CHAPTER FOUR

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The Bahrain sun was relentless.

Yet, Nora wasn't complaining. It had gifted her a subtle tan, a souvenir from her constant ups and downs along the track throughout the weekend. As the hours counted down to the start of the first race of the 2022 season, she found herself basking in the chaos that only a Formula 1 race day could generate, her first of hopefully, more to come.

Yesterday marked a significant milestone in her career, since she hosted a fanzone Q&A session that placed her alongside some legends of the sport. Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Although Nora had gotten the chance to work with Alonso during the pre-season, hosting these three who collectively held eleven world championships between them was an experience that left her in awe.

Reflecting on the Saturday she'd had spent in their company, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. She hoped her father was somehow watching from his living room but in case he didn't, she was sure to give him a call yesterday to update him on her session with the champions. In some way, she was doing all this for the both of them.

The rest of the qualification day didn't hold a whole lot of media duties for her. Instead, she'd spent the better half of it with Dean, the F1 media assistant and one of her colleagues, Elise. In the past few months, Elise and Nora had grown extremely close, especially with helping the rookie settle into the job and showing her the ropes leading up to the season. Wherever Elise was, so was Nora.

In the media room, nestled along the paddock, the air was thick with anticipation and the sounds of clicking keyboards. Dean, Elise and Nora were huddled around a cluttered table, surrounded by notes, laptops and half-drunk cups of coffee. Despite the buzz of activity outside, their focus for the last few minutes before the races was unwavering, zeroed in getting as many notes from Brundle's grid walk.

"Okay, with Leclerc on pole it looks promising for them, but with this weather I think we're going to see some unexpected pit strategies coming into play," Dean mused, his eyes scanning the latest updates they received from the garages.

Elise nodded, tapping away at her laptop. "Right, also, Nora, don't forget about the aero regulations, I think it's shaken up most of the teams this year for this first race. Might be worth asking about in the post-race interviews and see how the drivers felt it impacted their performance."

Nora tried her best to keep up with everything, but she was in her own world, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Although Saturday had been a relatively light day for her, with her biggest highlight being the fanzone, Sunday was a different beast altogether.

It was as if her list of things to do expanded overnight, since she was reminded by Manon that as much as she had to stay focused in the F1 media world of things, she still had to constantly update her social media, needing to keep her followers who'd been on this journey with her for so long engaged. It wasn't an option for her to stop posting once she got this job, and F1 media even encouraged it.

As the race was coming to a start, with the crowds from the grid dissipating, she glanced at her colleagues, the look of anxiety visibly colouring her face. Nora was grateful for their guidance, but she was nonetheless nervous, praying that this feeling would wash away by the time the next race came around. Soon enough, the formation lap was underway and Nora had to play such attention to a race like never before.

Though Charles clinched pole position yesterday, the race was anything but straightforward for the Ferrari driver. Verstappen, second on the grid, managed to prompt him into a battle that had fans on the edge of their seats. Max attempted to undercut Leclerc early, turning what was a 3.5 second gap into mere tenths within a lap after their first pit stops, but the Monagasque maintained the lead. Nora scribbled down notes, finding this all exhilarating.

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