Work Text:
It was race weekend again and this time the race was in Belgium, circuit Spa-Francorchamps. Oh how I love this circuit. It’s never too hot, good chances for some clouds or a little bit of rain, super nice and funny fans and they got Belgian waffles in the paddock.
There was just one little problem: I had to attend a conference about health and safety in motorsport in Paris until Friday.
Since my usual medic partner Connor was attending the race weekend, we agreed that I will go to the conference and come over to Spa on Saturday. All our teams and the FIA were happy with this solution and I knew the drivers were in safe hands with Connor, so I put my full focus on the conference (with my phone always nearby, F1app and all our other apps running in the background to still be informed about the most important stuff.)
The conference went well and all attending parties could take some new info from the others. We also agreed on some new safety measures for the near future.
It was Friday, the guys from Formel E, Rally, GT and I were all sitting together for lunch, watching the free practice one of my F1 boys. It was a nice session, weather was good, no incidents, no team chaos. We had some good conversations and when FP1 was over we went back into the conference room for the last 3 presentations.
We were in the middle of the antepenultimate presentation when my phone started buzzing wildly on the table. I glanced at the screen and saw an incoming call from Max Verstappen. I excused myself immediately and went into the hallway to take the call. Usually Max and I text with each other, he hardly ever calls so it must be something important.
I had just answered the call and put the phone to my ear when Max already blurted out that I had to come to Spa instantly. I didn’t even have the time to greet him.
“Okay Max, langsam und von Anfang an. Was ist los?*“ I asked him calmly.
(*Okay Max, slowly and from the beginning. What is going on?)
“Je moet nu meteen naar Spa komen. Alles is geregeld; je wordt over 10 minuten opgehaald.“ Max said agitated.
Oh, he is slipping into his dutch mother tongue – not a good sign.
“Max, listen to me. My Dutch isn’t good enough to understand what you said. So please speak either English or German and then you tell me what is going on.”
He took a deep breath and said: “You need to come to Spa right now. Everything is already organized, you’ll be picked up in 10 minutes.”
A bad feeling started to creep in.
“What happened? We watched FP1 and there was no accident, so what is going on?” I could only ask puzzled.
“It’s Lando, he has like a breakdown or something like that and we can’t make him snap out of it.” Max answered.
That snapped me into full medic mode.
“Oh, that’s really not good. Where is Lan now and is Jon with him?” I asked Max.
“Lan is safe, I brought him to my driver room at Red Bull and Jon is with him.”
“Okay Max, that was a really good idea, thank you for helping Lando. Can you turn on the video chat and let me see him please?” I requested.
My phone screen switched to a video call and I saw Max walking up a flight of stairs, down a hallway and carefully opening a white door with his name on it. He slips into a dimly lit room and stops by the door.
With a very gentle and quiet voice Max said: “Lan, mate. I got Alex on video call, she wants to see you, so I will come over to you now.”
I didn’t hear an answer from Lan but Max slowly walked over to the charcoal colored couch where Lando was sitting, completely curled into himself, hugging his knees. He was shaking like a leaf and I could hear some quiet sobs from him. Max knelt down in front of Lando and held up his phone so I could see Lando’s face, or better his hair right now.
“Muppet, it’s me, Alex. Can I see your face please?” I gently talked to Lando.
He keeped his head down but with a broken voice he asked: “Alex?”
“Yeah muppet, I’m here. I really want to help you, so can I see your pretty face please?”
Lando finally lifted his head a little, still unsure of everything and peaked at the phone screen through his lashes.
“Hey, there you go. Good job Lan. Can you tell me what happened?” I asked him carefully.
He shook his head hard and sobbed harder. His breath picked up and the only thing he wheezed out was one word - Melbourne. But that was all I needed to know for now, I knew what he meant immediately, since this was our agreed code word.
Lando started to slip into a state of hyperventilation. I didn’t want him to pass out, so I demanded:
“Lan, listen to my voice. Concentrate on me and tell me 5 things that you can see right now!”
When he didn’t react, I repeated:” Come on Lan, you can do this. 5 things you can see.”
His breath hitched but he lifted his head and frantically looked around himself.
Between still to fast breathes he said: “Max. Jon. Red Bull logo. My shoes and you, I see you.”
“Okay, that is correct, good job muppet. Now I need 4 things that you can touch.” I continued.
“My….my jeans. And…and Jon’s shirt. Max. Max’s couch.” He said unsure.
“Yeah, good answers Lan, you’re doing great. Now, can you tell me 3 things you can hear please.”
He hesitated for a few seconds but finally answered: “My heartbeat, cars and you.”
I giggled a little but kept up the process of calming him down.
“Keep up the good work muppet and please tell me 2 things that you can smell.”
He sniffled a little and said: “I can smell my deodorant and Max perfume.”
“Okay, that’s perfect. Now one more thing I need to know from you: 1 thing you can taste or you would like to taste right now.”
That question caught him off guard but that was exactly what I wanted. He concentrated on the questions and not on the chaos in his head, causing his breathing to get slower and more into normal rhythm.
"Stroopwafel” he finally whispered.
“That is a very good answer. I like them too.” I said.
Lando was still shaking and there were still tears running down his face so I said:
“Listen muppet, I'm gonna grab my stuff and come over to Spa as soon as possible. I am literally on my way. Do you get along without me for a little while? I am just one call away and I’ll be there in a bit. Can you hang on for me, till I’m there?”
He sniffled again but nodded.
“Okay, thank you muppet. You’re doing a great job and I promise I’ll be there soon.”
Max got up and left the room. In the hallway he held up the phone again and said:
“I’ll make sure he and Jon can stay undisturbed in my room as long as needed. The heli should be there any minute to pick you up.”
“Wait, the heli? You organized for me to be flown in?” I asked surprised.
“Yeah, sure. That was the quickest and easiest way to bring you to Spa.” he answered.
“Oh okay, well thank you very much Max, that is really nice of you. All of this. So uhm, I’ll head inside to get my stuff before they will pick me up. Where is the meeting point?”
“Don’t worry, they will land on the big plaza in front of your conference building.” Max said with a little grin.
“Okay, thanks again. So, see you in a bit.” I said.
He waved at me before ending the call.
I quickly but quietly headed back inside the conference room and to my seat. I gathered my stuff and told the two guys from GT who were sitting beside me, that I had to leave because of an important medical issue. On my way out, I went over to the conference leader and excused myself to leave early because I was needed by the F1. He said he understood and I shouldn’t worry, they will send me the missing conference info via mail, which I really appreciated. I left the conference room, grabbed my luggage from the locker and went outside. I could already hear a helicopter coming closer and just 2 minutes later it touched down on the plaza in front of me. It was Max’ private helicopter.
A sturdy looking man jumped out and beckoned me over. I quickly walked over to the heli, recognizing the waiting man as one of Max’ usual pilots. He greeted me and took my luggage to load it into the heli before helping me in and giving me a headset.
I took a seat and buckled myself in, while the man joined his colleague in the front.
We took off and started our flight to Spa. When we were in the air, the other pilot greeted me via headset. He sounded a little worried when he asked me about the circumstances of this super short notice flight. I knew that both pilots had a good relationship with Max and were probably worrying about him, so I told them that there was a not life threatening medical emergency in Spa that did not involve Max but a friend of his and that’s the reason for all of this. Both pilots visibly relaxed after hearing that.
After 1h and 20 minutes we landed in Spa, FP2 was already under way . Of course the heli caught the attention of the fans and some even recognized it as Max’ so it was a big commotion. Rupert welcomed me at the landing space and led me through the packed paddock and the fans to the Red Bull hospitality and to Max room. He took my luggage and told me he would take care of it. I thanked him and we parted in front of Max driver rooms.
I carefully entered the dimly lit room. Jon sat near Lando and looked up, Lando jerked and curled even more into himself, he was still shaking and crying. I carefully walked over to the couch and knelt down in front of Lando. Since Jon didn’t touch Lando, I also kept a little distance and didn’t touch him.
“Lan muppet, I’m here. Can I see your pretty eyes please?” I said with a soft and quiet voice.
With a super tiny voice he just asked: “Alex?”
“Yes muppet, I’m here, just as I promised.” I answered.
He finally looked up. His face was wet with tears, his eyes puffy and there was a haunted look in his eyes. Still I put a gentle smile on my face and said:
“There you are, muppet. I’m so proud of you for being strong and waiting for me. Is it okay when I touch you?”
The only thing he brought out with a broken voice was: “hug?”
“Of course you can get a hug Lan, come here.” I said and opened my arms for him.
He lurched from the couch and jumped into my arms, nearly knocking me over. He clung to me like a koala, burying his head in the crook of my neck and wrapping his arms and legs around me.
I carefully wrapped my arms around him and whispered sweet nothings to calm him down. After a while, he stopped shaking and the crying died down too.
“Okay muppet, what would you like to do now? Do you want to stay here, return to your room or do you want to go back to your motor home?”
“Motor home” he whispered.
“Alright, motor home it is. Think you can walk?” I asked, resulting in him just clinging more tightly to me.
I looked up to Jon for help, but he also looked distressed and a little helpless.
“Okay muppet, you don’t need to worry, I will stay by your side. Would you be okay if I’d carry you?” I gently asked him and he nodded.
“Alright. Jon, any idea how we get to the motor homes without having to walk through tons of people?”
“Uhm yeah, there is a secluded way for the drivers that we can use.” he said.
“Good, then we will use it. Can you go and get Lando’s stuff from McLaren and we meet back here Jon?” I asked. He nodded and quickly left to get Lando’s things. I stayed behind with Lando, starting to carefully rock him a little and hum a little to keep him calm. Meanwhile I texted Rupert, asking him to get one special item from my office. A few minutes later Jon and Rupert returned to Max’ room. Rupert held the item I asked for in his hand, passing it over to me, before quietly leaving again.
He gave me a big, super fluffy blue blanket which I now wrapped around Lan. On one hand it should give him a feeling of security, on the other hand it should operate as a cover, so in case someone saw us, they couldn’t tell right away that it was Lando.
When Lando was fully covered, I carefully stood up, Jon helping me to keep my balance. I made sure that I was carrying him safely and we made our way out of the room and the hospitality, moving quickly but not running. Without holdups we reached a high fence that was covered in black cloth and secured by two guards. They opened the fence gate for us and let us pass. Now we were finally out of sight and walked over to the motor homes. Another reason why I love Spa, most of the drivers and we medics stay in motor homes near the track. It was a little like camping, always with a special feeling in the air.
We arrived at Lando’s motor home and Jon opened the door for us, letting me go in first. I climbed up the few stairs to the kitchen area. I turned left and made a beeline to Lando's bedroom, where I carefully sat him down on his bed. There was just one problem: he wouldn’t let go of me. It took Jon and me 10 minutes of gentle persuasion before Lan let go of me. Jon and I made quick work of getting Lando out of his racesuit and fireproofs and into some comfy sweatpants and a hoodie. We brought him to bed and wanted to leave the room, so he can sleep a little, only resulting in another panic attack. I really needed to find out what happened.
After we calmed him down again, we agreed that Jon and I would stay with him. I wanted to go to the bathroom real quick to use the toilet and change into more comfy clothes too (Jon brought some sweatpants and a shirt from McLaren for me), but Lan already had a fearful look on his face again. Only when I started to sing a song could I step out and do my business. I was back just 3 minutes later and Jon and I laid down on the bed left and right of Lando. He curled up into my side right away while Jon gently stroked through Lando’s hair.
After about 20 minutes Lan was finally asleep and Jon and I both breathed a sign of relief. Since we both didn’t know what happened, I pulled out my phone and logged into my F1 account. I never used it before, but I know I had access to the security footage with our app, so I searched for the section. Jon could give me a rough time frame of when it must have happened so we went through the videos and finally found Lando, following his way through the paddock on the videos.
It happened near the Red Bull hospitality. A bunch of fans tried to get close to Lando and his guard had his hands full with keeping them away from him. Two girls still managed to get close to Lando, nearly jumping on him and without asking they hugged him tightly, screaming excitedly in his ear. It took only a couple of seconds before Lando’s guard got them away from him, but the damage was done. We could see Lando starting to shake and quickly leaving the place in search of a safe place. He ran into Max who quickly realized something was wrong with Lando and led him into the Red Bull hospitality.
Max had brought Lan to his driver room and Rupert had called Jon, before Max called me a little while later, when they realized they couldn’t calm down Lando. That’s how we ended up here.
“I'm sorry we had to call you Alex. I really got no idea why I couldn't calm him down and help him today.” Jon said with a sad voice.
“Please don’t beat yourself up because of this. It's not your fault and you guys can always call me, anytime. I think Lan needed me today, cause we were in a similar situation a few years ago in Melbourne. We got out of it without him having physical contact with the people cornering us but the result was the same.” I told Jon quietly and he nodded in understanding.
I texted Zak to tell him what happened and asked him for more security for Lan. Lando was shaken from the events and you could see it during the whole weekend. He missed FP3 on Saturday, but took part in quali. He made it to P3. On Sunday, the race was tough for him. I could see his blood pressure and breathing rate spike more than one time and every time I opened a private radio channel to give him some encouraging words and let him know that Jon and I were by his side. In the end, he also had some luck, when George made a mistake in driving, slowing down Max and giving Lando the opportunity to overtake both of them and grabbing P1.
I wasn’t on the final photo of the motorsport conference, but I was on the Spa podium photo, standing beside Lando, Max and George. And to celebrate the victory Lando, Max, Jon and I ate some Belgian waffles with vanilla ice cream.