back on track

24. the one with the podium to smile for

I woke up from the same position where I had made the call. I had apparently fallen asleep the first thing after that.  I looked at the time and it was only 6am. I had been waking up early for the past few weeks running every morning so my inside clock was set on that time. I decided to go for a run this time too, cause I was up now anyways, and once again, I bumped into a smiling face on my way out.

"We need to stop meeting like this" an Australian accent ring threw the lobby as Daniel smiled at me.

"I'm pretty sure you're stalking me" I laughed back.

"If you really think about it I am always there when you arrive so if something it's other way around" he made a very good point.

"Very true" I agreed and grinned. "You coming for a run with me" I asked looking at the guy in front of me.

"Only if we go real slow" he whined still huge smile shining on his face.

"We can walk if you want, I just wanna get some air before the day" I said to him and he agreed.

We walked in silence for a while before Daniel opened his mouth: "Hey I need to apologize the whole club night" he started and I turned my gaze to him. "I mean things got little out of hand and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable in anyway" he said.

"Don't worry about it,  it's okay. I mean I would've said something if I would've been uncomfortable in anyways and I'm just as guilty as you so it's all good." I gave him a little smile. "I really appreciate it tho" I added being grateful for Daniel being a good guy.

"Okay, good." he let out a sigh "I heard about you and Gasly by the way" he said making me whine. I wasn't too happy that the me and Pierre sleeping together would be public info from now on. 

"News really move fast here" I shook my head.

"Yeah, but I just wanted to say that don't listen to them, their probably just jealous and it's your decision to make so they shouldn't have anything to say about it" he shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess" I nodded. "Have you ever thought about becoming a motivational speaker?" I joked to lighten up the mood.

"Yes actually I have" he said seriously but burst out laughing right after.

Rest of the walk we chatted away casually without any tension between us. Daniel really was a funny and great guy. It had become kind of a tradition for us to run or walk together in race weeks which I didn't mind. He was also one of the guys who send me memes and asked how I was also between the race weeks, which always lifted my mood. I was very honored to be receiving memes from the funniest guy in the grid.

The race day was always the best and worst day of the weekends. The excitement and the adrenaline everyone was feeling made it special and at least now that it had become more of a ritual to me and I knew how things worked, it was pretty fun. On the other hand, I felt like everyone was in the peak of their stress levels and even though we enjoyed it, the pressure was on the whole day. Also the fact that it was busy non stop, wasn't too great.

The race started and Charles got a great start leading the grand prix. Carlos wasn't so lucky as he locked up in the first turn and lost some places but it was only the first lap so nothing was nearly over yet. Already in second lap Hamitlon overtook Charles and by the end of eight lap both RedBulls had past him too.

Yellow flag flew across the air as Carlos had another lock up and drove past the turn. I could hear how frustrated he was from the radio. Another yellow flag once Lance crashed his car and all the cars were now basically in one group waiting for the racing continue. Two Red bulls leading the way, Pierre in P4 behind Lewis and then Charles. Carlos had dropped all the way to P11, but right after the race was back on he made up two positions while Charles had a lock up and lost his place to Sebastian. It didn't seem to be our day, more like a national lockup day for god's sake. 

The whole race seemed to be pretty much done before the pit wall gasped as Max crashed his car in the main straight and it was a red flag. I felt bad for him but couldn't help but think about our situation as one car in front of us was gone. It was only one lap left as the race restarted and Lewis locked up in the first turn going straight missing the turn. It was now Charles against Pierre over podium and I was pretty sure no one in the garage was breathing anymore. Just holding their breathes waiting if Charles could pull it off. Carlos' side of the garage wasn't that tense but he had fought his way back to P8 which wasn't great but better than the situation before. 

There was a overtake as Charles flew past Pierre, but Pierre took the place back right away. The fight kept on going as the two cars fought over the third place and even Lando lifted his head and tried to join the fight. It was amazing to watch for sure but my nerves were breaking me. Perez crossed the line first and I couldn't help but smile as Vettel came right after him taking the second place. The fought over the third place went to Pierre and we had to settle for the fourth, which was little disappointing when thinking about the fact that we left from pole and both Max and Lewis had been dropped off from the fight. Lando fifth and Daniel ninth. Carlos eight.It was a bit of a disappointment, but we scored better points comparing to McLaren which was our biggest challenger in a fight of third place in constructions championship. So it wasn't a total failure but a failure still.

I watched as Aston Martin went crazy over their first podium in F1 and I felt happy for them. Sebastian had earned it for sure. I hadn't chatted much with the man but those couple times I had talked to him he had been just lovely. I was feeling pretty happy for Pierre too even though he was the one taking the podium from us in the last place.

I walked little further down the pitlane to see Pierre raising his trophy to the air and he looked so happy. Knowing his history in the sport, there couldn't be a person that wasn't happy for him. He had went through hell and still was able to perform like that. There was no way but to admire his performing.

I walked back to our garage and headed to the office to get my stuff. I needed to be quick because I was catching a flight already today. I was going to be flying to Italy because there was again a one GP-free week before we were heading to France. I decided to walk through the pitlane in hope of seeing Pierre so I could give him a big hug for his podium. I didn't bump into Pierre but I did manage to meet Lando. 

"Hi" I said not really knowing how to act.

"Hey" he said and then it was quiet.

"I have to go for the interviews but I really need to talk to you so could you maybe wait?" he was the first one to talk.

"I can't" I sighed.

"Oh okay, it's fine" he dropped his head down looking at his feet.

"No, it's not like that, my flight leaves in hour so I really can't wait" I explained him after realizing that I had sounded like I didn't want to talk to him.

"Oh okay, that makes sense" he let out a little laugh. "Well maybe I can call you?" he asked carefully and I nodded before we parted out ways. The anger between us was gone but regret and some kind of uncertainty had replaced it leaving us both in the dark, not really knowing how the things between us really were.

I hurried towards the gates but luckily saw Pierre standing just on my route. I jogged to him and wrapped my arms around him from behind which made him take a couple of steps forward.

"Gosh you scared me" he laughed as he turned around and I threw my hands around his neck properly this time.

"Sorry, I just wanted to tell you how proud and happy I am for you" I smiled to the hug.

"Thanks Sofia, that means a lot to me" he said parting away from the hug with his signature smile on his face.

"Hate to ran away but I'm gonna miss my flight if I don't" I said looking at the clock. "I guess I'll see you in France" I said giving him a quick final hug before continuing my ran towards the gates. I wasn't able to get there without stops as I bumped into disappointed Lewis and change a few words with him. Same thing with Max who was even more upset, but managed still to apologize his behavior yesterday when he had found out of me and Pierre. After that the path was clear and I hurried to the car which drove me back to the hotel.