The Art of Communication (Lando Norris)

Bahrain, Sakhir

Julie's pov

It's Saturday, qualification day. Lando's call time was about an hour earlier than mine, so I'm getting ready to leave now. I ordered room service and ate my breakfast on the balcony. Scrolled on social media and denied all dating rumour about Lando and me, what a shitty press release. My job includes handeling dating rumours, never thought they were gonna include me. I get inside and head towards the bathroom and do my make-up and hair. Light make-up and my hair in a messy ponytail. I open my closet and look for a good classy yet comfy outfit to wear. I put on a McLaren coat over my outfit, grab my bag and head out the door. 

Sophie is waiting for me in the lobby. Sophie is wearing the blue jacket and I'm wearing the orange jacket. "We look matching, but at the same time so different" Sophie says. "I know we're the fashion icons of the grid" I laugh, "Beside Lewis Hamilton of course" Sophie laugh. "That always" I reply. "I brought you a coffee" Sophie hands me a coffee. "You're a sweetheart". We get into the black van again and make our way to the circuit. "I'm so excited for this" I say to Sophie, she nods. We talk about the events of last night, "Did anything happen?" Sophie asks, "Not really" I lie. My phone has been blowing up with texts I still need to respond to, all surrounding the same subject. the photo with Lando at the FIA gala. The headline "McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris spotted with new girlfriend", But there's no time the answer. Today I'm filming a behind the scenes video for the McLaren YouTube, so I really need to focus on that.

When the van arrives at the circuit, the area is full of people. All screaming different names. Luckily for me, nobody knows me. So we can get past the crowd quickly. We make our way to the entrance and walk to a card reader. When get into the paddock, Lando greets me with his golf car. "Hop on, it's good pr?" he asks, "Why not" I say and I get on. "Last night was such a blur, I honestly cannot remember anything" he laughs. That is a relieve. "You were drunk and passed out on the bar, so we took you back to the hotel and you fell asleep right away" I lie, again. "Do you mind if I make the vlog intro here?" I ask, "What's the video?" he asks while driving us onto the grid. "Behind the scenes of the Bahrain weekend" I say, "Yeah sure, go ahead". "Welcome and good morning everyone, my name is Julie and you're still watching McLaren's unboxed. This morning I'm joined by McLarens superstar Lando Norris" and I point the camera to Lando. "And this weekend I'll be showing you the behind the scenes of a race weekend" I finish. I put the camera away. 

We drive up behind 2 people, "You need a ride?" Lando jokingly asks the two guys. They turn around and hop on the golf car. "Hey, You're the Australian from last night, Daniel, right?" the guy nods. "And you're the girl, who helped Lando back to his room, Julie, no?" The Carlos guys from last night says. "So, you're Lando's girlfriend" Daniel says. "No" Lando and I say at the same time. "I'm Lando's Communication manager and McLaren's main PR employee" I say, "And she's Zak's niece" Lando finishes my sentence. "So you are Zak's niece" Daniel says surprised. "Both Daniel and Carlos are former McLaren drivers" Lando informs me. "Yes, I am a Ferrari driver and Daniel is the 3rd driver of Red Bull" Carlos says. "Nice to meet you, again" I smile, my phones buzzes. 

My phone has been blowing up with texts I still need to respond to, all surrounding the same subject. The photo with Lando at the FIA gala. But there's no time to answer. When we finish our fun time on the track we move on to the paddock. I see Sophie and Oscar down at the 81 paddock, Lando and I are obviously on the 4 side of the paddock. They start qualification in about 30 minutes so everyone is busy setting up. I make some shots and try not to walk in anyone's way. I sit down at my assigned corner and start some off the editing, better to get it over with. After a while I get the notification that the cars are going out for the qualification. I walk to the big screen and meet Sophie there. We get a pair of headphones handed. We look silly. It is truly incredible to see how fast they race. Both cars make it trough Q3 and Lando makes it trough Q2. "Oscar p9" I hear over the car radio. Excellent job. "Lando p4" I hear a little while later. That's not too bad for the first race of the season.