Those Who Wait (Formula 1 - Daniel Ricciardo)

28... Rain Delays

We'd buried my mum the day after the Russian GP, having watched the race as a family. I hadn't spoken to Dan and I knew that only Millie had been in contact with him about the funeral, kindly asking him to give me the space I had asked for and leave anything he wanted to say until he saw me in person.

With my grandfather's words sticking in my mind, I plowed forward with preparations for the next grand prix weekend. Already having spent a lot of time in the simulator during my unusually long stint in the UK, I added to this with a few more sessions before heading back out to Monaco with Jen for a short period. Staying back in the Stewart apartment, as opposed to the one just across the corridor, I didn't see so much of a glimpse of the Australian while in Monaco. According to the very reliable source of his trainer Stu, Dan was away in South America with some friends from Australia. This was perfect for me, as while I knew we needed to talk again at some point, I wanted just a little more time and space.

I wanted to get my head straight.

I then flew out to the states on the Sunday before the Grand Prix with Jen and Heather. A few days in California to do a little more training, at a lower intensity, have some fun surfing the waves with my sister, and to mess around with my hair. I've never mentioned Heather's job before, but as a hair and makeup artist, she was just about one of the only people I would let loose on my hair. And with more than 10 years of long blonde locks, it was about time for change.

We flew into Austin on the Wednesday, spending the first day in Texas with Millie and a few others from the Red Bull press team. By the time we'd checked into the hotel it was early afternoon, but we were soon heading out into town to check out the shops and to buy some western boots. Then I'm sure you can guess what we got up to that evening... line dancing in a traditional saloon. It was the perfect start to the weekend where I hoped to come back better than ever.

*

Despite Thursday's track walk being dry, by the time free practice arrived on Friday I was incredibly happy to have bought a pair of boots earlier in the week. The rain was beginning to pour with Hurricane Patricia due to hit Mexico on Saturday, Austin on the outskirts of the huge storm.

Free practice 1 was my first taste of driving since Japan, with or without rain, but the added moisture didn't dampen my driving in the slightest. In fact I found myself 2nd fastest on track behind Rosberg. A great start to the weekend, with Dan 3rd fastest in the wet practice session.

On the topic of Daniel Ricciardo, I had somehow managed to avoid my teammate for most of the weekend so far, or atleast I hadn't had to talk to him... yet. But word about the garage was that he'd been asked about me several times during the drivers' press conference on Thursday.

With the rain falling much heavier as we approached FP2 and the chance of lightening, the second session of the weekend was cancelled, and it was just as I was planning to leave the garage that Daniel decided to strike. 18 days and 23 hours since we'd last spoken. The longest we'd gone without speaking in a very long time.

"You've got blue hair."

"And you've got dreadful facial hair again."

It possibly wasn't the best first thing to say to each other, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Of course he was right, my hair was blue, well the very tips were and it was a little shorter. And his tradition of shaving a weird beard for the race in Texas seemed to be holding up.

"I heard about your mum..."

"Hmm." I pursed my lips, looking away into the distance. It wasn't surprising that he'd brought it up, after all I knew he'd been told... and I also knew he'd been asked to leave me to it. Because that's what I had wanted.