Racing For Love

Chapter Sixty Seven

I arrive bright and early at Bianchi on Monday morning. The atmosphere is tense as I reach the marketing department. Initially, I'm unsure as to why, until I spot Kate in a closed door meeting with someone in a dark suit. I don't recognise him until he turns and I think that it's one of the board members, Farid Al-Mansoori - I recognise him from the press release earlier this year, he's new to Bianchi, having taken over his father's seat. I knew that Kate was planning to present the information she had gathered after the summer break, but I hadn't realised that meant immediately after the break. My stomach tenses with nerves at the understanding of what she's doing.

I manage to catch Kate's eye through the glass and offer her an encouraging smile before taking a seat at my desk. I let out a sigh - it's been weeks since I was here properly and so much has changed. Matt appears at my side with a coffee and a kind smile. "Welcome back. Ready for today?" he adds. We've all had a day to recover from the party, but being back in the office still requires focus, which I need to muster up from somewhere. There's plenty to do ahead of the first race back after the break, especially since we're heading out to Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow. James is still recovering, so I'm attending this week. It feels like there's extra pressure since it'll be the first time I'll be there as an official girlfriend of a driver, and I don't know if I'm ready for all of that hype just yet.

I work through my to do list, my mind divided between the tasks at hand and the tension in the air due to Kate's closed-door meeting. I try to focus, but I can feel the anxiety in me rising at the thought of what it means to make Andrea's misconduct public to the organisation. Matt comes back across to my desk to run through some of the filming schedule for the next few days and brings me back to the present. I manage a nervous smile as he once again checks on how I'm doing, noticing the tension I'm carrying.

"I'm good, thanks. Just anxious I guess about this week. Being at the race as Jono's girlfriend and trying to do my job..." my voice tails off as my mind wanders to thinking about the race.

Matt nods and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I get it. It's a lot! Just remember, you've earned your place here as a member of the team - you're not just Jono's girlfriend - everyone at Bianchi knows that."

"I know, but it's still a bit overwhelming," I admit, grateful for Matt's support. "I don't know what's going to happen and I'm worried I'll mess it all up."

Matt smiles kindly. "You won't mess anything up. You've been doing a great job. Just be yourself, and everything will fall into place."

His words are comforting, and I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "Thanks, Matt." is about all I can manage along with a small smile, as he grins back and goes back to his desk to carry on working. I try to focus, but my mind keeps drifting back to this weekend's race. Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most iconic tracks in Formula 1, and the pressure is high for everyone on the team, especially after the summer break. I find myself going over the schedule repeatedly, making sure I haven't missed anything.

Later in the day, Kate emerges from her meeting looking both determined and exhausted. She catches my eye, and I give her an encouraging nod. I know that whatever she presented in there must have been significant, and I'm curious to find out the outcome.

When Kate calls Matt and I into her office, I thought it might be to tell us about her meeting, but it's not quite what I was expecting. Firstly, Kate asks for an update on the plan for the week. We've got some driver food challenges with Belgian delicacies like waffles and mayo fries and also, since Spa is usually a pretty wet race, we've planned a duck race, depending on conditions. We'll schedule filming for this amongst the general content we're going to post about the cars, drivers and garages. Kate shocks me when she then tells us about her meeting, which was to do with getting sign off on something Jono had asked her about. I'm taken aback when Kate tells us that Jono specifically requested that I wasn't used in any official Bianchi content. She had pushback from Andrea and had to go up to board level to ensure Jono's wishes were listened to.