Smile. - c.l.

- 10 -

Charles's POV

Its been a few days since Jules 10 year memorial service and I think it went amazingly. I brought up the idea to of creating a scholarship type of program for the Ferrari Driving Academy to help more kids be able to attend. No F1 academy offers a program like this so I thought it'd be an amazing idea because I know there are kids out there who dream to be an F1 driver but since it's very much a money sport and not so much surrounded and based off talent, majority of them aren't able to gather the funds to go. I've met kids all over the world who tell me that I inspire them and Jules and my father inspired me so it was time to give back.

Ferrari agreeing to the idea made other teams look into it for their academy's as well and I'm happy to have been able to get that push forward started. Lana and her family also attended. They were extremely close with the Bianchi family so losing Jules was a huge loss for them as well.

The connection Lana and I have with Jules isn't how we met shockingly, but both of us having that connection with him most certainly brought us closer. He was her other "older brother" and he was my godfather. He watched out for the both of us and now he's watching over us both. I know he for sure was wanting to kill me after what I did and for hurting her but I hope he forgives me as well.

This weekend we're in Austria, racing at the Red Bull ring, one of the easier tracks for myself so I'm pretty excited and not to nervous.

"Hey!" Carlos yelled out from outside of the room, "media tiiiiime!" He started to sing and do a little shimmy.

"Oh please don't do that again mate." I said with a slight laugh. Carlos is a great teammate, he never fails to make me laugh. "I'll be out in just a second."

I was finishing up a text to Lana, she wasn't getting here until tonight when she flies in with her mom. I heard at this race it'll just be them attending. I put my phone in my back pocket and then left the room to go get some interviews done and shots for the documentary.

"How are you feeling about tomorrows race so far Charles? I know this circuit is a particularly easy one for you, I imagine you're feeling pretty confident?" "Oh absolutely! Of course I have the regular set of nerves but I am confident this will be an amazing race and I can't wait to show off our new upgrades." I responded to the interviewer, giving Carlos a chance to answer one. I could see Lana's father, Fred Vasseur and her brother enter the back of the room, waiting for unit also watching us with a smirk on their face, even whispering back and forth.

"Mate," I whispered to Carlos, poking his leg and signaling to look at what they're doing once I got his attention. They normally just stand still or on their phones in the back so something was up. Then they got called up to the table so we could all talk which was the usual. It was becoming a press conference instead and more people and press entered the room.

"So before we let these 2 go, we just put an update out that we'd be announcing here in the next few minutes. I'll let everyone get settled." Fred started off with. Carlos and I started to give each other a weird look because this wasn't in the schedule, atleast for today.

"Alright, for the past 6-8 months there'd been speculation and rumors that I would be retiring after this season but unfortunately that'll be coming to an end early due to personal reasons. I'll still be apart of the Ferrari team but no longer running, most of the show ya know. I would like to announce that Ferraris current racing manager Marrianno Shereé will be taking my spot as Team Principal and General Manager." Fred explained.

As soon as I heard "Marrianno Shereé will be taking my spot." I was taking a sip of my water and audibly choked on it out of disbelief.

"That's amazing!" I said while coughing while trying to cover my ass since Phillipe gave me the meanest glare. Lana's father was now my official, official boss. Carlos knew this wasn't the greatest and was shocked as well.