Dalliance- [Max Verstappen]

[ T H I R T Y - O N E]

Saturday starts with a strong training session for RedBull with their drivers coming first and second giving them a good feeling for the upcoming qualifying. The weather is still not the warmest and it probably is going to be difficult for the drivers to warm up the tires to the desired temperature in the short amount of time they will have during qualifying.

The paddock is even more crowded than Daisy already experienced before, and she is sure she has seen more celebrities than she was even able to recognize.

Before qualifying the drivers need to get the last round of interviews done, but luckily they manage to get them done quickly, helping Max and Checo to catch a deserved break before they have to be in their best shape to get the perfect time on track. RedBull is confident that both drivers will come easily through Q1 and Q2 and they may even expecting them to do well in the final qualifying segment. Right now, Daisy is sitting in the open space of the RedBull hospitality and is eating a delicious cake she couldn't walk past when she was searching for a snack.

"Hi." Of course, it is Max who joins her when she is alone and slowly she thinks it isn't just a coincidence that he is around when she is not in the company of anyone else. But she just smiles and greets him back. "Hey."

"Can I sit down with you?" Max asks with a tilt of his head and Daisy has to laugh softly at his question.

"I can't stop you from it anyway." She manages to say, getting a cheeky grin in return, before Max says, "That might be the truth." and sits down. Placing his plate with a snack, which is obviously much healthier than Daisy's, in front of him.

It is silent between them for a bit, both eating their food, before Max speaks up again. "Enjoying that cake?" He asks when a soft sigh has left Daisy's lips after taking another piece of the cake.

"Looked way too good to not take it." She explains and gets a soft smile in return. Just when she wants to offer him a bite, another person comes close and rips them out of their little bubble.

"Want a tea as well Daisy?" Claire asks and a shiver runs down Daisy's spine. She feels so much anger towards her coworker, but she can't say anything to reveal that she is pregnant. Because of the goddamn tea, she is never going to touch again.

"No thank you, Claire." Daisy politely smiles, not even realising that Claire's smile gets a little less because she has to concentrate on not ramming her fork into Claire's body to get rid of all of her negative feelings. Claire simply steps away and Daisy feels much more relaxed immediately.

"Since when do you refuse to drink tea?" Max asks, even though Daisy suddenly drinking tea confused him even more than her now refusing it after seeming to like it.

Daisy hesitates, knowing she has to tell him the truth in the next couple of days since everything else would be unfair towards him, but right before qualifying is not the right time, so she just shrugs her shoulder, muttering a "Since now." and Max has to accept her answer even though he raises his eyebrow for a second, because of her strange behaviour.

They finish their snack in silence, but not a particularly bad one. Daisy likes the company of Max and since he asked to sit with her, he probably doesn't mind it either. After that Max has to get himself ready for Qualifying and Daisy decides to go over to the garage already. Sit down with Vicky to chat for a bit, while it gets more and more crowded since everyone wants to see how the boys do in Qualifying.

It gets loud in the garage when they start the cars and Daisy crosses her fingers for the boys in the car with the bull. As expected they both don't have any struggle to go through to Q2, Max setting the fastest time while Checo is comfortable in P6. The short break between the two qualifying segments is used for some small adjustments before the boys are sent back on the track. Q2 goes by smoothly as well, with Max topping the timesheet again and Checo needing to step up his game in the last segment with being in P8 right now.