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October 12, 2019

Qualifying day at Suzuka. I had made no progress in finding a team, by no fault of my own. Four new drivers had entered the grid last year, so no one was really in the market.

I was sitting at a table outside the Red Bull hospitality when George came out of nowhere and slid into the seat opposite me.

"Hey, George." I raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Have you talked to anyone from Williams lately?" He murmured.

"No...should I have?"

"Have you talked to Gianna?" He questioned again. That really piqued my interest, as Gianna had become my personal manager, and would be the person who a team would reach out to if they wanted me to drive for them.

"George, are you saying what I think you're saying?" I looked at him seriously.

"I can't actually say anything but... yeah." He grinned. "I don't know the details, but you should probably go find Gianna." He looked up, made eye contact with someone behind me, grinned, and then scurried off. I turned around to see Gianna with a small smirk on her face as she watched George run off, then slid into the seat he was just in.

"George scurrying away makes me think you've already heard something..." She smiled.

I chuckled. "If 'something' is extremely cryptic with no details then yes, I've heard something."

"Well, I'll fill in the details if I can." She smiled. "Williams reached out and they want to talk to you about possibly driving for them next year."

"Driving for them– like a full-time seat?" I said cautiously, not wanting to get my hopes up.

She nodded. "Full-time seat. They want to meet early tomorrow before the race... do you want me to say yes?"

I frowned. "I don't know to be honest... do you think I should go for it? Should I wait for another offer? Williams isn't exactly the best team on the grid, and I'm not sure how Red Bull would react since they're connected to Mercedes–"

"Becca." Gianna stopped me. "I think you're way overthinking. I say we go and meet Claire and the team, you can see if you like their vibe, and if you think you could fit in well there we can go from there. You want to be an F1 driver, right? Well, they're an F1 team."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right." We stood up and pulled each other into a tight hug. "This is a big moment! Thank you, Gianna, for everything these past few years."

"You're so welcome Becca. Things are going to work out for you, I just know it."

—————

The next morning, Gianna and I met up for breakfast and then headed to the track early to meet with Williams. As we walked up to the hospitality, I noticed Claire Williams already sitting outside, waiting for us.

"Becca! It's good to see you." Claire stood up and shook both my hand and Gianna's.

"Good to see you too, Claire." I smiled. "I'm excited to be here."

"Well, we're excited that you're here! Come on in, we can give you a tour and you can meet some people if that sounds good. Then we can sit down and really talk shop." She offered.

I smiled. "Yeah, that sounds great."

Claire led us around the hospitality and then the garage, introducing pretty much anyone we passed while also explaining a lot about the team, how they functioned, their goals, and other things like that. I enjoyed the vibe within the team– it was a laid-back, friendly atmosphere, and everyone seemed to be working well together. Eventually, we headed back to the hospitality and sat down in a conference room.