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A spin. A split second of time. A crash. A F1 driver, or any race car driver for that matter, prepares as much as they can for this possibility. It is the risk that each and every one of them takes when they get behind the wheel. The car will eventually hit the barrier on the side of the track. The driver’s engineer will make contact and make sure that they are okay, to assess what help is needed. To let other drivers know that they are okay. Get out of the car as fast as possible after the car has come to a complete stop. All of this happens in seconds.
DANIEL
Daniel had not raced in Suzuka since 2022, and not in the dry since 2019. He always feels bittersweet about racing on this iconic track. He will always remember the accident that ultimately cost his friend Jules Bianchi his life. And safety has improved since then, but there is still a risk. A risk that all of them take every race weekend.
Daniel would never say this to the media but he hated the stupid so-called Honda tax. Not to say he didn’t support the rookie sessions. But considering that he has not had the best start to the season and there is an upgrade to the floor, he really wished he didn’t have to give up his seat for FP1.
He doesn’t know how he would’ve gotten through the start of this season without Max by his side. He keeps telling the media that he is in a good head space and this is not like McLaren. And to be honest, he would not be saying that if it weren’t for Max. He has been his rock.
(FLASHBACK NOVEMBER 2022)
Daniel had just gotten off the phone with Christian. He was going home. Back to Red Bull. “A soft place to land” as Christian had said to him minutes ago. And he had been understanding of Daniel feeling like he needed a break. Time away to see if he still wanted to be a F1 driver, if he still had the passion and the drive to be the best. And he really was feeling emotional, that Christian had understood, even after Daniel had run away from Red Bull back in 2018.
Ping
Max 33: Christian just told me that you agreed to the third driver
Daniel stared at the text on his phone with mixed emotions. He knew that by taking the offer that he would be back working with Max. Despite what Netflix said, they did not hate each other. But they were definitely not close either, despite what the random promotional video showed. They would randomly text here and there. Like the text right above was a thank you from Max to Daniel’s congratulations on his second WDC. That was back in October. And they have both grown and changed since they were last teammates. 2 championships for Max, two team changes for Daniel (and the pain from McLaren). Time has kept moving. So how is this relationship going to be now that they were somewhat teammates again? He knew that Red Bull would be milking this reunion.
Daniel: Yeah back with the team!
Max 33: I am so happy, I did not think it was fair what they did to you and you deserve a seat
MAX
Daniel deserved to have a seat. What Zak Brown did made Max so mad. If he never saw the McLaren CEO again, it would be too soon. Max had heard from people that they had promised to keep Daniel for one more season, to see it out to the end of his contract. Then out of nowhere, they announce that they are ending his contract early and bringing in Oscar. What a shitty situation all around.
Max had approached Christian back in September after all this had gone down. He knew that Checo had a seat for next year and there was no reason to replace him. But Daniel needed to come back home, as corny as that sounded.
“As you know Daniel doesn’t have a seat for next year” Max said to Christian in his office in Milton Keynes.
“We have Checo,” Christian replied.
“I know that, but there has to be something that we can do, give him a place to land so to speak”
Christian reached out, Daniel accepted, and they were going to be teammates again. Max was not sure how this was going to play out. They didn’t hate each other (thanks Netflix for making people think that) but they weren’t the best friends that some people assumed. Max had been hurt when Daniel had left in 2018, even though he knew that it wasn’t because of him. He had had a bit of a crush on him (still did) and was going to miss him. Didn’t want to have a new teammate, no offence to Pierre. Things had actually been fine, gone through Pierre, then Alex, then Checo. And now Daniel as a third driver.
Daniel R.: Yeah glad to have a place while I figure stuff out
Max paused. What did Daniel mean? Figure stuff out? Maybe he means taking 2023 to figure out what team he wants to drive for in 2024? Yeah that has to be it.
DANIEL
There were no more texts between him and Max after that until just before the car launch in 2023.
Max 33: Are you going to be in NYC for the car launch?
Daniel: Yeah that is the plan
Max 33: Do you want to hitch a ride with me on my plane, do something together before the launch, take in the sights of NYC?
Daniel: Sure that would be great. Hardly been to the Big Apple
Daniel then received the time of the plane departure. He was actually looking forward to hanging out with Max outside of the circus that is F1.
They met at the little airport just outside of Monaco and flew to NYC. Max seemed different to Daniel. And he couldn’t figure out how. Maybe nervousness, which was so not like Max. He never was nervous, confident in everything he does. That was how he had won two world championships.
MAX
He was going to tell Daniel how he felt. He had spent the last three or so months moaning to Charles and Lando how he felt about Daniel and they had gotten to the point of telling him to just tell Daniel how he felt. Max knew that he couldn’t do this whole season without telling him.
They landed in NYC and Max had a whole day planned for sightseeing. The beauty of the States was they still for the most part fly under the radar. So they were hardly bugged at all by fans, just a few here and there. And in those brief moments, Max was reminded how good Daniel was with people. And that he would purposely include Max in whatever interaction was going on.
They got back to the hotel and Daniel was about to go to his room. Max mustered up all the courage that he had, and leaned in and kissed Daniel.
DANIEL
He was shocked and just stood still. Max had kissed him. Max had kissed him. It was like his mind went blank for a split second. Max pulled back and Daniel could tell that he was panicking. Daniel did the only thing he could think of and quickly kissed him back. This was crazy, Max liked him? Wanted to be with him? Where did this come from? And then all thoughts fled as the kiss was deepened.
And over the course of 2023 their relationship blossomed. Sure there were moments that tested them, like any relationship, but they worked through them and came out the other side stronger than ever.
END OF FLASHBACK
Daniel shows up on Sunday ready for the race. He is feeling great. He is going to be gunning for points, he knows he can bring it. This is the most confident he has felt since last year. He knows it is going to be a tricky start and that Suzuka is a difficult circuit.
The lights go out and “away we go”. Immediately he and Yuki are getting eaten up by the cars behind them that are on the soft tire. He can see an Aston Martin (Lance) to his left and moves to make room for him, not realising that Alex is to his right and right behind him until it is too late. He is spinning and all he can think about is Jules and how he didn’t get to kiss Max goodbye that morning, as Max had woken up and left before him.
He feels the car stop as it hits the tire wall. He hits the button for the fire extinguisher, which causes a cloud to form around him. He lets Pierre, his race engineer, know he is okay and then removes himself from the car. He can see Alex standing beside the wreckage that is his Williams car. They don’t really say anything to each other, just a nod.
MAX
“Red flag, Max, red flag” GP comes over the radio to tell him. And there is something in GP’s voice that makes Max pause. Daniel is all he can think of.
“Are… they okay?”
“Yes Daniel is out of the car, Max. He is all okay”
Of course GP knew that that was who Max would be the most concerned about. Nothing against Alex of course but Daniel was his everything. He is literally the other half of Max. Max doesn’t know how else to describe it. He pulls the car into the pit lane and gets out. He goes over to the pitwall and watches the replays of the onboard. He can see that Daniel did not see Alex there. Max needs to see Daniel with his own two eyes, even if he can’t talk to him right now. And as if Daniel heard his thoughts, he caught a glimpse of him and they looked at each other for a second. And in that second, they conveyed their love for each other, relief from Max that Daniel was okay. Then Daniel was whisked inside the RB garage and Max had to try and get his focus back for the restart.
He ends up winning the race. A 1-2 for Red Bull. He goes into the cool-down room (or as the fans called it, the Max Verstappen podcast) with Checo and Carlos. And the footage of the accident plays out on the screen.
“He was in the blind spot,” Checo says about Alex.
“”Yeah” Carlos replied.
“You can see Daniel looking left, to check the left side. It’s really unfortunate” Max says. Both Carlos and Checo knew about the relationship, but it wasn’t something they are sharing with the world quite yet. So they just nod and try to convey their concern with looks.
They go out to the podium and all Max can think is he wants this to hurry up so he can go find his boyfriend. After he is done with the podium and finally has a moment to himself, he pulls out his phone to see a text from Daniel.
Daniel ♥️: Hey I know you are busy with the podium, I have my meeting with the stewards in 5 minutes, and then I am heading back to the hotel. If you are done before then, meet me at RB. And also Charles reached out to me, my crash really got to him 🥺 and I told him he could come to our room tonight. Hope that’s okay
Max noticed that the tweet was sent 6 minutes ago, so he would still be with the stewards. He sent off a quick text.
Max: I am done now, so I will make my way over to RB. And that is completely fine if Charles comes over
He knew that any accident on this track for both of them would trigger memories from 10 years ago and a life that was cut way too soon.
DANIEL
The meeting with the stewards went as well as he thought it would. No further action due to lap one and the presence of Lance. He walks back with Alex to their respective garages. There are no bad feelings between them. It was a racing incident. He pulls out his phone as he enters the RB garage and sees the reply from Max which makes him smile. He knew that Max wouldn’t have an issue with Charles coming to their room tonight. Or hitching a ride tomorrow if needed. He knows that Charles is going to be like a koala for the next day or so with Daniel. It feels like yesterday when they lost Jules and not 10 years ago.
He finds Max sitting in his driver's room scrolling on his phone. And just seeing Max, with no other people around, he feels himself tearing up. At the sound of a sob, Max looks up and sees Daniel crying. He immediately gets up and pulls Daniel into himself.
“Let it out” Max whispers to him as he just holds him. Daniel lets it all out, the frustration at the crash, when he had felt so positive this morning, and the pain of the memory of Jules. After some time, he can feel himself calming down.
“Sorry about that” he says sheepishly to Max, who has a wet stain on his shirt from where Daniel had been crying.
“Never apologise for that. You needed it”
And Daniel just leans forward and kisses Max like he had been wanting to do ever since he crashed.
“New rule, we don’t start the day without a kiss. When I crashed, all I could think of is that I didn’t kiss you this morning, and Jules of course”
“Okay”
And with one more quick kiss, they headed out of the garage, where they ran into Charles.
“Can I come with you?” he asked.
Instead of replying, Max just pulled him into a hug.
“Of course you can”
They all left for the hotel and spent the evening ordering room service, watching a movie and sharing memories of Jules. It was the perfect way to end a crappy day.