The second week of winter testing had been a lot better for Valeria. She and Seb had discussed their relationship and had realised they couldn't ignore the chemistry between them, so they had started secretly dating, which gave them both a sense of naughtiness and adrenaline that was making them feel alive. Valeria had to admit that being able to vent to Seb outside work had made her feel more prepared to deal with anything the world of F1 would throw at her.
She stretched on her towel, reaching for her book. She had arrived to Australia early in the morning. She didn't have to be at the paddock until the following day, so she had left her stuff at the hotel, explored Melbourne for a bit and then directed herself to the beach. It wasn't summer hot, but hot enough for her to enjoy a day of sunbathing.
She took a picture and sent it to her family with the caption worse places to be and went back to her book. By late afternoon, Valeria felt like her body had had enough vitamin D, so she grabbed her things and decided to leave. She walked to a nearby café and decided to grab an iced coffee. She spotted a group of excited girls in the corner so she followed their sight to see Dan and his trainer, having a chat on a table not far from her. Dan was facing the opposite way from her.
'crazy man, in a public place at his home GP' she thought, as she thanked the man for her coffee. She watched the girls excitedly get their stuff autographed and walk away. She grabbed the picture of her, Jules and Dan she was using as a bookmark and walked towards him. She put on a fake Australian accent and spoke 'oh my god, great fan, could you sign this please?' she passed him the picture before he could realise who she was.
'You are a dick' he laughed, giving her a hug. 'and horrendous accent, mate'
'Are you saying I can't pull off an Aussie accent, mate?' she tried again 'Hi, I'm Valeria, by the way' she introduced herself.
'Michael' he shook her hand.
'how are you finding Straya?' Dan asked her, as he moved a chair for her to sit down.
'Alright, I guess. Warm enough to sunbathe, not enough for a dip, though. I froze my tits off' she laughed. 'but at least i got a bit of a tan. Thank god I got my skin from the Italian side of the family, or I'd be the same colour of my uniform tomorrow' she joked.
She stayed with the two Aussies for a while, reminiscing about the past, talking about Dan's career, his friendship and working relation with Mike, her new job at Ferrari and basically anything that happened in the years they had lost touch.
'it's great to see you're doing well and that you haven't changed a bit' Dan told her. 'it's a change from Ferrari's old PR people who were just so monotone' he joked.
'I'm taking a leaf out of your book, Ricciardo' she joked. 'And you know me, i never conformed' another fan interrupted them. 'This is my cue. I'll see you guys around the paddock' she kissed Dan's cheek 'lovely to meet you' she waved at Mike and walked out of the cafe.
She got back to the hotel just as the sun was setting. She left everything but her phone and her book in her room and she walked to the outdoor pool. She grabbed a lounger and sat cross legged on the end of it, facing the setting sun. She opened her distraught copy of the hobbit and continued reading.
She had loved middle Earth since the cinematic adaptation by Peter Jackson and she had used Tolkien's books as an escape from the outside world. She had read both the hobbit and the trilogy so many times, dreaming of one day visiting the sets.
'new Zealand isn't that far, I should have planned this better' she thought.
'still reading the hobbit? It's been like 20 years' Charles' voice made her turn around.
'I'm a slow reader, mate' she laughed, closing the book.
'cute picture' he told her, nodding to her bookmark.
'I know, right? Hey Seb, hey Britta' she added, as the German and his PA joined them and Silvia 'good flight?'
'It was ok, thanks' Seb replied, with a smile.
'See? We can be professional' Valeria thought. 'Oh Charlie, I forgot. Dad was going through old pictures, look at this!' she showed him a picture of them two from the early 2000s. 'i have already commented to my mum about my hair style and clothes, she said that's what was fashionable... maybe she was just blind' she nodded to the ill fitting jeans and jumper she was wearing. Seb couldn't contain a laugh. 'excuse me? I'm sure the 2000s were as bad in Germany as they were for us in the Mediterranean' she told him, making him smile.
'My god, look at me! When was this?' Charles asked.
'2001, 2002? I was 10, 11ish.. so you were what? 4? 5?' she smiled. 'I'm sure there's some of Arthur too' she flicked through the digital copies her dad had sent her. 'I'll ping them through to you' she told him, getting up, as Pietro had finally joined her too. 'if you'll excuse me, I'm starving. I have spent all day on the beach and only ate an ice cream and an iced coffee' she told them. 'I'll see you all tomorrow, 9 am, drivers briefing. Go get some rest' she smiled.
'Hello and goodbye, I guess' Pietro laughed. 'see you tomorrow'
The two colleague walked out of the hotel. 'where's this place you mentioned?'
'Not far, just across the road. The meat is just to die for' he said as they crossed the road.
'I guess we won't find Lewis there, then' she joked.
They walked out of the restaurant, a couple of hours later, both full and happy.
'I'm gonna sleep so well tonight' Valeria joked, as she unlocked her door. 'good night Pi'
'Night, babe' he replied.
'Room 723, whenever you want' Seb texted her, as soon as she had changed into her pyjamas.
'I have literally just changed into my pjs so I'll come up if you promise you won't judge' she replied.
'can't promise anything. I'll leave the door unlocked, Kleiner' she grabbed her oversized hoodie and covered herself. She pulled the hood up to be ad unrecognisable as possible.
She walked up the stairs, thinking she would meet less people that way, and she opened the door to Seb's room.
'fuck me! This is how the other half lives' she exclaimed, walking in his suite.
'Shut up and kiss me' he told her, grabbing her by the waist. She felt the German's lips on hers and she wrapped her arms behind his neck. She had missed him, they hadn't been able to spend much time together, just the two of them, since winter testing.
'hello, by the way' she joked, as they separated.
'Hi' he smiled. 'Good dinner?'
'it was great, actually. I had the best steak' she replied. 'I'm knackered now, though. I think the jetlag has found me'
'can you stay here for tonight?' he asked her, a little pout on his face. 'please' he added.
'I'd never thought that one day I'd have a 4 time world champion beg me for anything' she teased him. 'I'll stay, but i need to leave extra early to get changed.'
'I can live with that. We could save time and shower together' he winked.
'I like naughty Seb. I'll think about it' she replied, kissing him.
Saturday
The morning of quali, Valeria sneaked out of Seb's room in the early hours. She ran back to her room and changed into her uniform. She realised she had a love bite on the neck and damned the German for his idea of sharing a shower. She covered it with as much make-up as she could and left her hair down, hoping it would create enough of a barrier. It was going to be a hot day, but she had to suffer to survive the day without questions. She met with Pietro for breakfast and they walked to the paddock. They walked into the motorhome together, Valeria directed herself to the catering area straight away.
'cappuccino, doppio' the barista told her, passing her a cup. 'i could see your sleepy eyes from miles'
'Thanks, Andrea. You're my life saviour' she started sipping her coffee.
As quali was about to start, Pietro and Valeria walked to the garage. Valeria grabbed her radio and clipped it to the back of her trousers, she sorted out the volume and connected to the right channel.
'radio check, PR'
'loud and clear' she heard Mattia's voice reply. She had to be on standby on the radio in case something happened that needed a PR statement. She looked up to the screen to watch the first few cars on track.
'So it begins' she whispered, to herself. Her first GP. Maybe the year of rebirth for Ferrari, maybe, finally, the time Seb won another title. 'and I've probably just jinxed it' Valeria thought.
'Well, Mercedes was definitely sandbagging at winter testing' Valeria whispered to Pietro, as Hamilton claimed pole position, with Bottas for company. Seb had got p3, but was almost 7 tenths off the pace.
'Rosberg is on his way to get a statement about the times' she heard Mattia's voice. 'I can take it' he added.
'Mattia, don't worry, I'll take it, you go to the debrief' Valeria interjected. She took a deep breath and went through her training again in her head. Don't name names, don't point fingers, stay neutral.
'italiano o inglese?' Nico asked her. He spoke many languages fluently, Valeria always envied him for it.
'inglese' she replied with a smile. 'Valeria Proietti. Pr officer' she introduced herself.
'Nico' they shook hands. 'Live in 3... 2..' she heard the camera man.
'Yes, Martin I'm here with Valeria Proietti, PR officer for Ferrari. What can you tell us about the pace?'
'Well, not much. We stayed consistent with the data we gathered in winter testing, the car is still the same. I have to say, our competitors must have worked really hard in the past couple of weeks to get these results, so kudos to them.' She smiled.
'do you think you have a shot at a win tomorrow?' Nico asked her.
'Yes, of course.'
'Your closest driver is seven tenths off the mercedes pole pace, and Charles is a second off'
'You used to race, Nico, you know one lap is not a whole race' she replied.
'Thank you'
Valeria gave him his mic back and walked back into the garage, out of camera view.
'look I'm shaking. I love it' she whiswpred to pietro. 'was I OK?'
'you were great, the dig at Mercedes without naming them, and fairly diplomatic at the end'
Mattia appeared back from the post quali interviews, Sebastian behind him, not looking particularly ecstatic.
'thank you for taking Nico, Valeria, well done.' Mattia told her, making her feel a lot less nervous.
Sunday1
Race day, however, had not agreed with Valeria's optimism of the Saturday and with a Mercedes 1-2 and Max Verstappen on the third step of the podium, Seb had only managed to get the 4th spot, with Charles behind him.
The mood in the Ferrari garage was at the worst level possible, to be the first race. Seb had even questioned Riccardo during the race on why the car felt so slow.
Valeria saw Nico approaching the garage and prepared herself. She grabbed the mic he was passing her, maintaining her smile. 'they're throwing you in the deep end, newbie' he joked, as they waited to go live.
'it's my job' she laughed. 'maybe we could swap sometimes' she joked.
'it's not as easy as it seems... English, yeah?'
'Yeah' she replied as they counted them down again.
'Martin, I'm here with Valeria again. Your prediction didn't really work ij your favour, did it?' he asked her.
'we know this is racing. You can simulate it as much as you want, but there's so many variables, if we could let a computer do it, we wouldn't be here, would we?'
'what can you say about the pace of the car? We heard Sebastian ask his engineers why it felt so slow'
'As Sebastian has said, the car hasn't felt like it was performing as best as it could. We are going to work on our drivers' feedback to find what, if anything, went wrong and make sure we only improve with every race.'
'Still positive about the season?'
'this is race one. Rome wasn't built in a day' she smiled.
'Thank you'
She nodded, giving him the microphone back.
'Valeria, a couple of questions for sky Italy as well please' Federica from SkySport asked her.
'sure, Federica.'
'Live in 3...2...'
'Carlo, I'm here with Valeria. What can you tell us about today?'
'the pace wasn't there. We are going to listen to Seb's and Charles' feedback and work on it, the car had the pace at winter testing'
'What can you tell us about Mercedes?'
'they must have worked really hard to change their pace so drastically from only a few weeks ago. Well done to them'
She turned around to see Seb, he was just behind her with Riccardo, but had listened to her exchange with Nico and then Federica with one ear. He felt quite proud of her, having to deal with part of the sport he liked the least, when the race hadn't gone his way.
He watched her as she re grouped with Pietro and walked out of the garage. Instead, he followed Riccardo and Mattia for their debrief. He had given her his room key to get ready for the after party, even if now he didn't really feel like partying. He went out of the debrief even more annoyed. Nobody seemed to have a clue on what happened with the car. The pace just wasn't there. He walked into his room to find Valeria wrapped in a towel, as she had just got out of fhe shower.
'hallo, Kleiner' he whispered, kissing her neck. He felt her shiver, as she turned around to kiss him.
'hey' she told him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. 'are you ok?'
'been better. What a day' he replied. 'well done with Nico, though. It's always fun to poke him.' He smiled.
'Finally a smile! You've been Mr. Grumpy today. It's race one, Seb, we have room for improvement'
'I know, I'm sorry' he smiled again. 'now, you'd better go wear some clothes cause otherwise we probably won't leave this room' he teased her.