DEEP BREATHS | lando norris

CHAPTER 1

LANDO

Lovely. It was her again. I wish I could gouge my eyeballs out just not to see her. Especially now. She's standing on the podium, smiling widely as she waves to the crowd beneath her after her win. She even got a damn title of the Driver of the Day —after almost taking me out of the race. But that's what Mercedes' drivers are never blamed for. They all can make mistakes but the world won't judge them or blame them because they're the Mercedes F1 Team.

I roll my eyes and get back into McLaren garage, feeling no need to look at her smile that actually seems fake. A few mechanics and engineers congratulate me for a good drive today but that drive couldn't afford for me to even get on a podium, so I just thank them, hoping that with that I could go to my driver room even quicker. I try to get there as soon as possible and with the moment I enter the room and close the door behind me I feel a sudden urge. To yell. Scream. Throw things at walls. But I don't do that. Not yet. I promised myself that I can't be controled by emotions that are gone with a blink of an eye.

That's why I close my eyes, clench my jaw and take deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Oscar gave me those tips a few months ago now and I'm still using them as they're the only ones that seem to work. I gotta get out in a few moments, give some interviews and make jokes that everybody will get. My PR manager has enough work to do anyways, I don't want to give her more of it.

I hear a notification coming up, breaking the silence. I walk up to the counter I've left my phone at and pick it up.

Oscar ( Kimi Jr. ): I can hear your loudass breathing, you know that?

I smirk at his message he has just sent me. He has his driver room next to mine and these walls are think like paper. Sometimes I just forget it.

Lando ( asshole ): Do I sound like an oldy rusty car that you texted me that?

Oscar ( Kimi Jr. ): Kind of

I chuckle. I don't know from where he has the energy to be like that but I'll probably need tips on that too.

I put my phone back down and take my water bottle in my hands before leaving the room. I have to have something in my hands when I'll be making my long ass way to the McLaren Motorhome with lots of people pulling me for inteviews and wanting to take pictures of me or with me. I quickly fix my hair and walk out of my driver room into the direction of the exit of the garage. The secound I step out I feel at least one hundred pairs of eyes looking at me and cameras clicking.

The McLaren social media manager catches up with me and starts recording whilr asking about my thoughts after the race. I try to sound calm as I answer him, hopefully not to give my PR manager more work. I've already done some shit she'll have to deal with later today.

"Obviously, the race wasn't perfect and now I would do lots of things differently but there's nothing I can change. The accident I almost had with Angelov, of course made me angry, but at least I managed to end the race without any damages to the car. The only thing I can do is to keep my head up and fight for that championship." with that I end my answer and I take a few sips as I search for the way to McLaren's Motorhome. Too many people around me make it unbelivably hard.

But then the crowd moves to the sides to make some space for the bigger crowd of people walking around one person in the center. I see brown hair, black racing suit tied on hips and black fireproofs with a Mercedes logo. Angelov. Of course. I scoff and decide to take the chance to walk to my direction as she's made a way for me to do that.