Her || Charles Leclerc

5. Danish Standards

Matilde was glad she had a moment for herself after a long day full of media duties. Usually, the Thursdays were easy on her. But this year... She was still trying to figure out how to deal with it. She was quite a social person, however, socialising for hours was asking for a lot of her energy. The last meeting had just finished and the track was open to the employees, so Matilde took her shot and decided to go for a track walk. Only to find out she had forgotten her earphones to listen to a podcast. She recently started to listen to 'Help I Sexted My Boss', it was a great podcast by William Hanson and Jordan North to just laugh and think about nothing but the bizarre things they tell. She also loved Leo Skepi, he was teaching about self transformation, but Matilde just loved his energy. But whenever she didn't want to be thinking about serious things, she would listen to William and Jordan.

"Hej," a manly voice said when Matilde just entered the first corner of the track.

Matilde looked next to her and raised her eyebrows, but quickly politely smiled when she noticed it was Haas' driver Kevin Magnussen. "Hej," she replied, slightly confused. It was not like they didn't know each other, they are both Danish and they both work within Formula 1, but they barely spoke to each other.

"This will probably sound weird," Kevin began and joined her for her walk. "By the way, do you mind if I join you?"

"No, please join me."

"Okay, well, hear me out. Louise, my wife, and I went to a birthday party last week. It was the birthday of her best friend and I know her husband. We met a couple of years ago and we hang out regurlarly. His name is Lars Jørgensen. And your last name is Jørgensen. Do you know someone called Lars Jørgensen?"

The eyes of Matilde lightened up. "The teacher?"

"The teacher..." Kevin slowly said, understanding that Matilde knew Lars Jørgensen.

"Yes, that is my brother."

He shook his head and chuckled. "The bastard." He looked at the Danish woman. "It sounds so stupid, but he always spoke about his little sister, living in England, working with cars. He never said it was you, not even last week. And I didn't make the connection until... Literally five minutes ago."

A laugh rolled over Matilde's lips. "It's a small world," she said, still smiling. "But it's quite a known and popular name. I'm surprised we never saw each other at Lene's birthday, like never before."

"Well, we probably did see each other, but didn't realise."

"But it's not like you are an upcoming driver."

"True, unlike you. Honestly, before this season, I never heard of you. Well, not within the motorsport."

"Fair." Matilde realised how nice it was to have a conversation in Danish. Being surrounded by Italian people, or Italian speaking people, was tiring. She was still learning the language and the people in her team barely spoke English. And no one spoke in her mother language.

He was silent for a moment. "I can't process this," he said and chuckled. "Lene and Louise are best friends. Why did Lars never say a word?"

Matilde threw her hands up in the air and laughed. "I have no idea. I mean, he is quite private about his personal life. But other than that, I have no clue."

"Well, I guess we can't blame him now," Kevin laughed. "It's a small world, and yet sometimes connections slip through the cracks."

"It does," she agreed.

They continued walking along the track. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the asphalt, and a gentle breeze rustled over the circuit. While they spoke about their friends and family, Matilde glanced around, taking in the ambience. They both enjoyed the talk, it was about everything but work. It was pleasant to have a talk in your native language, regardless of the person. And the fact that they have a common connection, an important connection, made it even more fun.