David Dobrik - A Change of Scenery... and Pace?

Kevin Magnussen

"Come on David, hustle!"
"Jeff... come on... let me take a break." David panted.
The pair were taking a jog along the entire length of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. All three miles of it... and Jeff had ordered David to do it twice.
Although David wasn't much of a runner, he had quite a bit of stamina in him, which somewhat impressed Jeff.
"Break, my ass Dobrik! We have one more turn left come on, move!"

David all but collapsed as he and Jeff got back to the Haas garage area.
Jeff patted him. "Good job." "Shut up."

David squinted as a shadow appeared over him.
"Good run?" It was Gene.
"You could say that." David grumbled, taking the man's outstretched hand.

Gene laughed as he helped David up.
"Come on, follow me.
There's some people I want you to meet."
David followed Gene as he made his way to where two people were standing, conversing with each other. They were clearly the two main drivers on the team.
Both of them looked to be in their late thirties.

"This is Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen."
David shook hands with Romain.
"Hello David, very nice to meet you."
'This guy is definitely French,' David thought to himself.
He shook hands with Kevin, who only stared at him for a while.
"Hello," was all he said.

David and Romain talked amongst themselves while Kevin opted to just stand there and listen.
Eventually, his phone rang and the Danish driver walked off without a word.

"Don't worry too much about Kevin," Romain said. "He has not been in the best of moods lately."
"Do you know what's wrong with him?"
Romain sighed. "No, I don't. His track performance has been relatively the same as with other seasons. He like myself, is getting close to the age where one has to really consider retirement. Other than sailing, his other passion, I don't think he really knows what he wants to do after all this."

David nodded. "So he's going through a mid-life crisis, is what you are saying..."
Romain laughed. "I guess so, if you want to be brutally honest about it."

David looked at Romain. Something just felt weird. It wasn't until now that he remembered all the looks he was getting from people. At first, he thought it was just because he was the new guy. But David could tell there was something else.

"So are you worried about retirement?" David asked.
"No, not really. I already have everything planned out since it's my last season and all."
David blinked.
"What do you mean it's your last season?"
"This is my last season before I retire. You didn't notice cause you're new, but the teams been making you practice a lot more than a test driver normally would."
Now David was confused. "But why?"
"If I had to take a guess," Romain started. "I'd say it's because Gene and Guenther are thinking I about signing you for next season as my replacement.

"What...?"