2023
Testing was upon them and despite her often reserved and stoic behaviour Jenna couldn't hide her excitement.
"You excited?" Her new Public Relations officer Angela asked, noticing Jenna's bubbly fidgeting as she thought about jumping into an F1 car for the third time ever, but for the first time as a Formula One driver.
"Beyond excited, I can't wait to get into the car," Jenna admitted, dropping her cold exterior the excitement was so overwhelming. She almost felt like skipping the anticipation had built up so much in her body.
"And we're in Barcelona so after all this I can still go to a nightclub," she joked cheekily, side eyeing Angela to catch her rolling her eyes in jest.
"Just go get ready," Angela laughed, ushering Jenna towards the motorhome and to her drivers room.
Finally the moment came, she couldn't even stand still as engineers and mechanics crowded around the car, completing any finishing touches before she could get in.
"Alright time to get in the car then Jenna," one of her new mechanics Jason ordered.
She climbed over the tall halo and into the car, Jason leaning over to do up her seatbelt. Her stomach was doing flips as he buckled her in, she was moments away from getting onto the track and starting her first official laps as an F1 driver.
Suddenly her radio kicked in.
"Jenna this is John, your race engineer, is the radio working?" The British accent in her ear spoke.
"I can hear you loud and clear John," Jenna replied, giving him a thumbs up as he turned around as well.
The engine revved angrily as the car started, this is it.
"You ready for this?" John spoke up.
"I've never been more ready!" Jenna responded eagerly.
She pulled out of her pit box impatiently and started the slow descent down the pitlane.
Every minute of every lap was pure bliss. She was told to focus on quali laps for this stint, the team wanted to see how far they could push each tyre in a qualifying situation. They also wanted to see if their one lap pace could match other teams at this point in the season.
By the way the car felt Jenna was confident they were competitive. The new regulations from 2022 were beginning to benefit the team drastically.
"Everything feels really good!" She reported back to the team.
She pitted for mediums after wearing out a set of softs. However they weren't as favourable. She repeated the same mistake into the first corner three times.
"What the fuck is going on John?" She asked, the frustration beginning to get to her.
"Come in the next lap and we'll have a look."
They stopped for a lunch break shortly after that. Yuki Tsunoda, her teammate for the season would be doing the afternoon runs so Jenna was off the hook for the rest of the day.
The three days after that were quite similar. Liam Lawson took over on the third day, allowing Yuki and Jenna to review the data they collected and the new data Liam was producing.
However, now it was a Friday. Daniel, who was now a RedBull reserve driver and who had been driving the car that whole day asked her to go drinking with him and some of the other drivers.
She wasn't lying to Angela when she said she would be heading to a nightclub deep in the city of Barcelona.
"I swear women always take a century to get ready, you know all the drivers that will be there already, there's no one you need to impress," Daniel whined and ranted.
Jenna stood unimpressed behind him, tapping her brown thigh high boots impatiently.
"Dan, I've been ready for the past half hour, you're the one re-doing your hair in my bathroom mirror" she glared disapprovingly, sighing as he gave her a signature Danny Ric grin.
"Well, in that case, we better get going, our taxi has probably been waiting ages," he laughed, swinging his arm lazily over her shoulders.
They talked the whole elevator and taxi ride, Jenna going on and on about her experience in the car the last couple days. Daniel happily listened, in awe of how far Jenna had come from the 11 year old girl he met in Silverstone.
However, they instantly split up as soon as they were in the club.
Daniel joined the older side, chatting with drivers like Lewis, Nico, Valtteri and Checo. While Jenna met up with Max, Charles, Lando and Pierre.
"Hey babe, who's this?" Jenna smiled as she reached Charles, interlocking their hands and lifting them up to press a gentle kiss to his knuckles.
Charles turned to face her, shock written all over his face as the Instagram model he was chatting up looked the two of them up and down.
He quickly turned back to her, pulling his hand away from Jenna's as she giggled at his pleading.
"No I promise we're not together!" Charles begged as the model gave him a horrifically judgemental look and disappeared into the crowd.
"I was just about to get her number," Charles whined as he turned back to Jenna.
"I know," she laughed at him, she loved messing with her bestfriend. Yet somehow, he never got mad at her.
"Where's the rest of them?" She asked, looping arms with him so she wouldn't lose him in the dark club.
"Just over there," he pointed out, gesturing to a VIP section were some of the guys were sitting at more intimate booths.
They sat down with the rest of the group, greeting Pierre, Max and Lando.
"You did a great job testing this week!" Pierre shouted over the music, "when I first got into an F1 car I was shitting myself."
She laughed at the expression. "Very brave of you to share with the group Pierre," she teased.
"Right, I'm going to go get a drink, who wants one?" She asked after a while.
"Tequila shots!" Everybody cheered in unison, Jenna nodded her head in understanding before setting off to the VIP bar.
She came back with a mojito for herself and a bar man carrying the tequila shots for the boys.
They finished them in a matter of moments, suddenly looking at her again. "Nah lads, you're going to have to get the rest yourself." She was too preoccupied observing the people on the dance floor, biding her time and waiting for the right song to join it.
Then, her number one dance song started playing. Gasolina banged through the loud speakers in the big area.
"Charles!" She screamed, turning around to him. He was already looking at her and getting ready to stand up.
"You know what time it is!" She yelled to him, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the dance floor.
They jumped sporadically together, ignoring the other couples grinding on eachother around them. However, Jenna often had to stop to pull down the cargo skirt she was wearing. The beige skirt kept riding up and she felt like her whole ass was out. She couldn't help but complain about it to Charles.
He leaned down to her, his lips right next to her ear so she could hear him despite all the loud bass.
"I think you look great, short skirt and all," he complimented, "the off-the-shoulder is really working too."
He said this as he caressed her collarbone, brushing the army green fabric of the button up long sleeved top ever so slightly.
The club suddenly felt ten times hotter and she felt like she needed to leave the dance floor.
"I'm going to go get another drink," she shouted to him and quickly whisked herself away and towards the bar.
She had downed four vodka shots on her own when she encountered the older group.
"What's up Danny!" She greeted happily, the alcohol taking hold of her.
"The sky!" He replied as enthusiastically. Jenna's smile dropped at his comeback.
"That was the most millennial thing I've ever heard." She deadpanned.
"Your humour just isn't sophisticated enough," was Daniel's snarky reply. Jenna just laughed at him, launching at him for a big hug.
Charles found her again shortly after that. "You ready to go back to the hotel?" He asked her, grabbing her outstretched hand to pull her off the barstool she was sitting on.
"Whenever you like Lord Perceval," she teased, waving a passionate goodbye to Daniel as she was led out of the sticky nightclub.
Charles ushered the two of them into a cab. That had been one of their better nights out, maybe it felt better as it was her first time out as an F1 driver. Not just the F2 or F3 driver that Charles or Daniel dragged with them.