our time - lestappen

hope

Qatar GP

Max Verstappen

"But why?" I ask, arms wrapped around a teary eyed Lando. We hadn't gotten a real chance to speak since last Friday, he had to go race and Charles and I had to figure out what the fuck we were going to do. We weren't allowed to race, and we missed out on valuable points but at least Checo and Carlos did a good job for our teams.

We still haven't gotten anywhere with the leaked information situation. My dad is behind this, he won't admit anything, and I've explicitly told him and shown him why all the evidence points back to him. But he won't admit anything, he won't be the bigger person for once in his life.

So much for the bullshit he fed me for those few weeks that he decided to be a normal person.

But in the time that we have now before the Qatar race, I wanted to go check on Lando since I knew he wasn't doing well, it even showed in his racing last weekend. And even though he got a podium, he couldn't even bring himself to smile as he lifted the trophy up.

"He just said it wasn't worth it, that it was too much trying to drive and be in a relationship with another driver, that we'd just end up in the same situation that you guys are in right now," Lando says. "B-but I was ready to- to risk it all for him and he was so willing to throw it away like it was... nothing! And it just hurts, that I thought he- he loved me but apparently not."

"Give him time," I say, absolutely destroyed at how hurt one of my good friends is. "Give him time, he will come around and if he doesn't? Well then he doesn't deserve you, Lando."

"But I love him, it's just hard to let someone go like that."

"I know, I know. Give him time, like I said. Charles and I also have shit going on as you know, we can trauma bond whenever you need to." That puts a smile on Lando's face, which was my objective.

It sucks, watching my friend go from overjoyed to heartbroken in the matter of a few weeks. i wish there was something I could do to make the pain go away. But all I can do is hug him and console him and reassure him it will be okay, so that's what I'm doing.

My phone starts ringing. Not the time, I can't help but think. But as always, if someone is calling my private phone number, it must be important.

"Hey Max, it's Philip."

"Hey Philip, give me one second. Is this a conversation we can have in public?"

"Yes, just keep your voice down."

I mute myself. "Lando, my legal team is calling, I have to take this but you can stay here don't worry."

I unmute. "Ok I'm back, what's the news?"

"We've managed to get ahold of a file that looks similar to some of the fake evidence you were shown. We can't actually confirm anything yet, but our projections of what the file would look like and what this file is showing are very similar."

"Would it help if I told you I'm almost fully confident my dad is behind this because he wants to break my relationship with Charles?"

"We can try to trace it from your dad, it'll just depend on how well he's covered his tracks if it actually is him."

"Thanks Philip, keep me posted yeah?"

"I will Max. We will get to the bottom of this, don't worry."

That's good news. That's really good actually, but I'm still shocked my dad is going through all of this trouble simply because he doesn't want me to know how to love.

~

Charles Leclerc

"But why the fuck would you just leave him?" I ask Carlos as we walk the paddock for practice. Well, practice for him, Max and I are still barred from racing. We're still there at the paddock though, the FIA better know that we are there to fight for our case and that we're not going to let them to do whatever they want just because they feel like it.