Against all odds

Chapter 7

The red-coloured lights went out and I stepped on the gas. Hamilton got away better than I did but as I wanted to overtake around the outside, he went farther towards me, but I managed to avoid the collision by stepping on the gas as I exited the turn.

In my mirrors I saw the Mercedes go into the runoff area.

'That means I'm in in first place! Fucking hell! Stay calm Alexandra. Stay calm and collected. Just finish this lap as quickly as possible. Then you can freak out.' I thought to myself.

Going into the second sector I took the last turn 12 as best I could and stepped onto the throttle. Seeing an Aston Martin turn the corner as I went into turn 13, I hurried the car around the corners into the third sector. Checking my mirrors again I saw the green car wasnt too close.

Smiling under the helmet I turned to into the last straight stepping on the gas pedal one last time. As I drove over the finish line, I heard Simon in my ears: "Alex that is P1!! P1!!! Were so proud of you! That was one hell of a drive. Get that Podium!!!"

"Wooohoooooow!!!! Thank you so much, guys! I cant believe it! Thank you!" I screamed.

"Alexandra Duman! You are a race winner!!" I heard Christian Horner over the radio.

"Thank you so much I cant put into words how thankful I am for this opportunity. Thank you!" I said my voice not as calm and steady as I wished for it to be.

Soon after this conversation I heard a female voice over the radio: "Congratulations Alexandra Duman, you are the driver of the day!"

"What the fuck?! Thank you so much!"

"Sum that amazing race up for us. You came here on Friday, drove this car once before the Qualifying and you managed to get P1 in a car that isnt even yours!" the woman said again.

"Oh, my goodness! This is all thanks to the amazing mechanics team. I am so thankful for this opportunity, and I really want to thank everyone that even remotely helped me get this chance. Thank you so much!" I answered her.

"Congratulations again! You are driver of the day in Azerbaijan!"

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I jumped out of the car walking to its front-end kneeling and putting one hand on the snout. Taking a moment to let the whole day sink in I stood up and I saw the Red Bull team standing at the barriers and cheering for me.

Running towards them I jumped a little bit and was grabbed by many hands and pushed up on top of their arms. They threw me in the air and as I got down again, I was buried beneath cheering men and women. Fighting my way out I was faced with many cameras.

Waving at a few of them I went to weigh myself and freshen up. In the cooldown area I met Pierre and Sebastian who were also on the podium with me.

"Congrats! I Really didnt think that you would make a podium on your first race!" Pierre shook my hand.

"Yeah, I really underestimated you! I thought you would get into the points, but I never thought you would win!" Sebastian followed up.

"Thanks guys. Honestly, I didnt think I would make it either. I think I still cant believe it now." I laughed slightly.

Drinking a bottle of water, I pulled my braids back and put on the black Pirelli cap with 1st written on it at the side. Pierre went to the press first which made Sebastian and me hang back a bit.

"Ich hätte nie gedacht, dass ich mal mit einer Frau auf dem Podium stehen würde. Und jetzt, wenn ich dich so erlebe... Es könnte keine bessere erste Formel 1 Gewinnerin geben." (I never thought I would stand on a podium next to a woman. But now that I know you... There couldnt be a better first female winner of formula 1.) Sebastian told me.

"Wow! Danke das bedeutet mir echt viel. Es ist mir eine ehre mit dir auf dem Podium stehen zu dürfen, Sebastian." (Wow! Thank you, that really means a lot. Its an honour to stand on a podium next to you, Sebastian.)

"Die Ehre ist ganz bei mir." (The honour is all mine.) he smiled and went out to the press.

Finishing my second bottle of water I took a deep breath, made sure my hat was in place and stepped out of the secluded area to do an interview before the podium ceremony started.

As the crowds eyes fell on me, they roared, and even though there was a considerable amount of booing, I couldnt help but beam and wave at them. Sending a few kisses their way I made my way to the interviewers.

"And here is the winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix! Alexandra Duman, Congratulations you are the first ever woman to drive and score points in a F1 Grand Prix since 1976 and the first woman to ever get a podium and win a formula 1 race. How does that feel?" the man asked me.

"Wow! Uhm, first I want to thank the team again because without their support I wouldnt have made it here. I am very happy to finally see a woman in F1 and I do think it is very important for this sport not to be male centred so yeah I am very proud that I could represent females in this sport." I answered.

"I have to say this hat suits you! But nevertheless, your teammate right now has crashed out just before the finish line how did you perceive that? Did that make you unsure about the car or yourself?"

"Well, of course it would have been great for the team if both Max and I scored points today but unfortunately we didnt manage to. Luckily, the crash wasnt that bad, and he could walk away so I wasnt too scared or unsure about myself. I think in this sport you need to learn to kind of switch of those things and focus on yourself and I manage to do that quite quickly. "

"One more question. You are the first Austrian driver to be on a podium since Alexander Wurz and the first to win since Gerhart Berger in 1997. The last one was even before you were born. How does that feel?" he asked.

"Oh my god. I never knew that. Thats crazy. Wow. I never thought of that. Thats wild!"

"Thank you very much." the interviewer dismissed me.

"Thank you." I said and went into the building to go up to the podium.

Inside I met up with Pierre and Sebastian again.

"Fucking hell. I have no idea how this whole thing happened. Fuck Im nervous." I laughed.

"No, you were so good. You really deserve it." Pierre calmed me down but before got the chance to answer his name got called and he went out onto the podium.

"Du schaffst das. Da bin ich mir ganz sicher." (You can do it. Im sure about this.) Sebastian said before walking out himself being engulfed in a big round of applause.

Then my name got called and I stepped out onto the terrace. Waving to the cheering people seeing the whole team jumping up and down applauding. Between all of them there was Max who cheered just as loudly and showed me two thumbs up.

I took my place on the podium and it felt like you could see my smile from beneath my mask as I stood there waiting to get my trophy. I lifted it in the air and the crowd erupted into a loud cheering.

I set the trophy down and put my hat on top of it as the Austrian anthem began to play. I locked my hands behind my back and just stood there letting the things I saw get to me. I stood there and I couldnt believe what I had just accomplished. I had won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a car I drove twice before today. I won against seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Before those informations could sink in the anthem ended and we grabbed the champagne bottles. I started shaking it, but I wasnt even at the second shake when I got sprayed from both sides.