Against You

Water Race

Lando POV

I hate Oscar Piastri, I think as I run my thumb over the pink scar on the bottom of my foot. I hope he sees me do it from his seat across the pool. Grace has put us back into the environment where we had our last big fight, and exactly the opposite of what she promised in the beginning, of course this media day will be another competitive challenge.

If you ask me I think media days should be cancelled completely.

"Why are we doing this?" I murmur as Grace walks past, dropping a blow-up flamingo at my feet along with a pump.

"Because it's great content," she replies sharply.

"Belgium isn't exactly known for its swimming pools though, is it?"

"We're going to release the video when we're in Italy so it'll be more on-theme."

I shiver as I glance out of the window at the lashing rain. I don't think anyone's going to believe we filmed this in Italy.

Grace walks over to Oscar and drops the same nonsense items at his feet too. I'm beginning to see where this is going.

"God help us..." I mutter.

"Lights, camera, action!" Grace twirls, pointing her finger in the air as her brown hair whirls around her. I take deep a breath and force a smile.

"Hi everyone, welcome to another McLaren challenge! I have no idea what we're doing."

"Cut!" Grace shouts and waves her hands above her head again. "Lando, it's a race. You have to blow up the flamingo, sit in it and paddle across the pool before the other person. Is it not obvious?"

I sigh and look at the pile of cheap holiday toys at my feet.

"I guess there are going to be a few rounds..."

Grace rolls her eyes and jumps back behind the camera.

"Action!"

Oscar's sharp intake of breath tells me he's about to do the intro for me, so I cut him off loudly.

"Hey everyone and welcome to the McLaren pool float swimming challenge. The rules are simple, first person to blow up their animal and swim to the other end of this pool is the winner."

Grace puts a whistle to her lips and blows. I guess that means we're starting already.

I tear open the packaging as a camera woman steps forward to film my confusion more closely. I turn the pump over in my hand but I can't find where it's supposed to attach to the stupid pink flamingo. I glance at Oscar. At least he hasn't found it either.

Finally I get the thing connected and start to pump. It's a foot operated pump which means I press it against the ground, but it's uncomfortable with bare feet. Oscar uses both of his arms to repeatedly crush the thing between his hands, but I know I'll need all my upper body strength to paddle across the swimming pool.

The blowing-up process is nauseatingly long. I know most of this footage will be edited out but it isn't even about the video anymore for me. It's about beating Oscar.

We throw our floats into the pool at the exact same time.

I carefully lower myself onto the wobbly pink plastic but Oscar takes one glance and launches himself belly first onto his float. The momentum carries him out into the water ahead of me. I paddle frantically with my arms as I try to get my legs comfortable beneath me. It's a fifty metre pool so nothing is lost yet, but Oscar's almost halfway across the pool now and it's clear all those days spent surfing on the Australian beaches have helped him with his arm strength and style. In an act of desperation, I launch myself off my float and grab onto his, but it stays upright.