the money shot (max verstappen )

french gp

lila had always loved france. the romance. the music. she loved it all.

the streets were crawling with people getting ready for the race weekend.

lilas picture of max's crash had been uploaded to the red bull instagram, as well as the one of him kicking his car. She had been praised for both and had to admit it felt good.

things were going well at redbull, and she was desperate to retain the permanent position. jacob had also been doing well, praised for his artistic outlook to his photography. david was also checking most boxes; he had a talent for capturing the cars out on the track.

for the french grand prix, the trail members were given relatively free reign, told to take any photos fit for uploading to the instagram.

lila managed to capture some relatively good pictures during qualifying but no great ones.

max qualified in pole, then hamilton in second, then bottas third and then perez.

The team was reasonably pleased and excited when race day rolled around.

lila positioned herself in the garage and photographed checo getting into his car, getting a great shot of his eyes just before he pulled down his visor. she was too nervous to try to interact with max again and so didn't attempt to approach him as the cars sped out onto the track.

max was filled with nerves, more than usual. he needed to get back on a winning streak if he wanted to stay in contention for the championship. he felt his heart race as the lights went on one by one, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

the lights went out and the scramble to the first corner began. max managed to escape without incident, but as he approached the second corner he went flying off the track, giving the lead to hamilton and dropping into second place.

he spent the rest of the race fighting his way to stay close behind lewis, gaining on him all the while. Fianlly on lap 20, lewis pitted and max knew he had to push. Lewis entered the pits only just behind max, breathing down his neck.

Originally the race was meant to be one stop only but max felt his tires begin to degrade.

"Box and pit confirm max. Box and pit confirm," the familiar words sounded over his radio and he obliged, putting his faith into his race engineers. He exited the pits in fourth. Lewis was now in front, followed by bottas and then checo.

Max pushed on for the following laps, finally pushing himself into third, past checo.

The following lap he fought alongside bottas, and managed to squeeze past him too.

Now in second place, max was desperate to catch lewis, the promise of victory fueling him as he pushed on.

The next 8 laps consisted of max giving it his all, slowly gaining on lewis. Finally, on lap 52, he caught the mercedes, managed to pass hamilton with only one lap left.

Over the radio it was confirmed that checo was in third, with a reasonable margin to bottas behind, it was going to be a double podium.

as max crossed the finish line, his heart soared and he was overcome with a flurry of emotions.

pride, excitement, and most of all relief that he had managed to regain his hold on the championship lead.

he mounted the podium with pride, dousing himself in champagne and smiling proudly. looking out into the crowd, he was met with smiling faces, mirroring his own. his eyes briefly landed on lila and his stomach dropped, reminded of the monaco weekend. he looked away instantly and redirected his attention back to the cheers of the audience.