away we go • formula 1

Walks

We silently walked side by side and I felt a bit awkward about that. I've always hated those forced silences. "So thank you for having my back in there. Felipe is not my biggest fan.", Max croaked out. "No worries. I just felt attacked and cornered by him. Even though I'm kinda used to it I still defend myself. And I felt it was unnecessary for him to talk about you in a compromising manner..", I explained. He smiled at me. "You need to use easier words with me. English is not my first language.", he chuckled. "It's not mine either.", I said. "Really?", he was clearly stunned. "Yes. I'm from Austria. Daniel already asked that at the dinner table.", I had to laugh his face was just too funny. "When was that?!? I missed that.". We walked along the path in silence but this time a nice and comforting one.
"So you and Stoffel are good friends right?", Max conversed. "Ja we've known each other since I was 12. He was always the one who supported me. When I entered F2 the drivers were pretty nasty and he stood up for me. Stoffel is like a big brother to me.", I told him the story. "You two seem close. It's nice to have someone like that here with you. It does get lonely sometimes especially if you and your teammate don't get along.". "Something you wouldn't have to worry about cause Daniel is the nicest person ever.". "That's true."
After a 15 minute walk we reached our hotel. Surprisingly our rooms were on the same floor. Normally the Red Bull guys gotten nicer rooms which was totally fine with me. "So this is me. Thank you for taking me back although just between us Stoffel was overreacting and I could've done it alone too. But thank you it was really nice.", I smiled at him. "It was my pleasure. Goedenacht Carolin!", he said while walking away. "Gute Nacht Max".

I threw on my pyjamas which consisted of an old t-shirt of Stoffel and some Spandex. Tomorrow is gonna be exciting my first Qualifying in Formula 1. I fell asleep pretty quickly.

"Carolin! Carolin!", someone knocked on my door like a maniac. I groaned as I look at my clock at the bedside table. 3:45... "Carolin it's Daniel with a very distressed Stoffel.". I sprinted to the door. "What happened?", I took his face in my hands. "We stayed in the restaurant for quite a bit. And somehow we started drinking a couple drinks. Perez then said something about you and he flipped. I didn't know what to do so I thought I'd take him to you.",Daniel explained. "Thank you. I'll handle it from here.", I gave Daniel a quick hug and got Stoffel in my room. He sat down on my bed. "He made fun of Jolyon and Marc.", was all he said. Marc was one of my closest friends until the year 2014. No we didn't fall out- he died while racing. Marc was never into Formula 1 but he was well into Indy car. As all racing sports indy car comes with quite a risk of injury. It was quite the scandal when he died. Marc was always against further safety instalments which made him seem like this stupid ignorant boy. He crashed into a barrier at full speed because his breaks failed. People didn't have that much sympathy with him thinking it served him right. I always told him that his ideas were stupid and having extra safety is in no way degrading to the sport but his little stupid brain thought otherwise. He died because of a mechanical failure not because he thought he was invincible. The media speculated that he had some sort of modified car and that's why he crashed but that's bullshit. He died being known as the brat, bad boy, smart ass and idiot of indy car racing. Until this day Stoffel and I have big problems tolerating people making fun of Marc or taking the mick out of his crash. He was portrayed as this bad boy persona who didn't care about people or safety or even racing but just about causing a fuss about himself. But he wasn't. "Asshole. Remind me to never speak to hin again.", I said. "Can we cuddle?, Stoffel asked with the biggest puppy eyes. "Sure.". So we fell asleep.

My alarm woke me up at 7:30 not too bad considering that if I'm training I have to be up at 5:30 sometimes. Stoffel was still out cold next to me. "Stoffel wake up.", I said and he immediately opened his eyes. "I still find that weird.", I chuckled while getting out of bed. "What?", he rubbed his eyes, his voice incredibly deep and sporting a heavy accent. "That you wake up when somebody tells you to wake up but never when they shout or push you.".
We walked down to breakfast and found out that Renault also stayed at this hotel. "Flippin' Perez. Sitting there all smug. I hope his turbo or his engine blows up and he'll get P0.", Stoffel cursed. "Wouldn't talk about engine stuff Vandoorne. You know,
bad Karma.", I joked. His and Alonso's cars had really bad luck with their engines.
We chose a table that was vacant seeing that the other place available was with Hülkenberg.
"How's the B team doing today?", Daniel came smiling into the room. "Good but don't call me B Team.", I smiled. "Ok nerd.", his grin was as wide  as the cheshire cats one. "I'm not a nerd!", I chuckled. "You are. Max told me you are brainy and Stoffel used to always boast about how his best friend is soooo intelligent. And to be honest I think he wasn't lying.". I just shook my head and gave Stoffel a side eye and he knew perfectly what it was for.

"FP3 and Qualifying. You nervous?", the Australian asked. "Yeah but I know I can do it. I wasn't second in the F2 world championship for nothing.", I tried my best to appear self confident and I managed to trick Daniel but my Belgian friend next to me knew I was lying.
We- all Red Bull drivers- went to the circuit in a minivan. "Let's put sone tunes on.", Mr. Ricciardo exclaimed in the heaviest Aussie accent I've ever heard him speak in. 
FP3 was about to start. "You should have more downforce this time we changed the front wing settings a bit. Also we had some minor adjustments made.", Markus informed me on the car. "There is a big chance of
rain in Qualifying", he added. "Good I love rain", I smiled cheekily.

"FP3 Carolin. We want some solide laps. No risks. About 10 laps in we'll call you in.",David told me. David is responsible for team strategies. "Ok no problemo. Just please don't send me out in the biggest traffic.". The laps went smoothly and I felt myself getting more confident in my abilities with every sector. "Good job. Well done. Things are looking good. Box now.", David called me in.

"Lin!", I heard a out of breath Stoffel shout. "What are you doing here? Qualifying starts in about 7 minutes. Get to your car you bloody idiot.", I said. "I couldn't let you off into your first Qualifying without wishing you good luck!", I exclaimed. "I really appreciate it but seriously get back to your car.", he looked at me with the biggest puppy eyes ever. "You are just too cute and thank you for coming over bug now go and drive a good Qualifying!", I pressed a kiss to his cheek and shoved him out of the Garage. "You sure there is nothing going on between you two?", Brendon asked. "Positive."