malicious | max verstappen

two.

I had a decent start unlike my old friend, SERGIO PEREZ who released his clutch too late allowing me to pass the Redbull easily.

Next up was the FERRARI of CHARLES LECLERC who I stayed behind for a fairly long time. This started to push my buttons. I knew this guy had incredible defending skills. Lap after lap, I was already annoyed and wanted to get past him.

On one of the straights, I was side by side along him heading into a corner. I was on the inside line while Charles was on the outside line. Tactically, I pressed on the breaks on the last minute and managed to pass him after a good fight.

Up infront, Lewis and MAX VERSTAPPEN were fighting for 1st while the gap between me and them was about 12 seconds since I had to pit around lap 21.

I wasn't worried that they were too far away nor worried about whoever was behind me. I was worried about my suddenly aching body. It's no secret that every driver's body is sore after a race is different. It felt like I could pass out at any second.

"Ellie, are you alright there?" my engineer, THOMAS FRANK, asked. he must've noticed my vitals drop on the screen in front of him.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. everything is fine." I surprised myself by sounding out of breath. Thankfully though, he didn't push me any further allowing me to concentrate and ignore whatever was wrong with me at the moment.

On lap 49, a safety car was released making all cars slow down. I mentally cheered for Lewis as I saw him still hanging on 1st place.

4 laps later, we were back racing for an intense last few laps. Now that the safety car decreased the gap that was between me and the first two, I was finally involved with their battle.

I was sure that everyone was on the edge of their seats right now as I was on the tail of non other than Max Verstappen, ever so slightly.

This slowed him down as he shifted his focus from Lewis to me. In the distance, Lewis was already zooming and I felt like the team relied on me to bring it back a 1-2. Ignoring the weird sensation I have been feeling for half of this race— probably just my body aching after being poisoned— I pushed on my throttle after exiting a corner. Half of the front of my car length was right beside the back car length of the Redbull in-front of me.

It felt like deja vu when I was side to side with Max along the straights. My eyes caught some people stand up as we approached the corner and— fuck.

Max turned into me.

I was on the inside line, also the racing line and he turned into me snatching part of my front wing off with him.

"What the fuck is this asshole doing?!" I didn't realize I was shouting.

"We're reporting it now, Elyse. You have some wing damage, though, do you think you continue the last 3 laps like this? We can't risk pitting this late."

"What's the gap behind me?" I asked, feeling defeated.

"9.6 seconds and decreasing." Thomas informed me, "Just bring it home, we'll take the points we can get."

"He better get a fucking penalty, fucking hell." I increased my grip on my steering wheel as the adrenaline started to fade and the hazy feeling returned. I just wanted to stop the car and rip the steering wheel off. I'm sure so many people in the garage were expecting a successful 1-2 finish to the start of the season but I demolished all their hopes.