Repair (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 8: The Rumour Begins

11th May, a day after the Spanish GP, Seb had been in Maranello as Ferrari made a small celebration at the factory for the team's double podiums at Dutch GP, including his win, and also Charles' podium in Barcelona. Seb himself finished 4th on that race, just one position behind his teammate.

There were 4 trophies that were displayed inside clear acrylic cases. The team also didn't forget to put a Ferrari flag up at the entrance as it was their race-winning tradition since a long time ago. So far, there had been two flags in total. Another one had been there since Seb won the Vietnamese GP back in April.

Hundreds of team members, both who always travelled around the world and who worked at their base had gathered. They were waiting for Seb to arrive. When Seb appeared, they compactly gave round of applause as they welcomed the winner of the race in the Netherlands more than a week ago. They also showed their brightest smile as the team had started to become a title challenger that season.

As the Team Principal, Mattia became the first who shared his words. "Good morning, everyone. First of all, I'd like to thank you for gathering here. As you all know, at the Dutch GP, our team secured the second win of the season, thanks to a flawless drive from Sebastian," he glanced at Seb who stood next to him and smiled. "And I won't forget to mention Charles as well. He also drove superbly to finish second in Zandvoort and third in Barcelona. But unfortunately, he can't be here with us. He went straight to Monaco last night as he should be with his mother who's unwell, so I wish her a speedy recovery,"

"Anyway, talking about the race itself in the Netherlands, some might think that it was an easy one for us as our main rival went home with zero points," he referred to the Lewis-Valtteri collision on Lap 2 where both of them retired afterwards, "but I don't think that it gave us a huge advantage. We had slow pit stops for both drivers, so we still need to pay attention to that and make sure that it won't happen again in the future,"

"Thankfully, we had a good race pace and the strategies for Seb and Charles went well, which made us go home with 43 points. And for Barcelona, again we need to acknowledge their superiority. The tyre degradation on both cars were quite high, so we needed to go with two-stop strategy. But still, we brought home some decent points from there and we should still be grateful for that,"

"So, as we are still feeling the euphoria of our success on the last two races, let's celebrate it today. But remember, we still need to focus and keep this momentum for the rest of the season. And now it's time to hear something from Sebastian. Thank you very much."

As Mattia ended his speech, the team members applauded him. Then, he handed the mic to Seb who had been ready to speak. "Good morning, everyone. It's great to meet you all and gather here. I think, the first thing that I need to do is thanking you all for your amazing effort every day. I know that you've been working hard all this time, not only people who work on track during the race weekends, but also people who work from Maranello,"

"It's incredible that we can get two victories on the first six races. But, considering that there are still 16 races left, so it's still a long, long way to go. I hope that you all won't be tired if you are instructed to gather here more often on the following races," Seb joked, which made people laugh and then clap their hands as they heard the sound of his optimism.

"As Mattia said, we need to keep this momentum for the remainder of this season. And again, as this season is my last one with the team, I'm gonna give my best on all races left. I'm sure that we can slowly but surely get there. We are gonna bring the titles back to Maranello as we've all always dreamt of. So again, thank you very much, and let's enjoy our day because tomorrow, we move on to the next target. Thank you."

Again, the team members gave him round of applause. They felt appreciated by the driver whom they were going to miss a lot after he left on the following year.

Then, Mattia hugged him and patted his back. "You are fantastic, Seb! You are now leading the drivers standings."

"Thanks, Mattia," Seb replied after he pulled away from him. "As I said, this all happened because of our team's hard work."

Mattia laid his hand on Seb's shoulder. "If I should be honest, I want to keep you here for two or three more years. I know that our failure to win the title was partly, or even mostly, our team's fault. But, you know, it's not me who decides."

Seb shrugged. "Decision has been made. We shouldn't talk about that anymore."

Mattia could hear tone of disappointment from his reply. "When I said that I still wanted to see you around, I didn't lie. I want you to drive for another team and prove us wrong. Make us regret our decision."

Both of them laughed. "Yeah, we will see."

From a distance, Erika glanced at Seb and Mattia who were having a conversation. Then, she took her phone out of her pocket. She was looking at the timeline of her Twitter account.

Accidentally, she found an article that was related to Seb. It was a rumour about him. He was linked to BWT Racing Point F1 Team, which had just announced last April that they would rebrand their team name to Aston Martin F1 Team, starting from 2021.

Again, she wished that she only had a year contract with Ferrari. If the rumour was true, she could try to apply to the team. No, it wouldn't happen, she thought to herself. She wouldn't make it very clear if she was purely attracted to him with following him wherever he moved to. As long as he was still in the sport, she didn't mind to work in different teams with him.

Then, she could see that Seb had finished talking to their Team Principal. So, she quickly approached him to have some talks, although it was only for some minutes.

"Hi, Seb."

Seb glanced at her and smiled. "Hi, Erika."

She was grateful that he seemed in a good mood. "Again, I'd like to congratulate you for winning the Dutch GP race."

"Oh, thank you very much." Seb actually didn't want to waste a lot of time talking to her. But he knew that he should be professional in front of the others.

"By the way, I've just found a news about you. Some sources say that you are linked to Racing Point. Is that true? Have you started talking with them?"

It's none of your business. "Erm, I can't say anything for now. I'm quite familiar with some people there, I admit, but maybe they start spreading the rumour just because they found me greet Otmar or Lawrence in the paddock," he chuckled.

Erika laughed as well. "Yeah, that's how the media works, Seb. As Team's Press Officer, I think that I should know what your plan is, whether you are going to move to other team or... leave this sport. I mean, the media are very demanding, as you saw when we announced about your departure from our team in Australia."

Seb knew that it wasn't her only reason why she needed to know his next plan. He rolled his eyes, but he made sure that she didn't see it. "Yeah. I'm sorry that this big news has made you very busy on facing them."

"Don't apologize, Seb. That's obviously my job." She actually wondered what his actual plan was. But she felt that he still kept it as a secret. "Whether you move to Racing Point or other team, I just can wish you all the best. You deserve happiness and successful, Seb."

"Thanks again, Erika."

Then, the two of them were called by the others as their official photographer had been ready to take some team photos that would be uploaded on their social media platforms.

While walking to the other team members who had gathered, Erika had convinced herself that Seb had started being very nice to her. She should take it slowly and she wouldn't give up until she could steal his heart.