The week between the Miami Grand Prix and The Imola Grand Prix was miserable. The time Noemi would have normally spent with Daniel was spent alone working out or practicing in the sim. She was pushing herself harder than she ever had, not to get better, but to keep her mind off the fact that her relationship with Daniel may have ended.
She kept constantly checking her phone as if he was going to text her. She knew he wouldn't though.
"Hello." Fernando said quietly as he walked into the room where Noemi was watching replays of previous races.
"Hey." Noemi responded gently, exhaustion evident in her voice.
"Are you okay?" He asked, "You're being different."
"Yeah." Noemi said quietly, still keeping her focus on the replay, "Just ... just trying to keep my mind of somethings."
Fernando nodded, "Things get hard." He said, "But you'll make it through, you're strong Mimi." He said patting her on the back before walking out.
"Yeah." She whispered to herself, before she autonomously checked her phone again hoping for a notification from Daniel.
~~~ ~~~
The custom helmet was beautiful. The gold detailing over the colors of the Italian flag was beautiful. With her numbers printed in gold as well. The hidden roman numeral for three she had purposely put in the design made her stomach twist as she spotted it, she wished she could scratch it out of the helmet. The Italian words "Tanto Amore" written on the back in a gold script brought the entire design together. She took a deep breath looking at it, trying to ignore the three she had hidden. She was so excited to show it to Daniel when it was done, but now it simply felt wrong.
"It's very pretty." Noemi said to the man who painted the helmet for her, "Thank you." She said gently, setting the helmet back on the display, where it would sit until the weekend.
~~~ ~~~
The moment Noemi's plane touched down in Italy she immediately felt calmer, as if her body subconsciously knew she was back in the country she grew up in. Stepping out of the plane she took a breath of fresh air, the warm mediterranean sun dancing gently on her skin, "Feels good to be home." Noemi said to Fernando with a smile. He just returned her comment with a matching smile.
The motorhome in Imola was furnished differently than the other ones she had been in. It was warmer, less modern. She set her bag down in her driver room before heading out into the paddock.
"Hey." Oscar said, accidentally running into her as she exited the motorhome.
"Hi." She said in return.
"How's it feel being home?" He asked with a childish smile.
"Good." She responded taking a gentle breath, "I'm going to go run a lap on the track you want to come with me?"
"Nah." Oscar said, "That's all you Mimi, I hate running on the track."
"Fair." Noemi said, shrugging as she walked off. She made her way to the starting line of the track, standing in the pole position spot as she stretched out her hamstrings and calves. Looking around her as she pulled her hair into a bun, she noticed Daniel standing in his garage watching her. She made sure to make it look like she hadn't noticed him. She took a deep breath and began her run. With each step and breath of the three miles the track stretched the image of Daniel silently watching her from afar burned deeper and deeper into her memory, until it drove her insane.
She ended the run sweating and out of breath.
"30 minutes." Lewis Hamilton said crossing his arms beside her, "Not bad." "Not bad at all." He gave her a kind smile, "Let's hope your lap time in my seat is a little faster." He joked with a laugh before beginning his own run around the circuit.
Noemi let her hair down as she walked off the track and down the pit lane. Letting her eyes wander into each garage as she passed them. Taking extra attention to the Mercedes garage. She stopped in front of Lewis' car. She imagined her number replacing the 44 that rested on the black chassis. She closed her eyes for a moment imagining herself in the car before continuing down the pit lane and into her garage.
"Good run?" Her engineer asked as she walked by.
"Yeah." She said with a laugh and smile.
"Feel good to be home?" He shouted as she continued walking away.
"Oh you know it!" She shouted back as she walked to the paddock.
"Mimiiii." Lando snuck up on her dragging out the last letter of her name when he spoke.
"Fuck off." She joked, as she pushed him away in a friendly manner.
"So rude." He said flatly, his voice perked up, "So how's the relationship with a secret certain Australian going?" He asked playfully.
"It was good." Noemi paused, "But then we had an argument and haven't spoken since."
"Oh." Lando hummed, "Ummm, maybe just go talk to Danny." He paused, "I've said shit that pissed him off before, all you gotta do is apologize and it's all good." Lando smiled sincerely, "He's not the type to hold grudges."
"Thanks for the advice Lando." Noemi smiled.
~~~ ~~~
Noemi paced a few steps outside Daniel's driver room before deciding to not knock afterall.
"Dan is in there if you're waiting for him or something." One of the VCARB employees said walking past Noemi.
"Oh, thank you." She said with a polite smile, "I'm just leaving now though." Noemi finished before walking away back into the paddock away from the door.
~~~ ~~~
Daniel overheard the employee talking about him outside his room, who would possibly want to talk to him and couldn't just shoot him a text?
His heart stopped when he recognized the familiar Italian accent, she had come to apologize, but then walked away. He practically ran to the door, stopping himself before he walked out as he held the door knob in his hand.
~~~ ~~~
"Please." Noemi whispered to herself as she was rounding the second to last turn of the final lap, "Please." She repeated as she went down the straight, defensively holding P3, "Please." She said again, taking the last turn, miraculously holding off Leclerc from overtaking her. With one last "Please" she took on the final straight, crossing the finish line of her home race with P3, securing her first podium, and her Mercedes seat.
"YES!" She shouted in the radio, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She continued, "Grazie everyone." She said, "Well done team." She finished before shutting off her radio and parking the car behind the P3 marker.
Noemi Mirano was all smiles as she stood on the podium, spraying champagne on Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Celebrating and holding her trophy in hand.
~~~ ~~~
Something about seeing Noemi so happy without him as she celebrated on the podium made Daniel's stomach twist, he had performed well today, P9 to be exact. It was the best he had done in a long time. He received a respectful pat on the back by his principal and a "good job" from Yuki. However, what he truly wanted was a celebration with the woman he loved, for her podium and his points finish. He wouldn't get that unfortunately, because for some reason sending the "Im proud of you" text was too hard for him.
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Amore Mio - Daniel Ricciardo
Fanfiction"We are a PR teams worst nightmare." Daniel manages to say through heavy breaths. "Good thing no one knows about this then." Noemi adds breathing heavier. The two of them can hear Tsunoda's engine roar to life from the other side of the wall. In a s...
