Away We Go • 2 • Formula One

Chapter 12

My birthday couldn't have fallen on a more awkward day this year - Thursday. Ask most F1 drivers and they'd agree that a media day is one of the worst, and many often will try and fake an illness to get out of it. Now that my identity is no longer a secret, the team are really adamant that I should attend all of these sessions. This means that I won't be able to pretend to be sick because they'll send out a doctor and check. They also know it's my birthday so would grow extra suspicious if I were to try and take the day off.

I also couldn't drink on Thursday, or really even on Wednesday because of the risk of alcohol being in my system for when I get in the car. Thanks to a tip from my teammate, if I wanted to celebrate, I'd have to do it at least 48 hours before I drive to ensure everything is out of my system. The solution? I've arranged to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday night for a party, and then more intimately on the evening of my actual birthday. I was planning on Marcus, Damien, Daniel, Seb, and Lewis joining me that night. I would have invited some of my other driver friends, such as Max and Lando, but they've all got work plans. I'll still see them during the media day but not in the evening. Kudzai still isn't travelling because of how vulnerable little Libby is so there will also be a birthday celebration when I next visit the UK so she doesn't feel left out. She had Georgia for company when we were away to ask for tips on raising a child, as well as my sister who was taking some time off of work to look after Xavier.

This year, I put out a message to everyone it concerned that if they were planning on getting me a present, that instead of a physical gift, they make a donation to one or more of my affiliated charities, or even a charity that they felt strongly about. I just didn't feel the need for any physical gifts and wanted to give a little.

We all flew out to Shanghai early Monday morning, arriving late evening because of the time zone differences. Whilst we were gone, Murray was going to be spending some time with Coco and Roscoe, as well as their sitter. She's looked after him for short periods of time before and had a glowing review from Lewis so I didn't have any worries about leaving for a week.

A quick workout before bed meant that I slept extremely well, waking up a little before eleven on the day of the party. Thanks to Damien's love of party planning, I had absolutely nothing to do in preparation except get myself ready and hand over a list of drinks I really liked (it was a fairly long list; I wasn't fussy). I wasn't the biggest drinker anymore so it didn't take much to get me tipsy.

My day was as chill as I could possibly make it. I was treating today as if it were my actual birthday because I already knew Thursday wasn't going to be any fun. My idea of a treat was using a bath bomb during a long, hot bath, whilst catching up on my favourite tv shows that I had missed because of my hectic schedule. After, having a care-free sing and dance to a playlist whilst only wearing my underwear brought my mood up slightly so I was hyped for the party.

I started the whole routine of getting ready when Victoria and some of her friends arrived at my hotel room a little after five. I had met all of the girls (Akke, Laura, and other Victoria) before, even going on holiday with them last year after my trip to Portugal. Sofía, Cate, and Emily, who I had gone to Portugal with, also came to my room to get ready. It was really nice having all of my girls (minus Kudz, Mila, and Lizzie) together for a good catch-up session. I had invited Jenna, despite her being Lando's ex, but she unfortunately couldn't make it.

"Only you would still be working when you're supposed to be getting ready for your party," Vic said, appearing over my shoulder as I compiled a playlist for tonight on my laptop. I shrugged off her hand from my bare shoulder and continued to add songs to the playlist. Because of my brand deal with Spotify, they asked if I could create a special birthday playlist with songs that were important to me whilst growing up until now. On top of this, I had to create my weekend playlist for China which was proving slightly more difficult since I hadn't really been listening to any new music.