Sequel of "Come Back...Be Here - Charles Leclerc"
Four years later, Mary and Charles inevitably cross paths again.
Will they rekindle their love? Or are the scars too deep?
With now only two mere weeks to go until our wedding, Charles and I were currently on a jet to Silverstone for the last race before the summer break and Netflix was following my fiancé around this weekend. Red Bull had been struggling a lot this season, it was their first season with Porsche as an engine supplier and to say that it was a miss, was the understatement of the year. Charles' contract was expiring at the end of the season and he had two great offers from Mercedes and McLaren on the table, but nothing was decided yet.
"Could you guys talk about the contract situation?" a Netflix guy asked and I rolled my eyes. Of course I knew how great Drive to Survive had been for the sport, and I always found it funny to see some behind-the-scenes stuff. But these were serious private matters and Charles and I were both currently a bit on edge about the unsatisfying situation at Red Bull. But Charles the professional started a superficial conversation with me about it and I just played the part, without obviously spilling anything confidential.
While Charles was on media duties on Thursday, I spent some time with my family, including my Dad's parents. Grandpa was actually still looking really good and I was happy that he was living his last months to the fullest. Amelia and Oli were always looking crazy in love with each other and my parents also were very relaxed despite their worries for Grandpa and nervousness about the wedding in just two weeks. Charles joined us for dinner later on and in that moment, everything felt perfect. Charles - my future, my parents and grandparents - my past and Oli and Amelia - my present all united together at one table.
Friday and Saturday both weren't too great for Charles. Red Bull had now become an upper midfield team and instead of getting constant wins, they were struggling to even make it to the podium somehow. My fiancé was sitting 7th in the driver's championship and it definitely wasn't where he wanted to be. He also only qualified 5th for tomorrow's race and wasn't too confident about a good result for the next day.
This was not just a pleasure trip for me, I was working too, as the Foundation was sponsoring an up and coming American driver, Hunter Johnson, who was racing F3. Very much to my delight, he managed to get his first win of the season in this category and even my fiancé made it to the podium ceremony with me, which gave the boy quite a lot of free PR. It filled me with pride to see his white car with a patriotic "Racing for Bobby" sticker on his side parked up right in front of the number 1.
As we knew how important support was for Charles, my family and I arrived at the Paddock together on Sunday, ready to scream at the top of our lungs to cheer on Charles, even though that wasn't probably going to help make his car go faster. I just prayed for a safe race and that I would see him again after 52 laps. While I was walking around in the hospitality, I bumped into Christian and he said: "Oh Mary, great that I'm catching you now. Do you have any plans for tonight?" he asked. "Erm... not yet, we were just planning to head back down to London" I replied. "Ok great, do you guys think you could come visit Geri and me at home, there's... something to discuss" he said in a very serious tone. "Uh, I'll ask Charles but yeah, I don't think it will be a problem, when should we be there?" I asked. "Ah, no worries, just text when you make it out of here" he said and I nodded and smiled.
Even though my fiancé was struggling a lot on track with his car, he somehow managed to finish second on the podium, thanks to half the grid having DNF's and some very unlucky strategy by Mercedes. But it was P2 nonetheless and he moved up into 5th place in the driver's standings.
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📍 Silverstone Circuit Tagged: charles_leclerc mary.wright98 Always a special race 🇬🇧🏁 Congrats on P2 my love 💙
alice__trouche 🥳🥳🥳 fred_becket What a drive 💪🏼 christianhorner Star Boy ⭐️
"Just going to debrief then we can go, is your family leaving now?" Charles asked after giving me a quick kiss when he returned from media duties. "Yeah, the Horners invited us for dinner at their place and I said we're coming, you didn't have anything planned, right?" I said, holding his trophy safely in my hands. "Uh - no, but... weird invite on such short notice. But yeah, we're going, ok - I'll see you in a few" he quickly said and disappeared into the data room with members of the team.
Thankfully, they only took about half an hour and Christian waved at me on the way out and mouthed a "See you later". After packing up all of my fiancé's stuff, saying goodbye to Andrea and navigating through a sea of fans, we made it to the car and drove down to Oxfordshire. "Hey guys!" Geri greeted us, she had apparently already left earlier and just in that moment, Christian turned into the driveway with his Aston Martin. "Ah great, I'm not too late, come on let's sit down, we're having a small barbecue" the team principal said and winked.
We were all sat together in their garden, their two youngest children were also there, when Christian spoke up: "Ok, I'm just going to say it straight out: Ferrari made me an offer to be their team principal from next season on and I accepted. Hannah and GP are also coming with me - due to contract reasons we have to quit now so we won't be there for the rest of the season. Charles, I would really want you to move to the Scuderia with us." Charles spit out the sip of beer he just had had and I choked on the burger that was currently in my mouth. After recomposing himself, my fiancé said: "Wow Christian, I mean - that definitely came unexpected. I... I don't know what to say. There were reasons why I left Ferrari and hell... I don't even know if I'll be even racing next year..." "What? You want to quit?" I asked astounded. "We're getting married - I... If something happens..." he said, but I cut him off. "We already had this discussion. You're not quitting for me. You'll be quitting when you feel like you have accomplished what you wanted to accomplish." I said. "Do you think there's still some business to finish at Ferrari?" I added after a short pause. "I... I can't answer this now, I have to think about it" my fiancé said. "Sure, I understand that. Just know that... I won't change my style just because I'm switching teams. And I believe we could still accomplish a lot of things together" Christian said and smiled. Charles nodded and I noticed that his head was already thinking about it. It was no surprise to me, it was his childhood and academy team, his first love.
We sat together for a few more hours, talking about other things and eventually, we then decided to drive back to London as we were heading down to Monaco again tomorrow. We bid our goodbyes and I couldn't wait to see them again at our wedding. When we were back on the plane the next day, Charles looked me straight in the eye and asked seriously: "Do you think I should do it? Do you think you could support me again in red?" I took a deep breath before talking: "To be honest, I don't know. It's hard for me to wrap my head around this, I thought you had closed this chapter forever..." "It's just... If you win a championship you're one of the greats of this sport, but if you win it with Ferrari you'll always be a legend."
