"hey guys! so, as you know, we are coming to close on this half of the season at the end of this weekend. the team's been on a roll with uprages to the car, so we thought we would look back on some of our favourite moments from the first half of the year." ria introduced.
it had become routine now for her to be in the film studio to make these videos every weekend. she was so used to the cameras and definitely felt a lot more comfortable now.
"mhm. so we're going to be counting down our top 5 best moments this season. i think i should start this time." oscar nodded to ria. "okay, my fifth favourite moment this season was probably goodwood. driving that old mclaren was really cool, and it's nice to meet more fans outside of the pressure of a race weekend."
"goodwood was amazing. my fifth was probably meeting michelle rodriguez and vin diesel. that was awesome. i wanted to be letty so bad when i was younger, and hearing her say she thinks i'm talented was like a fever dream." ria explained.
"yeah guys go watch fast x!" he laughed. "my fourth best moment was probably the car launch. that was electric. i loved the atmosphere, and everything."
"my fourth was probably going on jimmy fallon. like, jimmy fallon knows who i am. me." she didn't elaborate any further.
"my third was the double podium in austria. that was epic, for me and the team." he told her.
"ooh, yeah. i didn't think of that one. that was amazing. my third moment was my first podium in saudi. that was beautiful." she reminisced on the incredible day.
"my second best moment was my first podium, in my home race in australia. that was one for the books, i'll tell you." hjs accent seemed to get stronger when he mentioned australia.
"my second best moment this season so far was my race win at home in silverstone. especially being so close to where i lived growing up, it's really cool to come back and show young kids what i managed to do." her words resonated with him.
"i'm very confused, why is your race win not best moment? because mine is my win. i can't think of anything else better this seasom than winning in hungary." oscar questioned the younger girl.
"simple. number one was meeting central cee at the monaco grand prix and being in the sprinter cover shot. the one with the f40 on the yacht? i'm there with a bally on. it's so cool." she explained herself.
"i feel like i should've seen that coming. you're so obsessed with him." he mocked.
"look, he's literally central cee. plus, we grew up in the same area around the same time, so we have similar experiences." she justified.
"wait, you lived near him?" oscar asked.
"yep. he's from bush, it's only a half hour drive from my family home. from woking, obviously it would take longer. but i've taken you to bush before." she reminded him.
"oh, yeah, the big shopping centre. that's so cool, imagine growing up near an internationally known rapper." oscar was still in shock.
"he put us on the map. mad respect for that man. cench, if you're watching this, release another proper album, please, split decision was amazing but i need more, right now. i know bare man who would die to see you in concert, including me, so please go back on tour." she jokingly begged towards the camera.
"is that what you keep singing about uk rap?" oscar asked.
"yeah! uk rap is my favourite song off the ep. i'm always listening to it, i can't stop."
they seemed normal. like friends having a conversation, just surrounded by cameras.
"alright, so we had to think of one thing we're looking forward to over the rest of the year. me personally, it's going to see taylor swift in la for the last night of the shows." she explained.
"do you just not care about racing at all? it's just a hobby for you?" he joked. "i'm looking forward to hopefully winning more races. it's not really a far stretch, i think we can do it."
"alright, then. that's the end of this video. bye everyone! don't forget to root for us this weekend." she waved to the camera.
she and oscar made their way back to their driver's rooms together, talking and laughing as they went.
***
during qualifying on friday, the mclarens soared around the track. they were unbelievably fast, but red bull had brought some more upgrades to their car, forcing the mclarens down to third and fourth on the grid. still, a second row lockout was amazing for the team.
in the sprint shootout on saturday, the mclarens were somehow better. they powered through, knocking lando's red bull down two spots, sandwiching themselves between the drivers. the order was ver-pia-nor-san for the starting grid, which they could definitely make up.
oscar got away better than max, and got in front of him at turn 1. ria had tactically maneuvered her car to pass by lando's with ease, putting her and oscar in third and first respectively.
the safety car came out during the race, but the order stayed the same for all the top 4.
ria was on verstappen's ass throughout the sprint, causing his tyres to degradeuch quicker as he was on defence. during the final lap, and the final chicane, ria overtook the reigning world champion, making it a mclaren 1-2.
during the actual race on sunday, oscar was devastated. sainz had got further next to him, and squeezed him into the wall at turn 1. his race was finished then.
for ria, it was a different story. she came out of turn 1 in front of lando, with max straight ahead of her. she couldn't overtake max, but she help position. by the end of the race she was still in second, and her half of the garage were ecstatic.
even oscar. he still smiled as she crossed the line after max. no matter what had happened to him during his race, he was happy for her, and proud of her.
after her celebrations, she caught up with the australian.
"hey. i'm sorry about your race. you should've been up there with me on the podium." she consoled.
"it's fine, i'm still happy about the sprint win." he told her. "but, you were phenomenal out there. i'm so proud of you. you did amazingly."
they stopped outside their doors, and she pulled him in for a hug. he was confused at first, but swiftly wrapped his arms around her.
"thank you oscar. you're the best teammate a girl could ask for." she mumbled into him.
he felt a pang in his chest as she said those words. it reminded him what he was to her. he was just a teammate. the sex meant nothing. they were just teammates, nothing more, nothing less.
