Unchained Melody (Daniel Ricciardo)

A crazy turn of events

Daniel puts his car on his designated grid spot. P16 is bad, especially with a new team. He needs to show them he is capable of scoring points and winning races. Even if it isn't in the Red Bull where he had quite some victories with.

He is in a papaya colored car now and he has to get that car as far to the front as possible. Starting on the Saturday during qualifying.
Yet here he is, between the Haas cars and in front of the Williams and an Alfa Romeo. He is so far back that it is embarrassing.

Especially with his team mate being on P6, ten places in front of him.
Of course it is only the first race and he has to get used to the car, but he expected to be at least equal to Lando, preferably better. He has so much more experience, years and years even. But here he is, next to Mick Schumacher. The son of one of the heroes of their sport.

He shakes his head, trying to get the negative thoughts out of his head. He has to stay positive, that's what he always does. He smiles and tries to see the best in every situation. That's what he is going to have to do now as well. He is a good overtaker. There's plenty of opportunities here. He might end up in points at the end of the race and if he can show them he can do some spectacular overtakes, that should show everybody what he can do.

He can see the lights go on, one by one they turn red. Until they are gone and every car on the grid starts moving.
His start is ok, but it could have been better. They all race the first long straight, side by side. Wheel to wheel.

The cars in front reach the corner and he looks for a gap to brake a bit later, but he still has cold tires so he can't take too many risks. He manages to get through the first corners unscathed, but he hasn't moved up at all.
"Come on now Dan. Show the world you can do this." He tells himself as he tries to push so he can overtake K-Mag in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~
Even though she is working hard, Ayla still follows the race. She has to, because there's things she will have to update on their social media during the race.
Even though it's now part of her job, she still enjoys the action on track as much as she always has.

Max has started off very well. He did amazing in all three training sessions as well as quali and he got to start from pole position. A great result for his first qualifying for the team. But then again, everyone says Max will be the new champion and he is a extremely talented driver.

Checo qualified P3 which was also a good result. But where Max has already pulled away in lap 1, Checo lost his P3 to Seb in his Ferrari.

Ayla also looks at Lewis who is P2, its good to see him drive, she has always been amazed by how he handles the car and now she also knows how he handles her in the bedroom.

Then she looks further down the grid and she can see Daniel who is struggling to make any progress with his car. He even has to fight off the Haas behind him, but every corner it's like he just can't get the perfect line and that amazing defensive moves he always pulled off.

It hurts her heart to see him try so hard and she truly hopes he will end up connecting to the car more and get the results he deserves. He's an amazing driver and she might never really understand why he decided to leave Red Bull. They were there from the start and they were his family.

Zak must have really held one massive carrot in front of him for Daniel to make that move. She truly hopes that he won't regret it. But if this first race is an indication for the rest of the season, she is really worried.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What are you going to wear tonight?" Tina asks Ayla after they had a quick dinner in the hospitality restaurant.
"Oh I don't know. I might wear my blue cocktail dress. I'll have to check what I brought exactly. I didn't expect us to have a big party the first weekend. But with Max winning, we have to celebrate obviously."