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The problem with being married to Max Verstappen was that Max Verstappen was, unfortunately, Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc had discovered this the hard way decades ago when they first started racing against eachother and continued discovering it every single day since.
It was less of a character flaw and more of a weather pattern.
Which was why - when Max crashed in qualifying and then promptly vanished from the Red Bull garage afterwards - Charles tried very hard to convince himself it was normal.
It was absolutely normal behaviour.
Entirely normal.
Very normal.
He is not panicking.
This is simply what happens when one is married to Max Verstappen.
Sometimes he disappears.
Sometimes he wins races by thirty seconds.
Sometimes he adopts half the rookies on the grid.
Marriage is about accepting these things.
Saturday - Qualifying
There are, Charles believes, only two possible outcomes when Max Verstappen starts a race from tenth place or below.
The first possibility is that Max Verstappen performs a recovery drive so absurd that half the paddock quietly develops a headache trying to understand it.
The second possibility is that Max Verstappen performs a recovery drive so absurd that half the paddock quietly develops a headache trying to understand it and then Max complains about the car for approximately seven hours afterward.
There is no third option.
Charles has known Max long enough to be confident about this.
Charles had been right behind him.
That was the worst part.
Max lost the rear and the Red Bull snapped sideways before slamming into the barriers with that horrible carbon-fiber explosion sound every driver recognizes in their bones.
Charles lifted immediately.
By the time he came around the corner again, Max was already out of the car.
Helmet off.
Looking down at his hands.
Turning his wrists over.
Again.
And again.
Red flag.
Charles' stomach dropped somewhere near the floor of the Ferrari cockpit.
Around him, Ferrari engineers pretend not to watch his reaction.
Someone clears their throat.
"Ah," Charles says diplomatically.
That is what one says when one's husband, four-time world champion, and lifelong rival has just deposited his car into a wall before setting a representative lap in Q1.
Charles exhales slowly.
He does not panic.
This is Max Verstappen.
Max has endured worse.
Charles stares at the timing tower.
P20.
Max Verstappen starting twentieth is not the disaster that it would be for most people.
It is, if anything, a logistical inconvenience.
Charles removes his helmet and stands.
He does not consciously decide to walk toward the Red Bull garage.
He simply does.
This is what always happens after sessions.
Max finds him.
Or Charles finds Max.
Or they meet somewhere in the middle and immediately begin arguing about something extremely technical that neither of them had been thinking about thirty seconds earlier.
Because Max always wanted to talk.
Always.
Max would crawl across broken glass if it meant he could talk to Charles about literally anything. Tyre deg. Oversteer. A random online racing incident. A dog.
So when Charles walked in and Max wasn't there -
He frowned.
Charles pauses.
He waits.
He waits long enough that one Red Bull mechanic glances at him with visible sympathy.
Max still does not appear.
Which is strange.
Max enjoys complaining.
Max especially enjoys complaining to Charles.
It is, historically speaking, one of his favorite hobbies.
"Where's Max?"
One of the Red Bull mechanics blinked at him.
"Medical centre. Standard checks."
Right.
Right.
X-rays.
Checks.
Completely normal.
What is not normal is that Charles Leclerc, husband of the driver in question, has not been informed.
Suspicious Max Behaviour List
- Crashing: acceptable
- Medical check: acceptable
- Not telling Charles: extremely suspicious
Charles eventually leaves.
He does not think much of it at the time.
This is, as it turns out, a mistake.
Sunday Morning - The Class Photo
The Formula One class photo is always messy in a very specific way.
Twenty-two drivers.
Twenty-two enormous egos.
And one poor photographer trying to arrange them like mildly cooperative furniture.
Charles arrives slightly late because Ferrari had wanted one more media clip and also because he had spent three minutes attempting to determine whether their new team polo actually was the color of strawberry yoghurt or if the Australian sunlight was doing something strange.
The verdict remains inconclusive.
He steps into the cluster of drivers.
Immediately begins scanning the area.
He finds Max quickly.
Not because Max is over-the-top tall.
But because Max Verstappen surrounded by young drivers tends to look like a slightly disgruntled university lecturer.
Which is exactly what is happening now.
Max is sitting on a bench surrounded by what appeared to be half the rookies of the grid.
Correction.
Ex-rookies.
But Max still treated them like ducklings he had personally hatched.
Franco is laughing.
Scratch that.
Franco is giggling.
Ollie looks like he is trying very hard not to laugh.
Kimi is listening like a student attending a particularly interesting lecture.
Charles slows to a stop.
Max is telling a story.
"…and then he says to me, you cannot overtake there - "
Gabi is already losing it.
"And I say, watch me - "
Kimi doubles over laughing.
Charles narrows his eyes.
Because -
One: Max has absolutely seen him arrive.
And two: Max has not immediately walked over.
This is extremely concerning behavior.
Charles crosses his arms.
Oscar notices him and waves cheerfully.
"Morning, dad!"
That is Charles' fault.
Entirely his fault.
One joke on Twitter three years ago about adopting Oscar Piastri and now the paddock would never let it die.
And Max, who had already established himself as the unofficial rookie dad of the paddock, had simply folded Oscar into the general category of drivers who now belong to us.
Which was how Max had ended up teaching Oscar how to read tyre degradation patterns during a lunch break in Singapore.
The photographer started shouting.
"Guys! Positions please!"
Everyone begins shuffling.
Charles ends up in the middle row.
Max is one row ahead, sitting.
Next to Oscar.
And he immediately begins to entertain the kid.
Oscar starts laughing.
Charles turns to his left and sees Carlos following Charles' gaze.
"Why do you look like you're planning a murder?" Carlos observes.
"I might be."
Carlos squints at Max. "He's talking to Oscar."
"I see that."
"And?"
Charles hesitates.
"…he hasn't talked to me since yesterday."
Carlos blinks once.
Then again.
"That seems illegal."
Fernando leans over to Max.
Charles watches as Fernando grabs Max's wrist. "Crash yesterday looked big. Wrists okay?"
Max flexed them. "Perfect."
Fernando nodded approvingly.
Charles felt his eye twitch.
Because that information had not been delivered directly to him.
Suspicious Max Behaviour List 4. Medical updates provided to Fernando Alonso instead of spouse.
This is getting worse.
After the photo session wrapped up, Carlos and Charles were walking side by side on the way to their respective hospitalities when someone passed by them.
Lando Norris.
He does not stop.
He does not say hello.
He simply reaches out and places one hand on Carlos' shoulder while continuing to walk.
Like someone casually checking that their suitcase is still in the overhead compartment.
Charles watches him disappear.
"Real subtle," Charles says.
Carlos sighs.
"I genuinely thought his paranoia would disappear once you married Max."
Charles raises an eyebrow. "And?"
"It's getting worse," Carlos says gravely. "Yesterday he asked if you and I were discussing strategy."
"…we were."
"Yes," Carlos says patiently. "But apparently that was suspicious."
Carlos continues. "He still thinks that you're gonna steal me away or something."
Charles looks at him.
"Carlos."
"Yes."
"You are not a bicycle."
Carlos shrugs.
"Tell that to Lando."
Drivers Parade
The parade trucks crawled slowly around Albert Park.
Drivers stand against the rails, waving to the crowd.
Lewis sat down and took photos like a man documenting wildlife.
"Charles," Lewis says at one point, "move two centimeters to the left."
"Why?"
"You are blocking the view."
Charles shifts slightly.
They come side to side with the Red Bull truck.
Max is casually holding onto the railing.
He glances over.
Their eyes meet.
"Hello mate," Max says.
Charles blinks.
Mate.
Mate?
Charles leans forward across the gap between trucks.
"What is wrong with you?"
Max frowns.
The crowd is screaming too loudly to hear anything properly.
Max leans closer. "I said hello!"
"I heard you!"
"Good!"
They continue shouting nonsense over the noise.
Charles squints at him.
"You good?"
Max blinked. "Yeah?"
"You crashed yesterday!"
"Oh."
Max shrugged. "I do that sometimes."
Lewis poked Charles' leg.
"Look."
Charles turns for one second.
Max is still looking at him.
Then Max turns and waves to the fans.
Charles frowns.
That is absolutely weird.
Five minutes later Charles checks Twitter.
Someone had already posted a picture of them shouting across the trucks.
Caption:
the romeo-juliet-ification of lestappen. welcome back real f1.
Another tweet underneath reads:
did they get divorced mid-weekend?
Charles laughs out loud.
The Race
Oscar crashes before the race begins.
Cold tyres on the way to the grid.
Charles feels a brief, sharp stab of disappointment on Oscar's behalf.
Home race. Home crowd. Over before lights out.
He makes a note to find him later.
The race itself moves quickly.
Charles leads briefly.
Mercedes are strong.
Strategy shuffles everything.
By the final laps, the order is clear.
- Russell.
- Antonelli.
- Leclerc.
- Hamilton.
- Norris.
And then -
Max Verstappen.
P6.
From P20.
Charles stares at the timing tower.
Of course.
Naturally.
Exactly as predicted.
Charles smiles inside his helmet.
Okay.
Max would definitely talk now.
Parc Fermé
George approaches first.
"People like to talk too much before actually seeing the action on track." George says casually.
Charles blinked.
Ah.
He recognizes bait when he hears it.
"Well," Charles starts diplomatically, "I suppose it depends who you ask."
George shrugs.
"I quite like it."
Charles smiles politely.
"Yes. It must be easier when you have the best one."
George mutters something.
Charles replies in French.
Very quietly.
Then he looks across parc fermé.
Max is there.
Congratulating Kimi.
This is understandable.
Charles starts walking toward them.
Max disappears like a magician who has suddenly remembered another appointment.
"Charles!"
Cooldown room.
Charles sighs.
Media Pen
Interviews.
Questions.
Microphones.
The usual circus.
Charles gave the most PR-approved answers imaginable.
"Yes, good start to the season."
"Yes, strong race."
"Yes, Ferrari will keep pushing."
While simultaneously scanning the crowd for one specific Dutch idiot.
He spotted Isack in their new Red Bull team shirt.
Bright.
Aggressive.
Charles wrinkled his nose.
Not his favourite.
But then again Ferrari's current kit looked like someone had tried to design yoghurt packaging and got distracted halfway through.
So.
Glass houses.
His phone buzzes.
Max interview clips are already everywhere.
One clip: Max absolutely demolishing the new 2026 regulations.
Another clip: Max staring into the distance like a man reconsidering every life decision that has led him here.
A third clip: Max explaining tyre deg to a journalist who clearly regrets asking.
Charles frowns.
Where the hell is my husband?
It takes nearly an hour before Charles escapes the media pen.
He checks several locations.
Red Bull hospitality.
No Max.
Paddock club stairs.
No Max.
The place where Max usually stands while explaining something aggressively technical to engineers.
Also no Max.
Suspicious Max Behaviour List 6. Evading spouse
This is now officially a situation.
Charles finally finds Oscar sitting on a stack of equipment cases behind the McLaren garage.
Oscar looks exactly the same as always. Calm. Quiet.
Mildly disappointed.
Charles sits beside him. "Hi."
Oscar glances over.
"Hi."
They sit in silence for a moment.
Charles eventually says: "Cold tyres?"
Oscar nods.
Pause.
"It happens."
Oscar sighs softly.
"Not usually before the race."
Charles considers this.
"…fair."
Another moment passes.
Then Oscar says:
"Max told me after the race that crashing early in the season improves character."
Charles snorts.
"That sounds like him."
"He also said that if I do it again he'll make me watch onboard footage from 2016."
Charles grimaces.
"That is a threat."
Oscar smiles faintly.
They sit there quietly for another minute.
Then Charles stands.
"I'm going to find your other parent."
Oscar nods.
"Good luck."
Later that Night
Charles eventually finds Max behind the Red Bull garage sitting on a stack of tyres.
He looks tired.
Charles walks over.
"You have been behaving suspiciously."
Max looks up.
"No I haven't."
"You called me mate."
Max grimaces.
"…that slipped."
Charles sits beside him.
"You avoided me all weekend."
Max shrugs. "I didn't."
Charles studies him carefully.
After twenty years he knows exactly what this expression means.
Max is annoyed about something extremely specific and will only explain it if cornered.
Charles nudges his shoulder.
"You went from P20 to P6."
Max shrugs again.
"Still weird."
Charles smiles.
"You'll do better in China."
Max turns his head slowly.
"Charles."
"Yes."
"Have you forgotten the straights in China?"
Charles thinks about it.
"…possibly."
Max stares at him.
Then laughs.
"Idiot."
Charles leans against him.
"Your idiot."
Max sighs.
"Unfortunately."
"So, you're not leaving me?"
"Charlie."
"Yes?"
"Have you gone mad?"
"Possibly. You were avoiding me all weekend."
"No, I wasn't."
"Yes, you were."
Max blinked.
"What?"
"You did not talk to me."
"We talked on the truck."
"That does not count!"
Max stared at him for a moment.
Then he laughed.
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"I thought you were mad at me."
Charles froze.
"Why would I be mad?"
"You were right behind when I crashed."
"…yes?"
Max shrugged.
"I thought maybe you were annoyed."
Charles stared at him. "And you thought ghosting me because you thought I'm annoyed is the best way to deal with the situation?"
Max blinked again. Charles didn't look away.
Then laughed helplessly.
"You are unbelievable."
Max grinned.
Charles grabbed his wrist.
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
"Show me."
Max flexed his fingers.
"See? Fine."
Charles kissed his knuckles.
Max blinked.
"…we are on camera."
"I know."
POV: Max
Saturday - After Qualifying
Max Verstappen crashes the car in Q1.
This is not ideal.
It is also not, historically speaking, the most inconvenient situation Max Verstappen has been in during a race weekend.
The rear steps out.
There is a barrier.
The barrier is very committed to its job.
Max climbs out of the car and immediately evaluates the situation and his hands.
He will start the race from P20.
This leaves two likely outcomes.
- He performs a recovery drive and finishes somewhere near the front.
-
He performs a recovery drive and finishes somewhere near the front while being extremely annoyed about it.
Max removes his helmet.
He briefly considers going to find Charles.
Then he remembers that Charles Leclerc asks follow-up questions.
Max likes Charles.
He has liked Charles for a very long time.
They have known each other since they were small, extremely competitive children who thought braking later than everyone else was a valid personality trait.
They have been together for seven years.
They have been married for two.
Which is why Max knows that if Charles asks a question right now the conversation will go like this:
"How did you crash?"
"The rear stepped out."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"But why?"
"I don't know."
"But what happened exactly?"
"I just told you."
"Yes but what happened exactly."
Max does not currently have the patience for this conversation.
Therefore Max makes a strategic decision.
He disappears.
The Next Morning
Max finds the rookies.
Technically, the rookies find him.
Technically they are not rookies anymore.
But the classification is flexible and the rookies themselves appear unwilling to challenge it.
This works for Max.
The rookies ask interesting questions.
Charles asks the same question six times in slightly different wording until he achieves emotional closure.
This is not the same experience.
Franco asks about tyre management.
Max explains.
Gabi asks about braking points.
Max explains.
The photographer starts arranging the drivers.
Max sits down.
Oscar ends up next to him.
Oscar asks about rear tyre temperatures.
Max explains.
Oscar laughs.
Max pauses briefly.
Max decides that whatever he just said must have been unintentionally funny.
He does not investigate further.
Max continues explaining things.
Oscar laughs again at something Max says about overheating rear tyres.
Max does not think much about it.
In fairness, Max has never been particularly good at identifying when he is being funny.
He usually only finds out later when people quote him online.
Oscar makes another comment.
Max replies.
Oscar laughs again.
Max assumes this is because Oscar is Australian and therefore polite.
Drivers Parade
Max leans against the rail of the parade truck.
The crowd is loud.
Albert Park is always loud.
The Ferrari truck rolls alongside.
Charles is standing near the front.
Max says hello.
Charles stares at him like Max has just committed a federal crime.
Max does not understand this reaction.
Charles asks what is wrong with him and says he crashed yesterday.
Max says that he does it sometime.
They talk for a bit.
Mostly shouting.
Max starts to say something else but Lewis taps Charles and distracts him with a Ferrari flag.
Max waves to the fans.
Conversation finished.
Max does not think about it again.
The Race
Starting from P20 is annoying.
But not impossible.
Max has done worse.
The only real downside is that everyone now expects something ridiculous to happen.
Nobody expects you to win from P20.
Except if you are Max Verstappen.
Which Max unfortunately happens to be.
This is partly his own fault.
Several years of aggressive overtaking have created unrealistic expectations.
Even the official Formula One account had posted something earlier that week asking:
"How many places will Max Verstappen make up this weekend?"
Max suspects the answer "all of them" would receive significant engagement.
Max overtakes several cars in the first laps.
The Red Bull still feels strange.
The new regulations still feel strange.
The straight-line speed is definitely strange.
Max makes a note to complain about this later.
By the final laps he is P6.
This seems acceptable.
Parc Fermé
Max congratulates Kimi.
Kimi looks extremely pleased with P2.
This is understandable.
Max remembers his own first P2.
It had involved significantly more yelling.
Max notices several cameras suddenly pointing in his direction.
Max does not want to answer questions about the regulations again.
Therefore he leaves.
This is called efficiency.
Media Pen
The reporters ask the same questions repeatedly.
Max answers the same way repeatedly.
"Yes, the car is strange."
"Yes, the regulations are strange."
"Yes, the straight-line speed is strange."
He is aware that these interviews will probably annoy several people.
This is not his problem.
Later
Max finally escapes the media pen.
He sits on a stack of tyres behind the Red Bull garage.
Charles appears ten minutes later.
"You have been behaving suspiciously," Charles says.
Max frowns.
"No I haven't."
"You called me mate."
"…that slipped."
Charles sits beside him.
Max realizes something slowly.
Charles looks extremely suspicious.
Max recognizes this look.
Charles has entered analysis mode.
This is dangerous.
Then Charles says:
"You avoided me all weekend."
Max considers this.
Technically this might be true.
But not intentionally.
Technically he had just been talking to people.
And also explaining tyre degradation.
And also avoiding journalists.
And also avoiding follow-up questions.
Charles leans against him.
Max sighs.
Sometimes Charles overthinks things.
Max has learned that the best response in these situations is patience.
And occasionally reminding Charles that China has very long straights.
Charles pulls his phone out.
Max squints at him. "What are you doing?"
"Updating something."
Max leans slightly to see the screen.
Charles' notes app is open.
At the top:
Suspicious Max Behaviour List
- Crashing in Q1
- Medical checks not reported to husband
- Calling me "mate" in public
- Providing injury updates to Fernando Alonso first
- Evading spouse for an entire race weekend
Max snorts. "Of course you made a list."
Charles scrolls.
Then adds a new line.
6. Thinking his husband would be annoyed about crashing
Max stares at it.
"…that is a very reasonable assumption."
Charles pockets his phone.
"You are an idiot."
Max nods thoughtfully.
"Yes."
Beat.
"…but I am your idiot."
Charles sighs.
"Unfortunately."
Later That Night
Max checks social media.
Someone has posted a blurry photo of him and Charles sitting behind the Red Bull garage.
The caption reads:
LESTAPPEN DIVORCE CANCELLED
Max stares at the screen.
Then looks at Charles.
Then back at the screen.
"Charles."
"Yes?"
"Did people think we were divorcing?"
Charles considers this carefully.
"…maybe."
Max sighs deeply.
He decides not to ask any more questions.
Because if he does, Charles will start explaining the entire situation.
And that conversation could easily last five hours.
Which, Max realizes, is probably what he had been avoiding since Saturday, and he'd much rather prefer Charles using his mouth right now for something else other than talking.