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LUCIANO AVENI REMEMBERS WHEN HE FIRST MET MAX VERSTAPPEN. It was June 18, 2015. The day before the Austrian Grand Prix. He was nineteen years old at the time, currently in his third year of university, participating in an internship program for Red Bull Racing. Only for the summer. So, it wouldn't be very long. Twelve weeks. At most forty hours per week he had to work. Max was seventeen years old then, turning eighteen later on in the year, newly appointed to the grid at the beginning of the year, one of the drivers for Scuderia Toro Rosso, youngest ever Formula One driver. A career that would make or break him. A kid in a sport full of men. He was an ant in a world of giants. The rookie. Everyone else on the grid was at most twice his age.
Luciano is currently lounging around, seated on a chair closest to the door of the room. He's staring at the clock on the wall, wishing the time would go by faster. He was bored. Nothing interesting is happening right now. It's the late afternoon, so most of the press conferences and anything else that had taken place today for Media Day were over. So it was just a rest and relax period for the next few hours.
"Luciano," the boy looks up when his supervisor and mentor, Callum Barlow, calls his name. "Come here for a second. I'd like you to meet someone."
The boy slides off of the chair and hurries over to the table without a second thought. There's a boy sitting in one of the chairs at the table on the other side of the room, phone in hand as he types away hastily. At the sound of footsteps, he turns his phone off and slips it into his pocket, looking up at Luciano. Luciano stares at him, noticing that the boy at the table is red-faced and blue-eyed blond boy. He looks pretty young. He couldn't have been eighteen yet. Definitely doesn't look like it. All the signs pointed to it. He has a bit of a babyface that's hollowing out more into a defined facial structure. It's noticeable, but not too much. You had to really be paying attention in order to see that, since the fat that's in his cheeks is much more prominent than the line of his jaw. Just how old is this kid?
"This is Max Verstappen," Callum explains, introducing the blond to him. "He's on the grid this year, driving for Toro Rosso."
"Ciao, I'm Luciano Aveni," Luciano greets, offering his hand for Max to shake in greeting. Max hesitates, a look of uncertainty crossing his face as he glances toward the other boy's outstretched hand. Luciano drops it, giving him a smile instead.
Max remains silent, just staring at him. Luciano can't tell what the blond's first impression of him is, but it's probably not good. Max wasn't even expecting anyone to come talk to him right now anyway. He had been relaxing before this, minding his business on his phone before he was interrupted.
Well, this is going to be awkward.
"Hello," Max says finally, his voice breaking the awkward silence that had filled the space between them. Luciano just nods, not saying anything else to him in that moment.
