Forbidden

77. Singapore GP

The next day Max and Olivia woke up late, tangled in bed sheets. Unlike the day before, now they had absolutely nowhere to go yet, since they wouldn't have to be at the paddock until later on that afternoon, Singapore was a night race. They ordered room service and had the breakfast in bed Max had wanted the day before. After breakfast Max got a training session in, while Olivia wanted to go for a run. She texted Lewis to see if he was up for a running buddy, so they met down at the lobby 20 minutes later.

"Hey Lew" said Olivia with a smile as she stood up from the lobby's couches when she saw Lewis.

"What's up Liv" smiled Lewis "Ready to go?".

"Let's go" she said as she shook her head towards the door. 

They started running around the streets, heading to a nearby park. "You did incredible yesterday Lew, I really thought you were getting pole" said Olivia as they ran.

"Thanks yeah I really thought so for a moment, but don't count me out just yet Liv, I'm gonna hunt down your brother today" he said with a smile.

"Oh I know you will, but all you will get to see is his rear wing" she said teasingly.

Lewis laughed "You are becoming very competitive Liv".

"It's what spending so much time with F1 drivers does to me, so much competition" she shook her head. 

"Competition is good, it motivates us" said Lewis. 

"Yeah I guess" said Olivia "Hey, why didn't you go to the breakfast yesterday?" she asked. She had texted Lewis about Max's breakfast just like to the rest of them, he said he would be there but he never arrived. 

Lewis shrugged "I just thought it would seem a bit hypocritical from me you know? I don't get along so well with Max, I was just going for you to be honest, because you asked, but then I thought it'd be weird. Max clearly doesn't like me" he explained. 

"Ohh" Liv was thinking, she guessed it was true they didn't get along so well, she had invited Lewis because they were such good friends that it would be weird if she hand't. "Yeah I guess I get it, although I wouldn't say he doesn't like you".

"Less talking Liv, more running" said Lewis as he increased his pace, Liv tried to catch up with him.

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The race started an hour late and on a wet track. Absolutely everybody started on the intermediate tiers, hoping a dry patch would be created soon along the track. Then it was lights out and away they go in Singapore. As soon as the light were out, Max was struggling, instead of gaining places at the start, like Olivia was used to seeing him do, he lost 4 places. Landing him in p12. 

Checo on the other side was doing fantastic, taking p1 from Charles right away with an incredible reaction start. Charles kept trying to hunt him down as they both started breaking away from the rest of the pack.

Latifi was Latifi. Closing in on Zhou and forcing him to crash against the wall. The race had its first full safety car and after a few laps, once it ended, Checo had a fantastic take off again, setting the pace and accelerating at the perfect moment on a curve, breaking apart from Charles and extending his lead.

It wasn't until lap 11 that Max finally got back to 8th place, the spot where he had started at the beginning of the race. After a great overtake on Gasly on a curve, Max got up to P7, picking up the pace and closing in on Alonso.

It was taking Max quite a while to get past Fernando, he was right there in front of him but he just couldn't get close enough to make a move on him. He was stuck behind him for what felt like forever.