Unchained Melody (Daniel Ricciardo)

Crazy day

As soon as Ayla and Tina arrive in the Red Bull garage they notice a weird vibe. There's a tension in the air and it's clear some people have something heavy weighing on them.

"Jeez, did somebody die?" Ayla softly says to Tina who shrugs.
"No idea, but something is definitely wrong."
Ayla spots Calum, one of Max's mechanics and waves him over.

"Cal, what's going on?"
"Don't know, but Christian was just here and said we have a meeting in hospitality in ten minutes. He looked exhausted, so it must be something serious." The tall, dark man says.

Ayla's brain starts to spin, what could it be? Did Christian talk to Helmut about Daniel already? Maybe Helmut didn't agree, but then Christian would have come to her. The rest of the team has no idea she had that conversation with the team principal.

She looks around in the garage, at first sight nobody is missing, but the team is very big and there's only a small part of them working in the garages. Did something happen to a team member?

"Let's get some coffee and wait in hospitality for Christian. We will soon find out what's going on." Tina suggests.
Ayla snaps out of her pondering and follows her friend to the Red Bull hospitality. She could use a coffee to start the day. It could turn out to be a crazy one, depending on what they will hear from Christian.

They find themselves sitting on one of the tables in the restaurant. Ayla with a steaming cup of coffee and Tina decided on a hot chocolate. Not that it's cold, but the nerves are getting high and they both needed their comfort drinks. It's still quite early so they couldn't exactly start with alcohol.

Ayla nibbles on a ham and cheese croissant, she isn't really hungry, but eating helps with the stress. There's so much tension lingering in the air as one by one the Red Bull team members make their way into the hospitality restaurant.

Max spots Ayla and she nods at him. He comes over and joins them on their table.
"Ayla, Tina, anybody knows what's going on? I asked Christian but he didn't say anything. He just has massive bags under his eyes and I don't think I've ever seen him like this." The Dutch driver asks as he sits down.

"Not a clue. We haven't even seen Christian yet. Calum told us about the meeting, so we probably know even less than you do." Ayla answers.
"Well so far everybody is here, except for Helmut, but he usually doesn't arrive until much later. So that's nothing out of the ordinary." Max looks around as room is now crowded and filled with the staff.

There's a lot of soft murmuring from the others while they speak to each other in hushed tones. Everybody feels the heaviness in the air, the anticipation grows as they wait for Christian to finally let them know what this is all about.

Luckily they don't have to wait that much longer, because suddenly a worried looking Christian comes through the doors that lead to the offices.
He really doesn't look well. He's unshaven, his hair isn't as tidy as it usually is and Max wasn't exaggerating when he said Christian had bags under his eyes.

The Brit looks as if he hasn't slept all night and he could use a bucket of coffee to keep going today.
Jonathan Wheatley is standing next to him, looking just as worried and distressed which makes Ayla even more concerned.

Christian raises a hand to silence the people in the room.
The buzz of the voices fades away until the place is dead silent.
You can hear a pin drop, the only sounds that can be heard is the soft hum of the large refrigerators in the kitchen and the heat lamps that are placed above the trays with hot breakfast items.

Christian clears his throat before he starts to speak. It's clear that he is searching for the words that will explain to everybody why they have been called for this meeting when they should be getting ready for the first practice session.