Forbidden

80. Japanese GP

The flight to Suzuka was a short one, they arrived early on Wednesday morning. For Red Bull, the Japanese GP was an important one because of Honda. The marketing team usually had activities and videos for Max and Checo to film during the Grand Prix weeks but this time they were more elaborate, it was like a second home grand prix for the team. Even though Max and Checo hated these activities, Olivia could see them having fun. They were always goofing around and not really caring about  the marketing plans. 

Olivia always came along, ready to take some photos during the right moments. The week passed by in a flash. Max spent most of the days busy either training, doing interviews, or team activities. He came back exhausted every day while Olivia edited as many pictures as possible since they needed a lot of content for that week. 

To Olivia's pleasant surprise, Jos Verstappen did not show up, he had gone home like Max told him to. In a way, this was perfect, Olivia hated having him around and she felt lighter and more comfortable when he was away. On the other hand, she also felt it was so selfish from Jos. Max could win the championship that weekend, and he couldn't put his ego aside for a day to come and support his son. She wasn't surprised at all, but she felt bad for Max. 

On Friday, Olivia was waiting at the suite while Max had stayed at the paddock for a meeting with his engineers. Both bulls had a tough day at practice 1, although it got slightly better by FP2. As Olivia was scrolling on Instagram, looking at Red Bull's recent photos, the news of Max's contract broke out: his contract wasn't even ending that season but they had already extended it, until the end of 2028. 

"Oh my god" said Olivia as she read the news officially from the F1 page. That was a crazy long extension, 6 more years at Red Bull. Olivia knew it was the right choice for Max and she was ecstatic for him. She felt the need to celebrate it but knew Max would be exhausted when he came home, like he had been the entire week. So she opted for something small and simple to congratulate him. 

An hour later Max came through the door "Hello love" he said as he left his backpack by the entrance of the suite. 

"Hey!" said Olivia happily as she walked out of the bedroom and hurried up to him with a hug "I saw the news about your contract! That's amazing!".

Max chuckled as he hugged her back "Yeah, it's good news huh?" he said happily.

"Incredible news, it's a freaking long contract extension" said Olivia impressed as she let go of him.

"I know, I've been having so many meetings about this for months, I wanted to tell you but it's all really secretive and I was trying to push up my price so I would get the contract I wanted" he explained excitedly.

"Well I want to hear all about it now" said Olivia with a smile as she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the dinning table, where dinner (not cooked by Olivia of course) was already served for them. 

"Woah what is this!" said Max with a smile as they reached the table, there was salad, sashimi, sushi and most importantly tomato soup, Max's favorite, which wasn't even on the menu but Olivia managed to convince the kitchen to prepare. 

"I just wanted us to have a nice dinner, celebrate your contract. I even got your favorite" said Olivia. 

"Oh God tomato soup" said Max appreciatively "That's perfect right now love, thank you" .

So they had dinner and Max told Olivia everything. How he had been talking to Mercedes to drive up his price with Red Bull, how he had added all of these clauses to the contract to ensure he always had what he wanted, and he could bail out of the long contract if things went south.  It sounded the like the perfect contract for Max and Olivia was excited to hear all of it.