Y/N let out a shaky breath as she stood outside the press conference room, out of view from the cameras and wondering eyes of the reporters. This was Y/N's first time at the press conference as a race winner; she'd beaten Lando and Max to the finish line by a matter of seconds. Y/N watched Lando and Max converse with each other, they seemed so at ease with the atmosphere which was the opposite to what she was currently feeling. She'd been to other press conferences as a driver and as a podium sitter, but now she was the race winner, all eyes were on her.
"Y/N, you okay? You look a bit nervous." Lando commented coming closer to her, he leaned against the wall using his elbow so that he could peer over her, Max also walking closer to her as they all waited to be called into the room. Y/N nodded frantically to Lando causing him to raise an eyebrow in Max's direction, it seemed that neither of them believed her.
"Really, I am." Y/N focused on them, she was the same height as Lando and only a few inches shorter than Max, so it wasn't too hard to keep eye contact with them. The two boys looked to each other and nodded slowly, though it seemed that Lando wanted to talk some more, but they were interrupted by someone calling them into the room. Y/N was sat in the centre of the table, with Lando on her left and Max on the right.
"We are joined here today with the podium sitters of the Belgium Grand Prix. In first place, Y/N Y/L/N, in second place, Lando Norris and in third place, Max Verstappen. We'll start with our race winner. Y/N, how are you feeling after your first win?" Y/N could feel the beady eyes of her audience focus on her as well as the multitude of cameras that all seemed ready to jump at the chance to pounce and take photos. Y/N opened her mouth to speak, but it quickly closed as she felt something kick her foot under the table, ignoring it she focused on the question at hand.
"I'm ecstatic. It's a feeling I won't forget any time soon. I'm so thankful to everyone who's supported me and helped me get to this stage in my career and I'm especially thankful to McLaren for supporting me through everything. It's the first McLaren 1-2 in a long time so I'm nothing but happy." She exhaled a low breath, thankful that she'd spluttered out her response without too may slip ups. There was a thump as Y/N's knee made contact with the table above it and Y/N let out a painful 'ow' and used her hands to rub her knee, but not before giving Lando a quick slap to the back of the head as he burst out into a fit of giggles at her expense. "Not helpful Lando." She muttered.
"You're the first woman in Formula One to win a race, how does that feel?"
"I feel like it should've happened a lot sooner. Obviously, this is a male dominated sport, but more should be done to encourage women to get into the sport – and it's not just about girls not liking cars, its ... they don't have the same opportunities as men. It was so difficult for me to get sponsors because they all asked me if I wanted to have children; they don't want to invest in someone who might want to have a family in the future." The atmosphere was tense in the room and Y/N could feel everyone's eyes on her as they tried to absorb her comment, Y/N had been very outspoken in her career about the lack of women in F1 and not just racing but throughout the paddock, however the atmosphere was broken when she turned to Lando, "If you kick me once more.." She left the threat hanging and the press conference presenter continued by asking Max a question about his strategy.
Y/N blanked out for a few minutes while Max was answering their questions, her gaze was focused on her fingers as she fidgeted with her water bottle that was sat on the table. It was when she felt someone kicking her feet that she returned to reality, it wasn't hard to tell who was kicking her. it was something of a habit that Lando had developed and more often than not, during meetings Y/N would find Lando kicking her feet playing a one-sided match of footsies. Y/N focused forward as if she was trying to blank out the attack on her feet, but after a few seconds Lando continued to persist and she decided to take matters into her own hands. Subtlety, she lifted her foot back and in one big swing, kicked Lando on the side of his foot.
"Ow!" His shout of pain interrupted a question being directed towards Max from the audience, attracting the attention of everyone in the room to him. "What did you do that for?"
"Don't act as if you're innocent!" Y/N hissed at him, but a smile was fighting to appear on her face.
"Children, children." Max began, raising his hands to gain their attention and mock a 'keep calm' motion. "Calm down." It didn't take much more for the three of them to burst into a fit of laughter at their current situation and as a result, caused the press conference to be cut short and none of them could calm down; all it took was one look from one of them to the other for the laughter to begin again.
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