Do you belive in forever? (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 10

Unfortunately, it wasn't Max who was at the door, but Sandra. After a short thought I had gone to the bar with her and some others from the team, because we didn't meet until 9am on race day, this was no problem. But I hadn't made it into the shower afterwards and had fallen asleep with the sand in my hair.

Just five minutes before 9 a.m. the next morning, freed from the sand, I stood in the entrance hall of the hotel. There I was one of the last this time, but that didn't bother me any further. As always, I dropped out on a free chair and played on my phone. But as soon as I had loaded a game, the Instagram notifications stabbed me in the eye. Astonished, I went to the platform and looked at who was following me. I was astonished to find that the young drivers were following me. Since I had been linked to Sky Sport by now, it was not surprising that they had found my profile. But the fact that they had been looking for me and that I was now following me surprised me a little.

At the top of the display, I realized it was just 9 o'clock, and we would start right away. The first ones grabbed their bags and got up. Thomas counted everyone through like a teacher to make sure everyone was there. When this was the case, we went to the bus that took us to the premises. Leo sat next to me on the bus, which I didn't really care about.

"How about a bet?" the cameraman asked me. Since I really liked betting, I just nodded wide grinning and hit him once. From behind, I could hear a warning from Udo that I shouldn't do it, but I ignored it. I'd always been good at betting, so I was confident of victory.

I briefly thought about what you could bet on: "How about a bet who wins the championship, constructors' standings and today's race?" Leo's eyes became as big as a child at Christmas. He seemed to be enthusiastic about this proposal, nodding to my proposal. Ralf behind us took out his mobile phone to film our bet so that at the end of the season you have proof of who had said what.

"The championship clearly goes to Lewis Hamilton, but Ferrari wins the constructors' championship and Charles Leclerc wins today's race", that Leo Ferrari was a fan, I don't have to mention anymore. I saw the whole thing objectively, so I was tapping for a victory from Hamilton and Mercedes were talking about the confidence.

Now I had to think: "Actually, I also believe in the World Championship title for Hamilton, but since we can't have the same thing, I just take Verstappen." This was already clarified, only our commitment was missing.

"Whoever wins the race is allowed to post something on Instagram for the loser. The loser in the constructors' standings has to dress up completely in terms of the winning team and post a photo of it and at the World Championship title there is a cold shower with ice water?" we finally agreed. One or the other would not be so bad for me. If none of us was right, just what tip was better or closer to victory counts.

Sandra on the other side of the aisle could only shake her head, that I had probably the ice cube shower on safe, I already knew. But maybe I could pull myself out of the bet if I can go back to ice hockey. After all, I'm still just a transitional solution until they've found someone else, I'm not there until the end of the season anyway.

Between Ralf and Sandra, I walked towards the press building, where we would discuss the most important things of today's broadcast. Before Sandra went to the paddock to collect for the first interviews, I too was assigned to watch Williams and the two Red Bull. After that I would have a little time to eat and go to the cabins.

On the way to Williams, I met some other riders, and of course I wished them good luck. At Williams, I was the first to catch Claire Williams and feel her pulse before I got the drivers in front of the camera.

"Then I wish you good luck and not a broken neck and leg," I joked. It's just stupid that you didn't know in the English neck and leg and George looked at me as if I didn't have them all anymore. I just waved off; it was embarrassing enough that he didn't know it. Explaining the joke would only make things worse, so I just didn't want to say anything more about it. Shrugging his shoulder, the Briton then disappeared into the box with his team. I, on the other hand, set out to get forward on something in the pit lane.

After a stop at Toro Rosso, I arrived at the main team of Red Bull. Max had seen me and smiled at me. But first I would interview Christian Horner, so I just smiled back quickly, then focused again on the team leader. Since I had already done the pre-season interview with him, I already knew how he was on it. Apparently, he had also remembered my face and name, friendly he had at least greeted me by name.

Before he left, he held me a can of Red Bull: "Have heard, you like Red Bull. This will certainly make it easier for you to comment." Thankfully I accepted the big can, because I really loved Red Bull. I was constantly on the road with a can in my hand, even if it wasn't healthy, I loved these energy drinks.

Pierre sipped little motivation in my direction, which puts a smile on my face: "If you are as slow on the track as you are now, then we can be happy if you finish the race before sunset. I didn't even notice that my comment was on camera. At least there was a laugh on the Frenchman's face, which I also wanted to achieve with my action. After all, he had already told me how uncomfortable he felt in front of the camera during interviews, which is why I tried to make it a little more bearable for him.

"Then a lot of fun and hopefully good success", I let Pierre out of his suffering. Even though he had felt a little more comfortable than in the first interview, he had not been really comfortable this time either. But I couldn't really take that into consideration, because I had a job to do.

Max surprised me when he stood next to me just a few seconds after Pierre's departure: "Someone is over-motivated. How many cans have you landed that you are so full of energy?" A laugh came from Max when he gave me an answer with his sweet Dutch accent. We both completely obscured the camera, as we looked at each other all the time. It felt like it was just him and I were there, what we were talking about, I actually only got through cotton wool. It wasn't until I saw Leo from the corner of my eye again, as he gave me the sign to finish, that I came back into reality.

"Then I wish you a lot of fun, you don't need luck," he thanked. But he didn't leave, he was just waiting for the camera to turn off. Which happened pretty quickly.

As a precaution, he bent to my ear so that no one could read his lips: "I'll pick you up at eight o'clock in front of your hotel, put on something chic." With that, the driver disappeared into his box while I stood like petrified.

"If you keep going like that, you'll be turned around by Verstappen or Gasly. You should also walk slowly to the cabins if you don't want to get into a stress," Leo said, laughing from my dream world. I looked at him badly before I really made my way to the cabins.

But I took a detour to the press canteen, because there I got a delicious sandwich. So, I walked across the grounds with the sandwich in one hand and the Red Bull in the other until I was in the Sky Sport Germany cabin. Ralf was already there and Thomas, the two talked about the upcoming race.

I just dropped on my chair and kept to ate my sandwich. The men looked at me amused, which made me pause. Questioningly, I saw alternately from Ralf to Thomas and vice versa, the two just wavered and kept talking. I ate up a bit and drank the can.

"I'll leave you alone, we'll hear each other right through the headphones," our recording director disappeared from the cabin. Since I had my phone in my hand and played Candy Crash again, I just nodded to him. Ralf, on the other hand, really said goodbye to Thomas before he also set out on his mobile phone. It didn't stay quiet for a long time, as I kept losing until I had no life left.

Angry, I whipped my phone on the table in front of me: "Stupid game." Ralf also stopped laughing at me. I looked out the window and watched slowly live on the track. The cars had just driven to their seats, where their teams were now scurrying around. Since it looked impressive from above and somehow also funny, I took a photo for my Instagram Story and immediately marked all the drivers. Of course, I didn't get an answer from them, because they just had better things to do than look at my story on Insta.

Ralf had just disappeared to go to the restroom, so I was now alone in the cabin. So, I sat down on the desk and took a selfie with the monitors and the track in the background. Of course, I also uploaded this on the platform, but this time no one tagged. After that I turned off my phone for safety, so it didn't start ringing during the race.

When Ralf was back, we put the headphones on, and I pushed the bin under the table so rightly that I could put my feet on it. So, I had a pretty comfortable position for the time being and could now wait for us to be on air.

"And three, two, one," I heard Thomas' voice on my ear. There was a slight excitement in me, which I always had before I was on air. Luckily, I was able to overplay them skillfully and after only a few seconds it was always gone, even now.

After Daniel lost his front wing after the start, Carlos overheated his car after 11 laps and retired. This wasn't the only one, Haas had trouble mounting the front left tire. It didn't take long for this tire to force Romain to give up. Before that, however, Daniel had also had to give up the race, which I was sorry for him. In the end, I was able to cheer, even if Hamilton had only finished second.

Ralf next to me had to laugh: "If they ask themselves at home why Hanna is so cheering, she has just won a bet. She's not a fan of a driver, she's just happy to post a photo on a cameraman's Instagram profile.' I quickly rallied again and apologized for my joy at winning the bet. In my head, I was already going through ideas of what I could post.

Broadly grinning, I ran over the paddock after the broadcast and couldn't wait to see Leo. He stood with Sandra at Lando and had the camera on his shoulders. With a grin, I approached the group and wanted to wait until they were finished. But Lando and Sandra brought me to them in front of the camera.

"You were really cheering about the Mercedes victory, but what do you say about Lando's performance" before I started, Lando said. He looked at me indignantly because he didn't know about the bet.

The McLaren driver continued to look at me indignantly: "How can you be happy about a Mercedes victory. I thought we were best friends; you should only be happy for McLaren." Grinning, I just shook my head as Lando was behaving like a small child.

"I had a bet with the cameraman, so I was happy. By the way, mobile phone here, your punishment is waiting. And to your question Sandra, for his first race in Formula One I would say solid race", So I took the phone. Unfortunately, I didn't really know what to post.

"He's a Union Berlin fan," Sandra gave me a tip. With a grin, I quickly picked out the Hertha coat of arms on the internet and then uploaded it to his profile and wrote 'I always wanted to say it, but I haven't dared to put so far, I love Hertha.'

Lando watched me but didn't understand anything: "Union and Hertha are both football clubs from Berlin, and he is a Union fan." With this, the Englishman had also fallen the penny and laughed.

"Woe betide it tomorrow," I clarified when I returned thephone. I quickly said goodbye to the group, as I had to go to the hotel to getready for dinner.