Well, enough for tonight.
Maybe he could ask to use the factory sim this weekend. No one else will be there while the real race is happening.
Julien is the first into the stream, which is rare. He sets everything up to run the endurance track before scrolling the chat and adjusting the mic of his headphones.
“Hey Julien!”At least Mick isn’t far behind.“Ferraro’s not upset you’re missing the Dutch GP this weekend, right?”
“Yeah, it’s cool.” What’s the etiquette on running a couple of warm-up laps before everyone else arrives? They’re kinda on a time crunch. “I always request off for endurance races. I think this is the only one that overlapped this season, actually.”
“What happens if something… well, happens?”
“Peters or Windwood will fill in.” Julien shrugs. “There are three of us. I’m the only one who isn’t also racing in another series, so I’m usually the one who travels with the team.”
“You get paid more for that?”
Julien snorts. “Fuck no. Everyone here would be super disappointed in my salary. Five figures. I think John makes more walking dogs than I do as a reserve.”
“So a bunch of things are going to change next year, huh?”
Actually, Julien’s salary hasn’t changed at all since he started four years ago. He should look into that. “I doubt it.”
“Doubt it? All anyone can talk about is which team you’re gonna choose. I’m sure they’ll all throw tons of money at your feet—millions, easy.”
“Oh.” That’s a good point. Julien hadn’t thought about the money full-time drivers make. “Yeah, but that’s just one thing. I’ll still be the same guy. I’ll still stream and everything.”
“Yeah, but you won’t be able to do endurance races with us anymore. You’ll have real driving to do.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Actually, he can’t. Barring a serious medical emergency, full-time drivers are expected to be at every race. More than that—drivers are expected towantto be at every race.
He’ll figure it out.
When Julien meets up with the team again at Monza, he’s overwhelmed by the reception. In between hordes of Italian fans screaming his name, random people from the team alsowelcome him back, like they noticed he was missing for a weekend.
It was just one race. He’s skipped a bunch of races over the years—no one ever noticed before.
Davide pats him on the back and says, “Missed you last weekend.”
It’s kinda nice.
“Julien!” Rafael’s voice rings out from across the garage before Julien can even spot him. He watches as the Brazilian driver dodges power tools and bodies to catch up. “Where were you last weekend? Haven’t seen you since the factory.”
“You missed me?” Julien teases.
“Yeah, of course.” How can Rafael say that? Like it’s not the most embarrassing thing to admit about an old situationship? “You’re my good luck charm—I only finished fifth.”
Julien already knew that—he watched the race between sessions. Still, he grimaces in solidarity. “That stings.”
“It sucks. But what about you? Why weren’t you here? They had some child in your place.” Rafael points his thumb back to the area where Julien usually stands.
“I had my own race—endurance eRacing.”
“Yeah? How’d you do?”
“Our team got third.”
“At least one of us got a podium.” Rafael laughs. “Out of how many people? A full twenty?”
