Chapter 13 #2
After Erik finished his FP1 duties, they went to his changeroom.
“Remember how I told you we would need to learn how to be quick for in between sessions?” He said. “Now, is that time.”
Ingrid had always wondered what it would be like to fuck him in his race suit. It turned out that most of it had to come off.
“At least keep the vest on so I feel like I’m fucking you in your race suit.” She laughed.
“V?lva!” He shook his head, laughing as he grabbed her behind her head and kissed her. There was no self-control on either side. A new place, a new situation, it was too much for either of them to hold back.
“Now, that’s a sprint I could enjoy,” he said.
“Do you think anyone heard us?”
“No, we’re good at keeping things quiet, but I’m sure they all knew what we were doing.”
He looked at her mischievously.
“Erik! I’m going to have no respect in this garage!”
“Don’t worry, I watched you cast your spell earlier, V?lva. You’ve won them over already.” He laughed.
“By the way, you need to be more communicative with Hannah on the radio. I can tell you have a special code, but she seems lonely on the pit wall. Cut out, almost.”
“Umm, ok.” He looked at her. “Is this coaching me now?”
“No, just an observation from watching in the garage.”
He looked at his watch. “Fuck, actual sprint quali time.” Erik kissed her longer than he should have, and there was a knock on the door. “Ja, Jimmy, I’m coming.”
Erik took pole and Antoine P3. Nico was between them. It was a good start for Antoine at his new team, but he still felt disappointed. They were discussing it over dinner that evening.
“Ant, you’re getting used to a new car and team. You shouldn’t feel disappointed!” Ingrid said.
“Ja, mate, it’s a good start,” Erik added.
“I just feel pressure to prove myself in the team.”
“You, me, and Nico have been competing for most of the season. You’ll be up there soon.”
Ingrid was holding herself back from taking on the coach role. It was difficult not to do. She sat back and left it to Erik. He could feel that she was doing this.
“Plus, we both have Ingrid by our side now.” He smiled at her. “She’s changed the garage up in just a day!”
“I told you; she works magic.”
“I don’t do anything special,” Ingrid said.
“Jonny is in a much better mood. Everyone loves you. I don’t think Elizabeth has been so kind to me since I started at Wentworth! Plus, Jules hasn’t complained to me about my media engagements once.”
“Are you both ready for another day of it?” Ingrid asked, brushing off the praise.
“Yes, we don’t have a choice. Are you?” Antoine asked.
“I have a choice now, but still can’t wait!” She laughed.
???
Erik was unstoppable. He finished 1st in the sprint and took pole for the race quali.
Antoine managed to keep his position in the sprint and moved up to 2nd in race quali.
The cameras kept cutting to Ingrid during both sessions.
It was her pet peeve. Except the graphic now read: Mental Performance Coach and Svensson’s Partner.
Hannah came up to Ingrid after quali was over and gave her an unexpected hug.
“Thank you, Ingrid!” She said.
“What for?” As she returned the embrace.
“I know it was you who said something to Erik. I’m one of the few female engineers on this team, and it can be difficult sometimes. Erik and I are close, but sometimes I feel a bit left out. Today, I didn’t.”
Ingrid just smiled and gave her another hug, saying she had just made an observation.
While Erik was doing his press, Ingrid went to have her cigarette with Sir Lewis and Senna in tow. Oliver had left her a voice note.
Hello, Sister! My, my, you are just winning.
Gorgeous boyfriend, winning team, and looking stunning on camera.
How are you handling the change in situation?
Could you please switch up your look a bit?
You really don’t need to adopt your boyfriend’s jeans-and-T-shirt vibe.
I know you don’t want to be lumped in with the other girlfriends, but even that Carla is dressing up for races more than you.
I’m in Stockholm right now signing the deal with Lars and Alex.
We’re going out tonight to celebrate. We’ll drink to Erik’s success, too! Love you!
Ingrid just laughed about the wardrobe comments. She didn’t care. As she walked back to the hospitality suite, she bumped into Carla.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you all weekend!” Ingrid said to her as they hugged.
“I’ve been trying to hide,” she said. “Everyone wants to see the ring, and I hate all these photographers.” She bent down to pat the dogs.
“I hate it too. When they first started following me in London, I just made it as boring as possible for them. Sometimes I would just stand still and drink my coffee with Sir Lewis until they went away.” She laughed.
“Oh, we should do that! Stand still together, and they will stop taking their stupid photos.” She exclaimed. “I also have to think about what I have to wear to the circuit every day, and it’s so frustrating.”
Ingrid realised then that it was difficult to be a partner in this business.
“Why do you think I come in jeans and a T-shirt?”
“Oh, I should do that too!” She smiled and hugged Ingrid. “Thanks, Ingie, I hope I see you tomorrow!”
Erik and Antoine were coming out of the press conference at that moment. Ingrid went up to him and gave him a big kiss, holding their dogs back as they tried to jump on him.
“What was that for?”
“Just another well done for the day.” She smiled.
They all returned to their motorhomes to prepare for the first race day of the rest of the season.
???
On race day, Erik and Ingrid walked into the paddock with the dogs. Erik had less control of Senna than she did of Sir Lewis.
“Really, darling, we’re going to have to train Senna if we’re going to bring him along to race weekends.”
“This was your idea, not mine!” He put his arm around her and kissed her head.
Ingrid saw Carla and waved to her. She noticed that she had changed her look to jeans and a T-shirt. They shared a knowing smile. Ingrid went off to find Freja and Jacques. They had come through for race day. Freja was, of course, inspecting the garage.
“I see you’ve already made some changes, sweetheart,” she said and kissed her cheek.
“Just brightening up the place.” Ingrid smiled.
Ingrid realised then that this would be her first race day without being on the grid and prepping a driver. She had nothing to do but literally smile and look pretty. Erik came out at this point, all geared up. He kissed his mother and said hello to Jacques.
“Everything ok?” He asked her.
“Just missing work.” She sighed. “But you need to focus, so don’t worry about me. Ready?”
“Always ready.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “We’ll talk about it after the race, though. It’s important for both of us.”
Erik was ready and focused, but he still worried about Ingrid. He didn’t fully understand the adjustment she was making for him. It had been great watching her work in the garage. He wanted her to have that again.
“We’re all good, Hannah?” Erik asked.
“Might get some rain towards the end of the race, but you always manage that.”
“Ok, anything you need, find a way to speak to Ingrid.”
This was only Hannah’s second season as his race engineer. She had quickly settled into his little code language, but he knew she felt the pressure of the job, and he didn’t always make it easier.
“Oh, I will! She’s so friendly, Erik!” Hannah smiled.
With that, Erik returned to Ingrid. He would be getting into the car soon and heading for the reconnaissance lap.
“Should we do our ritual now?” She said, and he nodded.
Ingrid put her hand on his chest, but as she kissed him, Erik grabbed her waist and continued with one of his long, lingering kisses. The whole garage erupted in “woos” and “go Erik!”. Ingrid pulled back and blushed. “Don’t crash”, she whispered in his ear.
“God, that was so unprofessional of him,” she said to Freja.
“My son isn’t always the most professional until he gets into the car.”
Ingrid watched the race from the garage with Freja whispering in her ear about all the race craft at play.
This was a new side of Erik that she didn’t know.
Obviously, she had heard commentators speak of it, but to have his mother explain it was a completely different story.
She knew her son and what he did on track better than any commentator.
It was a dominant win for Erik, with Antoine finishing 12 seconds behind.
He had managed to hold off Nico, which was great for the championship fight.
Ingrid and Freja went with the rest of the team to celebrate. Erik was so excited that he would finally be able to celebrate with her as his girlfriend, a part of his team family. All the cameras were on them. Neither of them cared anymore.
???
There was a short gap between races. Ingrid had organised for some of her boxes to be delivered while they were away in the Netherlands. When they arrived home, she had underestimated just how many boxes she had packed.
“Ingrid, where are we going to put all of this stuff?” Erik asked.
“Well, if we made some space, like getting rid of your sim…” she joked as she moved as far away from him as possible.
“You can move right back to London!” He caught her and kissed her. “I have a little moving-in gift for you downstairs.”
“You didn’t have to give me anything.”
“Let me show you first, and then you might take back those words.”
They went downstairs to the garage. Ingrid couldn’t think what they would be doing there.
“Are we going out? We really should start unpacking first,” Ingrid said.
“Oh, we’re going out, but you’re driving.”
He threw her some keys, then took off the dust cover from a car. It was a new Jaguar E-Type 60.