away we go • formula 1

Dont stop belivin'

The next minutes went by in a blur. I had to get on a scale and went into the cool down room. The couch looked just about perfect and I plopped down. "Congrats kid. Great race", Valtteri came over to me and handed me a bottle of water. "Thanks. I can't quite believe it.", I admitted. He grinned: "Enjoy it. Even though I can promise you you have a lot more podiums coming your way." I felt overjoyed with that.
Max was still not inside so I chatted to Valtteri for a bit. It must be very hard for him to always be portrayed as second best to Lewis. I mean Lewis is already a legend but Valtteri was a genuinely nice guy and very hard working. We sat there talking for a good 5 minutes when Max stepped inside.
I smiled at him with the biggest smile ever. He motion for me to stand up and I jumped up. "You are a superstar!", he said and pulled me into a big hug. "No you are!", I said while hugging. "Ok we are. I was cheering for you when I heard it over the radio.", he said while pulling away. I had to chuckled at the image in my head. Max cheering for me in his cockpit. "Thank you. I can't quite believe what happened.", I admitted. "Don't worry. There is lots of videos so you can rewatch.", Max joked. Gone was the awkwardness between us. It was just pure happiness. "Congrats on your win Mr. Verstappen. Christian and Marko must be elated.", I grinned form ear to ear. "Thank you. They are. I'm proud it wasn't as easy as it might've seemed.Valtteri was a though but to crack.", Max said in Valtteri's direction. "I aim to please.", Valtteri said completely stoic. Oh how I love fins.
"Your gonna love this. And even though you didn't win they are gonna play your hymn.", Max said and got ready to get out in the podium. "Perks of Red Bull winning.", I shrugged and took my position.

The hallway got quiet all of a sudden and I heard the stadium speaker hyping up the crowd. "In third place: our own Carolin Zwesper!", the crowed roared and I stumbled out onto the podium. It felt unreal, my heart rate was rising and I was already holding back tears. The team was downstairs screaming and cheering their heads off.
"In second place: Valtteri Bottas." The crowed cheered but nowhere as loud as it did before and I clapped. "And the winner of the Austrian a grandprix: Max Verstappen!", the people went wild again and I had to chuckle.
The next moments where honestly a blur but when the Austrian hymn for the constructor began playing I was back in the moment. This time the tears came rolling down. I sung along and so did thousands of people.
Afterwards Martin Brundle came on stage to conduct the interviews. "So I think we all wanna speak to the local first sorry boys. Ladies first.", Martin came over to me. "Carolin what a massive achievement today. What a great race. Can you describe how you feel just about now?". "Uff uhm I gotta be honest I'm quite overwhelmed. This is what I dreamed of. F1. And to even get to drive was a privilege and a big goal of mine. And this podium is so much more than I ever expected. Sure I always dreamed about it but you know it's a very competitive sport and for me to get a podium was always gonna be a lot of work. Of course I gotta admit that if Lewis wouldn't have Dnf-ed and if Daniel wouldn't have had these problems I probably wouldn't be standing here." "Don't sell yourself under your worth.", Martin scolded me and I chuckled. "A big thank you goes out to my team. Everybody on track and back at the factory. They have done a tremendous job all weekend long and I couldn't have done it without them. I'm sorry I'm tearing up again.", I chuckled and wiped my tears away. "I'm really overwhelmed and to have this podium at home... This is the best day of my life and thank you.", the tears were trickling down my face at this point.

They took pictures of us three and the Red Bull mechanic. Max put his arm around me and I felt safe and happy. Maybe we got over this bump in the road?
Then came probably the part I dreaded and anticipated the most. The champagne. Valtteri and Max both drenched me in champagne and I couldn't do nothing against it. I laughed a lot and felt genuinely happy.
We got back inside and were welcomed by our media teams. "Caro this was the best race ever!", Sofie cheered and hugged me. "Thank you.", I was still smiling like a Cheshire Cat. "You did really well in the interviews and all I have left is to tell you to go party and have a nice evening. Oh and pls come to the team dinner it's at 6.30 pm.", she said. "No you are gonna party with us! It's a done deal.", I announced.
"Uhm Caro?", Max asked. I thought he had already left with his team. "Yes?". "So we are gonna go out for drinks tonight after the team dinner. And I was wondering if you'd maybe wann join? You can bring your friends if you want.", he was rubbing his neck and couldn't look me in the eye. "Uhm sure I'll ask them. Can you text me the details later?", I asked. "Sure sure. See you later.", he hugged me quickly and fled the scene. "Someone has a major crush", Sofie sung. "Pfft I don't know what you mean.", I chuckled.