RACE 2 - Max Verstappen

28

Daniella barely got any proper sleep after the meeting last night and it was already time to get out of bed and start getting ready for the day. She was overthinking the entire time which has led to a spike in her anxiety. 

As she got out of the car she put on her sunglasses, mostly to hide the bags under her eyes and grabbed her cup of coffee. She can't believe there were still photographers and reporters around when they were free to leave the country. 

"You look like you haven't slept at all," Daniella said to Carlos who was just scanning his pass to enter the paddock. 

"Yeah," He chuckled as Daniella scanned her pass in as well and walked in. "I don't think any of the drivers got any good sleep."

"I almost didn't want to show up today," Daniella said before taking a sip of her coffee. 

She looked around to find almost every driver on sight wearing sunglasses, clearly none of them slept well. 

As they passed the Aston Martin hospitality Daniella noticed herself in one of the glass doors, she immediately stopped and fixed her hair, not liking the fact that she looks just as she is feeling at the moment. 

"Such a mess.." She mumbled, thinking Carlos went ahead, but was surprised as well as embarrassed to see him still standing there. 

The small smile on Carlos's face grew big, mostly because of her reaction. 

"Don't say a word," Daniella sternly said. 

"I was just going to say that you look better than everyone else here," Carlos said, the smile still on his face. 

"Yeah okay, no need to lie," Daniella playfully rolled her eyes and started walking. 

"What? You don't believe me?" Carlos was slightly taken aback. He jogged up to her. He gently held her arm and stopped her, making her look at him. 

"Of course not," Daniella frowned. "I would have believed that any other day, because let's be honest, all my outfits are amazing," She joked, making Carlos chuckle. "But not today."

"But I think today also you look beautiful," Carlos confessed, trying to hide his shyness. 

A light shade of red appeared on Daniella's face and she felt her face heating up. She smiled at the Ferrari driver, letting him know that she appreciated his compliment. 

"Well umm.. Carlos?" She tried to control his smile. 

"Yes?" He looked hopeful and smiled. 

"This is your stop," Daniella slightly turned to indicate the Ferrari hospitality behind her. 

Carlos was not expecting that but also didn't realize that they had reached the Ferrari hospitality. 

"Yeah umm.." He let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't realize that."

Daniella was about to say something but just then Charles stepped out of the hospitality, he opened his mouth to say something to Carlos but closed it when he noticed Daniella. 

"Hi Charles," Daniella smiled at her friend. 

"H…hi Dani," Charles replied. 

"I will see you later," She said to Carlos and shot him a smile before walking away. 

There was a smile plastered on Carlos' face as he watched Daniella walk away. 

"Bad idea," Charles said as he walked down the stairs and joined his teammate. 

"What?" Carlos asked but still didn't look away from Daniella. 

"Daniella," Charles replied. 

"What about her?" Charles finally looked at his teammate. 

"Don't…don't fall for her or date her or..or even have a crush on her," Charles warned him. "She and Pierre dated last year and he is still hung up on her."

"Pierre still wants to be with her?" 

"Yeah but he ruined his chances and almost ruined my friendship with Dani," Charles explained. "Actually I think it was partly my fault.. I tried to help Pierre and it backfired badly."

"I will keep in mind not to ask for your help in the future."

***

"You look like hell," Max commented as soon as he saw Daniella. 

"I feel like hell," She replied, finishing her coffee. "Didn't get any sleep last night and now my anxiety is acting up."

Max gave her a concerned look. 

"Don't overthink," He advised her as he is well aware it always ends up making her feel anxious. 

"How can I not?" Daniella argued. "This weekend sucks. This place is not safe, none of the drivers wants to race here but we are forced to do so. And my car sucks too."

"Hey, hey, hey," Max put his arm around her, trying to give her comfort. "Calm down, it will all be fine, you will be fine. Just take some deep breaths slowly."

Daniella slowly calmed down and felt her heart beat get steady. She would hate to admit it but Max rubbing his hand gently on her upper arm did calm her down a bit. 

"And like George said yesterday luck is always on your side," Max joked, trying to ease her up. "It will help you survive the weekend."

Daniella glared at Max playfully before pushing him away, making him laugh. 

"Can't believe you just said that," Daniella tried not to smile. "And how did you know what George said? You were not even at the press conference."

"I watched it later," Max replied as his laugh turned down. 

Daniella felt her phone buzzing and immediately checked it. 

"Got to go," She informed Max as she brought the coffee cup to her lips to finish the warm drink before she headed to the Mercedes garage. But she was disappointed to find that there was not a drop of caffeine left. 

"Red Bull?" Max offered his can of energy drink to Daniella. 

"I hope Toto doesn't kick me out because of this," She joked as she took the can from his hand. 

"If he does then I am sure Christian will happily kick Checo out and give the seat back to you," Max joked back before both of them parted ways. 

**********

A/N; Okay, team Carlos or team Max?

Thoughts on Max and Dani's friendship?

Qualy is going on right now and I am just praying that nothing bad happens... Also that the Mercedes powered cars (mostly McLaren) somehow pulls a miracle and gets into Q3

Any predictions for this race?

I feel like we won't see both the Ferrari drivers on the podium this Sunday