Come Back...Be Here - Charles Leclerc

Chapter 14: The Hungarian Grand Prix 2020

🎶 Formula 1 Theme — Brian Tyler 🎶

Charles' and my dinner was very uneventful, which disappointed Val, but it was as I said, a nice dinner between two friends joking and not crossing any lines. What I did not admit to her was that I wanted him to cross a line. I caught myself a few times staring too long at his big hands and at the few buttons open at the top of his shirt.

Today was Saturday and Charles had told us the times at which the shuttle buses would drive from the hotel to the racetrack. When we arrived in the Paddock again, Val and I decided to walk around a bit through the fan zone and discovered lots of fun activities. At some point I received a message from Charles:

Charles Leclerc
Meet us at 12.30 lunch at Ferrari hospitality? The Italian food here is better than the standard one from the Paddock Club 😉

I smiled at my phone, informed Val of our plans and responded Charles with a simple "👍🏼" because I did not want to distract him from his work.

When we entered the Ferrari hospitality I was stunned. Everything was held in sleek red and black and the prancing horse was position on any imaginable thing: rugs, plates and obviously on all of the uniforms. You could feel the history in there and from that moment, my subconscious decided to root for Ferrari, no matter what. Charles must be incredibly proud of himself to have made it into this team.

We saw Charles and Andrea already sitting on a table in the back and joined them. We had amazing Spaghetti Carbonara but Val and I left early to leave Charles to concentrate for his qualifying.

Val and I made our way to the Paddock Club, found our seats and chatted a bit with our neighbours. They were a nice Hungarian couple in their 40s and he explained to us ecstatically that this qualifying session will be so interesting because of the rain.

The Ferraris did not get the best result with Charles starting 6th and his teammate Vettel (learning new things every day) was starting 5th.
Just a few minutes after the end I received a message from Charles:

Charles Leclerc
Taking the shuttle bus at 6.45, you girls want to join me? We can catch up a bit?

After informing Val I answered:
Mary 😍
Perfect. See you later!

Val and I managed to get some dessert before walking out of the paddock and waiting at the shuttle bus station. Charles and Andrea arrived after a few minutes followed by two other guys, whose names I forgot but I remembered that those two were real car mechanics.

Charles hoped to do better today but he was still in a good mood and he tried to explain the concept of tyre management but Val and I kept messing up the colors that he gave up shortly before our arrival to the hotel. He leaned in a bit to me and said: "I have to call it an early night today to be well rested for tomorrow, but maybe we can have dinner tomorrow?"
I looked at him with a sweet but sad expression: "Oh I'm so sorry but Val and I gave a flight booked to Stockholm tomorrow evening, we are taking a one-week road trip through Sweden and Norway."
His face fell a bit but then he gave me a smile and said: "Don't worry, enjoy yourselves, you're here for your travels, not for me. But keep me updated and send me pictures! And oh, could I also gave your Instagram?"
He gave me his phone, I searched my account and tapped on the button to send a follow request.

We arrived at the hotel said goodnight to everyone but Val and I decided to take a stroll next to the Danube and chatted about our expectations for the future. She told me that Christian had decided to take over responsibilities in his family's estate and would be living in Oxfordshire and not in London, where Val would be. She was a bit gutted but she told me that if this relationship was going to be serious she would have to think about moving to the countryside sooner or later because his job is just not moveable.

The next day I felt strong déjà-vu feelings from Austria. It was race day and everyone was buzzing around again. We decided to go straight to the Paddock Club and stay away from Ferrari hospitality because it would be too hectic before the race. However, we decided we would go watch the race from there to get a real Ferrari feeling and all the employees there will be on their posts during the race, so we would not be in anyone's way.

At 2 I sent a good luck message to Charles, to which he did not respond as I expected.

The race did definitely not go well for Ferrari, especially not for Charles. He had problems with his team's tyre strategy and finished 11th, out of the points. I buried my head in my hands and the mood was pretty depressed in the hospitality. Val told me she would go out in search of a loo and I decided to try and make my way to Charles' driver room without raising anyone's suspicions. I was successful, found the room, prayed it was the right one and that a naked Sebastian Vettel would not walk in.

When the door opened I saw Charles entering his room and throwing his helmet on the ground. He was so caught up with himself that he did not even notice me. I walked closer to him and when he saw me he pulled me into a tight, wordless hug. I pulled my arms around him and patted him a bit on his back, hoping it would make him feel better. We dissolved from our hug but remained close while still looking each other in the eyes. While my heart screamed "Kiss him!" my brain made a move first and I broke eye contact with him.

"Thanks for being here" he said with a soft smile.
"Thank you for inviting me. I wanted to say goodbye, we are going straight to the airport from here." I replied.
"Sure ehm, have a safe journey and keep me updated!" he said while opening the door for him. I pressed a soft kiss on his cheek and left.