It was week one testing in Bahrain, I had arrived early in the morning to do an induction into the facilities. It was a beautiful day with stark blue skies and sweltering heat even for the morning sun.
"Here you will find most food vendors and amenities" The volunteer pointed at the food hall, which seemed mostly empty with a few engineers from other teams having coffee. I had stepped back in the group just to have a quick look past the others when I hear a voice from behind me.
"Hey behind you!"
Standing behind me was Oscar Piastri, the new driver for Alpine.
"Oh so sorry" I apologised, turning back to the guide, Oscar spoke again.
"Hey, you're Marilyn arent you?"
"That's me" I smiled back.
"I'm Oscar Piastri the new Alpine driver" He looked so smug to be saying those words out aloud.
"Nice to finally meet you..."
A voice cut into our conversation...
"Is this the line for coffee, Jesus" another Australian accent spoke. A sweet and charming smile met my eye , it was THE Daniel Ricciardo.
"No, just the group of newbies learning where everything is" Oscar responded. Daniel and Oscar exchanged familiar welcomes to each other, this definathy wasnt their first time meeting.
"Why we haven't been introduced" Daniels eyes met mine as I felt his charm wash over me.
"Oh Daniel, this is Marilyn, the new member of F1" Oscar was kind enough to introduce us.
" So are you squirt" Daniel chuckled. Oscar screwed his nose at Daniel.
The three of us got lost in small talk when I noticed Daniel was leaning slightly against one of the sign posts. He seemed to be staring at me, when he noticed he quickly stood up straight and fixed his shirt awkwardly. I couldn't quite pick it, was Daniel being flirtatious or is he just that charismatic. We had spoken for so long our tour group was nowhere to be seen.
"Well Oscar it looks like we have lost the group" I said looking around us.
"Good thing you've got me" Daniel replied "I'll show you guys around". He looked at his watch, shrugged and proceeded to start moving towards the food hall.
"Just need a coffee first"
...
With the blind leading the blind, Daniel showed us around the paddock. As we walked past the Alpine garage Oscar's crew waved him over leaving Daniel and myself alone to continue the "tour".
"Thank you Daniel, you didn't have to show us around but that's really kind of you"
He smirked over at me while we walked closer to my team garage.
"No no it was truly my pleasure, it was nice having more Aussies on the track. It's been lonely here at the top" he jokingly said. I punched him in the shoulder, this seemed to take him aback.
"Come on it'll be great fun having three Australians running a nuisance in the paddock each race weekend" He continued. He wasn't wrong.
As we reached my garage, I said my goodbyes and walked into the garage as I had seen a few crew members wondering what I was doing.
I looked back out of the garage to see Danny still stood where we originally stood just looking over towards me. He smiled back at me, it was a comforting smirk. Daniel's character did seem the same as all the interviews and media portrayal, I could see how lots of adoring fans fall for the amazing smile. He raised his hand waving as he went to walk away. Out of curiosity I flipped the bird for the fun of it. His face turned to shock as he returned the gesture then turned to walk away. I laughed to myself, this is going to be a lot of laughs, especially if Daniel is involved.
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@oscarpiastri Pre Session testing baby 🔥 View all 243 comments danielricciardo don't get lost kiddo marilyn_depr thanks to you he defiantly will! danielricciardo 😜
