Baby, baby, Brazil!
“Are you sure there’s only one in there with all the food you’re eating?” Zak asked when Oscar started his third bowl of oatmeal, earning a mad look from Oscar.
“Don’t worry, he’s looking like that at all of us.” Daniel said, sipping on his coffee. They had told him the day before, after Oscar broke down in tears that the restaurant needed ten minutes to prepare more churros.
“Well, you do keep commenting on his emotions, food choices and general behaviour during pregnancy. What did you expect?” Lando asked, finishing his breakfast.
“Aww!” Oscar let out, now having tears in his eyes, making Zak and Daniel lift their coffee cups to hide their laughs very quickly.
They had their flight later that day, bringing them to Brazil. Oscar had some social media and PR gigs there over the next days, promoting Eighty1, while Lando and the team worked on the details of the best strategy for Brazil, wanting to win this championship. Kimi was with them again. He had raced this track many times, winning the race and championship there in 2007.
“Oh, these memories.” Kimi said, looking over the track with a smile.
“You won the championship here, didn’t you?” Oscar asked from next to him.
“Yeah. You still into churros?” Kimi asked with a nod to the bag.
“Seems like it. They taste different here, though.”
“Yeah. You know, for my mate it was puffed rice in chocolate. She ate those things non-stop; it was … I don’t know how to describe it. Kind of made me feel comfortable that she was comfortable, you know.” Kimi looked at Oscar “Just tell me if you need anything.” He then smiled “Congratulations, by the way and if Lando wins his championship here, I expect it to be called Kimi.” He said, turned around and left. Zak and Lando walking towards him.
“Hey, you all good?” Lando asked.
“Please don’t win the championship here.” Oscar asked.
“What? Why?” Zak asked.
“I don’t want to name our kid Kimi.” Oscar said and Zak and Lando laughed. “This is not funny; I’d feel like I have to!” Oscar complained.
“You don’t have to give the child any name you don’t like. If you decide on calling it Zak, though, I would not complain.”
“But what if she goes into labour now? There are only two days left!” Pierre panicked, opening the door.
“Pierre! Calm down. There is no reason to panic! She arrived in Paris, is with her family, everything is fine. There is no news that any labour started.” Esteban said.
“Well, what do you even know about labour anyway?” Pierre asked him.
“Nothing! Which is just as much as you!” Esteban said.
“I read books!”
“Yeah, I’m sure every person who’s about to give birth trusts you now, as you are such an expert because you read a book!” Esteban mocked.
“It’s still more than what you know!”
“Well, I don’t need to know anything about it because I’m not about to be a dad! I gifted you this milk warmer thingy you guys wanted so much, isn’t that enough? And I can babysit if you want.”
“I would not let you babysit.”
“Why not?”
“Because you just pretty much admitted you never even read a baby book!”
“So, what, it’s a baby, if it screams you check the diaper and try to feed it. You hold it on your arm and twiddle your fingers in front of their face, boom, they are happy.”
“For a nap, do you lay him on his front or on his back?” Pierre asked.
“On his back, no pillow, no blanket, no other mushy things around it, because he could choke or get smothered, everyone knows that!” Esteban said and Pierre crossed his arms.
“He said you put him on the back, otherwise he could get smothered and everyone knows that.” Charles said.
“What are you doing?” Pierre asked.
“Translating, you guys are speaking French.” Charles said and only now they looked around, the room already filled with all the other drivers, shaking their heads and smiling.
“Well, now that everyone is here, we can start the pre-race meeting.” The race director said “please take a seat, gentlemen, I’m sure the matter of babysitting can get discussed after the child is actually born.” And Pierre and Esteban sheepishly took a seat.
The first and second practice went well, McLaren changed a couple of things in between their stints, adjusting to the uneven track.
Fernando came back as a replacement driver, this time for Kevin at Haas. Kevin had made a statement on Instagram, thanking everyone for helping him on the track and promising to see them all soon.
Max qualified on pole, directly followed by Charles, Lando, Daniel and Logan.
They went onto their formation lap and after turn 4 they all got a call.
“Return to box, return to box, formation lap aborted.” They heard from their engineers.
“What happened?” Max asked.
“We’re not sure, yet. Leclerc slid out of a corner and hit the barriers, probably some car failure. He’s okay.” GP told him.
“During the formation lap?” Max asked confused.
“Yyyeeeeah” GP said slowly.
They all went back to the pit lane, their teams already waiting with umbrellas against the burning sun.
“He just slid out?” Max asked GP.
“Yeah, in the turn, sideway and bump into the barrier. They are currently lifting the car out, spot 2 will be empty.”
“Alright, as long as Charles is fine.”
“Mad as hell, sitting on the grass huffing and puffing, but he’s fine. 15 minutes until restart, same procedure.”
The race started again and Max flew towards the first corner, Lando and Logan right behind him.
“Yellow flag, yellow flag, slow down.” He heard GP half a lap later, hearing a little chuckle in his voice.
“What happened now?”
“Collision during the start. Ricciardo, Bottas, Bearman and Albon involved. It’s going to be a bit.”
“Copy”
“Alright, safety car ending this lap. Ricciardo, Albon and Bottas out. Norris and Sargeant are right behind you.”
“Understood.” Max said. He saw the lights on the safety car go out and it entered the pits, Max stalling a little longer, warming his tires before speeding up. Lando stuck right to his rear, going a little to the outer side in turn one, going fast and setting himself next to him behind the turn, getting a better grip and overtaking him in the Curva do Sol, just behind the second turn. He saw the orange and black McLaren set himself in front of him and speed up, getting a couple car lengths between them on the long straight, the Reta Oposta. He set a fast pace and Max groaned.
“We’ve got 65 laps left, no reason to get grumpy.” He heard GP tell him.
“Box, box” he heard in lap 28, stopping for hards, Lando following two laps later, but managed to stay in front of him.
“Yellow flag, yellow flag, slow down.” He heard after playing a little catch up, being back up in sixth, five laps after his pit stop.
“What happened?” he asked, seeing Yuki in front of him, Lando just vanishing around the corner in fourth.
“Sargeant was taken out while lapping Zhou, Zhou’s tire blew and got into Logan’s rear suspension.”
“Oh, come on, no.”
“Yes, he’s out of the race.”
“What about Zhou?”
“Damage, but still in the race for now.” GP said. Five laps later, the race was on again.
“Okay, Tsunoda is between you and Norris. 20 laps to go.” The race started again and he was able to overtake Yuki quite quickly. “Norris right in front, then it’s Russell, Sainz and Stroll currently leading on new tires.”
“Lance is leading?” Max asked.
“Yep.”
“Wow” Max let slip out and sped behind Lando, Yuki sticking to him. Lando overtook George and Carlos quickly with DRS, Max losing out a little at first.
“Norris now leading, you are third, gap is 4.6, seven laps to go, make it count.” He heard GP.
“Copy” Max answered, speeding up some more. He had to watch his tires. They were old by now. He didn’t think he’d use them up this much during the fight with Carlos. He saw Lance and Lando getting closer and three laps later he slipped into Lance’s DRS, who fought him like a lion for another two laps before Max managed to overtake him in turn 1.
“Motherfo-oting butterfly!” Lance yelled after the overtake, hearing his engineer laugh. “This is not funny!” he then added.
“It kind of is.” His engineer said, still chuckling “You’ve still got DRS, stick to him, four laps to go.”
“Copy.” Lance said and sped behind Max. He managed to stay in his DRS, but Max was always that quarter of a second faster to prevent an overtake. They closed up on Lando, the three cars speeding down the track.
“Oh, hell no!” Zhou let out and swerved almost completely off the track on the wide Curva do Sol, seeing the three cars coming behind him. The three sped past him, Max and Lance opening their DRS, but neither one of them managed an overtake.
They sped further ahead, keeping the order down turn seven, when Lando overused his breaks, letting a big cloud of smoke out, making Max swerve to the outside to avoid a crash before they both picked their pace back up, but it was too late. Lance took the inner line of the turn, barely wide enough to get through between Lando and the grass. He was in front now, Max and Lando behind him. Lando managed to keep second while Max was in third.
“One lap to go, Lance. Mind the curbs.” His engineer gritted.
“Copy” Lance huffed out, breathing heavily. He tried to keep his head clear and concentrated on the track, checking his mirrors every couple of seconds. Lando came closer, he had DRS on the Reta Oposta, as did Max. He didn’t care about the tires in this moment. He floored the gas, speeding down and managed to stay in front. They made their way down the track, the crowds roaring loudly.
“No, no, no!” Lance let out just before the main straight, seeing the McLaren starting to catch up on his left. He floored the gas, desperately trying to get more speed out of the car, feeling it shake and purpose on the track. Then he saw dark blue on his right catching up as well. “Nooooo!” he let out, crossing the finish line. None of them were able to take turn 1 correctly, going far out of the track and then turn the car. “Who won? Who won?”
“Oh my God! We’re waiting for video proof!” his engineer screeched into the intercom.
“Tell me?! Who won?!” Lance screamed.
“Wait, wait, wait!” his engineer screeched, then there were a couple seconds silence before he heard some kind of sniff “You won Lance! YOU DID IT! WE WON!!” Norris second, Verstappen third, what a race Lance! Oh my God!” Lance was like in trance. He waved to the crowds and stopped his car in front of the number 1, taking off his belt and getting out of the car. He stood next to it, seeing Lando walk up to him, slapping his shoulder and giving him a one armed hug. That’s when he woke back up from his trance. All the noise came to him. The crowds screaming, his team yelling for him, Lando and Max congratulating him on his first F1 win. George walked up to him, also hugging him, as did many others. He went over to hug his team before making his way to the winner’s room. Max and Lando were already there.
End result of the Sao Paulo GP
Race 21-Sao Paulo
STR109
NOR410
VER314
SAI237
TSU90
BEA64
RUS99
OCO49
GAS11
ALO19
HUL6
LAW6
HAM36
LAT0
ZHO2
SAR228
ALB43
BOT12
RIC128
LEC228