ALTHOUGH SHE ENJOYED THE time away from hotels in monaco, isabel decided to fly to miami before many of the other drivers got there.

okay, flying there early had been her decision. what hadn't been her decision was that will and tori were getting max to fly out a few days after she got there and force them to communicate.

yeah, tori made a list of questions that isabel and max had to answer. how fun. tori thought that it was about time her and will found something to force max and isabel to do together.

it did become a thing that max and isabel seemed to agree on, though: how much they wanted to leave will and tori on a deserted island somewhere very far away.

"this is stupid," max pointed out as he stared at the stack of cards on the middle of the floor. they had decided to sit on the floor and use it as common ground instead of migrating to the kitchen or the balcony.

"yeah," isabel muttered in agreement as she stared at the cards. "we have to go through the whole stack, apparently."

"okay," max picked up the first card and read over it with a sigh. "what's your favourite way to spend a day off?"

isabel already looked completely over this exercise. "on the simulator or watching netflix," she answered dully before adding, "what's yours?"

"on the simulator," he nodded, tossing the card off to the side. "or with my cats."

isabel's eyebrows raised slightly. "you have cats?"

max nodded again, but this time his eyes had a small sparkle as he spoke about his cats. "two bengal cats named jimmy and sassy."

"hold on," isabel almost let a smile slip. almost. "did you name them after the places in monaco? jimmy'z and sass café?"

". . . maybe," max shrugged, trying to hide an amused smile at how stupid it sounded aloud. "do you have pets?"

isabel moved so that she was no longer sitting but now laying on her stomach on the floor, her hand propping up her chin. "i don't see a card that says that," she said before reaching to pick up another card. before she could reach it, however, max slapped her hand away.

"do you have any pets?" he asked again.

refraining from rolling her eyes, isabel quickly slapped his hand back before retracting it. "no, i do not," she answered with a slight frown. "don't have the time."

nodding slowly, max pushed the pile of cards towards her.

"if you weren't in f1, what other job would you have?" isabel read before placing it down to the side of her, away from the other cards.

max genuinely looked stumped. he looked like he had just been asked the world's hardest question. perhaps it was to him. "i— i don't know," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "never thought about it."

as much as isabel was deemed as a bad person by the media, she wasn't going to push him when he was clearly looking uncomfortable all of a sudden. but a question still circulated in her mind: how could you grow up not thinking about any other possible career? not even a single thought about another job like a fireman or something like most kids?

"i wanted to be a gymnast," she spoke, drawing him out of his staring contest with the floor and removing the uncomfortableness from his face. "if we get fired, i might get back into it."

max choked out a mix of a cough and a laugh at how blunt she was about them getting fired. it was a reality that he had finally come to terms with after the australian grand prix, one that he didn't have the heart to tell any of his friends or family about. his father didn't know surprisingly and he wanted to keep it that way. "do you think they'll actually fire us?"

"i don't see that question written on a card," isabel gestured to the pile of cards between them.

"isabel," max deadpanned with an eye roll.

"fine," she couldn't help but roll her eyes back. "i want to say no because who are they even going to replace us with? but then again i really do think they will get rid of us," she shrugged. "anyway, can we do a few more and then pretend we went through them? this is stupid."

"yep," max nodded instantly. "please." he picked up a card from the pile. "okay . . . favourite track and why?"

"marina bay, maybe?" she stared off at the wall as she thought over her answer. "the turns are kind of fun, you know? obviously it's a very physically demanding circuit, but . . ."

marina bay street circuit was one of the circuits that every driver had to be physically prepared for. the number of corners on the circuit are a lot of pressure on the driver, especially with the speed they're going at. on top of that, the street surface is bumpy and the conditions are humid, but it still remains one of isabel's favourites. it's one of those make or break tracks for her — if she could complete the marina bay circuit with ease, she proved to herself and others that she was a force to be reckoned with on the grid.

"it's an alright track," max agreed. "not my favourite, though." he then answered her silent question once she looked at him. "my favourite is spa," he said. she wasn't that surprised, a lot of drivers had spa as one of their most loved tracks. "it's got long straights and fast corners, so it's a really good challenge."

isabel had a love-hate relationship with spa. it was challenging and fun, that was for sure. in wet weather it's an absolute nightmare, but other than that it's enjoyable. she had lost a friend there years ago now, something that definitely took a mental toll when she had to drive it again, but that was in the past. she'd raced it many times since and always dedicated that race to him, much like charles and pierre did. spa had two drs zones which also contributed to the fun of it.

"spa's fun," isabel tapped her fingers against the carpeted floor. "what about your least favourite?"

max smiled smugly. "i don't see that question written on a card," he mocked.

snatching the card pile from between them, isabel began to sift through them wildly, eyes scanning across each one until she finally picked one up. "found it," she grinned over at him, quickly reading the card that asked the same question she had proposed. "go on, answer."

"i don't like driving monaco and silverstone," he shrugged. "i like that they're complex, of course, but no."

"does that mean if i beat you in monaco and silverstone you won't throw a tantrum?" she asked, tossing the card back into the messed up pile.

"ha ha," he rolled his eyes sarcastically. "very funny. what's yours?"

"suzuka," isabel said instantly. her fingers subconsciously moved up to her neck to fiddle with the silver charm hanging there, something that max noticed. he couldn't make out what the charm was of, though. "too difficult, too dangerous. not a fan of it," she shrugged off her statement with a soft laugh. "anyway, can we quit now? this game is stupid."

"very stupid," max agreed, reaching out to bundle up the cards into a neat stack. "let's hope that means will and tori'll fuck off for a while."

isabel chuckled. "they don't get here until tuesday of race week." she stood up and straightened the collar of her team shirt. "i'm going out," she stated before picking up her things and leaving the hotel room.

x

NOW THAT NOAH WAS in miami, the marketing team wanted to take advantage of that. here they were, sitting in the lamborghini motorhome in the paddock, with buzzers in front of them on the table.

it was their turn to do the grill the grid series now that the events of australia had calmed down.

"okay, here's the next question," sarah, a blonde woman in her thirties, told the teammates. they'd already done a few questions but recieved no points because the two were clueless on half of the lamborghini history. "buzz in when you have the right answer." she then looked at the card in her hands. "in which year did jonathan di—"

isabel hit her buzzer immediately. "2014."

noah pulled a face as he looked at her. "you didn't even know the question."

"i didn't need to," isabel laughed. "jonathan diaz won the 2014 title," she looked at sarah. "was i right?"

"you were," sarah looked a little taken aback by how quick the girl had answered. "okay, next question. we're going to play you some onboard audio. i would like you to tell me which circuit it's from."

"oh god," noah muttered as he hovered his hand over the buzzer. isabel and noah stared off into separate areas of the room as they tried to imagine where they would be on the circuit.

noah hit the buzzer. "spa," he answered.

"no," sarah shook her head. isabel nodded in agreement, "it's too slow for spa . . . oh!" she slammed her hand on the buzzer. "monaco!"

"correct!"

noah shook his head. "that is way too fast for monaco."

"yeah," isabel agreed, "are they fucking crazy?"

they moved onto the next question. "in front of you there is a piece of paper. once you flip it over, i want you to tell me which driver it is with their helmet on. three, two, one, flip."

noah and isabel flipped their cards over at the same time. almost immediately, noah hit the buzzer. "jones," he said.

"correct. ian jones," sarah nodded.

"what?" isabel stared at the image a little more closely. "how can you tell?"

"look," he pointed to the number 92 on the side of the helmet. "92. i know my drivers."

"fucking lamborghini fanboy," isabel grinned as she reached up to ruffle noah's hair. he rolled his eyes and slapped her hand away.

"at least i wasn't a ferrari fan," noah retorted.

isabel scoffed. "in the wise words of my lord and saviour sebastian vettel," she cleared her throat, "'everyone is a ferrari fan. even if they say they're not, they are ferrari fans'."

"yeah, don't let alicia hear that one," noah joked as he let out a laugh. "no, i was a red bull kid until lamborghini made a race team."

"i'm not even surprised," isabel chuckled.

"okay, next question," sarah spoke once they settled down, "we asked a seven year old to draw one of the 2022 circuits. where is this?"

as soon as they flipped over the cards, noah hit the buzzer. isabel was too stunned by the sheer amount of animals and colours all over the page to even look at the track. "uh, australia."

"oh, yes, the little kangaroo," isabel nodded as she pointed to the drawing on top of the mapped out circuit. it was clearly albert park now that she was looking at it properly.

"since when do i have a better reaction time than you?" he teased as he twirled the card around in his hands.

"you really don't," isabel said. "the track looks so accurate though, wow."

"okay, let's see how well you know the 2022 grid," sarah read. "who is the tallest driver on the grid?"

isabel hit the buzzer. "oh! it's alex and esteban," she answered. they're six-foot-one i believe."

"you're correct."

"damn," noah said, "i thought it was latifi."

"nicholas latifi and george russell are both a centimetre shorter," sarah explained. "close, though. next question. you have fifteen seconds to name as many countries that have hosted thirty or more grands prix."

noah earned six points for saying hungary, great britain, the us, canada, belgium and germany. isabel earned four for saying italy, monaco, brazil and spain.

"that's where we're gonna leave it," sarah smiled at the two. "that's eight points to noah and seven points to isabel."

"dude, we suck," noah laughed as he nudged isabel. "like, really."

"alicia is gonna make us study the history books for that one," she joined his laughter as they stood up and said their goodbyes to sarah and the marketing team.

"we already have enough homework," noah groaned, "which just reminded me that i have to finish reading the fucking strategies for this weekend."

"don't worry too much," isabel said as they stepped out into the paddock. there weren't too many people around, just team members getting things sorted for the weekend. "we still have the meetings at the end of the week. don't lose sleep over it."

"yeah," noah nodded. "thanks, belle." he shoved his hands into his pockets. "how come you read it so fast?"

isabel shrugged. "to be honest, i stopped reading it in detail, like, two years ago," she said honestly. "don't tell the team that, though. i just found that they change the strategies so often that, by the time they have given us the new ones to study, they have already changed their mind and got more. basically," she clasped his shoulder, "read a quick overview, go over things you're not too familiar with and then just leave the rest. it all gets discussed at the meetings, anyway."

noah's mouth dropped open slightly. "why have you never told me this?"

"because last year was your first year and i didn't know if you'd snitch," isabel smiled up at him. "this year's a new year. i can teach you all my tricks now," she paused, "well, kimi taught me so now i'm teaching you."

"i can't wait!" noah cheered.