I'll win

Manama, Bahrain,
March 2022

🏎️

Every morning before the race, a briefing was held, to decide the strategies and talk about the just concluded practice and qualifying, so when I arrived in the Ferrari garage, I noticed the absence of the drivers and Mattia Binotto.
I dedicated the whole day to checking, followed by my colleagues, the data in anticipation of the evening race.

Lunchtime arrived, along with a message from Carlos, where he warned me of his location and asked me to join him.

I walked with my cell phone in my hand, following the road to get to him and when I looked up, I almost bumped into him.

"Carlos! How did the meeting go?" I asked, unable not to smile.

He pointed to the team's hospitality with a nod and started talking again: "Not bad, with the fact that Charles managed to get to pole, we both have more chances. I to go up and he to stay in his position." He concluded by opening the glass door towards him and letting me pass first.
We ordered lunch, sitting at the first free table. The Spaniard ordered only carbohydrates, I ordered a simple ham and cheese sandwich.

"How are you getting on here?" He asked me after finishing his plate of pasta, which he moved a few centimeters further, to rest his elbows on the table.

«Very good to tell the truth, my colleagues are good and I have become much more familiar with some than with others.» At the last sentence I nodded to him.

The boy smiled and we resumed talking about the car: "The car has great potential, I think Leclerc has managed to exploit it more than me, as we have seen from the numbers. But I'm not disappointed with the final results, after all the race is tonight." He concluded, starting to get up to reach the hotel and I decided to do the same.

We entered the lobby, passing the reception and arriving in an area where some sofas were arranged to create a common space.

"Carlos!" I heard someone calling him to our left and turning around I saw Max Verstappen sitting in the company of Charles. The Spaniard signaled me to follow him and approached the other riders.

"Is she your new girlfriend?" The defending champion asked, smiling and then introducing himself. I shook the hand that she held out to me: "I'm Abigail and..." Ready to deny her statement, I was interrupted.

"It's just the new engineer." The Monegasque replied, without anyone asking him.

"I wouldn't just say that, besides being a good friend, yes, she's also the new engineer." Sainz added, in a tone I didn't understand, looking into his teammate's eyes.

"Oh well, my mistake!" Max chuckled at the confusing situation that had arisen with his question. Perhaps, however, the only one who did not understand was me, given the glances that all three drivers exchanged.

I turned my gaze to Charles for the first time and found him intent on casting one last glance at Carlos, who was still by my side.

"I think I'll go to my room, rest, there's a race tonight." I said rhetorically, and after giving the Spaniard a kiss on the cheek, I walked towards the elevator.

When I entered the room I decided to take a bath and it was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep, but Vittoria seemed to read my mind because she called me on the phone.

She asked me if before the race I would help her choose the photos to post on social profiles, since our team was already creating the possible images even before the results.

I promised her that we would meet later and decided to call Kyla, my best friend.

"Abi!" He answered after a few rings. Adding that he never knew when to call me for my commitments.

"Now I'm resting, the Grand Prix is tonight. Please, look, if I appear on television you have to take pictures of me." I chuckled wryly, knowing that she would have made them anyway and posted somewhere.

"I was thinking that for the Imola race you could come, I would host you." I proposed the idea that had been whirling in my head for a few days. She replied that she would ask for permission to work and would definitely come.

After a good half hour of calling, I had to take a break, the time to get ready had arrived. I put on my clothes and instead of opening the camera, I accidentally opened Instagram, where in the caption of my profile I read: "Haas F1 Team".

I decided to change it, adding the correct name and taking a selfie to add to stories with the Ferrari uniform.

Curiosity took over and in the search bar I wrote the name of pilot number 16.
The profile photo was tending to red, seeing the boy with the team shirt. A verified appeared next to his name.

I didn't follow him, but I went to look for Carlos, doing exactly the opposite and pressing the follow button.
Vittoria called me back, warning that she was in the common room of the hotel, so I blocked the phone, retrieved my jacket and hurried out of the room.

I leaned on the sofa next to my friend's, seeing her as usual busy observing the screen.

He put the computer on my lap and asked me to choose two photos for each of the pilots.
I did so and tried not to dwell more on one than the other and gave her back the contraption.
I spent the remaining hours with her, until it was time to go to the paddock. The screams of the tifosi were loud, even from the back of the pits you could hear the cries of happiness for the respective drivers.

I walked wearing my usual cap and putting around my neck the pass that I had just used to enter the place. I walked through the sea of people, even having to ask some to let me pass, or I would be late.

It was time to meet some drivers, Ricciardo walked briskly with Vettel and we walked all the way together, talking about the race that would take place a few moments later. Both guys dropped me off at the Ferrari garage, proceeding to theirs.

I entered from the back and saw Andrea, flanked by Malcolm, the photographer who together with Vittoria managed the marketing part. Both of them were looking at the images he had probably taken a few moments earlier and next to them I found myself in front of Charles, who must have been the subject of the photo I had just taken.

"Abigail..." He called me. This time I approached.

"Not seeing you coming, I thought you weren't coming." He said getting out of the car and taking off his helmet.

Not understanding where he wanted to go, I nodded for no reason, but he continued: "I ask you to give me another chance, can we talk about it?" He pleaded with me, and the close encounter with him in the elevator came back to me. Who was I to say no?

"Okay, Charles. But we'll talk later, you have a race. Maybe if you win it could be done..." I whispered so that no other mechanics or engineers could understand.

He smiled and his eyes did the same. Silently, secretly, he took off a glove and brought his hand close to mine.
The contact between us seemed to create the usual bubble, I almost didn't even care about the race anymore and looking at it, it seemed to have the same thoughts as me.

His caresses on my palm ended, it was time for him to get back in the car, it was time for the race.

"I'll win." He whispered to me before I could leave.

I sat in the chairs in front of the screens, seeing his car come out of the garage, so did Carlos who I hadn't even seen coming and in the meantime I took the headphones that Andrea was handing me.

"Do you think it will be okay?" he asked me without stopping to look at the screen.

"I hope so." I decided to answer, hoping that with my own words I could convince myself too.

And then the lights went out and it all began.

🏎️

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT❤️

Ire