Lone Wolff | Charles Leclerc

06 - jeddah jet lag

The next week and a half I kept on texting Charles about literally anything and it felt good. There wasn't a day where we hadn't texted and he was the sweetest: asking about my day and talking about whatever he had to do for Ferrari and just talking about ourselves and our lifes outside of F1. He had sent me a little clip of him playing piano when I didn't believe that he could play that well - he proved me wrong so hard - and I had shared my latest favorite reads - which he now wanted to read as well. It was just a continuous chat in which we got to know each other better and just talked about our days. It was nice to get a inside look of the luxurious life of a driver, but also of a new friend.

My friends couldn't really believe that I was texting the Charles Leclerc, as they apparently knew him as 'the hot one' in F1 and they had kept me up to date about any form of media I had appeared in. Which actually happened to be a lot. There were some cool shots of me in my Mercedes blouse walking around the paddock and of course a lot of crappy journalistic work that made me cringe.

On the day of my birthday I had received a very sweet video message from Charles and Carlos and Isa, who were at the Ferrari base in Maranello wishing me a happy birthday. I kept on repeating the message as they were so sweet and I might have looked at Charles who was a giggling mess a little too long. He looked dashing in his red Ferrari shirt in the morning sun at Maranello. My friends were completely over the moon when they saw the message and it was like it had finally clicked for me that their friend - me! - was really part of that famous Formula One world now. Also Lewis, George and Mick had all sent me some lovely messages. All the messages served as a real eye opener for me that I was actually part of this crazy world now. My friends were completely starstruck and wanted to know everything about everyone, but I reassured them that there was nothing going on and everything that might have been slightly interesting for them I had already shared multiple times. Willow had sent me a birthday message from Australia when she woke up, I couldn't wait to see her again in a couple of weeks. My mum had also messaged me a 'happy birthday sweetheart' and it took me a while to send a 'thank you x' back to her. I missed her, but wounds caused by David and her were still fresh and needed time to heal, even though I knew that she was just as much of a victim to David as I was, maybe even more. It stil hurt like hell and it felt like I couldn't trust her. I kept her at a distance

My friends and I had a few beers to drink at home and jammed for a while on my guitar on the floor as we loved singing. We all had met through our university's musical theatre group, so we always ended up doing something music related. We filmed a little TikTok on my friend Ruby's account where we say a little song that had been going viral and afterward got ready to go to our local and favorite pub and sang a lot more until the sun started to rise. It was a fun night.

I never really bothered too much about my birthday, I barely celebrated it when I was younger, but this year I got so many felicitations it was so heartwarming. I had posted a picture on my birthday that my friend took from me when I was trying to find the right accords on my guitar from our little get-together and it felt like my Instagram was blowing up. Both with birthday wishes and confusion about the fact that I was playing - or trying to -  a guitar. My friends found it hilarious.

The day after my birthday, my father and Susie took me out shopping and to dinner in London as a present. Susie had taken a very sweet picture of me and Toto when the waiters came with my dessert with some sparkles on it for my birthday. He looked so excited to be able to celebrate my birthday and I actually was laughing and smiling so genuinely that I barely recognized myself when I saw the picture. I posted it on my Instagramstories and got more birthday messages in my DM's. Again, I usually wasn't fan of my celebrating my birthday, but this year felt different. I had a great few days actually celebrating the start of a new year, I hadn't felt loved like that in a long time. It almost made me feel uncomfortable, but I didn't let it ruin the amazing few days and embraced the love I received. It was something I had to get used to. I usually had a rather small group of loving friends that always stood by my side and now I going to surrounded by many more people who seemed take interest in me.