ELENA'S first race of the season and there was already massive controversy. It seems that the 'Max letting Lewis through' sparked some arguments among fans.

Elena decided not to mention the matter whilst she was with her brother, as she didn't want to be kicked out of the Red Bull garage by Christian Horner at her first race.

Although... she didn't see the harm in going to visit the Italians over at Ferrari.

In Checo's side of the garage, she stood with her earphones on, paddock pass draped around her neck, her part-crocheted halter top feeling slightly useless considering the wet weather.

Checo was still in his drivers room, getting in some last minute reaction practice before the race, wanting to make sure he got the jump on Lewis before turn one, holding him up for Max.

She felt a presence beside her, and saw Max stood slightly to her right, giving her a smile. He said something to her, but she shook her head, pointing to her headphones.

Max realised she couldn't hear him, and reached behind her to grab his own pair, caging her into the wall slightly.

"Hi." he said, when he placed the headphones on his head.

"Hola." she said, giving him another smile.

"You excited?" Max asked.

"For sure. My brother beat you in quali. Amazing result, super pleased." she joked.

Max rolled his eyes at her, but still smiling. He noticed her shivering slightly, seeing her bare arms cross over one another, trying to warm herself up.

"Nice outfit choice." Max teased her.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Thanks smart-ass. It's Italy... I assumed the weather would be nice alright? Cut me some slack the last race I went to was Abu Dhabi."

Max shook his head, smiling to himself at how naive the Perez girl was. He took off his head phones, handing them to her, before hurrying off.

Elena stood confused, Max's headphones still in her hand, until her came running back, something draped over his arm. He took the headphones back off Elena and gestured for her to turn around.

She did, slightly hesitantly, before Max moved her arms so they were apart, sliding his RedBull rain jacket onto her shoulders.

"Max what-"

"El you'll freeze to death like that." Max told her firmly, telling her he wasn't taking the jacket back.

Elena froze slightly at the nickname, him never having called her that before. The only people that were really allowed to call her "El" was her brother, or her friends.

"Thanks." She said, knowing she wasn't going to win the argument of who should have the jacket. Plus, it was really cold, and Max's jacket was really warm.

"You're welcome my lady." he said, doing a slightly sarcastic bow."

Elena scoffed to hold on her laugh, as she turned away from him, pursing her lips as to not smile.

Max's name was called by his race engineer, and he stood back up straight. "I'll see you after the race yeah? Checo said we were all gonna' go out for drinks. Fancy joining?"

Elena nodded. "Sure, is it alright if I bring my friend? She's my brother's race engineer, I feel like I'd kinda' be lost without her."

Max nodded. "Yeah of course. I'll see you then." He gave her one last smile before walking off towards Gianpiero, leaving Elena to embrace the warmth of his jacket.

ALL the cars were out on the grid, and the formation lap had just begun. There was a lot of water on the track, and Elena wondered if the weather was going to get worse.

Just as she thought this, one of the Ferrari's slipped off the track, heading along the runoff.

Elena winced as she waited for the TV in the garage to show a better view, only to be deflated when she saw it was. Charles. "Ah shit." she thought to herself.

Charles managed to get back into position, lining up on the grid in fourth.

Around her, Elena could hear a few mechanics:

"Reckon Checo will get 'im?"

"Nah, reckon both Lew and Max will get passed first corner."

"Really? I mean, he did out qualify Max yesterday."

"Yeah but, come on. Let's be realistic here. Plus, who's really gonna' be in this championship fight, Checo or Max?"

"Nah he's got a point. Gotta' put my money on Max. Checo's only really here to help him. He's the only one out of the three others that can keep up with him enough."

Elena closed her eyes as the lights went out, blocking out the talk from beside her. She knew they were somewhat right, Checo was mainly at RedBull to help Max win this Championship... but she knew what her brother was capable of.

Unfortunately for though, the mechanics were right. First corner, Checo was bypassed by both Max and Lewis.

"At least Max is fully ahead." she thought to herself, hiding her disappointment with positives. Checo wasn't too far behind Lewis either, so Elena still held out hope for her brother.

One lap down, and Charles was getting quite close to the back of Checo's RedBull. Elena was conflicted, obviously she wanted. Checo to do well, he was her brother, and she loved him dearly...

But Charles.

As the came round the last corner, The red Ferrari was intact in front of Checo, and Elena smiled to herself slightly, proud of Charles, but concealed her excitement, as to not get attacked by the inhabitants of the RedBull garage.

CHECO had a ten second time penalty for overtaking cars under a safety car. Elena sighed as saw all the mechanics groan in frustration. This race was not going well for her brother.

AFTER serving his penalty, Checo found himself down in 14th, after having spun out onto the run off, as a result of some more bad weather.

Elena held her head in her hands as a replay of his spin came up into the TV, and she could here a few mechanics swearing and cursing under their breath.

Some of them were even shaking their heads at Elena, as if she was the cause of Checo's bad luck.

ELENA let out of a sign of relief as Max crossed the finish line, all the mechanics in the garage clapping and smiling.

Christian Horner jumped away from the pit lane and back into the garage, giving the mechanics pats on the back and handshakes. He walked up to Elena and gave her a small sympathetic smile. "Alright love?" he asked.

Elena narrowed her eyes at him slightly, but nodded. "Yeah, upset for my brother obviously but I mean, congratulations to Max."

"Yeah, disappointing about Checo, but like you said, championship fight back open aye?"

Elena gave a slightly forced laugh, before Christian walked away. Elena pulled Max's coat over to her slightly more, before heading off to look for Checo.

SHE found her brother sat in his driver room, face timing his kids. She waited beside the open door until he finished up the call, looking over to her.

"Lo siento hermano." She said, opening her arms for a hug.

Checo let out a groan before standing up, walking over to his sister for a hug. "Ah. Esto apesta."

Elena hummed in agreement. It did suck. "Hey, It's one race though yeah? You can make it up."

Checo placed his head on top of his sisters and sighed. "It just feels like I'm letting down the team."

Elena stepped back. "Hey now, you're not letting down anyone- no- you're not Checo. You're one of the best drivers out there, you just need to get used to the car again that's all."

Checo smiled at his sister thankfully. "Love you mi hermana."

"Love you too mi hermano."

Checo smiled at her for a few seconds before he frowned at her. "That's not mine." he said, pointing at the Red Bull jacket situated on her shoulders.

"Oh no it's uh, Max's." Elena said, looking down at the dark navy jacket.

Checo raised his eyebrows at his sister, smirking slightly. Elena looked at her brother for a few seconds before she realised what he was suggesting. "No you little shit."

Checo held his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright. Just seems suspicious." he added, moving past Elena laughing.

"No it's not!"

all i could think about the bahrain front row was elena 😭

charles vs max all over again

anyways

MAXENA CONTENT KINDA

THERR WILL BE MORE NEXT CHAOTER I PROMISE

i actually hate writing race chapters AMD I NOW REGRET LETTING ELENA GO TO SO MANY

ALSO I LIED YOU MEET MARIA NEXT CHAOTER MY BAD