Horner's daughter

Fuck you, Verstappen.

Monza. Italy. An iconic circuit, nicknamed the ‘Temple of Speed’ by fans. It had been in F1 since the beginning and was always a popular race. The crowd was always a sea of red as Ferrari’s famous ‘Tifosi’ filled the grandstands.

Monza was always special. The track was an integral part of Formula 1, a piece of history and also a joy to drive around. It was an adrenaline-fuelling circuit. The bonus was the Italian sun and Italian food he got to experience whilst he was there that he never complained about.

After an amazing victory in his home race, all eyes were on Max to repeat the success. He was leading the championship by three points and wanted to extend this advantage. Of course he had to watch out for Lewis as ever and Max knew that he had to be careful. He’d only broken his Italian curse this year at Imola earlier in the season. Italy always liked to cause him some trouble in the past.

He came second in practice 1 behind Hamilton but he remained calm, knowing that he had plenty of time to improve over the weekend.

After FP1 they went straight into normal qualifying as the sprint race format was returning for this weekend after its stint at Silverstone.

It was Bottas that would take the front row in the sprint with Hamilton behind him in second, making it a successful qualifying session for Mercedes. Max came third, which he’d always said he preferred to second so he wasn’t too worried. He just knew that he needed to put his heart and soul into the sprint race on Saturday.

Once again Max came third in the second and final practice session of the weekend with Hamilton and Bottas taking first and second and Sergio behind him in fourth. Naturally the pace Mercedes had was a concern but from that result clearly Red Bull also had a lot of pace for the weekend.

It was time for the sprint qualifying. Bottas took all three points by coming first with Max just behind him in second. He needn’t worry though as he knew that Bottas would be starting from the back of the grid as he’d taken extra power unit elements for the race. A surprise contender in Daniel Ricciardo came third to take the final point of the sprint. Max was happy for his friend and even joked with him that he’d let him by at the start and help him to win the Grand Prix especially because of Daniel’s Italian origins.

Lewis had qualified 5th in the sprint. Max knew that he couldn’t get complacent despite this. Yes Max would technically be starting on pole now but Lewis could still catch up and give him a headache during the race. He had to prepare himself for that.

Max returned to his driver’s room feeling relatively pleased with how the day had gone. He got lost in thought for a few minutes and was quickly dragged out of it by his phone ringing. It was his mother wanting a video call.

“Hey mom” he said when she appeared on screen, his sister Victoria beside her.

“Max, you did so well today! I’m proud of you” she said, smiling “Hopefully you’ll do the same tomorrow. I believe in you.”

“Ah we’ll see, the car is performing well but anything can happen” he still smiled though and they all chatted easily, catching up on what was happening in each of their lives.

There was a knock at the door and Y/N entered before her eyes widened as she realised Max was on the phone and speaking in Dutch.

She went to leave quietly but Max had already spotted her and was gesturing her over. He asked her to sit down next to him using his eyes and she did so, nervously.

He switched to English so that Y/N could understand “Mom, Victoria, there’s someone I want you both to meet.” He turned the camera so that Y/N’s face was also in the frame. “This is Y/N. She’s my girlfriend. Y/N, this is my mom, Sophie and my sister, Victoria.”