Connections (F1 story)

Chapter Thirty Four: Limits

Out of all the races on the calendar, Great Britain is home to arguably the most formidable - if not, it is one of the tracks that the drivers enjoy the most.

Two days following Daniel's birthday marked the first day track side at Silverstone. The  Thursday was also the birthday of Sebastian Vettel.

To celebrate both of the drivers' birthdays, the members of the team that were around were called upstairs to the hospitality area during the brief morning break to present them with a gift and subsequently, a cake that had been made specially for them each. I stopped answering my phone for a few moments as I stood next to Lizzie, amongst people from both sides of the garage.

The sixty or so bodies burst into song as both of the men looked incredibly embarrassed, smiling nonetheless. Albeit we'd never make it past boot camp on the XFactor, we gave it our best- repeating the tune a second time for the few media representatives that were in the room at the time.

Once we had finished clapping and cheering, Vettel and Ricciardo cut their cakes simultaneously, before a member of catering interfered by chopping it up into pieces for all of us.

Daniel cut the piece he got handed in half again, receiving a smile from Paul as he did so. Unfortunately, my willpower wasn't as good as his.

I looked at the sponge that I got handed with what appeared to be a section of Daniel's eye iced on it. The cake seemed to be looking back at me, literally, urging me to consume it, so it was only fair that I did- making up for what Daniel hadn't eaten, of course...

Lizzie too scoffed a rather large chunk, muttering noises of approval as she did so. In all honesty, it was bloody delicious.

Standing chatting to members of the team, I eventually made my way through the cluster of people to wish Sebastian happy birthday- unlike the yoyo weather the UK had been receiving recently, in the past few days it seemed to have finally settled. Although not sunny all of the time, it was ten times better than constant torrential rain.

"Sebastian," I smiled, giving him a hug. "How have you been?"

"Yes, good. Busy, but good." He grinned shyly, kissing my cheek. "Have you had an easier time?"

"Eh." I shrugged, not giving anything away. "Not bad. Daniel has been keeping me on my toes with his demands." I gestured over to the Australian who was chatting away to the pit crew.

"I can imagine, not working you too hard though?"

That caused me to blush immediately. "Not too hard." I cleared my throat, stifling a half giggle, half embarrassed sigh.

"I'm glad. Britta, wherever she is, was looking for you. Not too sure what for though." Sebastian searched the room for his personal assistant and press officer.

"Okay, I shall go find her. Enjoy your day." I brushed his arm slightly, turning to walk out and back down the steps as he nodded, pulling a goofy smile.

The Red Bull hospitality area was nicer than most places in Northampton; it was bigger than the rest purely due to the sheer volume of guests that attended the race here. We were less than a twenty minute drive from the factory itself.

Tables were situated around the bright and airy room with a balcony that looked out over the pit lane above the two garages. Towards the front of the room, just before you got to the stairs and lift down, there were several microphone stands being set up for later that afternoon- a sponsorship conference, after one of the fan autograph sessions.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, thinking about the jam packed schedule for the day, that I bumped straight into the arm of someone.

As always, I right away muttered my apology, not looking up at just who it was as. I was already running behind schedule and a ten o'clock tea break certainly hadn't helped one bit.