In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Forty-Seven

After Suzuka, it was Qatar...which was quite frankly kind of crap. Not the race but the track. The race was fantastic and I took another back-to-back win, my first since Imola and Monaco. This was then turned into the triple in Austin where I won both the sprint race and the race. Mexico was the same, no sprint race but I won the race, making it four wins in a row.

I also managed to pick up two poll positions in the process which was a point of pride for me as poll position wasn't really something I had received much of during the season.

Brazil was harder, I had to take an engine penalty but fortunately so did Charles and so the two of us made our way back through the field during the sprint race, after which I received a bullshit penalty for where I did my practice start and had to take another five-place grid penalty during the race itself. However, once I secured myself a top-three spot, I stayed back from Lewis and Max, not wanting to endanger my position in the championship with a DNF. So I took third and continued on my way, Lewis winning the race to Max's great frustration I imagine but I enjoyed it nonetheless and I especially enjoyed flying to Cancun with Max after Brazil and spending a week there just the two of us, having a chance to reconnect and enjoy each other properly.

It had been a hard few weeks for him, as happy as he was for me he was aware that this was definitely my season to lose, not his to win. I was driving flawlessly and every week my heart beat hard in my chest as the adrenaline flowed and I barely made a mistake, looking to join Lewis in the history books of drivers who won in their second season and the praise I was handed on a daily basis made my soul fly. Max was proud of me and happy that if it wasn't him, that it was me, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard. Out of a potential 146 points that were available to be won over those races...I took 107 home with me in a storm that I don't think anyone really expected from me, myself included.

It meant that going into the last two races of the season I had a 44-point lead over Lewis and 48 over Max...and I knew that all I needed to do today was finish this race weekend ahead of them both to make it practically impossible for them to beat me. It basically already was but I think I just needed to finish 6th, even if Lewis or Max won the race, I just needed to finish 6th and I would have won the championship officially.

Some were saying that it was anticlimactic to the season if I did win. When Mercedes had bought it back so much only for us to bring our upgrades and stay ahead of them some fans were naturally frustrated. However, most fans were still excited and I could feel it electrifying the air as we stepped into the paddock in Las Vegas for the penultimate race of the season. It was Saturday, qualifying day and I was back for the qualifying session after leaving the track for a while to do fan signings after practice.

All eyes were on me, the almost certain World Driver's Champion 2023.

Potentially the youngest-ever driver's champion and the first woman to ever take the title.
After my entire life of working to this point those words for the first time in my life scared me because they were so close to becoming true. It seemed so insane to me but also normal...I guess they call it disassociation because I knew it was happening but I couldn't really comprehend it properly. I was just doing me but it was a big deal and I knew that I wasn't going to minimise it at all.

The first woman.

I had already made marks on the sport with it being announced yesterday that four women were due to participate in F2 next year it had just been announced, seven in F3 and nine in F4. W-Series needed practically a brand new roster as the girls who should have been given the option to compete in those series after the last few years was finally given seats, coming from W-Series, IndyCar, FormulaE and WSeries to take positions in the more mainstream series and that was my biggest personal win. From one year in a competitive car, I had actually helped those girls and women get into the main leagues, being someone they could point to as an example of what they were capable of rather than having no one and having to just point at themselves. I was lucky. The only reason I got here was luck, I knew that. But it didn't mean that I didn't work bloody hard for it at any point because I did, God I worked my ass off for it. Without some luck, this might never have happened but if I hadn't pushed myself for this every day then it also wouldn't have happened.