beyond the grid - max verstappen

chapter fourteen

with imola being one of the tracks to have sprint races this year, the tension at the mclaren garage was once again thick. practise one hadn't gone too well with lando sitting in p14 and daniel in p15, there was a lot of work that needed to be done for qualifying. I stood with jon as he took lando through some final stretches and mental exercises before the start of qualifying. at this point I was there more for support than my actual job.

the two drivers made the way to their respective sides of the garage to complete final checks. daniel had taken time to himself, getting into the zone before hitting the track, lando on the other hand preferred to spend this time with people around him chatting and joking.

"danny!" I shouted over the noise of the garage, as they were notified there was 5 minutes before qualifying.

the Australian flashed a toothy smile before joining lando and I in the middle of the garage. the sound of the garage was drowned out as we wrapped our arms around each other. this was something that we had started to do before they left for the track, grounding them and comforting myself. I could sense the cameras zooming in on this interaction as they did each week, a scene that quickly became popular with the fans.

danny gave me a tight hug before returning to his side of the garage, leaving me stood with the young brit. he wrapped his arms around my waist, mine around his shoulders. I took a deep breath trying to calm my nerves. it didn't matter how many times they got into the cars, the nerves still racked my body, hoping that they would make it out of the car at the end of the race.

"I have a good feeling about this weekend" my voice muffled as I nuzzled my face into his neck.

"I do too" he pulled away with a large smile on his face. he placed a kiss on the top of my head before getting into the mclaren car.

I could feel the cameras on myself once again as I took my place at the back of the garage. as I looked up at the monitors, I could see that they were in fact zoomed in on me. more specifically my hand as I continued the pattern with my fingers; one, three, two, four. it was something that I started to do at a young age, a way to calm myself.

I slipped my headset over my ears, watching the two drivers leave the garage and out onto the pit lane. I continued to fidget with my hand, eyes glued to the monitor, only moving from my spot to hold the cool down fan when lando returned to the garage. my breath was still hitched in my throat as lando passed the finish line for his final lap.

"that's P3 lando! P3" my hands flew to my mouth as I jumped on the spot. this weekend was already looking up.

I meet lando in the garage as he is getting out of the car. you could see his grin even before he took off his helmet. he got out of the car, jumping straight into my arms, wrapping his legs around my waist as I jumped around shouting.

"five minutes and you've got interviews to get to" I put him back down on the ground letting him talk to the team around us.

the joy was radiating off of the kid as he made his way through all the interviews that he had scheduled, even stopping off to sign some of the merch that fans were holding through the crowd barrier. I couldn't help but smile at the simple interaction, knowing just how much it really meant to the people that supported him.

both mclaren drivers were pulled into team meetings that would probably take most of the afternoon. this was my time to escape. when I had attempted to leave for lunch earlier, I was pulled in for an interview by ted, asking all about lando; how he was feeling for this weekend, has he been training enough, the workout with lando and max. by the time I got away, lando had already come in from p1 and needed to go to his media duties.