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Standing in the rain as the Dutch national anthem played, Lewis couldn’t help but let his gaze wander to the 23-year-old standing in 2nd place. George Russell, Williams driver. Lewis never thought he’d be below a Williams driver at the end of a race unless he DNF’d. He wanted to be angry at the man, standing there beaming at a sea of dark blue below them. He wanted to be angry at the fact he’d been outplaced by a Williams. But for some reason, all he felt was admiration and awe.
This was the guy who DNF’d 3 times this season. The guy who’d finished in the points twice in his whole career. How he’d managed to have beaten Lewis was incredible. To be honest, if they’d actually been able to race, he probably would have fallen back to at least 12th. Lewis would have smoked him. But the storm that currently thundering its way over the track meant they didn’t have a single lap without a safety car. No way for Lewis to overtake him. If it was anyone else, if he’d been outplaced by a more mediocre car, such as Yuki in the AlphaTauri, maybe he’d be more angry. But the fact that it was a Williams just made this whole thing feel like a fever dream.
Lewis remembers seeing George’s face as he strolled up to the podium area. His eyes were clear, he’d probably started crying with happiness when it was announced the race was cancelled. Lewis would probably cry if he was in George’s position. As he waited for the race status to be announced, he overheard Toto mention something about wanting George now. “If he can beat us in a Williams, what could he do in a Mercedes?” Probably take it to victory, Lewis had thought. If he can bring the slowest car in the grid to a front-line starting position, what could he do in an actually reliable car? When they were able to start pouring the champagne, Lewis ignored Max (like usual) and started dousing the young driver. He shrieked with laughter and started to spray his own champagne at Lewis. To anyone else, it might have looked like they were close friends, celebrating each other, but in reality, Lewis didn’t know a thing about George Russell, apart from he liked to crash his cars, was a relatively good driver, had made history by taking a Williams to podium, was tall and looked especially pretty drenched in champagne.
Lewis stopped George after the podium to talk to him. “You were pretty incredible out there Russell. Well, yesterday I mean.” George went bright red. Probably shocked that Lewis Hamilton was complimenting him. “It was only like, one 100th of a second.” George stuttered out. “Exactly, that’s what makes it so impressive,” Lewis replied, unable to stop smiling at the man in front of him, clearly struggling for words. “You’ve nearly won this race, don’t let the podium get to your head, Russell. I expect to see more of this.” George just nodded enthusiastically. It was kind of adorable. Once again, Lewis didn’t know anything about George Russell, but as he walked away, he couldn’t help but think that he wouldn’t mind getting to know him a bit better.