In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Five

The next couple of months passes with a lot of the same stuff. Filming for Red Bull as well as many simulator sessions as I work with Nick to make sure that I'm in the best shape possible for the beginning of the season. The car unveiling goes well, along with the new suits which have got a few more touches of red to them which makes me happy as well as a lot of photoshoots for more female-centred Red Bull athletics clothing thanks to the new partnership with Castore. I was really glad that I could help make more sellable clothes for female F1 fans to wear and hoped that teams would see the opportunity and follow through, we had started at Williams but the operation was so much smaller it mainly consisted of me wearing my own personally tailored versions of the clothes, but this collection was huge and I was so excited to be the reason for it.

I got to film some crazy videos over the course of February as well - some with Max and some without, the best ones were without him though as they were basically full-on adrenaline sports like skydiving, bungee jumping, abseiling, rock climbing, sailing etc with other Red Bull athletes. However, as Max wasn't necessarily the keenest sports person and definitely not anywhere close to me in levels of being an adrenaline junkie he abstained from those ones and just stuck to the simple videos. We were doing a lot in advance so in case of a busy week, there was still content for the team to post.

On top of this, I was also doing a crazy amount of personal media, the interest obviously extremely high as I was set to enter my first competitive season and so I was constantly flying between Monaco, England and America for the last few weeks as I did talk shows and magazine photoshoots that for some reason needed to be in the US as well as getting time on the simulator at the factory despite having my own one at home in Monaco as well.

Now that I was finally in Bahrain for testing I was really looking forward to the opportunity to settle down a little more and really begin focusing on racing.

That was until I was dragged on the first day into a press conference with Lewis, Daniel and Nyck. We were yet to begin and actually, I was early by about ten minutes and so I was slightly slumped in my seat as I glanced at Lewis who was next to me and was motioning for me to sit up straighter causing me to refrain from rolling my eyes at him but doing it all the same.

"You tired?" Lewis asks and I nod as I cover my face while I yawn.

"Yeah, I was in New York...like...seventeen hours ago I think? I haven't slept in like two days I don't think - to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what day it is today. I thought I was going to be sleeping today but then Olivia picked me up from the airport and brought me straight here." I explained to him as I searched for Olivia in the room as she had promised to find me coffee, and lots of it.

"But that's a fourteen or fifteen-hour flight at best?" Lewis says shocked and I nod as I slump back slightly in my sleep.

"I think I'm going to skip the track walk and other media today...I'll do it tomorrow." I say more to myself than Lewis but I see him nod in agreement as his eyes are filled with concern as he looks at me, clearly scanning me up and down. "I'm taking the second day of testing," I tell him in an attempt to make him less worried about me and he nods, breathing out a sigh of relief as he takes in the fact that I have two days to get myself together.

"They're working you too hard," he says and I shake my head.

"It was a personal interview, Jimmy Fallon, not one for RB." I tell him dismissively, "plus look at how great I look!" I say waving a hand down my seated body at my outfit and he wrinkles his nose in fake disgust causing me to actually roll my eyes this time as Olivia runs up to me with two Red Bull branded keep cups filled with coffee and I take both from her thankfully, placing one on the floor next to my seat as I kept one in both hands. "How's the car?" I ask him cheekily in an attempt to change the subject, letting out a very light moan when the taste of coffee hits my tongue and the positive association begins to make itself clear, instantly brightening my mood.