La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 23

I felt like an investigative journalist writing this chapter because I wanted to write the race exactly as it happened. I even got a little emotional watching the videos back. 😁
Hope you like it and thank you for reading 😊
-B. ❤

September 2019

Damiano took my departure for England with great composure. He was so incredibly supportive and understanding that it actually annoyed me a little. Probably because I knew that I wouldn't be able to react calmly like that. He was constantly proving to me that I didn't even deserve him in many ways, and that annoyed me a lot.

"I have a surprise for you. Sort of a parting gift," Damiano called me at the turn of August and September, his eyes completely sparkling through the phone screen. "You didn't have to do anything..." I began cautiously. I didn't want any big gestures or a farewell party, nothing. "I know, you said I didn't have to organize anything, but this kind of fell into my lap. Do you remember Leonardo and Adeline? They had bought tickets for..." he stopped for a moment. "For one event. But unfortunately, they broke up and Leonardo is in no mood to go anywhere." Leonardo and Adeline were Damiano's friends from Parma, with whom we went to the pub a few times. They had big plans; a wedding, children, a house in the countryside. None of that is likely to happen now. "What is this event?" I asked Damian.

"That will be a surprise. I just need you to pack for 3 days and come to see me in Parma on Friday morning. I'll take care of everything."

Early in the morning on Friday, September 6, I got into my golf and set off on a route that I could handle even blind. I parked in front of the house where I used to live with Damiano and went up to the 4th floor. I unlocked the door and entered the apartment. Damiano was standing just behind the door with a sly smile on his face, holding a package wrapped in beige wrapping paper in his outstretched hands. "What is it?" I asked, but he handed me the package and said, "Unwrap it." He was still squinting suspiciously at that, I frowned a bit, but carefully tore off the paper. A neatly folded red t-shirt with a prancing horse logo peeked out at me. I swallowed hard and looked a little scared at Damiano, who in the meantime unzipped his hoodie and showed me the same T-shirt he was wearing underneath. "Andremo al Gran Premio d'Italia!" he shouted excitedly, probably expecting the same joy from me. We are going to the Italian Grand Prix. We're going to Monza for the Formula 1 race. Great.

We arrived at Monza before the first practice session. It was raining and the stands were not full, but quite a few fans came despite the bad weather. We took our seats and while Damiano was still smiling happily, I looked like a poker player most of the time and only smiled when Damiano looked at me. We watched the practice, which resembled figure skating instead of a Formula 1 race. The pilots in their cars glided on the tarmac and spun one after the other. Charles was the fastest in the first practice.

Before the second free training session, we stopped for a quick lunch and walked a bit around the town, in which there is not much to see, and returned to our seats. In the meantime, it got sunny, so the stands got even more full. It was much less fun than the first practice because nothing unpredictable happened. Charles was the fastest again in the second practice. "I have very high expectations now," said Damiano after we returned to our accommodation. In addition to the tickets for the grand prix, he also inherited a hotel reservation for two people out of the broken relationship. "Hope you won't be too disappointed," I smirked. But even I had a hunch that it could turn out well for Ferrari. Although, of course, the results of practice often mean nothing at all.

On Saturday morning, we watched the last practice before the qualification and the stands were already filled up significantly more than the previous day. Sebastian Vettel won and the Tifosi could scream at the top of their lungs. "After all, it's only practice," I wondered, but Damiano was roaring like a crazy person with the others and almost didn't notice me.

When it came time for the qualifying session, the tension was dense. Every time one of the Ferraris passed in front of the stands there was a deafening scream from the fans and I have to admit that the atmosphere began to absorb even me. By the end of the first part Damiano and I were both on our feet shouting with the others as Charles got to Q2 from first place.

Hamilton won the second quali and the Tifosi whistled and booed in disapproval. After all, nobody can be better at Monza than Ferrari. Admittedly, I hadn't seen much qualifying up to that point, but Q3 was definitely one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Everything went pretty well. Charles was first and Vettel fourth for the time being, with Hamilton and Bottas fitting in between them. But then Kimi Raikkonen crashed and the red flags were waved. With a minute and a half remaining, all the cars lined up behind each other for one last fast lap. The pilots drove slower than me in the parking lot of the supermarket and it was a really special spectacle. "They won't make it," grunted Damiano next to me, and similar opinions were heard from the fans sitting around us. And they for sure didn't make it. Qualifying was over and that meant only one thing. Charles Leclerc will start from pole position tomorrow and the Tifosi have once again erupted into a stunning roar full of enthusiasm.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," I admitted truthfully and Damiano smiled at me contentedly. "I sure hope so. I honestly thought after yesterday that you were very disappointed to be here," he said. I didn't want to explain to him why I didn't want to be here in the first place, so I just shook my head, "I just don't like big crowds." From a distance, Charles was completely harmless to me and caused me no suffering. Plus, I loved how happy everyone was that Ferrari had a chance to win on home soil.

The lights went out and the race started. My stomach was completely queasy with anticipation and I had been biting my thumbnail since lunch, which Damiano kept reprimanding me for. Charles managed to maintain the lead in the race, but Vettel dropped to fifth place and everything went downhill for the German driver. The fans could now concentrate only on Charles and his fight with both Mercedes drivers. It was absolutely breathtaking. My heart was pounding in my throat, and even though it was warm, my hands were completely cold from nervousness. All three drivers made mistakes, but in the end, Charles made the fewest. I will probably remember his passage through the last corner and then the finish line until the day I die.

What happened next is hard to describe in words. People flocked under the podium and the finish line was flooded by a sea of red. It was as if Ferrari had won the entire championship. I have never experienced so much joy, enthusiasm and emotions around me before. In my mind and later also out loud, I thanked Damiano for arranging this experience. He only said: "Leonardo will regret it for the rest of his life."

Then when the best three took the stage and the Monacan and then the Italian national anthems started to play, we all sang at the top of our lungs. A wave of incredible pride and joy washed over me. Whatever happened between us, Charlie had just had one of his biggest dreams come true.