บท 12: That would be me!
Marcus stepped out of the team vehicle first, followed by Manfredi, Mark, Suzie, and Johnny. Reporters spotted them and immediately began snapping pictures. Ted Kravii, a prominent pit reporter known for delving into technical details, rushed over with his microphone in hand. He bypassed Marcus, thrusting the microphone into Manfredi's face to start questioning him.
"Mr. Ravetto, good to see you again. It was unexpected to see you all arriving after missing out on the Jerez test. Are these your drivers? It's unexpected to see Suzie with you. What will her role be? Test driver?"
Ted, not known for his tact when questioning, rapidly fired questions at Manfredi.
Anticipating this, Manfredi replied with a professional smile, "Good to see you too, Ted. We're about to take team pictures with our car, and after that, we'll make time for questions. All your queries should get an answer during that time."
"That's fine. You guys will be running the 2014 spec car, right? What are you expecting from the season?" Ted continued.
"Ted," Manfredi replied, still the epitome of professionalism but with his smile now gone. "We'll answer after we've completed the team pictures. Please wait until then."
Deciding he might have pushed a bit too much, Ted took a step back, allowing them to continue to their pitbox. On the walk over, they saw the pitlane becoming crowded with engineers from different teams and photographers snapping pictures. Some photographers tried to sneak detailed pics of the newest cars. This was not made easy due to barriers set up in front of all the garages. The Caterham team was no different, even if they had the least to hide.
Entering the garage, the four of them greeted everyone from engineers to pit crew. Today marked the official start of their season, and they were all buzzing with energy. They had a small window of time to get the pictures made before the track would officially open, so they wasted little time and pushed their car, the CT05, onto the track.
Now everyone was paying attention. The first picture was a drone shot with all the team members around the car. The second was with just Marcus, Manfredi, and Mark. Finally, the pictures with the drivers. This was what the media was waiting for. While the rest of the team moved back, Suzie and Johnny, now in their green and yellow racing suits, both sat on a front tire each. More pictures were taken with them, their race engineers, Marcus, and Manfredi, and finally, a few of just the car itself.
Looking at the team composition, the rest of the grid was quite confused.
"Why is Marcus just wearing a team jacket instead of a full racing suit?" one asked.
"He's not even part of the driver pictures. Not in the usual way, at least," another replied.
"They are about to hold their press conference. Let's stop guessing and see what they say."
In front of the team vehicle, a space was prepared for reporters to ask questions. The last time Manfredi was in a similar position, it was to explain the team's financial woes and how they were trying to tackle them. This time it was a totally different vibe.
Ted, not one to shy away from the spotlight, jumped in front to get the first question.
"Mr. Ravetto, first of all, I'd like to welcome you back to the grid. I think I can speak for all the F1 fans when saying that it's good to see the team get through its struggles. Could you explain how you managed to traverse these tricky times and..."
Manfredi took a second before answering, glancing over to Marcus, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Straightening his posture a bit, he smiled at Ted.
"Well, I'm going to be honest here. At the end of last season, we were all pretty much certain that the team was going to fold. As you might remember, there were plans to auction our assets to pay the debtors. The reason I can be here in front of you with all these people and with a car that is ready to go is only because of our new owner, who decided to believe in us and heavily invest in the team. Without him, all of this would not be possible. We have great people working with us, but at the end of the day, you can't do anything without money."
"And who might this new owner be?" Ted asked.
"That would be me."
Marcus grabbed everyone's attention with that bombshell.
No response came from Ted. He even lowered his microphone in shock.
Making the most of the moment, Marcus stepped in front. Manfredi mindfully stepped back, leaving the stage for Marcus.
Marcus had gone over this moment multiple times in his head. How would he do it? Would he act haughty, professional, or maybe just let Manfredi do all the talking? None of those. He was just going to be himself.
"Welcome, all of you. Yes, there is nothing wrong with your hearing. I am currently the sole owner of the Caterham F1 team. I saw an opportunity to save this team, a team with great people working day in, day out to get where we are today. Passionate people who are all racers at heart. I wanted to be part of that, and now I am."
"Now you all have questions, but we have to get this show on the road. So let me tell you this. No, I won't be driving the CT05. Our two drivers are right behind me, as you can see. Suzie and Johnny will be driving the car for us. They are both very talented drivers, and today they will have their first shot at driving their set of wheels. Suzie will be the first female driver in four decades, underlining her talent, and we want to give her the best-performing car as possible. Johnny here is a GP2 race winner and has shown he is a fast driver worthy of F1. Both of them will be helping us grow as a team, and hopefully, together we can produce some good results this season."
"So, you're not driving yourself?" A journalist from the German TV channel RTL asked, his voice sounding confused while frowning his brows.
"I believe I already said that," Marcus curtly responded.
"A female driver!" Someone shouted in the rear. "Caterham is now owned by Marcus," another confused voice could be heard murmuring.
"This is major news. We have to report it right now," one of the other journalists thought, and he immediately started messaging multiple people.
This was soon copied by almost all the other reporters, while a few were still bombarding the Caterham team with loads of questions.
A splash they wanted to make, and a splash was definitely made. A major one.
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Crosti Next chapter, we will finally have cars on the track.
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