LIKED BY RUSSELLGEORGE AND OTHERS
FINDINGNOURY: ME, GEORGE, AND THE GOAT (who beat lewis hamilton in equal machinery) AT THE AIRPORT READY FOR THE FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON!!!
TAGGED: RUSSELLGEORGE, BRITNEYROSBERG
VIEW ALL COMMENTS
RUSSELLGEORGE: wait no lewis is the goat wdym. nico is nothing in comparison
FINDINGNOURY: get nico rosberg (THE MAN WHO BEAT LEWIS HAMILTON IN 2016 IN EQUAL MACHINERY)'s name out of your mouth
VEGAN44: thank you george
FINDINGNOURY: george just fainted
CHLOESPAM: u just had to post the thirst trap as the first slide
FINDINGNOURY: it's my responsibility as a certified hot girl
NOTVALERIA: so happy for u meeting ur idol
FINDINGNOURY: it's an emotional day
ARTHURLOCKED: OMG ITS NICO (BEAT LEWIS HAMILTON IN EQUAL MACHINERY) ROSBERG!!
BRITNEYROSBERG: yesss!! i love my fans 🥰🥰💖!!
WHOSALEXALBON: WHY DIDN'T I FLY WITH YOU GUYS 😭😭
FINDINGNOURY: u rly missed out 🤷♀️🤷♀️
BRITNEYROSBERG: love you my fan 🥰💖!!
FINDINGNOURY: love you too my king
VEGAN44: 👎👎👎
BRITNEYROSBERG: lewis!!! unblock me please!!! 💖💖
FINDINGNOURY: LMFAOOO 😭😭😭
BARCASBESTDARIUS: did u tell him that u cried when he retired
BRITNEYROSBERG: yessss! and she showed me the pictures of her sobbing! i love my fans!! 💖
33MAX33: when are you getting to the hotel.
FINDINGNOURY: in like an hour
33MAX33: meet you in the lobby.
FINDINGNOURY:: missed you too max 😇😇
33MAX33: no. christian told me to make you feel welcome. so i am going to meet you in the lobby.
FINDINGNOURY: DID DINNER AT MY MOTHER'S HOUSE MEAN NOTHING TO YOU??? DID OUR TEXT CONVERSATIONS MEAN NOTHING TO YOU???
33MAX33: we've texted twice??
FINDINGNOURY: officially ticked losing (just like lewis lost to nico rosberg in 2016 in equal machinery) airplane wordsearch to nico rosberg off my bucket list
THE WEEKS IN BETWEEN dinner in Monaco and the first race of the season had been the most hectic of Noura's life. Even ignoring testing. A few days after the driver's dinner in Monaco, Noura had kept her word and invited everyone over to her mother's house for dinner. Everyone who had been at the dinner, plus Grosjean and Arthur, had turned up. Noura's mom had been more than happy to oblige, she loved having people over. Unsurprisingly, other than an hour long conversation with Daniel, Noura had spent most of the dinner chatting with Charles. She hadn't expected them to get along so well.
A few days after that, Noura and her mother flew to Barcelona to see her brother, Darius, and his wife, Maya. The Denoires didn't celebrate Christmas, but Maya's family did, so they spent the day with them. Noura was back in London in time for New Years with her friends.
There hadn't been much contact between Noura and any of her new coworkers before New Years, other than the occasional random message from Daniel which usually resulted in them throwing light hearted insults at each other.
It changed after New Years. After Noura messaged Charles a Happy New Year text, he had messaged back and a conversation had sparked. The conversation hadn't really ended since then. They'd had dinner together at testing, which Lando had decided to crash, bringing his new best friend Carlos with him. It had been fun anyways, even though Charles had to ban Noura and Carlos from discussing football. Never let a Barcelona fan and a Real Madrid fan discuss football.
Even as Noura stepped off the plane into the Melbourne airport, George right behind her, she was texting Charles that she had arrived.
"Noura, stop texting." George flicked Noura on the back of the head. "You're gonna fall on your face."
"And wouldn't that be a shame?" Noura slipped her phone into her pocket, forcing herself to not pull it out when it buzzed with Charles's reply.
Noura breathed in the warm summer air as they stepped out of the airport, letting out a sigh. She didn't have a favorite season, she just always wanted what she didn't have. When it was winter, like it was in the UK, all she wanted was the summer. And now she had it.
She had changed into shorts on the plane, and even those felt like too much. She just wanted to find the nearest pool, change into her bikini, and jump right in.
"Do you know where the driver is?" Noura sighed, slipping some sunglasses onto her face, gazing around the pick up zone of the airport.
"Right over there I think." George pointed to the right, right to a man standing in front of a sleek, black car, holding a sign that said 'George Russell'.
"Hey! How come it says your name and not mine?"
"Cause you're mooching off of my ride." George pointed out, leading the way towards the driver. "Williams sent the car, not Red Bull."
Noura rolled her eyes, following after George, pulling her suitcase behind her. George was right, technically. She had told Christian he didn't need to send her a car, no matter how many times he offered.
After greeting the driver, who had (in Noura's opinion) the perfect Australian accent, George sat in the passenger's seat and Noura slid into the back. She rolled down her window, letting the hot air brush her across the face. Her hair flew around her, whacking her in the face, but she didn't push it away. After testing, Noura's nerves for the start of the season had subsided. The car felt good, it felt fast. She knew how to drive it well. She was excited to show everyone just what she was made of.
The car dropped Noura off first, seeing as George was staying at a hotel a few minutes away. True to his word, Max met Noura in the lobby.
"Hey Max!" Noura said, walking over to the man right away. "Let me just check in and then we can chat."
Max just nodded, crossing his arms and waiting diligently for Noura to finish.
"Christian told me to tell you that you need to go get ready and put on a Red Bull shirt." Max said. "He wants us to film a promo video."
"Is that the only reason you came to meet me in the lobby?!" Noura held a hand to her chest, feigning offense. "I thought we were becoming friends, Max!"
"We can be friends." Max shrugged, looking down at the floor. "I guess."
Noura sighed. "I know you probably didn't want a new teammate, you and Daniel were really good friends. But I really think that we can be good friends too, if you'll give me a chance."
Much to her surprise, Max smiled. "We are friends."
"Good. Wait for me down here, I'll be right back!"
"HELLO, WELCOME TO THE first Red Bull video of the year!" Noura began, shuffling the question cards in her hands. She was sitting on one side of a couch outside the hotel wearing a tailored Red Bull top and a matching hat, Max sitting next to her, wearing sunglasses. The sun was shining right in their faces. "And since me and Max are new teammates, we're going to be asking each other some questions to get to know each other! Max, you should take those sunglasses off, give us a look at those big blue eyes!"
"You should take off that hat and give us a look at that forehead."
Noura gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth as Max began to cackle, evidently finding himself hilarious.
"Just for that," Noura shook her head, taking off her hat and throwing it at Max. "I am going to demolish you on Sunday. Also, a very normal sized forehead, right here." She waved a hand around her face.
"Hmm, sure."
Noura just laughed, bending the question cards in her hands. "Are you ready for the questions, Max?"
Max nodded. "I'll start."
"Go for it."
Max glanced down at the first question card in his hands. "What is your... hype song? What does that mean?"
"It's like a song that you listen to to get you ready for the race or something else important. To get you hype!"
"Ahh, okay. I understand. So what is your hype song?"
"Umm..." Noura thought for a moment. "Ooh, Shut Up And Drive by Rihanna! Or Getaway Car by Taylor Swift. Or like... Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande!"
"I haven't heard any of those songs." Max admitted.
Noura's jaw dropped open. "You're lying."
"Nope." Max just shrugged his shoulders, trying his hardest not to laugh at the shock on Noura's face.
"Oh my god!" Noura screeched. "Do you even have like... a phone! How have you never heard those songs?"
"I dunno. I don't really listen to pop music."
"But still!" Noura was genuinely worried about Max. Was he a recluse? Did he have no social life? "Okay, the next promo video is just me playing my favorite songs for you and you telling me why they're amazing and perfect and why I have the best music taste ever."
Max shook his head, laughing into his hands.
"Okay, question for you now, Max." Noura began reading from a card. "What languages do you speak?"
"I speak Dutch, obviously, English, and German."
"Teach me how to say something in Dutch."
"What do you want to learn?"
"A really difficult word."
"Scheveningen." Max said.
Noura thought he sounded like he had sneezed. "Pardon?"
"Scheveningen." Max repeated. "Try."
Noura said it so horribly that Max doubled over laughing.
"Okay, calm down." Noura scoffed. "I'd like to see you say something in Arabic."
"I'd rather not embarrass myself."
"Boo, you're so boring. What's the next question?"
"What..." Max glanced down at his cards. "countries have you lived in?"
"Well, I was born in Egypt. I moved to Monaco when I was three, but I would spend every summer in Dubai and every winter in Egypt. Then I moved to Barcelona when I was 13, so my brother could play football there. Now I live in London."
"I forgot your brother played football."
"Are you a Barcelona fan? Answer wisely."
"Yes?" Max was very clearly lying, but Noura decided to ignore it.
"Right answer." Noura picked a new card from her deck. "Oh, this is a fun one. What is your favorite F1 race of all time?"
Max perked up immediately. He looked like he'd waited his entire life to be asked that question. "The 2004 French Grand Prix. I know Ferrari won, and I am not a Ferrari fan, but Michael Schumacher just gave a masterclass of racing and Ferrari gave a masterclass in strategy. A four stop strategy was unheard of back then, and using it to beat Alonso was crazy. They short fueled Schumacher to trick Renault into doing three stops so they could get around losing track position. The Renault Michelin tyres were way better suited to that track than the Ferrari Bridgestones..."
Max rambled on for at least another five minutes. Noura didn't try to stop him, instead, she listened as intently as she could manage, pretending she knew nothing about the race, even though it was actually her favorite as well and she knew it inside out. She let Max explain it anyway. She knew how she felt when people interrupted her or didn't listen to her when she was talking about something she cared about, and she didn't want to do that to Max. She just nodded when necessary, even letting out the occasional 'wow' or 'really'.
"I just love seeing good, well thought out strategies. People really underestimate how important strategy is. That's what really makes Formula One what it is. It's not just driving around, so much thought goes into every move." Max finally finished his tangent, leaving Noura still digesting everything he said.
"Wow. I'll have to give the race a rewatch."
"Let me know what you think." Max sounded so excited that Noura knew she would be rewatching the race that night and texting Max all of her thoughts.
"Next question is..." Max continued. "Who was your favorite driver growing up?"
"I was a big, big Kimi fan as a kid. I also really loved Sebastian and Alonso and Nico. I liked Lewis, but he was my brother's favorite, so I was forced to pick someone else. Your next question is..." Noura prayed it wasn't 'what's your second favorite F1 race?' "What is your dream holiday destination?"
"After talking to you, I'd actually really like to go to Egypt."
"One day, we'll go together." Noura smiled. The cameraman signaled to them that the video would be ending soon. They had been planning to ask more questions, but Max had talked for so long about his favorite race that they had to cut it short. "And that is it for our very first promo video, it was great getting to know you, Max."
"Back at you."
The red light recording turned off.
Noura ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. All throughout recording, she had just been getting sweatier and sweatier in the Australian sun. She was lucky the Red Bull shirt wasn't white, or her sweat stains would be in full view. She almost wished she was back in the UK with the cold. Max handed her the hat she had tossed at him earlier.
"How long does it usually take them to edit these videos?" Noura asked. She wanted to know when she would be receiving the inevitable public scrutiny that came with anything she did. If she said nothing, she was boring, if she spoke too much, she was loud and annoying. Noura could never win.
"They usually do it pretty quick." Max replied. "I'd guess that the video will be out by tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning."
"Great, thanks." Noura nodded, getting to her feet. "When's your press conference?"
"In about an hour. You?"
"Right after yours. I'm dreading it a little bit, I'm not even gonna lie."
"Who're you with?"
"Kimi, Valtteri, Charles, and Lance."
"Could be way worse."
"It's not the people, it's the interviewers."
"All the F1 interviewers are nice, super respectful."
"Yeah, to you." Noura crossed her arms, gnawing on her cheek. She had had many seemingly respectful interviewers ask her the rudest, most irrelevant questions. "We'll just have to see."
Max furrowed his eyebrows, like he had never really thought of the fact that they might treat Noura differently. "I'm sure they'll all be alright."
"Maybe. Like I said, we'll have to wait and see."
NOURA WAS SPACED OUT for most of the press conference, she couldn't even lie. Most of the questions were going to Charles about his move to Ferrari, or to Bottas about being Lewis's teammate. Noura was usually either ignored in interviews or ridiculed. Being ignored was the more preferable one.
She remembered once, back when she had been driving in Formula 3, an interviewer had asked her over and over again which Formula One driver she had a crush on. It was honestly just embarrassing, mostly for the journalist. Noura had stood up for herself, of course, saying that she never thought of them that way. That she was professional. Her fellow drivers had looked disappointed, and made sure to tell her that she deserved better afterwards. But none of them stood up for her. Not even Lando, George, and Alex. No one else really ever stood up for Noura. She understood, it wasn't their battle, it was hers. It was just so exhausting having to always fight it alone.
After about 20 questions to Bottas and at least double that to Charles, and a few to Kimi and Lance, Noura was ready for the conference to be over.
"Question for Noura." A hand shot into the air. Noura perked up slightly, picking her chin up from her hand. She seriously hoped she wasn't about to be embarrassed by whatever the journalist decided to ask her. But hopefully Max had been right, maybe F1 reporters were more respectful than the ones in F4.
And F3.
And F2.
"Is it intimidating being in Formula One with men who have been racing their whole lives, as just a girl?"
The drivers sitting around Noura went silent, all making disapproving faces, but saying nothing. Bottas was shaking his head from the left of Noura, Kimi was wearing a deep frown. Lance looked like he was just totally confused about where the question had come from. Charles looked angry.
Noura's heart dropped. The man's word choice didn't escape her. How difficult was it to be surrounded by men as just a girl.
Noura had no problem with the word girl, sometimes she was certainly more a girl than a woman. She was only 19. But to call her a girl and then call the likes of Lando a man was completely absurd. And she also recognized the insinuation behind the word when it came out of the man's mouth. To him, she was just a little girl with a pipe dream. Not a woman who had worked her whole life for what she had and put up with more than anyone should ever have to put up with. No, she was just a girl.
She didn't know why she had expected more professionalism. Less blatant disregard for everything she had managed to do in her life. All her wins, her championships, her Formula One Red Bull seat. None of it mattered, all because she was a girl.
Noura let out a sigh, staring up at the ceiling. She steadied herself, ready to shut the journalist down with a harsh reply about how she wasn't just a girl. But before she could speak, Charles's voice filled her ears.
"I really don't think that's really an appropriate question." Charles looked genuinely pissed off, his eyebrows were furrowed in the middle of his forehead, his lips were pulled into a tight line. "There are hundreds of questions you could ask Noura, she's quite literally making history before our eyes, and you chose that? Why should she be intimidated just because she's surrounded by men. She's been doing this, and winning at it, her whole life as well."
The tension in Noura's shoulders dissolved, and she looked at Charles with a blank expression. Her face might have been empty, but her mind wasn't. For the first time in her career of racing, someone else had made the effort to stand up for her. Someone, who she had only really known since December, cared enough about her to risk backlash to fight for her.
Noura's eyebrows twitched, she felt like she was about to start crying. Her eyes probably said it all, because Charles gave her a comforting smile, nudging her foot with his beneath the table.
The journalist had sat down, looking as embarrassed as he should be, and the press conference continued like nothing had happened. But something had happened.
Noura leaned slightly towards Charles, her voice low. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me, Noura." Charles whispered back. He was slightly upset that she even felt the need to thank him, it was just basic human decency. There was nothing to be thankful for. It was sad that no one else had ever done it before Charles. "I told you I'd stand up for you, and I meant it."
Noura didn't know how to describe how she was feeling in that moment, looking at Charles's little smile. It was almost like she had stepped into a warm cafe after being out in the cold rain all day long. Or rather, all life long. Knowing that she wouldn't be alone in her battles any longer meant more to her than Charles could ever know.
"Thanks for meaning it."
USER1 | ＠user1
the red bull promo video 😭😭 noura, the newest victim of maxplaining
USER2 | ＠user2
WHEN HE TOLD HER SHE HAD A BIG FOREHEAD LMAOO
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USER3 | ＠user3
'Max, you should take those sunglasses off, give us a look at those big blue eyes!' 'You should take off that hat and give us a look at that forehead.' i died
USER4 | ＠user4
i need the next red bull video like right now max and noura are so iconic
USER5 | ＠user5
i'm so glad they're getting along, i love them both so much
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USER6 | ＠user6
they won't be getting along when verstappen smokes her on sunday
USER7 | ＠user7
don't know why i expected better of f1 journalists when noura has been facing sexism for years and years during press conferences in lower leagues and no one does SHIT
USER8 | ＠user8
ur so right. even other drivers, charles was the first person to ever actually stand up for her in the moment
USER9 | ＠user9
i'm glad she at least has him i guess, but the fia needs to be the ones to stand up for her if more happens
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USER10 | ＠user10
the fia never does shit 😭😭
USER11 | ＠user11
that journalist was the only one who knew what he was talking about
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
once again ditching my posting routine 😬 i've given up on pretending that i will ever post to a schedule
but basically i stayed home from school today, and i wrote like four chapters so i figured i should gift you guys!
plus, i want to hear all your thoughts on the bahrain gp. i have SO much to say. like wtf is going on at VCARB?? and carlos really trying to make ferrari miss him (they will FOR SURE). lmk what you guys thought
that's all till sunday (or not we never really know with me)
don't forget to vote and comment! you guys are the best!