Dalliance- [Max Verstappen]

[ S I X T E E N ]

"Oh, that's nice, thank you." Claire sounds genuinely surprised by Daisy's explanation, and it might be the first time Daisy has ever heard her saying these words, so she is just able to mutter out a "No problem."

"Are you ready to leave?" Claire asks Daisy and she is more and more surprised at how nice Claire acts on this Sunday morning. Could it be that her co-worker finally realised that she is not going anywhere in this world if she keeps spitting venom at everyone who is not in charge of her? Daisy blinks and is then ready to answer.

"Yes, I just need to grab my backpack." She already wears her RedBull clothes, and all of her essentials are in her backpack. Things like her paddock pass, some hygiene articles to freshen herself up, and probably most important a variety of pens. Some for herself to make notes and also some for Max if he wants to give out autographs to his fans. Daisy takes her backpack and leaves the room, closely followed by Claire, they take the elevator downstairs and enter the lobby where they are supposed to meet Vici, Alec, and the drivers.

"Good morning." Daisy friendly says into the group and gets some more, some less enthusiastic replies only Max turns his attention fully to the Finish woman to talk with her.

"Morning. Slept well?" He asks her with a slight smile on his lips and Daisy can't do anything else but smile back. "Yes, and you?" She answers politely and asks him the same question back. „I can't complain." Max winks at Daisy and she can only suppress getting red because Claire suddenly speaks up.

"Here, I brought you some tea." She holds two takeaway cups of tea in her hands, one slightly stretched out to give it to Daisy.

"She..." Max tries to speak up, knowing that Daisy doesn't drink tea, but she is quicker and cuts him off.

"Thank you, Claire." Daisy smiles and takes the tea to take a sip out of it. She has to stop her mimic showing how much she hates tea and tries to look happy with the herb's taste.

"Do you like it? I didn't know how you drink your tea." Claire looks interested in Daisy's preferences for drinking tea and honestly, Daisy's only preference is not to drink it.

"It is good, just a little too hot to drink." Daisy just holds the tea in her hands, not taking another sip out of it while she hopes that Claire will disappear quickly so that she can get rid of the teacup, but unfortunately, it takes longer than expected for them to part ways, so Daisy has to sip regularly on the tea while trying to keep up with the conversations and not scrunch her face in disgust.

"You don't like tea." This is the first thing Max says when Claire finally leaves with Checo and will no longer hear their conversation. "Why did you drink it?" He adds, confused that Daisy has even accepted and took sips from the tea which she did tell him she doesn't even like.

"Because Claire is acting nice for the first time, and I don't want to push her away," Daisy explains with a shrug of her shoulders. No matter how much she hates tea made her refuse it when it came with good intentions. Claire would probably go back to her moody self if Daisy didn't accept her nice offer and Daisy could use some peace with her co-worker.

"You're way too nice," Max tells her with a sigh and Daisy can't find anything to say against his words. He is right and she probably shouldn't be nice to anyone, but she can't bring herself to be ignorant to someone even though they were mean before.

"I know, that's why I spend so much time with you." Daisy grins and takes a step aside to duck away from Max's hand with which he wanted to tweak her into the side. A giggle leaves her lips when a pout appears on Max's lips, and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Rude!"

"Go and get another trophy for the team." Daisy sends him away and really hopes he will come back with another trophy. It would make him happy and the whole team would be proud and would get a reward for their hard work.

"See you after the finish line." Max waves at Daisy before he disappears to his trainer to get ready for the race. Starting to concentrate and maybe go through the last bits of data while the mechanics get the car ready. Daisy doesn't have anything to do until the race starts, then she would have to take some notes for the article on the team's website.

"Do you want to watch the race together?" It is Claire who asks Daisy if she wants some company during the race and even though Daisy is still surprised by the nice behaviour of her co-worker, she doesn't get overly suspicious. "Sure." She smiles and Claire and who knows, maybe Claire really changed her mindset about how to treat the people she works with.

Daisy has her fingers crossed for the start of the race and she really hopes that this race will be a rather easy one for RedBull and not with difficulties like the loss of power in yesterday's Qualifying. The moment when the lights appear until the last one is out feels like minutes even though it takes just a few seconds. Max has a good start, keeping up with the Ferrari of Charles, but isn't able to get past the red car.

In the middle of the grid, Kevin Magnussen has to end his race in the gravel, but apart from this, the start is rather clean. When a Ferrari spins into the gravel Daisy maybe hoped that it was Leclerc, but it was Sainz, and he manages to bring his car back on the track. Daisy really hopes that Max will manage to get past Leclerc to get another win, but then the RedBull driver spins off track at the same spot Carlos Sainz did before him.

Groans echo through the garage because he loses some positions, but luckily Max manages to get the car out of the gravel and is only on P4 now. The problems don't end there because Max starts to complain about his DRS since it doesn't open properly or close directly after he pressed the open button. Nevertheless, Max manages to fight with George Russell in one of the Mercedes and everyone cheers for him.

Suddenly there is a red car going slow on the track and Daisy quickly realises that Charles's car has given up. He has no power just like Max in Q3 yesterday and this seals his DNF for this race. The next thing that makes Daisy's heart stumble is an AstonMartin being spun by Pierre Gasly who she might not be working with, but she still knows that the results from AlphaTauri are important for RedBull. In the meantime, Checo managed to take P1 and from then on leads the race.

When Max is close enough the Team asks Sergio to step aside and let Max drive by. Daisy knows that they do this because it is important for the Dutchman to collect as many points as possible for the championship, but she feels sorry for Checo that he is getting taken away the win. Since Max's tires are newer, he breezes past and manages to pull a gap between his and his teammate's car.

Finally, the chequered flag is out, and the team is euphoric because of the P1 and P2 their drivers managed to get with George Russell completing the podium. Even though it didn't always look like it during the race, Daisy is more than happy for Max who is adding another trophy to his collection.

And after all, she might be his lucky charm.