NINETEEN

Franz Tost had been avoiding his newest driver as much as he could, since he attempted to take her seat from her and failed as most of the drivers on the grid were ready to defend her.

Though, he couldn't help but be concerned for her wellbeing as he saw her beating the shit out of a punchbag in the garage gym.

He watched her carefully, seeing sweat flooding off her in waves, and a very familiar scowl that she had inherited from her father on her face.

Every hit that the punchbag took from the five foot two girl, seemed to grow stronger and stronger, as she hit it harder and harder, and he couldn't help but worry as to what caused her anger to erupt in the way it did.

She grunted as her fists repeatedly punched at the punchbag as she had been imagining that the bag was her fathers engineer. Her knuckles were wrapped, but she could still see the spots of blood which had begun to form, peaking through her wrapped hands.

Her head couldn't get over the fact that her father was supposed to retire after Monza, before the end of the season, despite the fact that he was set for winning a sixth world drivers championship title.

"Kid."

Franz interrupted the girls thoughts, as she turned to face her team principal with a scowl upon her face, angry that he had interrupted her boxing session.

"What do you want?" She huffed at the man, as she began to unwrap her knuckles.

He raised an eyebrow at her sharp tone, as his hands were on his hips. "Take a breath, kid."

Larissa rolled her eyes before taking a quick breath. "Done."

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't think I do." Larissa spoke sourly, a look of distaste plastered on to her features. "Can I get back to beating the punchbag and imagining that it was you, or am I going to have to deal with your constant nagging all the time?"

Franz shook his head. "I would like you to go easy on the punch bag."

The Brazilian released a scoff. "And I would like my father back, but we don't all get what we want."

The team principal of Toro Rosso couldn't help but chuckle at her cold demeanour, and after seeing her more opening and happy side, he was a hundred percent sure, that he was dealing with the carbon copy of the icon that was Luiz Cohen.

"That, we don't." Franz nodded. He frowned as he noticed her aggressively shoving her belongings in to her workout bag, before she took a large gulp of her water. "Where are you going?"

"Red Bull." Larissa deadpanned. "I don't like Horner, but at least he'll let me work out in peace."

He could only stare dumbfounded as she walked away quickly, soon disappearing from his view.

____________________________________________________

"Lieve, what are you doing here?"

Max Verstappen watched as an agitated Larissa Cohen sauntered over to him with a can of Red Bull in one hand and her workout bag in the other.

"Your team principal is annoying me, so I've come here to annoy you."  She huffed before taking a seat next to the Dutch boy, seeing that he had his hand outstretched towards her, a bag of Reeses pieces within his hand.

"Want some?" Max spoke as he noticed her eyebrows raising in surprise at the choice of snack. "Daniel gave me them, don't tell Christian."

"I won't." Larissa had to hold back a laugh. "If you don't tell Christian that I think he's a dick for watching and commenting on my workout."

"I won't." The pair shook hands before Max turned to look at her. "So what did he do?"

Larissa released a groan as she leant back in her seat, a hand rubbing over her face in exasperation. "I came here to get away from Franz, and I was working out with Daniel for a while, but he left to refill his water and Christian was commenting about how wrong I was punching, or how wrong my feet were, even when I know that I'm not doing it wrong."

"Didn't you start boxing and martial arts when you were like, six?" Max frowned.

Larissa's head snapped fo face the Dutch man in shock, her mouth slightly ajar. "Seven, but how did you know that?"

Max smiled sheepishly. "Zahra told me."

"Of course she did." She groaned as she chuckled, shaking her head. "Of course she did."

"Where is she anyway?" Max questioned with a soft smile as she took some of the Reeses pieces from the bag in his hand.

"She's at her grandmothers funeral, but she'll be back tomorrow for the race." Larissa informed the Verstappen boy as he pulled a brand new can of Red Bull out of his bag.

Max laughed as the can of Red Bull was snatched from his hand by the Brazilian and swiftly opened and drank before he could blink. He noticed how she had a cheeky grin on her lips, as she slowly began to grab her bag as if she was getting ready to run.

Larissa yelped as Max wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her from leaving, laughs and giggles leaving the pair as he began to carry her towards his driver trailer, despite her futile attempts to escape his grasp.

As soon as the door to his driver trailer was closed and locked, he pinned the laughing girl against the door, a smirk on his lips.

"So, you want to steal my Red Bull, huh? You want to steal my drink?" Max smirked down at her as she stared up at him with her signature cocky smile.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She denied, faking confusion.

The pair raised their eyebrows at each other, smirks on both of their lips as they stared each other down, with the both of them refusing to back down.

They stayed silent for a while, just staring in to each others eyes as if nothing else mattered in the world, as if the most important thing in the universe, was that of the person right in front of them.

Max didn't even realise that his face had begun to move closer to hers, until he felt a shock of electricity running through him at the smallest of contact between their lips as they grazed each other.

His hand had moved to the door just beside her head as he began to close the distance further.

"Max! You in there?"

Fuck.

Max mentally facepalmed as he was forced to pull away from the girl, having heard his team mates shout for him from just outside the door of his trailer.

He gulped rapidly, trying to gain his composure back as the Brazilian silently moved towards the door and unlocked it, grabbing her bag and pulling it open to become face to face with the Australian that had rapidly become one of her best friends.

"Oh, hey, Lara. Please tell me that I wasn't interrupting anything, because I can go and come back in a hour if the two of you need to do... things." Daniel stared at her with a small smile, a sigh of relief leaving his lips as she shook her head with a smile.

"You're good, I was just venting to him about what happened after you went to refill your water bottle." Larissa laughed as she sidled over to him and found him immediately wrapping his arm around her and pulling her in to his side.

"Oh, yeah don't listen to him, you could easily send his ass to the floor." Daniel laughed as he rested his head against hers as Max slowly exited his trailer.

"You good, mate?" Daniel asked his team mate who swiftly nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm good, mate." Max smiled at the pair. "What's up?"

"Oh, I was just wanting to talk to you about something, but it's not important." Daniel smiled at his team mate who nodded.

The Australian noticed that in the corner of his eye, that Larissa was staring at him with her eyebrows furrowed together as if she could tell that his smile was a fake one.

"I'm gonna head to see Carlos, so I'll leave the two of you to talk." Larissa began to excuse herself but found that someone had a hold of her arm.

"I'll come with, I need to speak to Nico anyway." Daniel smiled.

"I'll see you both later."  Max nodded, giving his team mate a bro hug before he froze as the Brazilian pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, millimetres away from the corner of his lips.

She turned away from the Dutch man with a smirk at the Australian, who seemed to be trying to hide his smile and laughter, as they began to walk towards the Renault garage.

"So, I'm presuming that you were planning on telling Max that you're wanting to leave Red Bull, am I right?"

Daniel's surprised face shot to look at her, his eyebrows raised and mouth ajar. "How did you know?"

"Christian approached me a couple of weeks ago, and told me that he had an idea that one of his drivers were leaving, and he wanted to sign me." Larissa admitted whilst they walked, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Oh damn, well congratulations on your seat next season, I know you'll do great at Red Bull." Daniel gave her a genuine smile, but she could see the pain in his eyes at the knowledge that his team principal was wanting to replace him before he had even decided that he wanted to leave.

"I refused."

"Wait, what?" Daniel nearly choked on air at the words leaving her lips. "Why? You need a good seat, and it's open for you. He wants you to take it, so why aren't you? You deserve it!"

"Because Dan, they were wanting to replace you, before you had even decided that you wanted to leave." He nodded as she spoke. "That's not the kind of team that I want to drive for. Yes I'm competitive, but I'm not about to sign to a team that are going behind their drivers backs."

Daniel abruptly stopped walking, causing her to come to a stop too. He barely gave her time to say anything, before he pulled her in to his chest tightly. "The sport needs more people like you, Lara. Your father would be so proud of you."

"I know." Larissa spoke against his chest, her voice muffled.

"I know he would."

____________________________________________________

"You're seriously planning to retire?"

"Yes, little one, I am. But, I'll still be here to support you, as always."

Fernando Alonso hugged his niece as he had informed her that he was planning to retire at the end of the 2018 Formula One season. He noticed her quiet behavior, as if she was trying to hide her upset at not having her uncle in the paddock anymore.

"What about Stoffel?" Larissa frowned at the thought of her Uncle's team mate and how he would take the news.

"I don't think that he plans om staying, either." Fernando admitted. "Mclaren will be looking for two new drivers, you might have a chance of getting a seat."

"I am not getting my hopes up." Larissa spoke sourly. "Does anyone else know about your plan to retire?"

"Yes." The Spanish man nodded his head. "Sebastian and Kimi know, as does Mclaren."

"Oh, okay." She nodded her head slowly as she stared at the ground, trying to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes and threatening to spill.

"I wanted to tell you first, but Mclaren didn't want ne to." Fernando soothed as he cupped the soft cheek of his niece. His face softened as soon as he saw the tears about to spill from her eyes, with him bringing his thumbs up to wipe them away the second that they fell.

"Little one, it's okay, I promise that I'll still be here to support you. I think your father would haunt me for the rest of my life, if I didn't."

"True." Larissa mumbled. "He'd make sure that you know that every time you cry, that you look like Webber."

"I do not!" The Spanish man gasped.

"Do too." The pair smiled sadly, remembering their best friend, knowing that he would be agreeing a hundred percent with his daughter, his little girl.

"Excuse me, can I speak to Miss Cohen?"

A familiar voice was heard in their ears as the two locked eyes and spoke in unison.

"No."

"Please?" Maurizio Arrivabene tried once more, as he heard a groan leaving her lips.

"What do you want?" Larissa glared at the team principal of Ferrari, seeing his confident demeanour falter slightly at the glare that was incredibly familiar to him.

"I would like to speak to you, in private." Maurizio spoke politely, holding a hand out for her to take.

"Fine, but you've got two minutes and I'm not going in to your garage."

"Two minutes will suffice."

____________________________________________________

"I am under the suspicion, Miss Cohen, that you are now aware of your father's intention to retire after Monza."

"Yes."

"We think that it is in your best interest to listen to what I have to say, as I have done some digging as to what happened with your father."

Larissa stood with her arms folded across her chest as the man stood in her driver trailer in the Toro Rosso garage. She noticed how his eyes glazed over the multiple pictures and photo frames in her trailer that held photographs of her father, some of which had her in them, the rest having his best friends and the two kids that he had begun to mentor, Sebastian and Lewis, and she noticed the sadness in his eyes, as well as guilt?

"I have discovered that your father had reported the faulty brakes prior to the race, to his most trusted mechanic and that message was ignored, as he was told that he wasn't the mechanic, so he didn't know what he was talking about."

Larissa's eyes widened at the information that the team principal of Ferrari had told her, and she watched as he handed her documents, to prove the information as the truth.

His mechanic had known and had sent him out.

His most trusted mechanic had murdered her father.

"Who is he? Does he still work at Ferrari?"

"No." Maurizio shook his head. "He left after your father's death, but I don't think you'd like to know who it was."

"Tell me."

Larissa clenched her jaw, forcing herself to take a sip of her drink of water, only for her hand to grip the glass so tight, that it shattered in to hundreds of pieces at the words leaving the man's lips.

"Your father's most trusted mechanic, was his father in law."

"Your grandfather."

____________________________________________________

A/N

INTRODUCING

Antônio Fagundes as André Santos (the grandfather)

ALSO, AS I POST THIS, SEBASTIAN VETTEL IS RETIRING AND IM SAD

LARISSA IS LOSING HER UNCLE SEBBY 💔💔

-RUBY