Smile. - c.l.

- 5 -

It was the 2023 Budapest Grand Prix day! We got here Thursday night and today is Sunday. I've been non stop working so I didn't have any thing left over to do today and made sure I was able to have a full free day. Most of the time I stayed back at the hotel or would occasionally work in the paddock lounge area. We went out as a family to dinner Friday night and it was so nice to be all together at the same time. We always have these family dinners before races but we're rarely all together outside of F1 races and Mila leaves soon. She'll be attending other races but not all of them.

"Lana you're beautiful!" I heard a young lady say behind me and not to far away along with thousands of other names being yelled. I was getting out of the car at the track and so there were tons of fans, security, ya know, the usual.

"Aw thank you!" I yelled as I turned around and waved in the direction I heard it in. Not to sure who it was but that was sweet of them. I was having a rough morning getting ready and not feeling confident enough so hearing that really made things so much better.

"Come on Benji!" My mom said loudly while putting her hand out along with Elena. Benji immediately hopped out of the car and ran up to them and they headed inside where they have a designated kid area. Mila, Catherine, Eric and I went in another direction to the top of the paddocks. There's a bar and mini restaurant up there just with snacks, nothing crazy.

"You look so good Lana, it's almost like you're trying to show off to someone." Eric said. We all laughed and they agreed.

"Oh whatever. I don't care. I just like to look nice when I go out." I said while winking at Mila. The only one who knew.

"Hello. Hello." My dad said as he walked up with Phillpe.

"Kick ass out there!" Catherine said while giving him a fist bump. Then we all went in for a fist bump because you can't leave us all out. We chatted for a few minutes before they headed back to the team rooms. We all sat down and eventually just went on our phones. I saw on Twitter and Instagram and even tiktok, videos of here at this race. It's crazy how fast they get these things posted. I didn't necessarily see anything bad or negative. Just tweets and comments about how I'm here for Charles and how everyone still wants to know what happen, etc. the more I saw pictures of me, the more my look actually grew on me. Maybe it was the compliments I saw too, I don't know. But I just wore my head naturally with a casual long white summer dress, wedges and some simple gold jewelry.

"Can one of you take a picture for me?" I asked while holding my phone out. Catherine grabbed it and took a few photos of me inside for me to post. Anytime we travel we post a few photos as a "dump". I think it's cute. It's like a recap of the trip. Then mom, Elena and Benji came up. I could hear a lot of commotion coming from the other side so I went and looked over the railing and saw all the drivers walking out and starting to sign things and take photos. I saw Lando and Max but I don't think they saw me. Then I saw Charles running out. I couldn't take my eyes off him. Everytime I see him, those feelings come back. At one point he turned around and we locked eyes. I gave him a little smirk trying not to make it noticeable and he just winked at me. I couldn't hide it on my face any longer so I left and went to sit back with my family and texted Charles good luck as well. He eventually texted me back right before the race.

Charles🤍-

Thank you amore mio. Talk to you after.

•Charles POV

Lana had texted me good luck. Her good luck message was the only one that ever mattered to me. I needed to hear it from her in order to calm down for a race so not hearing after breaking up caused so many issues in my races. After sending back just a red heart I put on all my gear and then got into the car. They started adjusting everything, putting my seatbelts on and then finally my steering wheel.