this week, the team was all about senna. ayrton's face was plastered everywhere around the circuit, especially in the mclaren garage.
brazil also held importance because it was the race that lewis hamilton won his first world championship in 2008 with mclaren.
as usual, media day was packed with mclaren appearances and interviews about being in the star team.
"i've heard the words senna and hamilton so many times today i may throw myself under a bus." ria complained, throwing her bag and lanyard down on the table in oscar's driver room.
"don't let anyone hear you say that, can't have you losing your job." he warned, shutting the door behind her.
she turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck. she lay a light kiss on his cheek, then nuzzled her head into his neck.
"i missed you." she mumbled.
"baby, i was with you the whole time." he laughed slightly.
"but i can't do this in front of people. we can't act like boyfriend and girlfriend in public." her words came out muffled.
"yes we can. and we will." he returned her hug, his arms finding their way around her waist.
he kissed the top of her head and they both sat down on the couch together.
"i'm shattered." ria said, stretching her arms out.
"we've just got the video to do, then we can go back to the hotel." he assured.
"i don't wanna go anywhere. i wanna stay here." she closed her eyes and put her head down on his chest.
"we can stay here as long as you want to, sweetheart." he stoked her hair as he spoke, and she hummed in response.
they sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company. oscar's fingers drew funny little shapes on ria's back, and ria picked the dirt out from under her nails.
their comfortable silence was interrupted by a knock at the door. they both swivelled their head to the direction of the noise.
"are you decent?" they heard dionne's voice from the other side of the door.
"yeah." oscar called out.
dionne opened the door, peering in at the pair.
"you two were supposed to be downstairs for the video ten minutes ago." she scolded.
"my bad, we lost track of time." oscar apologised, helping ria get up as he stood up.
the three of them made their way to the track, the couple snickering behind dionne as they walked, like two kids in trouble with a teacher.
this week, they were taking each other on a trip around the track in a mclaren senna, and seeing who got the better lap time.
oscar was the first to take the wheel, coming down the straight after his out lap to turn one. ria was already terrified as he didn't hit the brakes until the last moment possible.
"oscar! brake! brake! don't kill me! brake, please!" she squealed, gripping the door on one side and oscar's leg on the other.
he laughed in return at her fear, mocking her.
"relax, baby. this is literally my job. don't stress." he let out, laughing.
"it's my job too, but it's scary in a road car that doesn't have peak brakes and downforce like a f1 car, oscar!" she scolded, shrieking as they swung through the turns.
"alright ri, you'll be fine. i won't kill you." he spoke calmly, trying to get her to steady herself.
she silently prayed for it to be over, and gasped in happiness as she saw the finish line coming up in front of them.
his final lap was a little slower, as the lap time wouldn't count, but he found it funny to piss ria off.
she jumped out of the car as soon as possible when they got to the pit lane, practically leaping to the driver's side to take oscar round for a spin.
"calm down, there. i'm not a pussy like you, so i won't get scared." he laughed, taking his time walking around the back of the car to the other side.
"the fuck did you just call me?" her helmet-clad head swung towards the door he entered through. the car was low, so he had to hold onto the doorframe and duck heavily as he got in.
"nothing, babe." he awkwardly smiled, trying to cover up.
"i'll show you pussy." she grumbled, revving the car as he shut his door and put on his seatbelt.
"you what?" he joked, making her realise what she'd just said.
"fuck off, piastri." she flipped him off with one hand as she sped off down the pit exit.
she drove in a more relaxed manner on her outlap, but as soon as she got to the start line, she pushed the car to its limit. she quite enjoyed oscar's sounds of fear and his shrieks when she braked late.
oscar was desperately clawing and grabbing at the window pane with one hand, and gripping the centre console with the other.
"who's the pussy now?" she asked as he let out a sigh of relief at crossing the finish line.
"sorry, ria." he panted. "god, your driving is terrifying."
she pushed the limit with the car in the final lap, basically experimenting at this point.
when they finally got out of the car, oscar complained of his head spinning, and ria had a large beaming smile on her face.
"alright, so, lap times. you both broke the track record for a senna, which is absolutely astounding to me." dionne told them. "oscar, you hit a 1:37:395, but you weren't able to beat ria. ria, you got a 1:36:997. you've set a new track record for this car. well done."
"guys, if you listen carefully you can hear oscar sobbing in the background of this video." ria joked to the camera, helmet in hand.
"oh, shut up, ria." he threw his arm around her neck haphazardly, ruffling her hair with the other hand. "but well done for that lap record. that's insane." he congratulated, smiling.
"you weren't too far off either, osc." she turned around to face him.
"come on, i was four tenths off." his smile slightly dropped.
"we aren't racing f1 cars here. tenths here mean much less than they do in f1. four tenths is nothing. i'm proud of you." she smiled at him.
he smiled back at her.
***
the race went amazing for both sides of the garage this week. ria went from p4 to p3, and oscar went from p5 to p2 after a well calculated pitstop.
sharing the podium was something they always enjoyed. even though they were on opposite sides of the top step, they always sprayed each other with champagne first. they always held little looks at each other. they always had to stop themselves from giggling at each other over nothing.
imessage
mummy💕💕
ria
you're coming home
next week aren't you?
you have to reintroduce
us to oscar.
i'm not happy with how you publicised your relationship.
so, we can forget about that,
and you can tell us when
you come home.
properly.
alright.
