Horner's daughter

I like you. A lot.

The Styrian Grand Prix was upon them, the first of the GPs at the Red Bull Ring in the stunning Austrian mountains surrounding the city of Spielberg. To say Max wanted to win here was an understatement. As a Red Bull driver to win at his team's home race was always special. He'd done it before in previous seasons but of course he wouldn't complain about doing it again. Any race was crucial to his championship fight.

Going into the weekend he felt relatively calm as he'd come off the back of a win in France and managed to put the pain of Baku behind him. He hoped that the success of France would continue in the next few races so that he could create a gap to Lewis.

He was looking forward to seeing Y/N again. As promised, they'd kept in contact throughout the week that they'd been separated with Max in Monaco and her in the UK. They texted each other almost daily and Max knew that he was falling for her and falling for her hard.

They'd managed to see each other briefly on Thursday and Friday sharing secret smiles as they both remembered their time in France. Max wasn't sure what he classed that as. He hoped that it could be considered a date but neither of them had made that clear and he wasn't going to bring it up. He didn't even know if she liked him like that.

He shook those thoughts from his mind and tried to focus as qualifying was fast approaching. He couldn't afford to mess up in qualifying because he'd been preoccupied with thinking about Y/N. If she knew, she wouldn't thank him for it.

He remembered her words of encouragement, telling him that he was going to smash it in Austria. He smiled to himself about it as he lowered himself into the car and pulled down the visor to shield his eyes. Eyes that were probably shaped like hearts at the moment. He thought of the tingling in his cheek from her kiss last week and smiled harder. He was glad that no one could see his face at the moment.

With that last thought, he readied himself for qualifying, starting the car and waiting for the permission from his mechanic to leave the garage. Wish me luck, he thought as the smiling British woman invaded his mind once again before he shifted concentration to the task at hand and exited the garage, gliding up the pit lane and beginning his laps.

It was a successful session for him and he left the third qualifying session with pole position secured in his grasp for the race. It couldn't have gone better. He clambered out of the car, pulling off his helmet and balaclava and wiping his sweaty skin with a towel. He knew he couldn't get complacent as pole wasn't a guarantee of a win but it was a good start and for that he was happy. He was even happier to do it for his team and hoped that the race would go in his favour.

The next day, Max was fully in race mode, ready to bring home his second win of the triple header. Y/N had sent him a good luck text that morning and told him that he could do it. He took that into the race, his heart warming that she thought of him.

He dominated the race. There was no other way to put it. He was 30 seconds ahead of the other 19 drivers including both Mercedes and his position had not really been challenged. It was an easy race for him, not that he was complaining. He cruised to a third career victory at the Red Bull Ring and slowed down to take the flag and revel in the moment. Two wins out of three in the triple header, maybe Y/N was right.

He stood proudly on the top step, the two Mercedes drivers beside him. He wished that he could have gotten fastest lap and that Checo could be alongside him on the podium and hadn't had a slow pit stop but he knew that there was no time for what ifs. He'd still won and he had to be grateful for what he'd got. He lifted the trophy high in the air and uncorked his champagne as was tradition, feeling the cold, sticky liquid hit his skin.

Red Bull were impressed with the emphatic win and he thanked the staff for their hard work in making the car so much better than the rest of the grid this weekend. He grinned at Y/N, mouthing 'you were right' when he was sure that no one was watching, which she giggled at mouthing back 'it's all you.'