TRAILBLAZER | M.VERSTAPPEN

04

The Drivers Dinner...to the Formula 1 community it was more famous than the Last Supper. They were started by Lewis Hamilton who thought it would be a good idea to get all the drivers together before the start of the new season. I had always dreamed of one day being able to attend, knowing I had made it to F1 but now that I've made it... I'm shitting myself.

Fleetwood Max was playing in the background as I tried to think about what I should wear.

"Danny, what do I even wear?" I yelled out to him from my hotel bedroom.

"Maeve I don't know it's like business casual, just wear whatever" He yells back.

I groan, that wasn't any help. I decided to quickly message one of my best friends, Katie, who was currently back home in Australia. While waiting for her reply I call out to Daniel again,

"Just show me what you're wearing, I'll base mine on that"

He comes waltzing in wearing a linen white shirt and black pants, he does a spin.

"I clean up well don't I" He states

"Ah suppose you could say that"

"Oh come on I'm good looking and you know it Fucker"

I just look at him, suddenly one of our favourite songs 'Gold dust woman' by Fleetwood Max comes on, he smiles before grabbing one of my hands and bowing.

"May I have this dance?" He asks professionally

I put my spare hand on my chest pretending to be shocked

"I would love nothing more" I reply before laughing

He grabs my other hand and begins to dance across the room like we were in a ballroom.

"I bet we look so graceful," I say as I follow in Danny's footsteps.

He continued to ballroom dance across the hotel room until I heard my phone buzz back in my room, must be Katie. Danny also hearing the buzz stops dancing and grabs one of my hands before bowing again.

"Until we meet again," he says before kissing my hand.

"Ew cooties," I say pulling my hand back.

Daniel chuckles,

"Okay we've got 20 minutes before we need to leave, Meet back in the living room in 18 minutes?"

I nod my head.

I quickly high-tail it back to my room where I look at my phone to see what Katie said...'wear a little black dress that's always the way to go'. I walked over to my suitcase and found the black dress that Katie insisted that I pack, I wasn't a massive dress fan but I trusted Katie in her judgment. I quickly put it on and continued getting ready.

-🏎️-

"Maeve T minus thirty seconds until you're meant to be in here" Daniel yells out from the Lounge room.

I quickly put the last of my earrings in and make my way out to the living room.

"Oh so close you almost didn't make it"

"Danny you should know by now I don't lose"

"Let's just see how you are on the tracks before you start making those outrageous comments"

He nudges me as we make our way out of our hotel room and down to ground level where our driver would be meeting us.

-

I tried to keep calm but I was freaking out, I was meeting all the drivers in just a few minutes. I had freaked out just meeting Checo and Max, and even then I managed to make a fool of myself, how was I supposed to make a good first impression with all of them?

I mean these are the guys that I've been watching for the last few years, some of them had been drivers that I had been a lifelong fan of, people I idolized. How was I supposed to cope without looking like a deranged fangirl of a complete fuckwit?

The car pulled to a stop out the front of the restaurant, lining the entrance were paparazzi, cameras ready to start snapping as soon as we stepped out. Great. Another run-in with the media, what interesting headlines will they cook up now?

I take a deep breath in,

"You'll be right Fucker, with my good-looking face by your side they won't even notice you there"

Daniel always uses humor to cheer me up, and it always does.

"Okay we're good I'm so chill," I say trying to convince myself.

Daniel quickly hops out of the car, cameras immediately starts flashing, he runs around to my side and opens the door helping me out. We quickly make our way up the stairs trying to ignore all the cameras, but that's pretty hard when they're in your face.

We successfully make it inside, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in. I hardly had time to get myself together before Daniel was leading me toward everyone.

Well here goes nothing I suppose.

-🏎️-

Media article

Maeve Drucker and Daniel Riccardo arrive at the annual Drivers dinner. Drucker shows a lot of skin in her little black dress, is she trying to impress one of the drivers?