Reviewing priorities - Sebastian Vettel

44. McLaren visit

'are you sure you'll be OK to fly, Schatzi?' Seb asked her. He had just parked her car up at the airport. Valeria looked and felt rough but she knew she could power through, she had flown in worse situations.

'I'll be fine, Bärchen, you don't worry about me. Please get Cinzia home safely' she nodded to her car.

'I drive F1 cars for a living, I can safely take a 500 home.' He chuckled.

'I'd hope so' she laughed.

'say hi to everyone from me, don't enjoy McLaren too much and please come home soon. I already miss you'

'Wow. Needy. Never thought that of you' she teased him. 'be good without me, I love you' she kissed him.

'Love you too. Text me when you can so I don't worry'

'Yes, dad. I won't talk to strangers either'

'who are you kidding? You'd talk to rocks if you could' Valeria smiled and kissed him again. She grabbed her luggage and walked over to the terminal.

She walked to the gate and opened up her socials as she waited for her flight to be called.

End of year fun with @proiettivale @stefdeluca @domenik and @itsgiorgio, I have to say we scrub up really well. Pietro had posted.

Allow me to say that Stef and I raise the bar by at least 200%, it must be that Southern tanned skin.

Valeria stretched back on the bench she was sitting on, hoping the flight would be called soon.

Two days later

Tom and Valeria had been in the car for over an hour when they finally saw the sign for Woking.

'Are you getting excited now?' Valeria asked him.

'I've been excited since Lando called you. I can't believe I'm seeing the MTC and meeting Lando and Carlos!' he giggled. Since his hospital week, he had got stronger and stronger and for the previous week he had messaged her every day to talk about their trip.

They spotted the MTC from afar, it did look rather majestic, Valeria hated to admit. They stopped off at the security gate, Valeria showed the guard her email with their two passes and their Ids. They were directed towards a car park where Valeria spotted the PR representative waiting for them.

'Hey Charlotte' Valeria gave her a hug. 'This is Tom' she introduced them.

'Mr Stephens, pleased to meet you. Follow me. Zak and the boys are waiting for you.' Charlotte said.

Valeria walked a couple of steps behind them, in silence. It felt weird being there for her, but the smile on her granddad's face was enough to not care about Ferrari.

'So this is Zak' the American shook his hand'and of course Lando and Carlos'

'Valeria, I don't think we have been properly introduced' Zak told her, shaking her hand.

'Mr. Brown, I can barely find any words to describe how grateful I am to you and the McLaren team for making this happen. Granddad has been a fan since I can remember'

'but you're not' Zak stated, with a smile.

'not for lack of trying from granddad. I guess if I had grown up here in the UK it would have been a different story. Nothing personal, you know?'

'Absolutely. You know... we could do with someone like you around. No offence, but your style seems more in line with us than Ferrari. Maybe think about it?' Zak smiled.

'Mr Brown' she started.

'call me Zak' he interrupted her.

'Zak, I appreciate the offer... but...'

'Just think about it, right? For 2021, we're not in a rush. I'm sure you'll agree once you've worked with Mattia a bit more' he chuckled before leaving her confused to joining her granddad to begin their tour.

'I can't believe they let you in' Lando teased her, joining her at the back of the pack as Zak showed Tom around.

'and I can't believe they let you drive the car, but here we are' she teased him. 'I also can't believe how many people follow you on twitch'

'wait, you have twitch?' he asked surprised.

'Mate, I'm 29, not 100' she laughed.

'What do you play?' Lando sounded actually interested.

'A bit of this, a bit of that. Racing games, first person shooters... the sims'

'The sims? You are old.' Lando laughed loudly. 'I'll have to add you on steam'

'sure, so I can kick your butt' she told him, smiling. 'oh, is that Lewis' championship winning car?' she asked curiously. 'What? Am I not allowed to appreciate cars anymore?' She joked, when everyone seemed surprised at her interest.

'it's nice to be next to a championship winning car for a change, isn't it?' her granddad teased her, making everyone else laugh.

'Excuse me? Lewis won a year after Kimi did. And let's not talk about poor  Felipe. I think I am still crying. It's been almost as long as us, anyways.' she replied.

'With slightly different budgets' Lando pretended to cough.

'Gesundheit, Norris. I have some calpol in the car for you' she teased him.

The rest of the visit at the MTC went quickly, with Tom taking pictures of everything he was allowed to and Valeria mostly taking the mick out of Lando, McLaren seemed like a fun place to work.

Carlos had introduced them to a few people in the team, mostly mechanics and engineers who had shown Tom around the production area.

'And this is my cousin, Carlos' Carlos told Valeria, in Italian, once they had re emerged from the factory.

'must get confusing....isn't your dad Carlos too?' she laughed. 'hola, que tal? Encantada, Valeria' she told Carlos, shaking his hand.

'Rosie, can you come take a picture with me and the guys please?' her granddad called her over.

'sure, why not? Get me fired, will ya?' she joked.

She posed with Tom and the drivers and Charlotte took the picture on Tom's phone.

'I'm going to send it to Uncle Will and Alan, they are going to be well jealous. Also, keep this picture. It's the one I want on my grave, Rosie'

'Cheers, gramps. Always the happy fella, you.'Valeria laughed nervously.

'can I ask why you call Valeria Rosie, sir? I'm curious' Lando asked.

'I chose the middle name Rose, and she's my flower' he shrugged, like he was explaining something obvious.

'Also granddad hates the fact we have Italian names and surnames'

'soon to be German' he huffed, making everyone chuckle.

'aaaaanyway' she said. 'it's time for us to go and let you guys go back to work. Charlotte, Lando, Carlos and Zak, I will always be grateful to all of you for making my granddad this happy and for making any Christmas gift i get him now seem absolutely worthless. I will see you all in Barcelona, enjoy your Christmas breaks'

'as Rosie said, this has been a dream of mine for years. Thank you guys so much.'

'Before you go...' Lando passed them a couple of bags of merchandise.

'yeah, that's not getting into my house' Valeria laughed.

'but we got your mum a shirt and your sister's baby a nice onesie' Lando said.

'alright. It will come to Rome with me, but if I get fired I'll come look for all of you. I know where you are now.'