The Feature Game - [Carlos Sainz]

Cuatro

       The mood in the garage of the Italian team felt a bit mixed as they only managed to score ten points during the Spanish Grand Prix. Gloria tapped her pen against her fingers as she looked around the garage while the cars drove through the pitlane, Verstappen in front, to drive to Parc Fermé and celebrate his win. Hamilton and Russell accompanied him on the podium, while Carlos was the only one who scored points for Ferrari. Charles crossed the line with a difficult to understand, and to take, P11. Nevertheless, he drove a hell of a race, considering he came from P18 after an even more difficult Saturday. Carlos was probably glad to beat his teammate, but at the same time he was disappointed about his own result, as he qualified on the front row yesterday. The crowd was happy when he waved at them from his car, and they cheered when he waved after he got out of the car to walk down to the Ferrari garage. She looked up as he walked past, his hair a mess from his helmet, the indents of the balaclava visible on his face.

His tongue darted over his lower lip as he got rid of his helmet in the garage and unzipped his overall, getting his arms out of the sleeves and reaching for a bottle of water. Carlos had already been on the scale in the FIA garage before and was going to walk out of the Ferrari garage to head to the media penn. Their eyes briefly crossed paths when he brushed past her, but she couldn't read the look on his face. Gloria looked at him from over her shoulder and then rose her eyebrows. It had been a long and exhausting first weekend for her at the track, considering she got here only Thursday after hearing she was selected for the assignment on Monday. It had been nice, though. Saturday evening was the only evening she drove back with Carlos himself. After the race, she was in a fan with some other Ferrari staff who went back to the hotel the same time as Carlos. They weren't going to stay in Barcelona for some dinner, they would have some food on the plane and land in Madrid around eleven.

Rupert and Caco, which she learned was Carlos Oñoros' nickname, had sent her a file in which she could read all about Carlos' program the week after the race. She was allowed to join him while he was training, while he hung out with friends, everything. Gloria guessed that, after some awkward moments this weekend, even more awkward moments would be coming up. She had totally embarrassed herself when she fell asleep during the post-quali debrief on Saturday, but her stomach did the thing when she thought about the way he woke her up, how he looked when he woke her up, and how he drove her back. She was sick in the head for thinking after even three days that he would be into her. Him? Someone like her? Definitely not. And good God, calm down, it's been literally 72 hours. Gloria looked forward to getting a good night of sleep when she sat semi across Carlos in the jet. He was having his headphones on and he was rewatching the race. 

The flight only took an hour and a half, so they were back on the ground within no time. Carlos said goodbye to Rupert, Caco and his dad, and then they were alone again when they walked to his car that was parked at the airport. He drove a Ferrari as gorgeous as the one he borrowed when they were in Barcelona. "Ehm..." Gloria spoke up, looking at her suitcases and then at the Ferrari. The lights flickered when he unlocked the vehicle, and he reached for his bag to put it in the back of the car. He took hers without saying anything, their fingers brushing together. "It will fit," he said, looking at her from over the roof of the car as he put her suitcases in there. Surprisingly, the door could be closed, and she didn't have to take any of her stuff in her lap in the passenger seat. She was confused when Carlos moved around the car to her side again, and he looked down at her while opening the door. She tried to read the look on his face, but it was a dead end. Gloria sat down in the seat, attempting to hide how flustered she was from the simple, yet weird moment.

Carlos walked around the car again and sat down behind the steering wheel. He locked his seatbelt and started the engine, which roared to life. "How long is the ride to your house?" she asked. "About twenty minutes," Carlos replied, steering the car out of the parking garage and onto the road. Most of the time was made because it was busy on the highway that came from and led to the airport, but they managed to get out pretty fast. Gloria had never been to Madrid before, but she was sure Carlos didn't live in the middle of the city, rather in a quiet neighborhood where he wouldn't be woken up by screaming fans every morning. "You didn't want to move to Monaco?" she asked then. "No, I'm fine in Madrid," Carlos replied with a soft chuckle. "My family lives here," he continued. "And when I have to be in Maranello, I can stay in Milan for a couple of days, get a hotel," he explained. "You live anywhere else besides London?" Carlos asked then. "No, I don't. Lived in other places, but currently London," Gloria said.