RACE 2 - Max Verstappen

6

Daniella was dressed comfortably and was wearing her Mercedes jacket, with a hot cup of coffee in her hand as she walked around the paddock, taking photos and greeting people she haven't seen since the last race. The winter break is over and the new F1 season approached, starting in Barcelona with the pre-season testing. She is excited as well as nervous but of course, she is too good at hiding the latter with a confident face.

She smiled as she noticed Valtteri and his new teammate Guanyu Zhou having their picture taken by the Alfa Romeo photographer. Valtteri noticed and politely smiled at her.

"Looks like someone is in their supermodel era," Daniella teased Valtteri.

"Oh please," Valterri rolled his eyes. "You very well know that I would rather be doing anything than doing a photoshoot this early in the morning."

Guanyu just remained silent as he observed the two interact, not knowing what to say as he has never spoken to Daniella before, only greeted each other in the passing last year.

"He enjoys it though," Valterri pointed at his teammate, causing him to blush a little.

"Hi," Daniella greeted Guanyu with a bright smile.

"Hi," he smiled back as he blushed a little more. "I am not enjoying this.." he lied as he pointed at the camera, earning a glare from the cameraman and a chuckle from Valtteri.

"Is that coffee?" Valtteri pointed at the cup Daniella was holding.

"Yes.." Daniella replied cautiously as she tore her eyes away from Guanyu and looked at Valtteri suspiciously.

"Great, thanks," Valtteri snatched the cup from her hands.

"Val no," Daniella gasped and tried to take the cup back but it was already too late. Valtteri already took a sip of her coffee. "I needed that caffeine to get through the morning."

"Think of it as payback for every time you stole my coffee last year," Valtteri smiled before drinking the hot beverage.

"I hate you," she glared at him. "Be careful with your new teammate Guanyu," she looked at the young Alfa Romeo driver. "He is very rude."

Guanyu smiled and nodded, finding the interaction very amusing. He thought there might be some bad blood between Daniella and Valtteri since she replaced him in Mercedes, but just got proven wrong

***

Daniella made her way to the Mercedes hospitably while replying to a few texts. She was too focused on her phone to realize the Williams driver coming out of the Mercedes hospitality and purposefully pushing her out of the way.

She looked up to see none other than George Russell, his face bearing an annoyed look.

"George, hi," Daniella smiled, as she haven't seen or talked to him in weeks. "What are you doing here? Did you come to see Toto?"

"Don't sound so surprised Daniella," George sounded annoyed. "I came to discuss about my contract as the reserve driver...or do you want to take that away from me as well?"

"No I was just.." her smile dropped. She realized George still hasn't forgiven her for moving to Mercedes and taking away the seat that was promised to him. "Can't we just move past it George?" he asked, feeling guilty.

"No," he bluntly replied. "It's not possible unless you give up your seat. Are you willing to do that?"

Daniella remained silent but look defeated.

"That's what I thought," George rolled his eyes. "But don't get too comfortable Dani. Remember, it will only take one nasty accident for you to be out of F1 and Mercedes replacing you."

Daniella was too stunned to speak.

George shot her a smirk before walking away.

***

"HEY!" Lewis yelled as Daniella snatched the cup of coffee from his hand seconds after he got the cup filled.

"Since when did you start drinking coffee?" Daniella asked before taking a sip of the hot beverage she was longing for.

"Since you became my teammate...and since I didn't get any sleep last night and need the caffeine to stay awake," he replied.

He asked for one more cup of coffee and looked back at Daniella. She looked like she is not in a good mood and he couldn't understand how she was drinking the hot coffee so fast.

"So who managed to ruin your mood today?" Lewis asked.

"I will give you a hint," Daniella sarcastically said. "He is tall, makes terrible powerpoint presentations, and I ruined his life when I signed with Mercedes."

"George?" Lewis frowned as he picked up his coffee.

"Yes," Daniella rolled her eyes.

"What did he do?" Lewis asked, genuinely interested to know what George did to ruin Daniella's mood.

"I don't want to talk about it," Daniella replied as she took another sip of her coffee. She thought it would be best not to repeat what George said to her.

"Okay then..." Lewis didn't push the topic too much since he didn't want to ruin her mood any further.

***

Daniella felt good wearing the Mercedes racing suit, and she is very happy that they didn't go back to the white suit since she prefers the black one.

"Oh look, the enemy approaches," She sarcastically said as Max walked towards her.

"Shut up traitor," Max playfully rolled his eyes. He too was suited up and ready to take the car out for testing. "I see you are ready to drive the tin can."

"Our car is not a tin can," Daniella argued. "It's actually super fast and looks like..."

Max raised his eyebrows and gave her a knowing look.

"Okay, fine," she gave up. "It looks a bit like a tin can but me and Lewis are still going to beat Red Bull's ass."

"That's not going to happen," Max chuckled.

Both bickered for a few more minutes before Daniella was called to the garage to go over some details.

**********

A/N: Okay but Guanyu is kinda cute. Thoughts about him and Dani? 

Thoughts on George and Dani?

 I just realized I never specified the number under which Daniella drives. What do you think her number should be? 

Also some one messaged me that Dani and Toto would be a good couple and I am just rolling on the floor