Turbulence [𝗠.𝗩.]

♦ Qatar, Race Day ♦

"A three-time world champion, and with six races remaining."

⸻

QATAR
17TH RACE OF THE SEASON
OCTOBER

"Shhh!" I hear as I'm getting my race suit on. It's Max. Of bloody course.

I'm grinning already, like an idiot.

"This is becoming a bad habit, Verstappen." I raise my brows, but my grin is still there. Why bother being shy and subtle anymore? Everyone knows. The media are going wild after last night. And who cares? Despite the mild blurring of the lines, we are capable of keeping things separate. We've shown it.

I'm wrapped up in his arms before I can say another word. He's still riding on a high, and I don't fault him for it. He's up there, with not only three titles, but all three in a row. He no longer has anything to prove to anyone.

"Going to let us mere mortals win a few races now?" I tease, poking his sides.

"Not a chance!" He presses a kiss to my forehead as I look up at him. The grin on his face is practically beaming with joy.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to wrestle it off you next year."

"You can try!"

"Oi!" Oliver's voice carries through the door. "No Bulls in here!"

We both laugh; Max lets go of me as I shove him towards the door. Oliver's not really mad. He's in pretty good spirits himself. Max doesn't even say sorry as he runs out.

"Sorry about that..." I start, only to be interrupted by Oliver chuckling.

"It's fine, Jess, honestly. The man just won himself another title, I'm not going to begrudge him this. Anyway, I wanted to tell you the latest off the FIA."

My expression drops.

Oh dear god. What now?

It's not that bad. Well, it is, but... No, it's bad. The tyre lap limit has been dropped to 18 laps, no matter the tyre you use. They've removed the mandatory stops, but we're forced into it anyway. We will have to have a three-stopper.

The only good of it is that the FIA themselves will keep the teams updated on how many laps are left for each car's tyres, and if there's a safety car, the laps completed under it won't count.

I barely understand why the last part is a thing, because I'm just a driver, not someone at Pirelli. All I know is that these rules mean we need some safety car incidents. But that means someone has to spin out or crash. I don't want that for the others.

Either way, I do get why the heat is a larger concern compared to the vicious kerbs as I head out on my recon laps. This is the hottest it's been all weekend. I know Singapore was tough, but I'm starting to really worry about the heat here. With the variable wind having died down, there's nothing to help you feel cooler.

At the end of my recon laps, I feel uncomfortably warm. My suit is trying to cling to me. I'm out of the car after turning it off. We have time, and I just cannot stay near the grid right now. I need to go and get a drink, and peel off the top half of this suit so that I can fucking breathe.

I'm not the only one. Some of the pit crews of different teams are sweltering as well. And the race isn't even starting. I go into the Jaguar garage, and Mateo stops me.

"No Sainz. Fuel leak. They found it about five minutes ago."

"Well... that's unfortunate." I don't really have much more to say. It sucks, because Carlos would do well at a track like this, but at the same time... one less driver to fight. "Any chance we have a cooling vest on standby?"