In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Forty-Eight

"Okay Carter, you have one attempt left. Your last time puts you in fifth, 6 tenths down on Hamilton and Verstappen." I hear Dani say down the radio and I shake my head in annoyance at myself before pressing the radio button.

"Copy. Can I do anything or are they just faster?" I ask her knowing that there is something about it that I can do but for some reason, this qualifying session is not gelling properly. I almost lost the car into the wall in the Q1, immediately pitting so as to avoid it happening again before Q2, which I just made it into after Oscar Piastri put in a far stronger time than I was expecting from him. Fortunately, Stroll underperformed as usual and so I qualified fifteenth. Q2 ended with me only just making it over the line in time to do my final lap, although it was good enough for P5 and so far this time around I just could not hit the corners properly. "Nevermind, dumb question. I'll give it another go." I tell her as I push harder on the accelerator, checking the dash for the tire temperature as I weave more on the straights, slowly building the core temp of the wheels.

The Las Vegas night was not reacting how anyone had expected with the Pirelli wheels and as a result, it was doing my head in, nothing sticking the way that it had in the previous three sessions, tonight's session was with a cloudless sky whereas the other three had had considerable cloud coverage.

"That's alright Elodie, remember. Just one good run, that's all you need." Dani says, clearly understanding that I don't want instructions, I just need to get out of my head and get into the zone. I didn't need one good run though, I needed one perfect run.

With that in mind and for the second last time this season I pushed hard for my final lap of qualifying. The track is so simple and my dash tells me my tires should be at temperature, so I decide I'm just going to fully send it. As long as I don't completely total my car I can crash a little bit and right now it's all or nothing for me. I want the win to finish the championship. I'm not interested in finishing 4th to secure it.

I head down the famous Las Vegas straight which is cool but probably a lot more visually appealing for the cameras and tv watchers at home than it is for us drivers on track, I brake hard and as late as possible into the first turn of the track, hitting the apex perfectly as I do and pushing down with all my might on the accelerator as I pull out the corner and just pray that I keep the traction. With a slight bit of understeer that probably cost me a tenth of a second, I snap it back straight as I continue down the streets of Las Vegas. I feel my body pushed to the side as I take the next corner at arguably too high of a speed but somehow, as is the theme of this season, I manage to make it stick and continue down yet another straight...God this circuit was dull. Once the hairpin was done there really wasn't much else to it.

But I forced myself to keep my attention on the driving and push through the next couple of sections. Repeatedly pushing the car slightly over the edge as I fight with the car through the last corner, again almost losing the rear before snapping my hands on the wheel once more and going fully down on the throttle as I push the car over the line with sheer will more than anything else.

Dani had been totally silent for the entire lap without me asking or realising until it was over and I press the radio key, wondering if it broke. "Hello?"

There's silence over the radio and I try again, frowning in confusion before realising that somehow the coms had indeed gone dead as I continued on my lap before trying to bring my car into the pits, slowing down as I realised I had no idea how my lap had gone.

I pull my car up to the back of the cars in parc ferme and just sit there in a degree of confusion not really knowing quite what to do with myself. I get out of the car and do the normal shutting off the car process and take off my helmet, balaclava and gloves as I look around but stay near my car. Seemingly realising my confusion a female steward comes over to me. "I lost my radio," I tell her as I shrug looking around, noticing several tv cameras becoming focused on me.