Belonging to the Iceman

First Impressions

35 years ago

2014 Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne

"What stunning sandstone statues Miss..."

"Jacobs, Mr. Ecclestone, it's Shantelle Jacobs." The twenty-eight-year-old Australian Stonemason said, shaking his hand.

"So, what made you get into working with Sandstone, Shantelle? May I call you that?" Bernie asked.

Some of the driver's girlfriends were already arriving dressed up in their high heels and brand-new outfits and had immediately noticed the two massive sandstone Formula One cars at the entrance to the Paddock, like a wild frenzy their iPhones and iPads were out and they were snapping photos of the statues, Jenny Becks and Jess Michibata soon stood in front of the left statue and posed for a selfie.

"Miss Jacobs? Shantelle?" Bernie's voice brought her back to reality.

"My apologies Mr. Ecclestone, of course, you can call me Shantelle, and I just love working with my hands and with a creative flare in me, I can work with almost any stone, Sandstone, Marble, Granite..."

"Who carved these?" Came Dasha Kapustina's voice.

"I don't know, but aren't they stunning?" Jennifer asked, snapping another photo of her with the F1 car in the background. "THIS is going STRAIGHT onto Facebook!"

Dasha snorted "Hardly...even I could do better than these!"

Shantelle immediately felt her temper wearing thin.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ecclestone," She said politely, with her teeth gritted.

Several more ladies and even the drivers were now admiring her work.

"Well, I think they're just amazing!" Fernando said coldly from beside Dasha, "Are you coming Dash?"

She stuck her head up in the air and walked off with Alonso, slightly tripping in her extremely high heels.

Shantelle stifled a laugh as Emilia Pikkarainen came up to her with an iPhone in her hand "Excuse me, could you take a photo of Jennifer and me in front of these amazing statues please?"

Shantelle smiled and said "Of course! And don't forget to smile!"

Once she had taken the photo Emilia smiled and thanked her. "Aren't you one lucky fan getting into the Paddock this time of the morning?" She asked.

Shantelle smiled and handed Emilia her portfolio "I carved these statues out of Sandstone, I'm a well-known Australian Stonemason, Shantelle Jacobs is the name"

Kimi walked past, grunting that Shantelle was in his way "Why don't you take up the whole pathway lady?" He snarled, in one hell of a mood.

"Kimi Man!" Came Lewis' voice, "This is Shantelle Jacobs, she carved these stone F1 cars!"

Emilia and Jennifer's jaws dropped.

"Hi Shantelle, I'm Lewis, these are just awesome, can I trouble you for a photo in front of one of them?" He asked.

"Sure, just give me your camera or phone..." Shantelle said

"Uh, no, I mean I want you in the photo with me," Lewis said handing his iPhone to his teammate Nico.

"Okay, no problem," Shantelle said, standing with the handsome driver, slowly he slipped his hand around her waist and they smiled for Nico.

"Thanks, Shantelle, another photo for the fans!" He said, smiling at her as he walked off.

And of course, Kimi was nowhere to be seen.

*

Since she had provided the Sandstone F1 statues for the Australian Grand Prix, Bernie and the FIA had given her the choice of which Team Garage and corporate box she wanted to sit in during the weekend.