beyond the grid - max verstappen

chapter thirty seven.

max leads the race from pole position, not any different from every other race this season, but the excitement I was feeling definitely was. there was no longer a sense of hope in the mclaren garage with daniel starting in ninth and lando in fifteen. mclaren wasn't a top team last year and it didn't seem like they would be this year either.

the smell of fuel and burnt rubber has become somewhat of a comfort to me. I place my hands together tapping my fingers in an attempt to calm my nerves as the cars speed down the pit straight.

I take one last deep breath before making my way to my seat at the back of the garage and once again there was a small paper bag with a smoothie sat waiting for me. for a little while it had completely skipped my mind that someone had been leaving food for me but now I just wanted to know who it was. crumpling up the top of the bag I placed it on the chair next to me. my eyes remained focused on the screens to my left, watching lando's stats but the food just sitting next to be is taking control of every thought I had.

giving into myself I took one sip of the smoothie but an instant feeling of regret fills my body. I place the smoothie down with shaky hands, bringing them to together as if I was praying setting them just under my chin as if it were a way to stop them shaking. I needed to refocus myself. I just needed to get through one more day of work before another week off.

with no significant dramas in the first three laps, I pull my phone out of my trouser pocket going through the photos I had taken of lando today. I made sure to organise his posts, collate captions, and then archive them ready to be posted after the race. i double-check the press schedule after the race hoping that everything goes smoothly. there had been no sighting of my parents today which I was thankful for and bella and el decided to watch from hospitality today leaving me on my own in the garage.

grabbing my camera from my bag I make my way to the pitlane wall, the vibrations from the cars flying past send shock waves through my body not helping my shaky hands at all. the speed they are going past makes it hard to track which car is lando or daniel, causing me to continuously check the driver standings to get some kind of order. I line my camera up with the fencing ready to capture shots of both mclaren drivers flying by. I don't have time to check the photos during a race but I was sure I had captured something decent.

it wasn't really my job to capture these kinds of shots, with the professional photography team contracted to send me any of the post-worthy shots they capture throughout the day, ready to be posted at the end of the race.

with ten laps to go till the end of the race, I head back into the garage to prep exactly that. more Instagram and other social media posts. I quickly grabbed my recorder from my bag heading back to the fence again ready to meet lando when he finishes the race. I made sure to book all of his interviews straight after the race. he wanted to get back to the hotel as soon as possible to just relax and have some quality time together before going out clubbing.

"acester what am I meant to wear?" lando groaned from his spot on the floor surrounded by every article of clothing that once resided in his suitcase

"how do you have so many clothes but still apparently nothing to wear?" I took another sip of my tea watching on as he held up each piece of clothing, hoping it had somehow turned into another shirt or trousers he didn't pack

"black jeans and this tshirt?" he looked at me with puppy eyes as he held up a plain black tshirt

"just wait a second" I turn on my heels heading back into my room. knowing that we would be going out to dinner with bella, el and daniel I made sure to pack something for lando that he could wear to dinner and the club "here wear this"