Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Fourtyfive.

"You two are ruined now," Cate mentioned. "First race as VIP guests. You will be disappointed when you are back as a 'normal' fan," she smirked and shook her head.

Jane, Luna and Cate were sitting in the lounge, having some lunch. It was Saturday, the qualifying day for F1 and Feature Race for F2.

"That's not entirely true. I've been to a race when I was two, don't remember much from it, but I've been to Monza. We're going to Monza as 'normal' fans," Luna said and proudly smiled. "So shut up."

"Ah, cool. Monza is something else with all those Ferrari fans. Just like Spielberg and Spa is owned by Max Verstappen, but Monza is even better."

"I can't wait. I heard so many good things about it," Jane shared and smiled. "Leclerc won last year, right? Not gonna lie, it was so beautiful to see him win."

Luna nodded. "I don't think Ferrari will win this year, but everything is possible. Their pace is...not brilliant. They freaking kicked out Seb at the beginning of this year, like excuse me?"

"I know, right!" Cate's eyes grew. "That man is carrying Ferrari, but fine. I'm curious to see what Sainz brings to the team and what will Seb bring to Aston Martin."

"What if Alpha Tauri wins? Or Alfa Romeo? The other Italian team?" Jane shared her thoughts and took a bite from her sandwich.

"A Kimi win, I'm signing for it," Cate smirked.

"No offence, but a Pierre win, a 'fuck you' to Red Bull," Luna widely smiled. "Anyway, I just hope Mercedes doesn't win in Italy," she quickly changed the subject.

"Imagine," Cate breathed and softly smiled. "It will do him good."

Jane looked around her. The number of celebrities she saw... insane. She was quietly eating the rest of her sandwich.

"Okay, I love Lando. I don't love him, but I love him for now," Luna said. It made Jane and Cate look at Luna. "In an interview, he got the question: 'What do you dislike the most about being famous?' Wait, here it comes. His answer: 'Probably the assumptions people make about me. For example, I was just speaking to a girl, a colleague of a partner in F1, we ; we just being polite because we were both standing next to our bosses. We never had met before. It was a simple chat about... I don't even remember it anymore. We both got photographed with our bosses, people cropped our bosses out of the photo, and it went viral. Saying we were together. We are not together and no offence, but I don't know her. I can't imagine what she felt like and how her boyfriend felt. Like, hello, what a boss. He cancelled everyone," she read out loud. "You made clear you're with Marcus, Marcus made clear he's with you, and Lando made absolutely clear he is not your boyfriend, nor does he know you."

"Get in there," Cate happily said. "Our campaign worked."

A relieved look came on Jane's face, it was officially over now. "God, I wonder how it would be like if Norris actually gets a girlfriend. War zone."

"I'm already holding in my breath," Luna said and looked worriedly.

"And you're walking around in Marcus' t-shirt. How much more do you have to prove?" Cate said and pointed at the red Ferrari Drivers Academy t-shirt Jane was wearing.

Jane looked down at her own shirt. "It feels comfy and I'm supporting the entire Ferrari community, but I'm not doing this again. The looks... I must look insane," she smirked. "No one else is walking around here with merch. And it is bright red."

"Hey," Cate said and put on her Vettel cap. "What were you saying? But you're right, inside the paddock almost no one wears merch - unless you work here. Wait until you sit on the other side of the fences."