Chapter 10

"10 laps left. Try and take care of your tyres. Verstappen is ahead." I hear which makes me push faster. I slowly inch closer to max's car. I follow him in the slipstream untill the straight. My DRS activates and I pull out from behind him and move past max into fourth place. "Yes, nice one. Leclerc is up ahead. Remeber to defend against max behind you." Gareth says as I continue round the track.

"5 laps left. Keep pushing Leclerc."

"3 laps left."

"2 laps left."

I look in my mirrors and see Max right behind me. He tries pull out behind me but I move over slightly, defending my position. I activate my last bit of DRS. Which helps me gain a small amount of time.

"One lap left."

"Ok I can do this." I say to myself and I defend against Max passing me. Turning down the final straight and in my mirrors I see Max pull out from behind me to pass me. I push faster and we almost cross the line at the same time. "You were faster. Well done P4!" I hear Gareth excitedly. "Yes guys! Woohoo!" I yell into my mic.

I pull into the pit lane and jump out the car. I pull off my helmet and baklava, displaying the giant smile on my face. I see a few cameras face my way so I give them a big smile, very proud of my P4. We all move to the FIA section to be weighed. "Hey well done. That was a great first race." Max says from behind me. "Thanks Max." I smile and turn back around as I am infront.

I walk out into the paddock and begin to walk back to the garage. "Hannah!" I hear from behind me. I see lando standing there, his big smile matching mine. I run over to him and tackle him in a hug. "P4! I'm so happy for you." He says with a smile. "I'm so happy. I don't think Max was too charmed though." I say with a giggle as I pull away from the hug. "Anyway there is a party tonight and we are celebrating your almost podium on your debut race." Lando says with a smile. "Can't wait. I have to go but I'll see you later." I say as I walk away. "Can't wait." He winks and I quickly turn around before he sees me blush.

"There she is! Our star!" I hear and see my parents standing at the entrance to the garage. I squeal in excitement and wrap them in a big hug. "I'm so happy. That was amazing." I say. "I think we will be seeing that smile for a while." Mom says. "But sadly our plane leaves this evening. So we can't spend too much time together." Dad says sadly. "I'll see you guys at Kyalami though. I'll see how many people I can get into the paddock first. So don't go buying tickets just yet." I say and my dad nods.

I quickly shower and change into my jeans and my Red Bull team shirt. I throw my hat onto my head and grab all of my stuff. As I walk out my room I overhear someone talking in the garage. "She beat me." I hear what sounds like Max say. "Yes I know Max but this is formula one. You cant expect to always be the fastest." Christian? Why are they talking about me? "Maybe it's beginners luck. Let's see how Bahrain goes." Max says. I can't believe he is trying to get rid of me because I beat him. I thought we were friends. "Yes she is an amazing driver and after today they are never going to let you ask to get rid of her. So just suck it up and push harder next time." Christian says and then it goes quiet.

I make my way out the garage and bump into someone. "Sorry." I say without looking up. "Hey Hannah. Are you ok?" I hear a familiar Australian accent. I look up and Daniels face soften when he sees the few tears in my eyes. "You wanna talk about it?" He asks. I take a deep breath which clears the tears from my eyes. "Max is very upset that I won and he spoke to Christian about kicking me because I beat him in one race. I thought he was my friend." I say quietly as not to include the entire paddock in my problems. Daniel wraps me in a hug. "I know that having Max as a teammate is very tough, I know. You just have to push through it. Eventually he will properly warm up to you. He just takes a while so be patient with him." Daniel says and let's go of me. "Thanks. Yeah it's probably not something to cry about." I say with a small smile, wiping the stray tear off my face.

"Is everything ok." Lando says from behind me, placing his hand on the small of my back. "Yeah I'll tell you later." I say turning to him. "Ok I'm going to go. See you two at the party tonight." Daniel says and walks off. "Oh crap yeah. What time are we going?" I ask and Lando laughs. "I'll be at your door at 8:30." Lando says with a smile. I check my watch and find it's 7. "I'm going to go back to the hotel." I say. "I'll come with, let me just grab something quickly. I'll be right back." Lando says and runs off to the Mclaren garage. I quickly walk into the Red Bull hospitality and quickly grab a Red Bull out one of the many fridges.

"You ready?" I ask with a giggle as Lando comes wondering back with a pile of stuff in his hands. I sip my drink watching him. "Would you like some help?" I ask with a smile. "If you could keep my phone that would be great?" He asks and I take it from his hands and he proceeds to put a Mclaren hat on and stuffs the rest into a bag he was holding. "Why didn't you put all the stuff on your back back in your room?" I ask with a smile as I put his phone in my pocket. "I didn't want to keep you waiting." He says and places the bag over his shoulder and magically pulls out a can of Coca Cola from somewhere. I'm he takes a sip. "Ok now I'm ready." He says which makes me laugh as we walk towards the exit.

"I got a Mclaren for us to take back to the hotel." He says as we walk towards a bright orange Mclaren. The same color as his hat. "Ooh this is such a nice car." I say, admiring it. He laughs and climbs in the driver side of the car.  I climb into the passenger seat and he pulls off. "Hey this is the same way we ran the other night." I recognize and Lando smiles.