Doctor on the grid

4. I don't care

I watched the Bahrain Grand Prix from the Red Bull Energy station with Max's PR assistant, Vicky. She was fun to be with, and continued to explained me a lot during the race - I learnt that she was a racing driver previously as well. We cheered loudly together for the two red bulls along dozens of others in the hospitality.

Max was doing great at the front in the first half, but now his tires were gone and he was in desperate need for a change. But what he also needed was a bit of a bigger gap ahead of Leclerc otherwise he'd lose his position during the pit stop.

"Oh, shoot!" I said as the fastest lap time appeared on the monitor. It was Leclerc's.

"Don't worry, Max will hear this on the microphone and goes crazy in the next lap," said Vicky beside me.
"Charles is his arch enemy on track originating from their karting days" she added.

"So they hate each other?" I asked frowning. I can't say I wasn't excited to know more about the young ferrari driver. Every time I saw the red ferrari car chasing Max's red bull those blue, curious eyes with his determined look sneaked back to my mind.

"I wouldn't say hate but certainly not love either," she laughed shaking her head.
"I think they've very different personalities and hence never got on well. You know, not everybody can be Daniel" She added with a grin.

It was true. Daniel Ricciardo was charming and he seemed to always have a few nice words and a charming smile to everybody. Not on the track though, he just appeared on the TV screen chasing Bottas quite aggressively. In the last corner the cars front nearly touched.

"See? That's what I was talking about" Vicky exclaimed when Max's name appeared as the fastest in the next lap. "Always racing, these two!" she added with a smile. And so at the next lap the leading red bull pitted. Fast as a lightning the mechanics changed the tires and he managed to drive back to the track just a few meters ahead of Leclerc.

"Wow, that was close guys! Thanks for the quick fix!" Max said over the radio. He sounded relieved.

After this stunt nothing interesting happened, so in the end Max won the race again. Everybody in the garage shouted so loudly that we could easily hear them from the hospitality. A few people came to congratulate to Vicky as well, before she got up and hurried to the parc fermé to be with the team. I stayed in the television area and accepted the glass of champagne offered by a smiling waitress.

The television screen showed Max jumping out of his car, and hugged every team member within reach. Leclerc arrived shortly after him, he looked of course less satisfied. He hadn't won a race this season so far, and one could see that he was thirsty for victory. Hamilton came in third after he took over Vettel in the last lap hence he appeared to be happy with the results. However I never liked him no matter that he was English. I've always thought he was pretentious and whiny and also using great words as blessed and miracle like he just happened to live his gorgeous life and never did anything for his success. Of course that wasn't true. He was working hard as every other guy here. Maybe harder.

The interviews were boring as always. I didn't even watch them. After lingering around for a while I sneaked out and began to walk to the car park to hail a taxi. It was a busy time for the teams as Vicky explained and I was sure nobody wanted to bother about their guests. They try to pack everything up as quickly as possible and then go and get ready for the evening celebration.

"Hey lady! Not so quickly!" Somebody shouted after me at the paddock's exit. I turned back and found Daniel Ricciardo galloping after me. He already changed and had his wet locks pointing out in every possible direction.

I stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Hello there," I smiled. "Congratulations on your points, well done!"