Valeria and Pietro were sitting by the pool of their hotel , enjoying the Sakhir sun. 'this would be a thousand times better if I could have alcohol in it' Valeria joked, stretching her legs on the lounger and sipping her mocktail.

'I think you have a problem' Pietro joked, as he felt his phone buzz. His husband was video calling him.

'Hello!' he picked up. 'how are you? Valeria is forcing me to be in the sun and I'm melting' he told him.

'Hey! All good, just got home from work. I envy you. Where's Vale?'

'Hello, my favourite half of the couple' she interjected. 'he's complaining about the sun, can you believe it?'

'you know how he is... he doesn't understand southerners like us' Stefano joked.

'I know, right?' she laughed, getting a killing side eye from Pietro. 'I'll let you guys catch up. I'll see you soon, Stef. I'll come for dinner'

'anytime' he replied.

Valeria laid down on the lounger again, putting her headphones on. She turned her ebook on and continued reading her book. She felt her phone buzz, there was a text on one of the work group chats. 'Domenico and I are going for dinner here, who wants to join?' Giorgio had messaged.

'I'll be there, got nothing better to do' she typed. Seb was already in Bahrain, but she knew he had plans with Mattia and Charles for dinner.

'I'll be there too' Pietro had replied. 'what time? I need to see someone who's not Vale'

'Meet there in 20?'

'will do'

Valeria had changed into a pair of jeans and her university hoodie and had joined Pietro in the lobby.

'You always look so out of place in these fancy hotels' he teased her. 'are those Disney vans?' he laughed.

'Yes, of course. What does Dan's helmet say? Stop being them?' She joked, as they walked the short distance to the restaurant the guys had picked. They noticed a small loud group in the corner and walked towards them.

'always the loud ones' Valeria told Domenico, as she sat next to him. 'we could hear you from outside'

'It made it easier to find us, though, didn't it?' he laughed, kissing her cheek.

They ordered a mix of sharing platters and started catching up on the upcoming race.

Valeria was midway through stuffing her face with another hummus covered piece of bread when she heard Mattia's voice. 'Hello, guys, enjoying Bahrain, i see?' he told the group. 'don't stay up too late, yeah?' she looked up to him, trying to hide the massive bite she had in her mouth. Her eyes were met by the amused faces of Seb and Charles, as she tried to swallow the bite. 'Valeria, Pietro, I'm sure you're behaving too' the girl nodded along, trying not to choke.

'classy' Pietro told her with a laugh, once the three men had left.

'how could I know he was gonna show up out of the blue? It's good hummus though'

'You're even cuter than normal when you're choking on hummus' Seb messaged her.

Saturday qualifying had finally boosted everyone's morale in the garage. With Charles taking his first f1 pole and Seb just behind him, everyone from the prancing horse team was smiling from ear to ear.

'I'll happily take Rosberg today' Valeria said, as she saw him approaching. 'hey Nico' she told him with a smile.

'newbie' he smiled.

'will this nickname stick for the rest of the season?'

'of course... 3... 2...' he started the countdown to the live session.

'Martin, live again with Valeria. You guys must be pretty happy with the result.'

'You'd be silly not to be happy with a 1-2, Nico. We are extremely proud of Charles for his first f1 pole and happy to see our cars together on the starting line.'

'any predictions for tomorrow?'

'well, anyone can guess what we would like to see. We'll regroup tomorrow before I jinx it again' she joked, making him laugh.

'thanks, Valeria, always a pleasure' he ended the interview, as she passed him the microphone back.

'I thought I was the only one allowed to make fun of you, Nico' Seb joined them, as he was on his way to the driver's conference.

'You seem to have a competitor now. I didn't miss it' he replied. 'Please don't learn from him too much'

'I'll try not to' Valeria replied with a smile, watching Seb wink and walk away.

Race day

Valeria was standing in the garage, nervously playing with the hairband she always kept on her left wrist. She watched the cars go back on the grid after the formation lap. She watched as the five lights turned off and the cars started. Seb had a better start than Charles and had taken p1. Valeria tried to maintain a straight face, knowing cameras liked to look for reactions in the garage and, as the face of Ferrari,she couldn't afford to show any favouritism.

Charles had dropped to p3 and was now battling a Mercedes for p2. She could see the kid she knew. Charles was never a happy looser, at anything, even board games. His will to be the best was what made him a great racing driver. She watched as he was approaching Seb. The whole garage fell silent as the two battled for the pole, with the monegasque getting ahead and starting to create a gap.

Whilst Charles seemed to be on the way to claim his first career victory, Seb seemed to be struggling behind. A mistake cost him his podium place, as he spun during a Hamilton overtake. The mood in the garage had started to turn and it got even worse when Charles' engine had started to malfunction.

'Just get the car home' she heard on the radio feed.

By the end of the race, Charles had got down to p3. His message on the radio was played out for the world to hear. It felt heartbreaking. Seb's message was played too, where he congratulated his teammate and acknowledged the fact he should have won.

She watched the two drivers drive back, and she joined the crew under the podium. Charles' disappointment was visible, as he accepted his trophy.

Valeria was about to go back to the garage, when she saw Nico.

'A moment please?'he asked her.

'Sure' she grabbed the microphone.

'what a day, uh?' Nico swapped to English as soon as they went live.

'You can say that'

'what happened?'

'there was an issue with Charles' engine, he did brilliantly today and I think everyone can agree he deserved the victory.'

'what about Sebastian?'

'He admitted he made a mistake and still tried to bring the best result home, it's good to have both cars in the points, even not in the places we would hope to see them'

'lots of work to do' Nico concluded.

'Rome wasn't built in two days?' she tried to joke, passing him the microphone.

She walked back to the garage, she spotted Seb walking to the back of the garage. His face a mirror of how he was feeling. She gave him a small smile, as he looked up to her.

Charles reappeared not long after, his mood very similar to Seb's one. Valeria walked over to him

'sorry, Charlie.' She said. 'you deserved that'

'i know' he sighed. 'thank you' he added. He realised he was sounding a lot harsher than what he wanted to be. He gave her a quick hug, watching her smile.

Valeria felt her phone buzz 'can you come to my driver room please?' Seb had messaged her. She walked to the back of the garage and knocked on the door. Britta opened.

'did you want to see me, Seb?'she asked, trying to sound professional.

'Britta knows , relax' he told her, with a smile. He gave her a quick kiss. 'Take this, I'll meet you back at the hotel' he passed her his key.

'see you in a mo' she smiled.

She walked back to the hotel and sneaked into Seb's room. She threw herself on the big bed and caught up on some work emails as she waited for him to be back.

She felt extremely tired, and stretched under the covers.

She was woken up by a kiss on the forehead. 'sorry I was a bit late. Long debrief' Seb told her.

'How are you feeling?' she asked.

'Annoyed at myself, I can't blame anything or anyone.'

'come here' she said opening her arms. 'everyone makes mistakes, don't dwell on it too much or you'll destroy yourself. Wipe the slate clean and start fresh next time'

'I'm blaming you' he joked 'I was absolutely fine before you told me you loved me. Now I can only think about you'

'Hey, you told me you loved me before I did!'

'nobody cares about the details' he joked. 'Also... Kimi said he wants to meet you and has invited us for dinner next week in Switzerland. I told him I was going to check with you. No pressure.'

'Kimi knows too? Of course he does, he's your husband. Sure? Oh dear it's so official'

'we don't have to, but it would be nice to do something normal?'

'yeah, we have a different concept of normal, you and I.' she laughed. 'let's do it, but just cause I love Kimi'

'Excuse me?' Seb asked shocked.

'Not as much as I love you' she smiled, kissing him.