4 tenths a lap (with Oscar's half giving around 2 tenths as well) which is wild. I don't remember what their gains were after Austria/Silverstone last year, but I do remember they were also massive (obviously. we were in the fucking trenches pre-Austria 2023).

I believe what Andrea primarily meant by saying Miami doesn't necessarily suit their car was because of the temperatures. It was very hot in Miami, and their rear tires still really struggle with the heat. It's why they tend to be good in the cooler temps (e.g., see China temperature differences between Saturday and Sunday). The formu1a.uno article I link below states that they specifically set up their car for lower speeds that are present in Miami as well (which has also traditionally been a problem area compared to circuits with higher speed corners so.... 👀).

What they brought to Miami was mostly aero and efficiency updates from what I understand. Part of where the hype comes from on my end is that the article I linked also mentions this update tries to get at their lower speed issues. There will always be further things to optimize and further develop in new ways, so that's what will likely be coming next. At one point towards the end of last year, I remember Andrea saying something about targeting some qualifying issues that those major upgrades last year brought out. I don't think they've addressed those yet, but also a potential further direction.

All in all though, I don't think there's any legitimate chance to challenge for P1 in the Constructors' this year. Max had a bit of floor damage following his run-in with the cone in Miami, so we don't know his true pace at the end (though, Oscar was keeping up with him for the first stint so 🤷‍♀️). Maybe there's a chance to challenge for P2. We should get a better idea about what Ferrari's doing when they bring their Imola updates in a week and a half. Ferrari always seems hit or miss with upgrades, so we'll see. McLaren will also take the next few races to really dial everything in, which they can luckily do now that we're done with sprint races for a bit. I feel like by Canada or Spain, we should get a better idea of what's going on championship-wise with the first half of the season.

[parcferm3]

Like all the youtubers who aren't using AI to write their scripts and are just pumping out regurgitated articles ganked from google, I've had a few hours to process this morning's news and have allowed it to digest past the 'called it' and 'love to see him back, hate to see how it played out' kneejerk reactions, and to be honest, I'm perhaps a bit less WTF than I was at six this morning when I walked into the kitchen and made my partner spit coffee onto the kitchen blind.

So Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo, Daniel.

DRDRDRDRDRhmmmmmm right then.

That was quick. I was definitely in the camp that it would happen over the summer break for a few reasons, not just because of the extremely unsubtle vibes that the Red Bull camp have been throwing out all over their social media, but also because it made sense.

Do I think it's not great that DR's got a drive in an objectively even worse way than he lost his at McLaren seat? Yes. Do I think the way Nyck de Vries has been spoken about publicly by his own team is pretty damn terrible and probably hasn't helped with his confidence? Of course. It was a clear case of buyer's regret that's made everyone look pretty terrible and has probably left poor Nyck de Vries feeling not unlike DR last year.

Do I think it's a good business decision from two not-quite-separate constructors who both exist only as moving billboards, and know a good marketing dynamic when they see it? Uh. Yuh.

Why not Liam Lawson? Well... apart from not having the immediate hype and recognition of DR, I think he's destined for that seat next year. For once, Red Bull isn't going to do what they did with de Vries and almost everybody else (hopefully) and set the guy up to fail. There's a reason he wasn't in the car at the start of the season, they're biding their time until he's ready. Let him finish out the Super Formula season. It makes sense to give him a full pre-season program before putting him in the car, and they've got nothing to lose and potentially a whole lot to gain, by giving the seat to Ricciardo.

Nothing to lose:

Daniel Ricciardo is, if nothing else, a safe bet, and a benchmark for Yuki Tsunoda and for the car itself. Is there a possibility that he tanks? Sure. Maybe the brakes in the AT are even less suited to his driving style than the Mclaren's and all the lockups, prangs, and off-track shenanigans we've seen this year are down to the car more than they are the drivers, however. Even Daniel on a bad day is probably better than Nyck on a good one, and that's not me slating Nyck, that's just experience.

So Alpha Tauri gets an experienced driver who's already on the payroll to compare Yuki against, who at worst won't score points and crash the car on occasion (which is a nett 0 swap) and at best, will score points, demonstrate what the car is capable of, and potentially get them above Alpha Romeo in the constructor's championship by the time the summer break rolls around. Heck, if he does great, maybe even beyond Haas and Williams. The reality is somewhere in between, but at the moment all it would take is for a 6th and a 10th at the Hungaroring for AT to draw level with Alpha Romeo, should AR have another zero points scoring weekend (which is not outside of the realms of possibility, considering AR has only scored in 4/10 of the grands prix actually run this year), and if it's a 6th and an 8th, that pushes them level with Haas and Williams (again, provided neither score points).

A whole lot to gain? Really?

I'm going to say it. I'm gonna. It's coming. Here it comes oh my god what is it what is it?

Sergio Perez is gonna retire at the end of this year.

It's out there. There it is. I said it. Whew.

Why do I think this? IDK folks, it's just the vibes.

Vibes, along with things like Christian Horner's joke about Perez 'making babies' at Silverstone this past weekend, which definitely pushed this theory along a bit. Not necessarily in a 'he's made rumblings about more kids' kind of way (although like, sure, possibly, whatever), but a 'is this a hint that family is on the guy's mind a lot more' kind of way. And Checo himself has said 'as long as I'm enjoying it' which he just... really doesn't seem like he is at the moment.

And the, y'know. It's a loan. Very specific there on your press release, Red Bull.

But then some part of me thinks this was always sort of at least part of the plan right from when DR was announced as third driver in the first place. Nothing set in stone, but paths being laid out and options being put on the table not just for Red Bull as a whole, but also for Perez.

(Sidenote, I actually don't think de Vries was pushed two races out from the summer break, I think he asked to go so he didn't have to endure any more of toll that the RB meat grinder was taking on him. Please set me free, I'll even leave without you paying me out for the rest of the season I just want to get out of here good lord. But that's a whole 'nother story and again, just vibes.)

Every. Single. Interview. With Daniel Ricciardo, he's made it very clear he intends to be in that Red Bull seat next year. I'm not digging through the bin for all the ticket stubs, you've read them already.

Once DR's got a few races under his belt and has (optomistically) proven that he's capable of getting a few points in what we currently assume is the worst car on the grid, they'll give Checo the green light to chuck it in.

The thing about Ricciardo, is he's a known entity. He's been Max's team mate before and understands the dynamic. He wasn't prepared to be number two last time, but this time rather than a young talented upstart coming in to usurp his position in what's already his team, he's coming in with his eyes wide open, a focus on team results rather than individual. He'll know his job is to be the classic wingman a la Barrichello/Bottas/Webber etc etc because it's obvious and it'd be stupid to think otherwise, because Max really is just that good.

And as much as I root for Yuki, I just don't see him in that second seat right now. They want a solid, steady, reliable presence, who won't collapse under the pressure of being Max Verstappen's teammate, and at the moment, the best person for that job is probably Daniel Ricciardo.

[f1]

Piastris preparation for F1 debut continues with two-day test in Spain | 2023 Formula 1 season

McLaren are running Oscar Piastri in their 2021 Formula 1 car at the Circuit de Catalunya this week as they prepare him for his world championship debut next year. It is the third time Piastri has driven for the team since joining them from Alpine, where he was a reserve driver. Alpine gave Piastri his first experience of contemporary F1 machinery in last year’s official post-season test day. As their junior driver Piastri drove two-year-old F1 cars in private tests from 2020 to halfway through this year, when he stunned the team by signing to race for McLaren next year. McLaren are now embarking on a similar programme to the one Piastri had as an Alpine junior. His first two-day test took place at Paul Ricard at the start of November in an unspecified older car, once an agreement had been reached to allow Piastri to depart Alpine early. He then drive the team’s current car in the only day of post-season testing at Yas Marina last week. Piastri, who is taking over from Daniel Ricciardo in the team’s line-up, began a two-day test in Barcelona yesterday which included running on slick and wet tyres. More tests are anticipated in January and February next year. McLaren’s team principal Andreas Seidl said the team’s plan is to get Piastri “as much experience as possible” during the off-season. “We have a clear plan in place of what we want to achieve with Oscar in the [official] test but also then in January and February with him, before we hit the track going testing [with the 2023 car],” he said. Seidl said Piastri’s runs in older McLarens are “a good opportunity for him to get a read of the characteristics of our car” and “getting used to how we communicate, getting used to all our procedures to the voices he will hear as well on the radio”. McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown said he “was very impressed with how [Piastri] handled the summer drama” when the driver signed with McLaren while Alpine also believed they had him under contract. “He’s been not racing for a year, so we need to get any of that race rustiness off him, which I’m sure he’ll do in short order”. His first impressions from Piastri’s immersion into the race team at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was that he is a “very technical” driver. Andrea Stella, McLaren’s executive racing director who oversaw the test programme given to Piastri in his first run with the 2022 car, wants the team’s new signing “to use his references [from older cars], references from the [new] car, references even from what we learnt with Daniel and so on” as he builds up F1 experience before his debut. “We are quite adamant that he will have enough talent, process, intelligence to kind of find his own way, taking advantage of these references.” Pic: McLaren via Twitter Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 F1 season Browse all 2023 F1 season articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[influencermagazineuk]

Hot Row: Verstappen vs. Norris

Max Verstappen fired back at McLaren after a dramatic finale to the US Grand Prix, accusing the team of whinging too much. Red Bull's driver came back with this sharp riposte following a hot row between the two teams as Verstappen and McLaren driver Lando Norris collide in a battle that will run all the way to the world championship. In Austin on Sunday, McLaren had every reason to be steaming after Norris tried to outbrake Verstappen for third - was forced wide by the Dutchman, winning him a five-second penalty. Norris retained his position on track, but was demoted to fourth, losing crucial points in his championship race against Verstappen who now leads by 57 points with five races remaining. As McLaren's team principal Andrea Stella fended off the stewards' ruling by countering that both drivers had left the circuit and were therefore not guilty of any infraction meriting a penalty. Of course, Verstappen disagreed, terming the criticism meritless, an assertion he claims is a hard-and-fast rule: "If you're outside the white line, you can't pass," he declared. Steffen Pr��ßdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The two teams' tension has mounted for several weeks, and yesterday, at the beginning of the weekend, McLaren had voiced a concern regarding a possible device on Red Bull, which supposedly can change the front bib of the car under parc fermé conditions. For his response, Verstappen referred to being penalized himself several times during the season because of similar offenses. This was again a subject of debate - whether this was the interpretation of the rules. McLaren considered that Verstappen was braking too late on the approach to that corner, knowing he was going to run deep and push Norris off as well as preventing him from making a proper overtake. Stella said: "The defending car just goes straight at the apex, we have checked the video several times. It just goes straight and off the circuit as much as Lando, there is no chance for Lando to complete the maneuver." He described the penalty, which cost him five points in the championship standings, as a "momentum killer." The debate over the incident and how to interpret the regulations will likely carry over into the next round in Mexico. The Norris-Verstappen controversy was the second of a spate of incidents that emerged recently in the races. Mercedes man George Russell was also punished for sending Valtteri Bottas out onto the grass, and Yuki Tsunoda was punished in much the same way for pushing Alex Albon off, but Verstappen escaped a penalty for forcing Norris wide at the start of the race. As former Mercedes team principal Wolff said, "He wasn't given a penalty, and at the end Lando received a penalty for being run wide and overtaking on the outside. Maybe a bit one-sided penalty decision." The fight between Verstappen and Norris will add drama in the championship race as it heats up during the remaining races of the season. Read the full article

[loving-ricciardo]

im devastated if danny gets so hurt that he has to leave f1 for good, bc i had the absolute shit times the previous couple of months mentally, and before this season started youtube recommended an interview w danny and it was smth titled “is the smile always real?” and i watched it and man it was the very thing i needed, which is kinda weird to say it bc he’s a literal stranger to me but i hope you’ll understand what im saying… but just smth about him that he showes about himself through media and stuff and that personality and style and what he does in the vlogs has continoued to uplift me during my down-phases. and to think about all this shit and how it must be affecting him, the person who’s positive mindset changed me, is surreal and i cant imagine how he’s feeling.

hi hun, first of all im sending you the biggest hug and i really hope your mental health is better now (disregarding the current Daniel situation) and i hope the universe is gentle with you 🧡🧡🧡

okay, i might go on a bit of a rant here-

i started watching this sport more closely because of Daniel. Like he is the reason I’m here today and ever since i started supporting him i tried to like define my ‘relationship’ with him ~I am probably not gonna make complete sense here~ but like I couldn’t imagine meeting Daniel on street and being like ‘omg I love you. you changed my life’ because he is literally a white rich man driving in circles like it’s a bit silly to care so much about him (this is me @ me btw like it’s an internal struggle I’m not ‘judging’ other fans! You do you besties!!). Like I’m a big football fan but I still could never really justify being such a big fan of them?? Like I obviously have favourites but i always compared them to my favourite authors and songwriters and honestly I have no idea why I always struggled with this like it’s not that deep.

Okay I lost myself and I’m too lazy to go back and rewrite it but I just wanted to say that I had different drivers which I liked for their driving style but it was too superficial for me to get into the sport for (again nothing wrong with that-) and it wasn't until I saw an interview with Daniel that I was just instantly charmed and impressed with how he presents himself. Like Daniel is the definition of ‘fake it till you make it’ and ‘act confident and no one will question you’. The sport is brutal and you can see he under all that charm he is just an anxious insecure lil gremlin who created an 'alter ego' to sort of protect himself from the outside world. Don't get me wrong like Daniel is his alter ego but it's just a bit of a different version of him and I do admire that. As someone with social anxiety I try to channel my Danny Ric energy when I can't control things hh.

And his energy is just so kind and warm and SO positive as you've mentioned. Like it must be SO draining to try to be so positive most of the time and like keeping his emotions in check,,, i admire that so much. Like he could be an asshole (i mean he is a charming asshole,, he does use that smile to get away with saying mean shit sometimes)- he literally doesn't own anyone anything but no he takes time to make people laugh and to give them a show and interact with fans and like even when he has bad days and he probably wants to lock himself in his driver's room he still tries his hardest to be his cheery self and even apologizes to people when he thinks he is not being positive enough- just all good all ways even though he keeps jumping from one toxic team to another--

and like normally i am pretty good with boundaries and i mean i am dramatic on this blog and i do get upset when his race goes badly but i can usually shake it off quickly but ngl these past two days,,, my heart is so heavy and im SOSOSOS pissed and SOSOSOS sad because the way mclaren is handling it- noone deserves let alone daniel who had been one bad race strategy after another yet still trying to be positive and professional... URGH i know this sport is brutal and unfair but this is truly disgusting

idk if this makes sense i am very bad at expressing my feels lol but yeah i hope danny has a good support system around him and im sending him and all daniel fans the biggest hug and good vibes, we will get through this <333

[f1goat]

breaking the rules + Lando Norris - part four

In which Lando is your brothers rival in the championship battle, but you can't stay away from him.

part one - part two - part three

Days have passed, you don’t even know how many. You’re consistently busy on your phone, texting or when possible calling with Lando. Since the date you had earlier, the two of you are messaging each other a lot. Telling each other all about your days, sweet talks before one of you goes to sleep and a little bit of spice sometimes. You love the contact between the two of you, enjoying every message you get. 

Charles noticed your busy social media life too, asking multiple questions about it over the last days. You know you’re making things kinda obvious, but on the other hand the championship is almost over. Later this week you and Charles will head to Abu Dhabi for the last race. Charles is sitting on your bed, telling you about what you need to bring. 

“Bring a party look as well,” Charles tells you, “or we’re going to celebrate my win or we’re going to get drunk when I lose to forget about it all.”

You laugh softly, “Alcohol is always the best solution.”

“I just hope we will be partying instead of drinking away our sadness,” Charles tells you. 

You notice Charles sounds a bit depressing. Earlier he had this motivation whenever he spoke about the championship. The last few days he just seems sad about everything. It’s getting weird. Since your contact with Lando you had noticed the difference between the two of them. Lando had been training for days now, consistently being behind the simulator to get to know the track better and better. Charles on the other hand was doing way less. You heard him talk to his trainer sometimes, but more than a morning run you weren’t noticing. Lando send you multiple selfies after his workout sessions. Now that you think about it, why wasn’t Charles training as hard as Lando? Normally Charles was all about the simulator work and working out. 

“Are you alright Charles?” You ask your brother. The dress you are holding is thrown in your suitcase before you walk closer to Charles. Sitting next to him on your bed. 

“Why are you asking?” Charles asks you back.

“You seem sad. I noticed you aren’t training as much as normal. Plus you’re being negative about the last race all the time. What happened to your motivation?” 

Charles sighs softly. “Of course you would notice,” he tells you. 

“Tell me what’s wrong, maybe you will feel a bit relieved after,” you motivate Charles to continue. 

“I don’t think it will work out in my favor Sunday,” Charles tells you, “I mean, it’s been too easy until last weeks. The car is not getting better while Norris his McLaren is getting faster every race. Why bother to train if it makes no difference?”

“That’s nonsense Charles,” you quickly respond to him, “Think about Max his championship with Lewis. He didn’t have the better car that season, but he still won. Sometimes you just need a little luck, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“I don’t even know if I still deserve it,” Charles mutters, “I actually don’t think so.”

You look confused at him. What does he mean? Charles was so certain about him deserving the championship. You are too. Your brother drove like a madmen this season, training really hard and making the best off every race. 

“Why wouldn’t you deserve it?” You ask when Charles doesn’t explain it more. 

“Do you still think I deserve it after my horrendous behavior from the last weeks? I attacked Lando, accused him of cheating and you don’t even know the rest of it,” Charles tells you while looking away. 

It was not your intention to make this conversation all about Lando. You are getting nervous, not sure how the handle yourself in this new situation. Of course you don’t like what your brother did to Lando, but he can’t talk about it to you. You’re biased. Since you and Lando are seeing each other, you’ve been seeing things different. You don’t talk about the things that happened with Lando in the same way you don’t want to talk about those things with Charles. You don’t want to pick a side. At first you thought you would keep standing by Charles his side, but after his behavior you had felt yourself moving towards Lando his side. Still you can’t help to wonder, what does Charles mean with the rest of it? What else did he do to Lando?

“The rest of it? What do you mean?” You ask after a bit of silence. 

“It’s because of me everyone treats him different,” Charles confesses, “I made up some stupid rumors about him and now a big part of the drivers are treating him like he’s a bad person.”

“What rumors?”

“Some about him being the cause of Daniel leaving McLaren, but also about his behavior towards female fans. That he’s disrespectful and uses them.”

You almost can’t hear what Charles tells you because of his soft voice. Why did he do all of this, you keep wondering? You’re glad Charles seems ashamed of himself. He for sure deserves the ashamed feeling after everything he did. 

“Why did you do that Charles?” You ask him. You try to suppress your anger, not wanting to lash out directly. You keep hoping he has some sort of motivation for his weird behavior, but you know deep inside he hasn’t. Does Lando knows about everything you ask yourself? Fuck, did you need to tell him about this? You know about Lando his plans to talk to your brother after Sunday. The McLaren driver wants to make things right with your brother, he’s even planning to apologize for the way he made Charles feel about him playing mind games. You can’t let Lando apologize for things he didn’t even do while your brother did all of this. 

“I was mad,” Charles tells you after a while, “So?” You quickly respond. 

“I know it’s bad Y/N, believe me I realize it now. It got way out of hand,” Charles says, “Pierre took it way too far. He even wanted to make up rumors about Lando his behavior with you.”

“Pierre? Lando’s behavior with me?” 

You don’t even know what to think anymore. Everything is getting so confusing. 

“Pierre helped me, or maybe I helped Pierre? He did the most of it,” Charles explains, you gesture him to go one with explaining. You want to know more. “You know how he came over a few days ago? I told him that you weren’t interested in him, like we discussed in the car. He uh didn’t took it very well. He kinda blamed Lando for it? I don’t know why, I still don’t get it.”

Fuck. Did Pierre know about you and Lando? He couldn’t know about it, right? How would he even find out? Pierre can’t suspect anything you quickly decide. That night at the club he didn’t saw anything that happened between you and Lando. He must blamed Lando because of the staring. 

“Why would he blame Lando?” You still ask. Even if Charles told you he didn’t understand why, you hope he can tell you more. 

“I think it was the alcohol talking,” Charles confesses, “He was making stuff up about you looking back at Lando when he was staring at you during the dinner. And he thought he saw Lando’s car driving behind him when he brought you home. But Lando lives close, so it’s probably just a coincidence. Plus we were talking about him a lot that evening, so it’s not weird that you looked at him..”

You sigh. Is this some kind of sign to tell Charles about you and Lando? You don’t have to defend yourself, Charles just made up excuses for everything Pierre told him. But if you don’t tell him now and he finds out later he will realize you have lied to him. You doubt about your options. It’s an impossible choice. You really don’t know what to do. The only thing you really want to do right now, is to talk with Lando about all of this. Shall he know that Charles and Pierre spread rumors about him?  

“Pierre wanted to make up some kind of rumor about Lando harassing you,” Charles tells you. 

You shake off your thoughts. Pierre wanted what? How could he even think like that? Did they make up that rumor? You can only hope Charles stopped him. 

“I told him I didn’t want you to get involved,” Charles goes on, “so I stopped him. Then he got mad, told me he made up all sorts of rumors to help me be the favorite for the championship but I was letting him down when he wanted something. We got in a small fight about it, because I told him it was about your feelings and not about something Lando did. I think he understood after a while, but I haven’t really spoken about it to him after.”

You sigh once again. What a mess. Charles made such a mess. 

“What now Charles?” You ask your brother, “How are we - or you, going to fix this?”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Charles mutters, he doesn’t look at you anymore. “It’s so fucked up what I did.”

“I can’t deny that,” you confess, “but what if you just come clean about it to the drivers? You need to restore Lando his reputation. And he deserves an apology.” 

“I know. I just kept winding myself up about him, he’s the bad guy after all,” Charles tells you.

“You’re the bad guy in his story. You both want the same Charles, the same championship.”

“I don’t deserve it,” Charles sighs. 

“Just make things right. Come clean and fight for the championship on the track instead of doing things like this.”

**

“You knew?”

You remind yourself you need to be quiet. The AirPods that you wear, make sure that Charles doesn’t hear the person who you speaking to. But if you keep talking this loud, it won’t be a big surprise to Charles that you’re talking with Lando. You just told him about Charles his confessions, but to your surprise Lando already knew all about it. 

“To be honest, I thought you knew about it as well,” Lando tells you. You frown. If he thought you had something to do with it, then why was the still talking to you? You would have been too mad to even have a normal conversation, let stand romantic ones.

“Why did you think that?” You ask. 

“You are really close with your brother. Plus we don’t really talk about the things that he has done to me lately, so I just assumed you knew about this as well,” Lando explains himself. 

“Why aren’t you mad?” You ask, “I would have been extremely angry with everyone who knew about this. How could you even look at me without getting mad if you thought I knew?”

“I was mad at your brother at first, but then I spoke to Max. He calmed me down, telling me about his experiences,” Lando explains, “So I was already pretty calm about it before I even met you. Plus I didn’t know for sure that you were involved or anything.”

“You’re weird,” you can only tell Lando. 

“I do know who my real friends are right now thanks to everything,” Lando reacts, “a few people actually reached out to me before they believed anything. Like Alex and Sebastian.”

“I told Charles he needs to come clean,” you say, “He had a massive break down this afternoon. He thinks he doesn’t deserve the championship.”

“I got some messages before from drivers telling me they were sorry,” Lando tells you, “so I think he did come clean.”

You sigh relieved. Lando smiles at you through his screen. You like FaceTiming with him. Even now when you’re talking about this terrible subject. Lando makes you feel good. You don’t know how he does it every time, but whenever you look at his smile you feel your worries leave your body. You’re falling way too hard for him. 

“I also told him he needs to apologize to you. I hope Charles tells Pierre about that as well,” you say, “Oh I didn’t even tell you that part. Pierre wanted to make up another rumor in which you harassed me because Charles told him I didn’t returned his feelings.”

“Pierre wanted what?” 

You notice that Lando is actually getting mad now. His smile fades quickly and his expression changes. You repeat the words you told him before. 

“What an asshole,” Lando scoffs, “What a fucking idiot.” 

You don’t get it. Lando was fine with every rumor before, but he does respond angry to this one? Lando keeps cursing. 

“What’s the matter?” You ask, “Why is this any different?”

“Because the fucking idiot wants to make it about you,” Lando scoffs, “What a dick, he can’t get you so he’s going to make up rumors about me harassing you? That’s the absolute worst. Do you even know how that could ruin your reputation? Everyone would keep looking at you, asking you all kind of questions you don’t want to respond to. Maybe they would even think I assaulted you or something. Then nobody would talk about it but you’d get all the pity looks.” 

“Lan I really don’t get it, how are you worried about me when he wanted to accuse you of this? What if people thought you had assaulted me, that would be so bad for you.”

“I don’t care about that. Let them think whatever they want about me,” Lando rants further, “but you don’t deserve that. You don’t have anything to do with this championship. You just used your good right to decline the feelings of that fucker.” 

“Relax babe,” you tell Lando after hearing him rant for a while, “He didn’t make up anything about us, it will be fine.” 

“Can’t you come over?” Lando asks you. 

“I don’t know how to do that,” you tell Lando, “Charles is at home so you can’t pick me up and the friends I have in Monaco are all away for their jobs.” 

Lando sighs, “I miss you.” 

“I miss you too.”

“I almost told Charles about us this afternoon,” you tell Lando, he looks surprised. 

“You did?” He asks.

“When he told me about Pierre his reasons for assuming things between us,” you explain, “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to lie to Charles, but I also didn’t want to cause more trouble so soon before the race. Eventually Charles talked further, so I didn’t say anything.” 

“Do you think it’s worth it?” Lando asks you, “What do you mean?” You ask back.

“You don’t know how he will react when he finds out. It’s a good possibility that he will get really mad at you..”

“So?” You ask when Lando falls quiet.

“So, do you think I’m worth all the trouble this can cause between you and your brother?”

Lando doesn’t look at you anymore. He’s looking away from his screen. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked this question if he’s this afraid for your answer. 

“Of course,” you tell him, Lando looks back at you. 

“Really?” He asks, he did not expect you to answer something like this already. 

“Yes. I hope it won’t cause a lot of trouble, but even if it does it’s more then worth it. If I didn’t think so there would have happened nothing after the first time,” you explain. 

Lando sighs relieved, “I needed that.” 

“Do you have a hotel room for yourself?” You ask Lando, he nods. “Maybe I can sneak in sometime this weekend,” you tell him. 

“I’d really like that babygirl.”

**

“Y/N, there’s something here for you!”

You open your bedroom door and walk towards the living room, wondering what Charles means. You didn’t order anything, so what can it be? When you arrive in the living room, you quickly see what Charles means. Are those for you? There’s a beautiful bouquet of roses standing on the table, complete with a vase and everything. Who got you such nice flowers? 

“Are those for me?” You ask Charles, “Yeah they did come with an envelope addressed to you,” he tells you while handing you the envelope. 

“So is this from the one you’re texting the whole day?” Charles asks you, “He has a good taste.”

Did this come from Lando? That would be too sweet. You feel your phone vibrate, you take a look at the notification. It’s a snapchat from Lando. You decide to wait a bit before opening it. You are way too interested in the roses and the envelope. 

“Uh I like to think so, I will probably find out if I open the envelope,” you tell Charles with a small doubt. 

He knows you’re texting with someone all the time. It’s hard to miss. Charles already took the conclusion that you are dating someone, you didn’t deny it. However you not even sure about the label that belongs by you and Lando. But Charles has no idea who it is. He did ask you a couple times, but you didn’t tell him. 

“When are you telling me more about him?” Charles asks you. 

“I don’t know,” you tell Charles, “Maybe after this whole championship thing.”

Charles smiles at you, “I will wait.” He leaves the room, going back to his own to finish packing. Tomorrow evening you will head to Abu Dhabi. When you hear his door closing, you dare the open the envelope. The first thing you notice is a card, when you try to get it out you notice that there’s something else in the envelope. 

Is that a necklace? You get it out quickly. Your guess is right. In your hand you’re holding a beautiful necklace. It’s a simple golden one, with a small charm of a heart. You smile at it. It’s beautiful. What did you do to deserve this? You quickly open the card. 

I couldn’t help myself buying this after thinking about you wearing it. It would mean a lot to me if you like it. I think it suits you. Hopefully you will wear it this weekend, it matches your Ferrari merchandise ;) I’m staying at room 304 this week. Visit me?

See you soon babygirl

x Lando

You smile at the card. Quickly you pull out your phone, texting a message to Lando.

Y/N: your the sweetest, thank you so much

Lando: Do you like it?

Y/N: i love it

You put on the necklace, snapping a selfie for Lando to see. Sending him it quickly. 

Lando: It looks even better on you while I imagined 

Lando: will you be wearing it during the race?

Y/N: i will be wearing it all the time idiot

You put back the card in the envelope right on time. Charles walks in the living room, “So was it from your loverboy?” He asks you with a smile. You nod happily, “He even got me a necklace.”

“I didn’t know you two were already this serious,” Charles tells you. He looks at the necklace, “It’s nice Y/N. I’m glad some boy is treating you right.”

You smile at him, but in the mean time you rethink his words. You didn’t even realize it was this serious between you and Lando. But you can’t seem to stop smiling about the thought of being this serious with him. You can’t wait to see him again. 

next part

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

hi, i just wanted to say i loved your charles oneshot :) i was wondering if you could do an enemies to lovers w/ daniel ricciardo? thanks!

DANIEL RICCIARDO ONESHOT

TEMPORARY STRANGERS

( WARNING: swearing, alcohol, blood/injury, little bit of fluff/angst? )

word count: 5.4k

< this is my attempted version lol >

You’d debated whether or not to go to Theo’s party. For one, it was on a Thursday night, which, in itself, was rather tragic for a party thrown for an adult because surely he had to have thought that most people would be working on a Thursday night? Secondly, you had an early shift at the hospital in the morning, so you weren't sure if staying at a party fit for Blair Waldorf for a couple of hours was entirely worth your presence.

But, after a persuasive conversation on the phone — in which Theo spent the majority of it begging you to make an appearance — you’d caved and now you found yourself standing in the middle of a kitchen sipping on a lemonade, expertly avoiding everyone’s eyes and wondering why you agreed to come in the first place.

The apartment was a large, luxurious one, decked from head to toe in pricey decorations and with an open-plan layout. You even had half the mind to compare it to what you imagined a Royal Palace looked like.

In other words, it was big and incredibly tasteful and fancy, in the most annoying way possible.

Then again, Theo did own a successful Estate Agency, which specialized heavily in selling buildings in the centre of London. The money pooled from that spoke for itself, and it also meant that since university he’d met people in all aspects of his work, all of which looked like they’d been invited to his party, which unfortunately meant you didn’t know anyone, and the couple that you did, you had absolutely zero intentions of actually talking to them.

The guests themselves were glamorous, dressed to the nines and decked with expensive watches and jewellery, and you felt out of place wearing your best dress with your favourite high-tops and a blazer.

On another note, the lemonade and food were delicious. It was almost as if he’d hired a private caterer and then shoved them out of the back door before people started arriving.

“You know, I didn’t think you meant it when you said you’d come.” A smooth voice knocked you out of your reverie, and you whirled around, hastily swallowing the lemonade when you noticed the familiar blonde that you’d befriended in uni.

“I didn’t think I did either if that makes a difference.” You replied, biting the inside of your cheek as Theo rolled his eyes, making his way around the kitchen island to place a couple of collected empty glasses near the sink.

“Well, are you having fun?” He asked, leaning back against the counter next to you, his shoulder judging yours teasingly.

You hummed, narrowing your eyes, “Not as much fun as when you crashed my Grandparents party and scared away the boy they tried to set me up with, let’s just leave it at that.” You breathed a laugh, swirling the lemonade in your cup as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing.

“Oh, I haven’t had that much fun in ages.” He said, his attention turning to the other partygoers in the near vicinity, his eyebrow raising as he spotted someone trying to sneak one of his clocks into their bags without being caught. It didn’t work; they saw his gaze and turned a suspicious shade of red and pretended as if they’d simply been admiring the thing before walking away.

Theo cleared his throat, adjusting his tie.

“I think I’m just gonna…” he trailed off, his finger pointing in the direction of the culprit, an apologetic look in his eyes. You nodded, breathing a short laugh in understanding.

“I think I’m going to head out anyway—”

“Oh, please stay.” He held out a hand, silently begging for you to stay.

You hadn’t seen each other in at least a couple of months because of clashes with schedules, and it was getting to the point where the odd texts and phone calls and video calls were starting to feel more like a chore than a privilege. You had been close friends for the best part of ten years now, and you were still close, but adult life was more difficult than you expected trying to balance relationships and work.

You breathed in deeply, eyes flashing around the guests, accidentally catching the eye of Daniel and flicking your attention back to Theo hastily.

“I’ll stay for now but I’m going home in an hour, I have an early shift in the morning.” You promised, offering a small smile as Theo nodded, returning the gesture before disappearing into the throwing of people.

It wasn’t long before you were approached by an unfamiliar face. She was — like all the other people in the room — dressed nicely, and she stumbled slightly in her heels, almost running into you.

“Oh, shit, sorry about that.” She muttered, and you could smell the faint, bitter scent of alcohol on her breath, indicating that she wasn’t completely sober.

“Oh, it’s no problem.” You reassured, asking if she wanted something else to drink, seeing as though you were standing next to the drinks table and the fridge.

She shook her head, instead resuming Theo’s place against the counter next to you.

“Do you see that man over there?” She whispered, pointing her finger in the direction of the crowd out in the living area.

You furrowed your eyes, trying to lean slightly to make sure you could see who she was pointing at.

“I think you’re gonna have to be more specific because there’s about thirty people in that general direction.” You said, resisting the urge to laugh as the woman sighed, shuffling closer to the group and standing in her heeled tiptoes to see over the sea of heads.

“Okay, so he’s about 6 foot, brunette, curly hair…” she snuck a glance at you out of the corner of her eye to make sure you were trying to look out for the person she was talking about, “really fit and has an Italian nose.” She concluded.

You pursed your lips, suddenly feeling quite awkward in the presence of a stranger. You averted your eyes back to the pile of drinks on the kitchen island and halted your actions in searching for who could only be Daniel Ricciardo.

She noticed your reaction and gasped loudly, her hand flying to her mouth as if you just spilled the hottest gossip of the season.

“You know him.” She stated, stepping back slightly with an accusatory shine in her eyes.

“I don’t know him, I just know of him.” You lied, trying to brush the topic off as subtly as possible.

“Nuh-uh,” she said, taking your arm and ignoring the cry of protest from your lips as she dragged you away from the kitchen area and into the heart of the party, where the chatter was significantly louder, “I don’t believe that. You can introduce us.” She insisted.

You dug your heels into the floor as best as you could, trying to push away the wave of panic that surged through your veins.

“Lady,” you started, ripping your arm out of her iron grip, “I don’t know him.” You reiterated.

“If you don’t know him, how can you know of him?” She enquired snarkily, arching a perfectly plucked eyebrow in your direction.

“How can you not know of him?” You returned, shrugging. Her face remained blank, and it occurred to you she really didn’t know who Daniel was. “That’s Daniel Ricciardo. Formula 1 driver for McLaren this year.” You told her, straightening out your blazer uncomfortably, unaware of the eyes on you from the other side of the room.

“Formula 1? So he’s, like…a millionaire?” She licked her lips,sultry eyes slipping over the crowd and fixating on who you assumed to be Daniel.

You cringed, resisting the urge to turn your nose up at her. You suddenly regretted telling her about his career because even a blind man could see that his money was the main thing on her mind at that moment in time.

You neglected from answering her question, instead trying to slink back to the kitchen, but you were interrupted by the scuffle of feet and the sound of something shattering before an obvious cry of pain was heard throughout the room, nearly drowned out in the volume of the music pumping from the speakers.

You swivelled back around, and several people had stepped away from the scene leaving an open gap in the crowd as more people gathered around to see what the kerfuffle was.

The girl had disappeared seemingly into thin air and you were about to take the moment of peace as an opportunity to leave, but Theo’s voice called your name over the crowd, laced with urgency.

You furrowed your brows in confusion, heart pounding with anxiety at the panic in his voice. You made your way to the crowd, apologising to people as you pushed your way through to get to the centre of all the attention.

As soon as you edged into Theo’s vision, he dragged you by the elbow into the centre, pointing to the person who’s cry of pain was heard over the music.

Blood was dripping from a deep gash in the palm of their hand, and the person in question looked a little pale, holding their hand up above their head, a permanent wince etched onto their face. Despite that, they looked rather uncomfortable with all the attention, and it was this that caused Theo to turn to the crowd and usher them away.

“I have a first aid kit in the bathroom.” Theo informed you, and you wasted no time in helping the injured person raise their arm higher above their head, guiding them through the crowd with a secure arm around their waist.

“A cut on my hand doesn’t hinder my ability to walk, okay?” They tried, shifting out of your grip.

“No, but if you pass out, it hinders my ability to patch you up.” You retorted, hurriedly passing your glass of lemonade back to Theo.

The person let a weak, sarcastic huff pass their lips, but they let you guide them to the bathroom, keeping an eye on the blood dripping down their arm and creeping into the sleeve of their blazer.

“Toilet or tub?” You asked, kicking the door shut behind you and casting a weary glance back at their hand.

“Depends on the context.” They answered.

You rolled your eyes, settling them on the toilet and quickly rifling through the sink cupboards, locating the first aid kit with ease.

“I’m gonna need you to take off your blazer.” You said, never imagining that you’d say those words to Daniel Ricciardo of all people.

Your relationship with Daniel was weird to say the least. You first met at — surprise, surprise — Theo’s party a few years ago. You’d gotten along swimmingly, perhaps a little bit too well, and it was safe to say he was incredibly charming and cursed with good looks. You were quite good friends, actually.

Until one day he pulled a face at you when you approached him at an award’s evening of some sort. You’d got no idea what happened to elicit such a negative reaction, or any idea on what you could have done, but he’d sneered at you and turned around, making conversation with the person next to you. He’d never explained why, but ever since that day he’d ignored you as much as possible, and it wasn’t exactly hard not to enjoy his company when he was so obviously disgusted with your presence.

Maybe it was the fact that you only managed to snag one piece of cake that night.

“You want a striptease? At least take me out for a date, first.” He muttered, pressing his lips together in obvious discomfort as he peeled his blazer off, being cautious of the blood. “I don’t even know why you’re bothering with this anyway, I’m fine.” He insisted.

You perched yourself on the edge of the bath, placing your bag on the tiled flooring and zipping open the first aid kit.

“Dan, you’re dripping blood…you’re clearly not fine.” You muttered, carefully rolling his shirt sleeve up past his elbow, ignoring the fact that this was the first time in a long time you’d been this close to him. Ignoring the fact that he looked positively fine in a suit, minus the blood.

He let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes and shifting uncomfortably under your touch.

You turned his hand over, assessed the gash and winced, trying to ignore the tingling, uncomfortable sensation mirrored on your own palm as your eyes ran over the gash. It ran the width of his palm, and it didn’t take a genius to notice that it was quite deep in some places.

“Can we please be quick?” He sighed, his other hand smoothing out non-existent creases in his dress trousers.

You hated to admit it, but his words stung.

“Can you at least pretend like you don’t hate me, for fifteen minutes at least?” You said, an unintentional fierceness to your tone, one that you’d tried your best to dial down in his presence, but it seemed to no avail.

“Only if you do the same.” He muttered, and you took the liberty of ignoring his comment, reaching to fish an antiseptic wipe from the first aid kit, gently dabbing at the edges to clean off some blood so you could see the extent of the damage. You flexed his hand, ignoring his hiss of pain as the cut stretched slightly.

“What was that for?” He asked, his free hand slapping your hand as he fought to take his cut up hand out of your grip.

You opened your mouth in surprise, the skin on your own hand stinging slightly with the sudden contact.

“Don’t slap me! I’m trying to make sure you don’t have glass in it, you twat.” You said, shaking your head, “Which it doesn’t, by the way, so you’re welcome for checking.”

“How did you even know to check for glass?”

“Because there was broken glass on the floor?” You answered, applying pressure to the wound and lifting his hand a little higher again.

He huffed, turning his face away from you, so he was facing the wall, his lip curling into a sneer.

You rolled your eyes, “What did you mean when you said ‘only if you do the same’, anyway?” You murmured, keeping one hand on the wound and reaching to the floor to pick up your bag and unclip the front.

He narrowed his eyes, watching you root around in your bag for something, and he was about to say something, before he was interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.

“Everything ok in there? Everyone still alive?” Theo’s muffled voice echoed into the room.

“We’re fine.”

“Yeah.”

Daniel grimaced, brown eyes burning through the door as if he was trying to send a telepathic message to Theo through the door.

“Good.” Was all Theo said before the full sound of his shoes against the wooden veneers could be heard on the other side of the door.

You hummed in delight, producing the very thing you were originally looking for in your bag.

“Haribo?” Daniel asked, raising his brows expectantly.

“To get your blood sugar levels up, you’re still pale.” You answered, ripping open the packet, and just as you were about to pour the sweets into Daniel’s outstretched hand, you paused, recoiling.

“What?” He asked, noticeably frustrated that he wasn’t scoffing the sweets.

“Why don’t you like me?” You questioned, biting on the inside of your cheek anxiously as he stared straight at you, his face expressionless.

He was quiet for a while, and you almost told him to forget you even said anything because the simple question looked like it hit home, but he opened his mouth, quickly closing it again. He looked at you from behind furrowed brows, apparently confused by your question.

“Why don’t I like you?” He repeated the question. “Why don’t you like me?”

You gaped at him, your cheeks flushing with irritation at his words.

“I don’t—I never—” you sighed in frustration, the hand clutching the packet of Haribo clenching unconsciously as Daniel looked at you with mild concern, “Why the hell would you think I don’t like you?”

He blinked, casting his sights back to the wall, ignoring your eye contact.

“Theo told me you, and I quote, ‘hate me’,” he answered, swallowing roughly as you continued to stare at him.

His discomfort under your gaze brought a sick sense of satisfaction, but at the same time you were having difficulty wrapping your head around what he’d just admitted.

“Theo? My Theo?” You clarified, arching an eyebrow.

He nodded.

“When did he tell you that?” Your heart was starting to hammer in your rib cage, the power of which was almost painful to endure.

“When we went clubbing a while back,” he shrugged.

“Why would he—?” You muttered, before turning back to Daniel. “Are you sure he said that?”

“Positive.”

“So you’ve been so hostile towards me for months now, all because of something someone else said to you in a dark, loud club when you were — let’s face it — probably drunk?”

Daniel sucked in his cheeks, now realising how there would have been so many chances for misunderstanding in such an environment.

“Yes…” he replied, dragging the word out slowly, trying his best to take his mind off the way your grip on his wound was slowly increasing.

“I never said I hate—”

“So…you don’t not like me?” He interrupted, his eyes wide.

“No…Yes…I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer that, but I never hated you.” You said, ducking your head down at his intense glare, instead turning your attention back to his bleeding hand, carefully peeling off the gauze to take a peak. You suddenly remembered the scrunched up packet of Haribo still clutched in your grasp, and you shoved it in Daniel’s direction, not bothering to even look at him when he took it, humming quietly in thanks.

He didn’t know how to respond to that, the revelation sending his mind spinning about a hundred different directions.

He was mad at Theo, even if what happened wasn’t entirely his fault, but he was mostly mad at himself for not even bothering to try to talk to you and hash it out. The months he spent trying to ignore you were completely miserable, and the worst part is, he put you through hell without even giving you any reason, and all of that ignorance was not even worth it…that is, if what you said was true.

“Oh.” Was all he said, taking to watching you strap up his hand after telling him he (thankfully) didn’t need stitches, but he did need to rest it for a while, which was probably for the best because the F1 Summer Break was currently in full swing.

Once you’d put the soaked gauze in the bin and tidied everything away to how you’d arrived before the bloodbath ensued, you stood up, brushing nonexistent dirt off your dress, and offered Daniel a rather confused smile.

He bit his lip in thought, your eyes unconsciously zipping to his mouth, before steering your gaze back up to his eyes when he caught you, raising his eyebrow slightly, a pale shade of pink tinting his cheeks as he fought back a smirk.

You turned away, looking at the door, which was very much tempting you at that moment in time.

He cleared his throat once he’d noticed your attention flicker away from him, and it was only then he registered he practically craved you to be looking at him. Whenever he was at functions with Theo, he would always unknowingly search for you, even when he thought you hated his guts, he’d still scan the crowd of unfamiliar faces in the hopes that he’d see you again.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek nervously, feeling your eyes on him. It was as if he’d suddenly melted into a teenager again right beneath your eyes. He cleared his throat again, sinking back against the toilet in an attempt to make himself smaller at the revelation he’d just arrived at.

It was weird, seeing him so shy when he was naturally such an outgoing character.

You found a part of your brain secretly admiring his flustering, but you quickly shut that down, reminding yourself that you shouldn’t be having those thoughts, especially since you’d just had to mop up a slice on his hand.

“I think I’m gonna go grab a drink and join the fray.” You said, hating the way your voice sounded so small against the echoing walls of the bathroom tiles.

Daniel snapped his eyes to yours, holding them intently, slightly alarmed at your words.

The last thing he wanted was for you to leave him; call it soppy, but he wanted to make up for lost time as soon as he possibly could, and he knew there would be very few opportunities considering both your careers were so demanding.

“Um…” he cleared his throat, “Yeah, I just want to say, thanks for all of this.” He gestured down to his hand, and you smiled.

“No problem. Just…stay away from broken glass for a bit and you should be fine.” You mumbled, words not registering in your brain as Daniel breathed a small laugh, looking utterly starstruck and sad at the same time.

“I’ll try my best.”

You offered one last smile, checking you still had your bag, and without another word you slipped out of the bathroom door, hearing the handle click behind you.

You could still hear the thumping remnants of the party in the next room, and without really caring who you bumped into along the way, you made a beeline for the kitchen, filling up a plastic wine glass with the nearest spirit and downing it as quickly as possible. You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, immediately feeling guilty because of the early shift, and hurried to fill the glass back up with water, trying your best to dispel the effects of alcohol before they even had an impact.

It seemed to work.

Your head was spinning, unrelated to the liquids you’d just absorbed, but because of the bathroom fiasco that had just occurred only moments prior.

You were that caught up in your own thoughts, trying to separate fact from fiction and thought from feeling, that you completely missed the very brunette on your mind stride past the kitchen and into the living area, looking like a man on a mission as he tried to seek out Theo.

It didn’t take him long, he just had significantly more trouble trying to shake off a blonde that refused to let go of his arm, and he found Theo leant against a table, looking worn out, his mind absent from reality.

In the time it took for you to patch Daniel up, it looked as if Theo had faced a war and somehow escaped.

“You okay?” Daniel asked, hand clapping into Theo’s shoulder in an attempt to bring him back to reality.

He jumped, immediately relaxing when he registered just who was standing in front of him.

“I’m fine, but if that…person over there takes another step towards my Grandma, he’s not going to know what hit him.” He answered, finger pointing at a rather suspicious looking man.

“I don’t see a Grandma anywhere.” Daniel pointed out, slightly concerned.

Theo rolled his eyes, as if he’d had to answer the question a million times already, “She’s the purple one on the mantelpiece.” He muttered, taking a swig of whatever was in his glass.

Daniel nodded, feeling guilty for even bringing up the topic, but the completely detached behaviour from Theo was giving him a hard time in focusing on what he actually came over to do.

“Sorry about that, mate.” He apologised, breathing in deeply.

Theo shrugged.

“Anyway, does Y/N still have the same phone number or did she change it?” Daniel questioned, attempting to pretend like the question wasn’t that big of a deal by shrugging and avoiding making eye contact with Theo, but the raise of the eyebrow and curious, piercing blue stare proved that his attempt was futile.

“I knew you still liked her.” Theo chuckled.

“Am I that transparent?” Daniel quipped, pressing his lips together in a tight line.

“Only for me.” Theo grinned, patting Daniel’s cheek.

Daniel pulled a face, swiping Theo’s hand away.

“But no, she’s still got the same number. Why’d you ask?”

Daniel shrugged, already backing away, attention flickering around the room, once again searching for something — the action of which didn’t go unnoticed by Theo, who positively cackled inside, “Just curious.”

“If curious means ‘I-fucked-up-with-a-really-good-person-big-time-and-I-need-to-make-it-up-somehow-before-I-ask-her-out-for-real-this-time-instead-of-practicing-it-in-the-mirror’, then, whatever you say.”

“That was ages ago!”

“People don’t forget!” Theo yelled, smirking in triumph as Dan disappeared around the corner, no doubt searching for you.

You were sitting on the cold, stone steps outside the apartment building, your phone in your hand and debating whether or not to call a taxi or walk home before it gets too dark.

Your thumb was hovering over the call button to your local taxi when the building doors slammed open, the sound of shoes slapping against the concrete as a tall figure leapt down the last three steps, running a hand through their curls in frustration as they looked left, then right, and sighed, reaching into their jacket pocket to produce their phone.

You couldn’t see their face, only the back of their head, but you’d recognise that figure anywhere.

You looked down, your heart stuttering at the sudden buzzing of the phone in your hand.

You narrowed your eyes, resisting the urge to laugh at the hilarity of the situation, and answered the call, lifting the phone up to your ear, your eyes fixated on the pacing figure on the pavement, watching him from your spot at the top corner of the stairs.

“Hello?” The person asked, sounding a bit breathless through the phone.

“Hi.”

“It’s Daniel...Ricciardo.” He winced at his own awkwardness.

“I know. You’re still saved in my contacts.”

“I am?” He replied, tone laced with shock.

You were almost embarrassed to admit that you’d held onto a little shred of hope in thinking he’d eventually get over himself, “You had a paddy with me, remember?”

“About that, I’m really sorry. Like, really, really, really,really, really—”

“I get the idea.” You sighed.

“No, I don’t think you understand how sorry I am for it. It was so insanely stupid of me to stop talking to you because of something I thought I heard in a club — a fucking club of all places — without even thinking of talking to you—”

“Why didn't you talk to me?”

He was silent for a while, and you noticed he’d halted his pacing on the pavement. “I know it sounds like I’m making up excuses, but I really thought you hated my guts, and that...it hurt because I kind of had a bit of a crush on you and I pushed you away because I think a subconscious part of my mind thought that if I did that then it would be better in the long run because I wouldn’t be so attached to you if something went weird later on.” He explained, his voice lowering and quieting towards the end, as if he’d just understood what he didn’t understand.

“That’s...a lot to unpack.” You murmured, noticing the way his shoulders had slumped.

“Yeah...we don’t have to do it right now, though.”

“No, I agree, I think we’d need a nicer place to sort though our emotional struggles than outside Theo’s apartment building.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit weird — what?” He caught himself, spinning around on his heels.

You offered a shy wave once he’d tilted his head in your direction, realising you’d been watching him talk to you the entire time.

“I was looking for you.” He said once he’d hung up the phone, meeting you halfway on the steps.

“Why?”

“Can I walk you home?” He resorted to asking.

_____

The journey home took about twice as long as it usually would, and by the time you’d both made it onto your street, night was beginning to creep through, the sky changing to a darker blue, street lamps beginning to turn on.

The conversation flowed remarkably easily, albeit there was a noticeable hesitance in dancing around that subject, but you pretended not to notice it, and you had a feeling Daniel was trying to do the same.

He kept glancing at you out of the corner of his eye, almost disbelieving of that fact that you were in front of him, even after what he’d put you through, and he had to keep catching himself to ensure you didn’t notice him looking.

You did.

“So, how are you feeling about going back after the Summer Break?”

He stifled a smile, “I don’t know why, but I have a really good feeling about going back. You know what? It has to be those Haribo’s.” He breathed a laugh.

“What? I hand out magic Haribo?” You smirked, shaking your head in disbelief.

“Yep.”

“No.”

“You say that now, but you’ll take it back when I get a podium.”

“When you do win, just don’t go around telling everyone about my magic Haribo.”

“Oh, the Haribo are reserved for me and for me only. It won’t have the same effect if you give some to Lando.”

“I’ll just take your word for it, I guess.”

You breathed a laugh, coming to a halt on the pavement, the familiar house standing to your left.

Daniel looked up.

“I thought you had a Fiesta?” He asked, pointing to the blue Hyaundi parked on the driveway.

“I’m sorry, is my car not up to the standard you’re used to?” You questioned, raising an eyebrow teasingly in his direction.

“Oi, I’ll have you know that I learnt to drive in a — I can’t even remember what model it was, but I do remember having to really press down on the brake…and the air con was broken.” He defended, throwing his hands up as if to say he was surrendering.

You bit your lip, “I learnt to drive in a Mercedes.”

His reaction was priceless.

“A Mercedes? You learnt to drive in a—wow.”

“It was just the company car, I didn’t really have a choice.”

“Still…wow.” He paused, feet tapping the pavement agitatedly, “I have a proposal.”

You met his eyes, unable to help feeling slightly anxious by the prospect.

“Go on.” You encouraged, crossing your arms tightly.

“If I win a GP…wait—can we make a deal?” He asked, throwing his hand out.

You nodded.

“If I win a GP, I get to take you on a date.” He offered, raising one eyebrow but somehow maintaining eye contact.

“But…what’s in it for me?” You smirked.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes, “That’s so rude…but, okay…I take you to Monza, and if—when I win a GP, I get to take you out. For my own sake, I’m gonna pretend like I will win one because I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t.”

“You’ll win one.” You stated simply, shrugging.

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“Because you’re Daniel Ricciardo, when have you ever not been successful in a car?” You asked, pulling a face as if it was obvious from the get-go.

Daniel didn’t say anything after that. He just sort of looked at you, twisting his mouth up in thought. You couldn’t tell what was going through his mind at that moment in time, but you had a sneaking suspicion he was trying to believe your words.

“You really believe that?” He finally said, a hint of what sounded like insecurity laced in his tone.

“You don’t?” You shot back, your heart breaking slightly at his demeanour.

“I never left.” He mumbled under his breath, turning away from you slightly with furrowed brows, seemingly having a conversation with himself.

You knew those words would stick around in your mind for a long time.

But there was something so addictive about ‘Daniel Ricciardo wins the 2021 Italian Grand Prix’.