Wildest dreams || Charles Leclerc x Max Verstappen (lestappen)

Living in the fast lane

Max was buzzing. Last year he won almost everything in karting being on top of his game. Proving everybody he wasn't just his famous or infamous last name, however you decided to look at it really. In testing in the single seaters he already proved himself. Going faster than the regulars in formula Renault. And in a additional test he set a faster time on track then the experienced driver from that team. His father and manager together with himself had decided that now that he got a possibility to go straight in to f3 he should do it. So that's what he did ,he signed with van Amersfoort racing, a Dutch team that had been in the sport for long. And a team his father raced for back in the days.
Before starting the season he drove in the Florida winter series, just to get some experience in single seaters and he went to win those series. He felt proud.

Even though Max didn't have the year he hoped for because of technical issues he dnf-Ed quite a lot of times, he still was close for runner up in the championship. Given he was a rookie in not only this series but in single seaters at all. This wasn't to bad.
The bigger series like GP2 and f1 had picked up on that aswell. Cause now he was seated with Helmut Marco, the talent scout from Redbull racing and his father in a restaurant. Discussing options for his further racing career. He had been talking with some other teams as well, like Mercedes for instance, this year the strongest team on the f1 grid. But they couldn't promise him he would get to Formula 1. But now sitting with dr. Marco he got told they might have a place for him in the near future. Ofcourse it wasn't the best team on the grid at the moment, but the possibility of racing f1 came in reach quite fast. And since they had proven with Sebastian Vettel that they were able to create a championship winning car, this might be a really good option for him.

After some talks with his father and manager he dicided that the best chances for him was with Redbull, so he signed with their junior driver program. He learned that dr. Marko's words were true cause only a couple months later he learned that he would be driving in the first practice session of the Japanese Gp. The youngest ever driver to participate in an f1 weekend by almost two years!

The word that he would drive an f1 car at barely 17, just three days after his birthday caused quite some uproar. Some positive, the son of a formula one driver should be talented enough, he had shown promise in the feeder series. But most of all they were actually quite negative, calling the team irresponsible for putting a teenager, a kid behind the wheel of one of the most fastest, dangerous cars in the world.

Luckily for him the test couldn't have gone better then it did. He did what he had to do, proving himself in the 1,5 hour long practice. Making no mistakes and going faster every lap. The team was impressed by him, hitting target times so soon in the session. In the end putting the car in 12th position for that session. Only 0.443 seconds behind Daniil who almost completed a full season in f1 by now. He was happy cause he didn't push to the fullest, he wanted to make as many laps and gather as much information as possible for the team. Unfortunately 7 minutes before the end his session was cut short because of an engine failure. But all in all he was happy.

On Saturday he was walking towards the Torro Rosso hospitality when he bumped in to someone. 'Ooh I'm so sorry!' He exclaimed. When he looked up he saw who it was. A man he saw beside the karting tracks many times when he was younger. It was Jules. Jules smiled 'don't worry about it kiddo. How was it?' He asked excitedly for the young dutchman. 'It was amazing, the speed, the grip, I loved everything about it!' He replied. 'How have you been?' Max asked, they didn't have a form of relationship but they saw each other so much in the years prior that it only felt right to have a little conversation. 'I've been good, thanks You.' He said before he went on. 'Don't tell Charles I said this but I'm happy to see you here, I knew you and Charles would make it to this grid at some point' he said. Max's smiled at him not really sure how to reply to that statement. After thinking for a bit he continued. 'Thank you, we'll don't tell him this but I hope he will get here soon as well. I loved our battles!' Smiling to the ground when he thought back to the times they raced each other. 'You will, the two of you are destined to' he said while patting Max's upper arm. 'Keep looking out for each other he winked at him before walking away.

That night Max couldn't sleep wondering what Jules could've meant. Those thoughts soon forgotten the day after.
It was a black day for the sport, he saw it while watching the screens in the torro Rosso garage, that hit could only mean one thing, this wasn't going to end well.
That evening he was searching trough his phone, looking for a number he hadn't used in a year. Hoping the number was still in use. He had been thinking about it the whole day, was it appropriate for him to reach out now? When they haven't spoken to each other for so long? But then he thought back on his conversation Jules yesterday, keep looking out for each other. He wasn't sure what the Frenchman had meant with that statement. But texting him only felt right. Not for himself, ofcourse he was sad. But it wasn't his place to put his sadness on the shoulders of the slightly younger boy. After retyping his text many times he settled for a short text. ' Hey Charles, I know we normally don't talk outside the track and we aren't exactly the best of mates. But I just wanted to let you know that my thoughts are with you. -Max' he didn't get a respond, but he didn't mind, he understood.

Not a month later he got the best news he could ever get, Helmut had called him, he would drive in formula 1 next year! He couldn't believe it, his second year in single seaters would be in a formula 1 car, it was insane! Only a day later the news was shared with the rest of the world. His phone blew up that day. But there was one that stood out to him, Charles had sent him a text. 'damn Verstappen, congratulations f1! -Charles' . He smiled, he didn't expect a message from the Monegask . 'Thank you! And you congratulations on your f3 seat!' He replied. "Thanks Max! But uhm... how do you know? Their hasn't been a press release yet?' He received soon after. He blushed, shit Charles of course didn't now he told Frits van Amersfoort to sign Charles. Beside the fact he really wanted to race Charles in the future and as he said before Charles wasn't a pancake. He also just wanted some luck to come to the Monegask. Given the fact the boy from Monte Carlo struggled with funding last year and last month Jules's terrible accident. So when Frits was talking about who should be their new driver he was fast to point him towards the direction of the boy from Monaco. He wasn't exactly planning on telling Charles that it was him, but he couldn't really explain how he knew so he choose to come clean to the Monegask anyway.
'Well I drove for them remember? And I might have tipped them on you ;)'

Months later , July 17th the news broke that Jules had passed away. Max's heart sunk in his chest while he learned about the Frenchman's terrible fate. He once again dicided to text Charles, they had been texting a bit more the last couple of months, mostly congratulating each other when one of them both did a good performance or sending some meme's. He opted for a simple short text, in line with what he had texted him 10 month prior. Not wanting to put his grieve on the Monegask his shoulders, already having to endure so much worse then him. 'My thoughts are with you and your family x Max' he send. Also this time he didn't get a response, but that was alright. It wasn't his place to ask for anything.

The rest of the year went on, Max finished 12th in the championship in front of his teammate. He was happy, he couldn't wait for the next season to start.