Grand Prix Page #8

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So long, Nino. Congratulations.

I feel wonderful.

Yeah, come in.

How are you?

I'm pretty bloody awful.

How are you?

Would you...

...care to sit down?

This has been a ridiculous few weeks,

hasn't it?

Has it?

Well, I mean, seeing each other

at the races and not...

Well, ignoring each other.

Trying to.

I've been alone.

You know that, don't you?

Yeah. Here.

- Pete said you had guts, and I...

- I'm not really interested in what he said.

I certainly don't want to discuss him

with you. I've told you.

I didn't mean...

I meant that when he said you had guts,

I said you were only stubborn.

I just wanted to tell you

that he was right and I was wrong.

Watching what you've been doing

these past few weeks...

You shouldn't have been doing it alone.

Yeah, there's only room for one

in the car, you know.

- I don't mean that. You know I don't.

- I know.

It was a joke.

Do you still want me, Scott?

Yes.

I still feel the same

about what you're doing.

That hasn't changed, you know.

I think you're a fool.

Yeah, I know.

But...

...I haven't changed either, you know.

I mean...

...I really can't promise you anything.

That's all right.

That's the problem, really.

People promise each other too much.

What's wrong, Jean-Pierre?

What is it?

There's nothing you can do

about what's wrong with me, Louise.

I won't admit that

until I know what's troubling you.

I suppose what's wrong with me

is my life.

But I can't change it. Or won't.

So there's nothing you can do for me.

What's wrong with your life?

I've begun to see the absurdity of it.

All of us.

Proving what?

That we can go faster?

And perhaps remain alive?

Nino, gambling his life for a trophy...

...then fills it with beer and does tricks.

Stoddard, filling himself with drugs

in order to drive...

...and still passing out with the pain.

Don't you see how absurd it all is?

Who cares?

I thought you cared.

For yourselves.

I didn't know you asked it

of anyone else.

Nevertheless, others do care.

A hundred thousand

of them cared today.

And did you see them rush

to see Peter burn?

Did you see the looks

on their faces? I saw.

For the first time today,

I really saw those faces.

But not all of them, Jean-Pierre.

There are some who come for that,

for the accidents and the fires.

But the others,

the others ride with you, maybe.

You put something in their lives

that they can't put there themselves.

Are you one of those?

It doesn't matter.

Yes, it does.

Maybe I am one of those.

When I came here three months ago...

...there was a place in my life

that needed to be filled.

You've done that.

You and, I suppose,

the excitement of what you do.

But you offered me these things.

You can't condemn me now

for having accepted them.

No, I don't condemn you

for that, darling.

Sorry.

Jean-Pierre, you can stop.

If you feel as you do,

you could stop now.

No, it's not so easy.

Not so easy.

Not so easy.

With the Italian Grand Prix

at the Monza Autodrome...

... they're using a combination

of the banked oval high-speed track...

... and the road circuit.

The whole thing comes

to six and a quarter miles...

... just over half of this length

being the road circuit...

... with its fast corners

and long straights.

By itself, it's one of the

fastest circuits in the world.

And combined with the oval track,

it should give some phenomenal speeds.

Why hasn't my car arrived, Guido?

It's no longer in my hands,

Jean-Pierre.

What's the trouble?

My car hasn't arrived

from the factory.

The same thing

has happened before.

Not to me, but to other drivers

who have fallen from grace.

Pressure.

Pressure?

Isn't there enough of that as it is?

You have to grasp the mind

of Signor Manetta, my darling.

If a driver can be reached

by those tactics...

...it means he probably will fear

for his place on the team.

That is exactly

what Manetta wants.

Because that driver will try

all the harder to win.

He will perhaps take a risk

which he would ordinarily avoid.

And risks are always risks.

But the car will come.

Well, if it doesn't,

I'll use my influence...

...and I'll get you the best seat

in the grandstand.

- No sign of it?

- No.

Don't worry, Jean-Pierre.

That's what they want you to do.

He makes a great mistake, then.

Are you sure

you wanted it to come?

A maximum of about 180 miles an hour

can be expected from these 3-liter cars...

... on this high banking,

where they get...

... a pounding from the rough surface and

the strain imposed by centrifugal force...

... before they swoop down

onto the road circuit again...

... where cornering power

and handling are at the premium.

- Good afternoon, Nino.

- Madame Sarti.

Have you met Miss Frederickson?

Madame Sarti.

- Hello, Monique.

- Hello, Louise.

So you are leading in points

for the championship, Nino.

But not by as many points

as I would like, Madame Sarti.

All you have to do

is to beat my husband.

The question is,

is he ready to be beaten?

Please excuse me,

I have some work to do back at the hotel.

- Nino, tell Jean-Pierre...

- Yes, yes.

- She's quite good-looking, isn't she?

- Yes.

Of course, for one

who cares for the type.

Yes. Excuse me,

Madame Sarti.

Oh, no, wait.

Let me stand... It's better?

The question is, Jean-Pierre,

what are you going to do about it?

Do?

I don't understand.

The time for losing comes

to every man, of course.

I had not expected yours

to come so soon.

There have been problems with the car.

Come, come, Sarti.

I expect excuses like that

from lesser men than you.

You've been one of the best

that ever lived.

There is no question of that

in my mind.

Never a wrong move, the concentration

always there 100 percent.

Until this woman.

You have been misled,

Signor Manetta.

Do you take me for a trained dog

to jump at the snap of your fingers?

My life belongs

to no one but myself.

I've been thinking seriously

of your retirement, Sarti.

Then retire me now.

Kindly lower your voice.

Of course I will not retire you now.

Tomorrow there is a race to be run.

And I also well know

that you want to drive it.

But after tomorrow,

who knows, Jean-Pierre?

After tomorrow, Signor Manetta,

I will decide to retire or not.

Sarti, you are even further gone

than I thought.

A pity.

A great pity.

I always considered you

to be the best.

I'm still the best.

What brings you

to Monza, Monique?

- Business, of course.

- Of course.

Nino wonders if you're ready

to be beaten.

No one is ever ready for that.

You will never retire,

Jean-Pierre.

What does it matter to you, Monique?

- To me?

- Yeah.

As always, as a hero,

you're a good asset to the company.

Well, perhaps I'm tired

of being an asset for the company.

And tired too, of this farce we perform,

you and I, for public consumption.

But it doesn't really matter that you

are tired of these things, Jean-Pierre.

If you should decide not to continue

with the... The farce, as you call it...

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