#the team fucked up quali but he made the mistake in the race trying to overtake lando

[giannaln4]

I'm Sorry

lando norris x fem reader

summary: A moment of frustration made Lando react the way you never thought he would, and boy, would he regret it.  (1.6k words)

warnings: angst, swearing, argument, mean lando,  fluffy ending

a/n: ok so for this, i decided to go back to Baku and put the quali result in a totally different perspective than my last fic. i guess i kinda like it but i'm not very good at describing arguments 😭 anyway pls let me know what you think!!

ALSO i have an announcement to make and i'm really excited for it :)

check out the original request here!

↺ back to navigation — send me a request!

The qualifying this weekend was an absolute mess, to say the least. Lando was hard on himself no matter the result he got. Even if it was good, he would always find something to criticise himself, but P17? Everyone was in for a treat, you thought.

The worst part is that it wasn’t even his fault; it was a stupid mistake by the marshals, and he was not to blame for it. A yellow flag interrupted his lap, and he was immediately kicked out in Q1. 

Seeing the first qualifying session being over with his name in red was not something anyone wanted to see, especially not him, and now that every point was essential, you knew it crushed him.

He came back to the garage to see the rest of the qualifying with his team, and as soon as he got out of the car, you saw how frustrated he was. You understood him, of course, it sucked that this is how the weekend was going, but you would be there for him no matter what.

Once Lando took off his helmet, he headed straight to his driver’s room, and he didn’t even look at you when he walked past. That meant he wanted to be alone, but oh silly you, you decided to follow him.

He let out a loud sight when he heard the door open and close behind him, not really in the mood to hear what you had to say. He knew for a fact you were going to tell him he did well and it wasn’t his fault, which he greatly appreciated, but right now, he just wanted to suffer in peace.

“Baby?” You called him out, just testing the waters, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he hummed in annoyance. “I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but-”

“You are right, I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted you, not even turning around to face you. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned into it, taking a deep breath. 

That should have been your cue to leave the small room and leave him alone, but for some reason you didn’t. “Lando, don't beat yourself up over this. It wasn’t your fault, and I’m sure things will be better tomorrow. We all know what you can do and you still have the race-“

“This is MY job, Y/N. I probably know better than you do,” he snapped, raising his voice and finally turning around. “This is what I’m fighting for, we all are. Do you know what’s at stake here? I finally have the chance to compete for a championship, and I just blew it.”

To say you were astonished was an understatement; this was the first time he ever snapped at you that way and you didn’t know how to react. “I’m sorry, I just-”

“Every point counts, and not even starting in the top 10 tomorrow- fuck, not even top 15, there is not much I can do.” Now, he looked more mad at you than frustrated at himself, and that crushed you. “I came here to be alone for a bit, I was hoping you would at least respect that." You stayed silent, knowing a single sound would make you cry, and you didn’t want to piss him off more than he already was. “I know you are trying to help, but you are not, you can’t.”

You just stared at him, tears threatening to leave your eyes; he had never raised his voice at you in a heated moment, and it hurt like hell. You definitely should have stayed outside. 

He walked towards the door and stepped out of the room without uttering another word, leaving you alone to deal with your own feelings. 

As soon as the door was closed, you started crying. It was your own fault, really; you could always read him like a book, even today, and you knew better than to disturb him when you weren’t supposed to, but today for some reason you just couldn't keep your mouth shut. Idiot.

You tried to calm yourself down; the last thing Lando needed was to see you cry on top of his result, but it was harder than you expected. This being the first time an argument got so out of hand made you feel absolutely terrible, especially because it was your fault. Deep down, you knew he didn’t mean it, you knew it was his feelings talking, but that didn’t make it any less painful.

A few minutes went by and you could still hear the cars out on track, the mumbling of the team, and people constantly working out there, so you tried to use that as a distraction. Anything to take your mind off what just happened. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t help, but at least you ran out of tears, and now you were just staring at a blank wall, thinking how you could begin to apologise for earlier, if he would even give you the chance to. 

Truth is, you weren’t sure if bringing it up again would be a good idea; you wanted to apologise for disrupting his cooldown moment, but what if hearing that made him mad again? Or worse, what if you didn’t apologise and made the situation even bigger? Your spiralling made you lose track of time, and a knock on the door pulled you out of your thoughts. 

“The car is about to leave, Y/N, they are waiting for you,” you heard someone say on the other side of the door. You were at least hoping Lando would come and get you once it was time to go back to the hotel, but he didn’t.

“Thanks, I will be there in a minute,” you replied, grabbing your things and Lando’s before sprinting outside. 

The car ride was hell. Lando didn’t look at you the entire time; he was just staring at his phone, texting who knows who, his face as neutral as ever. It felt longer than it actually was, and when you finally got there, he just stepped out of the car and didn’t look back. You let out a sigh and followed him, leaving a prudent distance between the two of you. 

Once you were in the hotel room, you both started to get ready for bed, like you usually did, except this time, you didn’t acknowledge each other. 

That was until you were already on your side of the bed and he came out of the bathroom, taking the spot next to you and burying his face on his phone again. The entire time you were building up the courage to say something, anything, now that you decided that apologising was the right thing to do.

“Lando?” You called for him, but again, he just hummed in response. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You were right, I shouldn’t have said anything, and I should have respected that you just wanted to be alone.”

That’s when it hit him. How could he get so mad at you for trying to make him feel better? 

He dropped his phone and turned to face you, and noticing your sad expression and teary eyes broke him. His eyes softened as guilt washed over him. Why were you apologising when he was the one who reacted like that? But as soon as you looked down at your hands to avoid eye contact and tears started falling down your face again, he felt even worse. 

“Y/N… Baby, I’m so sorry.” He got closer to you, softly taking your cheeks in his hands to get you to look at him. “Please don’t cry, I’m sorry I acted like a dick and raised my voice at you,” he stared, wiping your tears away, carefully thinking about what else he could say. 

You, on the other hand, didn’t know how to react. Your plan was to apologise and hopefully move on, but now that he was apologising, you didn’t know what to say; you didn’t want him to feel guilty, even though it was his fault you were in that position right now. If only he took a different approach. 

“It wasn’t your fault, okay? You were just trying to help, and I should have appreciated that, you know that I do, I just... I don’t know, there is no excuse for what I did.” But you were still silent and trying to avoid eye contact. “Baby, say something.” 

“Lando, you yelled at me.” You finally replied, your voice a bit muffled by your tears.

“I know, I shouldn’t have done that, and I promise I’ll never do it again.”

After a minute of silence, you just nodded, which made him let out a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

“Okay? I’m sorry, my love.” He pulled you into a hug, your head on his chest as he placed a soft kiss on your head. “I know I was a dick, and I really wish I was nicer about it.”

“It’s okay, I get it; you were frustrated with your result, and I should’ve known better than to interfere with what you were feeling.”

“No, it’s not okay. I was frustrated, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” Lando was rubbing your back softly, trying to bring you the comfort you tried to give him earlier. “I love you, and I can’t describe how much I appreciate everything you do for me; I know having to deal with my shit is not easy, so thank you.”

“It’s fine, I mean it.” You looked up at him, locking eyes finally in the entire day. “Just... don’t push me away, okay? And if you do need to be alone, just say it, and I promise I will listen next time.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

He gently placed a hand on your check, rubbing small circles before leaning in for a kiss, one both of you much needed. And with one final ‘I love you’, you feel asleep in his arms.

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Literally every driver at some point or another after a gruelling race in warm conditions: *sits on the ground and tries to cool down and recover somewhat before facing the media aka another gruelling task before they get to leave, looking absolutely shattered*

Everyone: aw my poor baby!!

Max: *does the same after a race that saw him literally overtake everyone outside of the top 3, some of whom twice*

People for some reason: BRAT HOW DARE HE BREATHE

[f0point5]

I actually like that petty bitchy side of Lando. I mean, If I gave up my second win for a teammate AND then he fucked up my next race, only for him to finish second, the same place he would be, if he didn’t attack me, I would probably be disabling that special someones breaks.

I know Lando sucks at starts and thats the root of the problem, but they keep pretending to be family and supportive in McLaren AND they actually aren’t.

Lando’s stayed with them even when everything was shit, even when he could have gone to better team. They expect loyalty, but don’t offer it back.

I read somewhere that when they are winning they’re doing it as a team, but when they are losing it’s just Lando. They are ready to win with him, but not ready to help him win. RBR/Merc/Ferrari would have never let what happen today go.

Remember when Charles ruined Sebs quali, they took away his next win? This is a team sport, but McLaren treat it like that only when it works for them.

I’m a firm believer Lando should have crushed with Oscar today, that would teach him to think twice next time. Baku, Max and DR style. Make McLaren choose.

Personally, I’m a fan only of being a bitch if you are that bitch with your whole chest. And Lando isn’t. He’s passive aggressive and he gets worried and backtracks. Just like in Hungary when he sat up front trying to prove Oscar couldn’t catch him, made the team talk him down off the ledge, and then let him past in the most embarrassing way possible for both of them. Because bitchy would have been to win the race anyway - follow through on who you want to be my guy.

McLaren pretending to be a family when Yak Brown would clearly sell his grandmother to be where Toto Wolff is is pretty hilarious. Especially when you look at the way McLaren as an organisation have been acting across other racing series.

But fundamentally, I think this all comes down to the fact that McLaren want to be keep the lineup they have. And frankly, I think the one they’re in danger of losing is Oscar. He’s younger, he can afford to be a second driver at Red Bull for a couple of years, for example. He has no brand loyalty, he didn’t grow up with McLaren and he is very detached from Zak and the papaya cult, whereas Zak has his claws in Lando deep. And Oscar has Mark Webber In his ear telling him that being a second driver is not an option. Lando can’t afford to leave McLaren now, he wouldn’t. So they can do what they want with him for at least the next couple of years in this current driver market. McLaren want a champion but they don’t care who it is - they don’t have to risk Oscar for it to be Lando when it could be either one of them next year.

I actually don’t go for teams playing this team game and treating their drivers like kids. I like the RB strategy of hire for the job that’s available, you’re either the superstar or the sidekick. I think that’s the best way a team works. Playing “sharing is caring” like kindergarten teachers is silly. You can do what McLaren are doing and say “oil rises to the top” but then you have to wait for it to separate itself out which is messy.

But I have to say this, helping your driver win a championship shouldn’t mean that in every race he needs help. Helping is what Checo did in Abu Dhabi. It’s not telling Oscar to sit behind Lando for 9 races to mitigate Lando’s mistakes. That’s not teamwork, and if a driver needs that much help then how do you justify them being the priority driver? For his part, Lando has said that he doesn’t expect to be handed positions by Oscar and that he’s here to race and I respect that. I think that’s the right attitude, especially when you’re the reason you’re behind him in the first place.

Yes, Lando could have crashed with Oscar to teach him a lesson…a lot of drivers would have. But a Lando that would have crashed with Oscar is also a Lando that wouldn’t have let Oscar last in Hungary. I think that’s a Lando that doesn’t exist. If that Lando did exist I think the situation at McLaren would be very different.

[ilprinciperosso]

So, if you don’t live in Italy you probably have ever been exposed to the old conservative part of it… which, disgracefully exist in journalism too.

Using Charles’ losses in his life, comparing his loneliness to Carlos, that instead has his father figure next to him, to highlight how he must be broken is peak trash journalism. It’s using someone’s pain to get likes. (Terruzzi I’m looking at you).

Charles’ accident (that was deemed a racing accident by everyone) must be a sign of weakness, of crumbling under pressure of unbearable suffering… it’s just a fucking racing incident! Stop psychoanalysing him

Carlos’ accident (that he was penalised for… the penalty was harsh because of the circumstances that it happened in, but it was fair. He made a mistake and took another driver out) is because he was fighting for a podium, his radio message is an admirable show of human emotion and his petty reaction when interviewed (is the same excuse I use when I want to get out of doing something "I’m not gonna talk cause I wouldn’t be polite") is a show of strong character.

I guess the journalists that are now criticising Charles haven’t been watching f1 for long and neither have they watched the last 3 races. In Bahrain he was doing an exceptional job and he had a dnf (not his fault). In Jeddah he was amazing in quali, but then had limited pace during the race (we’ll never know what he could have done starting 2nd). In Australia he had a shit quali (I’ve already talked about it, but basically Ferrari was Ferraring again) and he got caught in a racing incident on the first lap (could he have been more patient? Sure. Was it a driving mistake? Nope. Was he fucking unlucky? Yep, as usual)

I don’t know why we are going through a journalistic shitstorm again (the same way it happened with all the previous drivers in Ferrari), when the only focus should be on the car. Drivers will make mistakes, they’re human, but they’ll for sure perform better if they don’t have to fight against a mediocre excuse of a car.

I don’t know what’s in the "driver macho figure" that is so loved by Italian journalists… I don’t get why a driver needs to be rude or get angry to be respected… I don’t know why having your father as your manager should be seen as a merit, especially when the same father has been known to try and meddle with the dynamics within the team…

I’m gonna stick with the driver I support… who is always kind and polite, who will blame himself first instead of finding hundreds of different excuses, who (for the ones forgetting about it) has stuck with Ferrari in some of the worst years (performance wise) and has always been amazing. Please, use your brain before saying Charles is washed up a Carlos is our only hope. Right now in Ferrari we don’t need any kind of political shitstorm, we don’t even need a first driver! We need people to work on the car and to let drivers drive.

[f1-birb]

if the redditor dudebros are right, he made a mistake on his flying lap and then couldn't improve much after since the tires were already used. (which it did look like he went wide and kicked some gravel up at one point, i just couldn't tell because they were playing with graphics at the time so i didn't know if it was graphics appearing or gravel i saw). but that's at least something, i suppose.

they're half right

he did mess up on one of his quick laps, he was green through S1 and S2 and then ended up yellow in S3 because the rear seemed to kick and he went wide (not sure about the gravel, I don't remember seeing any dust kick up from it, but it was enough to fuck up his lap time a little)

he barely did any runs on the softs though, which is what a lot of people including Oscar did, Lando seemed to mostly run the hard tyres and also spent a lot of time doing continuous laps, and at one point was "tucked up under the rear wing of Alonso for a lap gathering information" (McLaren's words not mine lol)

McLaren really seem to be testing these upgrades and I'm sure they're taking full advantage of 3 practice sessions to do it in rather than just the one they had last week

we've also got to remember that practice sessions are an indication of how things are going but you can't directly compare the teams because everyone is on different set ups, fuel runs, some were doing a push-cool-push, some doing continuous or more representative of race pace laps, some were looking at possible quali run type laps

from what I saw the McLaren race pace laps were looking kinda nice but we'll have to see what they do in FP3 tomorrow and then obviously quali is all about pushing

I'm not upset or overly concerned is what I'm trying to say 😅

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 131/310

2014 Malaysian GP

Oh so it's been a dramatic weekend it seems. The weather was so bad qualifying was delayed and there's still a 70% chance of rain. Oh dear. But also that's when the Malaysian Airline flight 370 disappeared… there will be a minute of silence. 

(also soooo many gifs again so grateful tumblr upped their limit because otherwise it’d have been a mess)

Unfortunately, skysports has now decided to hire fucking Bruno Senna as a consultant, which doesn't really add anything to the broadcast.

Quali report. So it was delayed for no less than 50 minutes. You can imagine the absolute downpour it was. Q1 began and immediately, Seb was called in because of an issue. He was still able to go back out and make it into Q2, during which Alonso ran into Kvyat. Alonso had to box, but he was out again only 8 minutes later and into Q3. The Williams struggled about equally on inters and wets. In Q3, wets were still required. Lewis set the first fastest lap but only 0.05 ahead of Seb. Then he made a mistake on his final lap, giving Seb an opportunity he couldn't take, as he was too late to go for a last lap. Rosberg was able to make it past the line in time and qualified in 3rd ahead of Alonso. So that's Lewis on pole again!

Lewis drove a V8 (?). He talks about it with utter excitement. He calls it aggressive, a beast, and violent. He says he missed it. He went to his first GP in 1996, that's what really got him. The vibration he felt in his heart. He says he's in a good place this year, he's happy in the team. Of course disappointed he had to retire in the first race, he wishes people could see how he felt in his heart at that time but on the surface you have to have a thick skin and turn that negativity into positivity. He says he doesn't know what to expect this week because of the heat. It's going to be hard on the tyres and hard on the drivers. He's happy to see all the work the team put in and to see the team grow. He's proud to be a part of it, he hopes he can bring them some results. He's never won in Malaysia.

In the drivers parade, he's grateful for the work the team has done to enable him to get pole but he wants to win, he wants the points. He came here for 8 years but never won there. He got pole a couple of times but he was unfortunate. And he wants to get racing and try and get miles behind himself and see what the fuel saving is all about etc.

Apparently the drivers are still massively struggling to manage the new cars.

Oh wait what?! Daniel got disqualified back in Australia?! An issue with fuel flow??? He was P2 poor boy. Apparently his car was exceeding the authorised fuel flow rate, and the FIA could see that from a live readout. The FIA told the Redbull pitwall and said that if they slowed Daniel down to be within the limits, it would be fine and they wouldn't talk about it further. For some reason, they refused?! How fucking stupid? Oh so the reason was the RBR decided that it must have been because the FIA's sensor was faulty, and they refused to fuck up Daniel's race by abiding. Daniel would have finished P5, which is still great points. RBR said their data would prove everything was legal. They also said (Ted says "Redbull's other excuse is") that "strictly speaking" the tech reg don't refer to how the FIA sensor is used. It's only explained in a TD which they claim isn't an enforceable rule. Now they're battling for Daniel to be reinstated. Horner says they will be able to show that they didn't exceed the legal fuel flow but whatever happens what matters is to find a better way to measure it anyway. The court of appeal will hear the case two weeks after this GP. So I'll update you in a future review. (I’m not sure I did update in a further review in the end so as I’m posting this let me clarify that RBR’s appeal was dismissed and the disqualification maintained. RBR was also at the time investigated for an unauthorised method of measuring the fuel flow.)

For some reason we get a second quali report.

We now see Lewis explaining his pole lap. First he joins Brundle under the downpour and makes him move to get to the side of the screen that's less exposed to the rain.

They laugh about it.

He also jokes about Brundle's make up from the last time they did this. He seems so happy and relaxed, honestly I love it, he feels so light compared to some other seasons. I hope it stays this way (I know it won't) (added note now that I’ve watched the whole season : yeah it fucking doesn’t). Lewis is now ahead of Nigel Mansell as top scoring Englishman for pole positions and tied with Jim Clark for the record.

He says it's incredible but he has some catching up to do when it comes to the wins. He critiques himself throughout his lap. He didn't think he was on pole. He wasn't giving 110% on it. It wasn't supposed to be THE lap in his quali. He was gutted when he was told he couldn't do another lap after his mistake in the next one, he thought he'd fucked it up.

Brundle asks about his instinct when it comes to choosing braking points, as you don't know how much grip you're gonna get. He says "it's crazy, yeah I mean, I don't know, I guess that's just where the talent comes in, you know, it's all instinct." And lap by lap you learn. If you lock up then you brake earlier. But you do it by the feeling. He says again he really wanna race. Nico had more chances to do long runs during testing for some reason I don't know about and he didn't finish the race in Australia. Lewis says he has about 3 or 4 race distances on him. He's really eager to finally get one done and see how much you can push in the different stints, how much fuel you need to use and not use and everything.

Formation lap

And they're racing!

Good start from Rosberg but Lewis covers him as Seb joins the fight. Daniel gets ahead of Alonso. Rosberg struggles with grip! He almost lost it. Lewis is ahead already, the pressure is on Nico who had to defend aggressively against the two Redbulls. There's contact at the back. It's Bianchi and Maldonado. At the end of the first lap, Lewis is 2 seconds ahead of Rosberg, then it's actually Daniel in front of Seb, Alonso is 5th, Hulkenberg overtook Raikkonen for 6th, Magnussen in 8th ahead of his team-mate Jenson, and Massa completes the top 10.

Alonso is under attack from Hulkenberg and Magnussen overtakes Raikkonen. There was contact though and Raikkonen has a puncture. He falls back, he's far away from the pits. Bianchi pits after his own incident. The Redbulls are racing each other. The McLarens as well, Jenson overtakes Magnussen. Perez seems to have DNFd at some point? Raikkonen is finally in. Massa overtakes Magnussen, and Seb overtakes Daniel. But Magnussen gets back at Massa! And Bottas is also close. Bono tells Lewis Nico is struggling with the rear tyres and to look after them. But he's flying ahead. 5 laps in, he's 4 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Then it's now Seb ahead of Daniel, Alonso is still 5th, it's Hulkenberg in 6th, followed by Jenson now ahead of Magnussen, Massa up in 9th and it's Bottas in 10th.

Magnussen is seriously struggling after his contact with Raikkonen though, there's a train behind him. Lewis sets the fastest lap. He's in his happy place clearly lol, I really needed to see that. I missed it. Bianchi gets a 5 second stop and go penalty for the contact with Maldonado. Massa on the radio. I think he says : "did you see what he did?! He passed me!" He's angry. Bottas is told to not attack Massa, not be aggressive to Massa, "we need to let him go through Magnussen and then we'll just follow through." Valtteri answers, completely stolid : "well tell him to go through." Love it. Maldonado is told he needs to retire.

That's 10 laps. Magnussen is called in. The pit stops are gonna start. Lewis is 5.7 seconds clear of Rosberg. Then it's still Seb, Daniel, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Jenson now ahead of Massa as Magnussen pitted (they're changing his damaged nose), Bottas obediently behind him, and it's then Kvyat in P10. And Magnussen now also gets a 5 seconds stop and go penalty. He could've served it during that stop, so that's not good. Alonso pits. Bono : "So Lewis, two tenths faster last lap, we're just waiting for the window to open." Daniel pits. They're trying to undercut Seb? Oh he comes out very VERY close to Alonso, who gets ahead but Daniel overtakes him in the next corner, Alonso defends, it's heated, a bit clumsy, flirting with the limits of the track, but Ricciardo is ahead. Seb is called in, of course. Let's see! Jenson also in… but Seb is still ahead of his team-mate! They both overtake Bottas. Rosberg is called in. Alonso attacks Bottas and gets ahead. Bono tells Lewis he's good on fuel and needs to push. "It won't be long!" he concludes, almost singsongy. Then he calls him in. We get a graphic showing us the % of fuel used, and Lewis has used less than most of the current top 10 except from Valtteri, Kobayashi and Massa, who are not threats for the podium as far as I know. Lewis pits. It's a good one. He's now P2 but still virtually in the lead, 8 seconds ahead of Rosberg. We see Toto winking to the camera and smiling.

And Lewis attacks Hulkenberg for the actual lead. And overtakes him with perfect ease. Hulkenberg then pits. Daniel's engineer tells him he suggests dropping back a little more to save the tyres, "aim for 2 seconds to Vettel." But Daniel answers that those behind him are getting closer, if I understand correctly? Then he says "if something goes on I wanna be a part of it." The engineer says understood.

Oh L. M. A. O. They ask Horner if Daniel's fuel flow sensor is working and he says "I'm afraid it's dead, so… yeah no, it's failed." Crofty says "so what do you do now?" and he says they're following the FIA's advice now. (Remember that Daniel got disqualified after the first GP and Horner was claiming that the FIA’s sensor was faulty and that they would prove their fuel flow was good etc.)

Then on lap 20, Daniel's engineer tells him about settings that are better for energy savings. Rosberg's engineer says they want to increase the gap to Seb and then they can go into fuel saving strategy. He picks up the pace. An engineer, not Bono I think, tells Lewis that they're gonna turn something down a little bit (can't understand what) and specifies a setting he has to use. He adds "that's for both cars". We see the % of fuel used again. Lewis' still lower than most of the top 10, except Massa and Bottas. Their cars seem quite efficient. Rosberg widened the gap to Seb by 1 second. His engineer wants him 1.5 seconds further though. Lewis is now lapping people left and right. Pit stops, pit stops. Alonso pitted which triggered Daniel's pit which is gonna trigger Seb's and Rosberg's surely?

On lap 30, Rosberg's engineer says there's rain in the area but it's not imminent. Bono explains the same thing to Lewis. Possible rain towards the end of the race. Seb pits. Lewis is told to try and stretch this stint as long as he can in case it rains. I'm getting nervous. Rosberg pits. Lewis is called in at the end of the lap, so he actually didn't stretch that stint much. It's not a great stop but it's okay. He's still in the lead so whatever lol. It's Hulkenberg P2 at the moment, but 8 seconds away and only because he hasn't pitted yet. Oop. Sutil is parked on the track in his Sauber. Raikkonen says it's raining a little bit on some parts of the circuit. Daniel is told to hit the beeps? But fuel is okay just hit the beeps? Oh. Crofty explains the drivers are getting beeps in their helmets to tell them when to start to lift and coast I guess

So Ted explains that it's the FIA sensor that failed and they're now running a prearranged backup, pre-made calculation that they agreed on with the FIA and that's the beeps. Complicated.

In the midst of this explanation, Bono says there's light rain on the back of the track on the radar, nothing to worry about, but Lewis should keep them updated. Oh. Seb says Rosberg looks like he's been losing either oil or water for a couple of laps. His engineer says it's raining on some parts of the circuit and maybe that's what he's seen? Which seems like. I mean. Surely Seb would be able to tell if that's what it was?

It's lap 40. Seb is closing little by little on Rosberg. Oh. Ricciardo pits. It's a bit of a struggle. They tell him to stop immediately. In the pitlane. The front left is not on properly. He's shaking his head. They sprint to him, roll him back in the box. He's losing insane amounts of time. The poor mechanic is drilling but it's still not good. They hoist him back up. Then down. He doesn't leave immediately. It's absolutely catastrophic. He's still shaking his head as he leaves the pitlane. Alonso pits. OH! And now Daniel is seen with a crooked front wing touching the ground! What happened? How did it go to shit THAT much? He asks what he should do. They say the pressure still looks okay but if he thinks there's a puncture he should come in. He says it's a big cut. There's indeed a long black line all around his tyre, right in the middle of it, caused by the front wing rubbing against it I believe. He lost a bit of his front wing now. We don't quite understand what happened. Did they damage it in the pit stop? He pits. He goes again. Mercedes says there's nothing in the telemetry suggesting Rosberg is losing any type of liquid as Seb claims. And of course, Daniel gets a 10 second stop and go penalty for unsafe release. When it rains it pours.

There's 10 laps to go. Jenson and Massa are racing beautifully over P6. Jenson wins. It's lap 50. Seb is called in. Rosberg is called in. Lewis is called in. 5 laps to go. Ricciardo retires. His body language is very defeated, unsurprisingly. Drama at Williams again. To Massa : "Okay Felipe, Valtteri is faster than you, do not hold him up." To Bottas : "you're faster than Massa, overtake him." Alonso overtakes Hulkenberg for P4, then loses it, then gets it back, then loses it again, and then gets it again. Meanwhile, Massa is not letting Bottas through. 3 laps to go. To Massa : "okay Felipe Valtteri has got better tyres we need to let him go, don't hold him up." Brundle points out Massa's are only 2 laps older. 2 laps to go. Ted says a lot of different voices over the radio talking to Massa, now arguing they have to cool the car down. All the journalists agree that Massa has been a second driver for most of his career and it's understandable he doesn't want to fold. Bono tells Lewis he's the fastest man on track, "we can back the pace up a little bit, just look after the car". "Okay man, I hear you" he answers. Massa and Bottas are really close now. It's the final lap. Valtteri attacks but can't do it. Bono : "Okay Lewis you're on your final lap, final lap, take no risks." This team is STRESSED.

But it's the end of the race!

And Lewis wins! It's a Mercedes 1-2, and Seb is third. Massa ended up ahead of Bottas, in 7th.

"Awesome race Lewis, awesome race!" says Bono with his shaky voice. "Faultless weekend! You've done the job there, pal."

"Rrreally grateful for the job guys!" Lewis answers. "Thank you so much!"

Lewis hugs the whole team, he hugs Nico, Lauda hugs the pit wall, they're all so happy. So happy!

(you could say things about their body language there though)

In the cool down room, he hugs Shov, and again Nico, and he shakes Seb's hand.

Seb asks how many laps he did on his first stint but he doesn't remember. Seb and Nico speak in German then lol. Not very nice to Lewis. 

Lewis is super happy on the podium which is great to see. (Also again his hair looks better than in 2013.)

He keeps pointing at people in the crowd and giving them thumbs up during the anthems lol he's not focused.

Of course Shov gets drowned in champagne, Seb sprays the podium girls which… mh. They drink. They get blinded by the spray. They take the photo.

It's all great. They get ready to leave but they forgot there's an interview happening

For some reason it's Benedict Cumberbatch interviewing them??? Lewis is elated. He's grateful, he dedicates the win to the victims of the flight 370 and their families. Nico is juggling with his mic.

Lewis says everything was spot on from the team, all the info they gave him was perfect.

That makes it Lewis' 23rd win. He's now ahead of Damon Hill which seems to be the natural order of things to me tbh.

In the media pen, Lewis is all smiles.

He jokes around with Pinkham. He's very happy, it's been a fantastic weekend, the team is doing a great job. They're very happy about the 1-2. And it's his step mom Linda's birthday the next day so he also wants to dedicate it to her.

He wasn't too worried about the rain. First of all it happens every time they race here, you can always see a black cloud coming. He would have prayed for it to stay away another year but this time he was calm about it, he was ahead, with a good gap, he had qualified first in the wet. Natalie asks if that's the car for the whole year, can it cope in any climate. He says he hopes so.

The car was fantastic in the most difficult of climates, they have to keep on pushing. She says it's also his 100th points finish. Really? he asks.

He thinks about it for half a second. "I don't wanna hear about that kind of stuff," he says with a huge smile. "Because it means I'm getting old! I've been here for a long time!" He laughs.

Last few things : Daniel was handed a 10-place grid penalty for the unsafe release. Magnussen, Bianchi and Bottas all received 2 penalty points (Valtteri because he impeded Ricciardo in quali). 

[sainztander]

you don't think charles' performance has visibly declined ever since the summer break? he made very silly mistakes in spa singapore and suzuka which cost him P5 P1 and P2 respectively and he always seems to have way more troubles with struggling to find a comfortable setup in fp's compared to carlos for example..he's not as good in qualifying either anymore and I've seen way too many people say he might have been more affected after france than he let on and cracking under the pressure which I didn't believe at first but now I'm not so sure

i honestly don't think so? charles has always very much been an overachiever and i love him for that, it's what makes him such a great driver. but that's also where most of his mistakes come from. but it's nothing new, really. sometimes he pushes on the other side of too hard, and he pays for it: he lost the car in imola and went from p3 to p6, he spun in q3 in silverstone and lost the pole, he crashed on his own in france...

i absolutely do not mean he's prone to mistakes or whatever, i repeat, he's a grear driver, but this has been pretty much the story of his season (since we're only talking about 2022). imo, his results after the summer are due to a mix of rb18 widening the gap and some strategy mistakes. but still, i don't see anything tragically bad from him there? in spa he qualified badly thanks to the team putting him on the wrong tyres (but had a penalty anyways so who cares) and then fucked up his race trying to get fastest lap, in zandvoort he qualified p2 (just 2 cents of a second behind max) and finished p3, in monza he qualified p1 and finished p2 because of a bit of bad luck with the vsc (even tho i think he would have finished there regardless), in singapore he got pole again and lost it because checo started better than him (and still drove a very good race imo), in suzuka he started from p2 (a cent from p1) and finished in p3 after a mistake he made at the very end of the race, on intermediate tyres that very much became slicks lmao. he did fine imo, considering the circumstances. he said it himself that he knew the championship was over when he saw the pace of the rb18 in spa.

about the set-ups i agree, but still, it's nothing new. he always admitted that it's not his strong point. he pretty much tries to get anything that will make him quicker, which is what makes the difference between his quali performance and his race pace. in quali it's better to have a more "extreme" setting, but in the race it does not work as well. but anyway, it's never that dramatic, really. yes, he struggles on fridays sometimes. who cares? when he does bad he still gets a p3 in quali, so...

yeah, about france, i don't really like all the narrative people have been building around it. he made a mistake, he admitted it, everyone knows it. that's it. now people try to twist that saying it was like "seb's hockenheim 2018" all over again which is like. the stupidest and cheapest take ever. not only bc it's factually wrong (since right afterwards seb got a p2 and a p1) but it's just.... a forced angsty take meant to make charles look like a poor woe victim of his destiny which. lmao. truly the worst thing you could do to a driver you're supposed to support.

charles is a very strong person, he showed it just these last races when fighting till the very end against a much quicker car. i think he can be a bit too hard on himself, but france was months ago, he very much made peace with it. and let's not forget that he's also very young. this year it's been the first time he ever fought for a championship. it's not surprising at all he made more mistakes than his rival who's already won a wdc (and not just any championship, but one of the most intense fight in recent years). he will have a lot more chances to grow and get better and develop his full potential.

[imthebadguyyy]

Hi. This is mine request

Y/n is a teammate of max verstappen, they are in a relationship, y/n crashes and max is worried about her, and he is gonna visit her in the hospital, and when she is released he takes care of her, with a lott of fluff thanks

You Scared Me To Death !

Pairing - Max Verstappen x Reader

Fandom - F1

Summary - When you get hurt, Max realizes just how much you mean to him.

Warnings - mentions of injury, fire, explosion, violence, angst, crash details.

75 laps. That's all that you had to do. Drive for 75 laps. The Bahrain Grand Prix had always been one of your favourite races of the year, and you were so excited. But that excitement had soon ebbed away, after you had missed qualifying because your car wasn't ready for the quali session. The RedBull mechanics had apologised and you had brushed them off, buy you would be lying if you said you weren't angry. It hadn't helped when your teammate and boyfriend Max qualified P1, beating the Mercedes by mere tenths of a second. You had swallowed your hurt and congratulated Max, forcing yourself to feel happy for him.

All it had done was made you determined to win the race tomorrow, even if you had to fight 19 other drivers to do so. Starting P20 on the grid sucked big time, but as Martin Brundle said, "If anyone can fight back from the back of the grid to the podium places, its Y/N L/N" and you had done it before, at the German GP the previous year, fighting back from P19 to P3, winning Driver of The Day as well.

But this race was different. There was a building intensity in the air, you felt it in the air around you. You felt tense and nervous, and you were never nervous. It scared you, but you were going to be damned if you let it show on your face. In your drivers room, you paced back and forth, trying desperately to stop your hands from shaking. Was this what anxiety felt like? you wondered, shaking your head as your heart started hammering against your chest. Far to consumed in your own panicked thoughts, you didn't see your boyfriend walk up to your door, and open it to walk inside.

Max walked into your room, expecting to see you vibing to some R&B music, or something by Rihanna. But you weren't. You were pacing, your brow furrowed and he could see the irregular rise and fall of your chest. He walked up behind you silently, before wrapping his arms around your waist, like he normally did. What he wasn't expecting was your reaction. Usually, you would giggle and let your head fall onto his shoulder, and he would kiss your neck and you two would share a moment. But not this time. This time, you jumped, and nearly fell over onto your bed. "Woah schtaje ! It's just me' he said, eyes softening in concern. "I'm sorry I didn't see you and I shouldn't have jumped, I'm sorry I'm just so klutzy today and I'm also so nervous I-" your nervous rambling was cut off by a pair of warm lip pressing onto your own, as Max's hands cupped your face, instantly calming down your nerves.

You stayed like that for a moment, before pulling away softly, and letting him press his forehead down to yours, fingers gently tracing patterns on your hip. "Why are you nervous mijn geliefde ?" he asked, as he moved his lips to your neck, pressing little kisses along the sensitive skin. "I don't know" you confessed, tilting your head back to give him more access to the expanse of skin, while he stopped at a pulse point to suck at the soft skin, earning. soft moan from you. "Then stop stressing" he mumbled against your neck, word muffling against your skin. "I can't" you replied, struggling to keep the lump in your throat fro growing. "Well," Max said, biting down onto your neck and licking the spot to soothe it, 'Let me help you calm down"

--------------------------------

20 seconds to lights out.

Your heart was thumping so hard against your chest. God, were your hands always so clammy? Was the car always so stuffy ? Was the space always so confined? Was your helmet always that tight?

Your thoughts were muddled. You knew your goal. It was simple. Get to the podium. Except, right now, that goal seemed somewhat impossible. Before you knew, the first red light was flashing, and then the second, and the third and the fourth and the fifth, and then it was 'lights out and away we go!' you sped off, immediately overtaking Magnussen in the car ahead of you. Then, you overtook one of the Williams, but you could feel your breath wavering, and your heart threatening just burst out of your chest. And before you knew it, you were overtaking Giovinazzi in his Alfa Romeo, and the sight of Grosjean's Haas came into view, "And it looks like L/N has already taken over 4 places, making her P16, and we are on lap 2 of 75! It looks like we're going to see her on the podium after, all, but all we can do is wait and see- and oh! that's a terrible, terrible crash!"

It happened so fast. One moment, you were going round the outside of the Haas, and the next the back of the Haas was hitting your front, sending you crashing into one of the barriers, your car spinning a full 360 in the process. The impact as you crashed into the barriers was so intense, you felt yourself blackout for a few seconds.

"That was a horrible crash, between, the RedBull of Y/N L/N and the Haas, I believe of Romain Grosjean. This race has been red flagged and -oh no!' The cry summed it up. Your car had just burst into flames.

------------------------------------

In P1, Max was unaware of the chaos at the back, until he looked in his rear mirrors to see something enveloping into a ball of fire. "Holy shit, whose car is that?" he asked, watching as the flames grew higher. "Um.. Max, I need you to stay calm, but its Y/N" "Are you fucking serious?!" his angry voice burst through his race engineer's headphones, making him flinch. "Is she okay?! Tell me she's okay, damn it!' "Max, I need you to come into the pit lane. We have no information on her yet. Come into the pit lane"

As the 18 other cars came into the pitman, everyone knew better than to park in the way of an anxious Max Verstappen. He jumped out of the car, running to the garage upto Christian, who was watching the screen with his eyebrow furrowed. "Is she alright? Tell me she got out?! Did she get out?!" he was practically spitting the words out, and his engineer and his trainer had to physically restrain him from going to shake Christian. "She hasn't got out yet Max, but the fire Marshalls and the medical guys are there-" "What do you mean she hasn't got out? verdomme, blijf hier niet zitten! doe iets!!"

As his race engineer manoeuvred him to his chair, he yelled at whoever was around, eyes desperately searching to screen for some sign that you were still alive. Outside the RedBull garage, the other drivers were pooling around the garage for some sign that Y/N was okay. The panic had been evident in all their radios.

Charles - "Fuck, fuck, fuck, who was that? Y/N?! Tell me she's okay!"

Carlos - "Joder, ¿quién era ese?" I just saw the car go into flames, tell me they got out okay.

Lewis - oh shit, that was a big crash, fucking hell, is she okay?

Checo- oh no, that was a big one, I hope everyone is okay!

---------------------------------

Back in the car, you felt dazed. Since when was the track this hot, and since when when was your car red ? Were you driving for Ferrari ? No, you drove for RedBull, alongside Max. Your boyfriend Max. Why wasn't he here?

And why did you feel like you were sitting in a sauna? As you begain to regain your consciousness, you felt a searing pain on your hands, and finally clearing the fogginess of your mind, you became fully aware of what was happening. This was your RedBull car. But it was on fire. Almost instantly, your body went into survival mode, ripping the half burnt straps holding your body down, and forcing your limbs to stand up. Looking down you could see your racing gloves glow before they seemed to disintegrate into black dust before your eyes, the flames licking your hands. A scream started in your chest, only to be jammed in your throat, as you opened your mouth to gasp. Big mistake.

The smoke filled your mouth and lungs, and you choked, clawing at your race suit, begging some higher power to help you. Finally, using some courage and adrenaline you didn't know you had, you pulled your body up, bare hands coming in contact with searing hot metal, as your eyes filled with tears of pain. As you jumped out of the car, you became vaguely aware of 3 or 4 people signaling and screaming at you. Too exhausted to even think, you used whatever remaining adrenaline you had to stumble to the barrier and collapse into the first pair of arms.

"Can you hear me? Are you okay? Can you tell me if you're hurt?" The questions were hurled at you from all directions, but you couldn't speak. The head marshall walked up, bracing your body, and checking for injuries. In a hurried voice he asked for the stretcher, but you shook your head. The exhaustion was setting in but you knew you had to let the others know you were okay. But he insisted, and you found yourself sitting on the stretcher instead of lying down, as a medic gently removed your helmet and peeled off the remaining burnt glove, and pressed some ice gently against your burn. Mustering up your remaining strength, you turned to one of the broadcasting cameras and flashed them a tight smile and a thumbs up.

"And as you can see, she has managed to get out of the wreckage, by God's miracle. Thank God she's walked away from that, but how, I cannot comprehend! She went barelling into the barrier and burst into flames and she walked out alive! And I can hear the cheers of the RedBull team, and I think her race engineer is in tears. I can't begin to imagine how Max Verstappen must be feeling"

------------

Max Verstappen wasn't sure how he was feeling either. He had felt fear, anger, anxiety, more fear, devastation and dread in the longest 15 minutes of his life. But you were alive. And he felt like breaking down, but he had to be strong for you. He watched your tired form on the screen, feeling giddy with relief, and ignoring the others around him, he ran to the medical hospitality center. No one stopped him.

As the white building came into sight, he heaved a sigh of relief as Michael Masi appeared in front of the cameras to give the anxious fans an update. "Y/N is alright. She's currently in recovery, and I can inform you that she is okay. She has minor burns on her hands, and is exhausted, but she will be okay. 2 weeks healing time for the burns, and some proper rest should be fine for her. That's all I know, and I would ask the media, press, social media fans, and others to give her the time she needs to cope and recover. What she has been through is traumatizing and I hope you will respect her privacy at this time. Thank you"

Seeing his hesitation, the nurse turned to the driver, "It's okay. She's fine now. She's on some painkillers and I've cleaned her burns and dressed them. She will be fine, and you can hug her or whatever you want, she won't be hurt. I've kept some painkillers on the table, she should take some again in 2 hours or so" All Max could do was nod, suddenly feeling a lump grow in his throat. With a smile in your direction, the nurse walked out of the room, leaving you alone with Max.

Max turned to nod at the race director, before hurrying through the brown door that led to the medical room you were in. When he walked in, his entire body relaxed. You were alive and safe. Seeing you sitting up in bed, a bottle of water by your side as a nurse wrapped your burnt hand in a white bandage. Looking, your tired eyes met his blue ones, as a tired smile made his way to your face. "Y/N",he said breathily, "Thank God you're alive" he said, practically running over to you, but he stopped himself from hugging, unsure of if it would hurt you.

"Hey baby". All it took was two words for him to rush towards you, gently wrapping his arms around your form, burying his head in the crook of your neck, as a gasping sob left his mouth, and you could have sworn you felt your heart shatter. "I'm okay baby, I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm okay" your mantra of "I'm okay" was soothing, as he sobbed into your shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you, you scared me to death!" "I know my love but I'm here and I'm okay" "I thought you were gone. When I saw the flames behind me I didn't even know it was you in the car. When they told me it was you I swear my fucking heart stopped, and all I could do was pray to whatever higher power exists to save you, because I'm nothing without you. If you hadn't made it, I wouldn't survive. You make me better, you help me love, and you let me heal. I love you, and I never, ever want to see you in a situation like that again"

"I love you too" you said, your eyes filling with tears as you listened to him speak. "I love you too" you repeated, gently lifting his chin so his eyes could meet yours, his tear stained cheeks and red eyes breaking your heart, as you tilted your lips to meet his. He returned the kiss with desperation, he needed even more proof that you were alive, and feeling your lips on his were a reminder that you were alive and weren't going anywhere. He kissed you with fervour, hands moving to your hair, one cupping your cheek as his thumb traced your cheekbone, your hands clutching his broad chest.

"Ouch" the soft cry made you two break apart, as you rubbed your stinging hands. "Did I hurt you?" He said, his eyes filling with worry. "No its just the burn. It'll be fine" you replied, shifting in your bed and patting the spot next to you. After a moments hesitation, he climbed in, raising the sterile white sheet and tucking the both of you in. You snuggled up to him, arms wrapping around him as you rested your head on his chest. He rested his chin on your head, one hand running through your hair, the other keeping you stable on his chest. Within seconds, you were asleep.

Looking down at your sleeping form, his eyes lingered on the white bandage covering your burn, his eyes filling again as it stood out against your skin. He hated it. It was a reminder that you had nearly died. He had nearly lost you. His train of thought was cut off by his phone ringing, his mum's caller ID flashing across the screen.

"Hi mum" "Is she okay?" His greeting was pushed aside, his mom far too concerned about Y/N. "Yes she's alright now. She's sleeping now, Yeah I'm with her now" "Y/N's mom is with me too, I'll let her know she's okay" "Thanks mum" "Don't forget to rest as well Max" his mum said, knowing full well that her son would forget about taking care of himself when it came to his love. "I will"

And he cut the line. He looked down at you one more time, pressing his lips to your forehead, and swearing to himself that he would protect you for all his life. He let his eyes close, the exhaustion finally getting to him, all his adrenaline and energy draining out his body, and finally content that you were going to be okay, he let his eyes close.

You were going to be okay.

[smoooothoperator]

Stronger(Lando Norris)

a/n: a little Sochi GP imagine... just to get it put of the heart. If you want more imagine like this let me know

The week started nice, a little bit rainy, but nice. We arrived at the airport early, so he bought us two coffees while we waited for the plane and the rest of the crew.

"Are you nervous?" Inasked him looking how his leg started to bounce while we were sitting. "Why do you think so?". "Lando, please. I know you". He sighed and looked at the floor, bitting his lip and then looking at me. "There's a lot of rain in Sochi. I used to be exited with rainy races, even the fans loved them. But... since Spa...". "You are afraid after the crash". He nodded with his head and looked again at the floor. "Hey, it's alright. Now the FIA knows what to do, I hope so. But don't be worried"

That was the start of the race week. He was worried. I was worried. Everybody were worried. When we arrived at the hotel the first thing I did was stare out of the window, looking the rain drops making their own race to see which one arrive at the bottom of the glass first. Lando lid on out bed, looking at the ceiling and sighing nervous.

"It's going to be the best race week. I swear it" I whispered, looking at him and walking near the bed and sitting on it, putting my hand on Lando's chest. He took my hand and squeezed it, sighing and then looking at me. "Come on, love. You have to go to the track"

He stood up and packed his backpack with his and mine things and grabbed my hand walking out of the room. We greeted everyone who wavef to us and stepped into the rented car, driving to the Sochi Autodrom. Kym saw us and took some photos of us arriving to the paddock, with our hands intertwined and smiling to each other. Charlotte and Jon saw us walking into the McLaren motorhome and they hugged me.

"He is a little nervous, I'll try my best to keep him calm, but I don't promise if it will work" I whispered into their ears.

Lando attended to the meeting with his engineers and mechanics and he did some interviews with Daniel. The first day was relaxed, nothing to worried about.

But the next days were a rollercoaster. The morning started with Lando looking at the street through the window, biting his lips at the sight of the rain. The practices were nice, he didn't complained about the rain or the wet track.

He was doing fine.

And then on Saturday, when they announced that the practice of the morning was cancelled he lost his mind. He closed himself of his driver room, meditating and calming himself by his own.

"Don't worry, Y/N. I think he will have a nice qualifying" Jon said when he saw that I was looking at the door of Lando's room.

Then he opened the door and walked to me, hugging me and kissing my lips with a smile.

"Thank you for being here" he whispered and then ran to the garage.

I watched the quali on the motorhome. I watched Lando getting the pole position. I watched how he opened the door and ran to me, wrapping his arms on my waist and pulling me into him. I laughed with him, celebrated his first pole and enjoyed watching his smile the whole day.

Then the race day came.

It started as well as expected. He woke me up hugging me and kissing my naked shoulder m, cuddled my a little while and woke up exited. The nerves of the previous days disappeared and were replaced by a permanent smile.

"You were right, darling. This is going to be the race of the season" he kissed my cheek before putting his helmet on and walked out of the garage.

I watched the race on his box, with Jon and Charlotte by my side. We exclaimed happy when he started to lead the race and fought to keep his position, when he got the fastest lap, when he leaded the race again.

But then the rain came back. At the start it was light, barely detectable. But then it was getting worse.

"Fuck" Jon groaned.

We saw the screen and they announced that all the drivers were changing their tyres. But when they said to Lando that he should change them...

"NO! SHUT UP!"

I jumped surprised by his scream. The garage was quiet, looking at the screens desperately. Charlotte and I grabbed our hands nervous, looking slowly how the mood on the box was getting worse.

And then he lost the control. He lost tho control of his car and slipped out of the track. I gasped, seeing how Hamilton took his position, watching how Lando tried to came to the pit lane, how his mechanics changed the tyres. Watching in complete silence how he crossed the finish line.

The garage at this moment was a scary place. No one was moving, talking or blinking. All of us were watching how he crossed the line the eighth.

"Oh my god, Lando"

He stayed some minutes on the car, we saw it. He didn't want to get out of.it, even this engineer reminded him of turning it off. George came to check on him, and I thanked him mentally. He got put of his car and ran with his helmet still on his head to congratulate Hamilton, hugging him without saying anything.

"I'll go see how he is" I whispered.

Charlotte nodded speechless

I waled through the paddock trying to contain my tears, feeling my breath getting heavier, and walked into the building. Everyone there were quiet, and when I saw Steve looking at the screen of his camera I walked near him.

"Where is Lando?". "He... he closed himself on his room. I tried to speak with him but he was quiet all the way here. Go talk to him, Y/N, you are the oy one that can do something".

I nodded and walked uo the stairs, standing in front of his door and knocking at it with hesitation. I didn't hear nothing from inside, so I opened the door slowly and look for him. He was standing there, in the middle of the room with his helmet on his head.

"Oh, my love" I sighed walking to him, but he took a step back. "I don't want you to see me like this" he whispered with shaky voice.

I bite my lip and placed my hands on his helmet, searching for his eyes. I know he cried. And he had the rights to do it. I kissed his helmet and pulled it off of his head slowly. His hair was a mess and his eyes were red.

"Baby" I sighed and put my hand on his cheek, tracing the line the helped left there. His closed his eyes hard, trying to erase the tears that are trying to escape. "You can do it, baby. I am here"

That was what he needed. He wrapped his arms around me and hide his face on my neck, and immediately his body started to shake with sobs. I walked slowly back and he followed me without letting me go, and lied on his bed.

"It's ok, it's ok. I got you"

He continued crying on my neck and I had to bit hard my lips to not cry. The door opened slowly and Charlotte's head appeared, but when she saw Lando curled against me and his body shaking with silent sobs, she smiled and closed it again.

"It hurts so much". "I know, honey. But your time will come. And soon. You were made to be a champion. What happened today was a demonstration that you can keep Hamilton looking at your ass for a long time"

I tried my best to make him smile. And he did it. I felt his lips smiling on my skin.

"Just be patient. Keep training. Keep fighting. What you did today was a mistake. But everyone does mistakes. Schumacher, Senna, Hamilton... but they learned from them. What you learned from today is that you have to trust your engineers, listen to your team. They do the best for you, they want you to win. And I hope you apologized to then because you screamed to them". "I did before coming here". "Good. Now, change your clothes, clean your face and show me one of your smiles"

He looked at me, tired and with puffy eyes. I pressed my lips on his and ofelt how he smiled.

"Smile, baby. Show them that you are strong, that you have the most beautiful smile even if your heart hurts like hell. I'll be there by your side like always". "I love you so much" he sighed and a little tear ran out of his eye. "I love you too, babe"

I walked behind him and when we saw Charlotte she gave me her recorder, smiling and nodding to me. I thanked her and grabbed Lando's hand, showing him the recorder and letting him know that I'll be by his side. He went to the interviews nervous, trying to not cry, and when he was trying to do it y squeezed his hand.

"Y/N" I heard Carlos on my back and turned around.

Lando was doing an interview alone, so I checked on him one last time and walked to the Spanish driver. When I was in front of him, he hugged me.

"Thank you so much for taking care of him. I was so worried that he closed himself and ran to the hotel instead doing the interviews" he whispered on my ear. "It's okay. And congratulations for the podium". "I would have enjoyed better if Lando was on top and I was second... it was our dream"

I smiled ti him and he walked to another interview. I saw George and called him, running to him and hugging him.

"This is for checking on him before" I thanked him and walked away hearing him laugh.

The next driver I shared a hig with was Daniel, who walked to us when we were coming back to the motorhome. He first hugged Lando, whispering something to him and then he hugged me.

"You are the best for him. You are his world. Thank you for looking after him, he deserves it". I smiled and tightened the hug a little bit more. "You finally bonded and I'm so happy for you, Daniel. He sees you as his big brother and his so happy to help you"

Daniel kissed my forehead and walked away, Lando and I watching how he greeted everyone.

"Let's go home, baby" he sighed, grabbing my hand and kissing it.

[sophiewagentje]

Hey babes! I’m here with my thoughts and things I noticed during Max’s interview with Olav for Ziggo

The Miracles Happen interview with Max Verstappen

He has a new shirt!! And he looks so relaxed and happy and tired😂 almost no sleep and very croaky voice too😂

Joking about the awful start he had and admitting it could’ve been the nerves

Doesn’t completely understand why there was no penalty for Lewis after the whole leaving the track and gaining an advantage thing, the rules are the rules and the wdc shouldn’t be an influence on that

The fact that he tried to stay as close as possible has really been a big factor in him winning, cuz that created the option for free pitstops!

All the praise for Checo and his amazing defence 🥰 thinks Checo’s defence was absurd, says it was hard racing and absolutely not dangerous driving

When he got the chance after the safety car to overtake Lewis, he really really put his teeth in it cuz he needed to get the most out of that opportunity. And of course the cramp story😂 which also could’ve been from the nerves and the stress

Watching Max get emotional seeing/hearing the footage of his radio, getting out of the car, with his team and his dad makes me emotional and then Olav hits us with this:

‘This is what you’ve spent hours sitting in a van with your dad for, started in Gent, the Pex family standing there, Kelly standing there, everyone and everything standing (important) standing there’

And Max is losing it and Olav is losing it and I am losing it😭😭 and he’s trying so hard not to break down

Saying Christian and Helmut keep the team balanced 😂😂 and really just taking it race by race

Getting chills from the recap of Max vs Lewis

Just seeing him talk about Silverstone, it so clear in his face that that will stay with him for a long long time…

Joking about the Italy curse😂 but the team fucked up the race themselves with that pitstop, according to them, and the crash just made it even worse, which I find a very interesting and fair opinion from them

Little dig at the merc flexy wing in Brazil😂

The Jeddah circuit needs to be looked at for safety with next years slower cars according to Max👀 very sarcastic Maxy😂 and he really didn’t enjoy that race even a bit😞

Joking about giving Nicky trays with Redbull😂

Very honest about his mistake in the qualy in Saudi👏🏼👏🏼 and apparently we should be very glad that the car was even alright cuz it could’ve been bad👀

Being surprised about how good a teammate checo is and that he’s a family man too🥰

And only wanting to work with GP🥰🥰 and he gets so happy talking about it 🥰

There’s something very sexy about him saying he decides the pitstops more than the team in some situations…

Not wanting to be the favourite in the team and wanting to start at zero every year 🥰 and so happy with Honda🥰

He really doesn’t like the sprint races AND I AGREE, awful awful format

He’s very excited about the Redbull powertrains👀 so now I’m even more curious

I love seeing him so happy, open and relaxed🥰 I’m so proud that I can’t even bring it into words properly, I actually can’t describe it🧡🧡🧡

[formula-what]

Brocedes time line for a very patient anon

Lewis quotes in orange, Nico quotes in pink, everyone else is blue.

okay first some background knowledge:

Nico is rich as fuck. only child, born in Germany, brought up in Monaco. son of world champion Keke Rosberg

Lewis was born on a council estate in Stevenage and his dad had to work multiple jobs for him to start karting

Honestly I think the difference in their backgrounds is one of the things that pushed them together, they were both isolated from the rest of the kids, but I’m keeping this purely facts rather than speculation.

2000

They’re both 15 years old and are karting teammates for MBB (Mercedes Benz McLaren) in Formula A

Robert Kubica: “there was always competition. But they didn’t fight. It was friendly competition. There was always laughing afterwards.” // “they would even have races to eat pizza”

They often shared hotel rooms at the races which was a “scene of many wrestling matches between them”

Dino Chiesa (their karting boss) – “many times I was called by reception about some problem in the room. It might be noise, or they might have broken something. They would never sleep so they were always tired the next morning”

“they both liked ice cream so much, particularly vanilla. During the night they wanted to eat ice cream always, so I had to go out everywhere to find some and keep them happy”

Lewis would often persuade Nico to buy him sweets

They would have competitions over LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Lewis: “we always had great competition whether on the racetrack or computer games or playing football”

“probably the first bit of competition we had was when Nico used to ride a unicycle everywhere so I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn how to ride this unicycle. Ive got to be better than him.’ I spent all my time outside the go-kart learning to ride this unicycle”

Apparently it only took Lewis 2 hours to teach himself how to do it

In maybe 2013 ish (when they were still friends) Lewis reflected with– “I have never laughed so much than when we were racing together. Nico was kicking everyone’s butt at that time. We had so great races together and built a great relationship”

“we were just arriving and enjoying go-karts and eating pizzas every weekend, fighting all the time and just having fun, whereas now it’s all business.”

many times they would talk about what they would do when they got to f1, made plans hoping to be teammates and become world champions together.

“Nico would say ‘when I’m in formula one’ and for me it was always ‘if I ever get to formula one’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a formula 1 driver- he knew he was going to make it.”

F1

Nico joined f1 in 2006 with williams, Lewis 2007 with McLaren. And man I WISH I knew what went down with this two when Lewis nearly one his rookie season (missing out by one point to mr fernando alonso) and then WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP in his SECOND SEASON (again by one point thank you mr alonso)

2008 Australia

Nicos gets his first podium, and ofc Lewis is there (he won it) and they are jumping around in the cool down room. Just, two kids who are literally living the one thing they have spent their whole lives dreaming about together. Lewis won the championship that year and oh wow I can only imagine their celebrations together.

2013

They’re teammates in Mercedes!!!

Nico: “every other day there are moments or things that pop up and I can smirk and thing, ‘that’s exactly the same as it was 15 years ago’”

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix gets an honourable mention. This is the race with red bulls good old multi 21 but merc also had their own team orders, stopping nico from fighting for his first merc podium, but Lewis disagreed with it so it didn’t really spark that much tension between them- more the team.

2014

the start of the turbo-hybrid era so y’all know this was good in terms of performance.

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

They were both fighting for the win and had a collision which prompted a “mock fight” in parc ferme after the race (which I really hope there’s a video of).

Turns out, Nico won because he had used engine modes banned by Mercedes to get a power advantage in the closing laps. which kinda pissed Lewis off

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis’ fourth win in a row and took lead in the championship. They were fighting till literally the last second and Lewis crossed the line 0.6 seconds ahead of Nico, who says he could have passed him with one more lap.

Lewis defended using the same banned engine modes that Nico had used in Bahrain. Yeah.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

This is IT. This is peak petty bitch. This is the one people still cry about.

It’s the end of Q3, both of them are out on a lap, Nico ahead of lewis. Nico’s already on provisional pole but Lewis is pretty close.

And then,, Nico just,, parks his car?? He says he made a mistake but the guy doesn’t even crash he straight up just,, rolls to a stop into a slip road. So the yellow flags come out forcing Lewis to abort a lap that was in the makings of pole.

The stewards say it was a-okay but Lewis was convinced it was intentional (and let’s be honest, yeah it probably was) and he even claimed that merc’s data proved it. (low key surprised he didn’t just tweet out the telemetry but I guess he got a stern telling off from mclaren last time)

But *this* is when Lewis tells the world that they aren’t friends anymore. An iconic interview.

Nico then wins the race too, ending Lewis’s four win streak and putting Nico in the lead of the championship.

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis has an engine failure in quali meaning he starts from the pit lane, but he does good to make his way up the pack but THEN there’s a safety car which puts him ahead of Nico but on a different strategy.

Nico asks if Lewis can let him past as he needs to pit again before the end of the race, which will give him the place back anyways. Lewis straight up refuses, he’s on a role here. He started from last, and Nico started from pole, why should he slow down to let his title rival through.

Mercedes strongly suggest that his blocking fucked up Nicos race but Niki Lauda is on Lewis’ side so he doesn’t get punished (We stan a supportive father figure) even though he did blatantly refuse to be a team player.

And guys, this is the last race before the summer break so you know Nico was left seething for four weeks.

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Second lap, Nico attempts a clumsy move and there’s contact, giving Hamilton a puncture and knocking him out of the race.

There’s a lot of controversy but basically it turns out he crashed with him intentionally, not backing out of the corner to “prove a point”. Nico ended up finishing second but was punished by the team, forced to apologise, and even booed on the podium.

2014 Abu Dhabi

For some reason it ran for double points?? The first time in History??? But idk???

Lewis had a perfect start and went on to win it and take the title, Nico had a problem and was told to retire the car but he kept going anyway and finished 14th. Nico went into the cool down room to congratulate Lewis on the championship win, which. cute.

Lewis claimed his second championship. Which not only was huge because of the inter team rivalry, but also because of the large gap between his first win. This guy had lost out on winning the championship in his ROOKIE season by ONE POINT, and then WON it in his SECOND season, and then there was like a FIVE YEAR gap before he won it again.

2015

Damnnn this car was fiiiinneeeeeee.

They do more laps in testing than any other car AND do it on a single power unit. And then. Australia. They take a one-two THIRTY FOUR seconds ahead of the third place Ferrari.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix

Nico is second in a one-two but claims that Lewis kept backing him up into Seb, trying to compromise his race (and help out his boyfriend).

Lewis gave zero shits: "It's not my job to look after Nico's race, it's my job to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible. That's what I did."

2015 U.S. Grand Prix

If Lewis wins here he could also claim the title with three races to spare (you have to remember back then the title fight often went up to the last race so this was pretty cool)

Lewis very aggressively forced Rosberg wide at Turn 1 to claim the lead, and then there was some sexy fighting between the Mercs and Redbull all race. Nico led in the closing stages but made a mistake, running deep into a corner and letting Lewis past with only a handful of laps to go.

Nico finished P2 and had not only lost the race but the championship title. Nico was fuming, saying Lewis’ move at the start was “one step too far”.

This is the infamous cap throw in the cool down room. Lewis throws Nico his P2 hat, Nico straight up yeets it back at him. I tear up just thinking about it. They grow up so fast.

2016

Nico had came so close to winning and I guess this was just, the last straw. All or nothing. This year he literally gave it everything he had. Lewis and him stopped speaking, Nico gave up literally the rest of his life and even stopped sleeping in the same bed as his wife and taking care of his kids, instead spending every moment trying to get into Lewis’ head. Honestly, I think he might be the only one that could beat Lewis. Just because he knew him *so well*. He literally threw away like 16 years of friendship. But also it’s like, he had to be world champion. He *had to*. His dad was champion and his whole life he’s been preparing to win it too. Tough luck that he raced in the same era as Mr. Best Driver The Sport Has Ever Seen.

Nico won the last few races of 2015, and the first four races of 2016. Lewis had a couple car problems and Nico had a good lead on him in the championship.

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Gentlemen. A short view back to the past. Nico had made a switch error on the formation lap causing the car to go into the wrong engine mode. So he was running a lot slower than Lewis, who was fighting to claim back the lead.

Nico closed the door to keep him back, and Lewis lost control on the grass, and spins into Nico and taking them both out of the race in the first lap. This is probably one of the most iconic crashes. I’m pretty sure there’s a clip of this somewhere in black and white with the titanic music over the top.

Niki Lauda blamed this one on Lewis (I guess even a supportive dad has to be critical sometimes) "Lewis is too aggressive. It is stupid, we could've won this race".

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

Nico had been struggling with a brake issue all race but was still on the way to win it. But in the last lap Lewis had caught him up and gone in for the overtake.

Typical Nico not taking any shit, refusing to be the guy that backs out and they collide. Lewis took the win and a damaged Nico dropped to fourth. From first. In the last lap.

Both of them blamed each other and tired dad team boss Toto Wolff threatened team orders in future races.

The stewards blamed Nico for the incident, issuing him two penalty points for failing to allow "racing room" and causing a collision.

2016 Abu Dhabi

In the final laps of the race, Lewis ignored team-orders from his race engineer and the technical director.

He deliberately slowed and backed Nico into the pack hoping they overtake him, and there would be enough of a points difference to win the title.

Nico finished second and won the title by five points.

And then,,, Nico announced a surprise retirement during the FIA prize giving ceremony.

Lewis’ response:

"This is the first time he's won in 18 years, hence why it was not a surprise that he decided to stop.” (We stan a petty king)

“But he's also got a family to focus on and probably wants to have more children. Formula One takes up so much of your time."

“In terms of missing the rivalry, of course because we started karting when we were 13 and we would always talk about being champions. When I joined this team, Nico was there, which was something we spoke about when we were kids. So it's going to be very, very strange, and, for sure, it will be sad to not have him in the team next year."

And now they are kind of on speaking terms but not really, they are both pretty private but I think they are at the ‘awkward small talk when we run into each other at the supermarket’ stage of the break up.

[thirstyandbeautiful]

LVL Ever After: The Final Part -or- it’s time Hoe Fairy ends this hot mess.

PART THREE: THE VOICE OF REASON/TREASON

Lando sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong in two different ways, in one way helping you out and in both ways making things way worse for you. Daniel’s patience begins to wane as Lando stays ambiguous about why everyone’s acting so weird. 

part 1 ~ part 2 ~ part 4 ~ part 5 ~ part 6 ~ part 7 ~ part 8 ~ part 9

You should’ve known the GP weekend would’ve been a disaster after your horrific run in with Daniel on day one of the circus. It had just been your luck to run into him when you were still so emotionally distraught. What really brought you down was the combined emotional weight so much what was happening and the disappointment you felt in your inability to shake all those emotions. You couldn’t separate your work brain from your emotional brain and it drove you mad. 

And things only got worse as the days dragged on. 

For one, seeing Daniel had really torn you. The poor man didn’t know what was going on, and had looked so happy to see you and you had made yourself look utterly stupid and strange. 

But then the press day was over, and the GP weekend went into full swing and things became a nightmare. 

Both cars on your team had no grip, and it had been a nerve wracking show watching free practice and quali. Friday and Saturday, you got back to your hotel room feeling horribly stiff having been so up tight watching the utterly puzzling performances on track. And while quali hadn’t gone too terribly, it wasn’t a front row lockout, and in typical Murphy’s Law fashion, the bad really picked up. 

One car went off, unable to finish the race after a brake failure, and while Lewis killed himself to try to make the tires work, there was a mess up at a pit stop that costed him three placements. Toto ended up on a cursing rampage towards the end of the race.

It wasn’t often that Mercedes made a mistake, but when they did, they did it right. 

Relief didn’t even begin to cover how you felt when you’d finally made it home Sunday night. You couldn’t stand another minute in the paddock, another minute in the emotionally charged air of the garage. You had more than enough of an emotional charge to bring the whole track down, and it hadn’t taken long for you to find sleep once you were home.

-

“Being good for Daddy, princess?” Lando purred into your ear, his tongue flicking against the underside of your jaw.

He filled you so good, and it had been so long, you were already panting. His hips were between yours, and you couldn’t see anything but his body and your own as he buried himself inside of you over and over. 

“Oh, yes, always so fucking good, aren’t you?” 

“Always.” You whined, your eyes tightly shut as you felt him.

With a swish of air that choked your lungs, you felt as if you were suddenly falling as this force pushed through your body. You gasped and opened your eyes, the sensation gone but replaced by a new one that was quickly spreading you. The space inside you that Lando had been filling seemed to stretch differently, as if someone new was entering you. Instead of Lando’s incessant thrusts, there was a gentle rocking between your legs and a warm body pressed to your back.

“Got you always.” Daniel whispered into your ear. 

You whimpered as you looked down to see his hands on your body, one on your lower stomach while his rose adorned one held one of your swollen breasts so gently. His soft, gentle touch made you lean back into him, your arms going around the back of his head as you held him to you. 

“You got both of us, don’t you?” 

Lando’s voice caught you off guard, and with it the feeling of all fullness inside you was lost. The pleasure mounted inside of you, but the familiar stretch of either man inside you was gone. Daniel was still behind you, holding you to him and whispering sweet nothings as his hips rocked against your behind, while Lando stood in front of you, your legs wrapped around his waist as he pushed against you until his hips were hitting into your own. 

Your breath felt like it was being compressed out of your lungs as you got overwhelmed in the sensations around you. The mounting pleasure that you could feel, but not completely, teasing you from the background as you lost your mind to the warring sensations. Lando’s hands, grabbing and commanding as he pulled at your nipples and caressed your clit. Daniel’s hand holding your tit, massaging the swollen skin and rolling the nipple against his palm, his other hand curled on your lower stomach, just as he did the night he’d had you. 

“Do you want me?” Daniel asked breathlessly in your ear, making your head tilt back as you whimpered.

Lando’s bite to your shoulder made your body clench, “Do you want me?” He asked, “Tell me you want me.”

“You want this.” Daniel spoke to you. 

Your eyes opened and you were suddenly very aware of the pitch black darkness around Lando and Daniel where they bracketed you between their bodies. You sucked in a breath and tried to focus, becoming increasingly panicked as your overwhelming sensation became less about pleasure and more terror. 

The edges of Daniel and Lando’s bodies blurred on either side of you, and when you looked down your stomach dropped. Every time Lando thrusted into you, his chest should’ve pressed to Daniel’s hand but instead it went right through it. Neither man could touch, and while you could feel them, you couldn’t feel them in their entirety. 

You went to speak, but were cut off by an unexpected voice. 

“Did you think things would feel better?” Lance’s words echoed in the empty void you, Dan and Lando seemed to be floating in. 

Just like that, Daniel and Lando evaporated from you, their bodies melting away into smoke until you were free falling into the blackhole that they had been holding you up above. You just kept falling, and falling, and falling.

You woke up screeching, clutching your chest as you rolled to your side and gasped for air.

“Fuck!” You snarled, pushing yourself to sit up and get on your feet. 

Might as well go shower, you thought, no way I’m falling back asleep after that. 

-

The shower had been futile, you couldn’t feel the pulse of the water, nor the temperature. Your whole body seemed to be shot from all the nerves you’ve fried lately. And no matter how many times you told yourself to suck it up, your body just kept resisting. 

You wondered if it was even just your body anymore. 

When you looked at your reflection after your shower, your body looked as it always had. The same bumps, the same scars, the same ridges and curves. Every inch of you still looked the same, and somehow that put you more on edge. That your body could be so traitorous. You turned sideways, indulging in your paranoia by turning your hips so you could stare at your lower stomach, inspecting it for any change in size or shape. 

You didn’t notice anything, but again, that didn’t mean anything. 

Every task felt like it was being done on autopilot these days, and getting dressed was no different today. You tried your best not to be distracted, but you seemed only able to sort yourself for work, so home time might as well have been labeled ‘floaty time’ with the way you sunk into your brain. 

A dull sound rhythmically sounded in your ears as you pulled a hoodie on, and the thumping resounded in your ears. Convinced it was your own heartbeat, it took you a moment to realize the thumping was actually knocking and it wasn’t your heart, it was your door.

“Shit...” you muttered, shaking your head before tousling your drying hair.

Your feet patted across your floors, and when you’d barely pulled open the door when the person on the other side was coming in.

“What are you doing here? What is that?”

Lando pushes past you easily, walking into your kitchen like it was his own and dropping the bag on the counter before shaking it upside down, the boxes contents spilling out on to the counter. You approached the island slowly as he turned on the kettle on the stove.

You picked up one of the boxes before quickly dropping it back on to the counter. Pregnancy tests, Lando had bought you pregnancy tests. It looked like he’d cleaned out a pharmacy, with almost every type of test in front of you, and quite a few of each.

“We need to get this sorted.” Lando spoke matter of factly, “so you need to drink up, and take all these tests and find out whether or not I’m losing fucking sleep over nothing.”

You leaned over the counter and rubbed your face before looking back up at him.

“You’re not sleeping either.” He grimaced, “You look terrible.”

“Yes, thank you, Lando.” You replied annoyed, “It’s not as if I haven’t got a mirror in this whole place.” 

“Where are your mugs?”

“What are you doing?” You raised your voice as you watched Lando rummage through all your cabinets.

“Ah!” He called, grabbing a lavender mug from your cabinets before setting it down, “Now, where’s the tea?” 

“Lando.” 

“You wanna just drink hot water?” He looked at you over his shoulder. 

You sighed, “In the cupboard to the right.”

Lando hummed with a smile as he prepared your cup. You sat in a seat, still feeling defeated and let Lando take care of you. He slid a can of soda across the counter at you. 

“Drink that while we wait for the water to boil.”

“You’re just gonna make me float away.” You joked dryly, snapping open the can before you started chugging it down. 

“Oh!” Lando called out, scaring you into choking. 

“Oh my god, what?” You coughed as you wiped the soda around your face. 

Lando hesitated before asking, “Isn’t caffeine bad for babies?”

Your face scrunched at him, “Have you-” your mouth dropped open as Lando turned on his heel, his reddened face telling on himself, “You’ve been researching!” 

You laughed as tears dripped down your face. Feeling both the hilarity of the situation, as well as the complete meltdown of emotions, you laughed and cried hysterically until Lando placed a steaming mug in front of you. 

“Finish that can and then finish this.” He pointed to you jokingly before taking a seat next to you, turning on some music to play in the silence between you. 

“How many pregnancy tests are there?” You asked before lifting the can back to your lips while your tea cooled.

“10.”

“Please tell me you didn’t buy them in person.”

“No! Do you think I’m dumb? I used Postmates.”

“Great.” You rolled your eyes, giggling as Lando gave you a face.  

There turned out to be eleven different pregnancy sticks, and Lando had not played when he told you you were going to take all of them. He pumped you so full of tea and soda, it was ridiculously easy to take all ten one after another, after another. 

You’d never been so nervous, so eager for time to both slow down and speed up, to finally have clarity. From the way the silence settled among the two of you, a surplus of slowly revealing pregnancy tests between you, you could only guess that Lando was the only one to know exactly what you were feeling. 

When the timer went off on Lando’s phone, signaling that every single test was ready, you both went through them, once, twice, three, four, five times. You were pretty sure Lando went through them another six. 

You were pregnant.

It was unsettling how calm you became once you knew. This zen seemed to emit from you as you nodded in acceptance. You were no doubt in shock, but you also were done with the guessing, this was an almost sure thing now, and now was the time you could take some control.

You needed to go to a doctor and get a medical professional to confirm the pregnancy, then you needed to find out what next steps were for you physically from that doctor, and then you needed to let the boys know, then you needed the boys to agree to a paternity test. 

And that’s when everything went to shit in your head.

You started panting, and it felt like you could barely get any breaths in. Lando ran around the side of the table, grabbing your hand and calmly telling you it would be okay, to breathe with him. You remembered briefly an interview where you’d heard he’d worked with a psychologist to help him with his on and off track mentality and anxiety, and mentally categorized in things you thought Lando was full of shit for and you were wrong about. 

It seemed like there were a lot of things that fell into that category these days. Each and every new detail added to the list just added to your growing list of why you were an asshole. You had so foully misjudged Lando, had been so critical of him.

And here he was, making you face your fears, and helping you through them, literally helping you breath as he got you to your couch. He held your hand as you calmed, and helped you lay back on the soft cushions while he took his place on the floor next to where you were laying comfy. 

“Don’t you worry,” He mumbled, “gonna find a doctor we can call in the morning.”

And he did. 

Lando had found a OB/GYN for you to go to nearby, after having taken hours researching them all. You couldn’t believe how he went on and on. The review boards, websites, you hadn’t even known doctors had a review site. It was torturous to hear his incessant typing, practically vetting the whole of the United Kingdom’s specialists.

But it had kept him occupied as you returned to your place of solitude: the couch.

You laid there in the silence between Lando and you and let your brain melt. The sound of his fingers tap, tap tapping on his glass screen protector was more soothing than not and gave you something to listen to that wasn’t your own thoughts. Your eyes looked at Lando, leaning against the other side of the couch, he was sat on the floor.

When you realized that his eyes were locked on his screen, and he was deep in the Google search, you looked back up at the ceiling. Ever so slowly, you lifted the hand between you and the back of the couch and brought it to rest on your stomach. Your chest felt like it was going to cave in as you rested your palm right under your belly button, where you knew your womb was. You squeezed your eyes shut as you tried to wrap your head around how it was most likely filled with a little cluster of cells that would upend your life.

And someone else’s.

For the first time, you managed to think deeply about what was truly going on. Namely, the men involved. You thought of each one critically, not knowing which you might end up tied to forever.

Lando. Lando was young, and emotional. But he was fiercely loyal, and it filled you with shame to remember how sure you were that he would leave you before you told him. You were admittedly torn on your opinion of Lando. He was like a pendulum, constantly swinging one way and another. If he wasn’t emotional intense, he iced you out, if he wasn’t being supportive, he was doing his best to tear you down. While he was here now, how much longer would he stick around?

Lance. Lance was soft, but destructive. You knew he wanted a family, but you weren’t even sure if he was emotionally mature enough. Like Lando, he was emotional and right now he was holding a grudge. He was not only avoiding you, but you were sure that he had you blocked on every possible communication. If it did end up being his, how would you tell him?

Daniel. Daniel definitely fit the bill of most fit to be father, but he was an adult. A usually responsible one at that. He had a vision for his future, and he was so sure of what he wanted. Maybe that’s why it stung the most to think of him because you were forced to painfully face how you did not fit into that vision. Daniel was an accident, and while you didn’t want to call it a mistake, it sure felt like it now. He was the only one who hadn’t been involved in the past year’s mess, so dragging him in now felt cruel.

You had let your hand slip off of your body as you held back tears.

-

“It’s about to open.”

“Lando, hush.”

“It’s 8:59.”

“Lando.”

“9:00!”

“Lando!”

You slapped his arm as you unlocked you phone. But when you looked at the search page glowing on the screen, you felt your stomach twist. 

“It’s 9:01, can you please...” Lando whined, bringing you back from the memory of last night.  

You sighed and stared at the call icon on the google search page. All you had to do was press it. 

Lando’s hand dropped heavily on your shoulder as he pulled you under his arm, “It’s gonna be okay.” He kissed your hair and leaned his cheek on you, “May I?”

You inhaled sharply as you watched his finger hover over the icon, but still nodded your head. The whole world seemed to slow as the google search screen disappeared, your screen going black for a moment before the ringing screen came on, showing you and letting you hear that indeed, it was ringing this doctor’s office.

“Hello?” A woman’s voice answered. 

Lando nudged your shoulder, and you finally began talking. 

-

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lando asked for the fiftieth time that morning.

“Yes, yes, I’m good. Now, go. I’m sure you’ve got stuff to do and I definitely have things to do and it’s time to go.”

Lando looked at you suspiciously as you pushed him towards the door. “You know, you may not even be pregnant, those tests aren’t always right.”

“There were eleven of them.”

“But still-”

“Lando, get out.” You sighed dramatically and groaned as you pointed towards the door, a smile on your face to show him it was still a friendly kicking out. 

You’d spent the whole night with him, and you’d made the doctor’s appointment for two weeks from now. You were ready for some alone time. That, and you did actually have a team call to get on Zoom for. 

“I’m serious!” You laughed, “I have a work call and I can’t be seen with the enemy.”

“Oh, now I really wanna stay.” Lando snickered.

“Out!” 

Lando strode out your door finally, grin threatening to crack his face from how hilarious he thought he was. You watched him until you couldn’t see him anymore before shutting your door. Taking a deep breath, you grabbed your laptop and went to the kitchen to log online. 

Your eyes had a different plan for you though, and you found it hard to type in your credentials when your eyesight was so blurry from unshed tears. 

No, no, no. You thought, not now.

It seemed that all the tears you held back last night and all the emotional burn out from this morning had caught up to you and your body was in desperate need of release. Your meeting be damned. 

You tried to calm yourself, you really did. But the more you wiped at your eyes, the more tears leaked out of them. Anger rising, you angrily rubbed at your face. You could feel your stupid lower lip shaking, could practically feel the splotches painting your skin in your hysterical state. 

How had it gotten this bad?

You sighed as the ding from your laptop told you people were arriving to the meeting. Shutting off your camera so no one could see the disaster you were, you joined. 

-

Lando had dreaded being in this meeting when he’d received the notification for it days before. It was a brand meeting, the kind of meeting that was all about McLaren and nothing to do with their F1 drivers, even though their attendance was mandatory.

The worst part was that they were in the dome, the presentation arena that they unveiled their car in before. The circular room had a wicked echo to it, the surround sound system that was installed made it all the more dramatic. It felt like a circus tent if Lando was being honest, with the center stage have a bright, hot light shining down on it. 

But that really wasn’t the worst part. The dome was kinda cool, the real worst part of the dome was the seating. The seating was not single chairs all the way around, no, whatever genius had created their room had decided to make desks, and those desks were in pairs. 

And of course, they had to seat their F1 drivers together. 

So Lando was stuck next to Daniel for almost two hours, his neck getting stiff from keeping it so still while fighting the natural urge to turn and look at Daniel. He could feel Daniel glancing at him, and he kept remembering the way Daniel had frowned at him when Lando had showed up last minute, nodded to him and greeting before sitting and promptly ignoring the Aussie’s presence. 

She would kill me if he found out.

It might have been a lot, but Lando knew himself, and he knew one good look from his teammate and he’d snap. He couldn’t be the one to complicate things further, and this was technically your burden. A burden that he had no idea when you would take care of.

He was kind of sick of being the only one to know about your ‘secret’, especially when there were two other people who should’ve been carrying this stress with him.

Lando sighed and rubbed his eyes as the lights clicked back on in the room and people dispersed. He felt a few claps on the shoulder and Daniel greeting some people, but Lando kept his head down. What a time to get an eyelash in his eye. 

When he finally felt like he could see, he opened his eyes and blinked, turning in his swivel chair away from where Daniel was sitting, just to come face to face with the Aussie. Lando glanced around the brightly lit room, and gulped as he realized it was just him and his teammate. 

Daniel stood in his way, obviously taking advantage of Lando’s blindness for a moment to block his getaway. He raised in an eyebrow at Lando, and in typical Lando fashion, he leaned back in his chair and mimicked the facial expression back to Daniel. 

Daniel’s face pinched in annoyance, and he decided not to keep his mouth shut this time, "When are you just going to say it, mate?” 

“Say what?” Lando glanced at Daniel over his shoulder.

“I know you know about the one night stand.”

Oh, fuck. Please, please let my phone right, someone come to the door, someone save me, please, please, please. Lando looked up to the ceiling as he mentally begged someone to spare him from a conversation that could pull the truth from him. 

“And I know,” Daniel took a step towards him and kept his voice stern, but not hostile, “about you and her.” 

Kill me.

“And I don’t know what’s still going on with you two, I have a good idea-”

Wait, what.

“but I don’t know for sure. And that’s fine because it’s your life and hers and it’s none of my business. I just want you and me to be good, I don’t want you to think I’m another Lance.”

She told him everything, oh my fucking God.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to hate me, or compete with me cause what happened, happened, and I can’t take it back-”

Lando couldn’t help but break out in nervous laughter at the thought of Daniel ‘taking back’ his oblivious running in who had knocked you up. Lando kept laughing, harder and harder, even as he mentally begged himself to stop. He felt stupid, and hot, and as he felt wetness on his cheeks, he felt humiliated too.

“Lando, what’s going on?” Daniel asked softly, his hand squeezed Lando’s shoulder as Lando tried to get a hold of himself.

He sniffled and shook his head, “I can’t tell you. It’s just, a lot. Fuck, I don’t even know what I’m doing.” 

“Are you,” Daniel stuttered for the first time since Lando met him, “are you in love with her?” Daniel asked in a small voice.

Lando’d giggles abruptly turned into hysterical laughter. Daniel had no idea what was going on and, bless him, he thought that Lando was having a crisis over his feelings for you? He wasn’t sure when his life had turned into a rather funny sitcom, but he knew that if this went on for much longer, it was going to drive him mad. 

“No,” Lando struggled to speak through his cackling, “no, oh no.” He whined as he choked on air. “Fuck, no.” 

“It’s okay, mate. It’s okay if you do, obviously it’s eating up at you.”

“Daniel!” he finally yelled, giggling before taking a breath, “I am absolutely not in love with her.”

“You’re just having sex?”

“What?” Lando asked, dumbfounded at the present tense of Daniel’s words, “You think we’re sleeping together?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No!” He screeched, “I haven’t slept with her since weeks before you did.” 

Fuck. He groaned out loud and pressed his palms to his head before he let his head lull forward. A lower groan left his lips as he poked his temples with his fingers. This was not the time, not the place, just all around not the conversation Lando wanted to have ever. 

“So, you know?”

“Of course I know!” Lando snapped. 

Daniel didn’t know what to say to Lando’s outburst.

“I just-” Lando looked at Daniel’s shocked face and knew nothing he was saying made any sense to the Aussie cause Daniel truly did not know anything, “I’m sorry, Dan,” Lando groaned and squatted down before pushing himself back to standing, “I didn’t mean to yell, I just, it’s been a lot these past few weeks.”

“What’s been going on? What don’t I know?”

Lando took looked Daniel in the eye and settled for sparing himself the lies, “Ask her.” 

Daniel looked at Lando shocked, unsure how to take his words. His mind raced to think up all the possible things that he could ask about and what asking would reveal.

“Ask her what?” He yelled to Lando’s retreating form.

“if you want to know what’s up with her ask her.”

“Lando-” Daniel had only managed to utter his name before Lando cut him off.

“Go talk to her. It’s what normal people do when they want to communicate.” Lando repeatedly monotone, looking right at Daniel’s blank face before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

[mistressemmedi]

So, settle down and enjoy the saga that is: Kimi and the mistery vacant seat at Ferrari.

Usual disclaimers: sources are not confirmed, all rumours, bla bla, take it with a grain of salt.

Begin your read under the cut:

It all starts with Marchionne. If you've read articles from places like Autosport and such publications, there have always been rumours about how much Marchionne loved the Alfa Romeo brand and Charles Leclerc.

If you remember from last year (fairly sure I've reposted some of the articles myself) there was a running joke about Marchionne bringing bad luck to the team, and the fights that him and Arrivabene would have over the team performance. If you also remember, it came down to Marchionne publicly criticizing the team and especially Kimi, to the point where Maurizio Arrivabene had to basically state multiple occasions that the team (read: fuck what Marchionne thinks) has Kimi's back and didn't consider him "old". Proof came when confirmed him again for another year.

Nevertheless, Marchionne rebranded Fiat-Chrysler and made it into the succeful business that it is today, bringing it back from the edge a bankruptcy and failure.

His plans was to to do the exact same with Ferrari. The team needed rebranding, needed a boost of fresh energy. Enough with the "old model" of the race team, clearly it stopped working for them around the time Fernando joined them and Lewis started taking names on the grid. Also, right around when Schumacher (who had been with Ferrari for so long) showed up to help out Mercedes get started and eventually became the powerhouse that it is today.

Let's be real, even if nobody knows what the hell F1 is, they definitely know who Ferrari is. It's a symbiotic relationship, there's not one without the other. But the truth is, the sport moved forward and evolved. Ferrari didn't.

So, time for some drastic changes. The original plan was to have Jules Bianchi spearhead that change. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen. So the team development stalled.

Until last year, when Marchionne had his way and fired a good chunk of the team, replacing them with "in house" promotions. The right ideas weren't getting at the top, because the team had this stupid ass (and I can confirm, very Italian) notion of "It's worked for us thus far, why change it". Tensions came to a breaking point when Allison left. But we saw snippets of it, when Ruth Buscombe left Ferrari. And let's be real, she's relatively young in the field. Who in their right mind leaves Ferrari to go first to Haas, a baby team, and then Sauber, a clear backmarker? Talk about suicide of your career. But imagine how bad it was for Ruth to have to leave. Or Allison to be kicked out.

So, Marchionne wanted change, Arrivabene didn't. Remember, he's a team principal now but he was Ferrari's "cigarette man" (we all know who's the main sponsor) before that and had an old school mentality.

So while the technical staff issue was partially solved, the problem of the drivers remained.

In comes Charles Leclerc, a child prodigy basically. Didn't skip steps like Verstappen, and delivered results constantly in junior categories despite life's hard blows, remaining level headed.

Perfect candidate, but everyone has seen the story of the "young prodigy driver" in the junior categories, only for them to graduate in F1 and completely tank it.

So, in comes the Alfa Romeo-Sauber project: final step of the rebranding of Alfa, allows Ferrari to experiment and for Charles to test the waters without too much pressure.

What people weren't expecting, was Charles to do so well in such a short amount of time.

Marchionne had the inkling that it was going to happen, so he started to push for Leclerc to join Ferrari at the end of the season, or at least fast-track his promotion.

Remember, Marchionne also knew he had limited time.

Unfortunately Marchionne passed away, but John Elkann, who saw it very much like him, started to push for the team to finish what the deceased CEO wanted (along with other’s within the FCA circle - it was time for a changeee)

Problem was, Camilleri. New big boss at Ferrari. Why? Massive friend of Kimi. And a massive fan.

While all of this was happening, as a side note, Kimi was told from the start “Yo this is Sebastian’s year. You’ll race, we’ll let you win and at the front if the situation calls for it, but you are a clear second. But the contract states you get to race the full season, so off you go. Don’t worry about the replacement rumors”. At the same time, the tech staff at Ferrari basically built a car around Vettel. Like... For him basically. But we all knew it at the beginning of the season.

Anyways, in comes this weekend in Italy. This was supposed to be a triumph, Ferrari 1-2, Vettel on the top step, Kimi the sidekick and who the fuck cares about the third spot.

In comes John Elkann - Spa didn’t go exactly... Smoothly as hoped. The championship has not been a winning smash as hoped. Sebastian is in danger of not winning it again, the constructor’s championship will most likely be dominated by Merc, again. The Seb-Kimi combo is not getting the results promised, despite it all, and Marchionne was probably right.

The only constant, is Leclerc blowing everyone away with his results (Verstappen who?)

Here’s where it gets hazy: a conversation happened between Elkann, Camilleri, Raikkonen and his manager on Friday - the bottom line? Kimi is out. Charles is in (this conversation was also reported by Autosport - I wonder who spilled the beans on that, mhmmmm....)

Let’s be real - had Marchionne been around, this would have happened after Monza’s win. Imagine it, just how it would have been spun “We thank Kimi for his hard work, for his contribution in Italy, at home. Amazing asset for the team, couldn’t have done it without him etc. etc. But it’s fair he enjoys his retirement, and we move forward with Charles etc. etc.” It would have been sad, but it would have been a triumph and all that.

Marchionne is dead, so Kimi is told that he will stay. Until he is not. Elkann doesn’t approach it lightly, he simply says “Soz man, time to go”

(I’m not sure if he was going to be kicked to Haas, highly doubt it. But the point being Charles would go to Ferrari, Giovinazzi to Sauber).

Now, imagine being in Kimi’s shoes - you’ve been jostled around all season, you’re treated as “second” always, because that’s just how it is.

So he’s upset, his manager is upset, and most importantly? His side of the garage is upset. Remember this, they LOVE him.

So, around comes quali. Vettel was supposed to get pole. That’s just how it was planned. Until, Kimi’s side of the garage had enough, went against orders and sent him out to clock a faster time and not help out Vettel.

Result? Kimi sets fastest lap, gives a massive fuck you to Elkann and Vettel is furious because that was his pole and Kimi is out there with an advantage over him and that was not team orders.

Remember his radio? It wasn’t about the slipstream, it was about that side of the garage defying team orders.

In comes race day - fine Kimi has had his moment, but he’s been told EXPLICITLY to work as a stopper to Lewis.

(We all made a bit fun of him about how crappy he is at starts, Vettel getting the lead as usual etc.)

Only problem being... Start comes around, and Kimi jumps Vettel and blocks him for a few seconds as well, leaving him in dirty air.

Vettel sees red (ahahahaha), can’t focus and we see how that went. A mistake, which HE KNEW he couldn’t afford, yet makes it a bit like a rookie.

Kimi is past giving a fuck, Ferrari is literally scrambling for strategies because that’s NOT how it was supposed to go, and falls for the undercut like a goddamn sack of potatoes.

A distaster, and Lewis comes up on top because him and Merc were simply better. And Bottas acted as a sacrificial lamb (LEAVE THIS FINNS ALONE FFS).

Where does this leave the team? Kimi’s manager showed up with Raikkonen’s contract, basically stating “Good fucking luck trying to break this”, Kimi is 100% done with this shit, and Vettel?

Vettel realized at the start of the Italian GP, that it’s no longer about him vs another driver: it’s now his vs two drivers, Lewis and Kimi. And he doesn’t have a support of a second driver any more.

So, Ferrari has two weeks to fix these fucking political issues, because now they have two sides of the garage actively working against each other. Which leaves an easy win for Merc.

Edit: I thought this was a bit far fetched, embellished etc. But an Italian publication (y’all can do your own search) came out with a similar story I just wrote, late in the evening today. Which means people are talking, and you bet your ass that it is people who are on Kimi’s side.

Fin.

[ilprinciperosso]

Jeddah rant

There’s only one tiny positive from this shitshow of a race (apart from Charles’ quali lap)... Charles has clearly said in every interview he gave after the race that, although he’s not sure there was much more pace in the car yesterday, he could have tried to close the gap with Lewis, but he was stuck with in a train behind Carlos. He’s not letting the media build up a story on how he was slower than his teammate. Even Fred said in an Italian interview with sky that Charles’ performance was one of the few good things coming out of this gp.

Charles said that it was hard to follow at 1.2-5 seconds behind ‘cause even if he was a bit faster when following that closely he would lose time. He then made a small mistake and completely gave up in the last 4 laps.

Carlos wasn’t faster than Charles yesterday. We could argue they had the same pace on hards, but I honestly don’t see why they didn’t try swapping them (Carlos, honey... Mattia is not there anymore... when they say let’s try something new and let Charles trough ‘cause he's faster you should listen)

I know they're fighting for nothing right now, but the continuous undermining of team orders/suggestions that has been going on it’s ridiculous (I’m not particularly worried about them this year, as I said they’re fighting for nothing and I’m confident Charles would be in front of Carlos in a “normal” race where his car doesn't die on him or he has penalties, but for the next few years). Let’s dream and pretend Ferrari get their shit back together and they’re fighting with Redbull like last year... you can’t have a replay of Silverstone or Austria in the sprint race.

It’s clear to everyone (apart from Marca, but they could be certified as clinically insane) that Charles is the better performing driver at the moment. It’s clear in Ferrari, to the media, to everyone. 

And also... Carlos... this has been one of the worst races for Ferrari in the last 2 years... could you please not say to the media that it has been one of your best races? Think about your PR training for fucks sake! You were overtaken by multiple cars, never put up a fight unlesss it was against your own teammate... it doesn't seem that smart to gloat about your performance honestly...