The Limit (Sebastian Vettel)

122. Tequila Sunrise

"No,no, no! You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Lily almost shouted down the team radio. "This can't be fucking happening!"

But it was. After leading the Mexican Grand Prix for fifty eight laps she'd picked up a slow puncture from some debris just thirteen laps from the end of the race.

"I'm sorry Lily," Joel said. "You're gonna have to box."

Seb cursed as he heard the disappointment in her voice through the headset he was wearing. The field was pretty close together after Esteban Ocon had crashed and brought out the safety car. Lily would rejoin out of the points, and her three title rivals would fill the podium positions.  Things couldn't have been much worse.

He sighed and lashed out with his foot, kicking thin air.  Lily was going to be devastated.   He was devastated for her.   Of course she would still be in with a shot of the championship, but it would make it more unlikely. 

Half a minute later he heard Lily pull up in her box and heard the sound of the wheel guns as the crew changed her tyres. Then he heard her drive off to rejoin the race.  

He looked at the screen mounted on the wall and saw she'd rejoined in eleventh behind Pierre and Carlos.  

"Come on baby!" he muttered.  If she pushed she could perhaps overtake Carlos and get into the points.  

After five laps she did just that, and on the final lap of the race she overtook Pierre as well, finishing in ninth.   Seb's brain quickly went to work.

Lily had now fallen to third in the championship, a whopping twenty three points behind Daniel, five behind Max and just one ahead of Charles.  

"Damn it!"

He took his headset off and left it on the side, then headed out into the paddock.   He wouldn't see Lily now until after she'd been to the media pen.    He might as well get a bite to eat and a drink.  He'd not bothered earlier and he was now extremely hungry.   Maybe he and Lily could order some tacos to their room that night....food wouldn't change the days results but tacos would cheer her up a bit right?

He made a mental note to suggest it to her when he finally saw her.

                        ***

Lily's throat hurt.  It hurt because she was trying so hard to stop her self from crying.  What a fucking nightmare!  She knew she might as well kiss the championship goodbye now.

She made her way to the media pen, Britta almost having to jog to keep up with her.   She just wanted this over with.  Once it was she would debrief.  Once she'd debriefed she'd go back to the hotel, and when she was back at the hotel she was going to order Tacos and ice cream, shit loads of ice cream.

She needed to eat, she needed alcohol and she needed to fuck. Maybe then she'd be able to stop beating herself up about that damn puncture! Why hadn't she seen the debris? Could she have avoided it?

"Hard luck girl." She turned and saw Daniel falling into step besides her. She knew that he was being genuine, even though her crap result was good for him.

"Thanks Daniel."

"You look like you could use a drink."

"Yeah, and I will be when I get back to the hotel. More than one."

"Come out tonight. There's a few of us going to this little bar Rodrigo recommended."

"Who the hell is Rodrigo?"

"One of my tyre guys. Anyway, we can have some drinks. They also do tacos."

"Ice cream?" she asked.