The Limit (Sebastian Vettel)

73. An Apology Goes A Long Way

Seb crouched down and stared his enemy in the eye.

Formulino stared back, neither of them wanting to be the first to look away. Seb finally gave a small chuckle and reached out, scratching the tabby cat behind his ear.

The cat gave a loud meow and closed the gap between them, rubbing his head against Seb's knee.

"I'm sorry for calling you fat," he said, feeling slightly ridiculous that he was out here in the paddock talking to a damn cat when he could have been having a nap before quali.

It seemed that everyone had wanted him to apologise to the damn creature so he could get a bit of good luck for the following days race. Britta had told him to, as had his engineer Chris, Natalie from Sky, Ted from Sky, and to his surprise, his own mother!

He wasn't really sorry. He didn't give a fuck, but it would shut everyone up. It wasn't as if the cat understood. It wasn't as if it could dish out bad or good luck. Still, it made a good story.

He could see Connor, the Aston Martin photographer, snapping away, capturing Seb's apology for the fans.

He spent another couple of minutes fussing over the cat before standing up and walking back into the Aston Martin motorhome. 

"Did you say sorry?" his mother questioned him. 

"I did."

"Good. An apology can go a long way."

Seb nearly burst into laughter as he saw his father roll his eyes. He grabbed a chip off of his father's plate and shoved it into his mouth.

"Oi! Get your own!" Norbert said.

"Antti won't let me," Seb replied.

"Don't you have to get ready for quali?"

"Yeah soon but I have a spare few minutes," he said, sitting down next to his mother.

"I have a good feeling about this weekend," Heike Vettel declared.   Seb looked at his father and they both started laughing.  

"What?" Heike asked.  "What is so funny?"

"You honestly think that cat gives out luck?" Norbert said. 

"No, I honestly believe in our son," she retorted.  

Seb stole another chip off of his father's plate as his parents bickered.   He knew they were only messing about.  His parents had the best marriage he'd ever known.    He briefly wondered if he'd ever get married.   He couldn't see it.    The truth was he didn't know if he could bear to be tied down to one woman, apart from Lily that was, and that was never going to happen. 

"Oi!" He looked up into the accusing eyes of his trainer. 

"Oh hi Antti," he said, grinning at the Finn.

"Don't hi Antti me. I saw you eating a chip!"

"Oh come on, it was just one chip!"

"And that one chip means another minute of planking."   Seb groaned.

"It was actually two chips," Norbert added.  Seb shot his father a dirty look. 

"Two extra minutes."

"I'll get you back Father."  Norbert laughed heartily. 

Seb stood up.  "I suppose I should go and get ready," he said, although he wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about it.    In his two races at Imola he'd never qualified in the top ten. 

"Have faith," Heike told him as he headed towards the stairs that led up to his driver room.  "You apologised to the cat.  All will be well!"

As he ascended the stairs he wished he had his mother's optimism.  He just couldn't believe in a cat giving out luck.   You made your own luck in this world.   Still, maybe this year his luck would change.