A season like no other- Sebastian Vettel

39. Baku pt.2

'Go get them' was the last thing Valeria told Seb as he made his way to his car to prepare for the race.

Starting 11th, Valeria hadn't expected much more than a points finish. But a brilliant drive and a bit of bad luck ahead of him had meant he had pitted and rejoined the track in 6th. Valeria watched him overtake Charles and Pierre, she hadn't seen that fire in Seb's driving for a little while. She grabbed Jules' arms and waved them in the air, just as Seb overtook Pierre and screamed 'wooo, go daddy!'

Mikey and the mechanics couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, something that the cameras had picked up on and, soon, Valeria found herself and Jules on the garage screens.

She waved her hand and Jules' at the camera before turning her attention to the screen again.

Suddenly, Max who had been leading for a while crashed into the wall at the finish straight. Red Bull had been on the radio to Masi to ask for a red flag after Max's incident seemed to be connected to a fault in the tyres. Everyone prepared for the re start as they could, changing from the hard to a softer or newer tyre to complete the last few laps. Seb sat in third, just behind Lewis. Valeria could barely believe he was about to grab his first podium for 2021 and the first for the team. She watched as the cars returned to the grid for a standing start. She had been joined by Antti and Britta and the latter had her hand in Valeria's, who felt like she was about to break the poor lady's bones.

The cars started again, Seb had a brilliant start off the line and could easily keep up with Lewis. Suddenly, the Brit missed turn 1 completely, ending in the run off area.

'No fucking way. No fucking way! Go Seb, go!' Valeria shouted. Antti raised an eyebrow towards her.

'Wasn't there a no swearing rule?' He asked.

'Don't you start' she hissed. 'And don't you try and snitch me up to Seb'

'I can't promise anything' he sneered.

Valeria and the whole Aston Martin garage watched as Seb take a beautiful podium and the first for his new team. The whole garage exploded in a roar. The mechanics ran out, German flag in hand, cheering and celebrating as they made their way to the podium. Valeria stood in shock for a second, only reconnecting to the world when Britta placed her hand on her shoulder.

'You should probably go, he's going to want you there' she told her.

'Of course... I am just... JJ, let's go' she told the smiling baby in his sling.

Walking to the podium celebrations, Valeria felt like the Earth was light. Nothing could take that result away from him, Seb had never had anything to prove, but he still did. Whatever Ferrari and some fans had said about him, he had finally proved everyone wrong. With a huge smile, she watched her husband jump over the barriers to hug his mechanics and engineers. The enthusiasm was palpable.

'Where's Vale?' Seb asked Mikey.

The mechanic turned around towards her and Jules, standing at the back and pointed them to him. Seb called her over with his hand, gesturing excitedly for her to join the crowd.

She slowly walked over, making sure to keep Jules safe from the crowd. The Aston Martin team moved out of the way to make space for her.

'I guess congratulations are in order' she smirked. 'What's the big deal? It's just a podium' she teased.

'Have you told that to your eyes? Because it looks like someone was crying' he joked back, drying a tear with his thumb. He leaned in to sweetly kiss her lips and, before Britta pulled him over to his media commitments, Seb gave Jules a cuddle too.

'We're proud of you' Valeria told him, in German, just as he left them.

Seb's smile could be seen from miles as he went on the podium with a little hat one of the mechanics kept throwing around in the garage. Even if most of the paddock was celebrating Checo's first win for Red Bull, Valeria couldn't take her eyes off of her husband. She had always been proud of his achievements, but this podium tasted so much better than all the ones he had with his previous teams. After such a hard year, he deserved a break.

Valeria's phone pinged with a message:

Pathetic. You really are pathetic. The cover is gonna blow at some point and you and your precious little family will forget what these happy moments feel like.

'Of course' she hissed to herself. He couldn't just let them enjoy the moment.

She clicked on the screen to save a shot of the message and the placed her phone back in her pocket. It wasn't time to give him any attention, Seb and his lawyers had been working hard to find a solution to the Dave problem and she was going to trust her, much more level headed, husband to sort the situation out.

'Champagne? Or whatever this is' Seb asked her, sitting next to her in his driver's room.

'Alcohol, baby' she reminded him, pointing at sleepy Jules.

'Oh yeah, I forgot' he joked. 'I meant you can have some and we can use formula, it's a day to celebrate' he told her.

'I haven't drank since 2020, this is going to be interesting' she chuckled, taking a swig out of the bottle. 'You've been amazing today'

'Thank you, it's been a great weekend. I am so glad you came'

'And you didn't even want us' she joked.

'I was worried about the press, Britta is keeping an eye out, but most people seem lovely about J. They just keep trying to guess his name, it's quite funny actually'

'I will never understand what you consider funny' she chuckled. 'But, never change, my love.' She leaned in to place a sweet kiss on his lips. Seb's hand cheekily crept up her back. He smirked at the goosebumps his touch had created.

'Sebastian Vettel, your crew is outside waiting to celebrate with you'

'And I want to celebrate with my wife' he cheekily replied.

'Your son is asleep next to us...and the door is unlocked.'

'Easily fixed' he grinned, standing up to lock his room.

'Can you at least wait for tonight? At the hotel? Without half of your team on the other side of what seems to be a pretty thin wall?' She blushed.

'I love pushing your buttons' he playfully replied, unlocking the room again. 'But this is not over' he added, seriously, before leaving her hot and flustered in his drivers room and walking back into the garage.

Valeria heard the mechanics roar once more. It felt good. It felt homely. It felt too right. And she never wanted it to end.