DAISIES-Lando Norris

[ 10 ]

It was done, Taylor signed the contract with RedBull. She wanted to say it was fully her decision, but what Max told her stayed imprinted at the front of her mind for most of the week. In her defense, he had a good reason to make her sign, she would regret it if she didn't.

Weirdly enough, the weekend buildup for the Monaco Grand Prix was the best one so far she has ever experienced. Apart from the fact that all the media was focused on her, she did so many fun things with RedBull, and Max turned out to be more sweet than she expected.

The minute she sighed the contract with RedBull, she was pulled away from the rest of the world for an entire week to do the fitting for her car seat, she also had to learn all the bottoms of the steering wheel and memorize what each one did, she did so many photoshoots that her eyes and cheeks were starting to hurt. All her new team wear clothes and even her helmet were changed to have all the RedBull sponsors and logo. She was exhausted by the time she actually stepped inside the car, and the first time she ever did was during the first practice of the Grand Prix.
It definitely surprised the entire world when instead of Sergio Perez arriving at the track with the RedBull clothes, it was Taylor who did instead, and this was how they announced they switched drivers once again.

Taylor felt bad for Checo, the guy was literally told that same week he wasn't going to race anymore with RedBull and they kicked him out to the Alpha Tauri seat. After all, that's how the sport worked and that's how it will always be.

Lando on the other hand, was so happy for Taylor he couldn't hide his excitement. He wanted to speak with her at every chance he got, even ending a few interviews earlier than usual just to see her. He had to admit it scared him to think she would crumble under the pressure or underperform the way the team wanted her to.

But it was Taylor we were talking about, she could take on anything.

The excitement of the weekend never ceased to exist as Taylor qualified p4, the highest she ever qualified in Formula 1. All anybody could hear was her name whispered around, the expectation from her to end higher in the race was all down to her now, she had to perform in order to show she wasn't weak and could take on the RedBull.

During the drivers parade she couldn't concentrate, at all. Max was at her right, showing his support for her, he was actually excited he finally had a teammate that could keep up with him. Lando meanwhile was at her left side, his hand dangling too close to hers to the point she almost told him to grab her it once and for all but fortunately Charles was quicker than her at speaking and started a new topic of conversation before she could even open her mouth.

"Are you okay, doll?" Lando spoke quietly to her, he could see how anxious she became, she couldn't even stay still for more than a few seconds.

Taylor looked at him through the RedBull cap she had on, she mostly wanted to hide her face since the nerves were clear on her eyes. His kind green eyes bringing an inner peace nobody has been able to, his shy stare at her and the way he couldn't hold eye contact for too long caused her to giggle a little at him. It was absolutely adorable how awkward he became whenever Taylor locked eyes with him. "I'm okay now"

The first five people in the starting grid gave Taylor even more nerves to be racing against. Daniel had pole position, followed by Max and then Lando. Taylor was in fourth and in fifth was Sebastian Vettel.

The race went alright, she was sitting comfortably in fourth place, not until suddenly her race engineer told her she was in p3. Taylor gripped even harder her steering wheel, racing against Sebastian and Max as she wanted to keep her place, her nerves picking up once again. It was apparently because Lando had a bad pit stop, which made him drop to fifth place and placing her one up.

Even when she crossed the line, nobody could believe she was the first girl that would stand on the podium of Formula 1 after so many years. Even the commentators were speechless, until Crofty started screaming and yelling how Taylor got third palce, watching as she slowed down at the track, nobody could believe it.

Her radio was played on the tv, profanities leaving her mouth as tears spilled from her eyes. Her team was screaming and yelling, hugging each other and running towards the podium stands, waiting for Taylor to come out of the car.

Finally the right person was placed in the car.

She was practically drowned in champagne by Daniel and Max, to the point she felt like she couldn't breath properly. A smile so wide on her face nothing could wipe it away.
The crowd was huge, filling up almost all the straight line of the track, American flags were displayed everywhere, it felt like a win even though it wasn't.

It was a memorable day, history was made right before their eyes. Taylor would never forget that day, not only because she got her first Formula 1 podium, but also what came after it, because not even her could see it coming.