the money shot (max verstappen )

portugal gp

lila got back to manchester late monday afternoon and was greated by josh waiting for her at the airport. the next 3 days they spent moving all of lilas belongings that remained at her parents house into josh's apartment.  their time together flew by and before she knew it, thursday arrived and lila boarded her plane due to portugal.

her hotel was beautiful and lila made the most of their facilities, spending her first afternoon in the sauna and pool. friday practice rolled around and the trial participants were given their task for the weekend.

they were to supply the media managers with three photos.

on friday they needed to get a shot of the car, they were given the liberty of choosing where and when to take this shot but it needed to be submitted before 3 pm.

on saturday they were to take photos of max's and checo's new helmet design.

and finally on sunday they had to capture a celebration photo or, if the weekendwas not successful, then a shot from on the track.

they were of course still encouraged to take photos all throughout the weekend.

lila decided the best approach was to take a photo of the cars while they were out on track, and as such was in no rush when she first got to the track. she took a detour and took as many pics as she could on the way. both cars began their practice session and lila walked out to the track, trying to find the prime position. each time either of the boys shot past her she would snap as many shots as possible. in the end she decided her shot of perez flying around turn 2 was her best of the day and submitted it to the tammi.

the three trial members met with tammi later that day. as usual, she delivered her verdict in a paragraph, "i have selected jacob's photo as the post for today. craig, your close up on the car was beautiful, though as I mentioned at the last race, I felt it lacked somewhat in personality. lila, your shot was a great action shot and one i would likely select in other circumstances. however, in saying that, its not something i havent seen countless times before. a great shot, but just not quite up to the quality of jacobs shot today. he managed to capture the car starting up as perez left the garage, it was a beautiful shot and one that perfectly depicted the excitment we want to convey for the weekend to come."

lila had to admitt she was slightly dissapointed by the result and tammi's comment about her unoriginality just rubbed salt in the wound. never the less, she thanked tammi for her input and continued to take more photos throughout the day.

lila woke up on saturday morning determined to get the winning shot of the day but when she got to the track she was informed that the jacob had taken the helmets in order to get a more aesthtic backdrop. david was visibly outraged, pacing back and forth in the garages. qualifying was soon to start and lila had hoped to get a photo of the boys with the helmets. it was unlikely they'd agree to do a shoot after qualifying, they'd both be far to exhausted. the closer to q1 it got, the more anxious lila became, until she couldnt control herslef any longer. she set off in search of jacob, deciding it was her only chance at getting a decent shot before qualifying started.

she searched everywhere she could think of to no avail and eventually made her way back to the pit in defeat. as the aproached the garage, she could see perez and david. david shoved the helmet into perezs hands and he smiled awakwardly, clearly unsure of exactly what david wanted him to do.
a moment later checo was pulled away by one of the race engeneers and practically shoved into the car. before lila even reached the garage, he was off. lila felt her heart sink as she realised max was also already out on track. there goes her chance at the days winning shot.

regardless, she rushed out onto the track and did her best to at least get good photos of qualifying. after q3 ended she made her way back to the garage and decided she might as well get a shot of the helmet, even if she couldnt get one with the boys.
she took multiple and they were all decent but none of them screamed winner. she was in the middle of taking photos of the helmet when max, fresh off the track, walked into the garage.