Y/N Pov:
Today is the day. Sunday, December 12th, 2021. The last race of the season. Winner takes all. Either Lewis Hamilton wins his eighth World Championship or Max Verstappen wins his first-ever World Championship. Both men are tied in the leadership board, with both of them having the same amount of points.
Max and I have been dating for three years now and I have been his biggest fan since he was still with Toro Rosso in 2015. Every up and down, I was right by his side through them all. If I couldn't physically be there with him, I would be there with him in whatever way I could. Once we started dating, I had never missed a race or qualifying. There were some practices that I had to miss out on, so I can be able to be there on Saturdays and Sundays.
Going into this week, the stakes were high, especially after the Jeddah race that happened last week. Max was starting at pole position today. Nerves were felt throughout the paddock. There was still some time before the drivers had to get into their cars.
Max and I hung out away from everyone else. His arms wrapped around my waist and mine were around his torso. My chest is on his. His chin rested on top of my head. Neither one of talking, but we stood in comfortable silence. We didn't need to say anything, we already felt the unspoken words. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, it was our ritual before every race. It has been like that for three years. There was a gentle cough to get our attention. We turned to look at Christian, who without saying anything, told us that it was time for Max to get into the car.
I was always nervous whenever he got into the car. It's not like it's an easy sport. It's dangerous and anything can happen, God forbid. Even with all the safety measures that have improved tremendously over time. I get nervous not just for him, but for all the racers. We pulled apart from each other a little bit in order to look into each other's eyes. Without a word, Max leaned down and gave me a kiss. I kissed him back deeply.
"Ik hou van jou." He told me as we pulled apart.
"I love you too." He smiled down at me and I returned it. We got out of each other's arms and he took one of my hands in his. Our fingers slid down till they were at the end as if we were doing a handshake, we lifted our intertwined hands up in between us, then with our pinkies pointed upwards we both reached forward to kiss their respective hand. With our eyes locked on one another. It was our way of wishing luck.
As he began to pull away, his fingers lingered in mine for a few seconds before he let go completely. I went over to stand by near Max's father and the rest of us who are watching.
Soon enough the cars were in position to start the race. I put my hands together and hoped for the best. The red lights began to turn on. I watched as they turned off indicating the start of the race and Hamilton is already leading the race.
"Come on baby," I whispered. Max went on the inside of Lewis, but Lewis went out and managed to stay ahead of Max resulting in a few grumbles of protest.
Into Lap 14 and Max had pitted. Lap 15 and Checo was in the lead currently because Mercedes had pitted for Lewis. The anxiousness was growing and I could feel my heartbeat pounding. In lap 20, Sergio was still in the lead with Lewis behind him in second and Max in third. They had told him to keep Lewis behind. Then Lewis managed to overtake Checo, but then Checo regained his position. Into lap 21, Checo still keeping his lead which is allowing Max to get closer to Lewis.
"Vamos Checo!" Let's go, Checo. Lewis manages to overtake Checo, but Max has closed the gap extremely well. Time continued to pass with Lewis still in the lead, but in lap 53 at turn 14 Nicholas Latifi has crashed causing a yellow flag to go up.
"Oh..my..god." Everyone was on the extreme edge right now. A safety car has been brought out and Max pitted again. With Lewis still out, they changed Max's tires to the soft ones. I placed my hand over the necklace that Max bought me two years ago. It was shaped into his name.
Lap 56 and lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake.
"Shit."
At the end of lap 57, the safety car was ending. Max might be able to overtake now. Lewis and Max are currently side by side. The racing has resumed and Lewis was ahead. Max has fresher, faster tires. Into the final lap of the race and soon enough Max makes a late lunge and he's in the lead.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. Everyone around me was going crazy. There is no DRS for two laps. Into turn 9 and Lewis and Max almost make contact, but Max manages to stay ahead. Oh my goodness! Max crosses the line as the checkered flag goes up indicating that he won. The paddock went wild. Cheers erupting and claps took over. Fireworks began to explode as well. Max's father took me in a hug as we congratulated each other. Max won. He fucking won.
We could hear Max's cheers come in through the team radio.
"Max Verstappen you are the World Champion! The World Champion!" Christian yelled through the radio.
I see as he gets out of his car cheering and later breaking down with tears of joy.
"Oh, my baby," I said quietly to myself with tears of joy and proudness rolling down my cheeks.
Max Pov:
I hugged my father as soon as I was able to walk towards everyone. My eyes scanned the crowd for my girl. Soon enough our eyes locked, she was wearing the World Champion sweatshirt, and she ran over to me and jumped. I took her into my arms and spun her around. She giggled as I placed her back down. We weren't able to do anything as the crew had rushed over to my side and picked me up.
After that, they were all behind the gate. So I ran back towards them. I hugged Y/N again who was crying tears of joy. This was my favorite part. Everyone soon joined in the hug with the both of us in the middle.
"Congratulations my Wereldkampioen!" World Champion. She yelled. She kissed the side of my helmet. I then made my way up to the podiums after trading my helmet for the World Championship hat. I took my position and they handed out the trophies. We were then spraying each other with the bubbly, which wasn't champagne due to the fact that we are in Abu Dhabi, so respectfully it was non-alcoholic.
Y/N and I were soon in each other's arms as she gave me a "champion's kiss" as she called it. We kissed each other for what felt like minutes upon minutes.
"I am so extremely proud of you, my love." She told me.
"Thank you, beautiful." We gave each other a smile.
"Let's go home, so we can properly celebrate, Mr. World Champion." She gave me a sexy smirk and I quirked an eyebrow up.
"Is that right?" She gave me a flirty wink and took me by the hand.
As soon as we got home we 'properly celebrated' and then some. This was the cherry-on-the-top to the best day ever.
