Wildest dreams || Charles Leclerc x Max Verstappen (lestappen)

2005

It was the first weekend of march in 2005, Charles for the first time ever walked on a karting track to officially compete in a karting competition. He had been on track before in Monaco, that's were he fell in love with the sport.

He had pretended to be sick, he really didn't want to go to school that day and miraculously his father had believed him. But his father already made plans ,so the consequence was that Charles had to come along. Not that he minded, cause he wasn't actually sick after all. His father was going to the karting track of the Bianchi family, being a racecar driver, he had made plans to have some fun with his friend and his friend's son. Jules, Charles's godfather.
That day Charles drove his first meters in a kart, and from that moment on he knew he wanted to become a professional race driver when he was old enough. That was now almost 4 years ago.

It was karting track in France, like an hour drive from Monte Carlo. When they arrived at the track Charles could already hear the roaring sound of the engines and the smell of burning gasoline. It put a smile one his face right away.

A couple hours later he was driving his kart back to the pits, they had just finished the second practice session. In between heats he already saw his friends Pierre and Anthoine, he met them a year ago when he was practicing with Jules at the Bianchi kart track.

He also saw some other kids that he didn't recognise or could understand for that matter because they spoke a different language . A blonde girl that was a bit older then him that was talking to another boy with brown hair, it didn't sound to Charles that they spoke the same language but they seemed to understand each other signing to each other what they meant.

Looking further down the track, he saw another boy with blonde hair, next to a man who Charles swore he had seen somewhere before, he just didn't know from where. He made a mental note to say hi to the boy later on when he got the chance.

It was now a couple of hours later, he stepped out of his kart after his first ever qualifying session, he felt amazing. His first time and he qualified second! He felt so proud of himself! The boy with the blonde hair was first, and right behind himself was the slightly older girl, Beitske from the Netherlands he learned by now. In 5th was Pierre and Anthoine came in 6th. So he also was excited that his friends were doing well.

When they got changed in to their own clothes again they still had time till dinner was ready in te cafetaria . So some of the kids had decided to play a game. Hide and seek they dicided on.

Charles had noticed that everyone was there, accept for the boy that had qualified first. Charles had learned from his father to always be kind and include everyone so when he didn't see the boy he walked to his friends and proposed for them to find him and ask if he wanted to play as well.

It took them 5 minutes before Charles and Pierre spotted the Boy and presumably his father next to their Van on the parking lot .
They stayed there for a little while cause they noticed the boy and the man where in a conversation.
The man spoke to the boy: 'Max, als je net zoals je vader in de formule 1 terecht wil komen zal je nog meer moeten doen. Je nam die bochten te wijd dat bijna er voor heeft gezorgd dat die Fransen en dat meisje je inhaalde! '(Max, if you want to drive in formula 1 in the future just like me, you need to do better! You took those corners way to wide, with almost resulted in those French and that girl ending in front of you!)
The boy nodded to what the man was saying and replied. 'Okay Papa, je hebt gelijkt ik zal morgen nog meer mijn best doen! (Okay papa, you are right, tomorrow I will do beter)
The man smiled to the blonde boy and ruffled his hair. Okay jongen, goedzo! We hebben nog 1,5 uur tot het eten en volgens mij willen die twee Fransen je wat vragen. (Okay son, good! We still have 1,5 hours till dinner and I think those two French boys want to ask you something) Said the man while nodding in the direction of where Charles and Pierre where standing.
Even though both boys didn't understand a word the man was saying, the boys took the man's nod as a sign to walk towards the blonde boy.

Charles put out his right hand to the boy while with the other he pointed toward himself. 'Me, Charles' hè said. Then he pointed toward Pierre while saying : 'this Pierre' The boy shook Charles hand and pointed to himself while he said: 'hi, I'm Max'

Charles then started to sign to max in the best way that he could , mixed with a language of French and English asking if the boy, now know as max wanted to play along. After Max seemed to understand his question he looked a little bit taken aback, he turned to the man and asked something in his own language.
'Papa, mag ik alsjeblieft mee spelen met de rest? (Papa, can I please go play with the others?) The man answered with a nod followed by 'omdat je vandaag zo goed hebt gekwalificeerd is het oké, zorg je dat je wel op tijd bij het eten bent, na die tijd wil ik op tijd weer naar de camper zodat je morgen fris bent voor de race Max!' (Because you qualified so good today you can, but make sure you're on time for dinner. After diner I want to go to our motorhome immediately so you're well rested for the race tomorrow Max!)
With that Max turned to the two boys with a smile while he nodded and followed them to the paying field.
At some point Max and Charles had ended up in the same tree while hiding , apparently they were hard to find cause they had time for some form of conversation in their own little way till they were called for dinner, so that meant the game had ended.

That evening when Charles was laying in the bed of his fathers motorhome he had a smile on his face. This was a good day! He thought to himself. He did what he loved and he did it well and made a new friend in the process! And with that on his mind he fell asleep.

As happy as the Saturday had been a cloud had seem to be fallen over the karting track on Sunday.
The race had started well for Charles, the first couple of laps he battled for positions with max. But both boys were very committed to their corners and braking late that unfortunately in lap 9 their wheels touched and they both spun. Both ending up on the back of the pack halfway trough the race. In the end they both managed to climb back up. Max got to second and Charles fourth.

When he was looking for Max after the race to congratulate him on how well he did and say goodbye to his new friend  he came to a halt when he got to the parking lot.
He already saw Max in the passenger seat of his fathers Van staring sadly outside the window while he heard Max's father yelling in Dutch. He didn't understand a word but he knew enough to understand that Max's father was angry for some reason.

When Charles returned to his father and Jules to packing up the last things for their own trip back. He asked them if they maybe knew why max's father was so angry and max was gone so fast. They both had looked at each other knowingly before turning back to Charles. 'Max's father is a former f1 driver Charlie' Jules had said. 'That's why he is really competitive in everything, don't worry about it' And in that moment Charles realised that , that's was the reason he recognised the man yesterday. He had seen the man on his television in a interview next to one of his favorite drivers. The man in red, Michael Schumacher! How cool that max's father used to be an formula 1 driver! He thought to himself. With this on his mind  They drove back to Monaco.