Reviewing priorities - Sebastian Vettel

15. Airport waits

Valeria was sitting in the garage with Pietro, as they watched the end of q1. Paul Ricard seemed to show one possible outcome: total Mercedes domination. Valeria had already prepared herself for Rosberg, hoping Seb would improve on his last lap to at least get closer to Charles, as he sat in p7, with Charles p3.

'Chequered flag, p7' Pietro told her.

'cazzo, bet you a fiver it's going to be my fault somehow' she told him.

'Well you did just move in with the bloke, maybe you're distracting him too much' Pietro joked. Valeria looked at him dead in the eyes. 'I'm joking, I'm joking. God!' he laughed.

They watched as Seb's car was pulled into the garage and he walked out, going to the back straight away. The camera panned to Valeria, who had just got up to walk in the opposite direction, expecting a visit from Nico soon.

'It's like I can sense you, Rosberg' she told him, walking out of the garage, the camera still on her. 'let's make it quick and painless, yeah?'

'Is that what you tell Seb too?' he asked covering his mouth so nobody could hear him or read his lips.

'So you do have a sense of humour!' she exclaimed, laughing.

Nico shook his head, trying to contain a smile: 'live in 3...2... Valeria... any comments?'

'seems like Mercedes does have the upper hand in this circuit. We hope to gain some positions in the race' she replied.

'Sebastian has set only the 7th fastest time in Q1, were there any issues?'

'Not that I am aware of, but our amazing engineers are reviewing data as we speak'

'Thank you'

'anytime, I get paid to talk to you' she joked, passing him the microphone.

She noticed sky Italia just behind Nico, so she stayed out.

'Carlo , I'm here with Valeria... we heard some comments about pace in q3, with Charles urging Seb to be quicker. Sebastian's reply seemed fairly annoyed. What can you tell us?'

'I guess once you put your helmet on, it's time to focus. And sometimes being focused might make you sound a lot different from what you want to convey'

'Is there any issues in Casa Ferrari?'

'No, no issues.' She replied. She knew how much the Italian media loved to bash on Seb and she was not going to give them any ammunition.

'thanks'

'Anytime'

Race day:

Sunday went on to be described as one of the most boring races of all time, with Hamilton and Bottas taking a long lead and leaving the rest more or less in the same way they started the race. Charles grabbed p3 with Sebastian finishing p5. Valeria was almost caught yawning a couple of times as her mind wandered away, as she idly watched the screens, hoping to see the chequered flag soon.

Luckily for her, Mattia had already been interviewed by Nico, after the podium celebrations, so she decided to sit in the motorhome as she waited for Seb to come out of the debrief. The two had decided to use the back to back races to get a mini break in Austria in between the two.

'Ready to go?' Seb had arrived, in plain clothes.

'yeah, sure. Let me just save this' she said. She closed the file she was working on and got up. She had changed into plain clothes too, having opted for a pair of grey jeans, an oversized tee and a pair of trainers. Seb grabbed her hand and gave her a kiss, just before they walked out in the emptying paddock.