𝘽𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙍, max verstappen

chapter fifteen.

the morning sun cast a warm glow over camila's face as she slowly opened her eyes. today was race day, and a heavy sense of responsibility hung in the air. if she didn't perform well, she would lose her grip on first place in the championship standings, and max would eagerly claim the spot.

and camila could not let that happen. especially now.

as camila got dressed, she soon made her way to the track.

a rally of mercedes fans, followed by supporters of some other teams were gathered at the entrance of the track.

camila greeted fans, taking photos and signing merch, as fans called out her name from different direction.

but one fans statement almost caused her to pause, but in a quick moment, camila managed to keep a neutral expression on her face; "i hope mercedes can keep you next year camila!" the young fan called out, followed by another adding; "win the championship for us!"

camila managed to smile and nod, quickly turning away from the fans as she walked across the paddock.

the news must've gotten out, did mercedes make an announcement? camila hadn't bothered to check her phone.

as she continued to walk across the paddock, camila was met with the familiar face of meg, her pr manager.

"hi camila, how are you?" she smiled, camila responded with a quick, 'good, how are you?'

their conversation soon turned to what the pair were expecting it to, as camila questioned meg; "did mercedes make a statement or something? how do people know?"

meg's smile slightly faltered, but she had tried to conceal it. however, camila was too observant to let the action go unnoticed.

"mercedes hadn't made a statement yet, but rumours somehow got out, so we had no choice but to make one, i'm sorry camila" she attempted to sympathise, camila quickly brushing it off. she didn't want anybody's sympathy.

moving on, meg began to run though what camila needed to do for the day, which luckily, there was no pre-race activities, however she would have some common post-race media to do.

camila soon entered the garage, and the tension felt thick. was she just imagining it? or did it feel super awkward right now?

trying to brush aside the obvious tension, camila communicated with the team professionally, preparing for the race with the usual routine.

however the race was disrupted by the ever flowing rain; the race being delayed by three hours.

after the long and intense period of waiting, the race was soon able to start from the pit-lane.

and there was only three laps done, before a red flag was called.

and amongst the spray of water obstructing almost every single drivers view, the positions remained the same.

which meant camila was finishing in p3, and max was the race winner, if the fia decided not to continue the race, and by the looks of it, that was highly likely.

as camila parked her car back in the garage, the tension was thick, everybody knew.

if the race was not continuing, camila would loose p1 in the standings. but, with the news of her possible departure, the tension grew even more.

and as camila was offered pitiful smiles from almost everyone in the garage, she felt furious, she did not want people to feel sorry for her. this was her mistake. she didn't deserve to have people feel sorry for her.

removing her helmet and balaclava, her engineer, james, offered camila a supportive pat on the back; "race has been declared finshed, that's p3" he said.