Las Vegas Baby

I.

For Charles Leclerc, the year 2023 was difficult in several ways.

Not only because of Ferrari's weaknesses, which affected his races, but in addition to all this, his personal life was also a mess. He had a fairly good relationship with Alexandra, his girlfriend, but it felt more like an escape route than true love.

He has talked about this with Pierre several times, especially since the French pilot himself explained it to him. On their days off, or when he was away from social media, it was less stressful for him to wear the mask that he had to put on again around 2020-2021, hiding his true self. During the race weekends, it was inevitable that he would come face to face with the Dutch driver, who managed to mess up his head again, and social media didn't help him either, which was full of more and more posts about him and his rival.

Yes, after keeping a long distance in 2019, you can't help but notice that the two drivers are on good terms again, in fact, perhaps a closer relationship has developed between them than before. Because this really happened, even though they had known each other for quite a few years, grew up together, and even competed together at the beginning. However, Charles always looked up to his rival, who was only a few days older than him, and although they had several conflicts in the past, now they have managed to put this aside and really develop a more friendly relationship. And the repeated closeness of the Dutch driver brought out the deeply hidden feelings in the Monaco driver, so he couldn't help but feel that even though they were minutes away from their next race, his mind was elsewhere.

- Hey Charles. – his friend Pierre stepped next to the Ferrari driver. - Good luck!

They shook hands.

- Thanks buddy. – he smiled at his friend, then directed his eyes back to the stands, where a lot of fans were already waiting excitedly for the race.

They were on the weekend of the Mexican Grand Prix, he started from pole position again, with his teammate Carlos Sainz next to him, but he really had to pay attention to the one who started behind him. It was none other than one of the dominant cars of the year and Max Verstappen, who had already won his third world championship title.

- Are you worried? – Pierre asked.

- Why? – the man asked back, confused.

- Because of Max.

- I already know him, I'll have just little chance against him. – he shrugged his shoulders, while his eyes involuntarily fell on the Dutch pilot, who was talking to one of his mechanics in the crowd.

He didn't even see on him the results of last week's scandal, even though Charles thought that the Dutchman would be much more tense and depressed, especially since now he could only go everywhere with a bodyguard because of the unsportsmanlike audience. The fans were both a blessing and a curse for them, and the Dutch driver got a fair amount from them, even though he didn't do anything wrong. He made good races, broke records one after another and performed beyond expectations, yet the audience or the media always find something to get involved with him. However, the personality of the Dutchman has also changed a lot compared to recent years, in a good direction. He became much calmer and more balanced, but his honesty and courage remained. And Charles could only respect him more and more. He remained strong in front of the cameras, even when the pressure was mentally stressful. Red Bull just has one bad weekend and a wave of hatred started against them.

- You are lost in your thoughts. – said Pierre, who had been looking at his friend speechlessly until now.

- Sorry, just I was thinking about Red Bull. – Charles admitted.

- I had a hunch. – the Frenchman snorted and nudged towards to Max, who in the meantime was already talking to Daniel. - Something happened?

- No, nothing happened. – Leclerc shook his head and taking his eyes off his rival. – I was just thinking about the booed. He still has a strong chance of winning today. Do you think the audience will be disrespectful again during the national anthem?