MARTY: And Bahrain’s brutal desert circuit is the perfect place to do it. Fast straights, unforgiving corners, and no room for error.
TARA: Obsidian may be bloodied—but they’re not out. Not yet.
MARTY: We’ll be watching. Every turn. Every pit stop. Every press conference.
TARA: This season just went from simmering tension… to outright combustion.
MARTY: Buckle up, folks. Bahrain is about to get spicy.
Elena Archer – Press Conference Centre
I arrived early enough to grab the centre seat of the front row. It was going to be a long day, but I had to be here, in the thick of it. The large conference room filled around me with my press colleagues. Many more of them recognised me now and I had to fend off questions, and accept congratulations constantly.
I sat through three hours’ worth of panel sessions with various combinations of drivers and Team Principals. Everyone was being asked about Obsidian. Everyone. No matter what team they worked for. There were the customer teams, who had all announced terminations of their engine supply contracts with the tainted manufacturer. The drivers were asked about how competitive they thought the Obsidian cars would be without tampering. I could tell most people were already sick of talking about it.
Sofia Vega rolled her eyes at one journalist’s question and snapped back “Why don’t you ask me about my race?”
I stayed quiet, despite my prime position. I think everyone expected me to be first in there with the hard questions, but I already knew the whole story.
After a particularly brutal panel with Ren Takeda from Nova, Ben Walker from Stratos, and Mason Hale from Falcon Edge, I was aching, hungry and in rather urgent need of a loo break. But I couldn’t give up this seat.
As people bustled in and out of the room, a familiar face and long blonde hair caught my eye. Sabine Roth was lurking in the doorway, people brushing past her. I made eye contact and gave her a small nod. She smiled and inched into the room, approaching me with wary eyes darting back and forth in their sockets. She came up to me with a water bottle outstretched.
“Here,” she said. “You look like you need this.”
“Thanks,” I replied, taking the water and cracking the cap. I took a drink and looked up at her expectantly.
“I wanted to thank you, for running such a powerful story. I’m glad I was able to help.”
“That’s okay, thank you for that help. I couldn’t have run it without you.” I smiled and shifted my weight. “Any fall out?” I asked softly.
She nodded. “They dragged us all into a meeting and asked anyone with information to come forward. They were going to investigate us all. So I went to them privately and told them everything. Well, not that I passed confidential materials to a journalist.” She gave a sheepish grin. “But about my role in Obsidian’s tampering. I told them Klaus gave me instructions and I didn’t realise right away that I was doing anything wrong. Then I didn’t know what to do because it was coming from my boss. I told them I only realised the breadth of it when your story broke. I got demoted and I’m on probation, basically. But they didn’t fire me.”
“Good, I’m glad.”
“I can keep your seat for you if you need to get out for a break. You’re waiting for the Obsidian panel, aren’t you?”
“I am. Are you sure? I won’t be gone long.”
She nodded. “I want to help.”
I stood and let her take my seat, then hurried away to the paddock to freshen up and grab food. I missed one panel but was back for next one. Sabine had sat quietly in my spot, despite being given odd looks due to her FIA polo shirt. She clearly wasn’t press.
“Thanks,” I said as I resumed my seat.
“No problem. Knock ’em dead.” She flashed a grin before leaving the room.
It was another two hours before the last panel of the day. The room got gradually more and more full until they were squeezed in at the open doors.
The final panel was about to get under way and Richard Haversham took his seat on the right hand side, crossing his legs and balancing his tablet on his knee. He looked flushed under the bright stage lighting.
He lifted his mic and looked out at the packed room. I swear every sports journalist in the world was crammed into thatroom. Richard cleared his throat and hush settled throughout the crowd.
“Welcome to the last panel of the day. It’s good to see so many people have come to hear what these professionals have to say. You know I always expect a high standard of courtesy, but I want to reiterate for this session that manners cost nothing.”
There was a ripple of light laughter and a few objections from around the room. I stayed quiet, serious, poised. I could feel eyes boring into the back of my head and knew that everyone in that room was waiting for something involving me to happen. I finally had some inkling of what it was like for Aleks to live under constant scrutiny.
“I’d like to welcome to the stage Valerie Lin, Interim Team Principal of Obsidian Performance; Heidi Baxter, Press Officer and Sponsorship Coordinator at Obsidian Performance; and Obsidian’s drivers, Callum Drake, and Aleksandr Volkov.”
