Veni Vidi Amavi - [Daniel Ricciardo]

2.0

"Congrats, Gudrun!". Chris was the first one to wrap her up in a hug as soon as she got around the corner of Daniel's pit box. "Oh, thank you so much". She smiled and hugged the head of the mechanics back. "Daniel told us during the meeting this morning, what absolute stunning news for you two". He smiled and let go of her. "We're very happy with the news indeed. He can't wait for the baby to be born, obviously". Gudrun playfully rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Ricciardo, how could that happen?". Christian Horner had spotted her in the garage too and walked up to her to shake her hand, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "You know". She waved him away. "Men won't rush into anything except sex". Gudrun continued and it made the men laugh. "What's so funny?". Daniel came up behind them with a smile as he got that something Gudrun had said made Chris and Christian (haha) laugh so much. "Well, your wife's just incredibly funny". Chris smiled and went back to work before the race would start.

"Christian asked what happened for me to become pregnant and I just said men won't rush into anything except sex". Gudrun shrugged and Daniel chuckled, visibly amused as his eyes sparkled. His arm curled around her to bring her into his chest. "Congratulations, Gudrun". Michael squeezed her arm with a smile and moved passed them to get Daniel's helmet and other things ready. "Come back to us in one piece, will you?". Gudrun said, briefly caressing his stubbled cheek. It made him smile again and he nodded at her. "You know I'm careful". Daniel leaned towards her for a quick kiss and then spun around to take his balaclava from Michael. He pulled the fireproof piece of cotton over his head and tucked it into his racing overall, before adding his helmet on top of that. Gudrun crossed her arms over each other as she was seated in the back of the pit box with her headphones on, ready to see that race from her comfortable, warm spot there. The guys immediately offered help for everything, which made her laugh as she wasn't that far into the pregnancy, so she wasn't tired or suffered from backpains or something like that.

Daniel gave her a cheeky wave before hopping into the car, swinging his leg over the halo and sitting down. Chris strapped him into his seat and Michael threw him his gloves, which he pulled over his fingers for the short lap towards the grid. Gudrun was always nervous before the start. It seemed to take an eternity for the guys to get there and it took them even longer to finish the formation lap and let the lights flicker off. She wrapped her hands up in the Red Bull jacket, Daniel's jacket, she wore, hoping it would warm her cold hands that were freezing from the nervous that rushed through her bloodstream. Dilara looked at her with a smile as she was standing on the other side of the pit box for Max. The sun was shining outside and there was no trace of rain to be seen on the radar. Daniel parked his car on P4 and was strapped into his car again after the national anthem and some short interviews before the race. His eyes were focused on the red lights and as soon as they flickered off, he sped away.

Gudrun held her breath as the safety car was employed in the first lap already, luckily Daniel was not involved. Brendon Hartley and Lance Stroll had collided and had to park their cars, both okay and able to get out. The mess was cleared after a couple of clean laps and Daniel's time to Lewis was getting less. The Mercedes Pitwall had given away that Lewis had dropouts in power, but actually no one believed it till they could see it was true. Daniel's laptimes were incredibly fast and everyone was wondering when he would overtake him. Both Max and Lewis came through the pitlane for their stops and Daniel followed a lap afterwards. The mechanics never failed to amaze Gudrun how quick they could put a new set of heavy tires on the car within two seconds. Daniel had a flying lap before he went into the pits, the speedy work of the guys helping him and he made an overcut, taking over Lewis while he was in the pitlane to get his tires changed. Everyone clapped and Gudrun smiled in happiness for her husband.

After that, it was quite a steady race. Not many things happened, especially not for Red Bull, even though Max was getting closer and closer to Bottas. Daniel's side of the garage was just holding their breaths as Lewis seemed to have more power back in his Mercedes and was nearing Daniel during the last couple laps. Christian was bumping his knee up and down and the mechanics were tense too, curious for what was going to happen. Daniel luckily kept his P4 and came across the line with a solid set of points. Gudrun was happy for him, yet she knew he probably disappointed as he could've been on the podium too, just like his teammate. The other side of the pit box was getting ready to move towards Parc Fermé and celebrate Max' third place, while Daniel's crew slowly started to clear the chairs they sat on and rolled out the tyre racks. Daniel got out of his car with a good feeling. The circuit of Montreal wasn't their best circuit and they had managed to get a decent couple of points, sadly not a double podium.