Ophélie

Part 18

We fly out of Monaco, to Australia two days after the family dinner. Things went well for us in Australia, Charles winning the race. We go out with the guys to celebrate and then we're off to Italy. We spent a week in Maranello for training at the Ferrari headquarters. The week leading up to the race at E Dell'emilia-Romagna was madness, with a lot of press obligations and fan interactions, this is half of what we can expect at Monza. This race was not kind to Ferrari. Daniel and Carlos had contact, and Carlos was out in the first lap. Charles finished sixth. No one felt like celebrating after that race, so we had a quiet dinner with Carlos after the race. We spent the next week in Italy, Charles and Carlos doing more training and work in the simulator. Then we were off to our first GP in Miami, it was something we had never experienced before, the fans were crazy, the vibe throughout the entire weekend was tangible, and to top it all off, both boys were on the podium with a P2 and P3 finish. We definitely had a good time that night, well at least I think we did, we can't remember much! Miami is a different kind of rush!

Charles and I flew to Spain with Carlos and spent the first week with him and Isa. They had sorted out their little tiff and were being super loveable and cute with each other. I spent a lot of time with Isa while the guys trained hard, it was Carlos' home race, after all. On the Monday before the race, we left Carlos' house and checked into our hotel so that Charles could start focusing on the race coming up.

It's Sunday, and I've just finished my pre-race tradition with Charles. I'm sitting with Isa in the garage, our headsets on, watching the formation lap. It's just become our thing that we hold hands throughout the race, watching only the screens and the occasional pitstop. Charles starts this race on pole, and Carlos in P3.

The lights go out and the race starts. Everyone gets off unscathed and the race continues. Isa jumps a little when Carlos overtakes Lewis. Almost immediately afterwards Kevin Magnussen and Lewis make contact, sending Kevin into the gravel. Isa groans loudly, her head in her hands when Carlos spins off into the gravel on lap 7. I put my hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly as I watch. I nudge her when I see that he is back on the track. Carlos is on the radio saying that he has no damage but that the engineers should check the tires. He's fallen back a lot of places, and I silently pray that he can recover from this. Verstappen does the same thing as Carlos on lap 9. Carlos is making up places through the race, as Charles holds the lead.

Everyone gasps when Charles starts slowing down on lap 27.

"No no no." I whisper, shaking my head.

Charles is on the radio. "What happened? Lost power."

They call him into the pits and retire his car.

I jump up, not having been ready for him to come back in so quickly, I grab his water bottle and rush over to him as they push his car into the garage, he's sitting in the car shaking his head.

No one says a word. I take his helmet, balaclava and gloves, then he jumps out of the car, taking his water bottle. He storms over to the pit wall to find out what happened. I look over at Jock who is shaking his head. I shrug my shoulders and give him a sad smile.

Charles comes back into the garage, walking right past me, towards his driver's room. I look at Isa who waves me off to follow him.

I run after him, getting to his room just as he shuts the door.

I open it slowly and peek my head inside. "Charles?"

He doesn't say anything, he's sitting with his head in his hands.

I open the door, walk into the room and shut the door behind me, before walking over and sitting down next to him. I don't know what to say to him, but sometimes it's best to say nothing. So we sit there. My hand on his back, rubbing it gently, while he sits with his head in his hands.