The Race Director's Daughter (Sebastian Vettel)

55. Homeward Bound

Leah bit her bottom lip as Seb crossed the line in ninth place.  She was proud of him whatever, but she knew he would be disappointed with ninth.  He'd always been up against it though after he'd been forced to start from the pit lane after having a fuel issue before going to the grid.  Ninth was amazing, all things considered.

Britta patted her on the shoulder.  "I'd better go and meet him.  Are you going back to his room?"  Leah shook her head.

"No, I'm going to get something to eat, I'm starving.  I just can't eat while a race is on.  Now he's finished safely I'm gonna grab a sandwich or something."

"I'm sure he'll find you after he's finished with the media and with his debrief."

Leah walked back out into the paddock and made her way to the Aston Martin motorhome.  It was fairly empty as everyone was still working.  She smiled at the woman behind the counter, and asked for a chicken salad sandwich.  She took it, an orange and a bottle of water over to a table.  She sat down and tucked into the sandwich.  She hadn't been joking when she'd told Britta she was starving. She literally hadn't had anything since 7 am when Heike had served up scrambled egg on toast.

She was glad that this weekend was over.  It had been a disaster for Seb from start to finish. Technical issues had ruined FP1 and FP2.  Then he'd been knocked out in Q2 after only being eleventh quickest.  Not that he'd started eleventh. Oh no, the weekend had got worse. 

Personally she'd had quite a good weekend.  She'd met with Jenna and Tamara for dinner on Thursday night whilst Seb had had a late meeting with his engineers.  It had been good to catch up with them.  Then on Friday she'd had lunch with Joel.  She'd really missed him since moving out of her Dad's place.  They'd both avoided talking about Martin and stuck to neutral topics, but it had been fun all the same.

Thankfully the press seemed to have lost interest in her and Seb, although a few photographers still kept bugging them, but it hadn't been more than she could handle. She guessed the novelty had already worn off.

She'd also spent a lot of time with Norbert, Heike and Fabian.  She'd got on like a house on fire with Seb's younger brother from the moment they'd met.  He had her in stitches most of the time, he was so funny.  In fact she'd probably spent more time with him than she had Seb over the last four days. 

Seb had spent a lot of time between sessions in the office with Lawrence and Mike discussing the possibility of a new contract.  Usually it would all be signed and sealed by this time of the season but they'd been unable to agree on terms as yet.   She didn't know what was holding it up. Seb was driving amazing, surely Aston Martin would want to retain him? And Seb would definitely want to stay. He was loving his racing.

The door opened and Seb's family piled in.  They'd been watching the race from the VIP section above the garages.  She'd had the option to watch with them but she'd chosen to watch from the garage. Mike had let her wear a headset so she could listen in to Seb's team radio. It had calmed her nerves being able to hear his voice.

"Hey, there you are," Fabian exclaimed.  "We wondered where you were.  I popped into the garage to find you but you'd already gone."

"I was hungry."

"I'm feeling a little peckish myself."

"Fabian, you are always hungry," commented Norbert.  Heike gave a small laugh.  The Vettel men were all always hungry. "We are going to leave soon, did you want a lift back or are you going to wait for Sebastian?"

"I'll wait for Seb," she replied.    They stayed for a coffee, then they stood to leave.

"See you back at home Leah," Heike said.