Team Principal | Carlos Sainz

epilogue

It was the last lap in the last race of the season and all the people in the Audi garage held their breath. It was their fourth season in formula 1 and today could be the best day in their history so far.

Only 5.281 kilometers left and the car was the 55 was currently in the lead, but only 1.2 seconds in front of Verstappen, who was also seven points ahead in the championship. So with Carlos in P1 and the Dutch in P2 it would be equal in points.

Unfortunately Verstappen had more wins so it would go the way of the RedBull driver, but not with this tiny little point that Carlos had. The purple stopwatch shining up next to his name as he had claimed the fastest lap a couple of minutes ago.

It was the last lap and if Verstappen would snatch this one away from Carlos, he would be champion again. It was so quiet you can hear a pin falling as all the mechanics, engineers and other guest held their breath.

Antonia nervously bit her bottom lip, looking at the screen in front of her, where her husband was visible. He was so close and yet so far away from it. All their hard work over the last years could now pay off.

"And Verstappen has the DRS now down the straight, but is he gonna catch him?" the voice of the moderator was heard over the speakers.

Antonia's heart nearly stopped as the RedBull was pulling closer until he was on the same height as the Audi. But the next corner was Carlos's as he was on the inside. It was epic and tense, but the Spaniard managed to stay in front, remaining on that P1.

Next to her Antonia saw the mechanics as they stormed out to the track, shouting and already celebrating as the car with the 55 came around the last corner. But she knew it wasn't everything.

If Verstappen would get that fastest lap it would be over so she held her breath and looked at the data in front of her.

+ 0.001 seconds

It was a tiny number but with a huge impact, Verstappen couldn't beat Carlos's fastest lap and therefore the Spaniard kept this extra point. It needed a moment that Antonia fully understood what this meant.

Then the tears started running down her cheeks and so many emotions hit her as the fireworks started going of and she heard Carlos through the radio shouting and celebrating.

"You did it Carlos! You did it, I am so so proud of you!" I shouted and half cried through the radio, "You are the champion, the world champion!"

"Yes!" he returned and it could be heard that he was also crying, "We did it, we this together, thanks to the team and and everyone. And thanks to you Antonia, I love you."

It was the first time that he had said those words on the radio. Normally they kept private and work life clear separated and only shared some quick kisses in his drivers room or her office, but never that public, completely different to when they were outside the paddock.

As the cars slowly drove their in lap, Antonia stood up from her seat and turned around, looking for her dad and her father-in-law, both standing a bit behind with the two kids. Tears still running down her face, but with a big smile, Antonia opened her arms and Luca came running over.

"Papa did it, he is the champion!" the boy beamed and she nodded before hugging him.

"Impressive job from Carlos out there, but you also have part on this." Carlos senior said and hugged Antonia as well, "Congratulations you too."

"Let's go over to celebrate papa's win." Albert added and stepped closer, Antonia's second son on his arm, with big earmuffs on as it was really loud inside the garage.

"Oh honey, is it too hectic?" she asked the one-year-old because he looked a bit scared as she took him into her arms, before following Luca and Carlos senior over to the cars.