Hate You - LN

5

"Hey, Devin! Welcome to the paddock!" It's Zak that greets me as I walk through the gates and into the business of the F1 paddock. My plane landed an hour ago and after dropping my suitcase off at my hotel I came straight here. I suppose Zak was waiting on me because his greeting came from right beside me.

"Hi Zak, it's great to see you in person." I greet cheerily. Zak is genuinely a nice person, I can definitely think of worse CEOs to have to deal with. He seems to genuinely care for his team and drivers outside of just results in the races. "And thank you, it's nice to be back." I tuck my paddock pass into the pocket of my Mclaren team shirt and walk beside Zak in the direction of the Mclaren hospitality building.

"I love Bahrain." Zak starts. "Something about that first race feeling everything's a clean slate. It will be interesting to see where everyone lines up in quali."

I nod agreeing. "Yeah, the first race of the season is such a big deal, but honestly nothing can beat the Monaco Grand Prix for me."

Zak laughs lightly, "I suppose not. I hope your loyalties will lie with Mclaren this year and not Ferrari." He lifts an eyebrow, both being serious and joking at the same time. It's a peculiar look.

I smile. "Of course, Charles might be family, but Mclaren is my racing family this year."

Zak claps a hand on my shoulder. "Didn't doubt it."

A few cameras follow Zak around the paddock but a couple of media personnel following him is nothing compared to the swarm following Carlos just behind us passing through the gates, ready for media day.

I smother my urge to say hello to Carlos and continue to follow Zak through the wandering and rushing hoards of people. How the drivers don't always just take the little hidden security paths to get around everywhere I have no idea. If I were them, people would question if I even was in the paddock.

Zak and I reach the big orange modern building quickly and step inside through the glass doors. The air conditioning must be blasting to provide some escape from the desert heat. In here the air feels like a fridge in comparison to outside. I quickly take in my surroundings. There are a couple of tables scattered around with a small coffee bar at the back of the room. All the walls are white, save for the expected orange accents on everything. There is a narrow stairwell to the right on the back wall, it most likely leads to a lounge and break room upstairs like the Aston Martin hospitality building had. Right of the stairs is a hallway and labelled on the wall beside it are Bathrooms <, and Driver's Rooms >.

"Oscar and Lando are pretty busy today, but I managed to get them both around for a few minutes separately later so I can introduce you as our head physio," Zak said, walking towards the coffee maker.

"I've met them both briefly before, it's all right if they are busy. I will get to know them both eventually." I didn't bother mentioning to Zak I knew Lando much better than he thought I did.

Zak waved a dismissing hand in the air. "Ah, it's no problem, meeting them is important, especially Lando, he'll need ongoing support throughout this season, and you'll be spending lots of time together."

I gulped, thankfully Zak didn't notice. "Okay." I acknowledged, grabbing an orange coffee cup and filling it for myself. "I never got Lando's file, I know it's his shoulder that was injured, but what was it exactly?"

"My guess is you want medical terms?"

"Preferably."

"All right, well, I don't know them off the top of my head, but Lando's medical file is in my office. His trainer Jon, also has a copy but follow me you can have mine for now until I make you a photocopy. Apologies, first race and all I'm distracted."