Missing Pieces (Sebastian Vettel)

Prologue

A/N: ok, so a few things before I get started. The main part of this story starts in late 2024, although there will be flashback chapters.  In those chapters I will state what year they take  place. 

In this story Seb retired at the end of 2020, the Aston Martin years never happened.  Race results and calendars may differ.

Updates will be slow to begin with.  Hoping to update once a week, but can't promise that as still working on my All of You rewrite. 

Also this is just a taster to see if there's enough interest to keep writing it.   If there's not enough positive feedback I may scrap the idea.  Please comment and/or vote so I can see if it's worth writing. 

Piercing blue eyes peered out from underneath the raised, tinted visor, scanning the empty track in front of the black and silver car.  

Flipping the visor down the driver, who was no longer a boy but wasn't yet a man, concentrated on the job he had ahead of him. He may have been starting from Pole Position but he knew the race was far from won.  

The tip of his tongue snaked out between his lips, wetting them before retreating into the confines of his mouth.  This was it.   This was his chance to impress. 

He knew all the Formula 3 team scouts were watching the penultimate race of the Freca season at the world famous Autodromo Nazionale Monza.   He'd already sealed the title the previous month in Barcelona, but he wanted, no, he needed to go out on a high. He was desperate to make the move up to Formula 3. It was the next step towards fulfilling his dream. Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport. It was all he'd ever wanted for as long as he could remember.

He didn't just want to win for himself, he wanted to win for his Aunt Ella. She was the one person who'd been there for him no matter what.   She was the closest thing he had to a mother, or a father. She'd worked her fingers to the bone to get him to where he was now, going without things herself so she could give him the best possible childhood, and help him start his racing career.  She hadn't had to do it, but she had because she loved him, and he loved her.  He wanted to win so he could give her the life she deserved. Once he hit the big time she'd never have to work again.

As he pulled away on the formation lap he put all thought of his Aunt out of his mind.  He couldn't afford to think of anything besides the car and the track beneath its wheels.  He had to give it everything. This might be it, his shot at a race seat in Formula 3, and if he was lucky maybe even one of the Formula 1 Driver Academies might even notice him.  He just had to show them that he had the talent to make it.  

If he wasn't offered a seat then it would be all but over for him.  His aunt couldn't afford to buy him a seat in Formula 3 like Xander Lopez's father had done for him. 

He glanced in his mirrors at the blue car of his Spanish rival weaving behind him.  Xander Lopez was already guaranteed a seat in Formula 3 the following season.  His billionaire father had made sure of that.   

He took each turn carefully, adamant that he wouldn't make a mistake, finally rounding Curva Alboreto and pulling onto the grid,  stopping in his marked out spot.  

Glancing in the mirror, he watched as the other cars took their place.  

His eyes moved to look at the light gantry just as the red lights began to come on one by one.  One, two, three, four, five.

Time seemed to stand still, but in reality it was only a second before the lights went out and the cars surged forwards.

                      ***