What A Time // Max Verstappen

11

Today was the last qualifying session of 2021 and Anna was very nervous as she walked through the paddock on her way to Red Bull's hospitality to see Max.

Unlike yesterday when she was walking into the paddock with Finn, her and Max were back to normal and even had dinner together last night while Kelly was away with her friends. 

Anna walked inside the building and was immediately met by Geri who was leaving.

"Hello." Geri spoke with a smile as she gave the brown haired girl a hug.

"Hi Geri." Anna replied as they pulled away from the hug.

"How are you? Ready for qualifying?" Geri wondered.

"Think so. Bit nervous but I'm sure not as nervous as Max or Christian." Anna laughed slightly causing Geri to smile and nod in agreement.

"Definitely not." Geri nodded in agreement letting out a small laugh. "Well, I'll let you go and I'll see you alter dear."

"Bye Geri." The Dutch girl said with a smile before she walked further into the motorhome in search of her best friend who would most likely be in his driver's room at this point.

Geri watched as the young brown haired girl walked away in search of the Red Bull driver. The singer smiled as she shook her head. She could never understand how the pair had never ended up being in a relationship. She watched as Anna disappeared around the corner before turning and leaving the motorhome.

Anna walked towards Max's driver's room and mentally prayed that Kelly wasn't inside the room when she raised her hand in a fist to knock.

"Come in." Max's voice called out from inside.

Anna opened the door slowly and stuck her head around the brown wooden door to see Bradley working on reaction drills with Max.

Max caught the ball that Bradley before looking up at the door to find out who had walked in. He stood up straight as he saw the face of his best friend standing in the door way.

"Did you just knock?" Max wondered sounding confused. Never once in his whole Formula One career or before hand had Anna never knocked before coming into his driver's room.

"Yeh ha. Don't know why I did that." Anna laughed it off although she knew the reason why. She wasn't in the mood to walk in on her best friend and his girlfriend sucking faces.

"Come on. Keep going." Bradley told Max referring to the two tennis balls in hand.

Anna room a seat on the couch and watched as the driver and performance coach comminuted to work through their various warm up exercises to prepare for qualifying.

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The Red Bull garage cheered as Max put himself on provisional pole for tomorrow's race. Lewis's lap wasn't as good as Max with him being behind the Dutchman in every sector leaving Max on pole with Lewis alongside him for the race.

Lando would be starting P3 alongside Checo with Carlos in fifth and Valtteri alongside him. It wasn't exactly the dream qualifying Mercedes had wanted with Bottas two rows behind Hamilton and with Perez in the middle.

But for Red Bull things couldn't have gone better. Checo had the opportunity to keep Valtteri at bay while Max would have a couple of feet of an advantage over Lewis when the lights went out tomorrow.

The Red Bull garage made their way down to the end of the pit lane along with Mercedes and McLaren.

Anna walked alongside Finn as the two talked on their way to congratulate their friend. They arrived at the end of the pitlane as the three drivers parked behind their respective numbers.

All three drivers got out of their cars and made their way to their teams. Max removed his helmet and balaclava before handing it over to Bradley.

Anna stood back a bit and could see Kelly pulling Max into a hug which he returned. The Brazilian leant forward and placed a kiss on his lips causing Anna to mentally sigh.

Max noticed his best friend standing a few feet away next to Finn and flashed the girl a smile. She returned it with a thumbs up. Max winked at her, an action which was noticed by his girlfriend who tuned around to see who the driver was winking at.

Anna winked back causing him to laugh and as she did her eyes met those of Kelly's who was staring at her from her spot next to Max with shut the barrier separating them.

"Go over." Finn told the girl standing next to him but she simply shook her head in reply.

"Nah. I'm good. I'll talk to him later." Anna replied. She could feel the death stare of a set of eyes bearing into the side of her head and she'd rather not be anywhere near the person giving her that stare.

"Okay then." Finn spoke not arguing with her. He too could see the girlfriend of one of his best friends staring in his direction but he knew it wasn't him she was staring at but Anna.

Personally, Finn could never understand how Max had so many girlfriends but still never saw the amazing person standing right in front of him. The girl who had been by his side since he was 4 years old.

Anna had been by Max's side through his whole life both personal and professional. She was there when his parents split up and even when his dad got remarried and had two more kids.

She was there for his transition into Formula One, for his first ever win, his first pole position for every record he broke like being the youngest F1 driver to take 10 wins.

And yet Max couldn't see that. Or if he did he was ignoring everything he truly felt and was using people like Dilara and Kelly to pretend he didn't have feelings for his best friend.

But whatever the reason was, Finn could never understand how nothing had ever happened between the pair in all their years of friendship.

He watched as Max went to do an interview with Jenson Button post qualifying in the pit lane while Anna watched him with a smile on his face.

Finn sighed knowing that he could never force them into being with each other and they would have to realise their feelings on their own.

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