That's Racing Baby | Lando Norris

Chapter 11: Race Three

Emilia intensely stared at the dark brown liquid in the disposable cup. It was an hour until lights out in China. All the strategy and everything had been sorted and Emilia was left by herself for a bit to gain her focus before having to jump into her car.

The Williams driver was sitting in the paddock with her umbrella propped up allowing her to sit on a wall in the dry. Her coffee was on her lap and she was drumming her fingers on the outside of the cup. Emilia felt more confident that yesterday but the rain concerned.

The patter of the rain on her umbrella was calming and it was even more relieving that Emilia was dry. Soon enough, she would be drenched; probably by the end of the formation lap. Emilia didn't mind the rain so much, driving in it was worse especially in her Formula 1 car. 

"Your coffee is getting cold." Emilia looked up after zoning up to see Lando Norris holding an umbrella desperately trying to avoid the wet like she was. She smiled at the driver and gestured for him to sit next to her but he declined.

"I'm alright standing." Lando answered. Emilia nodded and took a sip of her coffee. "How are you feeling about the wet?"

"I feel alright about it." Emilia tucked a strand of her hair that she had yet to put up before getting in the car. Truthfully, Emilia did not feel alright about it; many scary accidents happened in the wet. To make it worse, visibility would be poor so that could be her career and potentially her life over.

"You definitely don't look it." Lando observed concerned about the driver.

"I mean I'm nervous, but who isn't?" Emilia shrugged making eye contact with the McLaren driver. Lando nodded understanding her.

"Yeah that's true." Lando sighed. His PR was walking towards him motioning him to follow her as he seemed to have duties to do before the race. "I hope to see you around Miller. Good luck for today."

"You too." Emilia winked as the driver strolled towards the woman in matching kit. She sighed and got up realising that she should probably begin to make her way to her garage. Emilia downed the rest of her coffee throwing the empty cup in the bin and made her way to the garage with Williams in block capitals smothered across the top.

Emilia spent the rest of her remaining time talking possible strategies and the weather. The rain appeared to have slowed and almost stopped but had been relentless overnight. There was a slim chance that the inters would be available but the team would have no way of knowing and it would be Emilia dictating the tyre choice. It was stressed strongly that she would need to keep the garage updated on grip and that undercuts would be the way to go.

P7 wasn't a bad place to start as there would undoubtedly be slip ups on the grid going into turn one but the drivers in front of her were a lot more experienced so a lot less likely to make a costly mistake like a rookie would. Emilia felt the pressure on her – more than ever. George seemed to be pretty calm when she popped into his garage to wish him good luck. She spoke briefly to him and Carmen before being called back to her side of the garage.

Eventually, the time came when she needed to drive her car out to the grid and the lap thankfully went smoothly. She got a feel of the wet track and how responsive her tyres were. Safely, she arrived at the back of the grid and got herself wheeled by the team to seventh place. She climbed out the car and put her headphones on preparing herself for the race.

Final checks on the car were made before Emilia got into her car and readied herself for the formation lap. She wiggled her car from side to side making it dance in an attempt to heat the tyres. They had only been out of the blankets for a few moments but had rapidly lost temperature.