Chapter Text
Walking into Barcelona pre-season testing felt like a dream. Max hadn’t seen many other drivers yet, but he was introduced to his teammate Carlos Sainz.
Carlos seemed kind, though a bit distracted, which was understandable since it was his first time in F1 as well. There was a little reassurance about expectations since they were both rookies, but Max still felt a step behind because Carlos had 3 years on him and extra years in single seaters. The only benefit was that he also hadn’t competed in F2.
Besides a brief handshake, Max didn’t get to speak to Carlos. His scent was muted from the patches most drivers wore in the garages, but a spicy pepper smell spilled through from Carlos’s excitement. It was strong and spoke of a feisty personality that Max hoped could lead to at least a fun acquaintance relationship.
Max headed into his driver’s room to change into his race suit so he could finally get into his race care. The room was more spacious than he was expecting, but the biggest surprise was the fluffy orange blanket and blue-suede pillow from the Red Bull factory sitting on his bed.
Cautiously Max brought the items to his nose. They were re-scented by the mechanics. His body immediately lost some of its tension and his mind cleared into a calm focus. He supposed that with Toro Rosso being the sister team that the mechanics did have some access to his room, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to assume the mechanics were allowed in.
They probably just wanted to give Max something as a congrats for making it into F1 and as an omega, nesting supplies were the most obvious gift.
Carlos probably got something as well. Max didn’t really know what they would give the alpha. He was of legal drinking age, so maybe some congratulatory booze.
Max set the items down carefully and quickly changed into his race suit. He would cuddle with them in between testing sessions when he took a nap. It was a nice gesture, but he was sure this would be the end of them until he made it to the big team.
They couldn’t show favoritism to some rookie who wasn’t even their own driver after all.
~~~~~~~~
Max stayed closed to Jos as he walked into the Melbourne paddock for the first time. He tried to not let his nerves show as they passed flashing cameras on the way to the garages. He couldn’t let the other drivers see any weakness on the first day of the season.
The walk was relatively short, or maybe Max was walking faster than necessary and slightly dissociated during it because of all the scents and noises crashing around him. Entering the garage was a bit less chaotic, but the sudden attention on him was almost worse.
Franz Tost called him over to where he was already speaking to Carlos. Max liked Franz, he was kind and his earthy beta scent was mild compared to the rest of the garage.
“Hey Max, glad you could get here so early. I just wanted to let you and Carlos know there will be lots of media around today. You have a media session in the afternoon as well with some of the other drivers,” Franz gave a reassuring smile like he could already tell that Max was nervous. Max knew Franz couldn’t scent him though, not with the prescription scent patches Max was wearing while he was still developing.
Max gave a stiff nod, “Okay. I will be ready for them.”
Maybe this would be a good chance to talk to some of the other drivers. They seemed to avoid him during the pre-season testing, but they also were busy with their own cars.
Franz smacked Max’s shoulder in the roughly affectionate way men in sports do, “I’m sure you’ll do great. Why don’t you and Carlos relax a bit before everything gets too crazy.” Franz smiled at the two again before heading to talk to some engineers.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Max could feel his father’s disapproving stare from behind him and he noticed Carlos Sr. coming closer as if to separate them before they even spoke. He wanted to make a friend though.
“Um, hey. Are you excited for this weekend?” Max wanted to hit his forehead. What a stupid question. Of course Carlos is excited. Who wouldn’t be excited for their first F1 race??
Carlos gave a sputtering laugh like he couldn’t believe Max’s question. “Yes, I am. You’re not very good at small talk are you?”
“No. I am Dutch. We don’t do small talk. We are blunt and get right to real conversations. No, can you believe the weather type things,” Max responded with some sarcasm, still stiff but slightly calmer.
Carlos grinned with a mischievous light to his eyes. “Good, let’s not talk about racing or weather. We’ll have time for that later. You like futbol right?”
Max nodded rapidly. This devolved into a half hour conversation about the season and arguing whose team was better. Their fathers watched with hesitance as the two started to bond, but didn’t stop them. The men just stood menacingly off on opposite sides of the garage.
Suddenly a Red Bull mechanic walked past the garage before freezing and turning back to look inside. They waved and called out to Max.
Max’s head popped up in attention and a smile came over his face until his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Hi Matt!” The mechanic grinned back while his hand seemed to unconsciously grasp at his chest. Max tilted his head in confusion and Matt’s grip only seemed to tighten.
Before Max could question what was wrong, Matt power walked towards the Red Bull garage. Weird.
Now it was Carlos’s turn to look confused. “How do you know that Red Bull mechanic?”
Max gave a small shrug, “Oh, I met them at the factory before the season.”
“You went to the Red Bull factory and not the Toro Rosso one?” Carlos frowned a bit.
Max didn’t know what to say to make Carlos not jealous. Luck seemed to smile down on him for once as one of the PR directors came to grab Max for an interview before he could respond. Max gave Carlos a small shrug and a wave as he left.
However, luck did not continue to follow Max as he got to the media stage. The other drivers, Felipe Massa, Marcus Ericsson, and Pastor Maldonado, did not seemed inclined to talk to him.
The interview was tense as attention was drawn to Max for being the youngest driver in F1. Massa didn’t approve of his entrance and the others didn’t disagree. Max thought that once the interview was over one of them might ask to introduce him to the driver’s pack but they all left without stopping to talk.
Maybe, he needed to compete in a race before they let him into the pack room.
The next day dawned bright and stressful. Max was relieved to see that the blanket and pillow once again found their way into his driver’s room and were freshly scented. There was also some electrolyte drink and a protein bar waiting with a note from the mechanics wishing him luck.
Somone drew a little car with wings flying down the track. Max folded the paper and put it his backpack as a pick me up for later.
The free practice sessions went well, and while Max was a bit disappointed to qualify in 11th, he didn’t think it was awful for his first race.
That feeling stayed until the race. It was going so well, Max made it up to 5th and even got to race against Kimi Raikonen, a world champion! While Max couldn’t hold him off because of his declining tires, Max thought it was pretty impressive still.
Now in 9th after a pitstop, lap 34 changed the whole weekend. Max was feeling the adrenaline with the chance to score good points on his debut race. He was ahead of Carlos even though he qualified behind, showing his team that he had the abilities to be the lead drive. He was even in front of the one of the Red Bull team!
Then his engine decided to die on him and Max felt his whole body cave in with disappointment. He knew his father wouldn’t be happy, after all it was never the car’s fault. Always the driver’s.
The long walk down the pitlane to his garage was filled with harsh breathing and Max tried to force his body to not shake. Once he entered the garage, a few of the Toro Rosso mechanics gave him some pats on the back in solidarity, but they didn’t feel comforting like the Red Bull mechanics touches did.
Max looked around for his father, but he wasn’t in sight. Max didn’t know if he should feel relieved or destroyed, but he decided to head to his driver’s room to wait for the end of the race and a debrief.
Heading down the halls of the garage Max heard a quick call of his name. He slowly lifted his head and his heart clenched at the sight of Callum. The kind alpha was running towards him when he should have been in the Red Bull garage still.
Once Callum was close enough he pulled Max into a full body hug. “That’s rough Maxie, you were doing so well. Don’t worry though, the team will know that it wasn’t on you and will be impressed by what you were able to do with a working car.”
“I could have done something. Been lighter on the engine or something.” Max’s reply was muffled into Callum shoulder.
Callum pulled back to give Max a baffled look, “Who told you that? It was the first race and the engine blew up. You couldn’t have damaged it that fast Max. It was faulty, that’s it.” Callum ruffled Max’s sweaty hair and accidentally brushed his scent gland again. “I need to head back, go to your room and have a nap. We brought in some more blanket and stuff for you.”
Max looked at Callum in shock as the mechanic ran back to his garage. Rapidly walking back to his driver’s room, Max tried to wrap his head around the kind words Callum said.
Entering his room, Max had to blink his eyes closed to stop from tearing up. More blue and orange comforts covered the room. Pillows big and small sprawled over his bed while soft blankets of various fabrics were carefully folded on his chair. But the real gift was the stuffed lion placed delicately atop the thrown of blankets.
Max didn’t understand the sudden need to nest that flooded his chest but he pushed it down. His dad was going to come find him eventually and he hated when Max nested, said his nests were just messes on a perfectly good bed. But he could at least cuddle with the lion for a bit after he showered. That would have to be enough.
~~~~~~
Max was getting distressed at the fact that the others drivers still hadn’t invited his to visit the pack room. He thought that after the race in Australia they would seek him out, maybe comfort him after his DNF, but they only gave him brief waves from various distances.
Kimi had come up to him after Thursday media commitments and gave him a gruff welcome as the pack alpha and a good job for the last race. That made him blush like the pup he is. But, there was still not pack room invite.
Carlos had been brought to the pack room. He said it was nice, but a bit barren because the rest of the grid was alphas and betas so the nest didn’t have the distinct warmth that came from an omega-built nest.
Carlos also said that he thought the rest of the grid wanted to wait until Max was 18 before inviting him to the room because they didn’t want grooming rumors. Max didn’t think that was a good excuse for not even interacting with him.
Max didn’t stomp his way to his driver’s room but it was a near thing. His frustration was wiped away when he saw the nesting material once again placed strategically in his room, along with a note on his bed.
More encouragement and doodle littered the page and the room had that wonderful distinctive adrenaline mixed scent of the mechanic group. At least they seemed to care about Max. He was surprised that they continued their gestures considering it was his second race now.
A purr wanted to escape his chest and Max rubbed his fist against his chest at the feeling. His omega had never responded so positively to anyone as it had to this odd group of mechanics.
After the race, Max was vibrating with excitement at his points finish. He finished ahead of Carlos, showing he could beat his teammate and that Toro Rosso was right to take a risk on him!
Suddenly, arms grabbed Max’s waist and hoisted him up into the air as Red Bull spayed around him. “That was fantastic Maxie! A points finish on your first official completed race,” Ole practically screamed in Max’s ear.
Max did not squeak in surprise, if anyone said otherwise, they were dirty liars.
He did, however, give a delighted laugh with his smile taking over his whole face. He barley saw the slack jawed expression on Carlos and Daniil Kvyat from the corner of his eye, but he decided to ignore them like they were ignoring him.
Some additional mechanics came to drown Max in Red Bull anyways so he was a little busy.
~~~~~~
The rest of the season followed the same pattern. After the many DNFs at the beginning of the season, from mechanical problems and his own mistakes, one of the mechanics would seek him out during the race to give him a comforting embrace. Max didn’t know how they were justifying the action considering Alexi almost missed one of Daniil’s pitstops, but he couldn’t help feeling grateful every time.
Similarly, after every point they would ambush him. Max had caught on that there was some sort of competition in the garage that decided who got the privilege to sweep Max off his feet. The rest found new and exciting ways to cover him in sticky Red Bull.
After his 4th place in Hungary his room was drowned in Kinder chocolate. He had mentioned to Samantha (Sammy), at some point that they were his favorite treat and they had taken that to mean that Max needed 50 pounds of it for such a good job.
Or maybe that was their instincts to feed him. Nearly every time someone lifted him up, they whispered to the others that Max was too light. Max didn’t think they knew he could hear them, but he wasn’t going to mention it to them in case they took that as an invitation to talk to him about the issue.
Race drivers are supposed to be light. It helps the car go faster after all.
Every race, Max felt the desire to go into the pack room lessen. Why would he need the supposedly barren nest when his room contained more blankets that he knew what to do with? He was getting scented by the mechanics more in one day at the track then he ever had in his entire life before F1. The other drivers hadn’t even bothered to give him scented items to get used to their scents.
Carlos did look distressed when Max slowly stopped talking about the pack. He tried to bond more with Max and talk about the positives about the activities they did.
Max thought that Carlos must have said something to the pack because Daniel and Kimi, and even Sebastian and Lewis were seeking him out more often. Nico Rosberg tried as well but Max thinks he must have scared him off somehow.
On the weekend of the Russian grand prix the Toro Rosso garage, along with the help of the Red Bull mechanics, threw Max a surprise birthday party. There was chocolate cake and lots of Kinder chocolates passed to him through the weekend. Someone brough some alcohol as well for after the race.
Carlos gave him a rare hug and smiled bright. “Someone should come find you after the race. You’ll finally get to see how great the pack is.”
Max didn’t think he would. Even if the pack didn’t want him in the pack room while he was still a pup because of connotations, they could have at least tried to talk to him some more or invited him out to the pack dinners.
Instead, they talked about him to the media and laughed at his portable sim. Only Daniel, Carlos, and Fernando had congratulated him on his points. Well, and Kimi, but he didn’t count because he was the pack Alpha.
Sebastian made Max uncomfortable too. He glanced at Max with some kind of confusion and frowned when the Red Bull mechanics gave him hugs or gifts. Daniel and Daniil did too, but that at least made sense because they were the actual Red Bull drivers and probably felt threatened about their seats.
Max practically skipped to his driver’s room in excitement. With every race weekend bringing some sort of new treasure, he was sure that his birthday celebration would bring something special.
The mechanics piled gifts into his driver’s room. Blankets and pillows, more plushies that could be friends to Leeuw, sim racing gloves and portable extensions, and the softest hoodies and socks that Max had ever seen practically exploded from gift bags.
Max could already hear his father’s sighs of frustration from having to figure out how to transport it all, but Max wasn’t leaving a single thing behind.
After the race, where Max snagged the last scoring position, Kimi came to him as pack alpha. “We would like to have you visit the pack room now.” His icy gaze implied no denial.
Max thought about the expectations of the pack, but also about the joy he got from celebrating with the mechanics. Callum had promised to take Max out to a bar for the first time and Sammy would be so disappointed if she missed her chance to lift his up.
“I actually have plans already. Maybe another time,” Max said quickly before turning around and striding away. They had their chance, had made him wait for months. They could wait now. He had more important people to see.