Horner's daughter

Silverstone.

This was it. The British Grand Prix was finally here. Silverstone. The iconic circuit in the county of Northamptonshire had been in Formula One since its beginning in 1950, when it was styled as the World Championship of Drivers. It was the home of British motor racing and it was always a huge event when Formula One was in town.

Max knew coming into the race that he wouldn’t be the fan favourite. As a rival to the home hero, he wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome over the course of the weekend. He understood it, the desire to support someone from the same country as yourself. His own fans, The Orange Army, were some of the most passionate in F1 and he was always grateful for their support. It felt good to have fans from his country behind him and to be representing them, doing his country proud. He couldn’t exactly criticise the British fans for their passion even though he knew the boos would be directed at him.

Silverstone was Hamilton’s territory, everyone knew that. He even had a part of the track dedicated to him, the Hamilton Straight. In 2019, he’d broken a 52-year-old record for the most wins in the British Grand Prix as an F1 driver and he was now up to seven wins. He was fighting Hamilton in the Brit’s own backyard and it would be no easy feat. Max was never one to back down from a challenge though and this was no exception. He was ready.

They were trialling a new format for the race weekend. They would complete normal qualifying on a Friday and this would set the grid for the sprint race, a race of 18 laps to decide the order of the race. Max wasn’t sure how to feel about the new system. He was trying to stay open minded and he tried to remain focussed on the task at hand. Whatever the format, Max needed to be at his best for the whole weekend. His opinion wasn’t going to help him win the race.

In the normal qualifying, Lewis had qualified first, ahead of Max in second and Bottas in third. Max tried to stay calm, he was sure there’d be opportunities to overtake in the sprint race so long as he kept Valtteri at bay.

Max proved to be correct as he finished the sprint race in first, adding an extra three points to his tally for the season whilst Hamilton received two points for finishing second and Bottas got the final point to complete the top three.

He was pleased with the result of the sprint, naturally. He was in a good place for tomorrow and he hoped that he could continue the good vein of form he’d been having. He still had Hamilton to worry about, his record couldn’t go forgotten and he had the support of Bottas. Unfortunately Sergio hadn’t managed to finish the sprint race and so he’d start from the back. Max would have to do without his help for this race, not that he blamed Checo.

Race day had arrived and contrary to popular belief, it was actually warm and sunny in Britain.

He’d received his first good luck kiss from Y/N when they’d met in his driver’s room just before the race. She’d smiled that same smile she always smiled, the one that told him he could do it. He smiled to himself, he might not be British but the woman he was slowly falling for was. It would be special if he could win her home race. He shook his head, trying not to get ahead of himself.

The time had sped by from then and before he knew it, he was lining up on the grid waiting for the five red lights to go out.

The race began. Max had gotten away well from the line but so had Lewis as they both separated from the rest of the grid. Max got ahead of his rival going through the second turn but he couldn’t relax as the Brit was close behind and coming back. Lewis wasn’t giving him a moment’s reprieve and he was forcing Max to think critically about where he placed his car and how he could defend.

They reached the straight with Max not getting the chance to put his plan into action. Lewis got ahead in the Mercedes, which was normally faster than his Red Bull on straight line speed. He inwardly cursed as they went round to Brooklands but knew he couldn’t lose concentration. He could get ahead again and that’s exactly what he did, seizing the opportunity to take his place back. He blocked out the crowd noise even as they cheered their approval for the close racing.