Chasing Our Dreams [f.a]

Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir

~ AGE 17 ~

OVIEDO, SPAIN

''Hi, amiga'' Fernando gave me his best smile, ''you look exhausted.''

''Well, thank you. I've missed you, too.'' I hugged him tightly. It was a long ride from home to him. A little bit of plane, a little bit of train. And there we were, finally, together.

''Happy birthday, amiga. I'm a bit late, but you'll forgive me?'' he pulled back from my hug and picked up my luggage.

''Usually you're months late with my gift, and even tough our birthdays are months separated, we celebrate them together... This is great, they let me leave for Easter holiday.'' we were already seventeen, Fernando was almost off age, and we were still having our Winter time in Wolverhampton and Summer in Oviedo. For the first time ever, my parents let me visit him during spring, just one week after my seventeenth birthday.

I was almost done with school, I was doing jobs here and there, mostly earining my money tutoring. School still sucked, I, however, was great at it. I still had perfect GPA, I was spending most of my time drawing and I finally had my dream.

''Are you ready?'' Fernando looked at me with his big, brown eyes, smile not leaving his face for a second.

''For what?''

''For us to have time of our lives!'' Fernando placed his right hand over my shoulder, other holding my suitcase.

I came to Oviedo because I missed him. I came to Oviedo for him to help me pick college.

As of September that year, I was supposed to start college, to leave those stupid girls from my stupid High School far behind and to start chasing my dream. Fernando started with his own. He got into Formula Nissan, and he was damn good at it. He was one step far from reaching Formula One. I was several steps behind.

I was good at two things. I was good at drawing and I was good with cars. No so much driving them, but knowing their soul... That was what I was good at. I spent so much time with my dad around our old car, and having Fernando as my best friend made me love cars even more. My favorite thing to do was drawing his carts and designing his helmets. For some time now, he was wearing blue helmet with Spanish flag, the same design I sent him in a letter when we were just nine years old.

We were both crazy about Sunday Formula One races, I was still heartbroken over Senna's death, and it was hard for me to find someone else to root for. I had my new hero. My idol.

Since I was old enough to know what aerodynamics is and what car engineering is, I knew like who I want to be. There was only one Adrian Newey in this world, and I've been spending most of my time drawing racing cars and trying to figure them out. Since I was old enough to understand the importance of a car over a driver, and to know that it's not only enough to be amazing driver, I started to follow Adrian's every move, and I've been trying to catch every adjustment he'd made on the car. I was a full time Williams Team supporter, but since Senna died, I had a hard time finding another driver to be my favorite. In the deepness of my heart I knew I was waiting for Fernando to get in, but as the years were going by I was just hopping from here to there, following Newey's work and trying to find a way to get in. To be as good as him and do the exact same job. To design a perfect car for a perfect driver. To be a champion behind a curtain.

I knew I was going to go for an Engineering School. For some time in my goal was to get in University of Southampton, to follow the path. But as the years were going by it was harder for me to fit in. Ironically, I was wearing a name of England's most amazing city, and England was treating me bad.