Team Principal | Carlos Sainz

chapter one

Carlos S.

Finally I was here. After Abu Dhabi Isa and I had some long conversations and we sorted things out so we spend nice days together after that. She was now in Spain again while I was here in the could and cloudy English weather.

My driver opened the door for me as I stepped out. In front of me was the big building i once visited to sign the contract back in August. But this time I saw significant more people around than during my last visit.

The woman behind the desk welcomed me and my manager Carlos, also called Caco, as we entered the building. She then said we should wait while she called a number.

"They are here." where her only words before she ended the call again.

From Checo I knew that I was the first one to look around here as he was invited for next week. From the inside it looked quite modern but also with a touch of nostalgic racing history from different series as Audi had never competed in Formula one before.

On the left side from the big entrance area where we were standing were big stairs going up and there was some kind of gallery on the first floor wehre I could see some people.

"Welcome at Audi." I heard a voice from behind and before I could figure out where I had heard it before I turned around and knew.

The man stopped in front of us and stretched out his hand to welcome us.

"My name is Ricky and I will be your contact person today. So if you have any questions or want to see something just tell me." he said while we shook our hands.

I could see that he was a bit uncomfortable around me but he tried to cover it up. Probably it was due our interaction in the pit lane about that kid. Maybe Luca was the son of another employee here I thought before following Ricky through a big door.

"So we first have the meeting where we speak about the upcoming events and stuff and then move over to the car things. It's with some of the engineers and of course the team principal." Ricky explained while he was leading us through several corridors and doors.

Suddenly he stopped and turned towards me.

"Oh I forgot, you haven't met Toni yet, have you?"

I assumed that he was talking about Antonia Winter, the team principal of Audi and I therefore shook my head. As I said I new she was a mother and therefore wasn't sure what to expect in her. Don't get me wrong I like children and of course women can work after giving birth but as a boss of a Formula one team, travelling the world, I wasn't so sure about that.

As Ricky excused himself and disappeared into a office, Caco and I were standing on the light corridor.

"What do you know about the team principal?" I asked my manager as I didn't have any information about her besides that she had a child.

"Her name is Antonia Winter, called Toni, she is thirty-one and has a four-year-old son."

As he saw my facial expression he quickly added, "But this won't be a problem, she will attend all races and her full focus is on the racing."

"Ah, so her husband will take the boy?"

"She" Caco started but was interrupted by Ricky, who came back from the office.