That's Racing Baby | Lando Norris

Chapter 51

"Do we have to do this on the plane?" Emilia whined.

"We have a new system and I want to explain it now so when we get into free practice it'll run like normal, as if we haven't changed anything." The race strategist explained. Whatever new system they were using Emilia wasn't taking it in, she was too busy freaking out over being on a plane. To make matters worse, Emilia still hadn't driven a car yet let alone an F1 car apart from a few sessions on the sim that didn't go the way she wanted. George asked several questions engaging with the strategist while Emilia was definitely not with it. A jolt of turbulence widened her eyes and hardened the grip on her armrests.

"Relax, it's okay." George assured. The seatbelt signs pinged on so the strategist had to go and sit back in his seat. Emilia shut her eyes and turned her music up louder so she could pretend she was somewhere else, anywhere else than here. Just the way you are played through her airpods and it made Emilia smile. She thought of Lando and of their trip to Paris or more recently her trip to the Maldives with him.

Something hit her shoulder and startled Emilia. She opened her eyes, and saw George's head resting against her shoulder. Was he dead? Emilia pulled out her airpod and heard a low snore coming from George's mouth. How could he sleep through all this turbulence? Emilia took advantage of the situation and took a selfie of them which she posted on her story. She left George where he was as she didn't mind him using her shoulder as a pillow. Whether he had intentionally fallen asleep on her shoulder or whether the turbulence moved him there, she didn't know.

Media day came too quickly for Emilia. They landed in Belgium on Wednesday afternoon and after what seemed like no time, Emilia was in her car going to the circuit. She wasn't driving, Christine was which was pretty normal for when she wasn't sharing a car with George. Aurelia was waffling about her holiday with her girlfriend. Usually, the Williams driver would be really engaged with the conversation but this was Spa and Emilia didn't want to come back here. Last year F2 had raced here but Emilia didn't. She had been ill, too ill, to race anyway so this was the first time she'd been back to the circuit. Emilia wasn't looking forward to the weekend.

"Em, do you want a tissue or something?" Aurelia offered as Emilia was midway through a sneezing fit.

"Yes please it's the flowers." Emilia explained gesturing to the beautiful bouquet in her hands. She'd bought Anthoine's favourite flowers but they were making her hay fever flare up. That was okay though, it was worth it.

Emilia wasn't exactly chatty that morning with her team. She wanted to get this day done then get into bed. Well she wanted to do that most days but today especially. Emilia didn't have anything planned for around an hour so she decided now would be a good time to head up to Radillon. It was clear people had already been there as flowers had begun to accumulate around the spot. Emilia crouched down and added her flowers to the array. She felt that she couldn't just leave after that. The Williams driver sat down in the run off area picking up some gravel and tossing it around. Emilia thought maybe saying something would help.

"Hey buddy. I'm sorry for not being here last year." Emilia's coughed to clear her throat. "I miss you, and I think about you a lot. When I do something stupid, I think about how you would insult me. When something doesn't go my way, I think about how you would be there to comfort me. The same goes for when things go my way, you should be here to celebrate with me. The holiday, with the massive group of people, there was a spare bedroom and that should have been yours. I know we had this discussion early on in the season and we said we'd want each other to race and move on if something happened to either of us, but I can't. I miss you and that pain doesn't get any easier. I know we didn't know each other that long but you made a massive impact on my life and you pushed me to be a better driver and a better person. I'm sure I wouldn't be here if you hadn't pushed me to be the best version of me both on track and off-track. And take care of my Grandad will you? Make sure he's not causing too much mischief because I know what you two were like together." Emilia smiled slightly. She felt a lot better after that. Even though she was talking to the tyre wall and the sky she felt as if he heard her. Emilia stayed there for a while before Aurelia texted her saying she was needed back in the paddock as Jost was doing a speech to start the second part of the season.