La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 20

I'm a bit ahead with the writing compared to the season, so I'm going to manifest the results of the races and maybe even the whole season. 😁

Thank you for reading this.

-B. ❤

March 2024

February flew by. They threw me a farewell party at work. It was the first company party I'd ever attended, but since they were hosting it for me, I couldn't avoid it. It was actually very nice and touching, I spent more than one year of my life there and found a true love for my profession there. Kala and Sarah cried because of my departure, but we promised to keep in touch. They gave me a red Ferrari team t-shirt with a huge number 16 on the back as a parting gift and they couldn't stop laughing about it.

The Scuderia started the new season in the best possible way. During the tests, everything went perfectly and Charles won the race in Bahrain with Carlos right behind him. It was a 180-degree turn from last year. It poured fresh passion into everyone's veins and the whole team and the whole of Italy were high on optimism.

I only spent 3 days in Gorzano before it was time to fly to Saudi Arabia and join the team. I flew all by myself, on an ordinary scheduled flight, because most of the staff moved from Bahrain straight to Jeddah. The flight from Rome lasted more than 5 hours and I was on edge. I felt like they were going to throw me to the sharks. I never liked big changes and a lot of strangers around me. On the other hand, I knew that I was good at my job and it shouldn't be fundamentally different from what I was doing up until now.

I was picked up at the airport by a driver who took me first to the hotel, where I freshened up a bit and changed because the temperature difference between Italy and Jeddah was more than 15°C. The driver then took me to the circuit where I was picked up by Chiara, my guardian angel and liaison officer for the coming weeks. She handed me my own paddock pass, a card that would allow me to get anywhere I needed to go. "This is getting serious," I thought as I walked down the aisle past the parked trucks and especially past the motorhomes of the individual teams. The red motor home of Scuderia Ferrari shone for miles.

Chiara took me through the entire paddock, including the entire team's facilities, the garages, just everywhere she could. I received several sets of team clothes and then she described my main job. Basically, I could do whatever I wanted most of the time. I had to be present at the mechanics' warm-up, and above all to be constantly on the phone in case of emergency. "You can watch training sessions, qualifying and races with others. Just make sure you always have your phone within reach and can respond at any time," she smiled at me and I gave a convulsive smile back. "I know it's a lot, but give it a few days and you'll get used to it," she stroked my shoulder and I nodded. "This is a physical therapy room. You'll share it with Thomas. He will arrive tomorrow." I looked around the room with two massage tables, a place to exercise on the floor and an abundance of stretching aids such as various balls or rubbers. The only difference compared to the office where I worked until now was a diametrically different color palette. I was used to muted shades of blue and green, here everything was red.

It was only Tuesday and the paddock wasn't particularly busy, so I decided to take a walk so I wouldn't get lost so much the following days. Then, completely exhausted, I let myself be driven to the hotel. I took another shower, ordered a light dinner through room service, and sat on the bed so I could watch something on Netflix and eat in peace. Then there was a knock on the door. "Buonasera," Charles smirked as I opened the door. "Buonasera," I replied, stepping back so he could enter. Without asking my permission, he sat on the edge of the bed and popped a cherry tomato from my plate into his mouth. "So how was your first day?" he grinned as he swallowed what was in his mouth. "It's a lot. I'm even more afraid of it now than when I didn't know anything," I admitted truthfully, sighed and sat down next to him. "How did you even know what room I was in?" I asked. "I have my sources," he shrugged and smirked again.

"You can do it, Adri. We both know that, so stop stressing."

"It's easy for you to say. You've been travelling with this circus for several years. It's my first day here."

"Yeah, but you have people here who are willing to give you advice on how this circus works," he smiled, and I knew at that moment that he was right. I have Charles and Chiara here. And tomorrow the second physiotherapist Thomas is coming, who will certainly be helpful to me as well. Everything will be fine.

And Charles really was right. I spent all of Thursday in the paddock taking turns helping with stretching to whoever needed it, taping up a few shoulders and watching both practices closely. Even though it was just free practice, I watched the cars coming out of the garage with wide eyes and kept my eyes on the screens with live footage and statistics. And so far it looked like Ferrari would do well this weekend as well.