letters [max verstappen]

15

Silverstone, UK - September 2015

Jack's white and blue Koiranen was right on my heels as we accelerated out of the final turn. "Is that what I think it is?" I screamed into my radio as I saw the checkered flag.

"P1, Becca! Fantastique, félicitations, c'a été une course magnifique, eh?" Enzo, my race engineer, responded.

"Hahahahaa! Yes! Tu es un genié!" During the race, Enzo had made a bold call to switch my strategy, resulting in me undercutting the front pack and though a few, including Jack, were able to catch me, I managed to defend well enough until the end of the race.

"Congrats, Chouchou!" Antoine ran up and hugged me in parc fermé, using the nickname he had picked up from Pierre.

"Thanks, Tonio." I smiled through my helmet, and even through his, I could see him grinning back at me. Another arm grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

"Congrats, Becca! Insane strategy, you fought for that one." Jack Aitken exclaimed. I was a bit shocked by the much more successful and seasoned driver who had already won a race this weekend. We had small interactions in the past, but until now I honestly hadn't been sure if he knew my name.

"Ahhh, thank you!" I smiled.

"More fights for the win soon, I hope." He grinned, and I nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, me too!"

We made our way up to the podium along with the third-place finisher, Jake Hughes. Jack and Jake were called out and took their places, and finally, my name was called. "Our first-place winner of Silverstone race 2, Becca Sommer!"

I jogged out onto the podium, waving as my team cheered below me. They handed out the trophies, and as they played the American anthem I was surprised as I felt the emotion swell in my chest, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I was snapped out of it when Jack caught me off guard and started spraying me with champagne. I squealed and sprayed him back, giggling as Jake jumped in front of us, spraying us both. When the excitement was done, we posed for a picture and were ushered off the podium.

The track staff dumped us into the main paddock, and I was ready to walk back to our paddock but Jack and Jake eagerly ran over to a nearby golf cart.

"Come on Becca!" Jack called, and I followed suit, figuring it would get us where we needed to be. I was right, but with Jack driving with one hand, trophy in the other, it was a bit hectic.

We got back to our paddock and jumped off the golf cart, cackling. Jack placed a hand on my shoulder. "Congrats again on the win, awesome to share the podium with you. See you around?"

I nodded happily, it seemed like I was set to make my first friend outside of my team, albeit ⅔ into the season. "Yeah, thanks! I'm around." He gave me a final pat on the shoulder before we headed our separate ways to our garages.

"Yeahhhhhh!" Henri yelled as I entered the team's tent, and I was pulled into a group hug with him, Robert, and Enzo.

"You guys are the best!" I giggled, handing Enzo my p1 trophy, Robert my p1 trophy, and Henri the champagne. A photographer who I guessed had been waiting for this moment started snapping pictures of us, and Hugo also came over and congratulated me, along with a few other team members.

"You did it, kid." Enzo pulled me into another hug, and I felt the tears really start to stream down my cheeks. "Why are you crying?" He chuckled as we pulled apart.

"I don't know." I managed to laugh. "I'm just so thankful for you guys. No matter what, you've believed in me."

That put a big smile on his face. "Come on. Everyone's getting ready to take a big team picture."