Fight for her - Charles Leclerc

08

Hannah

"It's time for qualifying, and we're here at the Singapore Grand Prix! It's been pouring down since this morning!" The sky sport f1 reporter's voice echoed through the small speaker inside the red bull paddock. The large Tv showed the weather outside and how the reporter stood under an umbrella with soaking clothes and hair.

"The weather experts says the sky will be clearing up in about 20 minutes, which we are very grateful for. Here we can see the drivers in their garages warming up and preparing for this, exiting, quali!" The camera showed the cars and followed the reporter around who kept talking about some statistics from free practice.

The others from the team, who's already done their job for today, is gathered besides and in front of me with jackets or hoodies on. It has gotten a bit cold from the rain that's pouring down.

After a while I get a text from Max:

Where are you? Come to the garage.

I rose from my chair and walked to the garage. A man asked for my pass; which I had forgotten in Max drivers room where I changed my wet clothes to dry ones.

"Oh hi Hannah, come here!" I heard Christian say when I was about to go and get my pass. The man then let me through. I found Max straight to left where he was preparing for qualifying. He had his race suit on and a mechanic held his helmet in front of him. The car stood in the middle of the small room, with covers over the tires and fuel pumping into the car. To the right Christian stood and watch some screens with different statistics on while talking to some other people who where showing him the stats. The man pointed at some specific line that went up and down in a line graph.

I took a seat where Max had been standing before. He was now climbing in his car and when he finally sat right he put on the racing gloves. From where I sat, I could see a bit of the pit lane but I had a clear view of the large screen where they where streaming the quali. I gave him a wave when he drove out of the garage. It was still drizzling outside but the sky was starting to clear up.

During the qualifying I could feel myself getting nervous for Max. It felt way faster in real life than on TV. My heart sunk when he nearly started to spin off the track. Thankfully he saved it.

All those years when I watched the races from home I didn't even realise how dangerous it actually was. And how many times I could've lost Max, or Mick. After they both crossed the finish line for the last time, I could breath out. Some mechanics walked out of the garage, in to the pit lane, where the drivers that got podium parked and had the small interviews.

I sat still not knowing if I should go there or not. Dad told me to try and hide from the cameras since it would start rumours, make him look bad and that I would be targeted.

He always reminded me of that. But nothing had ever happened to Victoria or mom for that matter.

When I was still deciding on whether I should go out there or not Christian came in. "Hey you, come on" he said looking at me and then taking his phone from a table. "I don't know if I should" I answered him honestly. A little bit scared that what my father said might be true. "Max would want you to be there even if it's just quali" he said while slowly walking out with another man, who was wearing the same clothes. I finally decided and got out of my chair. I followed them through pit lane but kept myself out of the spotlight.

When we finally got there Max was weighing himself, holding the helmet in his right hand, looking down at the scale. I stood in the back so I couldn't really see the others who got podium.

Max did the quick interview and then went to Christian to talk a little bit. He spotted me in the back and gave me a wave while listening. I looked down in my phone to text him that I would go straight to the hotel, which he would see later when he got back to the garage.

"Congratulations Pierre, top three, that's awesome for you! How do you feel" I could hear the interviewer say. My mind instantly going blank of what to do. I looked up to see if I heard him right and there he was, already staring at me, a bit surprised look in his eyes at first but they shifted to a more mischievous look when he saw me being surprised as well. During the whole conversation he grinned and looked at me.

We had texted since that night until I saw pictures of him and another girl. I didn't ask about it, I just stopped texting back. The fact that he was smiling and looking at me made me rethink what I had seen. That's not the reaction I would expect after a situation like that. I know some stuff might be fake but I would've hoped he was going to tell me then.

When Pierre was done I finally came to senses and walked back to the garage to gathered the rest of my stuff. I then took a taxi from the area to my hotel.

I was really tired but I still had som math homework to do for my online school. If I don't get it in on time my father will definitely not be happy and I probably wont be living with Max anymore.

I sit down in the hotel bed and pick up my computer where I have all my school stuff. I wanted to get everything finished before the race tomorrow. I called Dahlia so we could study together. It's something we really like to do. Usually we take a trip to Starbucks before to get us coffee and a snack which helps a lot with the study "mood".

The call lasted for three hours and we talked about everything that had happened for the last weeks in our breaks. It felt strange knowing she was home in Belgium and I was on the other side of the world. It was evening for me and in the middle of the day for her.

"Hey I need to go, Max texted that we should go eat before it's too late" I ironically pouted to show that I would miss her. "Oh honey don't be sad" she mocked in an old woman's voice. "Bye babe, don't die before I come back" I answered her, making fun of the old lady voice.   She said goodbye, in a normal voice and hung up.

I knocked on Max door. Before I even knocked twice he opened the door. "Ready" I asked. He nodded and we went down to the hotel restaurant where they had a evening buffet. When we walked in I could see some drivers and some mechanics sitting at the different tables. Heads turned when we walked in and I could feel people looking at us or mostly at Max probably.

We took some food and sat down at the table where we found Sergio and his wife. I could tell that Max liked and kind of looked up to him. He would never ever admit it but I could see it in his eyes. It was the same eyes he had when he was little and spoke to Michael Schumacher. Before the first time I met him, Max couldn't stop talking about him. He was so excited.

It was nice to get to know Sergio's wife. She was kind and let me in on all the drama with the drivers. It was really fun. She had that amazing young spirit and If she hadn't told me I would've never guessed that she was a mother of three.

After dinner we exchanged phone numbers so we could watch the race together tomorrow. She promised she would show me her secret spots to watch from.