My Best Mates Sister

3.

Race day

It's been a pretty straight forward weekend so far, both cars did okay in Qualifying getting a P12 and P13 it's the highest we've been for a while. It was good to see the grin on George's face from out qualifying his teammate. We still had quite a lot of data to sift through last night and I ended up staying till around 10pm. It's 7am now and I'm sat at my station with coffee hoping that it's going to make me feel slightly more human! "You are going to work yourself sick if you do this every weekend" I hear commented from behind me and I turn myself around "Morning Claire, I know it's just the first weekend" she grins at me "you've been doing a Stella job so far!" I blush at the compliment "this is my dream, some dream of driving the cars others of having a large family but this has always been mine" I tell her "we can all tell, you haven't got to this position without hard work!" She let's me know and wanders over to Roberts side of the garage. I sit for another hour trawling through data to find any information that would help George today "When were you going to tell me you hung out with Lando Thursday night?" I flinch as George slams his bag down "I didn't think I needed to?" I ask looking up at my brother "Well he seems to believe it was a date?" I'm confused "well that word was never mentioned, we just had dinner and watched a movie in my room" he frowns "nothing else happened?" I shake my head "absolutely not! He is my friend George just like he is yours" he relaxes "I know, sorry I just don't want you to get hurt again" he rests his arm on my shoulder "can we not bring that up now?" I ask him and he nods "Sorry Rosie" I turn back towards my computer "right shall we get started?" His attention turns to my screen.

Right this is it, the cars are lined up on the grid "Good luck George" I say over the radio "Thanks Rosie" I go quite as for the first 10 or so laps I know that the drivers don't like their engineers taking. I watch the screen carefully and see George get a great start off the line and avoid any trouble on turn 1. I find my heart racing as I watch the Williams around the track "Rosie" I hear George say and I see what he is about to tell me in the data "change the Diff" I say quickly "confirm" he responds and after a few corners I can see the improvement in the data "all okay George?" I question "better, thanks, how long on these tyres?" I look at Marcus who skims his eyes across his screen "15 more laps if he can look after them" I nod "so looks like 15 laps, keep looking after them" I tell George "confirm" the radio goes silent as I see him trying a move on Alex in his Torro Rosso. I wait with baited breath to see if the move sticks and it does "great job, next up the road is Kyvat 2.7 seconds ahead" I comment "confirm" George responds. We call George in for his pit stop and he is in a good position to potentially pick up a point or two and I'm feeling confident "Head down now, focus on the job" I tell him as he approaches the rear of Grosjean, should be easy picking off the bottom cars after a fresh set of tyres. George makes his way to 13th with 8 laps to go "Okay George, Stroll ahead by 3.7 seconds, catch him if you can" I say "can we catch him?" George asks "give it your best" I tell him and watch the screen. George crosses the line in P13 a really solid result for his first ever F1 race "Well done George P13, P13" I say "Yeah, good start team, let's keep pushing forwards" he says over the radio "okay go to parc ferme, switch off and we will see you shortly" I tell him "well that was a decent start" I say to Marcus "things look promising for points this season" he tells me "I agree" I shoot him a smile "well done Rosie" I turn to see Claire "that was a great performance from you both" I give her a quick hug "let's keep this going" I tell her and the garage has a really optimistic feel about it.

About 15 minutes later George comes through the pit entrance to the garage "Well done" I say pulling him in for a hug "we make a good team" he tells me patting my head "cheers for that" he laughs before speaking to Marcus, Jacob and Michael"great strategy today" George tells Mike "thanks man, wasn't too sure those tyres were going to hold out but it worked" he shrugs and George heads to his post race interviews. "Let's get sorted for our briefing" Michael tells all of us and I start writing down my thoughts from the race and collating them with data. We usually have about an hour before we start the briefing so I decide to head across to hospitality to grab a coffee and something to eat. It is crowded as always straight after a race and I make the mad dash across trying to avoid everyone but of course me being clumsy I bump into Max Verstappen "I'm really sorry" I say as he steadies me "it's okay! Are you alright?" He asks and I nod before an arm is wrapped over my shoulder "what trouble are you in now Rosie?" I roll my eyes "Shut Up George" I nudge him in the ribs "Rosie?" I look at Max "Rosie Russell?" I nod looking confused "you look so different from when you were young at all of George's races" I smile "yeah we've all grown up quite a bit" I say "she is my race engineer now" George tells him sounding rather proud? "I thought I heard something about a female race engineer, well congratulations" he tells me "thanks Max! Great race today by the way" he smiles "I would've liked the win but 2nd isn't bad" I check my watch "you need to be in your interviews! Soph is going to be losing it" I tell George "come on man let's go" Max says dragging George with him. I shake my head before heading straight to the coffee bar and ordering a coffee and a flapjack.

I'm absolutely exhausted, I feel broken. George got to head back to the hotel around 3 hours ago but I always stay and help the guys pack away the car and the garage. Not only do I enjoy it but it also feels fair and I need to bond with the crew and as I have found that somewhat difficult. "Cheers Rosie" Adam says as I go to my bag that's lying in the corner "no problem" I say picking up my stack of data to analyse when I get back to my hotel room. What a glamour filled life I have being in F1. I walk out into the paddock shaking my head "Rosie?" I turn and see Lando walking quickly towards me in his McLaren mechanics top? "Lando! What are you doing here this late?" I ask "oh I help out with taking my car apart and packing the garage away" I can't help the smile that crosses my lips "your team must love that" he nods "seems only right, we are a team as you just said" I nod "headed back?" I ask "yeah, I'm absolutely starving though" my stomach chose that moment to rumble "wanna grab some dinner?" He asks and I find myself nodding "sure!" What is going on?

We arrive back at the hotel "I'm just gonna get changed, I've been in these all day" I tell Lando "yeah of course, meet you in the lobby in 10?" I nod my head "see you in a few" I say unlocking my room. Is this a date? I didn't think last night was a date but he did and now he's asked me out for dinner again? I need Soph I pull my phone out and start a FaceTime "what's up Rosie?" I give her a panicked look "I'm going for dinner with Lando" she squeals "this is EXCITING" she yells "oh okay! What do I wear?" She laughs "you could wear anything and he would think you look incredible" she tells me and I scoff "nah, he doesn't like me" she full on cackles "right well you are lying to yourself" I roll my eyes "right well I need to get changed, thanks for your help" I joke and she blows me a kiss "love you Rosie, you look beautiful" I grin "love you more Soph" I hang up and decide quickly to dress up a bit I pull on a white denim skirt and I tied crop T-shirt with a black leather jacket. I need to hurry or I'm gonna leave Lando waiting.

I rush down into the lobby and see Lando leaning against the wall. "Hey" I say as I get close to him "there you are!" He says excitedly "ready to go?" I ask and we head out of the doors "you look lovely" he tells me "thanks!" He grins "so where are we off to?" I ask as we walk through the streets of Melbourne "well I thought you might be okay with Italian?" I immediately nod my head "I was daydreaming about pasta earlier!" I say and he laughs "while we were racing?" I shake my head "of course not!" He laughs and we arrive in front of a cute Italian bistro "here?" I ask and he nods gesturing "table for 2?" I ask "wait I have a table booked under Norris" he interjects "right this way" the waitress takes us over to a cute table in the window "this is beautiful" I say and he smiles at me "what pasta you gonna get?" I skim through the menu "hmmmmm the carbonara is a classic" he nods "hmmmm I think I'm going to get pizza" my stomach growls "ready to order?" The waitress asks "yes please the carbonara and a side of garlic bread" she nods "and a salami pizza please" Lando adds and the waitress leaves us. "Well done for today, really impressive! Not that I'm surprised" I tell him "well you've always been our biggest supporter" I roll my eyes "didn't have much choice" he laughs and I realise "This is the first time we've gone out for dinner just us" I say and he blushes "well George might be one of my best friends but you are as well" that's sweet but George said he thought of the other night as a date "I view all of you boys as my closest friends" he frowns "yeah, it's a very special way to make friends, travelling so much" I nod "it's really difficult, lonely as well" I say "yeah! Didn't even get to go to normal school" he tells me joking "I was really lucky to find Soph when I started at Williams, I always hung out with George's friends" he grabs my hand "we all loved having you around, seriously we all view you as our friend" he is being really lovely "Thanks Lando, George said something strange earlier" his eyes widen "are we on a date?" He shrugs "depends" I look at him confused "well would you like it to be a date?" He blushes "well I would but George wasn't impressed earlier" I shake my head "he wasn't but this isn't his choice! Thanks for inviting me on a date" he grins "well I'm hoping we can go on many"