WHEN THINGS CHANGE, THE ground shakes.

it rattles and leaves belongings a mess and its hard to pick everything back up again. like an earthquake, there is also the aftershocks that only make things scatter further. the ground rips itself apart and swallows things whole, never to be found again. you lose personal belongings, family and friends, and a sense of security. sometimes the ground doesn't stop shaking for hours and all you can do is hide under something for safety, waiting for it all to be over to collect the things you hold close to your heart. and sometimes, those personal items disappear forever, swallowed and sinking into a dark abyss.

earthquakes also bring floods. after the carnage has settled, the floods roll in and sweep everything away, things you have saved and things you haven't. it's a constant cycle of anguish because natural disasters always find a way of reappearing, even when you least expect it.

however, natural disasters in other contexts lead to the opposite of anguish.

it leads to that light at the end of the tunnel. it leads to the breath of fresh air after being stuck in a crowded room. it leads to that glimpse of sun on a cold winter's day.

natural disasters are terrible in global and social contexts, but in the context of max verstappen and isabel leclerc, it led to new beginnings and resolved problems.

the ground opened up during the seismic waves and swallowed a large amount of their problems post-race in monaco, and the aftershocks left behind from the months onwards took care of the rest. all the way up to summer break.

the floods washed away the pain and replaced the earth with new growth. a new growth that took a while, albeit, but a growth that flourished into a gorgeous bed of flowers.

all the things that they had lost in the earthquakes and the floods meant nothing because it had washed away everything they didn't need. the problems, the drama, the issues, the hatred . . . all gone.

the only thing that bothered her now was the fact that things felt too good. things had never been this good before. she'd only ever been in one relationship and that was when she was fifteen and had ended when she was seventeen. that was six years ago. isabel had absolutely no clue what to do or anything because she had spent her life only focusing on the opportunities she had been given. she wasn't like charles, who could bounce between girls whenever he wanted to and become a flag as bright as his team colours, or arthur who could hold a stable relationship for long periods of time, or lorenzo, who always seemed to know what he was doing. she could only ever really focus on one thing at a time if she wanted optimum results.

but now the problem was that her personal life mixed with her career. max was her rival on track. does that make it easier to handle? if they're in the same sport, maybe it makes it easier to grasp?

isabel was clueless. her ex was high up motorcycle racing when they were together and even though that was also a motorsport, it wasn't the same field as hers. that was why she could separate her personal life and her career so well. but with max . . . max was in another team in the same formula series. would that make it difficult?

but there had been no red flags so far since they decided to give a relationship a go. then again, she hadn't been racing since then.

"shut the fuck up," isabel muttered to herself as she finished straightening her hair in the bathroom early on wednesday morning. "stop overthinking, you are annoying."

"belle? you alright in there?" max's voice was muffled by the bathroom door since she had it shut and locked. "don't tell me you fell over or something and i have to knock the door down."

"no!" she called back, turning off the hair straightener at the power point before setting it down on the edge of the bathtub. "sorry, i'm done now."

"fucking finally," he muttered, but she could still hear it as she walked over to the door. she unlocked it and opened it, finding herself face-to-face with max. "hi!" he smiled brightly as if he wasn't just commenting about how long she was in the bathroom for. he tossed the bundle of clothes in his hand on the floor behind her before placing his hands on her sides, maneuvering himself around her through the doorway before letting go.

"hi, goodbye," she she hung up her towel over the rack before picking up her pyjamas she had worn to bed the night before.

"aw," max said as he pulled his shirt over his head and sat it over the edge of the bath. "so that's a no to showering with me, then?" there was a subtle smirk on his face that isabel had the urge to wipe off.

"the biggest no you will hear in your whole life," isabel flashed him a smile before stepping out of the bathroom. "i just did my hair and i am not redoing it."

"and i don't rank as more important?"

isabel scoffed. "absolutely not. i know my priorities."

"bitchy isabel is back," he chuckled as he turned on the shower. "i've missed having her around."

"it's a race week," she winked at him, "i'll see you tonight!" she shut the door behind him.

"bye!" she just heard him call out over the sound of running water.

x

ON THE TOP OF the helmet design was her usual number and the flag of monaco, but the rest of the design was entirely different. it was one of jules' designs, and even had his racing number smaller on the side. the only change was the little, four-leaf clover that was inside the 17. it was her tribute to him, something that she did every race in japan. 

isabel refused to be interviewed by anyone that wasn't hailey during the japanese grand prix week. which is why she was currently sitting in the presence of the australian in a quiet end of the paddock.

"it's the tribute to jules for obvious reasons," she said as she held the helmet on her lap, "but also because i think it is the race that changed my life."

"how so?" hailey questioned, her tone void of any pushiness and instead just full of kind curiosity.

"i gave up after it," isabel shrugged, "it took me longer than i would have liked to get back into the sport, but i am glad i did. i race for jules because i know i would not be here without him."

"and we all wish you the best for this weekend," hailey concluded, "can we assume you're back in the car for good this time?"

"i believe so, yes," isabel nodded affirmatively, her tone firm. "it has only really been three weeks, but i am here to race and here to win, so . . . unless i fall off a balcony or something, i'm racing."

hailey smiled, "although, i'm inclined to believe that you would still race if you fell of a balcony."

"absolutely," she said without a second of hesitation before laughing. "i'd probably win, too."

AFTER THE LONG INTERVIEW was over, isabel said her goodbyes to hailey and headed out to meet up with charles.

"is the track open?" she asked, scanning through the rows of flowers in the florist they were currently standing in.

"hm, yeah," charles nodded, "i believe so. you wanna go today?"

isabel shrugged, "it's quieter. i don't want the media in my face."

"me neither," charles picked up a bouquet of daisies. "these?" he asked.

daisies. daisies symbolised innocence and new beginnings . . . and they were perfect to lay at dunlop curve, at turn seven. "yeah," isabel nodded, looping her arm through charles' as he walked over to pay for them.

ISABEL WISHED SHE RODE around the track slower. the sky was dark and raindrops were falling from the sky as if it were crying for her. and even though it was raining and her ribs hurt and she was cold, she wanted to ride around slower, to really feel for the track once again.

before she knew it, charles had stopped at turn seven, and that meant she had to stop, too. just staring at the spot made her chest hurt.

she could see it all clearly as if it were yesterday. the crane, the cars, the flags . . . the screeching sound of horror. it was a flashing sequence of replayed images she wished she could remove from her mind. despite it being eight years ago, it was still so fresh. she had moved on, but that would never stop the memories.

isabel and charles huddled together by the barriers of turn seven, the bouquet in charles' hand as his other arm was around his sister. "this always sucks," he voiced.

"i know," isabel couldn't tear her eyes away from the spot. "sometimes i think he is laughing at us for still being this upset."

"definitely," charles agreed, reaching forward to nestle the flowers so that they were standing up against the barrier. "he would still be racing. maybe for ferrari."

"maybe you would be racing with him," isabel said, "it would be chaos to have you two as teammates."

charles laughed quietly, "you think so?"

"i know so," she shook her head, a laugh escaping her. "remember that one twenty-four hour race you guys did?"

charles snorted, "when they left me to do all the work?"

"see what i mean?" isabel finally smiled properly. "he would leave to go hang out with daniel if you were teammates. ferrari would be even more shit." it of course wasn't the truth, jules had real talent that would have definitely pushed ferrari up the ladder if he had gotten there.

"hey, watch it," but he still laughed at her jab at his team. "yours is no better. fucking shitshow."

"yeah, because alicia is a bitch."

"so is xavi."

"we were dealt a shitty hand," isabel looked up at charles. "seriously, i think the italian teams are clueless."

"maybe," charles agreed, "i don't think alfa is as bad, though. they look like they have their shit together."

isabel hummed, patting his shoulder before looking back at the daisies. "it is going to be a wet weather weekend, isn't it?"

charles glanced up at the dark sky. "looks like it. let's hope the fia don't find another reason to fuck up."

"we both know that is not possible, charlie," isabel sighed. "je t'aime, jules," she mumbled, eyeing the daisies for a few extra seconds before tearing her eyes away.

"can i have a few moments?" charles asked quietly as she turned to head back to their bikes. "just me?"

"yeah, of course," isabel gave him a small smile. "i'll wait for you at the car."

"grazie, belle," he mirrored her smile before looking back at the barriers.

x

AFTER SKIPPING OUT ON MEDIA day, isabel was set to sit the free practice sessions on friday.

"fuck, there's no way we go out in this," isabel stood at the edge of her garage, staring out at the pouring rain.

"hasn't been called off," zavier shrugged from beside her. "the forecast isn't looking too good for this weekend, but tomorrow is looking dry, so . . ."

"yeah, which is good," isabel agreed, wringing her hands together. "but i don't want to smash up the car."

"and yourself," zavier quipped as he turned and walked back over to the car. "don't smash up yourself, either. come on, in the car. session starts in a few."

isabel gave the sky one last glance before turning and walking over to her car. with the help of zavier, she managed to settle into it. the worst part was the seatbelt, but she kept her mouth shut because she knew that the seatbelt was going to irritate her ribs all weekend. there was no use complaining about it.

as soon as she was set up in the car and zavier was getting the steering wheel set in place, isabel heard harry's voice through the radio. "alright, kid, you feeling good?"

"yeah, i'm alright," she stuck her hand out of the car to wave at him across the pitlane. "a bit worried about the weather, though."

"no problem," he said, "we'll do a few laps with you before bringing you back. we can get the data from noah's car this weekend. if you're feeling alright, we'll send you back out towards the end."

"cool," isabel nodded. she'd spoken to noah beforehand to see how he was about going out in the blinding rain. she didn't have a good feeling about everyone going out on the track with almost zero vision. and if it kept up, the race on sunday would be similar. it was a recipe for chaos.

DURING FP1, ISABEL LOST count of how many drivers either spun out, crashed into each other, or went straight into the barriers.

she tried to leave a gap between those in front of her so that she could get some laps in without the water flying off their car and obstructing her vision, but it proved futile since there were twenty-one other drivers on the track. each was trying to collect as much data for the wet weather as possible so that they could tweak the cars while they still had the chance.

noah had spun out out during the 's' curves in sector one because the tyres had cooled too much, but luckily he hadn't hit the barrier and could rejoin the track. the goal was to have him take as few risks as possible as he was the main car they were using to collect data.

"come back in," harry stopped her from going another lap as soon as she was near the pitlane. "too many cars out right now and i'm not risking you."

"copy," isabel slowed further to enter the pitlane. "what about noah?"

"noah's ribs are in one piece, unlike you," was harry's response. "he's doing fine. he's coming in after he finishes his lap."

FP2 WAS JUST AS bad. it wasn't pouring with rain now, but the track was still too wet to be able to see anything. the puddles were causing drivers to lose grip and all the water blinded others. isabel was starting to get irritated with the amount of time she spent wiping her visor to try see a little better.

"this is bullshit," isabel could faintly see the red lights flashing on the back of whoever was in front of her. "i can't see anything."

"you know the track, belle," harry reassured her, "if you're not comfortable, come back in. but come on, we both know you could do this blindfolded."

"sure," isabel agreed, wiping her visor once again when another car on a flying lap sped past her, obscuring her vision with water once again. "but not when it's this damp."

"okay. noah's doing a good job out there if you want to come back in. there's no point in going the whole session when we've already got this data."

isabel completed her inlap before heading back to the pits. she she flipped up her visor as the mechanics lifted the car to roll it back into the garage. thankfully, she could see luca standing off to the side with a towel in his hands.

"luca, you are a lifesaver," she struggled to get her gloves off before accepting his help to get out of the car.

luca rolled his eyes. once she unzipped her race suit, he helped her slide her arms out of it before draping the towel around her. "cold?" he asked with a chuckle.

"mate, it is freezing out there," she pulled the towel closer. "thank you."

"now," luca said as she used one hand to take off her helmet and balaclava. "how'd sitting in the car feel?"

isabel tried not to smile as she set her things off to the side and headed to the back of the garage where a foldable chair was. "i could lie to you," she bit the inside of her cheek as she sat down on it, "or i could not lie to you."

"i'd prefer it if you didn't lie."

"boring," isabel muttered. "no," she said louder this time, "it hurt, of course, but it's not too bad when the adrenaline hits. i didn't go as flat out as i would in the race, though."

he nodded. "i'm going to set you up an ice bath right now," his tone was final and left no room for argument, "and then tomorrow before fp3 we'll go through some more checks to see how you're going. yes?"

"fine," isabel gave him the thumbs up. "i feel like i just sat in a box of ice. you hate me."

"surprisingly, i don't," luca chuckled, "but i need to get paid more to deal with your bullshit."

x

ISABEL WAS IN THE car for the second half of the fp3 session. everything was miraculously dry, so everyone was trying to get as much data on the slicks as they could. it meant a lot of traffic, but isabel preferred that at the moment than the copious amounts of rainfall.

SHE HARDLY LEFT HER garage since getting there that morning. in between sessions, she fell asleep until harry loudly knocked on the locked door of her driver room, giving her a thirty minute warning to qualifying.

"thank you!" she rubbed her eyes as she sat up to start getting ready once again.

Q1. the track was completely dry and apparently it wasn't going to start raining, so everyone was out on the soft tyres.

isabel had been given one instruction: put in a lap, wait it out, and then only push again if necessary. it was clear that they all wanted her in near-perfect shape for sunday's race to pick up some points, even if it wasn't her usual amount.

for q1, isabel only did two laps to secure her a spot in the first fifteen. the first was to get her a p10 that eventually she was knocked out from, and the second held her in the first fifteen in p9.

"alright, nicely done," harry told her. "you are p9, noah is p11. those eliminated are latifi, stroll, magnussen, gasly, albon, vettel."

"put seb in a better car," was all isabel said. "talent is being wasted."

"yeah, let me go buy aston really quick," harry snorted. "nice lap. continue with the plan."

"copy."

Q2. isabel had to put in more laps to keep within the top ten, but it wasn't hard to tell that none of them were her best. even with the track dry and her trying to push herself to her limit, she could tell there was some kind of mental block preventing her from going all out.

"have i got time?" she asked harry.

"no, sorry. you're starting p11 tomorrow."

"that's tragic," isabel sighed. "i was pushing it's just— i don't know."

"it's alright, kid, you're fine," harry told her. "it's just your body telling you not to put itself into more danger because it's not fully healed. it's not a problem, belle, you'll work your way through tomorrow."

"love you, harry," she smiled a little as she let the tyres cool before rolling into the pitlane.

"love you too, kid."

Q3. charles missed out on pole by one one hundredths of a second. max recieved pole and noah recieved p7 in the order of: max, charles, carlos, checo, esteban, lewis, noah, fernando, george, lando."

"congrats, noah!" isabel hugged him tightly once she met up with him in parc ferme.

"thanks!" he happily hugged her back. "i can't believe i got p7!"

"soon you are going to start getting pole," she grinned up at him before pulling away.

"up against red bull?" noah scoffed, "no way."

"shh, i'll crash out max for you," she winked at him.

and speaking of max, he seemed to appear out of thin air as if he had heard his name. "let's not do that," max lazily wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

noah laughed, "she said it, not me," he held his hand out to max. "congrats on pole!"

"congrats," max shook his hand before noah moved off to see esteban. he briefly looked at isabel, "how're you feeling?"

"q1 was fine," she shrugged, "q2 hurt like a bitch."

"p11 isn't too bad," he walked them off to the side so that the cameras weren't as prominent. "i'm sure you'll be fighting me for p1 tomorrow."

"eh," she waved off, "hopefully. but," she stopped walking, "isn't this your first pole in suzuka? congratulations." she was also well aware that this was the race that, if he won, he would be guaranteed the world championship title. it hurt to know that that opportunity had been stripped away from her after how shitty her season had been, but she was still happy for him anyway.

max could tell. it was a sour topic that both of them refused to bring up because, if lamborghini hadn't fucked her over and she hadn't crashed in zandvoort, she'd still be challenging max until abu dhabi for the title. but after missed races and failed messes, isabel had been bumped a lot further down the ladder than she cared to look at.

it was hard to be happy for someone who was fulfilling the goal that you wanted, but she managed because it was max. months ago, her mindset would have been different and maybe she would've thrown a tantrum about it, but things had changed. she could prioritise her feelings a little better now, meaning she could be happy for max possibly acquiring his second title as she pushed down her own disappointment.

but he knew, and somehow, he always did. so they avoided it like it was a toxin and focused on other things. avoidance had always been their forte.

"thank you," he smiled. "and yeah, it is, i think . . . yeah."

"you have post-quali," she nudged him a little to get him to go off in that direction. "i'll see you back at the hotel."

"you sure?" he asked her quietly. "that you are okay, i mean?"

"sore," was all she said, "but i promise i'm fine." she leaned up to kiss him before stepping back. "have fun."

x

THE ICE BATH GAVE isabel time to reflect.

it numbed out every other thought so that she could focus on just two things: the freezing cold and the one thought that made it through the numbness.

you have the perfect opportunity to do something, to be something. so you spend your whole life working your way up to the top. you skip school, you have uncompleted homework, you start dedicating all your time to one individual thing that you don't even know will work out properly and you go to bed late just to wake up really early, ready to do it all over again.

how many times had she skipped school so that jules could take her to the track? how many times had she gotten phone calls home and been given warnings to repeat the grade because she was never there and never completed work? how many hours of sleep did she lose and how many karting wins did she gain from it?

maybe that was where the lack of humanity had stemmed from.

too much time was wasted at a track going around in strange shapes in go-karts until prema snatched her up and gave her all she had dreamed about. and it had worked out, but at what cost?

she wasn't as happy as she used to be when she was a nineteen year old rookie, learning the ropes with alex, george and lando. she wasn't as happy as she had been when she got her first front-row start or her maiden pole that became her maiden win.

it had been snatched from her gradually, but she had been too blind to notice until it was too late, until it was this season. that was when things started going under more.

she loved noah, but halfway through 2022 was when isabel had started to notice that he was the favourable driver despite him having the second seat. she had been blinded, tied down in the dark for a whole year until barcelona occurred and that was when it all started to make sense.

because isabel was dense. she wasn't the brightest with anything social and pushed people away when she had enough. or maybe she just liked to pretend. pretend that she hadn't noticed the subtle changes and played them off as nothing.

that was why she hardly bat an eye when alicia threatened to fire her after abu dhabi last year. she knew they wouldn't fire her because she was the best they had, and maybe she was over-confident for thinking it, but it was the truth. maybe she was wrong now because they very much were ready to fire her to lift noah higher through the rankings, but it was still the truth.

isabel leclerc was a better driver than noah nichols. it wasn't harsh, it was just the pure truth. noah himself admitted it. even though it was his second season in formula one and he had so many years to improve, there was just something that he could see with her and the car that just clicked. she had experience that he didn't have, but she also had raw talent that took many years to even dream of reaching.

so, fast forward past when she lost the wdc by nine fucking points and made it to 2022, things were flipping and turning and sliding and disappearing.

isabel believed the catalyst of events was the signing of noah for the 2021 season. which wasn't his fault, it was lamborghini's fault for turning it into an act of making isabel expendable.

lamborghini knew what isabel was capable of, they knew she could bring them title after title, but they couldn't keep it up with her. she was too temperamental, too childish, too hard to work with, and too expensive. things were typically her way or no way at all. she pushed limits and the team's buttons and could be an absolute nightmare to deal with at the worst of times.

in comparison, noah was an angel. he did what he was told, didn't question authority, wasn't as expensive, could keep his emotions in check, didn't lash out . . . the list went on. he was quick to become lamborghini's angel child because he wasn't isabel leclerc.

but isabel could see through all the fog now. it lifted and cleared and shone bright into a sunny day in her hometown. lamborghini had fucked her over. they stole the chance of this being her year for a world championship title. they stole the possibility of a constructor's away from themselves, too. they took everything from her and expected her to fully change her attitude towards them. but it hadn't happened because she spent half her fucking year being stuck in a room with max verstappen and feeling like she was on the verge of being her utterly depressed sixteen year old self again, all because of a fucking team that let her down time and time again.

she could see through it so clear that it led her to where she was now. sitting in freezing cold bath on the weekend of the japanese grand prix and thinking about the fact that her boyfriend got the opportunity that had been stolen from her. and he, for once, hadn't even been the one to steal it. it was her own team.

if max won tomorrow, he had already won the world championship title for the second year in a row. if he won tomorrow, the next four races were for whoever could slide up the rankings for second and third. and isabel knew she was far too gone now to even get the second or third or even fourth spot in the overall rankings at the end of the season.

she was so happy for him, of course she was, but it still hurt. the hurt bubbled underneath and it wasn't even because of him. it was because of her team who was supposed to have her back but managed to pick up a knife and stab her there instead. even the freezing cold couldn't numb the hurt.

"you're thinking about it."

isabel blinked away from the bathroom tiles and looked up at max. he was standing in the doorway, kicking his off his shoes but she could see that look in his eyes. he knows. of course he fucking knows.

"i can't help it," she admitted softly, focusing back on the tiles on the wall. she wanted to argue, to deny it, to tell him that he was wrong. but she couldn't. he already knew.

it hurt max, too. he couldn't even say 'hey, there's always next year' because at the moment, there was no next year. she quit and teams were finalising lineups. when his socks and shirt were off, he stepped into the ice bath and sunk down into the frozen shallows, biting back gasps as the chill bit into his skin. "i know."

"i'm not mad at you," she refused to meet his gaze, "because then i would be lying. you deserve this, you worked hard for this."

"so did you."

three simple words that shocked isabel to her core. she swallowed irritably and looked up through her eyelashes, refusing to let three simple words absolutely ruin her. he was right, and that was what was upsetting her. "i worked so fucking hard," her voice broke but she was too cold to feel her face flush in embarrassment. how embarrassing is it to be upset over losing something to the one person you had lost it to? "i'm sorry."

"don't be," max shook his head. "lamborghini should be sorry. this would have been your year. you know that, right?"

isabel just shrugged. "no. not with the car and not with—"

"stop talking." her mouth shut and she looked at him properly this time.

"the first half of this year?" he continued. "i had to fight to get rid of you. in bahrain, you took p2 after i dnfed. you outsmarted me in jeddah and won. melbourne . . . yeah, you would have won there. you got p2 in emilia-romagna . . . do you want me to continue?"

isabel shook her head, "you're feeding my ego, please continue," and he finally caught a small smile from her, the one he had been desperately trying to find.

"but you see now, right?" max held his arms out to her, and isabel gave in and shuffled over to the other side of the bath, turning so that her back was to his chest when she leaned back against him. "this would have been your year. alicia is a fucking bitch and she is the problem. you are a world champion someday, isabel, just wait until you get the opportunity again."

"thank you," her eyes were blurry as she reached for his hand and laced their fingers together, holding it close to her as if it were her anchor to reality.

it was silent for a while after that, both of them just sitting there, thinking about the race tomorrow and enjoying the silence it brought to take their mind off the cold.

"but," isabel broke the silence, "does this mean you will let me win tomorrow?" her lips curled up a little as she waited for his response.

"you're pushing your luck, belle," max chuckled, the vibration of his chest making her smile a little wider.

"just thought i would try while you were being nice."

"you're a fucking loser," he laughed a little harder this time, "jesus christ . . ."

x

( dialogue in italics that isn't harry is them speaking french! until next line break! )

"SO IT COULD BE a title decider, fifty-three laps to come . . . it's lights out and away we go!"

lap one. isabel didn't take her eyes of george's car once since she had been lined up on the grid directly behind him. she couldn't see through the mists being sprayed because there was that much water on the track, she had to just rely on the blinking red lights and hope no one crashed into her.

"yellow flag," she heard almost immediately. "it's carlos. he's fine."

she slowed for the conditions, "why are we even racing? no one can see! the rain is too heavy."

"there's a few cars suffering. we're in contact with the stewards."

lap two. if isabel had blinked, she would have missed it.

she couldn't see in front of her and was blindly working off instinct, but she had seen a flash of something stationed at turn two. something orange.  under safety car conditions, too.

"what the fuck! what the fuck!"

"belle . . .?"

"there's a fucking— that's a—" a chill colder than the rain she was currently sitting in ran down her spine. the red flag was waved moments later "why the fuck is there a fucking crane on the track? could they not wait until we were in the fucking pitlane?"

"are you fucking serious?" harry spluttered, completely unaware of the fact that there was a crane currently out there. "at turn two?"

"picking up carlos' car," she slowed even further for the correct conditions. "there was a marshal, too. that is too close, harry, too close! they fucking promised they wouldn't do that again!"

"alright, alright," harry knew better than to feed into the situation. "we'll talk when your out of the car. turn your radio off, kid."

"why should i?" her temper was flaring and burning her body hotter, melting away the chill from before. "the—" she cut herself off when her deeper breaths were starting to pull taut further on her ribs. wisely, she hit her radio button before wiping her visor so she could see again.

PIERRE gasly was in a similar situation. apparently he was facing a penalty for speeding under flag conditions despite going nine seconds slower than the delta. however, he had been closer, mere metres from the crane, whereas isabel had just caught sight of it when she took the turn a littler wider than she should have. either way, it was terrifying to see a crane appear when you're blinded by the weather and driving at such speeds.

and that was what worried isabel when she was finally back in the pitlane and in her garage. she'd seen just how close pierre got to the crane. "if he aquaplaned . . ." she trailed off, eyes wide as she stared at the footage. "fuck."

the session was suspended until further notice.

"i want to see pierre," was the first thing isabel said to tori when she saw her, and tori nodded immediately and walked isabel through to the alphatauri garage.

"pierre," isabel met him by the front of his garage and immediately wrapped her arms around him. "you scared me."

"it scared the shit out of me," pierre admitted, the argument he was having with his team now dispersing upon her arrival. "they've penalised me for speeding, too. what the fuck?"

"the fia are fucking shit," isabel scoffed as she pulled away from him. "i just wanted to make sure you were okay."

pierre shrugged, "i think i'm just angry, belle. are you okay?"

"angry," she nodded. "have you seen charles yet?"

pierre nodded, "briefly. he's with seb now, i think."

"okay," isabel said, "do you want to come, or . . ."

"no, it's okay, i just need a minute," pierre flashed her a small smile, but it wasn't very reassuring. "look after yourself, we'll talk properly after the race, yes?"

"of course, take care."

as she walked away with tori, the pr manager wrapped her arm around isabel's shoulders. "you doing okay?"

all isabel could do was shrug. "angry. the fia are bullshit, but what can you do? they never learn."

SEBASTIAN welcomed isabel with open arms when she made it to the aston martin garage. charles was beside sebastian, so she hugged him next.

"this is bullshit," she said.

charles scoffed, "completely unacceptable."

sebastian looked the most disappointed. "we're going to bring it up in the post-race media," he mentioned. "all of us are. this is not right."

"watch them cover this up, too," isabel scuffed her shoe against the ground.

sebastian sighed loudly, "i guess we'll wait and see."

charles looked at isabel, "you okay?"

"yeah," she half-shrugged, "are you?"

"yeah, i guess," he nodded. "still fucking sucks."

BY LAP SIX, THERE was only forty minutes of the session to go and isabel was only sitting p10.

drs was a tough gamble since the spray of water rom yuki's car obstructed her view of everything else. deciding to go for it, isabel activated it on the main straight and managed to overtake yuki before turn one, pushing a gap between them.

"p9." harry said, "ricciardo is in front, should not be a problem."

lap ten. isabel had made it to p6 after a battle with lewis for his position. she managed to slip past him when he took a turn too wide.

"order is?" she asked.

"verstappen, leclerc, perez, schumacher, ocon, you. we are going to box."

red bull should box here, she thought as she nodded to herself. "yeah, okay."

isabel was right. red bull double stacked as well as a few others, so it was a race of who had the fastest pit crew to get back out onto the track first.

lap eleven. after pitting, isabel just managed to squeeze in front of esteban to exit the pitlane first.

"that is verstappen, leclerc, schumacher, perez, you."

lap nineteen. she didn't have to worry about esteban trying to overtake her because lewis was trying to take his position. with this in mind, isabel focused on overtaking checo.

once she took his position, she immediately closed the gap to mick, and he backed off the 's' curves when he knew he couldn't defend the spot from her.

"i want to die," isabel said dramatically as she bumped up to p3. "everything hurts."

"fourteen more minutes, kid," harry said. "can you make it that long?"

"i don't think i can keep a podium spot."

"don't worry about it, that's okay. do your best, don't hurt yourself."

lap twenty-eight. final lap. bridging the gap to beat max was impossible since he was twenty-six seconds in front of charles, so it was already a clear winner from there.

isabel had lost her position to checo at turn sixteen and there was absolutely no way she could take that back from him. she crossed the line in p4. after the stewards investigated charles' p2 spot, he was given a five second time penalty and dropped down to p3, leaving the red bull's with a 1-2 placing.

MAX had no clue what this win meant for him when he rolled into parc ferme.

it was a twenty-eight lap race because of the red flag, and so it had to be discussed with the stewards on whether he claimed the world championship title or not.

when he was out of the car and talking with checo and red bull by the barrier, charles helped isabel out of the car.

"i swear to god, this race was so not worth it," isabel said, cringing when she felt movement within her ribcage. the seatbelt mixed with the g-forces and the bumps of the curbs rattled her around to the maximum. if she had known it was going to go the way it did, she probably would've rethought racing it.

"but p4, huh?" charles smiled at her as he flipped up her visor. "definitely worth your stubbornness." 

"and p3! a podium for you!" she took off her helmet and balaclava to see him a little clearer. "i'm so proud of you."

"come on," charles began to walk over to max and checo, "we are trying to figure out what the race means for max."

"it means that he should do a total restart from zero points," isabel commented as she began to take off her gloves. 

"sounds fair," charles agreed, "are you pitching the idea or am i?"

"what idea are you pitching?" max asked when he overheard them. the leclerc siblings stopped in front of him and looked at each other for a second before looking back at max.

charles said, "nothing" at the same time that isabel said, "we are plotting your downfall."

"well, fuck," charles huffed, "he knows. nice job, belle."

"shut the fuck up, charles."

checo just stood there glancing between the siblings.

"so," isabel spoke again, "what's happening with the points? have they said anything?"

max shook his head, "i think we find out in the cool-down room. it's still being discussed." charles and checo disappeared off to the cool-down room. 

"go find out then," she gave him a little nudge in the direction that charles and checo went in. when he didn't move, she added, "go, i am dying to know."

"fine, fine, i'm going," max rolled his eyes, a smile escaping. "i'll see you when i'm on the podium, yeah?"

"of course," she nodded, "i'll be done with luca's bullshit before then. good luck!"

x

ISABEL HAD BEEN WALKING over to where the podium ceremony would be held when she saw it up on the screens. the world champion's room. and on the plush red armchair was max verstappen. 

max verstappen is a two-time world champion.

"holy shit," isabel still looked at it in a little disbelief. she had expected this with his talent and the car he was running ( as well as being over a hundred points higher up the ladder than the driver beneath him in the standings ) but it still caught her off guard. purely because japan had been a twenty-eight out of fifty-three lap race and, surprisingly, the fia had decided not to be anymore of a mess today and grant him the title. 

MAX hardly remembered standing through the podium ceremony as the news hit him. two-time world champion. and for some reason, hearing that this time didn't feel like a chore. when he had been told last year, it felt great of course, but his father had been there and it all just didn't feel right. 

it felt right this year. he was on the podium with his teammate and charles so celebrations felt normal and friendly. and he could see isabel standing beside kate and christian, all smiling and looking supportive. this is what it was supposed to feel like. this is what it should have been last year. 

and so when he finally stepped off the podium and descended into the red bull colours below, there was one sticking out in a sea of red and blue. isabel in black and gold. 

"you did it," was the first thing she said to him, her smile bright. "two-time champion now, huh?"

"yeah," he breathed as if the realisation had finally hit him. "i guess so."

"i would jump on you but my ribs really hurt," she laughed quietly and held out her hand, "so you're good with a handshake, yeah?"

and when max blinked for a second, christian laughed. "she's fucking with you, son."

max looked back at her, "fuck you, belle," he rolled his eyes and laughed. she ignored the stabbing pain when she reached her arms up around his neck to hug him. his arms immediately wrapped around her waist, and he was now glad he wasn't holding the trophy and had left it up on the podium for will to collect.

"congrats, world champion," she whispered, sharing a quick kiss with him before letting go. "and kate is forcing me to come out with you guys tonight, so . . ."

kate raised an eyebrow. "total bullshit. i asked and you said yes."

"kate, honey," isabel turned to look at the blonde. "there is a time and a place to lie and this is not the time or place." which was bullshit because kate was right and max could already tell but then again, when wasn't isabel difficult?

"your first real red bull party," max's arm snaked around her waist subtly. "excited?"

"absolutely not."

"typical," christian rolled his eyes in amusement. "you'll never change your mind, will you?"

isabel winked at the team principal, "i know my standards, thanks."

x

INSTAGRAM — ISABEL.LECLERC

isabel.leclerc: woke up with a two time world champ ha L what did you wake up to

comments . . .

user1: 💖💖💖

charles_leclerc: ayo
↳ maxverstappen1: enjoying the view?
↳ charles_leclerc: 😉
↳ isabel.leclerc: smh

user2: every time i think i cant be more surprised with isabel on social media she posts something new and my jaw drops
↳ user3: shes so unhinged and then THIS LIKE HUH
↳ user4: im still in shock and denial that they are dating what the fuck 

user5: what the actual fuck was this season

user5: hes got a really nice back though-

user6: isabel collects world champions like pokemon
↳ user7: ????
↳ user6: romantically: max. platonically: seb, fernando, kimi, probably lewis

landonorris: celebrations mustve been wild
↳ charles_leclerc: lando.

noahnichols99: SO THATS WHERE YOU WENT
↳ isabel.leclerc: ????
↳ noahnichols99: YOU FUCKERS CAUGHT A FLIGHT BACK TO MONACO
↳ maxverstappen1: japan was too cold
↳ danielricciardo: we spent ages trying to track you down and you guys were going HOME ??? absolute fuckers
↳ isabel.leclerc: i hate the cold
↳ maxverstappen1: tbh she was complaining too much so we caught a flight after the party
↳ emiliagold79: *cough* whipped maxverstappen1

user8: cant tell which view is better 😍
↳ isabel.leclerc: the beach obviously dont be stupid

user8: also the constant memes make my day my camera roll is full of them now so ty

maxverstappen1: i woke up to that god awful music
↳ isabel.leclerc: the covasettes?
↳ maxverstappen1: subway surfers
↳ user9: huge red flag max doesnt like subway surfers. isabel cmon you can do better than him its okay to break up we give you permission
↳ user10: that is criminal maxverstappen1

user11: belles out here living her best life
↳ user12: i envy her

arthur_leclerc: this is not what i wanted to open my phone to
↳ isabel.leclerc: sorry arthur
↳ arthur_leclerc: maxverstappen1 put clothes back on
↳ maxverstappen1: shes the one who told me to take them off
↳ user13: WHAT TEHF UCK IS GOING ON
↳ isabel.leclerc: jesus christ max my whole family follows me
↳ charles_leclerc: i have no words
↳ user14: WHY ARE THEY SO UNHINGED I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE
↳ arthur_leclerc: traumatised ive been traumatised
↳ maxverstappen1: 😊👍

x

i wanna know what you guys reckon isabel's 2023 is gonna look like :) i already have it all planned but im curious

this chapter ended up being so long holy shit. 7.6k words

also idk how updates will be from soon bc i go back to school on tuesday and im coming into my last term (technically) so i have my trials AND THEN in term 4 i have my actual exams so- things might be a bit fucked for a while. the chances i get to write will probably be early morning / late night so ! ( just dont think im abandoning this if i disappear i love belle and max too much )

anywayyyy hi hello how are we what are we thinking how are we feeling