Zandvoort GP
Lando and Kimi were on a track walk. They were the first ones, early Thursday morning. They both had their tablets, a couple of papers and coffees in hand, making their way around the track, studying the circuit, the conditions and possible scenarios, Kimi giving a lot of insight not just into this circuit, but into racing in general. They had some breakfast in the hospitality after their walk before occupying one of the little meeting rooms.
“Why are you doing all this?” Lando asked Kimi.
“Because it took me way too long to realize that I can’t just rely on others. Formula 1 kind of … tells you that you have a strategist, race engineer, manager, trainers, so on and so forth. They know what they are doing. But it doesn’t mean that you can completely detach yourself from that part of racing. That was also the reason why I took the chance when Zak asked. I knew that Andrea likes to let you drivers in on the decisions, to question decisions and strategies. He knows that many people see more than one. That’s what convinced me. Other teams would just let me talk to the driver, do some motivational stuff and that’s it.”
“You’re right. I think that’s the most I heard you talk in one go.” Lando then smiled.
“Don’t get used to it, kid.” Kimi smirked “How are you and Max, by the way?”
“We’re good. Didn’t see each other a lot during the break, he was around with Charles and Arthur. Why are you asking?”
“Kid, you are twelve points behind him in the standings. There is a 90-point gap to Sargeant in third. I know you guys are friends, things like these, direct competition, it can bring strain to a friendship.”
“We never actually talked about that.” Lando said “We mostly talk about other things in private. Racing is mentioned and the races itself, of course, but not in a teasing or mocking manner or something.”
“That’s good.” Kimi said “Now let’s concentrate on the circuit.” He pulled up another track map on his tablet.
“You still happy that Yuki will join?” Esteban asked Pierre, coming into his driver’s room.
“Absolutely. I’m not overjoyed that you are leaving, though. I think it will be a fun thing to see though, Yuki swearing up in Alpine headquarters, he’s going to blow their heads off.” Pierre laughed.
“Yeah, probably.” Esteban laughed as well.
“Really, don’t worry about it. If they had offered it to me, I would have taken it as well. I know we are French, and I love driving for Alpine, but driving for Mercedes … would be a little dream. I’ll let you try and fill Lewis’ shoes first, though.”
“Ouch, talk about a side dig.”
“What about those rumours, though? Are they true?”
“What rumours?” Esteban asked confused.
“Some British newspaper is reporting that you are like … cashing big time on this.” Pierre said, pulling out his phone and searching for the article “Here” he said, reading to Esteban “Ocon reportedly has signed the contract with a hefty pay bump. Inside sources are talking about a contract with a base pay of more than ten million, plus bonus. The contract length was already officially confirmed by Mercedes to be a two-year contract, with option for extension. Esteban Ocon’s current salary of 7 million now starting to sound like peanuts.”
“Huh”
“Huh? That’s your answer? So it’s true, then.” Pierre said, putting the phone away.
“I’m not sure how openly I’m able to discuss that.”
“Okay, just one thing. I know George gets 8 this year, do you get more than that?” Pierre asked and Esteban smiled a strained smile “Oh my God! You do!”
“Well, did George already negotiate his contract for next year? He could get more.”
“We’ll have to wait and see, I guess.”
“Well, how much do you pay him?” George asked.
“Why does that matter? You gave me the number you wanted and I made the ten million happen, where is your problem now?” Toto asked.
“It’s not a problem, it’s just a simple question.”
“He has a higher base pay but you have a better bonus system.”
“Okay, thank you for being honest.” George said and kept eating his lunch. Toto just watched him, Suzy switching her eyes between Toto and George.
“Are you guys okay?” she asked after a minute.
“Yeah, why?” George asked, looking up from his salad.
“Well … one moment you are almost fighting about money and the next you’re eating like nothing happened.” Toto said carefully.
“I didn’t want to fight, I wanted an honest answer and I got it, so it’s fine. Or did you lie?”
“No”
“Then we are good. I asked for ten, I got ten. I’m good. I could have asked for more, but I didn’t. I’ll know for next year.” George said, eating again. Toto looked at his wife, but she just shrugged her shoulders and started eating, too.
They announced George’s two-year extension on Thursday evening.
First practice in Zandvoort on Friday was a trial-and-error thing for Lando, him and Kimi wanting to try different settings. There was a red flag in the middle of training, Charles managed to turn his car around on a lifted turn, not being able to get the car back the right way around and having to get the car airlifted out of the circuit. At least he could laugh about it. Sadly, the time doesn’t stop during training, costing them almost 15 minutes.
Second practice didn’t have any interruptions and Lando was able to put in 2 long runs, they dedicated third practice for qualifying prep, concentrating on fast laps.
He started 2nd, right behind Max. Behind him were Logan, Charles, Daniel, George, Lance, Alex, Carlos and Lewis.
They hadn’t tried anything crazy like misaligning the car this time, concentrating more on the tire management and finding the perfect race line for Lando. The upgrade they had after the summer break gave them a new front and back wing, as well as new sidepods, making their car both lighter and aerodynamically stronger, causing less air resistance.
Max had a slightly better start, leading the first two laps before Lando managed to overtake with the help of his DRS, getting away from Max quickly. The field was pushed closer together after 20 laps, a yellow flag and safety car caused by Magnussen having a tire failure and sliding off the track and against the barrier. Pierre had to retire later in the race, the statement was engine failure.
Lando won the race with a 15 second gap to Max, who sounded and looked happy, but Lando thought there was something else hidden underneath. Logan completed the podium, followed by Daniel, Charles, Lance, Alex, George, Esteban and Lewis, letting both Mercedes finish in the points.
Charles and Max flew back to Monaco the same afternoon, having promised Arti to be there for his first day of school on Monday.
“You’re disappointed.” Charles stated when they sat on the plane.
“Not disappointed … well maybe disappointed, I’m not really sure. It’s just … maybe the last two years made me feel … to confident or comfortable? I don’t know. It’s been a long time since someone was five points behind me after 15 races.” Max tried to explain.
“You’re scared he could beat you?”
“Scared? I don’t think so. I’m happy for him, you know that it finally really works. Lando was second or third. For years. He deserves to win, I just … didn’t think he would win this much? That he would be this good. Everybody has been saying that the Redbull is a rocket ship. Now there seem to be two rocket ships. It just really surprised me.”
“Yeah. I saw him race before. On tv and stuff. He was always one or two steps behind. Now he’s not.”
“Yeah” Max said, leaning his head back.
Driver’s standing after the Zandvoort GP
NOR267
VER272
SAR167
RIC102
LEC156
STR39
ALB35
RUS59
OCO31
HAM22
BEA34
TSU62
SAI59
LAW4
HUL5
BOT12
ZHO2
LAT0
GAS1
MAG6