The American GP hadn't given Ferrari a great result, with Seb DNFing due to a suspension failure and Charles finishing p4 almost at a minute distance from the person in p1; Ferrari hoped to get revenge in Brazil, the second to last race of the year. They also knew they had the drive to survive people around the garage, so everyone seemed to be a bit more on edge.

'maybe this is how I make it to Hollywood' Domenico joked, as a Netflix camera man walked past him. It was the first day of practice and the Ferrari crew seemed to be in a good mood. Valeria was trying to hide from the cameras as much as she could, mostly by shielding herself behind her laptop screen in the back of the garage replying to emails and pinging them to the right people. She had spent some time on the Ferrari socials, where people had been quite vocal about Seb's latest DNF. She knew how bad he felt about it and she had tried to give him positive thoughts for this weekend.

'Maybe this is how they see you do absolutely nothing in the garage and they fire you' Giorgio teased him.

'Hey, if they haven't fired Romana they're not going to fire me'

Valeria didn't reply, she just lifted her right middle finger as she kept typing with her left.

Domenico laughed, going over to her to give her a kiss on the cheek. 'you know I'd miss you if they did fire you'

'shame I can't say the same about you'she joked.

At the end of the day, Valeria and Seb walked out of the paddock together.

'what's up with you, Seb?' the Italian asked him, once they got back to their room.

'nothing' he shrugged 'why do you ask?'

'because I can see it. Tell me. Do I need to remind you we made a promise to each other?'

'this season just needs to end. Now. I have had enough of it.' he finally sighed. Seb just looked aged and unhappy.

'we only have two races left, you can do it' she tried to pick him up, a small smile on her lips.

'seriously, the only good thing about 2019 is you. I'm done with all of them. I'm done with Charles, with Mattia, the strategists, the engineers. I'm done'

'Seb, I know this year was bloody awful but let's try and look at the positive. The car... is not great but you managed to get it up to the podium more than it deserved. The team are being... selfish pricks but you know it's not all coming from Mattia. It's the pressure from above. The mechanics still love you, Riccardo would still build a statue of you outside Maranello if he could and I... well, I am marrying you so I think that speaks for itself. Charles looks up to you. I know he does, even with all the stuff the Italian media is putting in his head. There's a different side of Charles people don't see.' Valeria hugged him. 'And if 2020 is even worse, either we get a new team or we retire and live our happy life by ourselves.. with dogs, cats and babies' she joked.

'babiES?'Plural?' Seb asked, smiling.

'well , don't you want kids?' she asked. They never actually spoke about it, but Seb was already such a dad that Valeria was sure he wanted to be one.

'I do. Do you?' he asked, unsure about what she was going to say. She was good around children and she seemed to love spending time around his nephews and Kimi's kids, but she never said anything about wanting to be a mum.

'I never thought I did... until I met you. I don't have a motherly instinct. I don't think I have it in me' she confessed. 'you know, the world is such an awful place, I never thought I'd want to raise a tiny human in the world I knew before I met you. Now, I'd feel almost... guilty... not giving a human the opportunity to be raised by the best man I know' she blurted out.

'This is the best compliment anyone ever gave me' Seb told her, kissing her passionately. 'I love you so much' he told her, kissing her again. She felt his hand on her cheek, his fingers intertwining with her hair. She pressed herself against him, letting his tongue play with hers.

She pulled away from him, a cheeky smile on her face. 'I wasn't expecting you to want to start trying now' she smirked.

'chi ha tempo non aspetti tempo'* he replied, lifting her over to their bed.

(*Italian idiom, meaning if you have time now, do not postpone something)

Race day

Having the Netflix crew around was making any simple task a thousand times more difficult. Firstly, you didn't want to be the one messing up in front of them; secondly everyone would be dissecting every single movement so there was no time for shortcuts. Valeria had tied her hair in a ponytail, put some light make-up on and had made sure her uniform was up to the highest standards. She didn't want to be caught out in any way.

She and the rest of the crew had been watching the screens intently. They watched as Charles overtook Seb down the straight with just six laps to go. Valeria knew Seb would try to overtake him again and he did. The whole garage watched in horror as Charles front right and Seb's rear left tire got punctured as the two had the slightest of collisions.

The mechanics roared in agony. Pietro tried to contain his disappointment, but Valeria just couldn't. 'ma porco... che cazzo è successo? Non ci credo! Non è possibile. Ma mannaggia...'

(Goodamn, what the fuck just happened? I can't believe it! It's impossibile. Damn...)

The camera panned out to her before moving on to Mattia, who was holding his face in his hands. Valeria took a deep breath. She knew both of the drivers would be agitated and blaming each other. This was a PR nightmare. She watched the cars get picked up by the cranes as Seb stood there in disbelief, holding his face in his hands.

After a while they both returned to the garage. 'in with Vale, please' Pietro told them as he followed them into the room Valeria had chosen.

'I can't believe...'Charles started.

'you? What should I say?' Seb interjected.

'I gave you enough space!'

'you did not'

'SHUT THE HELL UP. BOTH OF YOU.' Valeria exploded.

'Your fiancée started this mess' Charles told her.

'and your mate here didn't help the situation. He started it months ago'

'I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT WHO STARTED IT. I'M ENDING IT.' She slammed her hand on the table so hard she actually hurt herself. 'You two need to re-learn how to be teammates' she continued. 'I'm sick and tired of being asked the same questions about you two. Pietro and I have bent over backwards for both of you and now it's time you repay our hard work. Now, you apologise to each other, you apologise to Mattia, you go do your interviews and then you come apologise to Pietro too, who has to pick up the pieces.' Valeria stormed out of the room. She couldn't believe either of them, nor she could believe what she had just told them. This time she had completely lost it. She walked out of the garage as soon as the race ended. She had missed the action of the final lap and was confused as to why Alex wasn't on the podium, she thought she'd rewatch the last few laps after everything (and she) had calmed down. She looked over to Mattia as he was being interviewed by some journalist.

'too early to say, I believe they both have a part of the blame. Definitely not what we would have wanted' he concluded the interview.

'Mattia, come in' she radioed.

'go ahead' he sighed.

'I have spoken to both of them. They should be coming to you soon. I'm going for a quick... break. Radio me if you need me'

'Received. Thanks' he replied. Valeria picked her stuff up and walked down the pitlane with purpose, pretending not to see everyone looking at her. She found a secluded area behind the Ferrari motorhome and lit a cigarette. Those two boys were going to be the end of her.

She walked back in, watching them both get interviewed. She couldn't really hear, but they both seemed apologetic. Good on them. People had started packing up the motorhome, so she moved over to the F1 hospitality area.

Pietro joined her not long after. She was sitting by herself at a table, a cappuccino in front of her, re watching the accident on the screen of her laptop.

'mate. You scared me earlier, but it worked. They both apologised to me.'

'Good. Are they at the debrief now?' she asked, raising an eyebrow.

'yeah, mechanics have started packing up too.'

'Cool, I'll go change, then. Could you keep an eye on this?'

'Sure. I'll have to dash straight after tho, I have an earlier flight.'

'Oh yeah, you're going home. Ill be super quick' she promised.

She changes into a summer dress and vans, put her paddock pass around her neck and grabbed her phone out of her uniform trousers pocket.

If you're not too pissed at me, I'm at the hospitality bit, we can walk back together. She messaged Seb.

This is going to be a long one, but I'm happy for you to wait for me if you don't mind. I could never be pissed at you, especially when you're right. He texted back straight away. Valeria took a sigh of relief.

She walked back to her friend, gave him a hug and wished him a safe trip.

She opened her laptop again, her inbox bursting with questions and requests for comments. She replied to a few whilst still keeping an eye out on the screen where the highlights were being played.

'wouldn't wanna be you today' she looked up to see George Russell and Alex Albon. Valeria couldn't contain a smirk. 'trust me you wouldn't wanna be me any day' she replied. 'sorry about the podium Alex, you deserved that' she said, without thinking too much. 'And this is how i get fired' she joked. 'please don't go tell everyone I told you that' she joked.

'Secret's safe with me. Thank you' the young man replied.

'also, I think the way you get fired is by shouting at both of your drivers' George joked.

'Oh damn, did people hear it?'

'just the beginning. Just the... what was it?' George turned to Alex.

'just the not giving a flying fuck and that you were ending it'

'damn. Damn.'she clicked on her computer again to look at socials. 'well, thanks guys. This was great' she said sarcastically. 'Same time two week from now?'

The two drivers chuckled as they walked out of the building.

Hell yeah, @proiettivale has just told them both what we wanted to say since Bahrain.

Ok, I changed my mind. The fact that she is engaged to Seb doesn't affect her judgement.

You tell those boys!

Ok, it could have been worse. She kept scrolling down, making sure that what was heard couldn't get her in trouble.

Not long later she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Charles' face staring back at her. Seb was just behind him. She packed her stuff up, whilst the two of them sat in front of her, Britta and Silvia stood further away, in silence.

'we are sorry.' Charles started 'well, I am sorry for having used you as an emotional punch bag. The fact that we are friends made it easier for me to find someone else to blame. Deep down I knew you are unbiased, but it was easier for me to think you aren't. So I'm sorry.'

'I'm sorry too. More or less for the same reasons. I feel like I let my gut feelings take over and, sometimes, I wished you didn't have a job to do or that you weren't friends with Charles so I could blame it all on someone else. I'm so, so, so sorry.' He grabbed her hand. 'We are both'

'I appreciate this. Thank you, boys' she replied.

'You know? You're going to be an amazing mum.' Seb told her, as they walked out of the paddock.

'yeah?'

'yeah, you said you don't have the motherly instinct but you have basically been nursing both Charles and I since you started. You are supportive and friendly but you're also strict and authoritative when you need to. I would have been impresses earlier if you weren't telling me off too' Seb said. 'You're going to be a great mum one day' he kissed her.