Out Of The Blue (Sebastian Vettel)

4. Settling In

Present Day, Aston Martin Formula 1 Team, Silverstone

Matt sat at his desk in the PR office. Sophie had disappeared somewhere and Joel hadn't come back from his lunch break yet. Work was piling up as they were a man down at the moment.

He sighed as he looked at his email inbox. There was still so much left to do. The work had tripled since Sebastian Vettel had been announced as their new driver. He guessed that was to be expected. No disrespect to the team's former pairing of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez, but neither of them were a single world champion, let alone a four time one.

The fourth member of their team, Kevin, had handed his notice in at the end of last season. He was moving down south to help his dad as his mum had just been diagnosed with dementia. Matt wondered, for probably the hundredth time, when they'd actually get a replacement for him. They should have sorted it by now, they'd had plenty of time.

He just hoped that they got someone half decent. Kevin would be missed, he was a great guy and a hard worker. He'd been part of the team ever since they had started there back in 2018. He'd been offered the job that Melissa had refused.

The workload had been eased a bit by Seb bringing his own Press Officer with him. Britta Roeske had been with Seb for many a year and had happily made the move to Aston Martin with him, as had his Personal Trainer, Antti Kontsas.

The PR gang, as they'd dubbed themselves, dealt with all team's PR related stuff. They dealt with all the social media too. Kevin had also been driver Lance Stroll's Press Officer.

Matt expected whoever replaced Kevin would take on that role as neither he, Sophie or Joel really wanted to do it,  as it would mean seeing too much of Annaliese Harrow. Annaliese was Lance's Personal Trainer, and officially the most annoying person in the world.

As if thinking about her had conjured her up, the door opened without warning and Annaliese stormed in, her face twisted in rage.

"Where is he?" she demanded.

"Where's who?" Matt replied, although he knew perfectly well she meant Joel. He was the only "he" she'd be looking in here for as it obviously wasn't him.

"Who do you think? Your sidekick. Joel the Joker. Or clown more like! He really has gone too far this time."

Matt chuckled. This didn't surprise him in the slightest. Joel was always upsetting Annaliese somehow.  "What's he done now?"

"He totally embarrassed me in front of Sebastian. He put salt in my water bottle!! I choked and spat it all over myself. Lance, Sebastian and Antti all found it rather amusing."  Matt found it rather amusing himself. He couldn't wait to tell Sophie. She was going to love this. Joel had struck gold again.

"How do you know it was him?" he asked.

"I saw him near my things earlier, he made out he was picking my bottle up off of the floor. When he saw me choke he ran off laughing."

Matt had to try and hold his laughter in. He knew Annaliese was right. It was definitely something Joel would do. He didn't doubt it was him for a minute.

"He hasn't been here since before lunch. I'll let him know you are looking for him. I've got to get on, lots to do. You know the way out," he told Annaliese, a little sharply. He'd had enough of her and he really did have to get on with his work.

Annaliese turned and stomped out in a huff, resuming her hunt for Joel. Matt began reading through his emails again. Then the door opened once more. Matt sighed. Annaliese better not be back.

He glanced up and breathed a sigh of relief.  Sophie. She grinned at him and sat down, opening her laptop.

"Hey Matty, sorry I was gone longer than I thought. I was called in to Otmar's office." Matt gave her his full attention.