Lie To Survive | Leclerc x Verstappen

Bahrain 2022

The Drive to survive set was always crowded and noisy, but this year Charles just couldn't stand it. After Max Verstappen, his nemesis, had won the championship last year, he had been counting the days to his next "Drive to survive" interview because he knew It was going to be the most awkward ten minute piece about Max. What he didn't know is that they would have been filming both their interviews at once, on the same set, and have them right in front of one another.

This, Charles didn't expect.

His press outfit now felt like a steel armour clamorously clanging onto him to crash him, and he would've felt less claustrophobic in his car. He and Max didn't exactly leave on best term last season, and now that the Dutch man had been positioned on a chair directly in front of him and instructed to interview Charles himself, to get "the best of the raw emotions", he knew that all the things that they had said - and left unsaid - were being stirred into Max's mind just as heavily as they were into his own.

Technicians were fumbling with lights and Cameras, make up artists periodically coming to both the drivers to fix their powdery complexion, and all Max could focus on was, no matter what happened, to never catch the gaze of the man sitting right in front of him. He knew he would have been forced to in just a few short minutes, but he was still not ready.

All this industry wanted to do was put them against each other, and all they really wanted to do was ignore each other and stay out of the other's way. Obviously, that was before realising they were the two best driver on any circuit they set tires on.

When the set director started screaming "Silence on set, rolling images and sound, Charles Leclerc Interview, Episode One, Take One!" the chatter around them completely disappeared and Max was finally instructed to start reading from the cards he had been handed just a few minutes back. The tension was palpable and every one was munching off of it.

Charles hated this before it even started.

"So, Charles Leclerc, how does it feel to be back in this chair?"

Max hadn't said good morning to him when he had gotten into the studio and hadn't talked to anyone during the whole preparation process, just nodding along or shaking his head in a couple of instances, so his voice hit Charles with a force he hadn't been able to expect. He would be lying if he said he hadn't watched Max interviews while on break, but feeling his whole presence - his body, his smell, his voice- in person was a completely different experience. A feeling bubbled up inside him, Charles wondered if it was still rage from their fight.

"It's great, really, couldn't wait to be back."

"And what is your goal for this year's championship?"

"Obviously, I want to be World Champion."

Max averted his eyes, lingering a bit longer on the card, as if he didn't want to further the conversation.

"Do you feel confident about achieving this goal?"

"I feel confident, because I know how much work we've done in the past to get to this point" Charles paused for just a second, then added a comment, almost under his breath, as if he really thought just Max could hear it. "Both of us"

He knew how they were going to twist this comment. They were going to get a segment of the new Ferrari car and the team and put this voice over it and make it look like a general team statement. Charles was fine with that.

Max smiled at him. He couldn't believe it, as it was just a passing motion, but it was unmistakable: Max smiled at the mention of the time in which they were chasing the same dream. When he looked down to the card again, he looked disappointed by the nature of the question.