That's Racing Baby | Lando Norris

Chapter 39

"You don't have to do this today." Lando reminded softly placing a hand on Emilia's thigh.

"I know, but I want to. It'll give me satisfaction beating you." Emilia smirked as she opened the car door. She didn't step out the car as she needed to ask Lando something. "Are we friends?"

"Yeah, only for a bit longer. I promise we'll go public soon." Lando pressed a kiss to Emilia's lips as there were no cameras around. They were the last ones to arrive with Alex, George and Lewis already there.

"Morning." George greeted squeezing Emilia tightly. She hugged Alex as well. Lewis offered his condolences as well. Emilia wasn't sure why Lewis was karting with them but he was a British driver so that was probably why. Alex raced under the Thai flag but Sky couldn't leave him out so they went for all the drivers born in Britain. They changed and were informed of what they were doing then headed out. Emilia had raced here a few times but there were closer circuits to her house so it wasn't her first choice. Johnny Herbert was there to greet them when they came out. The cameras were on so Emilia stuck a smile on her face.

"Morning, how we all doing?" Johnny smiled. They all responded and nodded with their helmets in their hands. "So, who's karted here before?" Everyone responded that they had apart from Lewis.

"I think Lewis was in F1 by the time this track was built." George teased. The dynamics of this group were quite odd. George, Lando and Lewis got on. Emilia would usually get on with him but she was sort of distancing herself from all of them because she was struggling coping with being around lots of people again. Alex, for obvious reasons, wasn't Lewis' biggest fan so it would be an interesting karting session.

"Emilia, first home Grand Prix. How are you feeling about that?" Johnny asked. Emilia desperately didn't desire to be the centre of attention as she was afraid she'd burst into tears.

"Excited for it. Fans will be there and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting a good result for them." Emilia didn't mention her Grandad as she'd most likely end up crying. Aurelia had posted something on her Instagram as a tribute to him that supposedly was from Emilia but she couldn't piece anything together.

"Going for a win or a podium?" Lewis questioned optimistic of Emilia's race.

"With what's happened, getting in the car and finishing the race will be enough for me." She responded biting her lip to stop it wavering.

"Well best of luck." Johnny smiled. "I know Alex, this isn't your home Grand Prix but it felt wrong to leave you out of this. Have you settled into your new team yet?"

"Yeah I have. It's different but I feel appreciated in the team and they like me being there which is lovely." Alex replied.

"George, another home Grand Prix. Do you think this one will be different to previous ones?"

"Yeah I mean we're properly up there fighting for points now so yeah it'll be different. Hopefully the fans will be cheering us on and we can get a good result." George answered smiling.

"Okay, well I think we've done enough talking let's do some racing."

They each had to do a qualifying lap which would set the grid for a five lap race. It was all supposed to be a bit of fun but this would be displayed on TV so they didn't want to embarrass themselves. Plus, they were all insanely competitive anyway. There was some revenge to be had and Emilia would be surprised if they were all happy by the end of it.

Emilia was going to do her qualifying lap first as she was the youngest. She wasn't as bothered as the boys were about this. Mainly because it hadn't been a week since her Grandad's death so she knew this performance wasn't going to be her best. Lando approached her as she was getting in her kart.