The Racing Driver

Chapter 1

WARNING - As the story goes along there will be mature content and also language.

Mila's POV

It was the race day of the first race of the season in Bahrain and the first weekend I was going to be working with Daniel Ricciardo rather than Carlos Sainz. It was strange as I had been working with Carlos for two years but he had moved on to Ferrari after Sebastian Vettel announced that he was leaving the team. I still remember the day I found out that Carlos was leaving and his likely replacement was going to be Daniel.

It was the 23rd May 2020 and I had a teams call with Zak, Andreas and Carlos. With Covid going on at the moment there was a national lockdown so I was at home with my parents. The team had been keeping in regular contact so these meetings were pretty normal. I logged on ready to see Zak already on.

"Morning Mila. How are we?" Zak asked.

"I'm ok. How's everything?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm good. If you need to talk you know we are all here for you. I'll wait for Andreas and Carlos to join as we have some news to share with you,"

"Thank you Zak. I'm just thankful we have a bit of time off. Is there news about us returning to racing?"

"No I'm afraid not,"

Andreas and Carlos joined shortly after and Andreas spoke.

"Carlos I'll let you share your news with Mila," Andreas said.

I was worried what this news was going to be "Hey Mila. The news I have is that at the end of this year I'm leaving the team. I've signed a contract with Ferrari," Carlos said.

"Wow. Congratulations. Ferrari are definitely lucky to have you. Safe to say the team are definitely going to miss you. I'll miss working with you," I said.

"Thank you Mila. We've still got a bit of time together before I leave. And I'll always be here for you too," Carlos said.

"Thanks Carlos. So do we know who the new driver will be next year?" I asked.

"It's looking likely it will be Daniel Ricciardo," Zak said.

"So if it is Daniel then I'll be working with him I presume?" I asked.

"Yes Mila. As soon as it's confirmed we will let you know and arrange some time for you meet with him," Zak said.

It was only a few weeks later and it was announced that Daniel was going to be joining the team. Zak had contacted me and asked for me to meet with him, Andreas and Daniel. We were allowed to return to work so I was able to go to the factory to meet them. I remember that day as clear as if it was yesterday.

I made my way to the factory and parked in my usual space. I made my way into the building and up to Zak's office. I was ten minutes early before the meeting as I got to Zak's office. I knocked on the door and heard a 'Come in' shout. I went inside and saw Zak.

"Hi Zak," I said.

"Hi Mila. How are you?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm good. Glad to be out the house. I think I was beginning to annoy my parents," I said.

"Was it nice to be with them?"

"Yeah. I was going to stay with them anyway and I'm glad I did. I would never have wanted to be in the house alone,"

"How are you coping?"

"I've been better. I've been worse,"

"Anything you need. We're here. We have arranged for Daniel to come in and meet everyone today and have a tour,"