Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 36~

I blink my eyes open. The bright light peaking through the sides of my curtains of the apartment. I stretch my arms up and do a big circle, and then let out a huge sigh. I realise that I haven't taken my makeup off from last night. And last night. My stomach flutters from the thought of it alone, clearly happy about it, the happiness being around one person can give to another is something I'll never be able to understand. I sluggishly get up and mope over to my mirror in the bathroom and take off my messy makeup and brush my slightly tangled long hair. I grab a hairband from the drawer below the sink and quickly tie it loosely into a ponytail. I then put on some mascara and a little bit on concealer under my eyes, leaving my look very natural.

I head over to the paddock which is a small drive away. When I arrive Viola comes up to me, with the same professional look with her ferrari top on, matching mine and still clutching onto that iPad like a book. She simply greets me with a smile and a small wave, as she does, now ready for the run down of the day, which yet again. As she does.

"So today, you'll be interviewed with George, Lando, Oscar, Daniel and Lewis. It'll mostly be about the race I assume, the one this week. And if your nervous and stuff like that, and then you'll get the run down on grill the grid as that's starting next race." She points out to me, making me look at her when she says the last sentence, grill the grid would be a lot of fun.

"Grill the grid? That's gonna be a blast, what about the rest of the grid though?" I ask her, slightly confused that only a few of us are in this interview if it's kind of important.

"You're all being interviewed in groups, everyone will get the message, don't worry." Viola looks back at me answering my question, to which I nod to and we arrive at the interview room. "You look great, now don't do anything stupid." She laughs.

"I'll try my best." I wink at her before going into the interview room.

Walking into the room, I am the first driver to arrive and no cameras are on just yet, thankfully. I let out a slight sigh of relief, trying not to make it obvious in case it comes across as offensive to the interviewers.

"Ah, the first driver, Maeve, good to see you. This is a normal interview today, just questions about the upcoming race is all." The interviewer informs me, to which a part of me just wants to roll my eyes from the boring interview.

I sit on the sofa which is a bright red and actually very comfortable, I sit in the best spot, the corner. I curl myself up making myself comfortable waiting for the others to arrive, which they all eventually did, one by one. George first, then Lewis, then Daniel, and then Oscar, and finally Lando, who looks like he's just woken up.

"Right now that you are all here, we can start the interview-" The interviewer starts but gets interrupted by Lando.

"Can we just wait a minute, I need to fix my hair quickly." Lando complains, which makes me almost want to roll my eyes, but instead I just laugh at him.

"Alright, we'll hold the cameras for a minute, but please be quick." The interviewer responds to Lando as he rushes out of the room.

When Lando comes back his hair looks a little bit better, I don't really notice much of a difference apart from the fact it looks like he's styled it with some water. He still looks tired and like he's just woken up, which makes me chuckle to myself a little.

"Are we all ready now?" The interviewer emphasises the 'all' in his sentence.

"Yeah, I think so." George speaks for us all, to which I nod to in agreement, as does Lando.

"Alright, the first question is for Maeve." The interviewer starts as the cameras all turn on and looks turn to me. "So, everyone is wondering about how nervous you are for the coming race, is there any pressure from being Carlos' replacement to win Spain for him?" The interviewer asks like they can read my mind.