Reserve... A Lando Norris Story

Six

I arrive at my Melbourne hotel room a little after 8pm, and as soon as I sit down on the bed I pass out from exhaustion.

That's jet lag for you.

I am awoken a few hours later to my phone ringing. It's Lando.

"Hello?" I groan, still half asleep

"Hello sleepyhead!" Lando chuckles playfully. "I'm outside your room!"

"Why?" I ask confused, jumping out of bed.

"McLaren challenge video, remember? We're needed at the track in an hour. Or did you forget?" He asks cheekily.

I hang up the phone and open my door. My hoodie and cycling shorts creased from the long flight and my hair in a somewhat matted bun.

Lando looks at me in shock, trying not to laugh at my appearance.

"Don't... just don't." I scowl, "come in, I won't be long."

I'm mortified he's seeing me like this.

Lando does as I say and sits on the couch a few feet away from the bed. I run around aimlessly trying to locate my clothes and essentials, before going into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me.

"Not a morning person then?" Lando shouts, I can't see his face but I know he's grinning, there's no need to conceal his smile anymore.

"No, not really!" I shout back.

I open the door a few minutes later, dressed in my McLaren uniform, my hair pulled into a neat slicked back bun. I'm wearing a little makeup, but nothing that is noticeable.

"I need coffee. A strong coffee." I mutter as I grabs my phone and hotel key and stuff them into my bag, heading towards the door.

"Wait there a second!" Lando giggles, standing up.

I turn to face him, "What is it?"

"There's toothpaste on your chin!" he gestures, grinning widely.

You are kidding me.

"Jesus Christ!" I exclaim before wiping my face. "Is it gone?"

"No!" My teammate chuckles, "here, I'll get it!"

Lando makes his way over and gently rubs the toothpaste off with his thumb, "there you go."

"Thanks. Now come on, we're going to be late!" I frown, pulling Lando out of the door.

"Says the girl who slept through all her alarms!" He winks as we head off to the track.

The drive there is silent, I'm still waking up and Lando clearly doesn't want to annoy me, it's not a long drive thankfully and we arrive a half hour later.

We are are greeted by Florence who explains how the challenge is going to work, handing Lando the question cards and directing us to the McLaren car on tack.

We both get inside, and are informed of where the cameras are and to try to avoid swearing. We do a practice lap without any questions, just so I have a rough idea of where the turns are and where to break. I've never raced this track before.

Before we know it, it's time, and Florence gestures for us to introduce ourselves for the camera.

"Hello everyone! I'm Lando Norris!" He greets, with a wide smile.

"Hey guys! I'm Valentina DeLuca!" I grin, putting on my best friendly tone of voice, "and today I'm going to be driving Lando round the track in this brand new McLaren Artura!"

"Whilst I attempt to ask her questions you guys have sent in." Lando chuckles, showing the camera the cards in front of him.

"And I attempt to answer them!" I giggle. "Wish us luck!"

I set off round the track at high speed, drifting around the first corner causing Lando to squeal, "Ok, question one. What made you get into karting?"

"My brother believe it or not! He used to force me to race him as a child, and I enjoyed the thrill of it!" I giggle as I make a sharp right turn.

"Oh God!" Lando cries out, his face is an absolute picture, just pure terror.

"Question two..." Lando reads the next question and chuckles, "I know the answer to this one! What's your favourite colour?"

"Well why don't you do the honours of telling our audience?" I grin as I speeds down the long straight.

I'm enjoying this far too much.

Lando smirks, trying to compose himself. "It's warm yellow, like the sunset on a summers evening!"

"Ding ding ding!!" I chuckle, pressing the brake a little two hard as we both jolt forward.

"Next question, who's your best friend on track?"

"Oscar!" I cry out, hitting the left hand turn.

"That's rude!" Lando squeals, half in terror, half in glee. "Oooh this one is juicy.... Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope. They're overrated!" I groan as I head through the chicane at high speed.

Lando bursts into laughter, trying to conceal his petrification. "Do you want a boyfriend?!"

Something in me tells me that wasn't written on the cards.

"No! I'm happy being single!" I squeal, losing control of the car slightly.

"Next question. How many languages do you speak?" Lando asks, throwing the used cards into the back seats.

"4! English, Italian, French and Spanish!" I answer, drifting over the final corner.

"I think I'm going to be sick!" Lando groans, he takes a few deep breathes before continuing, "Last question! How does it feel to be the first female F1 driver?"

"It feels amazing! And I hope I pave the way for many more women in this truly amazing sport!" I grin as I dramatically puts the car to a stop, causing Lando to jerk forward once more.

"That was terrifying!" He blurts out between laughing hysterically.

"Well I thoroughly enjoyed it!!" I grin, patting Lando's helmet. "Well that's all we have time for today. I hope you guys enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed making it!"

"Yep. What she said..." Lando groans, pulling his helmet off.