Hello everyone! 
Thank you so much, again, for all the votes and the lovely words you lot have for this book!
I have been thinking about a bonus chapter about Monaco 2014, with Jules being the main protagonist, but also a bit of 2014 Sebastian. Would you guys be interested in it? Let me know!

Thanks and happy reading!
HB3112

'Pietro, I'm outisde. Come out!' Valeria had just parked outside her friend's flat, ready to pick him up to travel to Monza. They had decided to carpool, using the time spent in the car to shoot her piece for the answers to the tifosi questions. Valeria and Pietro had looked over the questions together and had picked some they thought could actually be useful to get to know her and ignoring the gossip ones.

'I'll be down in a minute, look out of the window, Stefano is waving' her friend replied. Valeria looked out of her window and waved at her friend's husband, who pulled a shocked face as he pointed at her left hand and gave her a little clap.

She smiled, she had grown really fond of the two men, they had become her family away from home. Whenever she had a bad day, she would go to the flat to have a little vent. Especially when she didn't want to bother Sebastian with her issues.

'please, drive safely'Pietro joked, getting in. He mounted a gopro on her dashboard checking the frame on his phone. 'this is going to be a fun thing to watch back.'

Valeria smiled, taking a sip from the coffee she had made for the trip. She let Pietro choose the music and he had opted for a late 90s playlist.

'3 hours in a car together. Let's see how long we last' she joked, as she indicated to turn out of the little town.

'I give us about 10 minutes.' Pietro joked. 'oooh. It seems like we are going to hit some traffic. Let's get work out of the way then' he joked.

Valeria thought she had been clever, leaving early in the morning, however she had forgotten about the rush hour traffic of people going to work and as soon as they had hit the motorway, they ended up in standstill traffic.

'let's do this.'Pietro started 'hello guys! You have all asked for this. Hurtful, as you didn't want to hear from me, but alas! Here's your q&a with the one and only Valeria Proietti. Thanks for all your questions, we have chosen a few, but we might end up doing more! First question: how comes you didn't continue karting? You seem to have some talent from what you showed us in Germany.'

'wow, thanks! I think the boys were both being nice back in Hockenheim. I didn't continue karting because it was getting too much, with sponsors and politics. I just wanted to do it as a hobby, I couldn't see myself having a career in it, so I concentrated on other things.. like university.'

'we have noticed you have a tattoo in memory of Jules Bianchi. Can we know the story behind it?'

'I met Jules as a kid, he was only a year older than me so we raced in the same categories for a while. As my dad was a good friend of Charles' late father, we ended up spending lots of time together. I can say, Jules was the best friend I ever had.' She took a deep breath, trying not to cry. 'I used to visit him a lot when he lived in Viareggio and that's also how I met Dan...Daniel Ricciardo. I was there when he got Marussia's first points, I was there for the highs and the lows. I got this tattoo when Jules passed. We always said we would get one, together, but I was always too much of a chicken to actually do it. So, yeah, I decided to have a permanent reminder of him. And a reminder that life is short, so you have to seize the moments'

'A bit of great life advice, honestly.' Pietro smiled to her. 'third question: why have you got a British accent and how many languages do you speak?'

'Cause I'm actually a spy from McLaren! Ha! No wait, cut that.' She joked with Pietro. 'my mum was born and raised in London, then she met my dad and decided to leave the UK and move to Rome. I speak Italian and English fluently, I get by in Spanish and have studied Arabic at uni but kind of forgotten it. And a bit of German' she added with a wink.

'What is your favourite part of the weekend?'

'quali is exciting, but lights out is when you'll always see me holding my breath.'

'and last question: if you could talk to any racing drivers from the past, who would you choose and why?'

'Michael. Hands down. Any kid born in the late 80s early 90s would probably always connect his face to Ferrari'

'thank you, Vale. Guys! Let us know what you thought of this and if you want us to do more of these behind the scenes' Pietro concluded.

'how are you a natural at everything?' he asked her.

'I'm not, I prepared my answers in bullet points and studied them over and over ' she laughed. Traffic had started moving and they had slowly made the halfway point.

Valeria saw the sign for Monza and rejoiced. She had automatically turned at the junction of the motorway, the memory of the road trips with her dad kicking in.

'We don't have to do anything until tomorrow, right?' she asked, as she parked at the hotel.

'nope. Logistics are hard at work with the paddock, but we don't have to be there until tomorrow.'

'Good, cause I'm planning to spend my day in the pool.' She laughed, grabbing her luggage from the car.

They checked in, separating to go to their respective rooms. As soon as Valeria walked into the room, she opened her luggage, changed into a bathing suit, got her ebook and headphone out of her handbag and walked out to the pool. The sun was shining bright and the hotel was in a quiet spot, away from the hustle and bustle of the circuit. Valeria just wanted to take a nap, whilst topping up her tan. She stretched on the lounger, enjoying the feeling of the warm rays on her back. She turned up her music and felt completely at peace.

She was woken up hours later by her phone buzzing.

'Hallo?'

'Hallo, Schatzi. Were you sleeping?' Seb greeted her. She could pick up the amused tone in his voice.

'Yes, I was. Just by the pool. It's so nice.' She stretched up and realised some more people had arrived, including some of the drivers. She spotted Dan and Mike having a chat with Max Verstappen not too far. She gave the Aussies a wave.

'cool, I just called to say I'm on my way and should be there in a couple of hours. I'll see you soon Schatzi'

'see you in a bit, Bärchen.' She hung up and lied back down on the lounger. She spotted Pietro making his way towards her.

'I have just posted the video, there's been already quite a few hits. I feel like I have done enough work for this week.'he said, dramatically pretending to faint on the lounger next to her.

'You're an idiot'

Saturday

'mum, please. Do you really have to wear that?' Valeria had just met her family in the paddock. Noemi had decided to stay home, as the bump was getting bigger and she didn't want to be in a crowded place. Her husband Simone and her mum and dad were the only ones there. The two men had gladly accepted Charles' offer for some merchandise and were covered in red, Valeria's mum, Kate, however was sporting an orange shirt and cap.

'Yes, yes I do. I'm still British, you know that' her mum replied. 'can you take me to their garage?'

'No, mum. I don't work for McLaren, you know?' she pointed at her bright red outfit. 'and I'm not letting you in the motorhome dressed like that' she joked. 'I have to dash now, I have a few bits to do ' she switched back to Italian. 'I'll see you after FP3. Please, all of you, behave yourselves.'

She walked off to her various meetings with the different partners of Ferrari. Once she was out, she regrouped with her family who was just in the motorhome.

'who let mum in dressed like that?' Valeria joked, joining them. She took her jacket off and covered her mum's orange merchandise with it.

'ah, you must be Valeria's family'Pietro exclaimed. 'so nice to meet you. I'm Pietro and I have the awful job of working with your daughter' he joked.

'hey Pi. Yes, mum, dad. Kate and Federico and that's Simone, my brother in law. Guys this is Pietro'

'I'm sorry for you, mate. She is a nightmare' Simone joked. 'you definitely deserve a raise' he added, as Federico laughed.

'families, uh? I'm so glad Charles invited you.' Valeria rolled her eyes.

'is that Lando and Carlos?' Kate excitedly asked, as they walked out of the motorhome before the beginning of quali.

'Yes, mum. Calm down. Jesus.' Valeria whispered. The British driver had spotted her and was walking over with a smirk.

'Valeria... are you telling me your sister is a McLaren fan?' he giggled.

'the hell she's my sister!'  She laughed loudly, earning a slap on the arm from Kate.

'she can't possibly be your mother? She's too young!' he said. He was a young lad but somehow still had some charm on him. Kate giggled, making Valeria roll her eyes.

'mum, Lando. Lando, Kate. Please don't make me regret this, both of you'

'Mrs. Proietti, it's a pleasure to see you have great taste in f1. Would you like to see the garage?' Lando asked as Kate excitedly agreed. Carlos joined them and they walked Kate to the McLaren garage

'well, we have lost mum. This is going great. You guys please follow me' she told her dad and brother in law, directing them to the garage.

The first two parts of qualifying had been quite promising for Ferrari, who were hoping to end the draught of wins at their home GP. Valeria watched intently as q3 was drawing to an end. Everyone had decided to wait until the last minute, trying to avoid being the first out and hence not having a tow. On a circuit like Monza the slipstream was a main advantage in qualifying. There wasn't much time left on the clock and it looked like most cars wouldn't make it to the line before the chequered flag.

Tell Charles to go in front then. She heard Seb's voice through the headset, the two Ferraris had the strategy of each getting tow in turn, and q3 was Seb's time.

Seb didn't manage to get ahead of the chequered flag, a simple and fairly sarcastic thank you, thank you played for everyone to hear. He only got p4.

Valeria got up, as she listened to the comments Lewis was making, hinting at a Ferrari strategy to keep the pole. Lewis had grown on her, mostly because Seb seemed to like him so much, but he still had the power of turning her mood with his sore comments.

'I'll take Rosberg' Valeria said, down the radio. She walked out looking for the familiar face.

'what a shitshow' she whispered to herself. Nico had picked it up and had let out a chuckle.

'is that the official ferrari line?'

'Nah, that's the Proietti line. I'm ready now' she grabbed the mic.

'Crofty, Martin, I'm back with my favourite PR officer. Compliments on the pole, but I'm sure it's still got a bitter taste'

'It does. We're so happy with Charles' pole, but we are sure we could have done a lot better'

'I'm sure you have heard Lewis' comments. Was this a Ferrari tactic to keep the pole?'

'well, if we wanted to have a good strategy for the race we would have tried to take a 1-2, not a 1-4. We can all agree this wasn't the best q3 for us a scuderia and for the fans, of all the teams. I'm not a strategist, but all teams seemed to be on the same page of leaving the garage at the last possible moment and everyone got caught in it.'

'thank you. Well, guys, you've heard it. What a shambles this q3 was.'