Offers and posts
Logan got a call early the next morning, a lady from the travel office telling him he will fly with Christian from Zurich airport at 7.30am. She called at 6. Logan jumped up and hussled around the bedroom, searching for his things.
“What are you doing?” Esteban asked, rubbing his eyes “Our flight goes at 11.”
“Mine doesn’t. The office called, I’m flying with Christian at 7.30.”
“Go take a shower, I’ll pack your stuff.” Esteban said, getting up.
“You’d do that?” Logan asked surprised.
“Yes, of course, now go shower, you smell of barbecue and chlorine water.”
“Okay” Logan said, running into the bathroom. Esteban packed Logan’s suitcase and backpack before going to the kitchen, starting the coffee machine and starting to heat up some milk for oatmeal while cutting up some strawberries. He heard Logan coming in and then felt him flung his arms around him from behind, cuddling his head in between his shoulders. “Do you think they’re doing this on purpose?” Logan mumbled.
“Maybe. Or maybe Helmut took things too literal again. There’s a to go mug above the fridge.” Esteban said while stirring the oats into the milk. “I’m sure it’s a private plane. I packed some OJ and a Greek yoghurt with strawberries.” Esteban said, filling about half of the oatmeal in a to go bowl, covering it with blueberries and crushed nuts “What’s wrong?” Esteban asked, seeing Logan stare at him. Instead of an answer, Logan stretched up, kissing Esteban deeply. They kept kissing for a while until Esteban pulled back. “You have to go, Cherie.”
“I know.” Logan grumbled, putting the bowl in his backpack, followed by the juice and the yoghurt.
“Take the Lambo, it goes faster. You have to stay within the speed limits at first, but when you’re getting on the A1L, past the park you can speed until you cross the bridge over the highway.” Esteban said when they took the elevator to the garage. They lifted the luggage into the car and Esteban quickly put the address into the navigation. “It will bring you directly to the parking at the private terminal. This is the access card for the parking garage there.” Esteban said, laying a card in the little compartment next to the gearshift. “Spots ten and eleven are free for you to use.”
“Please tell me you don’t own a plane, too.” Logan said.
“No, I charter for long distance most of the time.”
“You didn’t to Japan.”
“No, I’m using a smaller company and they didn’t have a plane available for the flight back.”
“And Canada?!”
“I … I actually thought you would kind of freak out.” Esteban admitted.
“Well, you were right. That you even have a Lambo is freaking me out! You have a Porsche and a Mercedes as well! I don’t even own a car! I’m using a bike in Monaco and borrow Max’s cars!”
“And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.” Esteban said.
“Any other shockers I should know?” Logan asked, resting his forehead on the steering wheel.
“The realty I was telling your dad about? It’s actually this building. I own it. The other appartements are rented out. I have five cars here, an Audi and a Maserati are in the back, as well as two Harley’s. I also own a chalet in Davos for winter break and an appartement in England, close to the factory. I think that’s it for now.” Esteban said, stroking his hands through Logan’s hair. Logan pulled his head back, looking at Esteban with a sad look. “Hey, I’ve been doing this job for a couple of years already, I earned some money and I spent some.”
“I know, it just … makes me feel like a slouch right now. It’ll blow over when we see each other again.”
“Okay, I’ll let you go, now.” Esteban said and they kissed once more before Esteban got out of the car and Logan started driving. It didn’t take him long to the airport, opening the door of the parking garage with the card Esteban gave him, driving past Christian and Helmut, who just stared at the car. Logan lifted a hand for acknowledgement and parked in spot ten. He stopped the engine and opened the trunk, lifting out his suitcase and backpack.
“You own a Lambo and a private parking spot?” Christian asked, walking up to him.
“No, I borrowed both of it.” Logan asked.
“Ah” Christian let out and walked past towards the private terminal. Helmut kept standing with Logan.
“Don’t ask me what’s going on with him. He called me late last night and said we’ll leave early.” He said.
“Well, he called me at 6 am, maybe it was some kind of test?” Logan guessed.
“Well, at least you stayed in the city then, I was in Bern, started driving at 5.30, didn’t even have breakfast yet.” Helmut complained while they started their way towards the building.
“I have yoghurt and oatmeal, we can share if you want.” Logan said.
“I don’t like oatmeal.” Helmut huffed “But thank you.”
“You can still eat the yoghurt.”
They sat in the plane and took off not long after, Christian sitting on one side of the table, staring at Helmut and Logan, who took the yoghurt and oatmeal out of his backpack, followed by the orange juice and an apple, which he also handed to Helmut.
“You sure you’re not hungry?” Logan asked Christian while opening the bowl with oatmeal.
“I’m not hungry.” Christian grumbled.
“Thank you” Helmut said to Logan, opening the yoghurt with strawberries “Why are you so weird? And why the early flight, we have the day off, media starts tomorrow?” Helmut then asked Christian.
“I thought Logan deserved a chance to tell us about his negotiations.” Christian said with a fake smile to Logan.
“Negotiations, what negotiations?” Logan asked confused.
“You’re getting contract offers for next year?” Helmut asked.
“No” Logan said, still looking at them confused “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you coming out of Otmar Szafnauer’s house with Toto Wolff.” Christian grumbled and Logan stared at him, then laughed.
“I’m sorry. Okay, let me explain. Esteban owns the building and lives in the penthouse, Otmar only rents an appartement on the third floor, he wasn’t even there this week, he’s in Austria I think. The reason Toto was there … they had invited Esteban to their appartement, but some things happened and it moved over to Esteban’s place. They never were there to talk to me. All I did was blow up a flamingo for Jack to play with in the pool and cook potatoes. I made some small talk during dinner, that’s it. I have no interest in Mercedes.” Logan said, looking Christian in the eyes “Or should I ask them for a job?”
“NO!” Christian said loudly.
“So, we are having this ridiculously early flight because you were a little pissed?” Helmut asked Christian.
“Whatever” Christian said and went over to the coffee machine.
They had a bigger breakfast at the hotel, because – of course – their rooms weren’t ready yet. Logan went for a work out afterwards while Helmut just fell asleep on a couch in the lobby next to Christian, who was now trapped there because Helmut dropped his head on his shoulder when he fell asleep there. Logan couldn’t do anything else then laugh when he saw them.
They were able to check into their suites around 1pm, still well before official check-in, and Christian couldn’t thank them enough. He called Logan to his room an hour later.
“I hope this is not some other kind of test?” Logan said when Christian opened the door.
“Test? What test?” Christian asked, letting Logan step in.
“Oh, Helmut and I tried to guess the reason you changed the flight.”
“Ah alright, sit down.” Christian said, sitting down on the couch and handing Logan a glass of water. “So, I had a long talk with Checo. He’s doing fine, the doctors are saying he can come back to racing at Zandvoort.”
“Okay, then I’ll move back to Williams after summer break.”
“No, you won’t.” Christian said and took a breath “The doctors are saying he could come back but Checo chooses not to. He decided to retire. He’ll be on medical leave until his contract ends at the end of the year. He will be at the Mexico Grand Prix as our guest, but other than that, he won’t be coming back. He will call you today as well, but he is absolutely fine that I’m telling you now. The talk with him was yesterday and I am quite happy, because that makes me not the ass for once, as I don’t have to decide between you and Checo. I called your management after we checked in and they thought this would be a definitely acceptable offer. They will leave the decision to sign up to you, though.” Christian said, handing Logan a folder. A contract extension at Redbull. Two years. Five million starting salary, plus bonus.
“Do you have a pen?” Logan asked with a smile and Christian handed him one. Logan set the pen on the line, but then stopped. “I’m dating Esteban. I can’t be sure, but he most likely will drive for Mercedes next year.” Logan blurted out.
“I figured out that much. I also talked to Toto, both you and Esteban will have to sign an additional NDA. We’ll find a moment after he actually signed his contract.”
“When will you announce it?” Logan asked while signing.
“Checo will make a post at 3pm, we will post the news with you at 3.30.”
The posts went online and the attention was overwhelming. Checo had made the video in his backyard, saying that he loves racing and F1, but that it is time for him to spend more time with his mate and their family. He sat on the veranda, his children being seen playing in the background. It looked happy and Checo himself looked happy as well.
The next morning at 7.55am, Carlos Sainz posted a video, saying that he would leave Ferrari by the end of the season, but that he didn’t plan to stop racing.
At 8am, Ferrari announced on social media they extended their contract with Charles for an additional three years. The post went viral in seconds.
Five minutes later, Ferrari announced that Lewis Hamilton would be Charles new team mate. It almost broke the internet.
Toto, Esteban and his manager sat together when the post about Lewis came out.
“Maybe we should post something today. Would you be ready for that?” Toto asked Esteban.
“Sure, I just need to make a call first. I owe it to Pierre to tell him first.” he said after taking a deep breath and got the okay from Toto to make that call. Pierre was surprised, to say the least, as Esteban has been driving with Alpine for quite some time now.
At 8.25, Mercedes sent out a post, thanking Lewis for everything he had done for the team and wishing him the best of luck. Five minutes later, they added a post, Toto giving the statement in a little video together with Esteban, introducing him as the new driver for the next season.
At 9am, McLaren followed, saying in their post that on such a special day, they want to announce something as well. Lando had extended his contract for multiple years.
In return, Williams agreed with McLaren, saying they also don’t want to be forgotten and that Alex would return for the Spa Francorchamps race, Fernando staying as his replacement until then.
Haas made a cryptic post after all of that, thanking the teams for making this weekend so exciting and promising news in the future.