The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

Chapter 32

4. October 2016

Malaysia sucked. So much Joanna knew, despite a rather good race for herself, but all the things that needed to happen for her to take the win home weren't worth the shiny trophy and the champagne which was now standing on the dining room table. They still hadn't had the energy to store it away in one of the cabinets after coming home. 

Joanna couldn't care any less, she was just glad she could take Max home, a little bit in pain but not in a coffin. Despite the first assumptions of the doctors who had only seen the accident from a distance.

Angrily staring at the ceiling Joanna cursed herself, her hand firmly on her belly. It was just an accident, accidents do happen. Especially with their lifestyle, but that doesn't change that her heart had stopped the moment she saw Max stuck in that barrier, not moving out of the car.

Joanna was hesitant to ask how Max was doing, afraid she would relieve something about their personal life to the world for no good reason, but her heart grew heavier as the seconds ticked away and she still wasn't informed. Fighting herself not to ask, Joanna, lost the focus for a fraction of a second which nearly send her flying into the barriers as well, just a different part of the track. Cursing under her breath Joanna felt the unpleasant feeling of fear creep up her bones.

Her finger hovered over the call button still hesitant, but her engineer made the decision for her. Telling her that Max most likely had a brake failure and that she should be careful and they expected the race to be red-flagged.

"How ... How is he?" Joanna questioned, biting her lips so hard she teased blood. Matteo only told her, that Max wasn't responding to their call, but he assured her that he was sure that it was probably just the radio, which got damaged, and that the younger Red Bull driver was fine. Joanna was arrogant and experienced enough to doubt that. 

Swallowing slowly, the Austrian had to fight the fear down, she knew that Max would have been out of the car already if it really was just a radio failure. He would curse, maybe even kick one of the tires before he would walk away. Hiding in his room, waiting for Joanna to text him to come to her room late at night or not. She wasn't sure at that moment if they still weren't talking with each other when one of them got injured. 

Biting down on her lip again, Joanna decided that now was not the time to think. She couldn't allow her brain to act up. She was driving too fast for that. Max had to be alright. She wouldn't allow anything else. She needed him. 

"Keep me updated." She told her race engineer if he noticed the desperation in her voice, he said nothing about it. Just told her, that she would be the first one to hear the news, well as soon as Red Bull allowed the others to know something.

After the longest two minutes in her entire life Matteo, her race engineer told her, that they were getting an unconscious Max out of his car. Unconscious yes, but definitely breathing. They red-flagged the race, while the doctors did their best to stabilize and help Max. Joanna's blood was still frozen in her veins. 

As soon as the Austrian Ferrari driver had left her car, nearly tripping and falling over it as she made an exit, she ran over to their garage where Matteo was already waiting for the Austrian before demanding to be told what was going on. 

"We will see. But I think they will restart the race if  he's stable." Matteo told her as if Joanna cared at all. It was just this one word, which let the blood in her veins freeze. If  Max was okay. If  he survived. 

The Austrian was about to go mad with fear, as one of the strategists next to Matteo breathed out relieved. Watching the footage, which was live broadcasted. Max had moved. He was awake. Definitely in a lot of pain but alive.