Mirrorball - maxverstappen

3 - 5 years

„Papa bitte" (Dad please) „Kizim, I don't think you're ready yet." (kizim means my daughter in turkish) „What do you mean I'm not ready yet Baba, I lived alone in Brackley for two years" „No you lived with George and Alex in Brackley for two years, and that was just Brackley baby, Monaco is on another level, and you want me to pay for everything when you get down there? I don't think so" „Baba, I'm meeting Toto in Affalterbach (where AMG is from) tomorrow at the HQ to sign the new deal, I'll have money until I move to Monaco!"

4 GP's have passed since my debut, driving in a total of two wins and two podiums, I have yet to finish outside of the top 3. My performance impressed not only Toto but even the higher ups at Mercedes-Benz, Toto offered me a deal for, wait for it- 5 MORE YEARS, a huge contract with a lot of trust involved.

„Remind me to accompany you tomorrow, I don't trust that man too much." „Baba you can't still mad they didn't appoint you as the TP" My dad shakes his head a he watches his oldest son Kaan scoring a goal for his team. „That team would've had ten titles with me by now." „Baba the team isn't even 10 years old, forget that, please dad I love our flat in Monaco, I will move there eventually why buy another home when we have one there?" He rolls his eyes at me and lets out a dad sigh. „May god bless your Grandfather, because I was just like you at your age. You can move there at the end of the year" „AHHH BABA THANK YOU I LOVE YOU" I jump onto him and give him the biggest hug ever. „Kaan is flying in tomorrow, take the jet together on Friday, spend the weekend there and see how you like it." „Yes Baba, thank you!" I run upstairs and almost fall down the stairs, which resulted in my dad yelling at me again.

My mom was a Supermodel when I was younger, a tall redhead that doesn't seem to age. She and my father met 35 years ago at a Wedding in our Hometown in Turkey, as the Village was pretty small they were sat next to each other at the gurbetci table, gurbetci basically means someone that's native to another one country but left it to pursue a better career outside of their home country, they instantly fell in love with each other and married a week later, when my baba was 20 and my mom was 19. A year later they had their first child and you know the rest. I know how love looks like because of them, to my dad my mom is a goddess walking this planet. They worship and love each other as much as they love us.

After I moved to Brackley to join the Mercedes drivers academy in 2014, my mom kinda fell into this midlife crisis because she noticed that she turned 51 and her youngest child was ready to
move out. She established this charity that flies to different countries to stop child trafficking. I have no clue which country she's in right now, we never do, but I'm proud of her to say the least. I mean how many people can say they have a mom that fights child trafficking and is the face of Armani Beauty at the same time.

Next Morning

The drive from Stuttgart to Affalterbach does take quite a while, well about 40 minutes. My Dad travels the bumpy road every morning, AMG lies in this industrial part of town. I don't know why Toto choose to meet us here instead of Mercedes in Stuttgart, which would've been a 5 minute drive, maybe it was to rub in the role as the TP into my dad's face again, my Grandpa was, well is still on the board of Directors and was the last and deciding person to pick a new TP for the Team after Brawn left, ultimately my Dede choose Toto, he argued that he needed my father at the HQ and not traveling around the world away from his family.

A decision which hit my father hard, so hard that him and my Grandpa didn't talk for a whole year, up until my grandpa was diagnosed with a cancerous Tumor. Their relationship got better after the diagnosis and now that my Grandpa is healthy again they are closer than ever. Toto does remind my dad of that day every time they see each other, it's weird, like they're flirting but in a mean way.