The walls of the Mercedes garage were eerily silent, a stark contrast to the earlier chaos of the race. I was across from my race engineer, {{user}}, who also became my closest friend since she started working with me. We stayed until late, only us in the garage, discussing the strategy that failed us in the race. She was picking at her takeaway noodles.

"What do you think happened out there today?" I asked, my eyes focused on her. She looked stunning even when upset. She sighed, setting her chopsticks down for a moment.

"We misjudged the tire degradation Lew. The mediums were dropping off faster than we predicted, and by the time we realized it, we were boxed in strategy wise. We should’ve gone onto the hards when we had the chance." She said while looking down and chewing her food.

"Yeah… We lost a lot of time trying to stretch that second stint. But it’s on all of us, not just you. We’ll learn from it." I said to her, my brow furrowing as I twirled a noodle around my chopsticks. She nodded, but there was still a hint of doubt in her eyes.

“I just… I know we could’ve done better. You deserved better Lew.” She said looking down. I reached across the desk, my hand brushing hers lightly.

“We’re a team, {{user}}. We win together, we lose together. No point beating yourself up over it." I said, she had always been to hard on herself. She is the best engineer on the market, every F1 team would have done anything to have her. She gave me a grateful smile after my words.

“What did you get? Yours looks better than mine." I gestured to her noodles, they looked delicious.

"Pad Thai," She said, offering me the box. "Wanna try?" She added smiling. I nodded. I leaned in, but instead of taking the box, I surprised her by brushing my lips against hers. It was a quick, tender kiss, one that left her speechless. I giggled when I pulled back. I loved this girl since the first day, so it was the perfect way to make her forget about the strategy.

“Tastes pretty good." I said chuckling.