Forbidden

65. Italian GP

It was finally race day in Monza. The week had been an absolute hell every time Max or Olivia went out in public. Max had lashed out on so many reporters who were asking indecent questions that Alice had him on close watch and had also warned every reporter about asking personal questions this weekend, it was off limits. 

It got to the point where they stoped going out of the hotel for anything non F1 related. Olivia was running on the treadmill instead of on the street, since the entrance of the hotel had been covered by the media since Wednesday. All of their dinners were either at the hotel's restaurant, the paddock or at their suite. 

However, it didn't ruin their time together. All the time they spent with each other was bliss, during those moments away from the cameras and the microphones, that's when Olivia could slowly see Max getting a bit of his spark back; but every time some idiotic reporter would ask Max about Ashley or her pregnancy she could see that same spark shutting off. Olivia wanted to slap them in the face. Max did too. 

Olivia had Max's arms around her, her leg around his torso, the sheets wrapped messily around them as they laid in bed that morning. Max brushed her hair away from her face while Olivia looked at him endearingly and tried to catch her breath. 

"Well good morning to you too" joked Olivia as she smiled at Max and she let out a deep sigh.

Max laughed, his bright smile made Olivia's heart feel full. "This are the best type of mornings" he said quietly as he kissed her shoulder. 

Olivia giggled and placed her hand behind his neck "You are gonna drive me insane".

"In a good way I hope" he said with a smile.

"In the best way" she said as she gave him another kiss. 

That afternoon they got to the garage, ready for the race. Charles had pole, but there had been way too many penalties before the race. So even though Max had ended in P2 during qualifying, he would be starting from P7 and Checo who was P4 in qualifying would be starting from P14. They weren't the only ones who were penalized for exceeding their quota of power unit elements, nearly half the grid went through the same thing.  

It's lights out and away we go at Monza, and just like the last time he had received a grid penalty like this, Max gained places right away. By the second lap he was already P3, Olivia watched the screen attentively, it was incredible the ease with which he caught up to all of them and overtook every car. Max was so close to the championship and he knew it, nothing could stop him now. 

On lap 12 Seb had to stop his car on the side of the track and they got a virtual safety car. When Charles went into the pits, the safety car ended and Max was able to take P1 from him. Checo had a long way to go, but he managed to reach P5 by lap 36. However, in lap 47 Danny Ric's car also stoped on the side of the track, on the radio he said he had lost the engine. There was a new safety car during the last few laps, when there were only 6 laps left. Nobody liked it, but still the race ended behind the safety car. Max had gotten yet another P1 and Checo went from P14 to P6 which wasn't half bad. 

Everybody at the Red Bull garage was celebrating, even with their grid penalties the bulls still did a fantastic job, even Checo who started on P14 had ended on P6, that was pretty great. They all went to the podium to celebrate, only this time Olivia made sure to be next to the team when Max exited his car. After jumping into the arms of the mechanics and celebrating with them, he removed his helmet and balaclava and walked to Olivia with a smile, hugging her tight and giving her a small kiss "You did it again" she said with a bright smile. They let go of each other as soon as they saw the cameras swarm in their direction.