malicious | max verstappen

eleven.

ELYSE's POV

I was seriously lacking some motivation. It was nearly time for the French Grand Prix and after three bad races in a row, I was feeling rather deflated.

We all know how I passed out during one race and had my race get fucked up in the pitstop and then during the last race in Azerbaijan, Lewis and I ended up with P15 and P16.

So I was really desperate for a win, especially since I've dropped down to third in the championship with Max in the lead and Lewis in second. Not to mention, my dad was constantly on my ass for so many screw ups in a row and I honestly couldn't wait to break my streak of bad luck.

I gave some interviews and attended press conferences after each practice session. During quali, I managed to lock P2 behind Max with Checo behind me, making me into a Redbull sandwich. But I tried not to let that faze me.

Unfortunately for me, once it was lights out— I had a slower reaction that Checo who overtook me easily but I stuck my elbows out swiftly after, blocking Lewis from passing me in the meanwhile.

It was safe to say I despised the French track. It felt like I was driving in a children color book and I could feel my eyes popping out of it's socket because of how many blue lines there were.

The sky was grey and I hoped it'd rain. I've always been great in the rain and I could really use some help. But that wasn't the case.

After 19 laps, my tires were starting to lose grip so I was called into the pits. A lap later Lewis pitted. During these few laps many cars pitted, including the two Redbulls infront of me, making me P1.

I thrived in the lead for 15 more laps until my medium tires surprisingly started to wear off. I started to panic since my tire conservation was usually top tear but my engineer calmed me after telling me this was a common problem for everyone else and that we'd have to pit soon.

So by lap 37, I pitted once again. As I rejoined the track I dropped down a few positions, P8. I was now battling with Charles who I knew was a tough person to get past and a great defender but after some back and forth fighting and with the aid of DRS I managed to pass him and was stuck in the mid field which consisted of the two Mclarens and AlphaTauri's and Fernando Alonso's Alpine.

It wasn't hard to pass the Alpine and AlphaTauri's. It was just Daniel's Mclaren who was making my life harder.

As we approached a turn, Daniel's car flung a piece of debris my way which hit my right hand holding the steering wheel. I let out a string of curses, trying to blink away the tears that were forming flogging my vision in the process. I bit on my tongue to stop me from screaming.

"There's debris on the track, please let someone clear it." I was able to get out through my gritted teeth. "A piece of debris nearly took off my finger for fuck's sake." I groaned as I used my other hand to turn.

Even though I had my injured hand on the wheel it was useless since I was mostly using my left hand which was rather new for me since I was right handed and doing anything with my left hand felt out of place.

However, I sucked it up and passed Daniel and was finally back with the top three. First, I had to pass Sergio who has repeatedly proven how much of a pain in the ass he was, Redbull were lucky to have him. I made use if DRS and passed him on a straight and quickly increased the gap between us to he couldn't pull the same trick on me and chased Max who was hanging my Lewis' rear wing.

The pain in my hands intensified and I couldn't wait for the race to be over. I opened my visor to quickly wipe away my tears that started to fog my vision once again. It was getting really hard to not focus on the soaring pain but I stayed strong and took a deep breath before getting as close as I could to Max's car. It was a three way fight for first.