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Lewis was angry as he stepped out of the car. It was his last qualifying session in a Mercedes as he would be moving to Ferrari in 2025. He had qualified P18. It wasn’t last but he wasn’t in the top ten. He had wanted to do well for his team to give them a good result for the final race. It wasn’t that Abu Dhabi was difficult to overtake but he was going to have a hard job on Sunday.
The Brit didn’t speak to anyone after he had stepped out of the car. He grabbed a drink and headed through to the media pen with his press officer. No words were spoken on the way to the pen and Lewis was just fine with that.
In the pen, Lewis couldn’t hide his disappointment at the fact that he had qualified P18. He tried to act positive in front of all the journalists who were asking how he felt. He didn’t want to be in the media pen but he had a job to do.
When Lewis returned to the motorhome, he went and sat in his room for a bit. He wanted to be on his own for a while. After a while, Lewis went in search for Bono. He found him in the hospitality area talking to some of the engineers. Lewis walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Bono turned around and smiled sympathetically at him. Lewis didn’t like it.
“Hey pal, how are you doing? It was a shame about qualifying but there’s still everything we can do tomorrow.” Said Bono.
“Can we do debrief just now?” Asked Lewis.
Bono sighed.
“Qualifying has only just finished, Lewis and George hasn’t even stepped foot into the media pen.”
Lewis knew that response was coming. It was normal to do debrief with both drivers and a full room of engineers after qualifying. The Brit wasn’t really in the mood. He just wanted to go back to the hotel.
“Please?” He asked, hopefully.
It was almost as if Bono could sense how Lewis was feeling and he was grateful when Bono nodded.
“I’ll go and speak to Toto.” Replied Bono.
He disappeared for a bit so Lewis pulled out his phone to look busy as some of the staff members tried to approach him to talk to him about qualifying. Eventually, Bono returned and Lewis’ team of engineers gathered to do a small post qualifying debrief. Lewis knew that he would have to thank Toto at some point.
Lewis sneaked out of the paddock once he was sure that Bono didn’t need anything from him and that he was sure he wasn’t going to get into trouble for missing the main debrief. He had a feeling that George would interrogate him on Sunday but right now, he didn’t care.
The Brit made it back to the hotel where he ran himself a bath and then grabbed a spare t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He laid in bed and listened to music that was on his phone.
He didn’t know how long he had been in bed for when there was a knock on the door. He frowned but got up to answer it. Valtteri smiled as he came face to face with Lewis. The smile dropped when Lewis looked confused.
“I came to check up on you.” Said Valtteri.
Lewis sighed.
“I don’t need cheering up.”
Valtteri scoffed.
“I think you do.”
He walked into the room and went over to Lewis’ bed. He sat down on the bed and turned Lewis’ music off. The Brit sighed and shut the door before he walked back into the room and sat down next to Valtteri.
“How are you feeling?” Asked Valtteri.
Lewis snorted.
“Shit. I wanted to do well for my last race at Mercedes and I qualified 18th.”
“You know that could’ve easily happened to George.”
“It didn’t though.”
“Ferrari will be different though.”
“I hope so.”
“I take it you didn’t watch the rest of qualifying.”
“No, I asked Bono if we could debrief just with my team and then I headed straight back here.”
Valtteri looked disappointed.
“I figured as much.”
Lewis frowned wondering why Valtteri looked upset.
“Why are you asking?”
Valtteri sighed and looked down at the floor.
“I qualified ninth for the race.”
Lewis ran a hand over his face. Here he was feeling disappointed over his own qualifying that he hadn’t even bothered to ask Valtteri how he had gotten on. He hadn’t even bothered to watch how he had gotten on, never mind his own teammate.
“I’m sorry, Val, I was so annoyed after my own session that I didn’t want to be in the paddock anymore.” Said Lewis, quietly.
Valtteri shook his head.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine. We’re in this together and I should’ve at least checked how well you had done. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Well done.”
Valtteri smiled.
“Thank you.”
Lewis smiled.
“Will you stay with me for a bit?” He asked.
Valtteri’s smile brightened.
“I’d love to.”