REMEMBER THE NAME

2019:5

Sophie stands on a balcony in Barcelona, facing the crew of cameras. She was filming some content for the F1 YouTube channel.

"Okay Sophie." The girl in charge came towards her. "What we want is for you to give a quick introduction to yourself, we're filming for a YouTube video to introduce the rookies. Once you've finished we might through some extra questions at you just to get to know you a little better."

"Sounds good." She flicks a loose strand of hair over her shoulder, as the woman walks away.

"Filming Sophie Stoddart introduction, take one." The camera man gives her thumbs up.

Sophie places a big smile across her face. "Hi I'm Sophie Stoddart, I'm 19 years old, a driver for Williams Rokit Racing, and one of the 2019 rookies."

"What is your racing number and why" The director asks.

"My racing number is 25, it's the date I was born on and a multiple of five which for some reason makes me happy." She awkwardly laughs. "Saying it out loud makes me feel silly."

"Where did you grow up?"

"If you couldn't tell from my accent I grew up near a little place called Oban in Scotland. I've been privileged to travel a lot around the UK and sometimes Europe with karting, and I've always had a very supportive family with my papa driving me around a lot." Her smile grows bigger reminiscing on all the happy memories she's had at home, and realising the amount of time and support her family provided her with.

"What made you get in to racing?"

"My family had a garage so I always grew up surrounded by cars - I could fix a tire before I knew multiplication. So I think that really pushed me forward in to it."

"And finally, if you weren't a driver what would you be?"

"Oooh that's a tough one. I think if I wasn't driving I would have liked to do something with journalism or maybe teaching since I enjoy working with kids."

"And cut. That was great Sophie." The woman smiles over.

"Thank you all for having me." Sophie smiles, looking across to Debbie to make sure it's alright to go.

—

"There she is!" Daniel shouts as Sophie walks in to the bar.

Lando had arranged for a couple of the drivers who were still in Australia to go to a nearby bar to celebrate the first race weekend. Sophie had been running late since the interview had started later than expected due to technical issues, but she quickly ran back to the hotel to change in to a pair of skinny black jeans, a white flowy top and a pair of black heels. Her hair and makeup had already been done for the interview so she didn't bother changing it because she didn't want to be even later.

At the head of the table there was Daniel, on his right side was Lando and on his left was Max. Next to Lando was Carlos then George, and next to Max was Alex, so Sophie ended up sitting in the last seat left which was next to Alex.

"Sorry I'm late, that interview went on for longer than expected." She apologises,

"We were half expecting you to pull a sickie." Lando looks at her whilst he takes a drink.

"We all know that if I done that you would've rounded everyone up to come back and annoy me at my hotel instead."

"I would do no such thing." He acts shocked and out a hand over his heart.

"You did do that last year..." George trails off making everyone else laugh.

Lando tries to look away, beginning to blush with all of the attention on him as he had just been found to be lying. Last year after an F2 race, a couple of the drivers were going out for dinner when Sophie phoned to let them know that she wouldn't be making it due to not feeling well. Instead of letting the girl rest, Lando rounded up the friends and showed up at her hotel room, ordering a pile of room service while the poor girl lay in her bed nursing a killer round of cramps.

"Note to self, don't pull out of plans with Lando." Daniel jokes.

—

As the night went on the group of drivers got drunker. Every time someone left the table they would move around seats to be closer to someone else to engage in a new conversation.

Sophie was now sitting in between Max and Daniel, with Lando in front of her.

"Spiders aren't that scary." Daniel defends.

"That's because you grew up with the monsters." Sophie slightly slurs. "They're massive here, they're like, like, this big." She tries to show with her hands but was clearly failing, causing the three other boys to burst out laughing.

"Nah, that's like a baby spider here." He lightly pushes her, so she stumbles a bit towards Max who thankfully puts his arm around her to keep her upright.

"Woah, woah." He pushes her back in to her seat. "Are you alright." Trying not to laugh at the girls drunken state.

"I am perfectly fine." She leans on to the table, accidentally spilling her drink. "Whoops."

Lando leans across the table and takes the glass away, scared that she might smash it and hurt herself.

"Dannnnieeeeeelllllllll Riiiiiccccaaardddoooooooo." Sophie shouts as she wraps an arm around his shoulders and the others try their best not to cry with laughter. "It's actually quite fun to do that, I now know why you do that." She talks more to herself.

Daniel also wraps an arm around her, but mostly to keep her upright.

"I think I'm going to get a taxi and make sure she gets back alright." Lando looks for his phone, deciding that right now was probably the best time to get Sophie back. George, Alex and Carlos had all left about an hour ago, but the four party animals decided that it wasn't yet home time and wanted to stay out, but after Sophie had taken a few more shots it was clearly time to get the girl home.

Both Daniel and Max help the girl stand and put on her jacket, since she probably wouldn't be able to on her own.

"I think this is the first time a guys helped me put clothes on." She tries to joke with Max, sending him a joking wink.

"And that's how I know you've had too much." Lando rejoins the group, taking one of Sophie's arms and placing it around his shoulders, whilst his arm grabs her waist to hold her up.

"Right, tell the boys goodnight Sophie." He instructs after thanking Max and Daniel for a good night.

"Goodnight Sophie." She sings with a smile on her face, still trying to wind Lando up in her drunk state, making Max and Daniel burst out laughing.