Playing With Fire (Sebastian Vettel)

34. The Announcement

Everyone was talking about it. TBR had held a press conference on the Wednesday in Austin and had confirmed the rumour that had been going about for weeks. They were leaving Formula W at the end of the season and entering Formula E.

The press had asked a lot of questions about the drivers.  Matthew Thorne had stated that both drivers had been given the go ahead to talk to other teams in Formula W, and in other series to try and secure a drive for the following season.

Seb had known it was coming but he'd still been surprised by all the reports linking Mollie to a seat in Formula E.  Surely she'd stay in Formula W if possible.  There were a number of drivers whose contracts were ending.  Everyone would love to sign Mollie Rashford.

She'd been fairly quiet about it all and he didn't like to push for information. He knew she'd tell him when there was something definite to tell.

He'd not seen much of her so far in Austin. She and Sophia were doing a lot of media stuff as the main team sponsors were American. They'd done a photo shoot on the Wednesday afternoon followed by a big interview witth ESPN. Then on the Friday Mollie was taking part in FP1, driving Will's car. Seb was looking forward to sharing a track with her again. The Thorne car had improved a lot since she'd last driven in FP1 two years ago and it would be interesting to see how she did in it now.

She'd been late coming back to the hotel on the Thursday night after more interviews. He'd already been in bed. She'd stripped off and snuggled up to him wearing just her panties.

Needless to say he'd been unable to resist the temptation and had soon rid her of them and buried himself deep inside her.

The morning after, she'd been up and dressed before he'd even woken up.  She'd told him she had an early start and was heading in to the circuit already.

He'd got out of bed and kissed her tenderly, telling her he'd see her on track.

Then he'd got back into bed to have a sneaky extra half hour. He got his phone out and started browsing. Once again he was confronted with articles linking Mollie to Formula E. She wouldn't go there, would she? Not without talking it through with him surely?  They'd hardly see each other. He put the phone down and he put the idea out of his head. No, Mollie would tell him. Wouldn't she?

***

Mollie grinned as she pulled her balaclava on. She couldn't wait to get out on track.  Will appeared and enveloped her in a hug. 

"Don't trash my car Rashford."   She winked at him and picked her helmet up. 

"Don't worry Will, I'll take good care of her."

"You'd better."

"Mollie, it's time," called out Elliott, Will's race engineer. 

                                      ***

The first half hour was spent on doing a long run on hards, so there was no spectacular times.  In fact, Mollie was down in 16th with 15 minutes left on the clock. 

The team made some adjustments and changed the tyres to a set of softs. Then she headed out again. 

On her out lap she saw a familiar green car in front of her,  going slow.  As she overtook she saw Seb give her the thumbs up. 

"Ok Mols , let's see what you've got, but no unnecessary risks," Matthew Thorne said in her ear. 

"What's the standings?"

"Vettel, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Norris, Stroll, Ricciardo, Luca, Ocon, Sainz."

Mollie rounded the last corner and got ready for a fast lap.   Everything seemed to connect.  It felt like a pretty decent lap. 

Towards the end she saw a Williams in front of her and for a minute she thought it was going to block her but it moved aside just in time.  She crossed the line.  She didn't have a clue how good it was compared to the others but it sure felt good. 

"Wooohooo," she whooped. 

"Atta girl Mollie. Cracking lap," Elliott said.

"Where's that put me?"

"You don't wanna know that, do you?"

"Tell me Elliott," she pleaded.

"Girl, you're P7."

"You're fucking kidding me?"

"Nope.  P7, 5 hundredths quicker than Ricciardo. 8 hundredths up on Luca.   Shit, red flag, Lawson has binned it.  Bring her in."

Mollie had a big grin on her face for the rest of her in lap.  That had been the best feeling ever!

                                             ***

Seb got out of the car. There was less than ten minutes left of the session and there was no way they were going to restart it.  He was fairly pleased with the car. She felt good. 

Antti appeared at his side. 

"Good job boss."

"Not bad was it?  How did it end up?"

"You, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Norris, Lance. Guess who was seventh?"

"Who?"

"Your better half!"

"Mollie? Oh wow.  That's brilliant!"

"She did a cracking lap. Just 6 tenths off of you."

"That's my girl!"

Seb headed out to the paddock, looking about to see if he could spot her. 

He soon saw her, surrounded by the media.

He snuck up behind them and listened to what they were saying. 

"Mollie, fantastic session.  So are you going to Formula E next season?"

"You know I'm not going to answer that right?" she said, earning a laugh from them all.

"Come on Mollie, you've got to give us something here. What does the future hold for Mollie Rashford?"

"As was said in the announcement,  both I and Sophia are open to offers from any other parties.  I've had no communication with any other team at this present time.   Formula E is all just speculation.  There's been no formal offers,  so I don't know where you're getting that from.  If,  and it's a big if, I was approached about it I'd have to consider it as much as any other offer, but for now I'm just concentrating on the job I'm here to do,  and that's to win. Thank you."

Seb watched as she headed off back to the support paddock. She'd hadn't seen him, and she'd made no effort to find him.  And what was her interview all about?  No formal offer? That sounded to him like there'd been an informal one. 

He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. What was she keeping from him?  Was she really thinking of going to Formula E?