FAST AND FUTURE - George Russell

11

"Can I fly with you to Monaco after the race?" Daniella took the seat near Max Verstappen.

"Yeah of course. Daniel is also joining so it will be fun," he replied. "But what is wrong with your jet?"

"George Russell," Daniella rolled her eyes, just as the said driver walked by, not noticing Daniella and Max looking at him.

"It's too early to hear any crazy stories so I am going to save it for our flight back," Max said as be gave a synthetic smile.

"Well...I need to go do my warm ups," Daniella stood up. "Good luck for the race..see you later."

***

"Daniella," Toto smiled as the driver walked in, ready to race.

"You look happy," she gave him a suspicious look.

Toto let out a laugh as they walk towards the car.

"Yesterday you drove very aggressively...but amazingly," Toto said. "This year both RedBull and Ferrari cars are good and they will challenge us...so today I need you to drive just like you did yesterday...you know to get a good lead on the championship."

Daniella nodded as her eyes fell on George on the other side of the garage. He looks tired, like he hasn't slept all night. But looking at him made Daniella remember the events of the previous day.

"That shouldn't be a problem," she replied as she looked away from George.

Toto looked satisfied with her answer and wished her luck before walking over to George.

Daniella went over to Nate to go over a few things just before the race.

***

It was a easy win for Daniella. She was leading the entire race and Max and Charles who also ended up on the podium barely challenged her.

Once again new memes of Toto celebrating went viral.

However, George who started P6 ended the race in P10, disappointing both himself and his team. It was obvious he had a lot in his mind and let it effect his performance.

The debriefing was mostly comparing both Daniella and George's race and to see where they can improve. After it was over Toto made everyone leave except for Daniella and George.

"Now I know it takes some time to adjust to a new car but it doesn't look good when one of my driver is winning and the other one finished P10," Toto said as he looked at George.

Daniella just stood there, part of her feeling like George deserved it and the other part feeling bad for him as she know how much pressure he has on his shoulders to deliver good results.

"Obviously you two have your difference," he eyed both the drivers. "But Dani, I feel like both George and the team will benefit if you help him...just like Lewis helped you when you first joined."

Daniella wanted to argue but she knows to Toto results and performance are more important than whatever is going on between her and George.

"Okay," she nodded after thinking from a couple of seconds. "I will try my best to help him."

George looked shocked by her answer, and so did Toto. He was expecting her to put up a fight and had a whole argument and speech planed to try and convince her.

"Oh okay, great," Toto smiled. "I will talk to you two later."

He left the room leaving the two drivers alone.

George looked at Daniella and opened his mouth to say something but before that she exited the room, leaving him confused.

He can't help but wonder if she genuinely wants to help him or does she have other plans?

***

Daniella smiled politely when he saw Kevin waiting for her. And just like she told Nate, there was no excitement from her side.

"Hey," the reporter waved at her as she walked closer. "That was a great race."

"Thanks," They exchanged a quick hug.

"Little disappointed though," he pretended to look hurt. "Once again I didn't get to interview you after the race."

"Yeah...sorry about that," Daniella apologized as they started walking. "Had to cut the interviews short because of debriefing."

"Oh...what did you all talked about at the briefing?" Kevin looked curious.

"I can't talk about it Kevin," Daniella politely replied.

"Is it about Russell? I mean..I don't want to sound rude but after his performance today it seems like he doesn't deserve the seat."

"He deserve the seat just as much as I do," Daniella defended.

"Yeah of course," the reporter shrugged. "But there is a reason why you are the first driver and winning races and he is the second driver and finishing P10. "

Daniella looked annoyed and Kevin was quick to pick up on that.

"Listen, I didn't mean to insult him or anything, I was just trying to imply how good you are," he explained.

"You could have done that without involving other drivers," Daniella stated as she gave him a blank look.

"Right, sorry," he let out a nervous laugh. "Won't happen again."

Daniella nodded and took out the keys to her car.

"Listen...I was thinking maybe we could do something spontaneous tonight," Kevin suggested. "We could go explore the city and half my family lives here so maybe we could all have dinner together."

"Oh umm...actually I am leaving in a couple of hours," Daniella replied.

"Can't you just leave tomorrow?"

"No, I am sorry," she apologized. "I am flying to Monaco with Max and Daniel and have my schedule full for the next two days."

"Oh okay," Kevin looked disappointed. "That's fine. We will arrange something once I get back to Monaco as well."

***

"Okay one last photo," Daniel handed his phone to Max as he posed with the two trophies of Daniella and Max.

Max groaned but obliged.

"You didn't hit George or anything, right?" Max asked Daniella as he clicked the photo. She just explained to her two friends what happened yesterday and Max immediately had a lot of questions, whereas Daniel was just busy fooling around.

"No," Daniella replied as she watched Daniel goofing around with the trophies. "I am not like you Max, I know how to restrain myself."

"That was one time and I have already apologized to Esteban," Max defended himself.

"Wait...is that why you were driving so aggressively this weekend?" Daniel questioned.

"Maybe..." Daniella looked guilty. She was always calm and composed on track but George really pushed her to show another side of her.

"Wow! I need to ask someone to make me angry before the next race," Daniel joked, earning glares from both Daniella and Max.

Meanwhile George was disappointed to know that he will be flying alone as Daniella has choose to join Max and Daniel. He really thought he would get a chance to talk to her during the flight but sadly Daniella is making it impossible for him to explain himself and apologize.

***********

A/N: Do you think Dani genuinely wants to help George or will she try to screw him up?

Thoughts on Dani and George so far? There is nothing remotely romantic happening between them :(

Opinions about Kevin the reporter guy?