our time - lestappen

shattered

Austrian GP

Max Verstappen

I love Austria, but I hate sprint weekends. There will never be a sprint weekend that I don't complain. What's different about this weekend though, is that my dad is here and I'm not even mad about it.

I'm still a little doubtful regarding his apology but being completely honest, he's been great since then. We've actually talked a little over the phone since the Canadian race, and he hasn't said a single rude thing. He has a friend in Vienna who he wanted to go see before the race, so I drove him from Vienna to Spielberg yesterday.

Even then, I feel on edge. Eliot is definitely here and Charles has his location on. My dad is being nice, almost too nice, and I just feel like something is bound to go wrong at some point. Also, now that Eliot knows about Charles and I and I definitely can't afford to have that leaked while my dad is here, we really are at Eliot's mercy this weekend. I still don't know how he found out about Charles and I, especially as he wasn't even in Canada. 

I'm on my way to the paddock but only for media commitments. Thursdays are always media days and hear it from me, they suck. I can't think of a single driver that actually enjoys that day, but we have to do it for the fans and for Netflix.

~

"So, Max, there have been rumors that you and your dad are no longer enemies," a reporter says as she shoves a microphone in my face. Honestly, rude media people never get good responses from me because they need to know that they can't just say whatever they want and expect us to obediently give them the answers that they want to hear.

"I really don't see how my relationship with my dad is any of your business," I say coldly.

"Well, I didn't think it was an offensive question, many people are curious."

"As I just said, my private life is none of anyone's business except mine." I hand her the microphone and walk away, I am so not in the mood right now.

I feel a hand on my arm pulling me back. I turn around and I'm face to face with Charles.

"Max, they're asking me about how I think I can win a world championship but I think you're a better person to answer it because you've won 2."

I immediately smile. If there's one person who can make me a little happier right now, it's Charles. But even his voice sounds strained and he's clearly just as on edge as I am, if not more.

"Yeah well the first time I did it was not so simple but the team has been doing a great job and I just do the best I can in each session and hope it's fastest. What else can I do?"

"Fair enough," the reporter says. This one is a lot nicer than the one I dealt with. Although it might also just be Charles putting me in a better mood.

"A question for both of you guys," the reporter says. "We all saw that photo of you guys, Lando, and Oscar spending time with Carlos as he recovered from that horrifying crash two weeks ago. The five of you are all friends or was that just for show?"

I speak up first. "Yeah I mean for me I think everyone knows who I don't love on the grid but yeah the 5 of us are all on good terms and we wanted to make sure Carlos was ok."

Charles follows it up. "I agree with Max, I get along with everyone in that photo and more importantly Carlos is my teammate and friend so of course I wanted to go see him and make sure he was alright."

"And lastly, how do you guys think you will fare this weekend?"

I nod to Charles to speak up first.

"I love Austria and I love this track so I think that we can do really well" he says. "I mean, it's tough to compete with the Redbull right now especially because this madman is in it," he says as he looks at me and smiles. "But yeah it's just trying to get the maximum out of the car and we will see how it ends up."