Coming Home - A Lestappen Story

unnecessary violence

I'm sorry for the long break in between chapters! Had a lot of stuff going on and some writers block as well. Hope you enjoy! :)

Charles and Max spent the rest of Summer break tied at the hip. They both enjoyed each other's company, and a moment as simple as one of them having to leave for an hour long meeting was a task almost to difficult to oblige by.

But all good things must come to an end.

(Quick reminder on where the Championship is at the moment!)

Constructors Championship:

Ferrari: 519 (+1)

Redbull: 492 (-1)

McLaren: 408

Mercedes: 292

Aston Martin: 78

Drivers Championship:

Verstappen: 364

Leclerc: 341

Norris: 247

Hamilton: 177 (+2)

Sainz: 174 (-1)

Piastri: 162 (-1)

-

Zandvoort Grand Prix Week

Charles and Max hadn't seen each other since Wednesday and with it being the first Grand Prix after the long break, the media circus was full steam ahead.

The first major press conference consisted of Verstappen, Sergeant, Perez, Sainz, and Bottas.

The first question was directed towards Max Verstappen. It was about the Silverstone Grand Prix, where Max sacrificed his own position to push Hamilton away from Charles.

"Max we saw in your Silverstone Grand Prix 2nd place finish that you could have pushed for the pole position but you didn't and instead fell back and defended Hamilton. Anything you want to report about that?"

Max was frustrated that this was being brought up again, it had been weeks since that race. He couldn't tell the truth that he was protecting Charles' position, so he crafted a little white lie.

"Yes. My vehicle was reporting a small engine issue that prevented me from pushing my car to its limit. So me and my engineer made the tough decision to hold and defend 2nd position instead of pushing for pole."

That answer seemed to satisfy that of the press, but it didn't satisfy Christian Horner, who was watching from the back of the room. Max could feel his team principal staring him down, but that was an issue for after the conference.

Charles was lucky and had no conferences planned for that day, he spent the free time in his garage working with engineers on specs for his vehicle. Leclerc never really questioned how he won Silverstone, he had just assumed that his vehicle was faster than Max's.

It wasn't.

In fact, Redbull was the fastest vehicle on the circuit that week.

"Right before the summer break, Redbull lost its number one standing in the constructors championship. Do you believe that it is because of your teammates lackluster point share in the last 6 races?"