Do you belive in forever? (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 20

Wednesday, after the races we all sat together again in Munich, but this time early in the morning: "Good morning all together, I hope you are all a bit rested. But we have a lot to discuss. The first thing that was about Friday's problem on the paddock with the sound, what happened?" Since I wasn't in demand, I could confidently take a sip of my Red Bull and listen to Udo where the problem was. Actually, I wasn't really interested, because I didn't understand anything about it.

In order not to be rude, However, I tried to leave my thoughts in the room as much as possible and not drift away to a driver. Max had written me several messages from Instagram since Sunday, but I didn't answer or read them. I was also aware that it wasn't the fine way, but I hadn't really had the last few days. Because I slept yesterday and was then abused by my brother for his studies, although I couldn't really help him.

"Then let's hope this doesn't happen again. Hanna what was it like for you to do the interviews after racing, did that work?" Thomas asked me. He had previously noted down Udo's things on his laptop and was now looking at me across his device.

Surprised, I looked at the recording director and then on my sheet: "It's stressful but doable in Bahrain. However, there could be problems if we are further away from the media area. On Sunday I was just in time, but if there is a lot going on the site or just too far away, it could happen that I am too late." My boss looked at me thoughtfully, as he was probably already looking for a solution to the problem.

"If Ralf commented on the victory celebration alone, would you have enough time?" I nodded cautiously to my boss. I wasn't sure, but it would give me a few minutes that I would need in Monaco. I also asked Ralf, who seemed to have no problems with the proposal.

So, I rattled myself to give my boss a correct answer: "It would certainly help me, but it would be difficult to say, we just have to test it. But better than commenting through, that's sure."

"Ralf is this okay for you?" Thomas wanted to know from our expert. He agreed, so that was probably a decided matter. Already at the next race we would start a test run, because we only knew if it could work. In theory, so many things worked that didn't work in real life.

So, I was out for the time being, because the recording director turned to Sandra and had to discuss things with her, because there had apparently been some problems with her during a live broadcast. I hadn't heard of it, as I had already been on my way to the hotel. Apparently, however, there was a problem after qualifying and she wasn't quite ready. Now she had to explain why this had happened or where the problem had been. Eventually, it also had a clear timetable and if there were no shifts due to red flakes, it was adhered to.

Of course, Sandra hadn't been able to do anything about it, because there was probably also a technical problem with her button in her ear and they had to replace it. In the end, Thomas accepted this, because such things could happen. But we should always discuss ways of not having the same problem again in the future.

"This will allow us to get to the next week, this time we will be flying off at 7 am on Tuesday. Meeting point again 50 min. before check-in, Hanna you of course have your own flight at 9.00 from Zurich. But you will land an hour ahead of us in Shanghai, as we will make nice two between stops. You can go to the Hotel or waiting for us as you like," I just nodded. But I was sure I would wait the one hour at the airport. An hour was nothing at an airport, after all there were enough things to do at the airport.

Shortly we also heard laws that might be important to us before the meeting ended: "Are you going to eat with us?" The blonde presenter looked at me in question, slowly I nodded only because I wasn't even starving. The only thing I really wanted was sleeping, but I probably wouldn't get that until late today. The two-hour time difference from Bahrain hadn't caused me any big problems, but Max had robbed me of sleep, because my thoughts were always with the Dutchman.

In the canteen we sat at a table three of us and didn't try to talk about the work, because we had just paused: "What are you going to do at the weekend?" Asked Ralf looked at us women as he would spend the free weekend with his son at the Formula 3 circuit. Since Sandra became a mother last year, she would spend time with her family, and I didn't really have any plans yet.

"Because Kloten had to finish the playoffs last week, I'm probably going to be able to do something with them, but we haven't planed anything yet," I shoveled a fork of spaghetti into my mouth. Sandra, on the other hand, leaned a little so that only we would understand her.

Automatically Ralf and I had also raised our heads closer to her: "What about you already know whom?" I knew who Sandra meant, so I just sat back and shrugged my shoulders. Since I hadn't registered in the last few days, there had actually been nothing since our first official date. Whether there should and will be a second date, I wasn't so sure.

"What did I miss? Hello, I want to be able to do nonsense," the man tried to draw attention to himself in the round. Neither Sandra nor I gave it to him, as we had almost forgotten in.

Confused, Sandra just looked at me: "What does shrug? The boy is crazy about you, and you are after him." My colleague urged me to give her answers, but I honestly didn't know what to tell her. Not even I knew what was going on, so how could I explain to her why not.

"Because it's risky, you know the press," I began, "I haven't had a proper conversation with him since Saturday." Ralf seemed completely confused, but somehow tried to find out who we were talking about.

"And if the press finds out, what's bad about it?" the blonde quipped. She couldn't quite understand where I was afraid of. Perhaps it was her age or her experiences that made her see the matter more calmly. She had already made a name for herself; I was still building one, and I didn't want to be the 'girlfriend of'. If I didn't lose my job and credibility, I'm sure everyone would just see me as Max's girlfriend or affair, which was just as bad for me.

Ralf only looked back and forth between me and my colleague: "Because I don't want to lose my job or anything else and I certainly don't want to be the girlfriend of. I don't need a man to make a career, but no one would see that anymore." My voice was calm but determined. Actually, this was the end of the topic for me and I wanted to continue eating my spaghetti, but now Ralf also got involved.

'I don't know who it's about, but it seems like you're giving too much to someone else's opinion. There will always be someone who will see you only as an appendage, but you may not care. As long as you know what you've done and can do, everything's fine. You just have to prove something to yourself and no one else. You won't lose your job, because then Carsten would be very stupid and now, I finally want to know who we're talking about," Ralf clarified. From the former racer I looked to the presenter and she nodded in agreement.

Since I was busy with myself again, Sandra Gave Ralf the redemptive information, before she waved him a little closer: "Max, he picked her up for dinner on Saturday after qualifying. You should have seen the Dutchman, he was a bundle of nerves, really sweet."

For the rest of the meal, I was only half present, because I wrestled with myself. In the end, I took out my phone at my desk and started typing a message, but at the end I deleted it. Decency ascribes a new one, I put my phone away and started writing my report about the past weekend.

It had taken me all afternoon to write the report, because Today I didn't want to succeed: "Hanna please come to my office" I was surprised to see Mr. Schmidt standing in the doorway. I nodded and followed him, and I had briefly looked at Jenny, who was just shrugging her shoulders. In my head a thousand thoughts went in and out because I had no idea what my boss wanted.

He let me enter in front of him and immediately closed the door behind him: "You wonder for sure what I want from you. I want to change your contract because you are employed by us for ice hockey until now. But since we can't find anyone who could replace you in the formula and the viewers may want you as it looks, we want to keep you for the year. At the end of the season, we are happy to talk about a return to ice hockey, but you are our only solution for racing."

On the one hand, I was overjoyed to be allowed to stay on the microphone, but I had hoped to be able to go to the microphone on my return in ice hockey. Despite the slight disappointment of not being taken into account in ice hockey, I was happy about the new contract. Sometimes the dirt road was the faster and better way than the road.

Before I signed the new contract, I let myself go through everything in broad terms. It was all the same as with my other contract, but the word ice hockey was replaced with Formula One, at least it looked like it for me. With a clear conscience, I was able to sign the contract and return it to my boss so that I could also sign and keep the copy.

"Then I'm looking forward to more races with you at the microphone. Continue like this and go to work, your way home is long enough", Thankfully I said goodbye. It was almost six o'clock when I left my boss's office, so I deserved to leave.

More than happily, I arrived in the office, where there were only a few lefts. I just didn't care if the room had been full, I was happy about the contract. So much so that I didn't think much about it when I sent Max a picture of the contract. I had circled a certain spot in bold: for the 2019 season.

I didn't get an answer immediately, which I didn't expect. Precisely because I had ignored him for the last two days, I could be happy if he still answers me at all. Before I packed my phone away, I sent the same photo in my friends group chat: "Put the champagne cool for the weekend!"

"Congratulations and will be done," I promptly got the answer from Gian. The others quickly joined him, but nothing came of Max. I was a little disappointed with it, but I tried to distract myself from it by taking my things. With my bag in my hand and a bottle in the other, I sneaked across Sky's not-too-small car park. Unfortunately, I had to park nicely far behind today, so it was a long way.

Tired, I threw my bag on the passenger side and connected by phone to the sound system. Before I started the engine, I went over my eyes again, finally I had 3 hours of driving from me.

To keep me awake, I listened to music that you had to sing along to. Even though my singing talent wasn't there, I sang along loudly so I wouldn't fall asleep. In addition, the journey passed much faster. Feeling 5 minutes after departure, I drove down the exit towards Hinwil into the roundabout. I took as usual the third exit as my eyes fell for a second. A second that was ended by a loud bang and pain.