Formula 1 oneshots

Who's next? (Max Verstappen x Reader)

Summary: Y/n is a fill in journalist for her newspaper as the usual reporter got covid. There she happens to be next after another reporter ticks off Max a bit with his question, making her really nervous. This is set in 2021

Note: Angry Max is fun to write about lol

Y/n POV

I was a journalist for a young sport fans magazine, "District Sports Weekly". I had the necessary qualifications to interview anyone in sports in general, hence I was never assigned to follow a sport in particular. This was because I was an athlete in the past -I even went to the Olympics a few years before-, and I knew exactly what to ask to get a specific answer. I wasn't really one of those journalists to ask questions just to get strong reactions, which is why I never got sent to do a Formula 1 press conference. They usually have a fixed reporter for that, Harold.

Until one faithful day he got covid and my boss rang the next best person: me. "Im so sorry I can't do it" I told her "I don't know anything about f1 plus from what Harold told me they can get quite intense". I heard her sigh over the phone "listen I know this isn't ideal. But I promise I'll give you a really good raise" she proposed. I went really quiet for a moment. I was tight on cash, with prices rising I really needed the raise. "What do you want me to do?"

——(Time Skip)——

I sat down by myself, organising my questions in order of importance. Looking down at them, it made me wander if they just wanted to provoke the drivers. Over the last few days I watched and read every singe F1 guide just to catch up on everything, rules, drama ect.

I was texting Harold a few hours before, he literally said and I quote "don't take it personally if they get mad". Good job Y/n, I thought, what mess did you get yourself into? I only had a couple more moments before the Valteri, Lewis and Max came in, and the questions started immediately. Patiently waiting for my turn I realised these people obviously knew what they were doing, unlike me. I was also pretty surprised that the drivers were answering the dramatic questions.

However I think the next question really was the last straw for them. A man asked " I've got a question for both you and Lewis now. There's been a lot of talk about what happened at the opening lap at Silverstone. If you two end up wheel to wheel after the start tomorrows-"

Well let's just say Max didn't really like it because he interrupted the journalist right away saying "no can we just stop talking about this because we had so many fucking questions about this. It's just... ridiculous honestly. The whole of Thursday we've been answering this stupid fucking shit, so can we just stop talking about this please? We are racers, of course we are gonna race hard and fair. So we just keep pushing each other". All of us looked at each other during this mini outburst and in my head I was like "great now he's in a bad mood for when he's answering my question".

The journalist tried to de-escalate by asking Lewis about his opinion on the matter, but he refused to say anything else. There was a moment of awkward silence before the moderator said "okay we have one last question and then we're done. So who's next?" I cleared my throat "I think that's me"and was handed the mic. I fumbled a bit with my paper "uhmm ok. I'm gonna start by thanking you three for being here. I'm a former
Olympic competitor and I know how draining these conferences can be." I was really nervous, and I also knew that my question might pose them off "With that said, Max and Lewis, the main criticism of you two have been that your team's strategies are very risky and tend to favour you over your teammates. There's absolutely no doubt that you all are very consistent, but as we've seen in the past, teammates who don't work well together don't work at all. Are you confident with your teams' decisions?".

I had to take a deep breath even before hearing their answers "I mean" Lewis said "the team knows best. We all work together to ensure that we get a lot of points but also put on a good show. And I know from being in this industry a long time that sacrifices have to be made, which might also mean using teammates to facilitate your race". I nodded thank you and then max answered "yeah, like Lewis said, we make it entertaining and we discuss anything beforehand with the team. They know the best way to get points and we know that one of us might have to benefit the other in many occasions. Once you're in this sport for a long time, you don't really take it personally. At the end of the day, it's for the team". I also thanked Max before we were all dismissed.

As soon as I left the room I rung Harold, he immediately asked me how it went "not bad actually. I thought they were gonna get mad" I replied. "As I said" he pointed out "if they do get angry it's not personal. They have long days". "Yeah" I agreed "anyways when are you back?" "Next Friday or even sooner if I test negative" "Kay, I'll miss you" I joked "I can't do all the dirty work for you". "You we're fine Y/n" he sighed "anyways they're not gonna see you again so what does it matter". "Good point. I'll see you" "cheers bye". We hung up.

"Im never gonna see you again?" I jumped when I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and to my surprise it was Max. "Oh my gosh you gave my a fright" I said as I recovered from the scare. "Im sorry" he laughed a bit "I've never seen you here before so I assumed you're substituting someone" "covering for him actually" I corrected "he's got covid". I put my phone back in my pocket, embarrassed once realising that he had overheard my phone call. "But yeah, I don't usually get sent to follow F1" I explained "I do everything else though: hockey, football, netball, marathons, even curling and much more. To be honest it's really cool to be here this weekend". He fake whined and said "now I wanna do that 'everything else' you're talking about",

I laughed pretty loudly "are you flirting with me". "Maybe" he replied. "I didn't know you were so direct" I argued. "Hey it happens sometimes". We were both silent for a few seconds "oh by the way" I said more seriously "I'm sorry I had to ask that weird question. You know I'm just doing my job right?". He signalled me not to worry about it "of course I knew I'm used to it. It was also down on me for getting so heated at that other journalist. Maybe not the best thing to do when there's a new girl around". I shook my head and chuckled "cheeky aren't you?".

"Do you wanna know how I figured out immediately that you were new?" "Because I was super embarrassingly nervous?" "Nothing wrong with being nervous, you were just respectful at the beginning. That's why". I looked around "it was going to be my second answer". We both laughed.

That evening we ended up walking the paddock around until got dark. He was really nice to me and not scary at all. We ended up exchanging numbers cause we new that I wouldn't be sent to do press conferences anytime in the near future. It was kinda sad, but he reassured me we had the whole weekend to hang out, he even said he would get me a pass (which I said was too much but he insisted). Had to admit, that weekend I got really lucky.