Eyes on the prize- Sebastian Vettel

10. Bad news

Silverstone had always been one of her favourite places on earth. Firstly, it had been the place she had attended with her maternal grandfather many years prior, just before he passed away and secondly it was one of her favourite circuits to drive. There was no place like her second home.

Since Canada and since Kimi had spoken to both of them, Joey and Seb spent most of their days texting each other, or even chatting on the phone but neither of them had made the first move to invite the other out on an actual date.

Joey had left her house in London and was driving down the M1 towards Towcester, music blasting out of the speakers of her black Audi RS5. She was humming along the songs, tapping on her steering wheel.

The weather had been glorious that week, the temperature outside was over 30 degrees and she was already dreading wearing fireproofs and a race suit for the weekend. Joey glanced to the passenger seat, where a clumsily wrapped present was sitting. It had been Sebastian's birthday a few days before and, even if he had insisted he didn't need nor want anything, she had decided to get a little something anyways; even if that had only made her stress a lot more.

She indicated off the motorway, following the signs for the circuit as she was going to go to the hotel after the first day of work.

'I feel like I'm just wasting time

Before you pull the trigger

It's the drawing of the line

It's my ghost you're gonna give up

Got your made up mind

It hurts to see you're alright

When I'm not alright

So if you're calling it a night'

She waved her pass to the guard at the entrance, following the signs to the staff car park still singing along to Lewis Capaldi.

'Have mercy on me, mercy my heart' she sang, just as she reversed her car into a spot. She left the engine running for a short while, still enjoying the cold air blasting out of her fans as she collected all of her items. She moved Seb's present to the back seat, trying to hide it as best as she could.

She eventually turned her car off and opened the door, quietly swearing to herself once the heat hit her in the face. She hadn't even stepped out and she was already too hot, she thought, scavenging through her bag for some high protection sunblock.

'What an entrance, lass' a known Scottish voice remarked. 'Alright?'

'Peachy, mate. What is this heat?' She quickly hugged him.

'Don't complain, we both know how unpredictable this place is'

'Yeah, true. It's just... I'm gonna burn on the track walk today. Being Irish, pale and ginger in the sun is daunting.' she replied. Joey squirted some sunblock in her hands and massaged into her pale skin.

She scanned her pass on the turnstiles, still chatting with the Ferrari engineer about the few days he had spent back home in Scotland with his family and friends.

The media personnel was already at work and the paddock was already bursting with life. Joey joined Bernd for a quick update before the driver's briefing.

Being almost halfway through the season, everything had become almost a second nature: the chats, the briefings, the track walks. Joey had started to really enjoy her role with the FIA team, even if she knew it was going to end at the end of the season.

She finally was able to leave the paddock in the early hours of the evening so she decided to text Sebastian to let him know about his present.

I know you said you wanted nothing, but I ended up getting a little something for your birthday.  I can drop it off to Britta if you let me know what room she's in, don't need more people chatting about me X she hit send and turned her car on, knowing her hotel wasn't far from the circuit.