ALYSSA HAMILTON

It was time for FP1, and as I jumped in the car the wave of nerves flooded away, and a tsunami of adrenaline took over. I had forgotten what it felt like to race, it had been so long ago since I had last been karting. The feeling of knowing you're against 19 other super fast cars, wheel to wheel, anything can happen at any moment, it just made me feel like I was home.

"Better watch out boys, Alyssa's coming to town" I smirked, my confidence boosted from just being in the seat.

The team gave me the heads up to start the engine and line up on the grid, so I did so.

"And radio check please Alyssa" Peter Bonnington said over the radio. All the adrenaline in my body decided to just burst out with a funny comment.
"Bruno's Pizza thank you for calling may I take your order please" and I burst out laughing, without even knowing why. I heard Peter chuckle over the radio. And with that FP1 and FP2 flew by, and I was on my way to a sky sports interview with Natalie Pinkham.

"Hi Alyssa you did great out there today, P7 in FP1 and P5 in FP2!" Natalie smiled.
"Yeah it felt amazing, considering its my first time in the car other than giving it some test drives last season" I grinned, I couldn't stop smiling in this moment.
"Its so amazing to know that there's some girl power in F1, it makes me feel proud, but is there any pressure?" She asked, her eyes lighting up at the girl power remark, Alana also smiled next to me.
"Yeah it's quite surreal being the only girl on the grid but I love it, and yes theres a bit of pressure and of course a bit of controversy about a female in motorsport, but I believe I got this" I nodded and smiled, now thinking about it it was quite reminiscent of Charles.

After my interviews, I was walking through the paddock, giving a thumbs up and a hello to Seb and  Logan as I passed each of them. I walked into the mercedes motorhome and grabbed a hot dog from catering, now that I think about it I didn't have many friends here, yes I had Alana, Lando, Alex, George and my team but I didn't know them that well. As I thought about this, 2 people sat next to me. I looked up to see a smiley George Russell and Angela Cullen. I smiled in return and said hello.

"You did pretty well out there today, I think quali will go great for you" Angela spoke.
"Nah it will probably be nothing compared to Mr Saturday" I giggled, looking at George.
"What can I say I am the quali king" George joked along. We made small talk and I quickly became friends with Angela and George. I didn't feel so alone anymore.

As I headed alone to the car park out of the track, Alana still had work to get done, I decided to post on instagram, I wasn't verified and didn't post much but I guess now that I'm a racer I should start.

I took a photo of me with my mercedes hat and captioned it: "Amazing day at the track today FP1 and FP2 went quite well, can't wait to see what tomorrow brings"

I didn't think I would get many likes so I put my phone in my bag and got into my car and made my way to the hotel.

I sat in my room scrolling through my socials when a notification appeared.
@georgerussel63 started following you.
I smiled and opened instagram.
He had commented "could we have a miss saturday in f1 hope my titles not taken :0"
I giggled and replied "could never beat mr saturday himself".
I then got a notification from Dennis, him liking my post and commenting "Rookie sister" with the star eyes emojis. I laughed once again and replied "you bet". He followed me after this.

I didn't feel alone anymore, I was already friends with Alana of course, Lando, George and Alex but I was also getting on with some other drivers now. I smiled at my phone and put it under my pillow, and pulled my duvet over me. I slowly drifted off to sleep.

Time skip brought to you by George Russell's britishness.

I woke up to my alarm blaring, I groaned and turned it off, getting out of bed to prepare for the busy day ahead.

As I got to the track, I saw Dennis' Honda Civic also pulling in, we parked next to each other and greeted each other as we got out our cars.
"Rookie brother" I smiled.
"Rookie sister" he chuckled.
"So how's the start of F1 for you?" I asked.
"Its better than I thought" he smiled, I nodded in response.

We walked through the paddock, and became good friends and he gave me his number before I walked into the mercedes motorhome. He was a year older than me, so understood me best out of everyone in the paddock, obviously apart from Alana but she wasn't a racer so it wasn't quite the same. I was thankful for this, because even though I was the only woman on the grid, he made me feel like I wasn't alone. I think we were going to be good friends for sure.

After putting my stuff away, I got a text from Dennis.
"Hey, I'm free for about 45 minutes before I have to talk to my engineers do you want to hang out if you are also free? Logan is aswell"
I smiled at his offer and checked my watch, I had about an 1 hour until I was needed.
"I'm free, meet at the coffee bar thing?" I laughed at my stupid choice of words that I couldn't be asked to change.
"Sure"

"Ah the silver arrow has finally arrived at the coffee bar thing" Logan laughed as Dennis joined in the joke.
"Such a lovely coffee bar thing"
"Oh hush it you two my brain had a massive fart"
"Alright miss coffee" Dennis smirked as I rolled my eyes.
These 2 will be the death of me I can already tell.