When Olivia came back to the hotel from her run Max was already there, on the sim. She got some dinner for both of them and she sat on the living room eating her salad with grilled chicken, after a while Max joined her and they ate together.
Later that night as they were laying in bed Max asked "Hey can I ask you something?"
"Sure, shoot" said Olivia as she got closer to him.
"I totally get it about your mom, but why don't you get along with your siblings? I mean they look like they are great".
Olivia gave him a small smile "Yeah they are, they were just absent you know? I can't even blame them because it's not their fault either, they were always much older than me so I was just a kid and they were all already gone from the house, Toño was racing at NASCAR, Paola had left too and was helping Checo with his management. So I never really got a chance to grow up with siblings" she shrugged "I love them of course, we just don't get along so much because we haven't spent proper time together ever, like siblings usually do".
"But not Checo?" added Max.
"Checo left when he was so young but he always made an effort to keep in touch, I think because he felt like he was so far away from all of us, and he was all alone, he missed us" said Olivia with a sad smile while Max listened attentively "By the time Facebook and Skype existed we were in constant contact, we would message all the time and video call almost every day".
Max smiled sweetly at her "That's really lovely of Checo" he said honestly "I wonder if it's the same for Blue Jaye?" he thought out loud "Maybe I should try to bring her along to some races".
Olivia smiled at him "Max don't worry, I can already tell you get along with Blue so much, it's nothing like me and my older siblings, it's more like me and Checo actually" she reassured him "And you should definitely bring her to a few races, she would love it".
Max stroked her cheek as they laid facing each other "She's going to adore you, I can't wait for you to meet her".
"I can't wait to meet her either" said Olivia honestly, she gave him a small kiss before they turned off the lights to fall asleep.
The next morning they woke up early to go up to the roof before breakfast and FP3. The sunrises in Mexico City were very different from anywhere else, there were so many tall buildings, and there was a lot of air pollution, so the sunrise was definitely hard to see.
"No offense to your country love, but this has to be the worst sunrise we saw this season" said Max as he leaned on the roof's ledge.
Olivia sipped her coffee "No offense taken, this sucks" she nodded "but wait until we are at the beach house, the sunrises by the beach are amazing".
"I thought we were going to Oaxaca?" Max turned to her confused.
"Well, since Lewis isn't coming and we didn't need to worry about the food or cultural experiences I thought it would be cool if we did: beach house in Puerto Vallarta, then Guadalajara for the baptism and lastly a day in San Miguel de Allende before we leave for Brazil." said Olivia "What do you think? I still have to tell Carlos and Charles but I don't think they'll mind".
"That sounds lovely, I'm actually really exited to see the beach house I thought I would have to wait until New Years" he turned to her brightly.
Olivia smiled "Yeah that's actually why I thought about this, I'm not sure if the water is gonna be too cold in January, but it's definitely still perfect right now" she nodded "We're still going on New Years I just wanted to take you during the warm weather too".
"Hell yes! Let's go!" he said excitedly as he picked up Olivia from the ground "and let's get out of here because this sunrise is so not worth the early wake up alarm" he said as he started walking towards the door, Olivia laughing as he carried her.
That day Max and Checo had left for the paddock early to have a team meeting but Olivia arrived at her regular schedule. Liv drank her cold coffee on one of the tables outside when Pato walked over to her as he walked by the Red Bull motor home "Liv, hey" he said with a smile as he sat in front of her "So, your mom is here" he said casually.
"Where?!" Olivia immediately reacted startled and started looking around, ready to run away.
Pato laughed "No, no, I don't mean here right now, I mean here for the race" he laughed at her terrified reaction.
"Shit, don't scare me like that" said Olivia as a small laugh escaped from her and she threw a small piece of cookie at him.
Pato kept laughing, as his laugh died down he said "I just wanted to let you know she invited me to dinner with you. She said that if there's not a Red Bull win we would all get dinner and she invited me to come".
"Oh right, I did say I would go to that" she made a face "I really don't want to go but Checo convinced me" she explained.
"Yeah he told me about dinner the other day, about your mom going on and on and criticizing everything" he said as he gave her a pained look.
"Yeah it's like she doesn't get enough times to criticize me throughout the year so she stores everything up and releases it when we see each other once a year" she said "It's insane behavior".
"It really is" nodded Pato "I've really got to go, I just wanted to let you know about the dinner" he said as he stood back up "and if it's worth anything, you always look amazing, never listen to your mother Liv" he gave her a small wink with a friendly smile as he started walking away.
"Patito! Good job out there yesterday!" called out Liv referring to Pato's drive during FP1, he had been replacing Danny Ric during FP1 and he was ready to jump into action in case of an accident or illness from any of the two McLaren drivers.
Pato showed her his bright smile "Thanks Liv!" he called out.
After a few minutes Liv saw the two Ferrari drivers walk by the Red Bull motor home "Hey you! The two guys in red!" she yelled out to them.
Carlos and Charles turned to Liv and she laughed as they started walking over to her "Liv, what a miracle" said Carlos.
"Yes Liv, when your family is here you never pay attention to us" added Charles.
"Oh I'm sorry Percy I didn't want to hurt your feelings, I just never get to see my family but I see you two all the time" said Liv not taking them seriously.
"Checo told us you were hiding from your family" said Charles.
"Yeah well I didn't mean that family, I meant Carola and the kids" shrugged Liv "It's them I spend my time with".
"And Max, but not us" said Carlos pretending his feelings were hurt.
She rolled her eyes as a smile appeared on her face "Alright alright, I get it. But we'll get to spend all the time together next week, are you ready?".
"Hell yes, what's the plan?" asked Carlos.
"Of course, where are we going?" said Charles.
Liv told them about the change of plans, about Lewis not going, about the beach house "The infamous beach house!" said Charles brightly "I'm in, I don't even need to hear the rest of the plan".
"That sounds great to me too, some surfing, some good food, maybe some bike riding" said Carlos as he raised his hand so Liv would high-five him, which she did with a smile.
"Fantastic, we leave Monday morning then" said Liv with a smile.
"When you say Monday morning do you mean Monday morning? or do you mean like those times you are supposed to leave Monday morning but end up so hangover you leave on the afternoon?" asked Charles.
Liv opened her mouth to reply indignantly but stopped herself and sighed "Yeah fine, Monday afternoon" she said defeated.
Carlos burst out laughing "that hurt!"
"Shut up, my mother is in town, I plan on drinking my way into oblivion on our Sunday dinner" she said as she drank from her coffee.
"Liv I'm dying to meet your mother" said Charles with a bright smile.
"Oh she's gonna love you, both of you" said Liv, knowing it was true.
"Let's go to the Red Bull garage before qualifying so we can meet her" Carlos said to Charles.
"I plan on hiding from my mother so maybe ask Checo to introduce you" said Liv.
"Oh common Liv, you are the one who needs to introduce us" begged Charles.
"Are you embarrassed of us Liv?!" said Carlos indignantly.
She laughed and shook her head "Fine! Go to the garage before qualifying".
"Awesome" said Carlos brightly.
"Do you think she's gonna look like Liv?" asked Charles as they walked away.
"Liv doesn't look like Checo at all so maybe not" Liv could hear Carlos say as they left.
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"You need to win this race Maxie" said Olivia casually as they walked over to the garage for FP3.
"I mean, I always try to win" said Max slightly confused.
"Or Checo, but one of you needs to win this race and this will give you some incentive..." said Olivia while Max turned to her as they walked, with a confused look on his face.
"I'm not understanding anything" he said.
"My mom invited Pato for family dinner on Sunday if we do not win the race" said Olivia looking at him "So either you or Checo win the race and we go to our celebratory dinner, or you'll be stuck for hours at my family dinner with Pato, and I know you don't want that" said Olivia.
Max nodded "I have to win this race" he said decidedly, there was a determination in his eyes.
"You have to win this race" agreed Olivia, knowing how much of a bad time Max would have in that dinner. She didn't mention this but her entire family loved Pato, she didn't want Max to see that.
Just like the day before, Olivia hid while Max and Checo changed to their suits. This time she went to get more coffee to the motor home, as she came back to the garage she passed Lewis and his father "Good luck out there today Lew!" she said brightly as she walked by them "Nice to see you Anthony" she added with a smile.
"Thanks Liv!" said Lewis with his calming voice and sweet smile.
"Good luck to Checo as well!" said Anthony with an amicable smile.
Once Olivia came back into the garage it was straight into work mode.
"Oli!" said her mother angrily since Liv kept walking past them and not greeting them.
"Hey mother, I'm working right now I'll talk to you later, byee" she said very quickly as she walked to Max's driver room with her camera already around her neck.
Toño laughed "It's like she's an answering machine".
"This is Liv, leave your message and I may call you back, but probably not, bye!" laughed Paola, her mother seemed unamused.
Carola tried not to laugh, the only one missing was their father, he was in Checo's driving room with him.
"More coffee huh?" said Max impressed as Olivia entered the room "Are you sure you need that?" he said jokingly to the very energetic Olivia.
"Yes, it makes me walk away faster" said Olivia as she pointed back to the door from which she had just ran away from her family "You're a formula 1 driver, you know every millisecond counts".
FP3 really made something clear to Olivia and the rest of the paddock: Mercedes was really killing it this weekend, George ended FP3 in P1 and Lewis in P2. On P3 there was Max but the difference with the Mercedes was of more than 3 tenths.
"Damn it Lew" whispered Liv to herself as FP3 ended.
Like it was to be expected, a few minutes after FP3 ended the Ferrari boys appeared outside the Red Bull garage, Liv saw them from the back of the garage as they extended their necks trying to find her mother.
"Oh god" said Liv, she walked out of the garage "I changed my mind I don't want you to meet my parents" she said to Carlos and Charles.
"You didn't want that a few hours ago either, but you promised Liv" said Charles.
"Yes, a promise is a promise" insisted Carlos.
Liv grunted "Alright, wait here" she said as she walked back into the garage and over to her family.
"Mom, dad, Carlos and Charles want to meet you, they're over there outside the garage" said Liv with a note of dread in her voice.
"Gladly! Let's go" said her father enthusiastically.
"Well at least you finally spoke to me" said her mother as they walked over to the Ferrari boys outside, Liv took a deep breath and followed.
"It's so nice to meet you! Liv has told us so much about you!" said Carlos happily. Liv made a face, that was a complete lie.
"Hola, mucho gusto!" said Charles as he shook their hands in his heavily accented spanish, Liv couldn't help but giggle.
"It's lovely to meet two friends of my Checo" said her mother brightly.
"Well we're also Liv's friends" said Carlos.
"I even dated her for a while" said Charles. Liv turned to him unamused, her mother's expression changed, the last thing she needed was her mother thinking she dated everyone on the grid, that would be a long lecture for sure.
"These are the friends I told you about, we are going to the beach on Monday and spending the week there before the baptism" explained Liv to her parents.
"Then you must come to the baptism! If you are already going to be with Liv" said her father "It's not as boring as it sounds, it's a big party and we dance, and drink, it's lots of fun".
"Well I am in!" said Charles brightly.
"You had me at 'big party' " said Carlos.
"You had me at 'drink' " said Charles.
Liv chuckled "that's nearly the last thing he said".
"Well I'm glad he said it" said Charles as they laughed.
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Afterwards came Qualifying, Lewis got P1 during Q1 and Q2. The Mercedes pace was strong and for a moment Liv was sure that Lewis would get pole. However, at the last flying lap Max managed to take it away, getting pole by doing the fastest lap in all of qualifying.
"Geez, that's impressive" said Liv as she watched the race with the engineers. George got P2, Lewis P3 and Checo P4. This time the Ferraris didn't do as good as they usually did, with Carlos in P5 and Charles P7. Right now Charles was a few points ahead of Checo in the championship, so this was a good outcome.
After qualifying Max and Checo stayed for a team meeting and by the time Max came back into the hotel suite his mood was not great.
"Hey what's wrong?" she asked concerned, noticing right away that there was something on his mind.
"Oh nothing, I just don't like tomorrow's strategy that's it, but it's fine, we'll do good" he shrugged.
"I'm sure you will, you always do" she said reassuringly as she gave him a small kiss and Max hugged her.
The next day Olivia figured out why he hadn't liked the first strategy.
It was finally race day in Mexico, time for Checo's home grand prix. Max already had the championship, Red Bull Racing already had the constructor's championship, and now they were shooting for the sub championship with Checo. He was a few points behind Charles so he needed the best outcome possible on the last three races to make sure he got that title. It would be the first time in Red Bull history they managed to get the championship and sub championship together. It would also be the first time in Checo's career were he would manage to get second place in the championship, last year he had been fourth.
Lights out and the cars start racing through the circuit of Mexico City. Max had a great start, while George not so much. As Lewis was trying to overtake George right away, Checo was trying to overtake Lewis. Lewis was able to take P2 from George within a few seconds, and then Checo was trying to overtake George's Mercedes. They drove side to side down the straight and once they reached the curve Checo was able to overtake George swiftly. The crowd went wild, it was incredible, Olivia didn't remember hearing so much cheering in any of the other races, it interfered with the voices coming from her headphones.
After that, the top four of the race remained steady throughout the rest of the race, the real problem was the pit stops. Both bulls started out with soft tyres, it was clear the tyres were not going to last for a long amount of time, meanwhile the Mercedes started on medium tyres. Still, both bulls gave their tyres a good run. Then, Olivia realized why Max didn't like the strategy: because it favored Checo.
Usually Max would pit first, allowing him to either remain on P1 easily or undercut. This time, Checo was asked to pit first, on lap 23, and the gap between the cars was not more than 5 seconds for P1. If Checo and the team could pull off this strategy, Checo could win the race. Liv's heart quickened as Checo came into the pits. She imagined the mayhem, the euphoria in the stadium if Checo won the race. She imagined her brother raising their flag proudly with his 1st place trophy in hand... Then it all fell apart.
As Checo was parked in front of her in the pits, his left rear tyre wouldn't screw on. They couldn't get the fucking tyre on in his home race. Checo was parked there for 5 seconds, which felt like forever as the thoughts of him winning slipped away. "Fuck!" Olivia let out in frustration as she watched the RB18 drive away. On the other side of the radio, Max kept complaining about his tyres not working, the tyres were dead, but they wouldn't pit him now. They couldn't. They had to make sure this mistake wouldn't happen again. Lewis also talked on the radio, letting his team know his tyres were good.
Checo had come out of the pits on P6 instead of P4 like he should have with a regular pit stop. Max stayed there a few more laps, the team did not tell him why they couldn't pit him and Olivia could tell he was confused as to why he hadn't pitted when his tyres were not working anymore. She could hear it in his voice every time he let GP know his tyres were dead. On lap 26 they finally made him go into the pits, and thankfully his pit stop was normal and he was out of the pits on P3. Behind the two Mercedes who hadn't pitted yet.
Now the real issue began, because Lewis' Mercedes didn't pit until lap 30 out of 71 laps, and they pitted for hard tyres. Meanwhile both bulls had pitted in the early-middle 20's and had gotten medium tyres. It was now clear Mercedes planned to go all the way with a 1 pit stop strategy, while Red Bull had planned for a 2 pit stop race.
The race went on, once the top contenders in the race had pitted the order for the podium positions remained: Max in first, Lewis in second and Checo in third. Rusell behind Checo in fourth. Checo was only a second and a half away from Lewis. He tried to catch him at first and closed up the gap to 0.9 seconds. But as the race continued going and it was clear the Mercedes really wouldn't be stopping for a third set of tyres, Checo had to start saving up his tyres. Max did too. They would have to use their weary mediums until the very end of this race and hope the Mercedes wouldn't catch them. They couldn't pit now, it would cost them the win and possibly any podium position.
On the screen Liv could see how Danny Ric crashed into Yuki. It was clearly his mistake, Yuki had the apex. Liv watched with a pained face, she liked Daniel, he was always good fun and she felt bad for him since he was out of McLaren before his contract even ended. It was ruthless, but it was Formula 1. This definitely didn't help his case.
As they approached the end of the race Olivia was seriously amazed by the ability of both bulls on managing their tyres. They remained strong, Checo did not overtake Lewis, he could not afford to use his tyres like that, but he remained in P3 with George four seconds behind. They crossed that checkered flag and Max crossed that finish line with tyres 45 laps old. Lewis came in second and Checo took P3 with tyres 48 laps old. It was incredible, Olivia wasn't sure they were going to make it. She was afraid one of their tyres would burst, even the mechanics at Mercedes kept talking on the radio about how it was inevitable for them to change tyres. Nobody believed they would be able to finish the race like that but they did. Those two were always amazing her.
That day Max broke two records, he was the first driver in the history of the circuit to win 4 times in a row. Breaking his previous record in that same circuit of winning 3 times in a row.
With 14 consecutive wins, he was also now the driver with most wins in a row in Formula 1 history. Even more than Schumacher, Seb or Lewis.
Olivia was beaming as everyone in the garage celebrated, she even hugged her mother in the excitement. Still, there was a sour taste in her mouth from that pit stop. After knowing that the bulls wouldn't have been able to chase down each other for P1 because of the tyre management, Olivia knew that if Checo's pit stop would have worked, this could've been the first time in history a Mexican would have won in their home grand prix. And it could've been Checo.
She tried to shake it off, there was no point in wondering "what if" when it came to Formula 1. It was 70% car, 25% driver, 5% luck. It's how Max had gotten his first championship after all, a little bit of luck during the very last race of the 2021 season.
The Mexican Grand Prix had something truly special that Olivia hadn't seen in another track. The podium cars stopped right in the middle of the circuit, next to the track still in use. The cars were still going around the track as Max, Checo and Lewis parked their cars in front of the crowd in the middle of the circuit.
Liv, the rest of the team and her family rushed to meet Checo and Max. They could hear the roaring of the crowd as they chanted Checo's name over and over. Something truly great about this track as well, was the fact that the team and family did not have to stand behind the bars. They were able to hug Checo and Max freely. Olivia walked to Max as everyone congratulated Checo. He had already taken off his helmet and was drinking some water when he saw Olivia walk up to him. He smiled and walked the few steps to meet her and kissed her. It was a quick kiss before Olivia threw her hands around his neck and Max placed his arms around her waist. She hugged him tight "Congratulations love! I swear I don't know how you do it" she said as she hugged him "15 second gap while managing those goddamn old tyres".
Max laughed as they broke apart their hug "For real I thought they were going to blow up".
"I did too! My heart was racing those last 10 laps it was so scary" said Olivia honestly.
Max chuckled and gave her another quick kiss "Well we made it".
"You sure did" she gave him a little wink. Then she picked up her camera and pointed at him "Smile P1". Max showed her a bright smile as she showed a #1 with his finger. Then he was called over for his post-race interview. As he walked over to the interviewer he saw Olivia's father there and walked quickly to greet him, Olivia's father smiled brightly and congratulated Max for his win with so much happiness. Max had a big, bright smile on his face as Olivia's father shook his hand and patted him on the back before he headed over to the interviewer.
Meanwhile Olivia took pictures until she was able to get Checo alone. "Chequito!" she walked quickly to him and hugged him "That was incredible! I don't think anybody else could've managed to score P3 with tyres 48 laps old" she said shaking her head in disbelief.
Checo chuckled "Yeah I mean, fucking pit stop it could've been P2 or.." he stopped himself, but Liv didn't need him to finish the sentence. She already knew what he was thinking because she had thought about it too.
"I know" Olivia nodded with a sympathetic smile, Checo looked straight at her and looking directly at his sister, who was in love with his teammate, he knew she wanted him to win that race too. Even above Max. He knew she also felt the pain that race when P1 had slipped away.
"Yeah, you do" he gave her a soft smile. Then he messed playfully with her hair, trying to avoid the pain of that sentence "Do you ever work? Or do you just come here to make out with Max and that's it?" he joked.
Liv laughed "shut up and smile" she pointed her camera at him. Checo raised his arms, the whole crowd on the stands behind him cheered as Liv took a photo.
Max finished his interview and rushed over, Olivia's father came and gave Checo a Mexican flag. Both Max and Checo raised the Mexican flag proudly as Liv took a photo of them smiling. She loved it. Her two favorite people in the podium during their home grand prix.
She also loved how much the fans were supporting Max. They were loving him. They were cheering for him like crazy, and Max looked so happy to be there, in her country with her family. It all meant so much to her, she felt this pressure in her chest and she realized that her heart felt completely full. That had only happened to her a couple of times before, and it had always been with Max.
Then as Lewis arrived to talk with the interviewer the crowd started booing. Liv immediately lowered her camera "Hey!" she called out angrily as she raised her arms indignantly, of course nobody could hear her. But Checo had already turned around and raised his arm. He shook his finger, signaling the crowd to stop booing, and they did. Instead they started cheering. It was incredible, how Checo so easily had made thousands of people cheer for their friend. Lewis deserved it. Liv had no idea why he was even getting booed, he was possibly the sweetest human she had ever met. Who would ever boo him?
Lewis' soothing voice came out of the speakers throughout the stadium and Liv heard how he talked about the incredible crowd. That just made her angrier at the crowd, but it also amazed her. Lewis was the type of person who would get booed and then turn around and thank the crowd sincerely for their amazing passion and energy. And he meant it, she could tell. It baffled her. He was truly the biggest person. If it had been her up there, or Max, they probably would've told everyone to fuck off. But not Lewis, he saw something nobody else saw. Olivia was sure she didn't know anybody like him.
As Lewis continued doing his interview, Liv continued to snap photographs of Max and Checo. Then came Checo's interview. The crowd went wild once more, chanting his name over and over again. Once the interviews were done they headed to the cool down room. Meanwhile Olivia looked for her usual perfect spot to snap the best pictures of the podium.
As Checo came out on to the podium Liv started taking pictures right away, Then came in Lewis, and when it was Max's turn he didn't go in the traditional way. Instead his RB18 was raised through a platform while Max posed sitting on top of the car, with one of his arms resting on his knee "casually". Olivia let out a loud laugh as she kept taking pictures, she could tell Max was hating it. He even got up and left the platform before it was fully in place, while it was literally still moving. Olivia kept giggling as she snapped pictures of all of it. She was going to tease him about that forever. He walked behind the car and greeted Checo as he got up on his podium place, the crowd cheered loudly for him. Olivia loved hearing it.
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Long chapter! I didn't want to wait another day to write about the race.
I've been re-watching the races for this story and I love it so much, it's like, I know what is going to happen but in that moment I feel the nerves and the adrenaline again.