Snap Happy (A Daniel Ricciardo story)

33. The Call

DAN

"Wooooah careful there champ!"

I reached out a hand to steady the small boy as the truck lurched forward unexpectedly. He was wearing a 'My daddy drives for Williams' t-shirt. It was way too cute.

"Felipinho!"

Felipe bent down to speak to his son, rattling off a string of rapid Portuguese while the boy nodded solemnly. Clearly father and son adored each other.

"What did you say to him?" I asked, grinning down at Felipinho who was now clutching his fathers fingers in one tiny fist, and a handful of my jeans in the other.

"I told him that if the truck bumps he has to hold onto Papa or Uncle Daniel"

"Uncle Daniel? Awww that's so awesome, I always wanted to be an Uncle"

I ruffled the boy's hair affectionately and held out my hand for him to take, showing him how to wave to the crowds as we passed. Around us the other drivers looked on fondly as they waved too, Felipe was universally popular in the paddock, but it was obvious who was the centre of attention today.

"See you later little buddy!" I crouched as the truck came to a stop and held my arm up for a high-five

"I love this kid" I mouthed at Felipe who bent and whispered another few words in his son's ear. To my surprise, instead of a high five the little boy threw his arms around my neck for a hug and I melted a little bit inside.

"Can I keep him, please?" I begged the Brazilian driver as he helped Felipinho safely down from the lorry.

"I don't think his Mama would be very happy with me"

"Yeah true" I admitted, thinking of another woman who would probably have had a heart attack if I'd turned up at our hotel room with a child in tow, even such an adorable one.

"Does he wanted to be a racing driver like his daddy?"

"No, I think he wants to be a footballer like Neymar" Felipe looked a little put out as Felipinho looked up eagerly at the sound of the familiar name.

"Aww that's awesome, can we play sometime?" I directed my question downwards towards the little dark head that nodded vigorously as his Dad translated.

"Can we play at the end of the race?" I asked, as enthusiastic as a kid myself.

"I'm not asking him that!" Felipe shook his head wide eyed "if I do he won't sit still and then Anna will kill me"

"You're no fun Daddy." I aimed a cheeky wink at Felipe and shared a look with the child that said 'grown ups eh' in the universal language of eye rolling, much to his delight.

*

Unfortunately the end of the race arrived much sooner than I had hoped or anticipated.

"Dan, this is the first time since Malaysia that you haven't finished a race, tell us what happened." The BBC cameras closed in as Suzi Perry pushed the micophone under my nose.

"Yeah, the race was a shame, we suffered a suspension failure so we didn't have a lot of fun out there today but I had a pretty good run until now so I can't be too greedy"

"But a guaranteed third place in the championship must be some consolation?"

Guaranteed? I knew that there was a good chance I could tie it up this weekend, but in the disappointment of scoring no points I hadn't got round to checking the results and doing the maths.