Chapter 2

"Would you like the tour now?" Christian asks and I eagerly nod my head. He gets up and I follow him around the ginormous maze of a building. Eventually we get to a room and I see Max Verstappen and Alex Albon sitting there talking to each other. We walk in and they both look at us. "Hello boys. This is Hannah Van Staden." Christian says and they get up. "Hi, I'm Alex." He says and shakes my hand. "Hello. I'm Max." He says. "Hi." I greet back even though I know their names already. "Well I have a meeting to get to. Boys help her around here please. Bye guys." Christian says and walks off. "So you're from South Africa right?" Max says. "Yes." I reply. "I remember that from karting." Alex says and Max nods in agreement. We sit down and start to talk about the current season.

Alex walks out the room after receiving a phone call from his mom. I felt kind of bad talking to Alex like his friend even though I'm going to be in his seat next season. "So I'm guessing you're moving up to Formula 1 next season." Max says turning to me. "Yup." I say. "That's amazing. First F1 woman this century and how old will you be?" He asks. "Uh the season starts on the 20th of March so 19 years and like 95 days." I say and he cracks a small smile. "What do the other F2 drivers think about a girl beating them?" Max questions. "They hate it. None of them talk to me. I have tried to be friends with them but nothing works. Hulle maak my mal." I say and he looks at me funny. "That last bit sounded a little Dutch?" He questions and I laugh. "Oh it's Afrikaans. It's one of the languages we speak in South Africa. It originates from the Dutch language so some of it will sound the same." I say and he nods. "That makes sense. And don't worry, I'll introduce you to everyone in Melbourne next season. So maybe you can make some friends." He says smiling. "Yeah, that would be nice. Thanks." I say with a smile.

~

I climb out of the car and instantly hear bustle of the Italian f2 paddock in front of me. I scan my paddock pass and make my way towards my private room to prepare for the race which starts in an hour and a half. I grab my racing gear out of my bag and quickly put it on before walking out to meet my engineers to walk through some final things before the race.

Placing my headphones on my head and blasting music is the best way for me to get into the zone of racing. I block out everyone and everything else and just focus on the race ahead. Yesterday I managed to qualify p3 so I have to work to keep my spot and maybe move up.

"Ok Hannah there are ten laps left. Illott is ahead of you. Push." I hear my lead engineer in my ear. "Ok copy." I radio back and speed up a little slowly catching Callum.

"Ok Hannah final lap." I hear. "Ok." I say back and continue ahead. I push ahead hoping to catch the racer ahead of me. I round the final turn to find the track empty. "P1 Hannah. You're in p1." I hear. "Yes! Wooohooo!" I yell with a smile as I fist pump in the air as I cross the finish line. "This puts you p1 on the drivers championship." I hear. "Oh my gosh. Yes!" I say. A huge smile on my face even though it isn't visible.

~

"It brightens up the room a little." I say referring to my first place trophy as I place it onto the shelf in the lounge. I hear my best friend Tayla laugh from behind me. "It does indeed." She says. "Ok sit down. I have news." I say and she looks nervous and slowly sits down. "Hannah. What's up? Is something wrong." She asks worriedly as I sit next to her. "No nothings wrong. Just promise me you won't tell a soul about this. Please." I ask her. She nods. "I'm moving up to Formula one next season. I'm going to race for Red Bull." I say with a smile. Tayla froze for a few seconds while the new information loaded. "Oh my god are you joking?" She exclaims. "No I promise you." I have to go there tomorrow to talk through somethings. I'll tell Max you love him." I say with a smile and she smacks me. "You will do nothing of the sort." She scolds. "Ouch." I say with a smile.