Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 2: Australia

After a brief dinner and a solid 8-hour sleep, the final and fourth day of the grand prix arrived. Race day. To say Casey felt stressed on her first race day as part of the Red Bull Racing pit crew would be the greatest understatement ever uttered through human lips. Expectations were brutally high, yet none of the briefings or training could have prepared her for the madness that ensued that afternoon.

Perhaps madness wasn't the word. It wasn't like a raging bull was let loose in the garage and killed everyone in sight, it was a bit more organised than that. Everybody appeared to be tense and endlessly busy but it was like they knew exactly how to be tense and endlessly busy. She had spent the hour before the race dedicated to spying on Evan, hoping he would break down in a flurry of mental anguish and absorb the attention of the entire garage so that nobody would see her screw anything up. But of course, he looked like he'd been doing this his whole life - his composure was completely flawless.

During racing pit stops, it took 3 people to change each of the four tyres. Casey was a wheel-on tyre carrier, meaning it was her job to sink the brand new tyre into place a split second after the wheel-off tyre carrier removed the old one, and hold it in place while a wheel gunner secured the tyre to the wheel hub with the air gun. The whole process, and so much more, took place in usually less than 2 seconds. Evan was Sebastian's front-right wheel gunner; what Casey considered to be one of the most abysmally nerve-wracking jobs of any of the pit crew members. He had impeccably relentless accuracy with the air gun, which had secured his position on the team.

He had floppy, fawn-blonde hair, and a constant grin on his face. Casey had known him for her entire tenure at Red Bull Racing as they'd climbed through the ranks at similar times. They'd become good friends over the years, and she was grateful to have a friend to share the experience with. She knew the other pit crew reasonably well too, having worked alongside them often at headquarters, but this was the first time she was sharing the intimacy of travelling with them.

She found herself on auto-pilot several times that morning and scolded herself for it, she needed to be completely present, not only to do her job well, but to learn... and just as importantly, to enjoy the day. Casey was sitting on her knees next to her front left tyre, holding the warmer in place. She had performed her checks more than she knew was necessary, but she didn't get to where she was now without being a perfectionist.

"Time to go please." Rocky called from the back of the garage, motioning for everyone to prepare for the car to leave the garage. Casey leaned to the side a bit to make way as Sebastian stepped around her and lowered himself into the car. Heikki, his personal trainer, handed him his gloves once he was settled. "Up now!" came the call and all of the tyre warmers were whipped away as Suzie was lowered to the ground and roared into life. Casey took a quick look at Sebastian before he touched the accelerator, admiring the focus on his face for a split moment. His eyes darted over to her, probably to check she was clear of his path. Without really thinking she mouthed "good luck", and then he was gone.

The team would now take the minimal equipment they needed and hop the pit fence to meet their car after it had completed a lap and taken its position on the grid. And then it was back on with the tyre warmers for 20 minutes or so.

The drivers would then complete a single warm up lap where they would would manoeuvre their cars to gain maximum heat in thier tyres, and therefore better grip. Once everyone had completed their warm up lap and returned to their starting positions, the 5 grid lights would count down and the race would begin.

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Barely a few minutes after the race had started, Casey found herself squirming in her seat between Evan and another mechanic named Kyle. They sat and watched with broken hearts as Suzie dragged herself around the street circuit of Melbourne's Albert Park. Sebastian was miserably slow out on track, a good 20 seconds slower per lap than the leader's pace. The pit crew all sat in their designated seats watching the screens above them, trying their best to ignore the cameras a few feet away who were solely there to capture their disappointment for the live footage feed. Sebastian didn't even make 5 laps before Rocky called him in and the day was over, at least for their half of the garage.