A U R O R A // F1

Media Day Abu Dhabi GP. Nov 28th, 2019

The grip on my water bottle tightened with every minute I sat waiting in the hallway by the conference room.

But as soon as the meeting with the FIA began, my nervousness started to wash away. The stewards and board members were all very relaxed and polite, and Jamie was right, I could answer every question with ease.

At one point, I even got so comfortable, I started joking around with some of the stewards and earned chuckles and laughs.

At the end there were forms to be signed, fees to be paid, and photos to be shot.

Jamie picked me up and escorted me back to the hotel, where I quickly changed back into my jeans, white sneakers and Toro Rosso shirt and jacket. I put my long hair into a ponytail, put it through the back of my cap, and off we went.

On the way back to the paddock, Jamie leaned an arm on my shoulder and showed me the schedule for the day on his tablet.

Seven interviews by different sports and news channels, a shoot for Toro Rosso in the afternoon and right after that the official press conference, that was a lot more media than I was used to, and I was glad that Jamie accompanied me to every appointment.

It was tightly scheduled, so it was a relief when I could finally take a break around noon. I only now realized I was starving - I skipped breakfast because I was so tense in the morning.

Jenny joined Jamie and me with some of the motorhome catering, which we ate in my driver's room in the back. It was just a small complex with a bathroom and a room with two big couches, a small closet and a desk.

But on the door, there was a small sign saying „S. GREIFFENBERG", which made my heart skip a beat when I saw it. I went through the photos I took on my phone today, which I immediately sent to family members and Charlie back at home. Just the moment I finished eating we had to keep going again.

For the TV stream, they still needed some close-ups from my face and an upper-body shot.

The shoot was easier than I had imagined, with both the photographer and Toro Rosso's media manager being "happy with" my "face", which I took as a very weird compliment. Behind them, Jamie nodded in agreement.

Having that checked off the list, we rushed to get to the press conference in time.

I was seated with Charles Leclerc, then next to me Pierre and Kevin Magnussen, to the outside Max Verstappen.

I was delighted to sit next to Charles. I didn't get to already see him yesterday, and as we got miced up, we had a chance to chat a little.

"It's incredible you're here, I'm so happy to see you again. How long has it been, half a year? And I'm excited to race you again, obviously.", he explained with a wide smile on his face.

Back in 2016, Charles was 19 and won his GP3 championship. I was only 16, coming from a small European F4 series, and already gave him hell back then.

"Hehe, scared? But honestly, thank you so much, sitting next to you again really means a lot to me.", I replied politely, as I heard a scoff from the other end of the table.

Max interrupted us with a snort.

"Doubt that."

I knit my eyebrows and bent over the table to get a look of him. He looked back at me.

"Well it's obvious you are quite comfortable around a lot of guys, right? You're also very friendly with your manager and who knows who else, I guess?"

It took me a second to realize that just happened. I opened my mouth to say something harsh in response, but before I could start with my scene, one of the cameramen gave us a signal that we'd be live in 5, so I just gave him a frown and leaned back. Charles and Pierre looked at me, just as angry and perplexed as me, they obviously didn't know either where that sudden comment came from.