Doctor on the grid

3. Cozy in the rocket

Max’s staff was bigger to fill one car so no extra seat was left for me so I took another car to the paddock. On the way I admired the view of the skyscrapers in the middle of the desert and thinking about how great it was for these guys to travel around the world from weekend to weekend and get to see these incredible places.

We arrived to the paddock and I already knew the way to the Red Bull Energy Station. I had another coffee and hung around saying hi-s to a couple of staff members I’ve met yesterday at the dinner. Max’s PA Vicky also greeted me with a huge smile.

"Hi Clara," she said and lowered her mobile which she always had in her hand. "So today the after party starts at 11. Everybody will be there and it’s a blast so be sure you won’t miss it, OK?" She asked me with a serious face and it looked like she would never take no as an answer. Good thing I planned on going anyway. Everybody told me these parties are always fun to attend. 

"Fine, thanks. I’ll be there I guess,” I replied and drank the rest of my americano.

"Super, now I'm sorry but I have to rush. But meet you after the race stars? We can watch it together," she proposed and I was so surprised at the kind proposition so I just smiled and nodded like a lunatic. 

"Awesome, I gotta run now, see you!" she waved goodbye and hurried away. 

I didn’t want to bother them in the preparations but also didn’t feel the urge to take hundreds of instagrammable photos posing with the cars and the drivers like dozens of girls did around the paddock, so I went out take a walk. There was an extreme bike show just outside the building sponsored by Red Bull which I watched for a while but when I catched myself evaluating the possible bone fractures and head traumas one would get after each stunt I decided it was time to move on. 

The next building was the McLaren Hospitality with its papaya colour. They had loud music roaming all over the place which made me smile. They seemed always so funny in the videos and looked like they managed to work as a team really good. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were both young and aspiring pilots who had great chemistry together - it also made their team the most likeable for many.

I passed and then suddenly everything changed to red. The building, the people, the balloons even the freakin’ dustbins were red. My eyes hurt - that meant the italians and of course Ferrari. They had a great outside seating area where a couple of men were having breakfast, others were just chatting loudly in italian or in english with a terrible accent.

As I got closer on the way some mechanics passed me and one of them whistled and turned after me. I scoffed and decided on being offended when I also heard them say ‘Ciao Bella!’ to another girl as well. I didn’t like this macho attitude towards me, nor generally towards women. So I just threw at them an insulted look, but when I turned back to continue my walk my eyes suddenly met Charles Leclerc’s.

He was also sitting outside with a bunch of guys, maybe his engineers. One was talking to him with big gestures, but he didn’t pay any attention to him. He was looking at me while - fuck - he didn’t even blink. It felt so awkward and his look was so intimidating I suddenly felt naked. He narrowed his eyes and visibly clenched his jaw. I felt my stomach twist unpleasantly so I tore my eyes away crossed my arms tightly on my chest and forced myself to carry on my walk. After a bit I cautiously turned my head back and he was still looking at me. What the heck is his problem?

I’ve heard so much about him. I’ve read the news and saw the pictures. The young titan who launched in his first year at Ferrari like a skyrocket and had better results than his well seasoned multiple world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel. The press loved him. He was young, good looking, polite and mysterious enough to talk about. Plus he drove his heart out for the Tifosi in Monza last year. The italian fan base meant like 10 million people, so he was made a living legend in Italy. Young girls also adored him, even my instagram thread appeared to be full of his smiling pictures. It doesn’t help that according to the tabloid he just broke up with his long term girlfriend.