COLLISION COURSE - Lando Norris [ff]

One

six months earlier

"Lando Norris!" She yelled out the moment she got out of the car after qualifying. Him driving slow in front of her through the second corner had been the reason she had to cancel her flying lap and ended up in seventh place instead of fifth. Her mechanics giggled at her sudden outrage. The everlasting contempt she felt for the young McLaren driver who had started his career in Formula One the same year as she was nothing new for the AlphaTauri crew. Everyone had gotten used to their constant bickering on track and on bad days even on camera. They had once started a heated discussion right in the middle of an interview. Their tensed relationship was something which both teams frowned upon and also something that the media could dig its claws into.

"I am sorry, Chris." Nyck tried to comfort her. He had already taken off his helmet as he had been eliminated in Q2 ending up in eleventh position.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, it's just infuriating how he keeps on pulling tricks on me and ends up finishing higher in the standings with a blank slate," she bellyached about her colleague's behavior.

"Franz has a hard time trying to convince the FIA to penalize Norris," he explained what was currently going on at the pit wall.

"How the fuck could he be possibly having a hard time doing so? He was clearly driving slow on purpose!" Chris argued before sighing and taking a deep breath. "You know what, never mind!"

She raised her hands up in the air and furrowed her brows, picturing the recurring events of the day as rather trivial, "That wasn't the race and seventh is a great starting position for tomorrow!"

Nyck walked next to her when they left the garage in order to take a shower and prepare for the upcoming qualifying debrief. She wanted to soothe her aching nerves before settling down at a table with the important people from the team- imcluding her manager who certainly was not too happy to hear about her outburst after getting out of the car. She had worked on her temper throughout her career, and with time, it had gotten better eventually. Now, she would not throw a tantrum on the radio anymore- to her team's advantage. Her regular tirade of wrath had been used to picture the Italian constructor in the wrong light before. After receiving an one-hour rebuke from Franz Tost himself, she had apologized to everyone. It had never happened again.

"Will we grab dinner later?" He asked her. When Christina had signed for AlphaTauri she had not expected to become close friends with her teammate who was often equally as fed up with FIA's handling of penalties and rulemaking. After all, it was good knowing that someone was on her side, and it was what she had needed to get comfortable in her place on the paddock and the grid.

"You can bet your life on that!" She laughed and entered the motor home after him.

"Maybe we should invite Norris too?" Nyck jokingly proposed and gained a nudge into his hip in response, "Don't you dare!"

"I wouldn't ever invite your archenemy to one of our traditional post-qualifying dinners! You'd most certainly try to kill me next day on track," he concluded and Chris rolled her eyes at his light-hearted comments on a serious issue she has had with this sport for years. However, she was not the kind of person to take it out on anyone else. Her discontent with the FIA and Norris acting as innocent as he did, had nothing to do with others. That was on her, and that was also how she prefered to handle it- by herself.

"Shut up and shower, you stink," she mocked him before turning left and entering her room. Both had their own bathroom to have some privacy after a long day on track accompanied by media duties. Christina was grateful for the little luxury the team allowed them to enjoy which clearly substracted from the overall budget, and finally getting some rest and time to herself felt like a reward for her constant efforts to deal with the McLaren driver who did not seem to ever face consequences for his unspeakable behavior towards her. She felt her anger starting to rise again and pulled her shirt over her head, slammed it down onto the ground before stepping into the cubicle to let cold water wash away the rest of her hatred.