#the car is good it’s like Max in hungary | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

In Q3 of 2020, 31% of US users access the Tumblr app daily.

#the car is good it’s like Max in hungary

lewisinho · 4 months

Text

✨lewis hamilton’s most underrated mercedes drives ✨🏎️

as promised, part 2 with some mercedes drives (by all means not an exhaustive list, but at the very least i hope, a worthy one); lewis’ mclazza drives collection for those interested: here

fav lil’ guy finally free from the clutches of ron dennis and mclaren, handed some rocketships, reunited with blond guy named nico and entering his domination era; live laugh love achieving zen era comes much later; this is lewis hamilton who is ready to fight god and anyone who stands in his way; there’s a ruthlessness to him and his driving, which he will use and he will use it well, he’s talented and good, you watch lewis in a car that can perform and it’s just such a pleasure to witness what he is capable of doing; he is a racer, first and foremost, and he is obsessed with winning, i mean obsessed, the way he celebrates every single win like it’s his very first; he loves and bleeds this sport, even if it can be incredibly cruel to him (and still is, to this day). and btw still the king of the fucking circus, don’t you forget it. chasing your own destiny and creating a myth out of your legacy, you know when david bowie said i always had a repulsive need to be something more than human… yeah lewis who’s afraid of not doing enough, of not being enough, he cannot remain human, he must be something more, he needs to be the best and he wants it more, and you know for a man who has ‘divine love’ tattooed on his hand, what does a narrative mean? for someone who believes that what he does is an art form and who describes racing as a spiritual experience, one must presume there is some form of divinity he believes he can obtain,,,anyway 🙃, allons-y:

hungary 2014 🇭🇺 aka the usual hamilton hungarian cook sesh’ (he’s a bit insane around this track ngl)

arguably his most underrated non-win drive; pitlane start to p3 and features radio gold such as ✨i’m not slowing down for nico ✨💅 iconique if you ask me; the racing gods decided to plague him with brake issues and a hot seat burning his ass on top of his car already catching on fire during quali (give this guy a break lmao); everything was against him, and he still got a podium. also his overtakes during this race...and specifically THAT overtake on jev *chefs kiss*. i also endorse his criminal behaviour and his last-lap shenanigans with nico as well. 10/10 no notes.

silverstone 2015 🇬🇧 aka cloud watching pays off

lewis at silverstone. yeah. but add a bit of spice in the form of english weather™️. instincts of a man from stevenage and one prescient decision to pit for inters at just the right time before the heavens opened and you get a win by 11 seconds ahead of the next guy and a whole field of cars scrambling in the wet. luck or genius? they asked. 'i can see the clouds over stowe'. he saw the clouds and nico approaching, pulled the trigger on lap 43 and won the race, so you tell me. also features some celebratory donuts (he was so happy after the race, silverstone means a lot to him and you can really tell) and bono soaking wet on the podium 😁

brazil 2016 🇧🇷 aka the interlagos saga continues

whatever max verstappen was doing to nico rosberg in this race is one thing (objectively hilarious), but lewis hamilton, you see he won that race; babes after the race said he was watching the screens around the track while driving in the brazilian downpour, unbothered, incredibly moisturised, happy, very much in his lane, focused and flourishing; and as mentioned in lewis’ underrated mclaren drives post, lewis at interlagos is special, the lore, the myth of it all runs deep, and this is the first time he’s won! in the pouring rain, while trailing in a championship he will eventually lose, he’s finally achieved a dream he’s had: winning in brazil; the red flag period also features baby sharl nervously glancing at lewis in the haas garage (who’d have thought they’d trauma bond over a dsq in austin 7 years later…)

abu dhabi 2016 🇦🇪aka anarchy

yes, i included this race because i stand with my cancelled wife; they were calling for his ass to be fired after the race, paddy lowe was screaming in his ear to speed the hell up, blasphemy, heresy, how dare he disobey his team, how dare he want to win the championship! anyway, like yeah ofc it wasn’t entirely respectful, but it’s racing at the end of the day; a driver will prioritise himself, and lil’ war criminal lewis, i adore you very much (he had horner defending him lmfao while torger was sending him to red bull); the shitstorm in the media afterwards, goodness gracious tho; no wonder lewis and toto needed a sit-down in toto’s kitchen lol; but it’s such a beautifully well-managed race; of course he could go faster, of course he knew exactly what he was doing slowing down and speeding up in just the right places…all in one desperate but masterful attempt at winning the championship; in the end, it wasn’t in his hands, but it is still a great race to watch purely for the mind fuckery and mercedes being absolutely pissed. also, it’s very much an end of an era.

monza 2018 🇮🇹 aka one man and his machine against a nation of ~60 million people

maybe 'underrated' is the wrong word to use for this one in all honesty, people give his ‘18 post-summer break run its due honours, because this is lewis destroying the hopes and dreams of the tifosi, sebastian vettel and the ferrari establishment with maurizio arrivabene at the helm race by race, lap by lap; it’s lewis at arguably, his strongest yet, he danced in that w09, those magnificent quali laps, those races that he dominated from start to finish...but monza, oh monza, maybe there’s something so poetic about that race and starting the run of domination in ferrari land; it’s got lewis vs kimi!!! nostalgia merchants will absolutely adore this one because it’s just like those ‘07 races, also brilliant strategy from merc and lewis and his incredible, jaw-dropping race pace driving like a man possessed

hungary 2019 🇭🇺 aka the infamous one that inspired spain '21

when lewis arrives at the hungaroring, you know the man is about to cook something worthy of a michelin star. add a two-stop strategy masterclass from one james vowles and you get an absolute classic of a race and if you know what happened just a week earlier (the trials and tribulations of hockenheim), it also feels like redemption; two cars fighting for the win, lewis banging in quali lap after quali lap as he hunts down max; clinical, faultless, and brilliant and it’s such a satisfying race to rewatch (bonus: there’s also jv on the podium and lewis looking incredibly proud)

spain 2020 🇪🇸 aka the pure brilliance of lewis and the w11

jallison’s monster, w11. when she first appeared in fp1 on a friday morning in southeastern austria, best believe the first notes of the imperial march already sounded prophetically around the styrian alps. an icon, a legend, she was the moment and we miss her dearly. pair her with one lewis hamilton, a man on a mission both on track and off it, and you will produce sexiness. purple helmet + black w11 legendary combo, the sheer cunt serving, the audacity, THE presence; i could mention any race from 2020 (notably, tuscany and portugal bc they fly under the radar as well in terms of lewis' performances) but i will add spain to this list, mostly because of what lewis said post-race about what he experienced during the race and why it epitomises the brillance of him as a driver: "i was just in a daze out there", "i was in a different zone then, didn't know it was the last lap" ; you don't reach perfection, but you chase it (as he also mentioned in the press-co), but there's something quite sublime in seeing him deliver such a performance, when he himself is left well, stunned; this is the race that could be lewis hamilton's 90 minute masterclass on tyre management.

hope you enjoyed these vroom vroom recs; might still yet do a merc 2.5 post cause there are a few other drives that also deserve a mention 💜🏎️

#lewis hamilton #mercedes lewis has like three different eras #and trying to pick just a few underrated races was a struggle #decided to be a bit creative with it #lewis merc rewatch

93 notes · View notes

fewwawifwiends · 2 years

Text

soft serve ice cream - part 2

and here we are. unholy dropped and while 'and they were roommates' part deux is still in the works, here's something to keep us all entertained

warnings: s.m.u.t. - not beta'd, not proofread as much as it should

word count: 16,162 (like i said, not beta'd, not proofread as much as it should)

you can find part one here (because this was a two-time affair)

not even a month later he was finally home. his home. or, well, at least what he'd learned to call home in the past few years. there wasn't his mother's cooking in the air, or his sister creeping up on him, or even his father reading a sports newspaper in his armchair.

it was a just a room with okay furniture and a scent he now found familiar. but monaco wasn't home, not yet at least. max just needed to give it a bit more time, is all. everyone else was -or appeared to be- well adjusted to their life in the coastline, he'd get there too.

thing was, everywhere he turned he only saw one of three categories: old money, new money and his… competition. or colleagues, sure, whatever floats your boat. no matter how good friends he were with at least some of them, as long as he was still going into that cockpit week after week, they were not working together, they were just doing the same job. he was supposed to be better than them and they were supposed to be better than him, regardless if they were able to keep their end of the deal. and that wasn’t on him, no way. it was on their luck (their cars) and their skill and that was it. only one could keep up with him and that wasn’t even based on skill. he’d watched and partook in the sport for longer than he cared to mention, he knew how to tell apart talent from a good race car. especially after the fiasco in silverstone, he was almost happy to watch from the sidelines in hungary.

but that was of no matter now. he was home. he had a two weeks to unwind, let it all go and start as fresh as he could. that’s what everyone told him, but he couldn’t seem to be able to put silverstone behind him. somehow, it found a way to creep in his thoughts, occupying space that he’d rather use thinking about literally everything else. on the plus side, however, now he did have the chance to force himself to forget; with the summer break just beginning, his trainer would forgive a night out. or two.

and that was his plan; get settled, unwind for a few days and then get absolutely fucking plastered. now that’s what he called a break, and at 23 years old, who could blame him? especially if he managed to still not miss a session with his trainer -which would be a bit more intense, but that was of no matter. it would be worth it if he managed to do it right. the perfect lap, the perfect night out.

he’d been in monaco for about four days, not bothering to get out, not even for groceries -a healthy meal delivered was more than enough. he kept up with his fitness regime, it would feel out of place if he didn’t, but as if godsend, martin, his childhood friend would be playing for a couple of nights in a club and there was no better opportunity for max to go out and execute his perfect night out plan.

new money loved martin garrix and old money’s kids felt so rebellious getting drunk while some high end name was playing in the club they ‘happened’ to be in. he’d blend right in, no one would pay attention to him. perhaps he’d also run into a ‘colleague’ or two, preferably the ones he actually liked but it was no time to be picky. if he actually cared that was.

the sun was setting as he made his way to the club that martin would be playing, colouring everything in a warm hue. at times like these, he did feel a bit lonely, but never let the feeling overtake him. sure, it would be nice to be holding someone’s hand while taking that very same route, but it didn’t matter. he wouldn’t have time for a relationship, he barely had time for a god damn hobby. that’s why he didn’t even bother to learn amelia’s phone number or even her @ at social media- wait what? it had been weeks since that, how did she find her way back into his head again? did a part of him really think that this was going to work?

max scoffed at the thought and tried to push it away, taking in his surroundings, the sun getting lost in the sea with each passing moment. but it wouldn’t leave him alone. why would he think of her? sure, there was chemistry, how could sex be good without chemistry? but there was no reason to make it anything more than an unexpectedly good night. they had a pact, unspoken, but a pact nonetheless; once they went their separate ways -which was literal minutes after- they’d forget about each other. there was no reason to ponder on what could have been and he knew his reasons all too well: he didn’t have the time, for one. and if that sounds like an excuse, try maintaining a relationship when you travel for the better part of a year. and why potentially ruin something that was just good? why not just let it be, a nice memory to look back to and smile because hey, who saw it coming? especially more than once.

even now, the memory brought a small smile to his face, and unwillingly, his pace picked up, as if he had somewhere to be. why ruin that with her weird habits and his difficult personality? sure, everyone carried baggage, even at 23, god knows they did, but did his really leave max the capacity to deal with amelia’s? or any amelia’s for that matter, it could’ve been katie, susan, mary magdalene herself and he still couldn’t handle his issues some days, with what nerve would he take up someone else’s on top of that? and who did he think he was, putting his own baggage on top of some other girl’s that didn’t owe him anything at the end of the day? max was many things, but irrational and impractical didn’t make the list. he couldn’t handle her and she wouldn’t be able to handle him, and that was the end of it.

but his evening was just beginning. he reached the club martin would be right when the sky was almost fully dark blue, couldn’t have been later than 9-ish and the place was almost empty. his timing was immaculate, not to brag of course. but it did give max plenty of time to catch up with martin while the club was still getting everything set up for the night to follow. it was a weekday, but in august in monaco, it made little difference. crowds would soon start coming in through the doors, packing the inside and most certainly the roof top, trying to be as close to the source of the music as humanly possible. he still couldn’t figure out what drew them to the speakers like moths to a flame; he’d be close to his friend, which also quite possibly meant a few shots downed in good company. for the rest of them, he didn’t know.

an hour or so had passed and without fail, he was correct yet again; the roof was packed and his now empty route between the bar and martin’s setup was not such an easy endeavour, trapping him in the bar for the time being. not that he’d complain, of course; it took him out of socialising with a more than acceptable excuse (forgive him for not risking to be trampled like a deer amongst a heard of elephants), and allowed him to order another beer with a twist: he wouldn’t get it in the bottle this time around, but in a glass, half full to make room for the shot of top shelf whiskey that would bring the liquid to the brim. it was time to start easing in to the harder stuff.

max thanked the bartender with a smile and brought the glass to his lips, carefully placing the shot glass between his teeth, downing the hard liqueur first and washing it down with the refreshing beer. the heat was enough of an excuse to gulp down the rest of the beer in one go as well, closing his eyes to enjoy the sensation of the cold liquid actually cooling him down. he placed his glass on the counter with more force than was necessary, causing the shot glass to clink against the sides, while he took a much needed breath and resisted the urge to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, like a viking. he was a man of culture, his parents had made sure of that, so he settled for his fingers slowly reaching for his mouth, forcefully wiping away the remaining beer with almost undetectable moves.

he opened his eyes and without missing a beat he ordered a vodka redbull. there was no way he could ever not affiliate himself with redbull, was there? but it tasted good and it would give him a boost, that much was certain, perhaps allow him to stay past his normal bedtime, which was before the first am.

with a new drink in hand, max started looking through the crowd for the first time in the night, scanning them for any familiar faces he’d inevitably have to say at least hi to, maybe a bit of small talk, worst case scenario actually have them join him -which would end his night early, for sure. but when max finally spotted a familiar face, it wasn’t at all what he expected to see.

“you have got to be fucking kidding me” he muttered under his breath as his eyes were now locked on her.

her brown hair was pulled back in a half pony tail, allowing it to fall past her shoulders, but there were two strands framing her face on either side, certainly deliberately left out. before long, like she could feel his gaze on her, she turned around and her warm, brown eyes met his once again, allowing him to take in the differences; she was wearing a pair of silver hoop earrings, not too big to be tacky, not too small to go unnoticed, which complimented her fair complexion and she had… make up on? maybe the changes he notices were the effects of a good night out, but all he knew was that her eyes were more intense than he remembered, her cheeks were flushed and her lips, that formed an o shape in either shock or disbelief -or both-, had a darker stain on them. and he liked it. all of it. exactly like the first time he saw her, she drew him in and he didn’t dare try to pull himself away, enjoying the exhilarating feeling rushing through his bones.

they stayed like that for a few moments, neither moving an inch, when she started making her way through the crowd with determination, while max was still locked in place. her movement accented the group of people that was now behind her, making it obvious that they were with her, two girls and one guy, who was attempting to follow her but got blocked by a waiter trying to get to a table on the other end of the roof, leaving him effectively behind and defeated.

“what are you doing here?” those were the first words she said to him. no politeness or niceties whatsoever, much less than max was used to or expected. tone was raised, but it was more due to the music and people trying to talk over it as well, than it was a genuine expression of emotion.

“hi yourself” his voice matched hers in volume as he avoided answering her question, only to see anger slowly rising in her. max almost toyed with the idea of pretending to have forgotten her, as he was trying to forget his entire week in england, but concluded that that was a bad idea. “i live here. what are you doing here?”

“i’m on… vacation?” more questions arose in amelia than were answered and that much was obvious. “aren’t you dutch?”

“yes, living here. sorry i forgot to mention my postal code.” sarcasm laced his voice he hoped would come across among all the noise and commotion, and he took a big sip of his drink, hoping it would give him some much needed strength.

“i just though- i’m sorry, i just didn’t expect to see you of all people here.”

“understandable, no worries. it’s a fair assumption that a dutchman would live in the netherlands.”

“yeah, i guess. sorry. have a good one.” she said with a small, entirely faked smile, still baffled, and turned to leave.

“are you sure you want to go through that again?” max caught her on her tracks, referring to the wall of people that was standing between her and her friends.

she turned once again to face him with her brow furrowed and her eyes wide, pleading almost for a way out. but max was right and they both knew it.

“new plan: i buy you a drink and the first chance you get, you bolt to go join your friends. how does that sound?”

amelia was hesitant and max picked up on that as soon as he didn’t get a reply out of her within milliseconds. from the little he knew her, she always had something to say.

“if you’re worried, we’re not strangers, remember? i’m a privileged, entitled bastard with anger issues, and you’re a loud-mouthed, disobedient and independent brat with a secret praise kink.” maybe reminding her was more fun than pretending to have forgotten.

“max!” she exclaimed in protest, like he just wrote in the sky her deepest secret. well, maybe he had. but in his defence, no one was going to hear them, no one was paying that much attention.

“don’t worry, no one’s listening. look, bottom line, all i’m offering is a free drink and some company until you’re able to walk through the horde of orcs that’s standing between you and your friends. you don’t have to take it, you can just as well tell me to go fuck myself and venture through mordor yourself. it’s entirely up to you.” he sat up straight and made sure that every word he said was heard and understood.

“you can go fuck yourself.” she replied back without missing a beat, bringing an odd sense of comfort to the situation. never had max been so pleased to hear those words. “but i’ll take that drink. you can get me a rum and coke.” she paused for a split second, eyes torn away from him, as if she were thinking. “and we’re switching places. come here.” her voice was commanding and if he were just a little bit more of an asshole, he’d make fun of her for it, perhaps try to embarrass her by reminding that she was so good being on the receiving end of orders. he was a couple drinks away from becoming that asshole, so now was not the time. however, he couldn’t help but wonder and tease her a little.

“because chivalry is dead and i didn’t offer you my stool?”

“because i need to see when people are going to start getting out of my way, jesus you can be daft! i need to text my friends.” she followed her words with a quick search of the small black bag that was hanging from a silver chain on her shoulder, while she made her way towards him, eyes glued in her purse.

her attention was obviously not to where she was going, or she wouldn’t have bumped on to him. she would have seen that max didn’t move an inch to give in to her absurd request, instead of boldly -and wrongly- assuming that he’d just obey orders like that. but there they were, her face suddenly buried in his chest.

“there’s absolutely no way i’m giving up my spot.” he said and he was sure that she could feel his voice vibrating through his chest, enough to make his point.

“you can take it with you for all i care.” she retorted, looking up to him, gaze once again starting to fill with rage.

“can’t, love. it’s bolted to the ground.” his words were proven correct once one of his hands gripped the stool and attempted with all of his strength to pull it up.

“fine, i believe you, no need to flex!” flex? he just… pulled?

“i’m not flexing. nor am i risking having to spend the rest of my night standing. no way.”

“one would expect more from a gym buff.”

“why is it so hard to catch a fucking break with you?”

“you like it” she replied simply and winked, only to have her cheeky demeanour replaced with pure, unfiltered shock and shame. “i am so sorry, i didn’t mean to come at you like that.”

“what are you apologising for?” he raised an eyebrow in confusion. why would she apologise? this, whatever was going on, was their thing, she was doing great!

“i was just trying to be respectful, jesus! for once, i actually cared to not make you uncomfortable or corner you, sue me!”

“did the flight over scramble your brain?” he asked with genuine curiosity. sure, it had been a few weeks, but apparently she still remembered their… evening together, so what could have changed? the cogs in his brain were frantically turning, trying to come up with an answer, but he came up short. max didn’t know her well enough to even start speculating what might have triggered that. and amelia didn’t exactly give him time to find out.

“fuck this, i’m going back to my friends.” she said and honestly, he did feel disappointed. it was great seeing her again, the most pleasant surprise even. sure, it was unexpected, but max enjoyed their banter.

“if that’s what you want, i’m not stopping you.” he said, finally defeated. but this didn’t feel like giving amelia a win, it was entirely out of the scope of their game. but he still lost and he couldn’t hide it.

amelia sighed in response as she gave a quick glance at the sea of people between her and where she needed to be. “i appreciate it. but they are.” it was almost like the crowd had gotten thicker, young people moving along to the beat, inevitably almost in place, as there was no room for them to stretch out, leaving next to zero chances for her to get through.

max stood up and placed two hands on her shoulders, gently swapping their places and having her sit down. “rum and coke, wasn’t it?” he asked, even though he was sure and gestured at the bartender as she nodded in unneeded confirmation. max leaned in closer and saw her tense up. he just wanted to talk, help her pass the time, but something was wrong.

“okay what’s up?” he asked, voice firm, not opening the distance between them. he’d done nothing wrong and they’ve been much closer than this, so she’d better get used to it and fast. no way would he risk not being able to speak tomorrow because the princess didn’t want him breathing down her neck when not even a month earlier, in just their second interaction, he was pretty literally balls deep inside her.

“nothing.”

“that’s not nothing, don’t bullshit me, amelia.” her name rolled off his tongue and lingered there more than he intended. “if you’re going to stay here, you have to at least talk to me.”

“since when are you the talking type?"

"since this is too public a setting to put that pretty mouth to use elsewhere." his eyes darted from her warm eyes to her undoubtedly warm lips. "but i can see that you're getting your mojo back."

“i just don’t happen to run into one night stands.” she admitted, looking down. she wasn’t telling the entire truth, but it would have to suffice.

“that’s why they are are called one night stands, love. one and done. it’s in the name.” max chuckled and ran a hand through the back of his head. “unless you’d like seconds.” the idea rushed over him and he barely noticed that he’d said it out loud. his face was suddenly serious, in extreme contrast to how he was just a few seconds before.

she leaned in closer and his breath hitched. her eyes found his and locked on. “i’m not one for leftovers.” she released his stare only to eye him up and down put more distance between them, just like they were before.

“ouch.” he hissed has his fist balled over his chest. “my fragile male ego… how could you…” her voice wasn’t more than an intense whisper as he was fighting for his life, apparently, the exaggerated expressions on his face telling the entire story. he expected more of a reaction from her, but from peeks he stole, he could see that she was just looking at him impatiently, waiting for the show to end. max, not wanting to disappoint, pulled himself together and leaned against the bar, almost gravitating towards amelia. “you know that i’m not letting you leave until you’re just as bruised.” he allowed himself fall just a bit to his left, making sure that his breath tickled her skin. he saw the hairs on her neck rise at the contact, but that was about all she did in response to, well… everything.

“it’s so cute when you pretend that i don’t make you tick. or drip.” he added, unable to help himself. he was going to get a rise out of her if it were the last thing he did.

“i thought we got rid of that male ego”

“not quite yet, love. you’ve got ways to go. it’s adorable to see you try, though.”

“what does it take for you to shut up?”

“why don’t you find out?” he asked and his eyes were fixed on her lips, trying to remember how they tasted, but he came up short and that was a downright shame. he’d need a reminder.

“we’ve done this dance before.” she stated simply.

“i don’t remember it ending badly.”

“what if this one does?”

“i’m so sick and tired of you undermining me, especially considering that no one else was balls deep inside of you until you came undone again and again. i was. and you haven’t seen anything yet.” the words came out before he could stop them, overly confident, making assumptions that could have no hold on reality. but that didn’t stop him. or her for that matter.

“you talk big. compensating much?”

“don’t act like you don’t know the answer to that question better than anyone in here. it’s unbecoming.”

max had won that round, as amelia fell silent. she may not have admitted defeat, but she didn’t need to. not that she ever would.

“seriously though. what’s up with you?” he changed the subject, probing for answers.

“i told you. i don’t do leftovers.” came her reply, sharp, leaving max again without an answer. part of him wanted to dig deeper, push her a bit more. but if he knew one thing about her was that he didn’t know anything, so this entire conversation was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode in his face. not unlike amelia herself had a few weeks earlier. a smile laced his face at the memory.

“what are you smiling about?” she pulled him out of his trance-like daydream.

“how it felt to eat you out.” he replied honestly, enjoying the shocked look on her face. like clockwork, she made her expression disappear, but he’d made sure to take it in. she was scared that someone might listen, but no one would. everyone was so preoccupied and consumed in their own little bubbles that they called life, no one would pay enough attention to them. “how your thighs felt around my face, how your legs were shaking, how your fingers were in my hair, how soft you were on my fingers and on my tongue.” probably his first sentence would have sufficed, but she was still not giving him enough, and he wasn’t through unless she told him it was enough.

“do you really think that just because of a little dirty talk i’ll be begging for you to take me in the bathroom?”

“doesn’t sound too bad, now that you mention it. i’d love to hear you beg.” his smile turned to a sly smirk, eyes gleaming, images of how he could make her beg flashing right before him. “but all i did was answer your question. you asked what made me smile, and my honest reply was my head between your thighs.” his voice turned flat again, if someone didn’t know english they’d think that he was talking about the weather.

“oh max, please… please…” her eyes widened and her lips pouted as her words were more of a loud whisper, breath tickling his skin. “give me a fucking break.” and with one short sentence everything crumbled down, her tone resuming its -familiar by now- cold notes and her eyes rolling.

he should have known to not take anything at face value, there would always be a twist around the corner with her. but a man could hope. an appreciative smirk was threatening to form before he spoke.

“do you get off on teasing me like that?”

“the look on your face is priceless!” she let out a laugh and max felt himself chuckling along, instinctively almost.

“you are easy to please after all, aren’t you?”

“excuse you?”

and that’s how he realised that that thought had escaped his mouth and got turned into sound. words. her voice was defensive, as if he’d insulted something sacred. max’s chuckle had faded out into a smile on his lips and his eyes gleamed in his second win in a single evening. he took his time, enjoying the feeling and taking a sip of his drink in a small celebration. he had no idea how this would end, but he’d die before passing up this opportunity.

“you heard me. you’re easy to please. all i have to do is pretend you get under my skin while i reach up your skirt and-” she didn’t allow him to finish his sentence. she cut him off by taking his hand and placing it on her thigh, inching her skirt up just a few centimetres. her skin was warm and soft… familiar. and contrary to how he normally went about things, max found himself liking that kind of familiarity.

“do you seriously think that this is enough?” she asked, finally breaking. her voice could cut diamonds, but her eyes told an entirely different story; they were wide and almost begging for more. this was his cue. her hand was firmly holding his in place, leaving him no room to free his grip unless he actually tried, so he did the next best thing, and he pressed on. hard.

amelia let out a hiss, but he couldn’t be sure if it was pleasure or pain. or both. her eyes trained on his hand, so no clues from there either. he released her thigh from his grip, not wanting to overstep. this was fun as long as it was fun for both of them. much to his surprise, he didn’t have time to even see her skin bounce back, as her hand pushed his down again. he looked up and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, mind going blank.

“i’m sorry, what was the question?” he asked when she released her own grip on him, and his brain jump started. in those moments had he not been fixated on the image, he’d be lost in thought, and not purest of the kind if he were to be honest.

“you’re such a man.” she shook her head dismissively, fingers still laced around his. “i asked, do you think that this,” she pushed down once more for just a second, waiting to see if he’d do something about it. he didn’t. he couldn’t risk loosing his train of thought again. “is enough to please me.”

“i know it’s a start.” he stated simply, leaning in even closer, until he could smell the alcohol in her breath, which was a bit more shallow than normal. of course it was.

she didn’t speak, but she did let go of his hand, placing it on the bar, as if nothing had happened. she could have taken his off her thigh, but she didn’t. she just left it there and stared at him nonchalantly, playing with the straw of her drink.

deciding to test the waters, max lifted his palm from her thigh, allowing just his fingertips to roam over her exposed skin. soon enough, he was tracing rhythmic patterns on her and it had been seconds or minutes, but neither of them had spoken.

but that got boring after a while, so he decided to spice things up a bit. removing his hand from her leg, he traced her silhouette, running his hands up her waist and arm slowly, until he reached her neck. he remembered how she whimpered when his lips were latched on the spot where her neck met her shoulder, and dedicated some attention to that. he felt her shudder at the contact and he wasn’t about to indulge that, so he moved on, until he reached right behind her ear and rested his entire hand there, forcing her head up, to look at him.

“what was that supposed to be?” amelia spat the words, feigning to be unimpressed, but the way her teeth found her bottom lip when his thumb pressed below her jawline told another story.

“a start.”

“i suppose you expect this will continue?”

“you tell me to stop and i stop.” he allowed a few seconds to pass, giving her enough time to clear her mind if needed and give him a sober answer. but she didn’t say anything. “well, what will it be?” he asked impatiently.

“did i tell you to stop?” she sighed the words and that’s all he needed, except.. she wasn’t looking at him, per se. her eyes were fixed on his extended arm, and he realised that the veins in his forearm were visible, reaching from right below the messily rolled up sleeve of his shirt to his fingers.

“can’t look away, can you?” he toyed.

“what makes you think i’m trying?” amelia’s eyes found his again. he loved it when she became so desperate to prove a point; it was so easy to break that facade, it was borderline unfair. but he did it anyway, tensing up his muscles just enough to bring her attention back to his arm, drawn like a moth to a flame. a humourless laughter came from his chest and it brought her eyes back to his, now burning with a mix of desire and rage. god that woman was stubborn and fuck if he didn’t love it.

“thought so.” max provoked her further. “what, does my girl want a do-over?”

“as if!”

“what do you want then?” but she didn’t grace him with an answer. “look, you can either tell me, or we can just keep staring at each other until you can go back to your posse. your choice.”

“i want you to admit that you weren’t pretending that i got under your skin.” amelia reached up and ran a hand across his torso, lingering on his chest and then his stomach before making her way to his waist and pulling his belt loop, bringing him closer. max knew exactly what she was doing; this, and the silent promise for more it borne, would be enough to get any man to say that the sky was green. he gave it some thought, considering seriously where indulging her would lead them. but he knew better than letting her off the hook with a simple ‘yeah you’re right’.

“fine, you win. i’m not pretending. you do give me a massive headache. and i need you to take it away. it’s your mess. clean it up.” his voice went from almost playful to commanding in a flash, face loosing all emotion, looking amelia up and down and for the first time, taking all of her in.

her black flowy skirt was still ridden up, exposing more of her legs than intended, while her loose black and white stripped crop top gave him just a glimpse of her midriff and that was it. no shape aside from the curve of her waist anywhere to be seen, which was nice but not enough. max kind of knew what she looked like underneath those pesky excuses for fabric, but undressing her to get to see everything first hand was the dominant mental image he couldn’t shake off. bringing his eyes back up to her face, he noticed a vein pulsing just slightly on her neck and he knew that that’s where he’d hit next. her cheeks and lips were flushed, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up and take credit for that, as he remembered that it was still over 30 degrees. and lastly, those god damn eyes, following his with anticipation, wide and waiting.

once she was sure that he was done sizing her up, amelia released a heavy breath she’d probably been holding this entire time, as if it was finally safe to do so, earning herself a scoff from max.

“do i intimidate you, amelia?”

“no.” she said but the word came out shaky, like her breaths.

“why don’t you try that again, love? more convincing this time around, huh?” he inched closer, taking her waist between his hands ever so gently, taking advantage of the bare skin her outfit was showing. he wanted to apply pressure, make sure that she could feel him, but that wasn’t in his plans, at least for now.

“you don’t intimidate me, max.” she managed to utter the words, but her tongue stumbled upon them, leaving max less than pleased with her mumbling.

“nice try, but we’re not quite there yet.” he said with a sly smirk, lowering his face bringing his lips almost against hers. he felt her shift in her seat, trying to close the tiny space between them, but then his grip on her got more firm, keeping her in place but relaxing again once she stopped squirming. “go again.” he felt his lips tickle hers as he spoke, the words sounding more like an order than encouragement.

“you don’t intimidate me.” she made sure to try and pronounce every word clearly, but her attempt got worse with every brush of her lips against his, until she sighed in frustration.

“again. don’t you have a point to prove?” he toyed with her weakness.

“you. don’t. intimidate me.” this time she spoke with gritted teeth, determination coming back to her.

“that’s my girl, you did such a good job for me.” he gave her a smile and took a small step back, as that was the only space the ever-growing crowd gave him, his hands now on his sides, ending their little game. max saw amelia’s face go from fiery to confused to wanton in a matter of seconds. “so, what have you been up to lately?” he asked as if the past ten or so minutes never happened, and they were just two old friends catching up.

“i-” she started but took a pause when she heard her voice crack, as she swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment, regaining her composure. “i’ve been job hunting actually. i’m in between jobs as of last week, so i sent resumes everywhere and now i’m just waiting for the phone to ring, i guess.” she took a big sip from her drink, her cheeks puffing out a little and max was surprised by the immediate shift, from a muttering mess to having an actual conversation.

“so you came around here for a much deserved break, then? take your mind off things? how’s that going for you?”

“oh you know, it could be better, could be worse.” she looked up to him, eyes burning once again. she was frustrated to say the least, he’d left her simmering and without even touching her. not really, anyway.

“how so?” he asked, eager to see what she had to say.

“i don’t appreciate it when people leave me hanging.” amelia shot him a glare and while two fingers were busy making her straw mix the ice cubes in her drink. “you know, some people that call you up, get your hopes up saying how impressed they are by your resume and then they just never follow up.”

“that sounds like a horrible place to work at, anyway.” he commented empathetically, appearing completely oblivious to the point she was trying to make, even though he was nothing but. “i say you don’t need them. someone who really appreciates you will come around; someone who knows how to handle you, someone you’d want to come back to work for every. day. you know what i mean?”

“i guess.” she brushed him off and max knew he’d gotten his point across. “how about you?” amelia changed the focus of the conversation, giving max another small win.

“i have about a week and a half left of vacation and then back to work.” he replied simply.

“what do you even do for a living?”

“i’m a driver.” half truth. no need to spoil anything with details.

“like, freelance?”

“i drive for a company.”

“what kind of a driving job allows you afford a place in monaco?” her attention had gone from her own frustration to questions max had no interest in answering. this wasn’t a date, and he had no intention of making it one.

“a good one. what about you? what pays your bills?” he took a final hit from his drink and set his glass down more violently than intended, causing amelia to jump.

“jesus, sorry, didn’t mean to intrude. i was just making conversation, since that’s what we’re doing now, apparently.” her tone was defensive, refusing to take any blame he might pin on her. “i used to work in a small firm that manages cultural events."

"a woman of taste then." he gave her a wink as he rose his hand, signalling a rather busy bartender to prepare another round for both of them. "are you looking for something in the same field?"

"I don't see why i have to answer that, when you didn't." touché.

"humor me." his tone was severe again, gaze clouded and fixed on her.

"hmmm…. no."

"amelia" her name left his lips before he could do anything about it, sounding almost like a warning.

"this isn't a game anymore, max. we can play if you want, but don't expect me to be honest when you're not."

her words rang around in his brain. what the fuck had just happened? it was his initiative to go back to being two adults in a public social setting. why was it so hard for him to swap between roles when it came so effortlessly for her? for a second he had to force himself to remember the name of the game; she was in charge at all times, not he. maybe it didn't seem like it, but without her green light, nothing would happen. in a sense, he was the one at her mercy, and there was nothing he could do about it; that's what they'd agreed upon. perhaps there was no contract or an exact verbatim, but it didn't matter. they both knew and that was enough. so what the hell was he doing, imposing himself on practically a stranger?

"i'm a driver in formula one." he said simply after a minute of complete silence between them. it was an awkward silence, the music or the other people around them dancing and talking didn't make any change in the tense atmosphere. "this doesn't mean that you need to tell me anything about you. i went too far. i'm sorry." he spoke in short sentences, every word hand picked very carefully.

amelia scoffed and appeared to ponder his words for a few seconds.

"fine, apology accepted. it was good one, you've improved. got into therapy since i last saw you?" she was joking, but was she really?

"no…?" his answer was another question as he picked up their drinks from the bartender and handed her her own. amelia extended her hand and max could have sworn that her fingers lingered against his for just a little too long, a bit more than necessary, while when she finally did pull away, her movements were fluid, the kind that he was bound to still feel on his skin for the foreseeable future.

"you could use it."

"fair, but ouch."

"don't you like a little bit of pain?" he recognised the gleam in her eye because he had looked at her exactly like that before. she was going to be the end of him.

"testing my limits comes at a price." came a warning that she would surely dismiss.

"oh please." like fucking clockwork.

"you're welcome to try."

"i just might."

"and what about your no-leftovers rule?"

"didn't you hear? rules are made to be broken." she said, downing a considerable amount her drink, not bothering with the straw this time around. other than that, amelia stood still, waiting for max to make a move.

if this wasn't his break, there was no way he'd have the capacity to deal with this hot and cold, regardless of whose fault was what. lucky for her (and him), he'd have plenty of time to recharge.

he stayed there, eyes fixed on hers, like a predator to its prey, as he took a few generous sips of his drink as well, his head swarmed with the endless possibilities of what he could do. and suddenly two very important factors blocked away everything else: one, this time for real he might not get it see her ever again, so he needed to take full advantage of their time. two, it really didn't matter how long it would take, he didn't have a bedtime; he could sleep in for the next two weeks for all he cared. his routine didn't seem half as important as it used to and thus, a plan was formed.

max closed the small distance between them and took his time gently running his fingertips over her exposed arm, gaze never leaving hers. slowly, he worked his way up her neck, until his hand cupped her face ever so lightly, bringing it so close that their lips could almost touch. almost. again.

amelia sat up straight, in hopes to close the small, minuscule gap between them, as her own lips parted and her deep exhales tickled his face. but max didn't let her; instead he closed his hand around her jaw, once again keeping her in place. before she could even complain, his lips found the sweet spot on her lower neck and he felt her melt in place. perfect. he restrained himself, careful not to nimble, bite or suck on her skin, which proved to be a harder task than he thought. instead, he settled with leaving a few open mouthed kisses and long licks. it was slow and painful enough for him, so he could only guess how hard it must have been on her.

her hand reached up and felt his hand around her face, reaching up to his forearm, and finally his shoulder, taking her sweet time to learn every single centimetre and crevice. max smiled against her skin; he could only guess how long she waited to do that: such an innocent move, and being denied even that? he'd set the tone exactly as he needed for the rest of their night, and that was his only thought as he took in the sensation of her fingers toying with the fabric of his shirt, as if wanting to feel him without it in the way.

it didn’t take long for amelia to figure out that she was never going to be faster than him, he’d always be just a little bit quicker and put her where he needed her to be. but she wasn’t one to just sit there and take it, as max figured out soon enough. whatever they were doing, she was fucking good at it. she tilted her head ever so slightly so she could look at his face, finding his eyes. and then she made her move: she opened her mouth just enough, darting her tongue over her lips, breaths deliberately shallow and quick. that little stunt was enough to make him bring his lips to clash on hers, exactly like she wanted, and max knew that. he might not have been able to resist, and that was on him. but whatever she got, it would be on his terms.

amelia needed the kiss to be hard and fast, pushing herself even closer to max, so he could feel every inch of her against him and she could feel every inch of him as well. every. inch.

but if anything he needed her desperate, wanton, begging. so reciprocating the sheer force she gave into their kiss wasn’t going to cut it. he allowed her to do whatever she wanted, run her fingers through his hair, not leaving him any chance of pulling away, while she jumped out of her seat, crushing their bodies together. he could feel her breasts, smashed against him by the intensity of the contact and he was sure she could feel his hard on pressed against her hip. but that was about all the friction she’d get for the time being.

while her tongue was exploring furiously his mouth, max remained calm and collected, reciprocating with the slightest of touches and nibbles on her lips. before long, amelia found out that the only way to enjoy this would be to slow down to his rhythm, as he’d never match hers. not even scratching her way down his back did anything, although he did groan slightly into her mouth. but that still wasn’t enough to make him pick up the pace.

“i know that public settings is kind of our thing, but how about a bit more privacy this time around?” he pulled away and spoke against her mouth, avoiding to pay attention to his desire to pull on her bottom lip with his teeth.

“you mean the bathroom?” they were on the same wavelength, it appears, as amelia spoke and did bite into max’s bottom lip. hard. he winced more in surprise than in pain and sucked in a breath.

“my place. or yours if it’s okay.”

“yours.” she said, hunger evident in her voice, as she undid a button on his shirt before pulling her hands away, as soon as she realised that they hadn’t teleported to somewhere with no people around them.

“that’s a good girl, contain yourself. not yet.” his voice was so low that it sounded almost like a growl in her ear, its raspiness tickling her skin as it did his throat, without a doubt.

max reached down and pulled his wallet out, leaving two fifty euro bills and securing them under his glass, after he emptied it first. amelia took her cue and did the same.

“take my hand.” his tone was now more gentle, partly because he knew she didn’t have a choice if she wanted out of there.

soon, but not soon enough, they were going down the stairs of the club and letting the fresh summer air hit their face. max’s place was a ten minute walk, give or take, which they’d do in less than seven. but that was still six too many, and no matter how tough and collected he wanted to appear, he needed her as much and as bad as she needed him.

with the first opportunity he saw, max got a hold of her waist, raising her up and shoving amelia against a wall in a small alley between two shops. she didn’t waste any time, tying her legs around his waist, and breathlessly reaching in for another kiss. max’s hands instictively left her waist and were slowly roaming along her legs as her arms were pulled around his neck for stability, pulling him even closer. he could feel her muscles tightening at the contact, almost squirming at his touch, wanting more, but the non-verbal answer he gave with a few twists and slow teases was ‘not yet’. this earned him a small and disappointed moan, but still no signs of her letting go.

“do you have any idea how needy you seem? ass and panties exposed, almost begging me to touch you more?” another soft moan vibrating in his mouth.

“i’m not begging.” she said, almost in a trance, not giving a second thought to her words.

“your sad attempts at grinding against my cock suggest otherwise.”

“i’m no-” amelia’s sentence was cut short as she realised the movement of her hips. she rolled her eyes. “more.” she whispered before kissing him again, doing a complete 180, this time not bothering to change the rhythm. maybe she was hoping that compliance would make him cave at her demands. maybe she was too tired of fighting him. maybe she was just starting to realise how good it felt to take each other in completely, their scent, their touch, their skin. but no matter what, she wouldn’t get more. not now.

“not now.” he voiced his thought and with one last stroke of her ass and a gentle squeeze, just enough to be considered a handful, he let her go, helping her down and tidying her up before taking her hand once more and leading the way.

neither of them talked and not a sound was heard between them, as they walked down the relatively empty streets of monaco. it was a good time, as everyone was either already home, or still out. max would guess it was around 10.30. their night was definitely still young.

“i should text my friends.” amelia broke the silence and took out her phone with her spare hand.

“you should also give them my address.”

“planning an after party?” she looked up at him with sheer disbelief and shock hidden behind playfulness.

“i don’t like sharing.” he answered flatly, almost offended by the suggestion. “but they should know where you are, in case you need them.”

“that’s actually… considerate. thank you.” she passed him the phone and he quickly typed in his address.

“you sound surprised.” he noted, not exactly happy with her tone.

“you can be an asshole.”

“and you can be a bitch.”

this earned him a knowing smile and her hand wrapping around his arm, a gesture that was appreciated in more ways than one, as the heat of the contact made max wanting to feel her even more, in every way imaginable. he could only imagine how her fingers would feel like, tightening, twisting around his arm.

his steps became strides and amelia was following, picking up the pace right by his side. he liked the way she clung on to him and he spent the rest of their walk home imagining what it would take, what he could do to have that again.

before he knew it, he was closing the door behind them, and turning on the lights. before his eyes had the chance to adjust, he was shoved against the door, with her lips latched on his collarbone, suckling and biting, while her fingers worked furiously and frustrated on undoing the buttons of his shirt.

“someone’s a bit eager.” he noted, trying his best to speak the words normally and not let them be carried by his deepened breaths.

“curious to finally see what’s underneath.” she said, barely moving away from his skin, eyes wide and looking up to him, as she worked on the last buttons. “fucking finally.” amelia muttered when she was done, the words tickling his skin.

she took a step back and just looked at him, a thoughtful look on her face, as if she was trying to figure out a painting in a modern arts museum.

“disappointed?” max broke the silence as he raised an eyebrow and waited patiently, if not eagerly, for an answer. his body was never something he flaunted, or that he was particularly ashamed of. it was just there, a tool for his job. and it had never mattered, until now. he needed her approval, he realised, and didn’t know what to do with that information.

“i just don’t think you can handle me, is all.” she mused, bringing her hand on her chin, resting her index finger across her lips.

“excuse you?”

“you heard me. when was the last time you had a girl who’s not a model on top of you?”

the only reply she received was silence. while his exes weren’t all models, they might as well have been. amelia was breaking all the moulds for him, but there was no good way he could find to phrase that.

“thought so. so, can a big, hot shot driver, handle an everyday girl?” her voice was low, bordering on sultry and the finger that was teasing her plump lips was now tracing his chest and stomach.

“why don’t you find out?”

before he knew it, he’d fallen right into her trap. hands gripped the underside of luscious thighs, he lift her up and brought her close, faces almost touching, her core just barely putting any pressure against him, a bit shy of not enough. max suppressed a groan and exhaled sharply, his breath hitting her face and held position for a couple seconds, before marching towards the kitchen in large, confident strides. his eyes weren’t focused on his path, he knew that better than the palm of his hand, but on her face, studying her expression which altered from confusion to shock.

not bothering to search for the counter, he let her drop those very few centimetres between her body and the cold marble. he saw her wince at the contact, closing her eyes. not allowing the opportunity to go to waste, max grabbed her neck, finally closing the distance and attacking amelia’s lips with his. at first, she was startled yet again, barely over her previous shock, but she was quick to catch up and reciprocate.

her fingers wrapped around the edge of the counter, pushed her a bit forward, leaning on him, while his fingers inched up her waist, passed the hem of her shirt and found her nipples, giving them a small, tight twist. she moaned against his mouth and max got greedy for that sound, so he gave them another twist, enjoying her again and again.

“enjoying the pain, baby?” he asked and amelia moaned again in reply. “come on, you can do better than that.” he urged her on, giving her nipples a final twist, allowing it to serve as inspiration.

“yes.”

“good girl.”

“your hand is cold.” she noted through a hiss, desperate to change the subject, have him forget how good she’d just been.

max didn’t bother to comment on that, there was no reason to. “still having doubts that i can’t handle you?” he whispered against her ear, feeling her goosebumps form under his hands. when she didn’t reply, he removed his hands from her chest, raising his palms, but he kept them close enough so that a small wiggle or break in his concentration would give amelia the touch she wanted. did she know it wasn’t going to be easy?

“why did you stop?”

“i asked you a question.”

“and you’ve yet to prove it.” she said simply, obviously not satisfied, as her hands found his and pressed them against her chest, hoping to get a bit more sensation.

swiftly, his arms escaped hers and landed in a sharp slap on her thighs. amelia inhaled through her teeth at the contact and closed her eyes, but forced them open and locked in his very quickly, letting him know that pain was not a punishment.

accenting her point, her nails dug into his lower back and travelled slowly all the way to his neck, granting him his own small dose of stinging skin, before relaxing her fingers over his shoulders. determined, max didn’t show anything that would give away if he liked that or not, but an appreciative grin laced his lips, telling her just enough.

he didn’t give her any time to do anything about it, though. his fingers were still applying pressure on the soft skin of her thighs, dangerously close to her pussy for a good long while now and he couldn’t keep ignoring the welcoming heat she emitted any longer, reaching to the inside of her thighs now, one hand teasing the sensitive skin and the other just slightly grazing her underwear with his knuckles.

this time, he’d do it right; savor every second, come to know her better than anyone. he’d explore how wet she was gradually, first teasing with his knuckles. after a few seconds, his fingers would find the hem of her panties and toy with that for a bit as well, implying that pulling it apart and giving her what she wanted was easier than breathing.

“i can feel how wet you are from here.” he said while pulling the hem of her very much ruined underwear away from her skin. “is it for me?” he asked only to just hear her voice.

“only if you do something about it.” came a cheeky reply, and the raspiness of her words could send him reeling.

“want a taste?” was his second question, testing her boundaries a bit. there were a lot of ways he could help her taste her own cunt; dipping a finger or two and allow her to lick them clean, get her on his tongue and kissing her deeply afterwards. even shoving her wet panties in her mouth while he finally ‘did something about it’, which was a very strong contender.

he gave her a few seconds to answer him while his fingertips pressed the wet fabric against her, giving a few gentle rubs.

“yes.” she answered in the same raspy voice in almost a moan.

“how?”

“any way you want.”

having a green light and her cooperation, sure -maybe too sure- that she’d tell him no if needed, he removed her underwear and kept them in his hand, while the other hand was still drawing intricate designs on her skin. taking a second to calculate his next move, or how to exactly bring himself to do what he wanted, he gave her a simple order in a very soft voice:

“open wide.”

and to his surprise she did. amelia’s full lips were now parted, not sure what to expect to come between them. her eyes darted over to her panties, soaked and scrunched up in his closed fist, black fabric barely showing. she found his eyes again, mouth still agape and gave him a small nod.

max came closer, clumsily fitting the underwear to her mouth, not bothering to resist an urge to bite and nimble on her bottom lip, nose filled with her scent. fuck, she would be the death of him. all of her. not just how she smelled or how soft she felt beneath his fingers. but also how she understood and was on the same page without him saying a word. how could it get any better?

the answer to his question came once he was on his knees, hands spreading her thighs wide apart, mouth level with the cunt that well was on its way of leaving a small puddle on his kitchen counter. his lips found her core, tongue giving her clit a gentle flick and the muffled sound that she made, made everything instantly better. he crossed his tongue over her clit again and again and again and again, careful to not get too greedy, almost drunk with the music that were her stifled moans.

not wanting to neglect anything, he found himself giving long, tenative licks to her pussy, the tip of his tongue exploring her folds while his teeth grazed her very cautiously. max was certainly enjoying himself, but this tactic did not give him the same moans. they were softer this time around and that simply wouldn’t do. focusing a bit on her clit again, he easily added two fingers inside her, finding again all his (and hers) favorite spots, while his left hand reached up to roll her nipple between his fingers, and perhaps tug a little.

suddenly, the panties in her mouth were not such a great idea anymore.

“spit them out.” he ordered, only to have amelia reply as best she could in a disappointed sound. “i want to hear you.” he explained, half a step away from pleading, trying to keep his tone stern. the girl obliged, turning her head to discard them on the countertop. “good girl.” max mumbled mostly to himself, before losing himself again in her aroma and the feeling of her everywhere: the softness of her cunt on his lips, the stiffness of her nipple between his fingers contrasting how her breast felt in his palm, her thighs applying a heavenly pressure on his head, her wet pussy on his other hand. and of course, her sounds. not only the sounds her folds made as he played with her, but the guttural moans escaping first her throat and then her still open lips.

“oh fuck max!” amelia exclaimed softly between deep breaths and sharp inhales. her thighs closed tighter and her legs shook in what seemed an involuntary response to his mouth sucking on her clit. “don’t… stop” words came exhausted, encouraging him to keep going, vying to feel her, to hear her come undone.

a small voice in his head urged him to stop, leave her on the edge, have her become a slave to her lust and him the only one who could set her free. he decided on a compromise.

he pulled away just a bit, raising his head and searched for her eyes, hands still working tirelessly on her body. “only if you promise to cum on my cock as well.”

her eyes widened in shock and he could see the possible answers she wanted to give reel behind them, words becoming jumbled, a thread she wouldn’t easily untangle.

“yes” she said finally, too worked up to get more than three letters out. but that was enough, as his mouth latched back again on her pussy, and he heard her moan in pleasure and relief.

moments later, amelia’s release came in the shape of shaking legs and a scream that would echo in his apartment for weeks to come. he looked up to her while he kept on, determined to have her ride out her orgasm exactly in the same way she got it: completely stimulated and fully under him. her face wasn’t contorted in pleasure as he’d expect, she wasn’t tense. while her hands were behind her offering support and her head was tilted back, her jaw was relaxed albeit slightly open still, to release her orgasm verbally as well.

“oh… oh fuck… yes… oh ple-… oh... max!” her wave of pleasure started with his name rolling out of her tongue.

once he was sure that she was done, he gave her tit a gentle squeeze while removing his fingers and mouth from her pussy, reaching up and tilting her head forward with his thumb and index finger on her chin, forcing her to look at him. the gleam in her eyes was something entirely new and a smile started to lace her chapped lips. he brought his other hand up, smearing her juices over her mouth and before she could do anything about it, he kissed her. softly at first, but his hunger quickly caught on, still tasting her, not able to get just enough, hands roaming all over her body, from her neck to her back, to her arms on her sides, sliding over her stomach and brushing against her still sensitive breasts, earning him another small moan into his mouth.

“need a break?” he asked softly, not wanting to overwork her. they weren’t done. not yet.

amelia thought about it for a few seconds before begrudgingly saying yes. she needed to recharge, allow her sensitivity to go down before doing anything more. and she did look a bit dizzy, eyes unfocused and expression a bit blank, which was always a sign of a job well done.

happy with his success, max picked her up, letting her put her entire weight against him as her arms locked around his neck, face falling on his shoulder, legs dangling off on his sides with his hands underneath them. he carried her to the bedroom, placing her gently on his bed.

not really wanting to leave her there, max climbed next to her and amelia didn’t waste any time intertwining her legs with his, bringing a hand to rest on his chest and her head right above his heart. as soon as she was comfortable, he laced an arm around her shoulders, keeping her close to him while they enjoyed the silence and the contact of skin against skin.

not a minute passed by before amelia’s hand started drawing intricate shapes on his chest, making her way to his abdomen and travelling lower, teasing along the line of his trousers. if she bothered to take a look, she’d see that there was no reason for any of that. he’d been hard way before they left the club, and she hadn’t allowed him a second of relief or flaccidity, continuing to drive him slowly but surely insane, teasing or not.

enjoying the attention, max closed his eyes and lost himself in the subtle sensation her hand created, hoping for more but not willing to spoil anything by asking for it.

amelia fumbled around his button and zipper for a bit, clumsily, but she made it as he heard the zipper being pulled down and his erection not being contained by the rough fabric anymore, just the elastic of his boxers.

she played with him- no, she toyed. fingertips grazed his balls, certainly enjoying how they responded to the slightest touch, before three fingers delicately gave his cock a few squeezes, pumping it ever so slightly above his underwear. she continued like his, having a bit of fun in her teasing, at how he twitched when she pulled away, at how he sucked his breath at the slightest pressure on his balls.

without exchanging a single word, her hand snaked in to his boxers and air got trapped in his throat at the contact.

she ran her hand across his cock, getting comfortable with its length before adjusting her fingers around it, getting comfortable with his width as well. and just like that, she started pumping. not too fast, not too slow, and certainly not too gentle. she knew exactly what she was doing, and that was keeping him on edge while she restored her batteries. and she was doing it very damn well. his breaths got heavier and he could swear that hers did too, as she played with his cock, fiery brown eyes searching for his.

“help me with this.” she whispered, tugging on his pants and boxers and max oblidged without a moment’s hesitation.

resuming their entangled state, he could feel the heat and (still) wetness of her pussy on his thigh as her leg was wrapped around his. that, along with her hand working on him was pure bliss. he brought his arm over her shoulders again, squeezing slightly whenever she hit just the right spot at just the right time, which was fairly often. each squeeze was met with a small movement of her hips, effectively grinding her pussy against his leg, adding to both their pleasure.

“aren’t you a little desparate?” max said with a smile, letting her know that he could feel her, but amelia didn’t grace him with a reply. instead, she pumped his cock harder and faster, while at the same time all wrapping her leg around his even more if that were possible, trying to grind against him a bit harder.

“are you ready to cum again?” he asked, breaking the silence again.

she didn’t grace him with a verbal response, nor had he expected her to. but she did look up at him, eyes wide and brow furrowed, bitting slightly her bottom lip, nodding a yes. all while showing her excitement through the motions of her hand on his cock.

“good.”

and that was all that was said. he moved his hands behind his head, enjoying the feeling of her fingers against him, pulling and tugging and rolling, exploring different speeds and techniques.

after a couple minutes her boredom was apparent. max had his eyes closed, fully relaxed, letting himself take everything he was feeling in as much as possible, so he couldn’t see her face; but her initial enthousiasm had worn off, her hands repeating the same patterns over and over again.

as he showed no signs of acknowledging her boredom, or help her do something about it, amelia took the next available option and climbed a little further down the bed, positioning herself between his legs.

first he felt her hot breath against his inner thigh, and then going a bit more over to the center. her tongue gave a small and subtle lick on his balls and the anticipation for more made him suck in a breath.

quickly, her mouth was wrapped around the head of his cock, warm and wet, saliva threatening to trickle down his length. not that he’d object. her full lips sucked on the head, tongue shyly darting around from time to time, reaching just where he needed her most. not long after, her hand joined in again, pumping whatever was left out of her mouth, providing rhythm that the rest of her body followed.

little by little her mouth started conquering more and more of him. and while she gagged at some point and pulled back a little, max couldn’t help but fill a small sting of pride that she tried and tested her limits for him. and then the rest of her plan started unraveling; her mouth left him for a few moments, quickly replaced by her hand now drawing larger motion to cover every centimetre possible, and her lips finding a new place: right on the base of his dick, sucking, suckling, licking all over and slowly but most certainly moving lower.

amelia started small again, but the change was sudden if not entirely unexpected: out of the blue, he was found with a single ball in her mouth, teeth carefuly placed around, cheeks sucking in ever so slightly while her tongue played all over. once she familiarized herself with what she was to do, amelia popped the second one in her mouth as well, and max opened his eyes. it wasn’t a voluntary move, far from it. but the sensation was entirely new, so shock plus the added visual of seeing amelia on her knees, ass up, back arched, face almost hidden by the cock in her hand, was enough to get him to wake up, even for just a few seconds.

he propped himself up, using his elbows to balace his body, curious to see her while this was happening- no. while she was doing this. his gaze was met by hers, warm eyes with a drunken and yet familiar glint over them. and they stayed like that for a bit; eyes locked, her mouth working wonders on him that he couldn’t explain, and his body trying to compensate, to breathe for one, sucking in one breath after the other.

max was first to back down from their impromptu staring contest, falling back yet again as his arms weren’t in any position to hold him up any longer. and as his head hit the pillow, her mouth left him.

that hadn’t been a rule, not one he’d enforced anyway. why would she stop? where would this go? maybe it was a cue that she’d set to herself, like a timer that neither of them knew when would go off.

“fuck!” had he said that out loud? didn’t matter. all that mattered was that he should have known, he should have been on top of this for no reason other than he needed more. amelia’s hand was still busy making its rounds around him, but at that point that just wasn’t enough. he needed her mouth. somewhere. anywhere.

she must have read his mind, heard his prayer, as her lips were again wrapped around him, taking in as much as possible, and max had trouble breathing again, air coming and going in short waves, matching the pleasure her tongue gave him. he couldn’t have known for how long that went on; all he knew was that he felt her sit up and his blood almost stopped cold. she couldn’t be that cruel.

and she wasn’t. she was quite the opposite actually, adding a second hand on the mix, reaching where her other one couldn’t, occasionally grabbing a handful of his balls again, giving them a gentle squeeze before going up again and down again, and up again and down again, and up again and down again in a tempo that max didn’t know, but didn’t care to either. all he cared about was that she kept this up, going in the same speed, giving the same strength, the same strokes for just a bit longer.

“not too long now.” he felt a whisper escape his dry lips. and while amelia gave him an encouraging wink that almost killed him on the spot, with her beautiful mouth simply wrapped around him and her hands running intricately along, she didn’t change a single thing, urging him to cum in her mouth like she’d done before. it wasn’t entirely new but never an unpleasant surprise. gods how he’d love to watch her swallow.

and that image was enough to take him over the edge, with a memory of her name and a curse leaving his throat as a whisper; max felt his toes curling and the muscles in his thighs tense up as release washed over him and a hand reached instictively up front, grabbing a fistful of hair and keeping her there until he was sure that every last drop went between her lips.

like clockwork, amelia didn’t disappoint. pumping ever so slightly to get him off his high gradually, softly and slowly she started backing up, releasing him from her mouth and finding his eyes, looking at him as all subtlety left her when she swallowed with a large gulp.

max pulled her in for a kiss, not knowning what else to do as his fantasy was exactly the same as the reality, and tasted a bit of him in her mouth, verifying that for as long as she was there, she was his. and that was all that mattered.

“fuck that was-”

“the best head you ever had?”

“definetely up there.” like hell would he give her the satisfaction.

amelia frowned, not very satisfied with the answer, but not pushing it any further, much to max’s surprise. he was sure she gave it her all, why not demand a bit more credit than that? and the look on her face, eyes looking down, the smallest crease forming on her brow and her lips pouted ever so slightly, he… he couldn’t take it.

“you’ll be my ruin.” he muttered as he grabbed her arm, forcing her to fall on him as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“so was it the best you ever had?”

“if it will get you to stop pouting, yes.” he chuckled but stopped as he saw her expression converting to a frown. “hey, don’t be like that. you were amazing. no one’s ever touched me like that, did you know that?”

her eyes lit up like a kid’s on christmas morning.

“yeah, and no one has made me cum not with what they were doing, but the thought of what would come after.” he continued. “you look so pretty with my cum in your mouth, baby.”

“was that so hard?” a tough facade tried to break through, but she still sounded so proud. “speaking of…” her eyes darted to his dick again. “how are you still hard?”

“how are you still wet?”

“that’s not the same!”

“oh so when i do this-” max ran a hand over her waist, with the most gentle contact of skin against skin, before clasping it over her cunt. “you don’t feel the electricity run through you?”

“more?”

instead of giving in or answering straight away, he pulled away, going all over to the foot of the bed.

“i want you to show me how you do it.”

“what?”

“you heard me. you want more? you’re gonna have to do it yourself.”

amelia appeared shy, not very sure at what to do, how to sit. this was the first time he saw her not bursting with confidence, and max had to admit he kind of liked knowing he was the cause of that.

soon though, she just fell back right where he was sitting just a minute before, one hand slowly exploring her folds like it was the first time, and the other lightly tugging his sheets.

amelia was kind to herself, as she had been to him. slow, attentive, testing the waters before diving in head first, even though it was very clear that she knew what she liked and how to get it. she knew exactly which spot would make her breath hitch and when flicking her clit would make her clench her teeth and close her fist around the linens.

she got too comfortable though. and not that it was a bad thing in itself; on the contrary, it was amazing. but her legs were now obscuring max’s view. he couldn’t see her pussy, her body, her face. so he had to move up.

he came closer, leaning over her now, abandoning the role of the passive voyeur, as it wasn’t working out exactly as planned. but that didn’t matter. his new view gave him a great visual of everything, and the added bonus of being able to kiss her lightly (only to withdraw himself when her tongue darts over his lips) or give the slightest of attention to her nipples, enjoying the visible shivers that went down her spine, but still not giving her enough to make him an active participator.

her fingers were now moving furiously and yet again oh so rhythmically, rubbing her slick cunt. her neck was craned back, her hips were moving in small circles of their own, complementing her fingers, arching her back whenever they were raised from the mattress.

her breaths were once again begin to turn into moans, each lasting longer than the one before, until suddenly her hand lost all tempo, working now to bring her just over the edge with sheer force and nothing more.

sensing that she was close, max closed his teeth (almost) lightly over a nipple, to which amelia replied with a small scream, only seconds away.

“stop.” one very simple word. a suggestion, if you will. but she -again- didn’t listen. instead, she shot him a glare and kept her eyes on his as she continued, seemingly undisturbed.

he had to act fast, but that hadn’t been an issue in the past, and it most certainly wouldn’t be now.

without skipping a beat, max got both of amelia’s hands in his and locked them above her head, pinning her there, next to him. her brain was undoubtedly as confused as her body, which was convulsing, hips bucking against the air, trying for that release that never came. she was left whimpering, throbbing, ruined.

“what are you doing?”

“i told you to stop.”

“like i give a fuck, i wanna cum max, please!” and oh how he loved that plea rolling out of her tongue.

“i’m sorry baby, you don’t get to cum yet. i need to see you. push you. see where you break. i want to see how leaving you on the edge leaves you in control of your body. of your needs. how easy would it be to make you cum? would something like this-” he traced two fingertips down her slit and up again, with the weight and strength of a feather. “- be enough?”

“are you serious?”

“very. i want to see you squirm under me.”

“i’ll never be under you, baby. on top of you at best.”

“we’ll see about that. i mean, i could fuck you just like this…” and he proceeded to demonstrate.

one hand was tightly wrapped around a pair of wrists, keeping them in place above her head, while his body moved to be placed right between her still open legs.

“… and i could fuck you right now. and doesn’t that sound a bit more fun than just your fingers trying to help you go over the edge? don’t you like how much more everything feels, while trying to remember how my cock felt inside you” his voice was just a bit more than a growl in her ear, teeth toying with her earlobe, giving a noble fight against her earrings before giving up and trailing his lips long her jawline and her neck, feeling her blood rush and pump against them.

“besides, when else am i gonna get a chance to see you break underneath me?”

to accent his point, max lowered his head even more, reaching her chest and taking a nipple between his lips. amelia moaned loudly at the contact and her hips bucked again, meeting his along the way, and trying to grind against him, benefit from the friction.

“you look so cute when you try!”

“why do you want to break me? how?” there was no fear, no judgement. just pure curiosity.

“because i love seeing you like that. and at the moment, i enjoy knowing i’m the only one that can make you cum. “

“but… how?”

“how will i break you?”

nod.

“when you beg for it properly, you can have it.”

“but how will i know?”

“that’s for me to know and for you to find out, don’t you think?” his rhetorical reply should have been more than enough.

not really able to take much more of the anticipation himself, max made sure he still had both wrists locked in his right hand, while his left reached for the nightstand, fumbling for a condom in a drawer.

amelia opened her mouth to say something, probably to let her go and they could resume afterwards, but there was no way he’d do that. he didn’t trust her enough.

he ripped the packaging with his teeth, and rolled it down his very much still erect cock as carefully and correctly as possible with one hand. he’d definitely earned bragging rights for this.

“fuck!” came a curse from amelia. or max. or both at the same time, as he entered her and gave her a few seconds to adjust.

it took him everything he had to hold off those seconds and not start grinding or thrusting. feeling her wet (and just oh-so-right tight) pussy welcome him was the warmest welcome he could have hoped for and he intended to extend that as much as possible.

as soon as her contorted with surprise face returned to whatever could be considered normal under the circumstances, max wasted no time in moving, matching his thrusts to her breathing (or did she match her breaths to his thrusts?) and following an almost animalistic instinct that told him to go deeper and deeper until there wasn’t anything deeper for him to go to.

unless… an idea came to him and max wasted nothing more than a couple of seconds to ponder on the logistics of it, before taking action. with one hand still holding both her wrists over her head, he sat up a bit more straight and took her thigh to raise it and bring it to wrap around his body. not only this allowed him to feel more of her skin against his, softness and warmth second only to her pussy, but to actually position her in a way to help him deepen his thrusts inside her.

as soon as she realised what he was doing, amelia’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief, right up until his movement actually went deeper, forcing her eyes to roll back before fluttering closed. a sound escaped her mouth that he didn’t quite recognize.

“does this hurt?”

“only in the best way possible!” came a reply wrapped around a chuckle.

if pain is what she wanted, he was more than happy to deliver. cautiously, of course, as his hand ensured that her leg was secure around him and moved lower, in rough motions, kneading her skin before reaching her ass and placing a loud and definitely stinging slap across her cheek, the sound of the contact almost covering her moans, which came to a sudden halt, as she drew a long breath.

eyes opened wide and bore into his, a smirk forming on her lips as if to taunt him for taking this long. but max couldn’t deal with that right now. the way she clenched around him and how while his hand had moved away from her ass, he could still feel it under his fingertips. it would be hard to find a momentum that would allow him to repeat that without losing tempo, but he was willing to put in the work, if it meant seeing that look on her face and have her body react like that; hips bucking ever so slightly, back arching, aching for more. eyes glazed over in a cloud of lust, as if everything until that moment had been foreplay. which, to her defence, it had been, strictly speaking.

they continued like that for a few minutes (there was no way he could tell the time or count the actual seconds he’d spent enjoying the wetness of her cunt around him, her rhythmic moans and her ass on his hand), but soon, it all got too repetitive. he needed something new. and so, he released her hands, which earned him a raised eyebrow.

“don’t you dare touch yourself.” came a warning in a tone that was more like an animalistic, guttural growl than actual human sounds.

in a swift movement, he rolled her over to her back, as if she weighed nothing, enjoying the fractions of the second that her body bounced on his mattress. max took a while to admire the woman beneath him, her ruined hairdo now falling in imperfect strands over her shoulders and back, how perfectly proportionate and symmetrical the curve of her waist looked from there, until his gaze reached his favourite part: her ass. perfectly rounded, curved, pert, just waiting for his hand to leave a mark -or multiple- and he intended to do just that.

max barely recognised an urge to bite on the supple skin, before he found himself attacking. god she turned him into an animal and he loved every second of it. bite turned to sucking, turned to pulling away and awarding amelia with another slap, aiming at both their pleasure, not really regulating how much strength he applied, until a shriek brought him forcefully to reality.

his vision unblurred in an instant and he could see her knuckles turning white as she gripped his sheets with all her might.

“too much?” he asked, instantly worried he didn’t test that limit before going too far.

“mmhmm.” came a not-exactly verbal reply and max instantly plopped on the pillow next to amelia, taking in her face, trying to decypher her expression. “you’re good pretty boy, no need for the puppy eyes. just a bit less power next time, huh? now where were we… oh right! i need to cum. will you do something about it, or will you keep staring at me until i cum all over my fingers?”

he admired how easy it was for her to hit a limit and go back to business immediately, as if nothing ever happened. but his admiration wouldn’t last very long, as her words sank in. no way would he let her do that.

but before anything, since he had her face so close again, he needed to kiss her, feel her lips against his, her tongue which was all too familiar by now, in his mouth. and it took just that, a simple yet passionate kiss to bring everything back; his need to see her come entirely undone right before his eyes, ideally with his cock filling her up. she would break and he’d put her back together again.

he pulled away and resumed his position on top of her, amelia still laying on her stomach, leaving an exquisite view that max didn’t mind getting reacquainted with, given the addition of his handprint bright red on her asscheek. without wasting much time, he grabbed her hips, pulling her towards him just a little bit, and then raising them so that she’d be on all fours. almost by instinct and immediately, amelia fixed herself to arch her back, spread her legs just enough to give him access to all of her. she was playing with him and they both knew it. and that was almost okay, as long as max continued to have the last say in her orgasm. at that moment, that’s all that mattered.

one hand still gripping roughly and tightly at her hip, the other got busy, teasing her entrance with his dick, playing around just a little bit, until he heard a frustrated sigh and then some more, before entering her again, slowly this time. almost painfully slow, even for his standards. but that was okay, because their unified sigh of relief as soon as there was nothing more to reach was a small bit of heaven on earth.

finding just the right tempo again, max played a little with deeper thrusts, a bit of variety in his motions, before gradually picking up the pace. somewhere around three quarters of his intended speed, he heard amelia whimper. not moan, not sigh, properly whimper.

he slowed down his pace, so the contact of his hips with her ass wouldn’t obscure the tiny noises that escaped amelia.

“i need to touch, can i please touch, i need to rub” came a rambling from her already open lips.

she was trying, he had to give her that, but it wasn’t exactly what he was going for.

“care to be a bit more specific, love?” each word came after a carefully deep thrust.

“can i please please please rub my clit? i need to come.”

“oh is this what you need?” he asked and freed one hand from her hip to find her gloriously wet all over cunt and give her pussy a few gentle, clockwise rubs.

“yes!”

“yes what?”

“yes please?”

“that’s a good girl.” he smirked, fingers still moving almost absentmindedly on her most sensitive area, cock still enjoying the sings of desparation inside her. “you get ten seconds. if you can do it by then, great. if not, we’ll try again later, okay? and i’ll also need you to count out loud for me, yes baby?”

her countdown was perfect, but didn’t grant amelia the release she craved, just another trip to the edge and back, frustration now very evident. she was close to achieving both their goals; cumming and breaking. she could feel it, and so could he.

“that was great baby, we just needed a little bit more, didn’t we?” how max could talk to calmly while inside her was above him. in an entirely new state, amelia turned her head to face him, nodded furiously and bit her bottom lip.

fuck, she was almost irresistable. almost.

max continued pounding in her in relative silence, grunts and moan of pleasure escaping him, but more than the feeling of her pussy clenching around him, he enjoying the sounds he elicited from her in all forms she could give him, deeps breaths, moans of pleasure, groans of unsatisfaction, pleading whimpers and most of all, small gasps.

confident that his grip on her hips would leave small bruises of his fingertips and a couple scratches as a reminder of their time together, max reached to grab one handful of hair and one handful of amelia’s breast, trapping her nipple between his fingers, enjoying her sounds as it rolled between them with each squeeze and tug.

a few more seconds (or minutes, who could really tell?) of that, plus his consistent contact with her now almost constantly contracting walls, was was did the trick and amelia looked again at him, warm brown eyes now melting, as the rest of her was, and one whimper turned into a sob.

“ple- please max. i need it.” she exhaled and a tear welled up until it rolled down her flushed cheek.

“you’ve been so good for me. do you want to do it, or should i rub your perfect little pussy until you cum all over my cock?”

“you.” came a sigh of relief and max didn’t waste a single moment. he let go of his tight pull on her hair, his other hand still busy with her breast and started rubbing her, slowly and softly, but picking up his pace fast.

amelia released a cry as she convulsed around him and her hands couldn’t hold her up anymore, collapsing on the pillow below her, legs shaking violently. max continued thrusting in her, finally giving way to feel his own much delayed orgasm building up and exploding a few seconds after amelia was laying beneath him, still moaning and trying to grind against him, ride out the last out of her orgasm along with his.

“you feel so good around me, amelia.” max mumbled as soon as words came back to him, sensations too big and lasting for too long to allow any room for thought. “fuck…” he muttered as he was finally pulling out of her, and collapsing next to her on the bed.

he rolled out the condom and tied it to prevent further mess before tossing it across the room with what little strength he had left. as soon as his hands were free, he opened his arms and he felt her warm body fit against his perfectly in an instant.

“so, could i handle you?”

“you did okay.” she gave him a warm smile, snuggling against his chest. she wore the warmest smile he’d ever seen on her face, which glowed dispite her ruined make up. or because of it. she wouldn’t give him anything more than an ‘okay’ and he knew it. but he could see it was more than just that.

“i’ll take that as a compliment. you look pretty with your makeup all fucked up.”

“proud of yourself?”

“very.”

“you look hot, all sweaty and hair messed up.”

“was that a genuine comliment?”

“just stating a fact.”

“you think i’m hot.” he beamed.

“no, i’m here because of your extensive knowledge on ancient rome’s plumbing system.” she laughed and he joined her in a most serene moment.

“proud of yourself?” max repeated her question back to her, effectively blaming amelia for his current state.

“very.”

and then, silence. not an awkward one, in fact it was one of the most comfortable silences max could ever endure. but there was something, a question, that burned on his lips more than the feeling of hers against them, if that were possible.

“want to spend the night?”

“mmhmm.” was all he got before she snuggled in even closer, head against his chest while her hand toyed with his dirty blond hair.

a smile laced max’s lips as he caressed her face, enjoying her content expression and flushed cheeks, the hint of a smile toying her mouth.

he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, and stayed with her until warm sunbeams softly caressing his face through his curtains woke him up. amelia wasn’t there. in his arms, in his house. the only trace of her was her scent in his sheets. and that was okay. that was how it should have been.

taglist because you guys showed part one so much love and i can't thank you enough <;3

@sriusun @shqwqrma @dance-on-the-moonlight @punkladymoes

#max verstappen #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen smut #max verstappen imagine #formula 1 smut #f1 #formula one smut #formula one fic #formula 1 fic #f1 smut #f1 imagine #f1 x you #f1 x reader #original named female character #f1 x y/n

410 notes · View notes

putting-it-into-parc · 1 month

Text

jealousy, jealousy - chapter 9: and history repeats itself

previous chapter | next chapter

summary: charles decides that he is done wasting time.

chapter 9: and history repeats itself

By a mysteriously popular request, the choice of a nightclub for the Chinese GP post-race party was quashed in favor of a much more relaxed outdoor patio. A bonfire crackled merrily as the drivers lounged on cushioned wicker couches with beers or, in the case of Lando, Pierre, and Yuki, neon cocktails with silly little umbrellas stuck in them for good measure. String lights snaked through the trellis and hung from the trees surrounding the gorgeous terrace.

“These two give me whiplash,” Alex muttered, watching Max grab Charles by the bicep and steer them towards the only couch with two adjacent seats left.

“I meeeeean…what else did you expect after that crash?” Lando responded, rudely gesturing with his toothpick umbrella for emphasis.

Both drivers sighed, remembering the dramatic scene of Max running for his life to rescue Charles from the burning wreckage of his car. The incident had spurred a whole lot of controversy regarding the speed of responses to driver accidents. Max, with his ankle, and Charles, with the inhalation injuries he’d sustained from the smoke, both sat the Chinese GP out entirely. The grid privately joked that the Max Verstappen Podcast would go right on airing episodes, just from a different location, because wherever Max went, Charles did too. They were relieved that the pair of them were inseparable again—the drivers had realized that the alternative was so much worse.

But then, an interview aired that stunned everyone.

“Max, glad to see you’re on the mend but so unfortunate about your injury. How does it feel to have to give up an entire race weekend after that DNF in France?”

Max didn’t even hesitate. “It feels great. I have a lot of trust in Red Bull’s reserve driver. I would do it again in a second.”

The reporter was clearly caught off-guard by Max’s uncharacteristically chill response to missing a race, no less. “Well, that’s quite the honorable response from Max Verstappen, everyone.” His eyes narrowed at Charles ambling towards them. “Charles Leclerc! If you have a second, can you share some of your thoughts about having to forfeit the Chinese GP?”

Charles plopped down on the seat as close to Max as he could without earning himself any raised eyebrows from the nosy reporter.

“I just feel lucky”—he gave Max a meaningful look—“to be alive.”

Yuki and Pierre screamed into the microphones so loudly that Charles rubbed his temples, wondering if his ears would ever be the same again. He glanced at Max, who was singing along and swaying to the music. Every so often, their shoulders brushed.

“It’s official,” Carlos declared exasperatedly, “from now on we’re calling you guys the Karaoke Twins.”

Unfortunately, that only seemed to boost their confidence.

Charles looked around, his heart swelling as he took in the grid. The guys who spent ten months out of the year together, the highs exhilarating like no other, the lows subterranean. Oscar trying and failing to surreptitiously brand Zhou and Logan’s backs with McLaren stickers. Checo and Carlos roaring with laughter at a TikTok of Checo’s face superimposed onto Surprised Pikachu. Alex doing a spirited impression of Lando pummeling Max’s trophy in Hungary, Lando insisting it was “not his fault” and that “Max was the one that put it on the edge”. George gazing at Alex with something in his eyes Charles could only call pure adoration. He felt a pang at the sight. He couldn’t believe that he’d never noticed before.

By midnight, most of the guys had started to filter back to their hotels.

“Seeee yaaaaa,” Carlos sang as he herded Lando and the (extremely inebriated) Karaoke Twins out of the patio.

George didn’t miss a beat. “Hey Alex,” he smiled. “Let’s go back and hit the sim with Lando, shall we?”

Alex tried to remain put, clearly not ready for the night to end, but an insistent tug on his sleeve from George compelled him to get up with a sigh.

Charles saw George open the gate and wave Alex through first. He slowed down, and turned to give Charles a lingering look. The firelight flickered in his huge blue eyes. Good luck mate, they seemed to say sadly.

Of course, Charles thought, his chest tightening a little. Always there for Charles, always listening to him cry and talk about his unrequited feelings for another member of the grid…how could it not have given him some serious déjà vu? George wasn’t exactly forthcoming with his feelings with anyone except maybe Alex, who of course happened to be the source of his own emotional turmoil. Add that to the fact that he was tall, handsome, and generally projected an air of utter confidence through the sunglasses that were, at this point, a fixture on his face, and Charles realized that it was George who picked other people up when they were down—rarely the other way around. As George walked through the gate, Charles swore to himself that he wouldn’t ever let him feel alone again, not as long as they were on the grid together.

And just like that, it was only Max and Charles. Charles and Max. Just the two of them on the couch.

History could not have repeated itself any better, and George had been the narrator all along…

“We were alone…” Check.

“At a party winding down...” Check.

Charles forced himself to meet Max’s gaze, even though he was terrified that when he looked, he would see those beautiful blue eyes flat, impassive, closed off…like they had been for so long.

But staring back at him was a ferocious intensity that sucked the very air from Charles’ lungs. Until this moment, Charles had never thought that anything but scorching tires on a hot track could bring that kind of fire into Max’s eyes. The kind of intensity that didn’t just want him…it needed him.

Suddenly, Charles knew exactly what George meant. Max was giving him those eyes.

And if he just sat there, and let this moment pass…everything would just be wrong.

So he reached out just like he did in the sauna, a million years ago. But this time, he let his entire palm cradle Max’s cheek.

“I don’t want to be tired anymore,” Charles breathed.

And he closed his eyes as he finally, finally, finally touched Max’s lips to his.

The kiss lasted an eternity. Or maybe a split second. Time was meaningless; his entire reality was the the feeling of Max’s rough stubble on his fingers, Max’s arm coiling tightly around his waist, and of course, Max’s lips. Instinctively tensing, then relaxing, then daring to press first gently, then harder against Charles’. Even though his eyes were still closed, Charles felt like the ground was shifting beneath them.

Just as he was starting to think that he might actually pass out, Max’s grip slackened, and they broke apart. Blue met green, unblinking.

“So this is what it feels like to be awake, then,” Max replied.

Charles was undone. He launched himself into Max’s arms, letting himself drown in the silky folds of Max’s polo, the spicy cinnamon of his cologne, feverishly drinking in anything and everything that made him Max. “Yes,” he whispered into Max’s chest. “There is no world without you, Max Verstappen.”

notes: WOOHOOOOOOOOOO so much ✨positive✨ scenery here: yuki and pierre, surprised checo, lando annihilating max’s trophy

one more chapter, y’all. it’s been an honor. 🫡

taglist: @fangirl-dot-com @spacegirlstuff @vroomvroomgang @perfectlyrainywerewolf

33 notes · View notes

csainznews · 9 months

Text

🇭🇺 Carlos gave an interview to the Spanish media "Mundo Deportivo" about what his future holds and how he feels:

[Thu 20, July, 2023]

MD: We send you our condolences on behalf of Mundo Deportivo for the death of your grandfather. How are you feeling?

CS: "Thank you very much. I am well. I was lucky enough to be able to make the most of him until he was 97 years old, in fact he died just the day after his 97th birthday. On the other hand, I am calm because I know that I have taken advantage of all the time I have been able to spend with him and that is the message I have wanted to send on social media to the younger kids, that they should take advantage of the time with their grandparents and spend time with their older relatives because it is a law of life that one day they will not be around and then you can always regret not having spent more time with them."

MD: Is there anything that has inspired you from your grandfather to face your day-to-day life as a pilot?

CS: "Not as a pilot, but as a person he certainly inspired me. He was a person who didn't have it easy from an early age. He was left without a father at the age of 14, he had to take care of his whole family by himself and he was a successful man, above all, and he did whatever he wanted, without ever taking into account what others might think, something that I think in today's world with social media you are always a bit worried about what they will say and what they will think of me. He was always a person who followed his path and did what he wanted, with very good values, but always doing what he thought was right and moving forward."

MD: Do you think you can dedicate a victory to him this season?

CS: "Yes, if I win this year, I'll dedicate it to him, for sure. And if I don't, I'll dedicate a podium to him, which would be a good result."

MD: How are you facing the weekend in Hungary?

CS: "We've made a step forward, but behind Verstappen it's a very close battle. It depends a lot on the tracks and we have to be aware that there will be better and worse weekends. We hope to find good conditions here."

MD: What is your assessment of the start of the year?

CS: "You always have to put it in perspective. In terms of results, it was not great, with a lot of fourth, fifth and sixth places. I think we all expected a little bit more, including me. But if I look at the detail of how much I've got out of the car, I don't think I'm having a bad year. I think I'm driving well, I'm qualifying well, I'm having good races, good races, again, from less to more. Maybe the results don't quite reflect it, but it's been a bit of a strange year in that respect."

MD: Max Verstappen, who wins everything with Red Bull, would not win with the current Ferrari either.

CS: "Well, if Charles and I were driving the Red Bull and we didn't let him win like he doesn't let us, it would be like that. But I don't like to compare because you will never know. But it is very well known that nowadays in F1 the car is very important."

MD: The Maranello factory worked against the clock to deliver several evolution packages quickly, weeks ahead of schedule. What is it like to see that work from the inside?

CS: "It's a spectacular thing. To see a factory the size of Ferrari, with its ability to react, to work day and night to get parts out, to get things done, is one of the most beautiful and most special things you can see in F1. Especially when you spend days in the factory. I'm very involved, I see it and I have the opportunity to go and say hello to all the workers very often and thank them, because they are the ones who make the difference in the end."

MD: How many hours can you spend in the factory?

CS: "On average I spend one or two days a week at the factory. About 6 hours each of those days, more or less. That's on the weeks when I don't have a race, obviously. When you have a race you lower the intensity a bit in that respect. Or the week before the race I spend a day or a day and a half. I go to the simulator for half a day or three quarters of that day. I spend another half day in meetings with engineers and then another half day I go and say hello to some department, say hello to people that you might not have the chance to see if you don't go to the factory."

MD: How do you feel at Ferrari?

CS: "I honestly feel that I'm at the ideal time in my career to be a Ferrari driver, because I'm looking forward to it. It's an intense place to be, because you have a lot of things to take care of, you have a lot of responsibilities, you race for the Ferrari team, which I think says it all, and you have to have a lot of desire. You have to be 100% dedicated to F1 and to the team and I am in that moment between maturity and youth to take advantage of being at Ferrari."

MD: Every driver is a person… Do criticisms and rumours, which must always be experienced more intensely by Ferrari drivers, become exhausting?

CS: "They could be exhausting, but not for me. If you're not at 100% like I am, or you're at the beginning or end of your career, they could wear you down. I'm not going to deny it. But I'm so 100% and so happy to be at Ferrari that the noise doesn't exhaust me or affect me because I don't let it."

MD: If you are so happy at Ferrari and feels so loved, I must ask if you want to continue at Ferrari beyond the end of your current contract, which runs until the end of 2024.

CS: "My priority, of course, is to continue at Ferrari. I don't see any better place in F1 right now than a team like Ferrari, which has the ambition to win again. I want to win another race as soon as possible and, if possible, fight for a World Championship. And since we both share the same objective, if that team is Ferrari, then I don't see why I shouldn't continue. But I have said it many times: I always like to go into the last season of my contract knowing where I am going to race the following year and that will be my intention this year." He added, "It also depends on the contract (laughing)"

MD: What does it depend on?

CS: "To come to an agreement. It's like always in life. You both have to agree to shake hands and sign a contract, and if you don't agree on anything, you talk about it. You know that I will always do my part, everything I can to stay in a team like Ferrari."

MD: Are you calm and confident that an agreement will be reached?

CS: "I am not worried. I have set a date for myself, the winter of this year, to try to find out what is going to happen to me, but I will think about it more at the end of the season, what I would and wouldn't be worth to be here and what I can continue to offer Ferrari? I'm just very focused on the season. Now, also, in the middle of the season… maybe in the summer I think a little bit because you have a three-week break and you think about things. But now, between races, you don't have time to stop and think about it."

MD: Last year you said that the Ferrari car had to be driven very aggressively and it was difficult for you to adapt. How is it this year?

CS: "Honestly, the car is very similar to last year's car to drive. The driving style is exactly the same. I've just made the effort to adapt to it and drive it a bit better, and above all I've made the effort to learn the set-up and see what things with this car can help me to go faster. But above all, the biggest effort has been both driving and getting to know the car. It's true that this year's car, in relation to the others, is not so competitive, but in the end, it's a car that is very similar to last year's, or almost the same."

MD: Is the goal of being a champion with Ferrari still intact?

CS: "The goal of being champion with Ferrari is still intact, yes, and hopefully for a long time to come."

#carlos sainz #carlos sainz jr #cs55 #f1 #formula 1 #scuderia ferrari #csainznews #hungarian gp 2023

117 notes · View notes

leqclerc · 19 days

Note

that is precisely why vasseur is just another binotto to me. i have yet to see the guy actually let charles fight for what he wants. and to think it will be even more difficult next year with them wanting to give lewis another title... sighs.

Imo it's still better than it was under Binotto, especially in that post-Monaco and particularly post-Silverstone stretch in 2022 where they were forced to do the whole performative "we met for lunch in Monaco so it's all good now" PR thing to paint over the increasingly apparent cracks. Binotto blatantly favoured Carlos, both on and off the track, even going as far as publicly throwing Charles under the bus by shifting the blame for a poorly executed strategy to the car having no pace when Charles explicitly called out the whack tyre strat, for example in Hungary. I don't think we've had a situation like that happen with Fred, that I can recall.

Charles has generally said positive things about Fred and reiterated that he has trust in him, that he's seen positive developments under his leadership. The SF24 is definitely an improvement over last year's car. There have been several employee changes, which people generally see as a good thing. So, all in all I think it is an improvement but it could be better, especially with stuff like team orders.

Here's how Fred addressed the situation post-race:

Stuff like that is frustrating when you remember how many times Charles has been used as a roadblock or made to create an artificial gap (their entire Singapore strategy hinged on Charles's cooperation.) Sure, this wasn't for the win, and Charles himself said qualy is bigger issue, but it's the principle of the thing. Charles drove an incredible race with that insane one stop strategy and was ahead on position (if that's what they want to use as the determining factor.) Even if he shoulders the blame for his qualy results on the weekends where he's outqualified by Carlos and accepts that CS will be the one given the preferential strategy/treatment based on that, there's been plenty of instances where Charles qualified higher but then Carlos made up the difference in the race and was hailed as a genius.

Idk it feels like part of it might be them not exactly trusting Carlos will cooperate? He's shown many times before that he's primarily in it for himself and even when he was explicitly told to do something he didn't if he felt it wasn't beneficial for him—and that was when he still had a contract with Ferrari, now that he knows he's on the way out and has the sympathy narrative on his side he has nothing to lose. But it shouldn't be solely on Charles to be the cooperative one, to put the team result first. I know he wants to feel that he's earned the podium (which, like, he has in this race) and he won't be satisfied until he's in front in qualy and the race, but yeah, frustrating to see the pattern continue into this year.

To counter the negativity somewhat, I will say I know it's still early days, there's still plenty of races to go, and if they manage to solve the qualy tyre warm-up issue (which Charles already vowed to work on on his side, and we know he always comes through) and the upgrade packages that are in the pipeline (hopefully) help close the gap to Red Bull in race pace, then we could still be in for an interesting and potentially competitive back half of the season. I just hope that situations like this don't come back to bite them when Charles is potentially in a position to fight for P2 with Checo, or maybe even P1 if Max encounters more issues down the line, but it's those points that make the difference in the end.

#replies #anonymous #discussions and predictions #long post

16 notes · View notes

lilyrizzy · 2 years

Note

I loved that ask and your answer but please don’t not post a weird fic! Would love to read it

you asked for it anon...

cw: hurt/comfort & breast feeding kink (but its not acc that sexy)

Daniel told him as soon as he walked through the door of their apartment after Hungary.

“I had ‘the talk.’”

It’s been called, ‘the talk,’ in the safety of their four walls for a while. Max will think they are having a nice Wednesday night, no need to think of racing with the next Grand Prix more than ten days away, when suddenly Daniel’s feet in his lap will twitch, and Daniel will say, “I wonder how long before those cunts drag me in for ‘the talk.’"

Apparently, it happened before Daniel could even leave the track, still raw from the remnants of his race they ruined. Sometimes Max has to wonder if Zak and Andreas have any sense at all of what it means to be a team.

In the shower, Max washed him as gently as he could, Daniel’s head resting on his arms against the tiles. The water had bounced from his slightly hunched over back to hit Max in the face as he crouched to wash behind Daniel’s knees and the inside of his thighs, but that was okay. It was nice to feel like this was something he could do.

Daniel hadn’t lifted his head even as Max lathered the shampoo into his hair, only when Max had said quietly, “rinse, Daniel,” and even then he had kept his eyes screwed tightly shut. To keep them protected from the suds, maybe, but Max didn’t think so.

Now, out of the shower, Max reaches for Daniel’s curl cream from the counter, but Daniel’s hand on his wrist stops him.

“Can we just- Bed, yeah?” He asks, and the bags under his eyes look darker than usual.

Taking the towel from around his waist, Max rubs it gently over Daniel’s head to dry his curls, because he wants him to be comfortable, doesn’t want his pillow to get wet and cold.

It’s the site of Daniel’s face framed by white cotton that makes Max remember the photo of him getting out of the team car, hood of his new merch shirt up and tight around his unhappy face while Lando laughed in the background. He wants to set the McLaren garage on fire.

He shouldn’t have worried about the damp bedsheets though, because as soon as they’re under the covers, Daniel is resting his head against Max’s chest, hot breath ghosting against his damp skin. Max just keeps his arms around him tight, hoping it helps Daniel to feel held. Supported.

Daniel’s lips are moving against Max’s chest, and Max thinks he is speaking too low for him to hear. It takes him a few moments to realise that Daniel is pressing kisses across his skin, face pressed against one of Max’s tits. It’s even longer for Max to notice when that becomes something more also.

It might have been earlier, if a part of him wasn’t always a little used to the soreness of his chest, Daniel unable to keep his hands to himself, even on race weekends.

Maxy, I like to see them loud and proud under your terrible minion uniform, he always says, like he didn’t used to wear the same navy blue polo’s just four years ago.

He likes to brush against them too, in the grid. If he can get away with it, he likes to flick them, to watch them bud up, oversensitive and sore from the night before. Does it with a smile, a grin that only Max must recognize as a little wild, because to the camera, the media, even fucking Lando, it’s ‘boys will be boys, ex-teammates will be weirdos.’

Sometimes, Daniel will lean in, or beckon him closer with the crook of one finger and whisper, ‘are you still sore, baby,’ with whoever else only meters away.

Now though, Daniel is just sucking and that is something new.

It feels good, of course, because it always does when Daniel touches him. It’s just never been like this. Never been before sex, only ever during, Daniel already inside. Has always felt like something for Max, to make him feel good, to get him close.

This feels like it is for Daniel.

Because when he moves against Max, each of his thighs slotting around one of Max’s own, Max can feel that he’s hard. There is a damp spot on his boxers that catches on Max’s leg hair as Daniel starts to roll his hips in time to the suckling of his mouth around Max’s nipple. Max’s hand travels down the naked skin of Daniel’s back, and slips under the waistband of his boxers to cup Daniel’s ass, tugging him closer.

“Fuck,” he curses as suddenly there’s the scrape of teeth against where he is sensitive, and that has Daniel humming around him, pleased sounding. The vibration only causing more sparks to dance along Max’s nerves.

It doesn’t take long for Daniel’s hips to stutter, for him to take an extra long pull at Max’s chest as he wines high in his throat. It’s so fast for Daniel, who usually always makes sure Max has come first, that it makes Max wonder how long Daniel has been needing something like this from him and not getting it.

If only-

Daniel frees Max’s nipple from his mouth to take wet, gasping breaths which make it easy for Max to hear the sudden pause in them, the moment his hips have stilled. It takes him a few seconds longer to lift his head and look at Max, eyes wide, like for once in bed, Daniel has shocked himself into pleasure and not Max.

There’s spit clinging to his bottom lip, smeared a little down his chin and Max wishes it was white instead of clear, wishes it was more. That his body could do more, for Daniel.

“Max, I’m-“ Daniel begins, but Max can feel the way his body is looser now, limbs heavier where they’re still pressing down on top of him. The damp patch on the front of Daniel’s boxers is bigger now, stickier with come, but Max doesn’t want to get up to clean, to let the rest of the world back into their bedroom, to listen to Daniel say he’s sorry for taking something that made him feel good.

“Daniel,” he blurts, interrupting him, and watches as Daniel’s eyebrows furrow.

Max cups his tit. It doesn’t move much, not like it would if he was a girl, but he tries anyway, to nudge the nipple towards Daniel.

“And the other one,” he croaks out.

The creases on Daniel’s forehead disappear as his face melts into softness, eyes searching Max’s face. Then, they’re closing as he latches onto Max’s previously neglected nipple. Without the rustling of sheets and the jerky movements of Daniel’s hips, Max can hear the gentle clicking noise he makes in the back of his throat as he sucks.

Max is hard, and Daniel must feel it, because he tries to put his hand there, over where Max is throbbing into his boxers, but his movement is uncoordinated, sloppy. Taking Daniel’s hand in his own, Max stops him.

“It is okay, schatje. Just sleep now.”

With their fingers entwined, Max’s other hand cradling his curls, Daniel does.

#i warned you it was weird #but hope it's someones kinda weird #max/daniel #fic

135 notes · View notes

loveyougoodbi · 3 months

Note

pretty much all the commentary are taking the lewis move to ferrari as ferrari not trusting charles and this being xyz weakness on charles' part. istg if after yet again another reputation hit inflicted by the team, they either fail to give him the car or even worse, they pull a singapore or austin on charles (both under vasseur btw, can't blame that on binotto) for lewis, i really will be done with this team. good luck to ollie bearman, may you manage to run away in due time.

Pretty much all the commentary is biased towards Lewis in one way or another. Sky Sports IS f1 at this point. They are so ingrained in it. And they worship Lewis. I am very much not looking forward to that part of it. But that is only gonna make it harder for us fans. Charles will (for the most part) be unaffected. At least that's what he should do, hope Max can give him some tips on how to ignore those British pricks.

Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, maybe it's just me hating what happened in Austin to the point of denial but I dont think something as extreme is gonna happen again. And I haven't written an extra long essay in 2 days so congrats!! Let's see why these 2 instances happened under Vasseur and why they will not happen again.

1. Singapore 2023

Fred needed that win. And when I say that I mean Fred AND CHARLES needed that win. Fred being a new TP (brought in to please Charles) needed to have results. Nothing and I mean NOTHING was allowed to stay in the way of Fred's first win with ferrari In a season like 2023. Charles was well aware of this. No matter how much Singapore hurts us, Charles was not helping Carlos in the moment. He was not even helping Ferrari. He was helping Fred. For Fred to get the respect he needs within the higher ranks of the team. Because Charles believes in the future Fred has in mind for the team. But for that future to be a possibility the TP needs to have that trust and that reputation. Both of them needed to say "see? We won! In 2023" want more of this? Trust US. And they (Fred and Charles) were successful. You're telling me Charles didn't want to attack? You're telling me he couldn't attack? That would be drama tho, they didn't need drama not after Monza. They needed the win!!

Charles made a mistake in quali and it cost him. They then had to make an adjustment to the plan and bring the win home anyway. When I say I trust Charles to make the right decisions this is what I mean. He knows how to disobey orders and attack (again, Monza) yet he did the opposite of that in Singapore. In history it will say that Carlos won that race. In reality Charles was the one who brought the win. Talk to the wall if you dont agree.

2. Austin. I get sad even thinking about it.

Fucking Austin man! Charles was a victim of his own skill. The only reason he had the wrong strategy was because he was too good at tire management. That's it that's the reason. Carlos did not get the better strategy on some strategic or backstage genious. No. He simply ate his tires and they gave him what they thought was the worse strategy. Why they didn't switch mid race? Because that's not what ferrari does. 🙄 adapting is not a word In their vocabulary. And this is one of the things that I hope will change with the new mechanics and engineers and all other personnel that Lewis will likely bring with him.

I'm not saying strategy mistakes like this will never happen again. They probably will but if we are lucky (and them better) they will happen a lot less than recent years. Hell even last year, apart from Austin and maybe Hungary I can not remember another prominent strategy mistake the team made (Carlos' strategy in Abu Dhabi was the right call and you can fight me on this)

Will they make a team decision in favor of Lewis at some point this season? Probably. It's Lewis Hamilton. Will Charles listen and submit to team orders? No. It's Charles Leclerc. He didn't do it for Seb when he was essentially a rookie in the Ferrari. He's not gonna do it when he has 5 years of experience and a team of people he brought along with a TP he got. Charles is not gonna listen. And when he does listen it is gonna be for scheming reasons. Because it works in his favor (remember what we said about Singapore)

So frankly I don't think we have anything to worry about. Apart from, you know, Lewis bitching on the radio and Crofty bitching from his commentators seat. But we're used to all that.

#anon #lewis vs charles #charles leclerc #ferrari

8 notes · View notes

landinrris · 11 months

Text

Photographer! Lando fic snippet

A bit more from the first half of the fic that I wanted to share while I finish everything up (It's up to 30k with one plot bullet left. Help me). In which Carlos and Lando have a moment of quiet conversation and introspection that doesn't reveal too much.

In terms of the championship, Hungary is a disaster.

Carlos’ car goes into anti-stall when the lights go out, dropping him into the pack headed for turn 1. And then Stroll must forget to use his mirrors or something because the next thing Lando’s aware of from his spot in the garage is them touching and Carlos coming over Lando’s headset to report a puncture.

All the cars are so close together that Carlos is relegated to the back of the field. He manages to make it up to fifth, but the points differential between him and Max when Max finishes in first swings the championship in the opposite direction.

Carlos came to Hungary the leader and is leaving in second.

Lando can already picture the headlines, the talks of how this is the beginning of the end. Red Bull will run away with the championship now. Another Ferrari fake-out. It was nice while it lasted.

But the car is still good. Better than good. Carlos got it from thirty seconds off P20 up to P5 on a difficult to pass track. The speed is there, Carlos just has to come back from this and stamp his authority on what Lando is adamant is his.

Lando follows much the same protocol in trailing Carlos up to his room as he did in Silverstone. The mood in the lower level of hospitality is moderately subdued compared to past weeks. It’s plain to see who does and doesn’t care about the championship element.

It should be admirable how Lando holds himself back. Unlike last time, one of the full-time Ferrari photographers catches Lando before he can make a break for the stairs. Lando wants to tell him to fuck off, but he really doesn’t want to get fired over something so stupid. So, he reluctantly spends an additional five minutes going over details of their photos and what each of them are going to post and forward on to others.

When Lando eventually manages to pull himself upstairs, Carlos’ door is slid open, very much the opposite to how Lando expected it to be. He half-expected to need to beg Carlos to open the door and even then still be denied, but there’s no begging apparently.

From halfway across the floor, Lando can hear the soft cadence of Carlos speaking to someone. It takes Lando a few seconds to realize Carlos is speaking Spanish. He briefly wonders who Carlos could be talking to since he hadn’t seen Caco walk up after him. Only when Lando gets to the door and peers in does he see Carlos on FaceTime with someone.

He’s sitting on the floor like he was last week when Lando found him. He’s still in his race suit this time. Without pausing in his words, Carlos flits his eyes over to Lando and then back to his phone. Lando takes it as a good sign that Carlos doesn’t immediately ask him to leave.

Lando could walk away and leave Carlos to his phone call or even just stand there until Carlos hangs up. His heart’s still in his throat though, overriding Lando’s sense of self-preservation.

He picks his way across the room, careful to stay quiet and unseen by Carlos’ camera. He feels like a little kid when he sits down cross-legged at the end of Carlos’ stretched out legs.

Listening to Carlos speak is calming even though Lando can practically hear the pain in his voice. He’s still fresh from the race, his hair no longer wet but rather sticking up in multiple directions like he’s run his hands through it several times in frustration. Lando wants to reach over smooth it down.

Lando shifts his eyes down to Carlos’ feet still clad in his race boots. Maybe it’s childish to reach out and pull the lace to untie first his right and then his left. A hint of a smile tugs briefly at the edge of Carlos’ mouth. Lando’s fingers pick at the edge of the criss-crosses near Carlos’ toes like they’re a musical instrument.

When Carlos hangs up with who Lando learns are his parents, they sit in silence for a few moments. Like they’re each trying to see who’s going to speak first. As the seconds stretch on, Lando watches Carlos’ shoulders fall.

“I don’t want to lie to you,” Lando decides on saying finally. He really doesn’t want Carlos to snap at him like he had last week. Doesn’t think he has it in him to snap back this time.

“So don’t.”

“It’s gonna be hard, but I don’t think it’s over.”

Carlos is practically scoffing before Lando finishes speaking.

“No?” Lando asks, raising his eyebrows in challenge because he doesn’t want to do this right now. “Fine. If you wanna give up and not be Ferrari’s first champion in eighteen years, then be my guest. I’m gonna miss you up there though.” He tacks on the last sentence as an afterthought.

Rather than respond, Carlos leans forward towards his feet and grabs the tips of Lando’s fingers. Lando thinks Carlos is prying them off so he can stand but instead, Carlos just holds them. He holds them and then squeezes them in comfort. Lando’s heart feels on the edge of bursting, his stomach flipping even as Carlos lets go of him.

“Did I ever tell you I was a karting champion?” Lando asks. He’s pretty sure it’s a rhetorical question because they’ve never really discussed their junior careers, much less their karting days. But Lando’s grasping for a pivot and Carlos hums like he’s interested enough.

“Why did you stop?”

“Money was the main thing. So expensive and my parents wanted me to have an education to fall back on. Gets pretty hard to balance the two really quickly.” He remembers his parents telling him, how he had locked himself in his room for three days straight. Lando knows now that they’d been right to do so, but that doesn’t mean his heart doesn’t still ache thinking about it sometimes.

“They’re right. I don’t know how I finished school sometimes.”

“There was a point, you know, where I wasn’t sure if I was gonna win it,” Lando says, getting lost in his memories. “I was so small and it was so hard. I think I was third in the standings at one point towards the end.”

“And what happened?”

“My dad wouldn’t let me give up. He took me for extra practice sessions. Every time it rained, I was on a track. I think he knew at that point that was gonna be it, and he didn’t want me to regret anything.”

There’s a hint of understanding dawning in Carlos’ eyes. “Did you? Regret anything?”

Lando shakes his head. “No. It was one of the best moments of my life.”

“And did this actually happen, or did you just make up a big elaborate tale to get me to keep trying.” Carlos asks after seeming to mull over the story.

“Fuck you, next karting track we’re near during a free day, I’ll show you a fake story,” Lando laughs. He’ll have to dig through his photos for proof when he gets back to the hotel.

“I will like to see you try.” Carlos challenges and it’s the first time since being in his room that he sounds more like normal— eager for a fight, a little sarcastic. Lando’s heart shouldn’t be as liquid as it is from Carlos’ words.

“Haven’t gotten to add a full-time F1 driver to the list of people I’ve beaten before. That’ll be fun.”

Carlos playfully kicks out at Lando, and everything feels a bit more normal.

Later, when Lando gets back to his hotel room and is able to sift through his hard drive, he sends Carlos the picture of thirteen-year-old Lando in his white, yellow, and blue RFM suit smiling with a thumbs up while his arm is around the back of—

“You did not race Max Verstappen,” Carlos types back in seeming seconds.

Lando sends back a cry-laughing emoji. Carlos doesn’t have to know that it never got that far.

#slightly shorter than the last snippet but oh well #i literally can't put anything here from the second half because it'll be too spoilery..so hopefully i can finish this up soon #carlando #writing tag #husbands™#photographer lando fic

28 notes · View notes

singaporesainz · 3 months

Note

both of them i think, from the outside looking in, looked like they had such a strong season and i think both drivers were deserving the of the championship

Respectfully, I’d asks you to look at the season again bc if you look at the pure stats it is no comparison.

Max finished every race in either 1st or 2nd place, except for Hungary where Bottas went bowling and he still dragged half a car to points. Of the races he didn’t finish (Baku, Silverstone, Monza) only Monza can even be put on him in any way.

Lewis had his off races where he genuinely just didn’t make the podium (Monaco) or got saved by red flags (Imola) and FIA inconsistencies (Bahrain).

Max led over 50% of laps that season and the only reason he didn’t win before AD was his bad luck or Mercedes like of crashing into RedBulls two races in a row, whichever one you think is more fitting.

And before anyone comes at me, I’m not one for conspiracy theories - though this would be a good one bc Toto Wolff did say that they would need a Max DNF to get back in the game and suddenly the next race in Silverstone Lewis crashes Max out and the race after that Bottas goes bowling and in the span of two races Max‘s 34 points lead turns into a deficit.

So, people can disagree with me and call me biased but I don’t think they both deserved it equally.

thank you for the insight. as i've said, i didn't watch the 2021 season and i know very little thx to dts (which really isn't much if we're being so fr). i'm half considering re-watching 2021 season if i somehow find the time

#hot take hotline #2021 szn #max verstappen

11 notes · View notes

heartsoftruth · 9 months

Text

Lewis Hamilton after finishing P4 in Hungary | 23.07.23 The initial get away wasn't the worst. Max had a good one. I had wheel spin. Then Max ran me a bit wide and got done by the two McLaren's. Not a great start. Kinda reminiscent of like 2015 when I felt back from first. After that I just didn't have the pace to keep up with these guys. The balance of the car was pretty awful on that first stint. I just couldn't keep up with them. Bit by bit as we got through the next couple of stints the car started to become more drivable. And then the last stint was obliviously much better. If we had the pace at the end we would have been a lot better through the day but... But I'm gonna take the positives from yesterday. Amazing effort from the team to get where we were and to beat everybody in qualifying was really spectaculair to us. And obviously shows that whiles we don't have the best car it was an incredible lap. And we have a lot of work to do. We're a long way off beating the RB's in a race and now we behind the McLaren's. But we got to keep pushing. Single lap pace quickness? This weekend it was quicker. And we don't know the reason. We generally have a bigger wing than some of the others. Like the RB's for example but they seem to have more downforce from their floor. We have a lot of work to do... Ehm yeah... I'm like a broken record. I just keep telling the guys: we need to go that direction. I love to see that either this years or at least next years car.

#lewis hamilton #f1

16 notes · View notes

vro0m · 5 months

Text

vro0m's rewatch - 179/332

2016 German GP

Last race before summer break!

Okay so. Nico has been the fastest every session of the weekend. Apparently, he had an electrical issue on his first hot lap during quali but still managed to put in two good laps under pressure afterwards while Lewis made a mistake. So yeah no surprise he's on pole, Lewis ended up 0.107 behind him. Then it's Daniel, Max, Raikkonen, Seb, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Perez and Massa. Lewis hasn't outqualified a teammate on this circuit since 08, btw.

He's acting very chill during the parade, saying he doesn't have a strategy to go against Nico because he likes being spontaneous. He also agrees with Buxton that the RedBulls and Ferraris are closer than they've been to them since Monaco.

For some reason, Seb has taken part in a "seat swap" with an ambulance driver. On a track. After giving each other advice, Seb gets to drive the ambulance and the ambulance driver gets to drive a Ferrari 488 gtb for a lap. The ambulance driver, in the Ferrari, does a 2.17:00. Seb gets impatient in the ambulance, it's not fast enough. He turns the sirens on. And he does it in 2.10:48 lol!

Meanwhile Daniel is praised for his form during the season by the skysports journalists, although he seemed to have had a moment after Max won his first race for RB. And in parallel we're told of Kvyat's demise. He was out in Q1 and has given a honestly kinda heart wrenching interview during which he seems at a complete loss as to what's happening to him and he's obviously battling tears. Horrible. The journalists are questioning RB’s system that has a high turnover and chews and spits out young drivers at a high rate. Nothing has changed to this day. Brundle says that's also the system that gave him his chance to begin with so he "can't complain too much", because he’s an asshole.

In other news there was a strategy group meeting and here's what came out of it : from that weekend onward the stupid team radio ban was lifted ; quali sessions will be stopped in case of double waved yellows (remember the controversy with Nico?) ; from the next season, there will be standing starts in case of wet conditions after a safety car period at the beginning of the race (huhhhh? So they go for a few laps behind safety car THEN do a standing start??? weird af I guess we'll see if it really happens…) ; and they can't make changes to the car during red flags periods in races (this one must have been overturned since then). Simon also explains there will be no halo in 2017, actually.

There's an interview with Max where he explains some of his overtakes to Anthony. Interestingly, we hear he's been getting a bit of heat from a number of other drivers, especially older ones, after some of his moves in the last race, that really pissed off Raikkonen. His position on it is “if it had been against the rules I would have gotten a penalty”. Brundle claims it's just what happens when "the new king arrives" and the same thing happened with Schumacher. Everybody agrees, including Max in his interview, that the move was on the limit.

Nico also gave an interview. Brundle says in Sochi he introduced him as the man who couldn't stop winning. At that point he'd won 7 in a row, and since then he's won 1 in seven races. He asks what's gone wrong. Nico says the opposition has had a cleaner run since then, especially Lewis, and that's who he should ask what's changed. "For sure. Something's changed with him," he chuckles. He's not worried, that's how it is in sports, it ebbs and flows. He feels great. The battle stays great. He's a bit frustrated about Hungary because he'd been better all weekend at everything except in turn 1 and that's what made the difference. It's down to details. He's talking so much jesus. He says he's got over it in a couple of days and he's ready to go again. It's his home race– second home race of the year. Brundle asks if he's watched that turn 1 and what he thought and he says of course you can tell in hindsight I should have done this or that but in the moment it's difficult. Brundle asks if he was more careful because they've made contact recently. No. Lewis was beside him and he couldn't shut the door. "Because if he's there, he's there." He says then it's up to him to brake later and go on the outside or something but Lewis braked much later and got it right. "You can see his car all over the place but he just managed to get the corner and… So, fair play."

Brundle says Lewis has tapped him on the track and poked him in the press conference in Hungary– Nico interrupts "what did he say? Oh yeah." Brundle answers anyway : about the double waved yellows. "Oh yeah yeah." – "Don't you sometimes just wanna–" Brundle continues but Nico interrupts again : "It wasn't a poke in the rib, it was just a… A bit of a…" he sighs, makes a face, "I don't know, a wrong picture that he gave. Which I felt the need to correct," he smiles. "Don't you get angry, doesn't he make you angry?" Brundle asks. "No, for sure no. Because I've learnt to make sure I focus on my job." He says all he thinks about is getting his job done and not what Lewis does. "That wouldn't be the right approach." Brundle reminds us he signed a contract for two more years, which means with the current year 3 potential championships. What is he gonna do to beat "this guy" and win a title? "Well you know he's a, he's a great driver so it's always gonna be a big challenge, and I never expect it to be easy against him but the challenge is awesome that's what I race for you know?" (I mean that's also the reason you stopped but I enjoy the tragedy of it.) "You know that better than anybody else, don't you? That you just love being up against one of the best out there, it's great because that's where the biggest thrill comes from when you know you've beaten a great opposition." Brundle says it sounds like he still thinks of himself as not as good as Lewis. "I'm not gonna say what I think in my mind I'll keep that to myself but don't worry I'm feeling good," he chuckles as Brundle tries to get him to talk anyway. He says he's excited to race here but he's also aware of the fact that he's beat him the last two years. So he needs to try to up his game to turn it around. Brundle asks if he thinks it feeds Lewis' confidence when he says he's the benchmark. "It's not my aim obviously to feed his confidence so… Let me know if he says yes, cause I'll change what I'm saying then." He chuckles. "Are you too nice a man to beat him?" Brundle asks. "That discussion is a bit strange," he says, and I agree. "3 races ago I was too mean a man, now I'm too nice a man, then it went back again to mean, it's like, I don't know where you're coming from." He's amused. He says he attacks as he needs to to win races.

Brundle asks what are his strengths and what are Lewis weaknesses, where does he see an opportunity. He shrugs, raises his eyebrows. "You give me some ideas. What do you think?" As Brundle thinks, he adds "maybe I can confirm them". Brundle says "I don't know, he has got relentless speed, hasn't he?" Nico says that's a known fact. Brundle continues : "In racecraft he seems like he's a bit stronger than you sometimes, you seem like you're– thank you for the question so I'll go through the answer." Nico laughs. Brundle claims Nico thinks about the weekend more and is more cerebral about the way he goes at it where Lewis is more instinctive (we've talked about how that's bullshit and probably racist before at some point). Nico jumps on the opportunity to say maybe the infamous yellow flags are a good example : he knew exactly what needed to be done to make sure it was safe but get the best out of the situation. Brundle says he got a bit of hate on twitter for saying he admired the move and his racing instinct– Nico interrupts : "but it wasn't instinct, it was prepared!" Brundle is surprised. Me too because it makes no sense, it's not like he could have foreseen it. He asks how he prepared for it then. He says it's just knowing the regulations. So he's just still on a campaign to defend that he obeyed the regulations and they don't say what Lewis said they do, I guess.

Afterwards, Ted is talking with a journalist, Michael Schmidt, who apparently knows Nico very well. He asks him about who Nico is both as a driver and as a person. Schmidt says as a person he's very well educated, maybe too correct. Ted asks him to elaborate and he goes on saying that you need to only think about yourself in this business, all great champions do. They agree that Keke didn't care about anybody and Nico's different from his father. He repeats Nico is very well educated and a good driver "but I think he had to work very hard, to learn a lot, to drive a lot to come to the level whereas somebody like Lewis it's his natural talent, he doesn't have to work as hard to be as fast as Nico." I can't emphasise enough how much I hate this rhetoric. Prompted by Ted, Schmidt agrees Nico might be a little too soft, in some cases. He gives Hungary as an example, "Lewis intentionally driving slow" and adds "I think Nico would never do that." Arguable. To beat Lewis in the same car, Schmidt thinks Nico needs lucky circumstances, or maybe bad luck for Lewis, or Lewis "coming into a mood where he is distracted". He says if Lewis is in good shape and Nico is in good shape, he doesn't think Nico has any chance.

Oh! We see baby Mick during the anthem! He was 17 then.

Anyway. Time for the formation lap.

And they're racing!

Oh holy shit. Lewis takes the lead, and he's followed by the two RedBulls into turn 1! What went wrong for Nico? Seb also overtakes Raikkonen, while Max has overtaken Daniel. Lewis has a solid lead very quickly into the first lap, while in the background we see Nico cutting on the grass as he tries to overtake Ricciardo. The Ferraris are battling it out closely behind. Now Nico is under pressure from Seb. At the end of the first lap, Lewis is 1.3 in the lead ahead of Max, Daniel, Nico, Seb, Raikkonen, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Jenson, and Massa. Nico attacks Ricciardo again, they're wheel to wheel, Daniel has the advantage of being on the inside in the next corner and pushes Rosberg off a bit but not completely enough that it would be considered aggressive. Nico is told to remember the plan for the first 4 laps, but surely that plan was based on the idea he'd be leading, right? Meanwhile Max is told that Lewis has been told to look after his tyres (don't know if it's true) and so they will do the same for now. When we come back from the many, many start replays, we see a bit of front wing on the track. Shortly after we see it comes from a contact between Haryanto and Wehrlein. Verstappen complains of the rear tyres.

It's lap 10. Lewis sets the fastest lap. He's 4.3 seconds ahead of Max, followed by Daniel +1.6, Nico +1.2, Seb +2.3, Raikkonen +1.4, Valtteri +4.2, Hulkenberg +2.1, Jenson +1.9 and Alonso +1.7. Verstappen pits and Mercedes also calls in Nico, rather than Lewis, in their attempt to try to catch Daniel. It's not a great stop for Nico, 3.5. Ricciardo pits, he's still ahead of Rosberg. Raikkonen complains of his tyres. It's hammertime! And Lewis comes in. He gets on softs, meanwhile Nico was put on a second set of supersofts. It's a good 2.5 stop. He's still in the lead of course. Raikkonen pits. Nico is told he's on plan B (lol). Lewis asks for the gap and is informed of everyone's strategy : Max and Nico on supersofts, Ricciardo on softs like he is, gap to Verstappen 5.8. Nico is closing on Daniel. On a replay we see an issue with Raikkonen's pitstop.

And it's lap 20. Lewis, Max +6.7, Ricciardo +1.3, Nico +1.6, Seb +4.7, Raikkonen +4.6, Valtteri +7.6, Hulkenberg +4.1, Jenson +4.3, and we never saw who was in P10 because we cut to replays. I feel like this is gonna be pretty straightforward and kinda boring to the end. Verstappen is unhappy with his tyres. Yeah really not much happening, those on the soft tyres have the better strategy. Massa pits and he's had contact in the first lap and he's been struggling since and they're now keeping him in for a looong time, checking the car. He leaves again. It was a 19.5 stop. Nico comes in as well. 2.6. Seb is complaining about blue flags as usual. Verstappen pits to cover Nico, while Nico was told to push hard. And he attacks Max! He pushed him wide! Max attacks back but can't make it. He's still very close though. Then slowly falls behind. Ohhh okay. On the replay it gets shadier. So Nico catches up to him on a straight and positions his car on the inside. Just as he does so, Max makes a slight move to cut him off, one of these twitches that he often does and are… Well… controversial?

It's too late to close the door on Nico so he keeps going straight instead and brakes further in the corner, then brings it in towards Nico who had to adjust his trajectory due to Max's move but also maybe somewhat purposefully takes the corner slightly wider than needed, and that's how Max finds himself off track.

As soon as the corner is done, Nico makes room for Max to rejoin the track.

Of course, on the radio, Max says Nico pushed him off. Yeah he did. Also you did try to cut him off lol. It's under investigation. For some reason Linkin Park is there.

Anyway all that happened on the 30th lap. Lewis, Daniel +11.5!, Seb +8.5, Raikkonen +2.7, Rosberg +2.4, Max +1.0, Valtteri +10.6, Hulkenberg +3.1, Jenson +7.3, and Magnussen +16.4. With this type of gaps it might get really really boring. Seb pits. Lewis is told things are kicking off and he should keep the pace up. Where, Bono? Where is it kicking off? Please tell me. Rosberg is attacking Raikkonen, so maybe he's right and then there's a second investigation for pushing someone off involving Grosjean and Magnussen. Raikkonen pits. And that's a 5 second time penalty for Nico! Oh and Ricciardo pits and gets the supersofts again which is extremely weird because they're not working well and degrade very quickly… Lewis pits as well 2.2, also on the supersofts… Nico is not happy with the penalty. "Can you explain to them that I was full lock on the steering wheel and I couldn’t steer more. And he moved in braking, that was the big problem. That’s completely not allowed." He's right about the moving under braking thing being very shady. It doesn't allow you to push people wide though. Crofty says Max did move and then realised Nico was there and stopped his move which is what I saw as well. Lewis is told he's on plan B and most of the field is. Basically they all went to a 3 stop strategy, which explains them being back on supersofts. Shortly after, the engineer reassures Nico : "You’re doing a really good job there Nico. Gap to Verstappen is 3.2. Remember everybody’s one a three-stop. You are P2 at the moment. So just need to pull that gap and it’s yours." Massa is retiring. Now Daniel is catching Max.

On lap 40, Lewis, Nico +7.4, Max +3.3, Daniel +0.6, Seb +10.2, (Grosjean complains of smoke coming out the car), Raikkonen +3.1, Hulkenberg +19.3, Valtteri +1.3, Jenson +7.7, Alonso +3.2. Daniel overtakes Max, unsurprisingly. Of note, Daniel is on supersofts and Max on softs, and the opposite should be true after the next round of pit stops. Max says he even has understeer on this tyre. Daniel is told Nico is struggling a bit. He is currently very very fast. He's half a second behind. Seb is told to box but he refuses. Nico pits, serves his penalty, gets the softs. They waited more than enough, the stop lasts 12 seconds. Seb is told they need to box to undercut. "They're miles away! Who do you want to undercut?" Verstappen. Who is 8 seconds away. So it’s ridiculous. And then he's told to stay out. Max pits. Lewis pits. Raikkonen pits. As we thought Max is now catching Daniel very quickly. Ricciardo is told to push to make a gap to Verstappen. And he sets the fastest lap.

It's lap 50. Daniel is closing rapidly on Lewis now, the gap being 7.4. Max is 2.5 behind, followed by Nico +4.9, Seb +4.3, Raikkonen +9.1, Valtteri +8, Hulkenberg +14, Jenson +11, and Alonso +4.8. As the journalists are saying, unfortunately for Lewis, now might be the time when he's thinking about turning his engine down to save it. Ricciardo is still gaining very very fast. 1.6 seconds in a lap. The gap is down to 6.5. Lewis is asking about Nico's best. 6.3. Lewis picks up the pace. He's also on softs while Daniel is on supersofts. The gap goes back up to 8.

Lap 60, almost done. Lewis, Ricciardo +6.9, Verstappen +2.5, Rosberg +6.0, Seb +8.8, Raikkonen +10.3, Valtteri +25.4, Hulkenberg +3.2, Jenson +11.4, and Alonso +3.6. Nasr is retiring but he can't even make it into the box, he stops at the beginning of the pitlane. Lewis reports some spots of rain on his visor.

And it's the end of the race!

Lewis wins. He's sharing the podium with both RedBull drivers. Nico is 4th, so Lewis leaves for the break with a 19 point lead.

"Get in there, Lewis! Great work, mate. Beautiful start, fantastically managed. Awesome race, mate, well done." Lewis thanks everyone.

Niki says Nico was unlucky and the RB did better than they thought they would. About the penalty he says it was on the limit and the decision is 50/50. He says Nico won't be happy to go into the break with Lewis ahead.

Lewis is high as fuck, whooping continuously. He has a mohawk? He's jumping up and down. Happy about his start, waving to the grid girls "Hi ladies!" HIGH high. Like flying.

He kisses his trophy and throws it in the air again. Good spraying. He and the Merc representative drink from their trophies. Meanwhile it's Ricciardo's first shoey and the journalists are very confused by the concept.

Some whistling by the crowd when Lewis salutes everyone in his usual manner. He was very happy about the race. It was pretty straight forward. He says he's proud to be here for Mercedes, he's been with them since he was 13. He says he didn't make any mistakes, stayed optimistic after a tougher day Saturday.

During Ricciardo's interview, Lewis seems to be waving individually to each of his fans he can see in the crowd. Actually I think there's more Max fans than even Seb or Nico fans here.

Lewis says he's gonna relax during the break and spend it with his dogs, and family and friends. (He says it in that order). He poses for a photo with both RedBull drivers. Then it's just the two of them as he leaves.

Post race, Nico says none of the parts of the start were good and he didn't expect to be penalised for what he thought was a good battle. He says he doesn't care about the 19 points, the harder thing is losing the race the way he did. On the replays, Anthony shows images that seem to indicate that he indeed was on full lock and unable to turn more than he did, due to the fact that he braked late because of Max's move.

Toto says a win is a win and they've won all races so far except the one they took each other out. Great record sheet lmao. He still calls it bittersweet. He says they don't understand what happened with Nico's start and lack of pace, then there was the issue with the pitstop. Apparently they had a stopwatch failure. Damon Hill asks how it is possible that Nico is doing great in quali but Lewis is still disappearing in the distance during races. He says it wasn't always like this, there's a human in the car and you need to feel comfortable in all aspects. He had an awful start, and got penalised. Simon asks if Lewis is going to take his new engine and hence the penalty in Spa. Toto says they haven't decided yet. They're trying to penalise him as little as possible.

Lewis is still high af. He gets to the media pen jumping like a boy with a huge grin on his face.

He acts like he didn't know the gap is now 19 points but I don't believe him lol. "Wow is it that?" he says. "Holy crap I hadn't even realised. Huh. Awesome." He's completely deadpan. Then he repeats awesome with an only slightly more coherent body language, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. "Oh my god that's really good," he says still in the same conversational tone of voice.

Rachel comments it looks like relief. He says no it's not relief which boy what was it then. You just looked to the heavens hearing it. Either you're a bad actor or a bad liar. Maybe both. He says he didn't know and it's just nice, he was 43 points behind at some point. "What a day, what a great race from me," he says completely naturally.

"I wasn't expecting to be this strong as I was today." He had a great start, Pez has been working very hard on helping him get off the line better and more consistently. "And the work has really paid off so big thanks to Pez and all my guys in the garage" who struggled with him earlier in the year. He sighs. "It felt like we were all doing something wrong, (inaudible) we were just working hard." And it has finally started to pay off. It's a well deserved break. "My engine guys, my engineer Bono and Ricky, those guys are doing a fantastic job as always and… I'm just super, super happy with today, you know."

He says about the day before, when he "personally fails knowing better after his 23 years of driving" (again with the ‘I've been here for a long time’ thing) "you kick yourself and you hope to not do it again". He says that day feels the opposite because he delivered the way he was supposed to. He knew he had pace, he worked the tyres just right, he was never under threat from the guys behind, and no mistakes, he smiles wide, "which was really really nice, no lock up or offs or anything like that so, very very happy with that and…" He looks down and smirks.

"I'm not leaving you with any opportunity to ask me any question," he adds quickly and they laugh. "And lastly I just want to say a big big thank you to my fans, they've been supportive. Fans have turn up here in Germany and regardless of yesterday they've been like 'you're gonna win tomorrow you're gonna win tomorrow' and that positive energy those guys continuously throw at me and show through social media or letters or whatever it is means the world to me so big thank you to them I hope they all have an amazing holiday cause I'm definitely gonna have one," he starts bouncing again and giggling.

Rachel says she has one question if that's alright. "No, no, no," he says. "Just kidding."

She says he shared the podium with two RedBulls and we saw at the end they were pushing a bit and so maybe he had to take more life out of his engine than he'd have liked. How much of a threat does he think they will be in the second half of the season? He says there's a quota which you're able to use with the engine "and I was nowhere near it." He says he turned it down right from the early stages of the race to see if he could maintain and manage the gap to them that way and he was able to. He only needed to turn it up in the last stint when they started picking up the pace and he was looking after his tyres. The gap shrunk pretty quickly and when it got to 6 he thought it was enough, he chuckles.

So he went back to normal race mode and was able to match and then pull away a bit. He didn't need more than that.

At the end of Ricciardo's interview, during which they watched some replays, they show that while that happened, Lewis walked by and tried knocking his cap off.

Ohhh and extremely shady moment in press conference : Max said of his battle with Nico "I had to go off the track otherwise we would have crashed" and Lewis was sitting next to him with his head down hidden by his cap so he wasn't audible but Ted thinks he said "yep" and Max then said "yeah Lewis knows what I'm talking about" referring to their own Austrian incident. Like Max’s main racing skill isn’t putting his car in the way and forcing the others not to crash with him lol. Anyway.

In his final interview, Brundle says Lewis didn't feel like he was leading after the previous race because he had to take the engine penalty. Does he feel like he's leading now? Lewis sighs, he's out of breath from the post team photo running. "I feel I'm closer to leading it." He never thought he'd come back from being 43 points behind to being 19 points ahead. "I just didn't give up. We just didn't give up. These guys have worked so hard. Both here and back at the factory." He's super grateful for his engine holding on as long as it is but they do have an engine penalty ahead. "The life that it's led and the laps that I've led with it," it's as good a buffer as he could get in these circumstances. Brundle says it seems like their car isn't as good in traffic (I think? His question was unclear.) Lewis disagrees as in not more than the other cars, there's a lot of turbulence in traffic. He doesn't think their car is more impacted than others but he might be wrong, he says. "Fortunately today I didn't have to be too much in traffic," he smiles. He says it was a bit gusty that day and when you get behind backmarkers you can definitely feel the car being unsettled. But it's not different from his previous cars. Brundle asks if at some point he thought "come on guys, where are you today?" Lewis smiles, then chuckles. "No it was never like that but I was never really under threat which is a really nice thing to think and to know." He told his team to tell him when he needed to pick up the pace because he was managing and he was able to turn the engine back up when he needed to. Brundle asks where he's heading for summer break. "It's gonna be the most amazing summer break all I can say is tomorrow I'll be on the beach sipping on pina colada, enjoying…" He breaks into laughter. "Enjoy the sun! Enjoying, I'll be smiling from ear to ear from today and from these last few races." Again he goes nostalgic, what is up with that in this season? – saying he's been with Mercedes since he was 13, it's his 49th win, he's happy he won on Mercedes’ home turf. Brundle asks if the 4th title is within touching distance. "I have every belief that it's possible to do it, I've got incredible support back in the UK but also around the world from many Brits but also people from different nations." He thanks them to the camera for their love and support. He says he doesn't feel like he could race with a full heart like he did that day if it wasn't for them.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2016 #2016 german gp

7 notes · View notes

thetwelfthcrow · 5 months

Note

Help I'm scared I'm boarding the 4433 ship. Where do I start?

CHERRY?! welcome aboard.

the most important starting point, for me, is a genuine love for both max and lewis as guys and drivers. this will keep you sane. somewhat.

but welcome to a flawed and quick overview of 4433 (Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen)

disclaimer: mostly factual with images/gifs/videos.

it starts where it all starts: when they get into each other's orbit. this is Max's entrance to F1.

as we all know, baby max at age 17 entering the prestigious pinnacle of motorsport caused quite a stir. everyone had their thoughts on it. then max promoted to red bull before the spanish gp of 2016. nico and lewis took each other out in that gp and max cruised (with kimi's hot breath in his neck for the last 18 laps) to his very first victory.

everyone talks about max as if he's already a world champion. he's the next gen, people say, the new ayrton senna. the car is for years nowhere good enough, but he gets better and better.

this comes with: sharing podiums and press conferences with lewis hamilton.

their first one is the austrian gp 2016 - lewis p1, max p2 (after having started p9 and lewis crashing part of nico's fron wing).

in that same season: silverstone (lewis p1, max p2 due to nico's penalty, nico p3); germany (lewis, daniel, max); japan (nico, max, lewis); brazil (lewis, nico, max).

honorable mention to this shot from malaysia, 2016 post-qualifying press conference:

second honorable mention to this gif of brazil 2016 where lewis showed a meme to max during press and then this photo that perfectly summarises the highlights of 2016 for me (abu dhabi, 2016):

SO from this moment on, they get into a sort of constant. a regularity. lewis sets foot on most podiums. max gets to do the same more and more often (we don't speak of 2017). in the beginning, lewis refers to max publicly as 'this guy' or 'this dude'. max wants none of that, so he mentions it to lewis during the chinese gp of 2017.

everyone's on the whole 'maxsplaining' these days but max always had a tendency to do this and lewis was always quite a willing conversational partner (french gp 2018)

also very important mention goes to abu dhabi 2018. podium. lewis just got his back tattooed so he had to show everyone. and max was there, champagne in hand, and thought 'okay then' and sprayed it all under. if that ain't a euphemism, idk what is.

THEN also important mention is to max always always always acknowledging that lewis is 'one of the greatest drivers ever' or something along those lines (compilation) the fist clip is from this interview in 2020.

it all leads up to 2021, of course. but everything that happens before it is so so so important and fundamental to how they handle 2021. max is praised to the gods for his racing talent and lewis is climbing up the ranks and up the records to become the greatest. i've referred to max as a storm before. a storm that's coming, one that the news predicts and everyone's getting their umbrella's out to prepare for it. so was lewis. lewis could feel the wind picking up, could feel the first raindrops. and he waited. and waited.

and in the mean time: he just. gets along with max.

(hungary 2019 / brazil 2019 / abu dhabi 2019)

(germany 2020 / bahrain 2020 / abu dhabi 2020)

until it was time. 2021. i don't think i have to run through 2021, since i know you've been there. but the build up of lewis knowing that max would be one to watch out for, and max knowing that lewis is an incredibly talented driver who doesn't just let go, is chef's kiss to me. max was always just-not there to actually challenge lewis, and suddenly he was. but bahrain-2021-them could not predict what everything would look like by abu dhabi 2021. they started out like any other season, except max proved to be much more competitive than ever before. then in monaco he takes the championship lead (race 5/22). in silverstone the crash (immediately followed by lewis' boardradio 'is max ok?'), then zandvoort where lewis seems happier than ever to be p2 next to max (cue full-orange outfit on thursday) and monza where everything goes sour again. then they're bitter but okay, until saudi arabia and abu dhabi. and lewis was one of the first to say something long the lines of 'yeah i've been fucked over by the fia, but i don't blame max bc if i were in his position i'd have done the same'. and regardless of everything that happened: before and after every single race they greet each other with a fist bump/handshake/hug. okay so i ran through 2021 anyway whoops.

and 2022 started off right with this small moment between them

but beyond that in 2022: lewis is Not there. mentally. and yet in austria they share a podium, in hungary (pics), in austin and in mexico. they always seek each other out. chat. say hi. listen. joke. have fun.

and 2023 is the same, except lewis is on the podium more often, they joke more in the press conferences and they're both just so comfortable around each other. they're both the greatest drivers in the sport ever (lewis having been there longer and with much more titles, but max of equal talent and arguably with a more supportive team) and they just like each other. 13 years age difference? who cares. lewis is wearing a ring with number 33 on it to this race. so like. how much more canon can it get?

and yeah, 2021 was a lot. it was intense. it was controversial. but lewis would very much like to fight max again for the title. lewis thinks he's the only one who could. max thinks lewis is the only one who could.

so they're back to how it started. the news predicted a storm. except now max feels the breeze, the rain. and he's ready, he's waiting.

the fics are pretty good too. if you need a headstart: here's a fic rec list i've made. it's a rollercoaster of a ship, but at the end of the day, we always, always win and thrive.

#strawcars #will u be our angst provider pls cherry my beloved?#4433 #101 in shipping this ship #i missed A BUNCH so if anyone knows anything to add PLEASE hit me up #this quick overview was less quick and less overviewy than i intended anyways #zhalia’s lil chit chat

19 notes · View notes

Last Seen Blogs

kelcom1

Untitled

irresistible-desires

Irresistible

wxlfstxrx

蕊

ffjjxfen

无标题

mayonaka-arena

MAYONAKA ARENA