After a small post-race debrief in the garage, the ways separated for the team; people started to pack the gear, others started analysing the data and a few left to the hotel to get their stuff and fly back home to England.
It was a tough first weekend for Juliette Reynolds, but it ended with a solid win from her driver Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas as runner up; Mercedes had a good weekend. Juliette collected her stuff. She followed her colleagues to the exit of the track, everyone was ready to go home.
"Julie!"
The head of Juliette shot up, and she looked around. She was exhausted, almost too tired to stay focussed on everything that happened around her. Juliette's eyes fell on a man, he was wearing the Red Bull outfit; that could only mean one thing. "Hey dad," she pressed a smile on her face and stopped walking. She looked at her colleagues, who also stopped walking because Juliette stopped walking. "I'll catch up with you later," she mentioned them.
"We will wait," Delilah said.
Juliette gave them a nod and turned to her dad.
"Congratulations! It was a good race, wasn't it?" Her dad Edward proudly said and gave his daughter a hug. "You look tired."
A yawn escaped Juliette's mouth. "I'm knackered," she muttered. "But yeah, it was a good race. An excellent first race."
"How was it?"
Barcelona was the first-ever race weekend Juliette could join the team during a race in the garage. Juliette has been working at Mercedes for three years, but only back in the factory. Due to sickness, she had to replace a colleague at a race. And she liked it.
"The pressure is real. At the factory there's pressure as well, but less than here. It was fun, I learned a lot," she honestly told him. "But those camera's..." Juliette showed an uncomfortable smile.
"You need to get used to that," her dad laughed. "But good to hear."
"Your team did well," Juliette cheerfully said. "Gasly did well today." Pierre Gasly ended up as sixth.
"It was a good weekend," he replied. "Learned a lot also. Anyway, we will catch up later. I can see you're tired. Have some rest."
It was an okay weekend for Pierre Gasly, he still needed to find some time to shine, but he was slowly getting there. All he could think about was getting home and have some rest. He walked with his trainer to the exit of the track, said goodbye to some fellow drivers.
Near the exit, Pierre saw his team manager Edward Reynolds talking to a woman dressed in the Mercedes gear. When Pierre looked at the woman, his smile faded away, and his heart started to pound faster in his chest. There was no way this could be her, she couldn't work in F1, she couldn't work at Mercedes, that was impossible. What was she doing here?
"Good evening, Pierre," Edward said when Pierre passed him.
Pierre locked his eyes with Juliette's and his lips parted. It was her. "Good...good evening," he stammered. So if Edward Reynolds was talking to Juliette, who happened to have the same last name, could this be family or..? He gasped, that was her father who lived in England. It finally all made sense. Have I been working together with her dad for this whole time? Juliette barely changed, she only looked older...she lost that baby face, like she always used to say.
Juliette showed him a small smile, but quickly focussed on Edward again. There was no time to give attention to this odd situation.
"When do you have time to catch up?" Juliette's dad asked. "Or are you a busy woman now?" He smirked.
Juliette rolled her eyes. "Shut up, dad," she muttered. "I'm going to visit maman this weekend, there's the yearly neighbourhood barbecue in Rouen, and she's blaming me for not being there at the yearly barbecue since I moved to you," she explained. "Six years ago..." she added to specify the situation.
"Sounds promising." Edward didn't want to sound sarcastic, but he had no control over it. "Are you sure you want to go?"
"I honestly don't know. I want to see old friends and I hope she has changed."
"Have fun."
"Yay." A cheeky smile plastered on Juliette's face. "But I will call you tomorrow. I can come over for dinner this week?"
"Sure, darling. Take it easy, we will call," he smiled. "They're waiting for you." Edward nodded at the people from Mercedes.
Juliette quickly glanced at the people and gave them a smile. "I will see you soon."
"Good night, love." He gave his daughter a hug and a kiss on her cheek.
"Good night, dad." Juliette gave him one last smile and turned back to her colleagues. "Thanks for waiting," she mentioned.
The group continued walking to the car park, leaving the track behind them.
Delilah, one of the strategists of Mercedes, looked surprised at Juliette. "And who was that? The team manager of Pierre Gasly? Are we having a spy on the team?" She looked teasingly at Juliette.
"I see, I see," Peter said and looked at Juliette with a 'I got you' face. He knew about the situation.
"That is my dad," Juliette awkwardly mentioned.
Eyes shot to Juliette. "That's your dad?"
"Yup."
"How adorable," Delilah cried. "Isn't it weird to have your dad around, working for another team?"
Juliette shrugged. "Neh, it's the first time I'm working at the track. We're not sharing information, trust me," she informed everyone.
"I better hope you don't do that!" Peter said in a playful way.
The group got separated into smaller groups for the carpool what was heading to the hotel.