the money shot (max verstappen )

belgium gp

the belgium track was slick with rain as the qualifying session commenced. lila struggled with the protective gear she had covered her cameras with as she tried to keep herself relatively dry at the same time. as each car shot around the track, she was doused with a spray of water, kicked up by the flying wheels.

despite the discomfort, lila knew that the rain was providing her with great photo opportunities and so she continued without complaint.

through Q1 and Q2 max and checo had produced relatively underwhelming results, but there was still a glimmer of hope within the redbull team; max was known to be exceptionally good in the wet. he had shown off this talent most obviously during the 2016 brazilian race where he fought relentlessly up the grid and mastered the track.

lando norris was also expected to fair reasonably well, british drivers were usually regarded as good 'wet drivers'. but as he rounded the corner, just past the pit straight, he lost control and was sent flying into the barriers with such an intensity that his wheels became detached from the car and he was left helpless as his chasi spun on uncontrolably.

thankfully, lando was relatively unscathed by the crash, though the incident had ingrained an increased bubbling worry within lila. she thought back to grosjean's fiery crash the year prior and the devastating recent death in F2.

Formula 1 was not a sport for the faint of heart and each driver took on enormous risk each time they stepped into the car. the rain would only increase the risk level and lila made a silent wish for them all to remain unharmed. her mind lingered especially on max. her chest tightened in an almost painful way at the thought of something happening to him.

despite her paranoia, qualifying continued without further interruption and lila was able to catch beautiful shots of the cars spraying up their mist of water towards her lens. max, to the redbull teams great delight, qualified P1, with george just behind, followed by hamilton. perez managed p7 just behind pierre.

on her way to the garage, lila crossed paths with pierre.

"hey, good job in quali, i'll be cheering for you tomorrow," lila said quickly as they passed each other.

"ahah thank you. dont cheer too loud though, redbull might get annoyed," pierre replied cheekily.

they both continued on, desperate to get out of the rain. by the time she made it to the redbull garage, lila was soaked.

"you look like a wet dog," max teased when he saw her.

"fuck off, so do you," she replied, grabbing a towel off one of the benches and drying her hair. the floor was littered with muddy footprints and the sound of the hounding rain forced everyone to raise their voices in order to be heard. it was all a bit chaotic.

max watched as lila methodically rubbed the towel over her hair before she lent forward, gave her head a shake and flicked it back, now standing upright. max hated how good she looked. that instead of seeming sad and drenched, she looked as though her hair had been perfectly styled to fall in a way that was just the right amount of messy. even with her makeup, smudged black around her eyes, she still looked amazing.

"hang on,"max said, reaching out with both hands. he rubbed the pad of his thumb under her eyes and removed the mascara that had leaked. he then lent back and admired his handy work, smiling to himself slightly.

"you looked like a panda," he finally said, breaking the silence and they both let out an easy laugh.

fuck. you can't do this again.

lila reminded herself of josh, of how guilty she felt about flirting with max.

"I gotta go... see tammi. see you tomorrow though," lila said rapidly before leaving as quickly as she could.