Formula Oneshots by DonaIDK

Daniel Ricciardo - Baby Badger Sequel

After we managed to fly out to the Monza GP and seemed to time our race visits perfectly to watch Dan win after so many years, there weren't any questions about us attending Sochi as well. We got to enjoy the bliss of the Italian weekend for a whole week before we had to pack up again and travel to Russia. Of course no one was actually grumpy about travelling again, knowing well that the inconvenience of taking so many flights usually were worth it in the end. Even Ava seemed to understand that we had to get through a long flight to get to the enjoyable part of the weekend, letting us mostly rest on the plane and in the hotel afterwards. However, the minute we mentioned getting down to the paddock she always seemed to perk up, watching us argus-eyed until it was finally time to leave the boring room.

I mostly tried to contain her excitement in Dan's driver room or our seat and to keep her calm every time we visited the garage. Fortunately, luck for once was on my side and she was tired enough to just stay with me or accompany Dan to a few team meetings and PR tasks, behaving like an angel every time. She turned out to be pretty camera shy, baffling both of us and everyone else around us. Probably all of us thought she would take up more of Dan's personality, and even though there was a lot of him in her, somehow confidence in front of a camera wasn't part of it. However, Ava was just as social as his Dad towards any and every person that we came across. Her current target of affection turned out to be Lando somehow, causing a few uncomfortable moments for the boy, as he didn't really know how to react to the random leg hugs or act around her at first. Time seemed to fix their friendship, Lando slowly warmed up to her and even tried to sometimes play with her a little or at least anticipate her outbursts of love both towards him and her dad. As I think about, probably towards everyone in the team, though they were the main receivers.

The first two days in Sochi turned out to be close second to our weekend in Monza already, with Lando catching Pole in the last second and Dan keeping consistent with a P5 start for race day. The second the results were official the whole garage started buzzing with all the celebratory hugs going around while the TVs were still playing the last few seconds of Quali. The night seemed to fly by in a blink with everyone trying to celebrate another great team performance, but still kept it down and relaxed for the early start of Sunday. Ava seemed to pick up all the energy as well, either jumping around or being plastered to Dan's side as he held her on his hip. We even had to pry her off of Lando's leg a few times, although the Brit's smile gave it away that he didn't really mind.

On race day we tried to let Daniel and the whole team concentrate, going to the track later than usual after a walk close to our hotel and a quick lunch. We still had enough time for a hug with Dan and high fives with the mechanics, before we had to go up to our seats. Even though she had her colourful pencils and coloring book, Ava was either bouncing on her chair or my lap until the cars finally appeared on the grid. Her focus seemed to shift immediately, standing as close to the glass wall as possible to see everything that happened. The McLaren colours were always easy to spot, even on an overcast day, as the papaya stood out from all the darker colours, helping Ava to spot both Dan and Lando easier. It was harder to tell which one of them was in the cars, the numbers on them much smaller, but usually it was enough to tell her if Dan was in the first or second orange machine.

We did the same for this race as well, discussing who was leading from the two of them every time they crossed the line. Although we would have loved to see Dan in the front I could still see excitement in Ava's eyes as she watched Lando zip past every lap, fighting Carlos for the lead of the whole race. For the last 10 laps she managed to convince me to walk down to the garage, and watch the ending with the team, although we didn't know what was awaiting us. By the time we got down they were already talking about rain, and looking outside we could easily spot the few droplets. I stood right next to Charlotte with a sigh, lifting Ava as well so she could see the screens over the mechanics' heads.