Sebastian Vettel (One Shots)

Final Decision (B.T.Y.)

27th of July 2022

Gia was bringing some of her clothes from the closet and putting it neatly inside her suitcase. She was excited as they were getting closer to the summer break. Seb and herself had made some plans like visiting Vienna and enjoying a beautiful beach in Italy. But of course there was one more race before that, which was Hungarian GP.

She glanced at Ludwig who was playing with his toy while sitting on the bed. Her little boy was not so little anymore. The curls he had was so much like Seb's. Maybe it was time to give him a little brother or sister? She smiled at the thought of it.

Then, she heard someone knock before opening the door and it was none other than her beautiful husband. She still couldn't believe herself that the man who had stolen her heart since many years ago was her husband now.

"Gia, can you please come with me?" Seb asked with a serious tone, but it went unnoticed by her.

"I'm still packing, Seb. Can you wait for some minutes?" she said while taking some more clothes from the closet.

"Gia." He called her once again and she finally looked at him. "Come with me now."

She was about to ask but he had already gone out of the room, waiting for her in front of the door. She suddenly felt quite nervous. There must be something important. She decided to leave with her suitcase still on the bed and she brought Ludwig as well.

He gave her a slight smile as she complied his request and they walked together to the dining room. There, Britta, Antti, and Mark, Seb's other trainer who was also Kimi's ex-trainer, had been waiting. Gia gave them all a warm smile before sitting next to him.

"Okay so, I can start now." Seb paused for a few moments before speaking again. "I've gathered you all here because there's something that I'm going to tell you. After thinking for quite a long time, I've decided to... retire at the end of this season."

Both Antti and Mark nodded and bowed their heads a little, as they tried to hide their shock. Britta covered her mouth with both of her hands. But Gia, some tears were quickly falling from her eyes. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her husband was going to hang his helmet.

"I admit that it isn't easy. The fire is still burning inside me, I can't deny it, but Formula 1 nowadays is too demanding. I have to travel to more than 20 different tracks, different countries. Meanwhile, I have a wife and a son who always wait for me at home. I can't always bring them with me because it must be too exhausting for them and Gia also has her own responsibility as a bookstore owner. I enjoy life on track, but I need to focus on my life off track too,"

"Only a day after Ludwig was born, I had to go to Bahrain for back-to-back races. Then, we were hit by the accident that happened to Romain. I couldn't imagine what his wife and children felt when they knew that their husband and father had a huge accident like that. Since then, I'm often asking myself if I should quit, so that I won't make my wife and child worry about me."

Then, he paused again. He knew, he could hear that his wife was crying beside him. But he didn't want to look at her. He had worked so hard to build his strength and confidence to reveal his future plan and he didn't want it to break down easily. He didn't want to regret his decision just because he didn't have the heart to see her cry.

He glanced at Mark and smiled. "Mark, I'll start with you. Even though our time together is very short, I'm still very thankful and happy to work with you. Thanks for helping me while Antti is with his family. We've been teammates since we were in Ferrari and our friendship will surely continues. Thank you once again."

After Mark thanking him, he looked at Antti. "Antti, this is your ninth season working for me. I hope that you aren't bored of me." Antti and Mark chuckled, while Britta was just smiling. "It's been fantastic to train with you all this time. You've helped me to always keep in shape. I'm sorry if I'm always too mischievous to you. You caught me having extra cheat day several times yet you're always too patience. I'm so happy with the birth of your daughter earlier this year, so that was why I called Mark to split jobs with you because I want you to have your moments with your wife and little one. Thank you for everything you've done for me."