Battle of The Gods

Quarantuno

The Austrian Grand Prix weekend was the first weekend since Japan where Alessandra felt like she could really concentrate better on her job, and even keep an open mind and somewhat of a positive outlook with what's happening with her father. She felt lighter, she felt calmer, things she hasn't felt in a long time because from the moment she woke up until the moment she slept, whenever she wasn't focused on her work, all she thought about was her father. Honestly, if she knew that telling one person what she was going through with her dad, she would have done it ages ago, and she secretly knew that it would be Toto the person that would know.

She did feel slightly guilty that she told Toto that the grudge she had towards him wasn't going to drop anytime soon because she opened her heart out to him, but she knew that she did the right thing for herself. She couldn't afford forgiving what he said and then get hurt again, with everything that was going on in her life the last thing she needed was to get hurt again.

She wasn't a monster, she was still civil with Toto, and that was proven when she entered the paddock an hour after he had dropped her off at the hotel. She was with the guys outside of the Ferrari motor home when she saw him exit his team's motor home, and he quickly spotted her in the middle of the group of drivers, exchanging a quick wave and a small smile before getting back to what they were doing.

They had the occasional chat throughout the weekend whenever they bumped into each other, and none of them mentioned what happened on Thursday night, acting like nothing happened which was what Alessandra wanted. She was fully focused on the weekend, analysing the new data that was being gathered from the upgrades, pleased to see that the car was performing how they hoped it would and that the chance to challenge Mercedes and Redbull for the win.

Saturday was a tough day for the Maranello based team, as even though Free Practice 3 showed that Ferrari had the better quali pace and race pace, for some reason that was not executed during qualifying, which had Charles and Lewis starting P4 and p6 respectively. Because of this, Alessandra spent the whole evening video calling the team back at Gestione Sportiva to try and figure out why quali went as horrible as it did and what was the ideal set up for the race to try and optimise during the race.

Going into Sunday, Alessandra had faith in her team and her drivers that they could get the best out of the situation and get a good result if everything went well. She was calm and collected, not showing an ounce of stress around Toto, who had a gloating smirk around Alessandra as this drivers qualified in pole and third place, and Max was second. He was purposefully doing it to annoy her, and try and get a reaction out of her, like they always did especially the season before.

But Alessandra did not cave into his antics and showed no weakness, and at the end of the race, it was her standing on the podium with Charles and Lewis with a gloating smirk, winking down at Toto and showing him that she's the one who came on top again. Seeing his discreet scowl under the podium gave her satisfaction, the cherry on the cake after a tough weekend both professionally and personally, and she had him to thank for that.

Up next, it was the British Grand Prix, and Alessandra was particularly excited for this race as it was Lewis's first home race as a Ferrari driver. And because of that, her and Lewis had a couple of events planned in the city before they headed to Silverstone. Lewis still kept his apartment in London, even after moving to Italy, so he hosted his teammate and his boss for the couple of days they were spending in the city, which was something the Brit never did, because his teammates also always resided in the country and never had to stay over, but he enjoyed having Alessandra and Charles over. It made the events more bearable and it got the three even closer, being together in an environment away from the track or the factory for the first time in a while.

Alessandra was craving to head to a musical, a thing she always loved to do whenever she was in the city, but she was limited with time, and the two days she had in London were fully booked, so she couldn't. She was gutted, but then, whilst she was sat alone in one of Lewis's guest bedrooms, she remembered how when she was invited to see the Phantom of the Opera the year before, and she had to share the royal box with Toto. Her mind decided to relive that night, replaying it like a movie as she remembered how she felt, like it was yesterday. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself when she realised that never in her wildest dreams would she had thought that months after watching one of, if not the most, romantic musical, sat in the dark royal box, with Toto right by her side, spending the whole show leaning close to ask Alessandra questions about the musical he had no knowledge about, but she had plenty, the two would actually end up fucking in Paris.

She remembered the conversation they had when they got back to the hotel, remembering the slight jealousy she felt when she thought Toto had a woman waiting for him, and the relief on his face when she told him that there was no man waiting in her room. She wondered what would have happened that night if she accepted Toto's request to have a drink with him in his room. Would she have been strong enough to keep the sexual tension at bay being in his room with a drink in her system? Or would the result be the same as Paris after the Gala night? She knew she did the right thing to refuse Toto's invitation that night, she knew she couldn't afford to get herself into any messes especially when she was halfway through her first year as a team principal, and more-so that she never thought of Toto being anything other than her rival and found him attractive, but never had the thought of pursuing him.

2024 was going down as the year where Alessandra felt every possible emotion to exist, and felt ways she didn't know how to describe. She felt confident in her team and drivers for the season, she felt anger and hatred towards the man that makes her feel ways no man ever made her feel before, his touch still felt on her skin for days on end, the ways her body crave for him even when the last thing she wants to do is be in the same room as him. She's going through endless stress and sadness with her dad's situation whilst she felt tired of having to keep this strong façade in front of him and her team. Alessandra's one who's very in control of her thoughts and her emotions, even when she went through the tough moments and losses, but this was an all-new challenge, and one of the most challenging things of all was that the man who's caused her so much anger whilst making her feel so good and so alive, the man who's touch she craves badly, but also wants to be away from him.

The three then headed to Silverstone late Wednesday night, checking into the hotel them and the team were staying in and separated for the first time in three days as they got into their own rooms. Alessandra unpacked and took a shower before changing into a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt, then headed on the balcony. The weather was cool, which felt nice against the Alessandra's skin as she hoped that sleep would accumulate her, but she felt awake. She knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon, and she couldn't force herself even if she tried, so she grabbed her phone and room key, put a cap over her head and the reading glasses over her eyes before making her way out of her room.