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The celebration had been killed by the summoning of Christian and Jonathon to the stewards after Mercedes lodged not one but two objections over the race result.

The entire team along with friends and family were sat in the common area of the motorhome still celebrating while Max was the world champion, except for one.

Max was talking with Checo, thanking him for probably the hundred time for the part he played in his victory not just today but through the course of the entire season.

The pair finished talking and Max turned to walk in the direction of his friends from home when he noticed that Anna wasn't with them.

He looked around the room and couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't with Jess, his press officer, or Geri. She wasn't with Alex or Lily. She wasn't with Bradley. She wasn't anywhere.

The Red Bull driver started to get a bit worried and decided to check out the back and see if she was in the bathroom.

As he walked towards the bathroom he noticed the door of his driver's room was slightly ajar and he specifically remembered closing it after calling his mum and sister.

Max softly opened the door and found his best friend laid on the massage bed in his room in complete darkness.

"You've a weird way of celebrating." Max joked as he stood in the doorway with a beer in his hand.

After receiving no reply, Max walked into the room closing the door behind him and placing the beer bottle down on the table next his black couch.

"Anna? What's wrong?" Max wondered as he walked towards her and only then did he realise her eyes were open and she was staring at the ceiling. "Anna?"

"What if Mercedes win?" Anna asked herself but also Max who had entered the room.

"Anna." Max spoke softly realising this is why she had disappeared. She was worrying like always.

"Seriously. What if Mercedes win their appeal and the FIA take away your Championship?" Anna said as she sat up and looked in his direction. He could clearly see the worry in her eyes.

"Anna they won't. The FIA aren't going to go back and change the decision that Masi made during the race. He did what he thought was right so this championship didn't end under a safety car. He did the right thing." Max assured her as he took a seat next to her.

"How do you know that? It's easy for you to say, you're on the winning end of it all. They brought a lawyer for crying out loud." Anna spoke as she threw her arms around for exaggeration.

Max started to laugh and Anna's jaw dropped. Was he seriously laughing when his first World Driver's' Championship was on the line here? In the hands of the FIA who were liable to make any decision.

"You worry too much." Max simply told her before pulling her into a hug so her head was resting on his chest and his chin could rest on top of her head.

"And you don't worry enough." Anna replied with a sigh causing Max to laugh even more.

"You wanna see something that will make you smile?" Max asked as he sat up and reached into the pocket of his jeans to produce his phone. Anna simply nodded and waited for him to show her whatever he was going to show her. "Here."

Anna grabbed Max's hand and brought the phone closer to her face. She started to smile at the picture in front of her.

It was Max's two nephews, one of which was only born 6 days ago. They were both wearing Max Verstappen bibs and Luka was smiling while Lio slept both completely oblivious to their uncle now being a world champion.

"Oh they're so cute." Anna gushed as she looked at the two little boys. She hadn't met Lio yet as he was born whole they were in Abu Dhabi but she couldn't wait to met him.

"Victoria wants us all to come over and meet Lio when we get back from testing." Max explained before tucking his phone do into his pocket.

The teams were spending two days restating in Abu Dhabi to end of the year. They were testing the new 18 inch tyres for next year. Max was driving for Red Bull along with Juri Vips, one of the team's junior drivers.

"Now come on. Let's celebrate while I'm still world champion." The Dutchman said as he stood up and held his hand out in Anna's direction.

She looked down at his hand and back up at him before sighing and grabbing his hand causing Max to smile. He pulled out of the room and back towards the common area. The pair sat down with their friends from home and started talking.

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The atmosphere grew in Red Bull once again when Christian and Jonathon returned. Everyone was waiting outside after it was announced that the time at which they were due to have a decision.

The stewards had dismissed Mercedes second objection after dismissing the lesser one a few minutes before the second one.

The two men returned and the cheering started. Max hugged them both as everyone started to make their way towards the pit lane for the last team photo of 2021.

"I told you everything would be fine." Max said as he walked back towards Anna. "Now let's go."

The pair of best friends along with a lot of Red Bull employees, family and friends made their way towards the garage.

As they walked towards the entrance Anna noticed the face of Daniil walking passed leaving with his bag.

"I'll meet you inside." Anna said quickly to Max before running in the direction of the Russian.

Max was surprised and stopped to watch where exactly his best friend had run off to. Max watched as she ran toward Daniil before he was pushed inside the garage by his team losing sight of his best friend and the former F1 driver.

"He did it!" Anna exclaimed as she pulled the Alpine reserve driver into a hug.

"He did." Daniil said with a small laugh at her reaction. He had Max after the win congratulating the Red Bull driver. He also text Anna after the objection and told her not to worry after seeing her pacing through the paddock. "Well you better go or you'll miss the team photo."

"Oh yeh ha. I'll see you later. Bye." Anna spoke before running off towards the Red Bull garage.

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What A Time // Max VerstappenWhere stories live. Discover now