Naked, she crossed the splendour of the Kremlin Suite of the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski and drew back the curtains, to look out on the beginnings of the day. She opened the window and let in air that was cool and refreshing. A gentle hum of traffic could be heard rising from the streets below. Four storeys up, she was looking at the gloomy, overcast light that filled the sky. Moscow was doing its best to look grey, moody and brooding in an early morning twilight. It would have succeeded but for the lurid colours of Saint Basil's Cathedral directly opposite – on the far side of the river. To the left of this was the start of the reddish Kremlin Wall and its numerous blocky towers. Then came the copse of gold domes of the various Kremlin churches, which at that angle and distance all seemed to meld into one another. Finally, over to the far left – running away from her – was the long and imposing facade of the Grand Kremlin Palace; its blend of white, cream, gold leaf – and long verdigris roof – emerging through the murky light. For a view of Moscow and a sense of Russia this one window seemed to offer most of what might be needed.
There was a knock on the door. Sabatino picked up a white hotel gown from one of the chairs and pulled it on. She let a liveried room-service waiter into the suite; he was carrying a silver tray and a stack of newspapers.
Once her privacy was restored, Sabatino shed the robe. Naked once more, she sat down at a small table to eat an early breakfast and scan the papers. Her priority was to gauge the fallout from the ruling by the FIA. Like all sports figures, her reputation was her currency. Only on the back of it would she secure and retain sizeable sponsorship and endorsement deals. She was anxious to judge whether – and how badly – her brand might have been damaged by the Montreal incident and yesterday's ruling.
She was relieved. The media's reaction to the judgment turned out to be milder than she feared. There were numerous references to the growing rivalry between her and Baryshnikov, although at this stage no one seemed to be taking sides. In the international press, the slight negativity to the incident was limited to the “inside baseball” constituency, most likely represented by that group of journalists she’d heard at the airport. Any such negativity, though, was more than outweighed by the populist journals, all of which focused on the positive – drawing on the public mood indicated by the huge crowds that had greeted her when she landed.
Sabatino even scanned the Russian papers. Not being able to read Cyrillic script, they weren’t that informative. She gained a feeling from the numerous pictures of her, though: the inference was of a general anticipation and excitement ahead of the Russian Grand Prix.
Just as its patron intended.
It was, perhaps, a shame that Sabatino had been unable to read the Russian papers; she might have felt better. Their coverage was predominantly about her. Most articles celebrated that, in only the season before, she had broken the twenty-two-year absence of female drivers in Formula One – and that, in fewer than twelve months, she had become extraordinarily close to becoming a motor racing icon. They also pointed out that it hadn’t been easy for her.
On Sabatino's arrival in F1, countless commentators and senior motor racing figures had dismissed her presence as a marketing stunt by the Ptarmigan Grand Prix Team. Many considered Sabatino's appointment as a form of politically correct tokenism – affirmative action – positive discrimination. Everything about her credibility was questioned: Whether a woman was up to it. Whether she was physically strong enough. Whether she would have the stamina, car control or technical understanding. A number of tabloids had used barely veiled puns to ask whether Sabatino, as a woman, would even have the balls to compete.
Twelve months on and it was hard for anyone to deny Remy Sabatino's talent. From her first appearance on the grid, she had proved herself to be competitive. And then she started winning, momentously at the Monaco Grand Prix – even as a rookie. That didn’t mean the knives weren’t still out. It now appeared, though, that some in Formula One felt demeaned by being beaten by a woman. This season, Sabatino's overriding sense was that her new teammate, Yegor Baryshnikov – in the same car and therefore the driver most easily and directly compared with her – was feeling this the most.
Worldwide, spectators were loving the presence of a competitive woman. Across all metrics interest in F1 was up: TV audiences, attendance at races, readership of related periodicals, advertising revenues and sponsorship. A competitive woman seemed to have revitalized an F1 format that had recently been showing some signs of tiredness.
Nowhere had this excitement been more keenly felt – among a whole new breed of Grand Prix fanatics – than here in Moscow. Muscovites were being presented with a quadruple whammy: the prospect of a Grand Prix on their doorstep for the first time; the prospect of seeing the now-iconic female driver Remy Sabatino in the flesh; the prospect of seeing the first of their own countrymen, Yegor Baryshnikov, as a viable contender for the Driver's Championship, currently even leading the rankings; as well as the prospect of seeing the rivalry for the title between these two first-of-their-kind drivers being played out right in front of them.
There was significant excitement ahead of the first Russian Grand Prix to be hosted here in Moscow.
Just as its patron intended.
SIX
Race day came upon the city.
On the grid, a mass of people, equipment and bright colours seemed to smother the twenty-two cars. Either side of the pit straight, the half-mile grandstands were jam-packed. Genuine Formula One fans – as well as the locals swept up by the carnival of the Grand Prix – were in anticipatory mood. There were constant roars from the spectators, surging whenever anyone recognizable appeared.
Few other places hosting a brand-new Grand Prix had demonstrated such mainstream interest for its very first race. Several countries and venues had notoriously shown indifference on their debut, reflected in painfully poor initial crowds: Istanbul Park, Korea, Turkey and Shanghai held some uncomfortable memories for many in Formula One. Moscow's reaction, therefore, was a welcomed relief.
With only minutes to go before the parade lap, Sabatino walked out onto the grid. She was dressed in the turquoise livery of the Ptarmigan Formula One Team and carrying her balaclava, gloves and helmet.
She was in for a surprise.
Sabatino's reception at the Zhar-ptitsa was far more rock ’n’ roll than motor racing. The spectators erupted. She couldn’t help but look up as the noise boomed out around her.
It was extraordinary.
In reply, her normally sparky eyes flashed even more at the tangible energy from the stands. Against the colour of her Mediterranean complexion and short dark hair, Sabatino's bright smile now radiated delight. She may have been five feet two, but the uplifting effect of this welcome gave her a presence way beyond her stature. Looking up and into the applause from the crowds, she waved and smiled to acknowledge their support. Each time she did so the spectators rose to their feet in response.
On the grid, television crews homed in and swarmed round her. Four presenters thrust microphones into her face. Heavily accented questions were yelled, each drowning the others out. Sabatino managed to catch the drift of one of them. Its tone, though, was in marked contrast to the mood in the stands. Repeating it back, she asked mockingly:
‘“Am I going to run my teammate off the road here?”’
The journalist nodded, smirking.
‘Why would I do that? I’ve never done it before.’
‘The FIA disagree … how bad are your relations with Baryshnikov?’
‘Both of us are racing drivers – both of us are here to race.’
‘You aren’t concerned about the advantage he has here – being Russian?’
‘No one's driven this circuit before, so – no. No one has an advantage.’
‘What about his home crowd? They always say a home crowd is worth half a second a lap.’
Several of the presenters nodded.
Sabatino smiled back confidently. ‘You obviously aren’t paying attention, are you – haven’t you seen this lot?’ she asked and turned to wave up into the grandstands above them. A roar came back in response. Turning back to face the journalists, she said: ‘If that's the best Baryshnikov can do at his home Grand Prix, then I’m happy to take my chances!’
She saw some of the TV people smile for the first time. One of them even thanked Sabatino and wished her luck. Nine TV stations were about to use the footage they had just shot, either as a stand-alone interview or as B-roll. That encounter and those few comments were likely to reach upwards of 300 million viewers around the world.
Sabatino made her way to her car at the front of the grid.
All around the front row was a profusion of turquoise. Qualifying the day before had resulted in a front row lock-out: Ptarmigan had secured both P1 and P2. Before Backhouse had been redeployed to look after Baryshnikov, he and Sabatino had worked on the car to achieve the pitch-perfect set-up for her driving style around this circuit. Even with the challenges it presented, they had settled on running exceptionally low wing.
But for a quirk of bad traffic in the last session of Qualifying, which thwarted Sabatino's best time in Q3, she would have been on pole. Even with that misstep she was still fast enough to start the Grand Prix on the front row, having clocked a time six-tenths faster than the car now in P3. Her ambition to get back on top of the Championship leader board was still within reach, except that her most significant rival for it – Yegor Baryshnikov – was today one place in front of her on the grid. And after the points she had lost because of his objection lodged with the FIA and its ruling on the Montreal incident, the Russian was still ahead of her in the overall title race, too. Should Baryshnikov manage to capitalize on his advantage of pole position today, he would extend – and bake in – that lead over Sabatino.
It was, therefore, all to be played for at the world's newest Grand Prix.
Sabatino walked to her car on the front row. Her stand-in race engineer was ready waiting, looking concerned about her delayed arrival. Sabatino smiled her thanks for his patience.
Turning to throw one last wave up to the spectators in the stands above her, which was reciprocated with another sizeable cheer, she turned to her race engineer and focused.
