After spending the past couple of days working on the simulator in the Mercedes factory in Brackley, Daniella was on her way to Belgium for the next race. She was happy that summer break is over and also a bit surprised how half of the season went by so fast and how her life changed with it. At the beginning of the season, she and Max were just friends and former teammates and now they are in a relationship.

Daniella was working on her laptop, it was something to do with one of her side projects when Lewis came and sat in front of her. Others around them in the private jet were talking and discussing their summer break and Daniella was paying only half attention to it.

"You look so serious," Lewis chuckled as he slyly took a photo of Daniella looking busy.

"I am working," She replied, giving him a glance before looking back at her laptop.

"I can see that," Lewis sat back comfortably. "You look more busy than Toto," He looked at his boss who was on his phone a few minutes ago, but now he is resting his eyes.

"I heard that," Toto replied without opening his eyes, causing Daniella to look at him and let out a chuckle.

She shared a look with Lewis, both trying to hold back their comments and laughter.

"Anyway, did you talk to Daniel?" Lewis asked, sounding a bit serious and sympathetic now. Only a couple of hours ago it was announced that Daniel will not drive for McLaren next year, even though the driver made a statement weeks ago that he has no plans to leave the team until his contract comes to an end, which was supposed to be at the end of 2023.

"Yeah.." Daniella nodded. "He dragged me and Max to dinner a few days ago to tell us the news."

"How is he doing?"

"Not good obviously," She replied. "He basically got kicked out of the team but he is in talks with other teams so... hopefully he will have a seat for next year."

"We could sign him," Toto chipped in. "Give him your seat," He teased Daniella.

"Then I will go back to Red Bull," She fired back. "Christian is still willing to offer me another contract...a very nice contract."

Toto suddenly looked grumpy as he glared at Daniella while everyone enjoyed his reaction.

"I don't like you sometimes," Toto pointed an accusing finger at Daniella.

"I will get over it," The driver shrugged.

"So.. The seat is.." Lewis joined in, only to tease Toto. "Going to someone else or..."

"She is staying," Toto replied as he glared at Lewis as well.

"Aww! I knew you liked me and wanted me to stay."

"Just...go back to your laptop."

***

Daniella arrived at the paddock for media day and track walk, with Myra, her PR manager, and Nate, her race engineer. Already fans and photographers started taking photos and videos as she walked through.

Max, who arrived a bit earlier than her and was outside the Red Bull hospitality, talking to Pierre.

Daniella gave him a soft smile and waved at him, making his eyes beam.

Max obviously smiled back.

"Yeah... no," Myra pushed Daniella away from Max. "You do that and all the questions at the media panel are going to be about you and Max."

"I will just ignore them," Daniella replied.

"We know you, Dani. You will probably either give a sarcastic reply or snap at the reporters," Nate pointed out.

"Well.. If they stay in their lane then I won't snap."

"Give me strength..." Myra let out a deep breath.

All three of them looked confused when they saw the CEO of McLaren approach them.

"Do you have a minute?" Zak Brown asked Daniella, a smile on his face.

"Umm.. Yeah," She replied as she exchanged a look with Myra and Nate.

Myra realized it was her time to leave so she grabbed Nate's arm and pulled him away.

"But I want to listen..." The race engineer whined.

"So... what's up?" Daniella looked back at Zak.

"As you know, Daniel decided to leave McLaren and we have a seat available now..."

"Decided to leave?" Daniella frowned. "I thought you wanted him gone to give the seat to someone else?"

Zak let out an awkward laugh, trying to brush it off.

"The details are complicated," He tried to explain. "But the point is we have a seat available and I wanted to know if you would be interested in taking the seat."

Daniella looked amused and was almost about to laugh but somehow controlled herself.

"Umm.. That's a really kind offer but I have a multi-year contract with Mercedes," She replied.

"Are you sure? You didn't even give it a proper thought," Zak looked disappointed. "I am sure we can pay you a lot more than what Merc is paying you right now."

"It's not about the money," Daniella forced a smile. "And I have no intention of breaking a very good contract with my current team."

"Okay," Zak took the hint and nodded. "But if you change your mind give me a call and we can arrange a meeting. And we are working on some big changes for our car which will make it really fast next year...maybe even faster than Mercedes or Red Bull. I think you would be interested in that."

A few choices of comments came to Daniella's mind but she managed to hold her tongue, not wanting to cause a scene or ruin a professional relationship.

"Well.. I hope it all works out with your team but I am happy where I am right now," She forced another smile and ended the conversation.

Zak didn't say anything else and just smiled as Daniella walked away.

**********

A/N: nothing much happened in this chapter... just Toto trying to mess with Dani but ended up being grumpy, and Zak Brown just offered her the McLaren seat. 

Thoughts on Dani rejecting the McLaren offer?

 What do you think will happen next?

So Daniel is out of McLaren and I guess Oscar is getting the seat. Why does it feel like this deal was made even before Seb announced his retirement?

 Do you think Daniel will have a seat next year? 

Also, what will happen to Mick? Is he staying at Haas or moving to a different team?