solo / carlos sainz

fifteen

It took less than ten minutes for Carlos to snap at Mikael.

While that may be a new record, it's still not what I'd hoped would happen.

To be fair, Mikael was trying to get a rise out of him, but that's his job. He's managed almost all high-profile clients Oceá has had since being brought on, training them to withstand immensely invasive journalists and fans through an abrasive approach of his own, starting that approach from the get-go.

"I'm curious, is it just this one or should we be prepared for others?" He hedged, quickly following that question with, "How will the knowledge of having a child at home impact your ability to take risks while racing? Will you still have your edge? Are you even capable of winning?"

When Carlos had snapped, he'd admitted to knowing about Elsie since she was born, which had led the two of them down another rabbit hole of aggressive questioning.

"Why did you wait so long to go public with this? Are you ashamed? Is the child not what you expected? Do you not like the mother? Was it your family that kept you silent?"

Through it all, I kept my distance from across the room, purposely leaving Carlos to fend for himself. He'll have to do this on his own at most media appearances, though I do hope he has someone there to stand up for him should he need it.

"I'll admit, you've got decent media training, but there are spots that need polishing." Mikael leans back in his seat with a grin, satisfied with the results he's pulled from Carlos so far.

At that, I clear my throat, bringing all attention back to me. "You won't be able to work on that on your own, Mikael. We've got to be collaborative with the Ferrari team."

"I know some of the people on the Ferrari team, they're not like me."

I laugh, "Then teach them how to be. Consider it an early investment in a potential partnership down the line. Inez, you're up."

Inez Alvillar, head of the Madrid office and former Hollywood fixer, is one of my favourite people to work with. She's got all the sharp edges needed for a job like this, wrapped in tailor made power suits and a perfect buzz cut.

She hops up from her seat, gives me a wink, and turns on the television at the head of the room.

"Right now, there are several different angles of this that are trending. Keywords include 'Carlos Sainz', 'Mara Walsh', 'Secret Sainz', and...this is my personal favourite, 'Formula One-Night-Stand'." She gestures to the screen as it populates a series of analytics related to each keyword.

"So far, Twitter's got a pretty tight hold on this and we're not expecting it to die down anytime soon. Reactions have been relatively fifty-fifty, leaning toward the negative from those in Spain and positive from those outside of it." A select slideshow of tweets scroll across the page.

They're scathing and kind and judgemental and indifferent and it's a good reminder that this is bigger than just Carlos, Elsie, and I.

This is heavily impacting Ferrari. Their tifosi are loyal to a fault but Carlos hasn't always been their favourite. They've got his teammate, Charles, for that. To earn their trust back will take blood and sweat and endless hours.

"Carlos, you seem like a good guy from a good family. Strong values, good heart, the kind of stuff that plays well in the media when you don't look at it too closely." Inez grins. She looks like a shark when she does that. "We need you to get passionate. Aggressive. Intense. Loyalty respects loyalty and if you do anything other than stand your ground, I suspect you'll get the boot when Ferrari's popularity fails to recover."

Inez gives a nod to her assistant, who then begins to pass out a near word-for-word briefing of what she'd just gone over with additional analytics and projected results up to six months out based on prior Formula One related PR incidents. "I've already sent this over to your team, we've been in communication all morning. I hope you're ready for this, Carlos, it's going to be quite a bit of work."

"It'll be worth it."

Mikael laughs, "If you manage to pull it off. For now, I hope you're in the mood for a weekend trip this fine Saturday morning."