COLD AS ICE - Gryffindorsav (2024)

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

NOVEMBER 2022

"What a season! Anneli Räikkönen wins the Formula 2 Abu Dhabi grand prix!"

"How do you feel to win your first race in F2 during your rookie season?"

"It's nice," Anneli shrugged.

Anneli Räikkönen was a woman of few words.

She took after her dad in that respect and saw little point in rambling about things when she didn't need to. Her dad had always told her that she never had to do anything she didn't want to and Anneli didn't like doing media — another gene she picked up from Kimi.

Anneli Räikkönen's English vocabulary only spanned so far and it was easier to be blunt than it was to find more words she didn't have. She was more responsive in the Finnish interviews when it was her native language. Her dad assured her that English would soon come easily to her when it was spoken everywhere around the paddock but Anneli was stubborn.

Kimi Räikkönen stood with an excited and proud look on his face as his daughter jumped over the barrier to hug him. The other members of her team patterned her on the back but Anneli only cared about her father.

As she stood on the podium, she held a small smile on her face but she had the Räikkönen genes – they weren't the most expressive. Anneli had her ups and downs racing; while her dad was at her side more often than not, he was still racing himself. Anneli was slightly older than those around her because she had stopped karting for two years while her parents got divorced, wanting to stay out of media and work out who was supposed to be there for her.

Anneli's mother wasn't the most caring towards her because she didn't like Anneli racing. Kimi had always battled this and stuck with what Anneli wanted to do and as soon as he could, he got her back into the racing world.

Despite all odds, Anneli won the 2021 Formula 3 championship and finished fifth in her rookie season of Formula 2. She did so without having any backing from a major Formula 1 team until October when one team gave her the time in a car needed to take home her super licence.

"The news that Red Bull has sighed you as their junior and reserve driver for 2023 caught a lot of people by surprise. Would you like to comment on that?" The commentator questioned, holding out the microphone.

"Not really," Anneli replied honestly. "They asked and I signed.

Chapter 2: Kimi's kid

Chapter Text

"Hang on, Kimi Räikkönen has a kid?"

That's the same thing Anneli had grown up with her entire life. Admittedly, her father kept off social media until recently. Even then, Kimi didn't want everyone to think that her daughter was racing because he wanted her to.

He didn't. Anneli always made her own decisions and wanted to start karting at the age of four. Kimi was happy to support that. He told her everything he'd learnt over the years and picked up the pieces when her mother had attempted to pull Anneli out of the sport. Anneli's father was always there for her. Even when he was physically home, he was phoning or FaceTiming her to ensure she was getting to school safely and that her mother took her to races he couldn't.

Even when he remarried and Anneli's half-siblings were born, Kimi didn't treat her any differently. If anything, he took more care in making sure Anneli was happy. By then, she was already travelling around the world racing with Kimi going to as many as he could while taking care of a newborn. Sometimes Anneli would babysit as she still lived at home with her father and stepmother in Switzerland.

Living in Switzerland was a dream when your other hobby was skiing. Sometimes, Anneli wondered if she could have made a career out of that, until realising she wasn't really a professional in it compared to other people. Sadly, she didn't live that close to the ski places but it was close enough for her to drive to. After all, Anneli never did anything she didn't want to.

Not only that, her words were blunt and honest, rather than aiming to people please. Anneli had no interest in that. She always held her ground that her words would always offend someone, it was impossible not to; she just learnt that she wasn't going to be upset if someone wrote something about her. It was just the way of the world and one of the reasons she stayed far away from social media.

"Where are you going?" Kimi asked as she watched his daughter pack a backpack.

"Snowboarding with my group," Anneli answered.

"Okay," Kimi paused. "Be safe."

"I know," Anneli replied smoothly.

Anneli had a good friendship group, consisting of another girl and three guys. They were all from Switzerland and Anneli had met them snowboarding. They didn't know a lot about racing so it gave Anneli a good base to avoid her namesake and make real friends. All of them had genetic jobs which they enjoyed.

There was Elijah, the youngest of the group; a twenty-two-year-old rich kid travelling the world for fun. He didn't throw his wealth in people's faces but it wasn't hard to see. When he wasn't travelling the world, he spent his time at his girlfriend's side.

Admittedly, Anneli wasn't the most...affectionate person in the world but she was still with Elijah three months into their relationship. Perhaps it was because Elijah took his time in caring and trying to work out what Anneli meant. They had been friends before that, all the way since children.

There was Joel and Levi, a pair of twenty-four-year-old twin brothers (thankfully for Anneli, non-identical). Joel was the one of the groups who was last to get the jokes but the one to help you up when you fell in the snow. He was an artist. Levi was the medically trained one of the group, being a paramedic in training.

Finally, there was Elsa, the oldest. She was twenty-seven and worked in her parent's ski centre, which was perfect for the group. She was easily irritated but sometimes rude. Anneli and Elsa didn't always understand each other but they tried.

"Don't you think it's PR stunt that Red Bull make you reserve driver instead of someone who's been in their academy for ages?" Elijah questioned, being the most informed on the matter.

"No."

"But you have to realise that they did that after Saunders was such a success in the media right?" Elijah replied pointedly.

While the group didn't know much about the sport, Elijah was a know-it-all most of the time. If his friend did racing, he wanted to make sure they had something to talk about.

"I don't care."

"You're so difficult sometimes," Her friend groaned.

"It gave me a way in, did it not?" Anneli replied with a shrug. "A problem solved...not that my dad is all that happy in a sense."

"What why?" Elsa's jaw dropped. "Your dad isn't happy you got a major position? Didn't he drive for like Ferrari or something?"

"My dad thinks Red Bull isn't all they make out to be and even if I did get a seat, I'd always be the second driver," Anneli replied. "Dad doesn't want me as a second driver...then again, I think he just wants me at Sauber...and we stop talking about racing now."

Anneli picked up her discarded snowboard and began to trek away from the group. She showed no sign of turning around as she made it to the top of the snowy hill so her friends followed after her.

"She's moody," Elsa complained, picking up her own board.

"She's just Neli," Elijah replied with a shrug.

Snowboarding was a stress reliever for Anneli Räikkönen, especially near the end of the season when she needed to be the top of her game.

It was September and she only had one race left in her rookie season of Formula 2. It has been difficult considering she and her teammate, Roy Nissany, didn't get along at all. She always liked to do better than him when his ego overlooked her driver completely.

The thing about Anneli was that she could get incredibly mad very fast. When she was in the car, she liked to be left alone until she demanded otherwise, just like her father did. She supposed she picked it up from karting, where she never had to speak to anyone, and it wasn't like Kimi ever tried to encourage it.

She hadn't had the most amazing season and she needed to win the last race to pull off 5th. There was no way that she was making it into Formula 1 after her rookie year as most drivers had already been picked. Besides, Anneli wasn't sure she was ready for that yet.

"What was that about?"Elijah questioned as Anneli prepared to go down the hill.

"What?"

"You decarding that whole conversation," Elijah replied pointedly.

"I don't like talking about racing with the group," Anneli replied. "It's my one time away from it and the world...the reporters. None of you have a clue."

"I've been telling you all year that you should take me to one of your racers," Elijah pointed out. "Then I'll understand."

"Come to Abu Dhabi then, I don't care," Anneli shrugged.

"Fine I will," Elijah replied smugly.

"Great," Anneli replied smoothly.

"I'll even get red bull hospitality tickets for the f1 race!" Elijah clapped.

"Why?"

"Because I can and I'm proving a point that I can care," Elijah grinned.

Anneli rolled her eyes, pulling up her scarf over her nose and placing the goggle visor over her eyes so she didn't get snow in her eyes.

"I'll sort you out a pass for the F2 race. You may as well fly in with dad and I."

"Your dad doesn't like me," Elijah pouted.

"He likes you, he just doesn't like to show it," Anneli replied.

"He should because I'm amazing," Elijah signed. "Okay, race to the bottom?"

"As always."

Anneli smirked to herself and leaned forward to start her descent down the snowy mountains. It was her happy place and despite the speeds she was going, it was where she felt the calmest and in complete and utter control.

Despite the fact Elijah always had to be the slightest bit faster than him due to this agile frame, compared to Anneli's slightly body-built one.

Their poor friends were always left following after them with Levi waiting at the bottom for them. He always claimed that he's seen to many injuries to go out skiing or snowboarding so he'd wait for his friends.

"I hate you both," Joel mumbled as he got to the bottom of the slope. "Do you ever chill?"

"No. That's boring," Anneli replied, detaching her boots from the board.

"You're insane," Elsa heaved as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Thank you," Anneli just replied loosely, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "My dad has called me."

"Call him back then," Elijah demanded in an 'obvious' tone.

"No. I'm on my way home anyway," Anneli replied. "It won't be important."

"I bet you 20CHF that it's important," Joel bet Levi, who nodded. "You better tell us Anneli."

"Häivy—"

"I don't understand Finnish," Joel whined.

"That's the point," Anneli smiled before throwing her snowboard in the back of her truck. "Do you losers want a ride home?"

Immediately, the group began to jump into the truck.

"Anneli, why don't you have a sports car with all the money your dad has," Elsa complained lightly. "Or at least a nice off-road car."

"No. I like my truck, Nessie the Nissan is beautiful." Anneli replied short.

Surprisingly, Anneli didn't like to drive on regular roads and she really hated driving normal cars. She supposed she enjoyed the dangerous driving more in a way, such as rally driving or off-road (hence her love of driving her pickup trucks).

"Boring," Elsa sang.

"I can't be boring and insane at the same time, Elsa," Anneli stated.

"Fine then, you're very unique," Elsa uttered.

The drive back to Baar was spent with Joel sitting on his phone, texting his boyfriend. Levi was too busy flirting with Elsa and Elijah was questioning Anneli about what she planned on doing during her time off.

"This is my stop!" Elsa squealed as Anneli pulled to the side of the road.

Elsa jumped from the track and scattered back to her house. If Anneli was honest, she'd rather Elsa not be around but she respected the fact she was Levi's best friend. Besides, it's not like they spent a lot of time together as a group.

"Play nice, Nel," Joel warned lightly.

"I am."

"No, you're not," He pouted as they pulled outside his parent's house, just a few minutes from Elsa's,"See you!"

"Bye guys!" Levi waved, jumping out of the track and grabbing his skis from the back.

"Bye!" Elijah waved.

Another thing to know about Anneli is that she didn't speak many languages. She could only speak English and Finnish, which didn't always help in Switzerland. All of her friends spoke German but were also fluent in English as they were taught it in school alongside picking things up from Anneli.

Anneli had lived in Switzerland since they moved there when she was nine. By then, she'd already grown up with Finnish and English and struggled to learn German. Eventually, Kimi gave up trying to make her and sent her to an English school close by instead.

"You are serious about Abu Dhabi?" Elijah confirmed.

"I don't care what you do," Anneli replied. "If you want a pass, I get you a pass. If you want to pay for Red Bull hospitality, go ahead. I'll be there."

"Perfect," Elijah grinned. "I'll look forward to it."

"You do that."

"I will. And Neli?"

Anneli turned to her friend as he stepped out of the truck, "Yes?"

"Love you, See you tomorrow!"

Chapter 3: Karting

Chapter Text

It seemed fitting that a person labelled as the iceman would end up in a colder country. Considering that a lot of people in his ex-profession decided in Monaco due to the favourable tax conditions and reputation, Switerzland wasn't always the first choice.

Kimi wasn't the only Formula One driver who resided in Switzerland for just an hour away, Sebastian Vettel lived in Thurgau. Kimi never felt like he made many friends within the sport but Sebastian had always been one, that's the reason why he was Anneli's godfather.

Sebastian never took that for granted either, he treated Anneli as well as one of his kids.

Even if Anneli wasn't his goddaughter, everyone knew that Sebastian had a habit of making sure anyone he met was safe and cared for. Sebastian was there for Anneli's races when Kimi couldn't be. She'd miss that when he retired since Anneli didn't expect him to fly out to her races, especially when her own mother only did so once a year.

Anneli didn't see her mother, Jenni Väänänen, that often. She lived in Finland so Anneli would have to purposely fly out to see her no matter if she were home or finishing a race weekend. Anneli flew to Finland to see her twice a year and her mother went to the occasional race. They didn't have a bond like Anneli did with her father.

On the other hand, Anneli got on well with her stepmother. Minttu had been around since Anneli was 9 years old so it almost felt like she grew up with two mothers. Minttu always treated Anneli like her own, which Jenni had never liked. With travelling so often throughout her entire life, Anneli liked to know she had three parents to fall back on.

"Anneli, what are you doing?" Minttu questioned as she caught her stepdaughter staring at the wall.

"Waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Minttu added kindly.

"Robin, I promised him that I would take him to practice karting if he left me alone yesterday. He did," Anneli replied honestly. "Dad said it was okay."

"Okay," Minttu replied. "Where is your dad?"

"I don't know."

She trusted Anneli. Her stepdaughter was always honest, though a little blunt, and incredibly responsible. Besides,Anneli was amazing big sister and no one could deny that.

"Neli, I want to go now!" Robin yelled lightly, running down the stairs.

"Do you have your helmet?" Anneli questioned, crossing her arms.

"No—"

"Where is it?"

"Dad had it," Robin replied with a shrug.

"Go ask him for it then," Anneli insisted. "I am not taking you karting without it. You know that."

Robin ran off to find their dad while Anneli opened up her phone. While she had a social media page, she never monitored it or had notifications. She posted pictures every couple of days and that was it. When she was at races, DAMS would handle the content. She only opened direct messages from texts. That included her boyfriend, Elijah.

Elijah
Neli can I come over?

Anneli
No. Taking Ro karting. Be back at 4

Anneli realised when she was a teenager that she didn't like technology. The media was her least favourite thing to do, which she got lucky with because DAMS didn't do that much off-site media. She didn't mind it if she was with people she liked but overall, she was perfectly happy without her phone.

"Okay ready!" Robin's voice echoed as he returned with helmet in hand and Kimi behind him.

"I'm coming too," Kimi replied. "I'm bored."

"If you're coming with us, I'm karting too," Anneli insisted.

Kimi didn't put up a fight with her, just shrugging instead. He liked watching his kids race because both were happy doing so. He was surprised at how well Anneli interacted with her siblings about it considering she was so reserved.

Rianna had been karting a few times but she hadn't shown to be as interested as her brother was. She would always hug Anneli before races if she was there and hug her brother before karting events.

"Have you met with Red Bull yet?" Kimi questioned as his hands gripped the wheel. "Since signing?"

"No," Anneli replied. "I'm flying to England in a few weeks to meet with Christian, Verstappen and Perez. He thinks I should know who I am reserved for and he mentioned something about a practice session in Abu Dhabi."

"Cool!" Robin grinned from the back of the car,"Are we going to watch you race?"

"We are," Kimi answered. "So what now?"

"Nothing now," Anneli shrugged. "I will have a Red Bull livery on my car next year, the suit...like all the other juniors do. Why do you look so unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy," Kimi replied honestly. "I am concerned—"

"You have no reason to be concerned. I know you think they just take on drivers and drop them from the junior programme but I'm not just part of that," Annel replied honestly. "Besides, they pay me and fund my racing so you don't have to."

"I don't care about the money, Anneli."

"I know you don't but I do," Anneli pursed her lips.

"I am concerned that the other teams don't want to take on a Red Bull junior...and the travelling to England all of the time."

"I don't have a lot of other options. All the current drivers have contracts for a few more years. What am I left with? Hoping Logan Sargeant gets dropped at the end of the year? And Zhou Guanyu isn't going to get dropped at Alfa Romeo either, Dad. The travelling doesn't bother me as it did you."

"Okay," Kimi shrugged. "Do what you want to do and I will support it."

"Thank you," Anneli breathed.

Once they made it to the track they used, they got out the two go-karts. Anneli still liked go-karting from time to time because it didn't feel like work but still helped her skills. Anneli also planned to go to her brother's races whenever she was racing herself, such as the one in a week's time.

"You can have a head start," Anneli told her brother. "Do not give me that look, it is fair."

"Okay!" Robin replied happily.

Kimi ensured Robin was securely in the go-kart and had his helmet fully on while Anneli got herself into the go-kart. Kimi gave her a small wink and Anneli knew she was going to let her brother win the first race...after that...all was fair in love and war.

Anneli had to give Robin some credit, he was a great driver in the go-kart and with the headstart, he won the first race without Anneli having to hold back too much. Once starting side by side, it wasn't exactly hard to win but Robin was only eight years old, he had a long way to go.

By the time they got to the last race, Anneli had let her brother win a few times but made sure he still did his overtake safely and legally (which he did). Anneli hoped he would do well in his next race.

Kimi was happy to see Anneli help him. He remembered the day he told her that she would be getting half-siblings, expecting her to be upset about it, even cautious, but she didn't really have much a reaction to it other that 'cool'. When she finally held Robin, he knew he'd be a good sister to him and soon later, Rianna.

It was a curious thing that Anneli was so much like Kimi sometimes but her half-siblings weren't. Then again, Anneli had grown up with her father around far more than her mother so it wasn't all that odd she had picked up his ways as 'normal' before just sticking with it. She liked the ease of life without the fake facades.

"Another round?" Robin pouted.

"No, sorry, Ro," Anneli replied as she helped take his helmet off,"I have to go snowboarding in the morning."

"Weren't you there the other day?" Kimi questioned.

"Yes, but I want to make the most of it while I am home. Elijah and I are going alone," Anneli replied. "It's quiet in the morning compared to the afternoon."

"Okay," Kimi replied as they walked back to the car. "You can bring Elijah back for lunch."

Not wanting her younger brother to overhear her, Anneli switched to English.

"Only if you stop glaring at him," Anneli glanced at her father. "You can get along, I don't know what your problem is."

"I have no problem."

"Liar."

"I just don't like you having a boyfriend," Kimi shrugged.

"You can't say anything about that...you're married," Anneli rolled her eyes.

"You are my daughter."

"A grown adult." Anneli argued, crossing her arms.

"My daughter. End of discussion."

Chapter 4: Elijah

Chapter Text

Before you could really understand the life of Anneli Räikkönen, you had to understand how she'd grown up. No, that didn't mean talking about the 'rich' life she lived or the fact her dad was a well-known figure. It didn't even have to do with the karting itself.

It resolved around the way Anneli dealt with it.

You see, Anneli never felt grounded as a child; she didn't see the world the same way other kids did. She barely had a school life and that stopped her from really understanding the way she was supposed to interact with other people, which is why she took after Kimi so much.

Travelling around the country and then travelling the world meant that Anneli dealt with change well but left her closed off to expressing too much emotion. She wasn't incapable of it, she just never saw the point in showing it when it only led to misinterpretations.

Anneli wasn't particularly academically smart (likely from the broken school life) but she understood the world and the world was cruel. People couldn't be trusted without reason, she thought it was stupid to do so.

Where was this all leading to?

The point was that, despite her close-off nature and lack of interest in people, Anneli managed to make friends one way or another. Admittedly, it stemmed from either arguments or sports. She had no school friends.

She met all of her friends around the age of twenty when she'd gone snowboarding for the first time alone. They had no idea what they were doing and Anneli felt sorry for them, so she helped and then she helped again. From there, they just continued to hang out.

Elijah wasn't a part of that. She'd met him years before at the age of sixteen in the Formula 1 paddock. He had no interest in being there at all. In fact, he had been forcefully dragged by the arm by his father to sit at the Lotus Renault hospitality. Being there with her dad, Anneli went to put him out of his misery by asking if she could sit there. His father knew who she was from the paddock pass and stuttered his way into saying yes.

Admittedly, Elijah hadn't been anywhere near a race since.

Elijah had been around for the longest and after spending so much time together, Anneli just assumed that they must have some kind of connection there. She'd never had any previous relationships so she assumed this was what it was supposed to be like.

"Anneli, the boy is here," Kimi's voice echoed throughout the house.

Anneli, who was sitting on the floor braiding Rianna's hair, stood up slowly.

"Okay," She replied. "Did you let him in?"

"Obviously," Kimi smiled as he walked into the room with Anneli's boyfriend.

"Hei Neli," Elijah beamed. "Hei Rianna."

"Hei!" Rianna waved before continuing to ramble to Anneli in Finnish.

In the entire time, Elijah had known Anneli, he'd had only learnt Hello (Hei) and how are you? (Mitä kuuluu?). Kimi liked it that way because he could talk to Anneli in private even when Elijah was in the room.

"What were you doing yesterday again?" Elijah questioned, sitting on the sofa behind his girlfriend.

"Karting with Robin," Anneli replied. "What did you want yesterday?"

"I didn't want anything," Elijah shrugged, pulling his phone from his pocket.

"Then why did you ask to—"

"To spend time with you," Elijah pursed his lips.

"Oh. Okay."

Anneli finished the last bit of her sister's hair, meaning she was free to get up from the floor. Looking up, she noticed her dad staring at Elijah while Minttu talked to her stepdaughter's boyfriend.

"Elijah is going to come to Abu Dhabi with us," Anneli said as she pulled herself up onto the chair.

"That is great," Minttu replied with a smile. "We'll all be going then?"

"All of you?" Anneli questioned curiously. "I thought only dad was going?"

"What are you saying?" Elijah whispered to Anneli.

"Learn Finnish and you will know," Anneli retorted before turning back to her dad. "You told me that only you were coming!"

"I was until last week, I forgot to tell you," Kimi shrugged. "We will all go. Antonio will be there with Ferrari but he has promised to watch your race too."

Antonio Giovinazzi; A reserve driver who used to drive full-time for Alfa Romeo alongside Kimi. Alongside Sebastian Vettel, Antonio was one of Kimi's good friends from racing and Anneli had spent a lot of time with him too.

He tried to teach Anneli Italian once but he failed...or at least, Anneli had no interest in it.

"Okay," Anneli shrugged.

Anneli turned her focus to watching Rianna and Robin draw, seeing both of them attempting to draw their family. Sometimes Anneli wondered if they found it strange to have a sister who was so much older than them because they didn't know she wasn't their full sister.

It didn't seem like an important thing to tell them since Anneli lived with her father full-time. Anneli had always thought of Minttu as another mother, even if she couldn't call her 'mom', since she couldn't fault the woman for helping to take care of her. Minttu never treated Anneli any differently.

"We were saying that everyone is going to Abu Dhabi," Anneli summed up for Elijah.

"Tell him to learn finnish," Kimi mumbled as Minttu rolled her eyes.

"Is your mom going?" Elijah asked, turning to Anneli.

"She said she is," Anneli replied. "They're going to hate me for getting this many passes."

"It is a good thing you're liked?" Elijah suggested. "You are liked, right?"

"I don't know, don't care," Anneli replied with a shrug.

"You're crazy, Neli," Elijah laughed.

"Not crazy, just honest," Anneli replied.

Rianna jumped up from the floor and thrust her picture at Anneli, who kindly took it. Anneli smiled at the cutely drawn picture of them all and ruffled Rianna's hair.

"I will put it on my wall," She promised.

Rianna squealed in happiness before going to sit between her parents. A few minutes later, Robin did the same thing and since Anneli was true to their word, she would put both their pictures in her room.

After all, Anneli may be blunt but she had a big heart when it came to her family.

Chapter 5: Lake Side

Chapter Text

As the sun set over the Swiss Alps, a group of friends laughed and chattered away on a grassy hillside. The group consisted of three boys and one girl, who had all decided to take a trip together outside of their usual skiing. They had spent the day exploring the quaint, picturesque town of Interlaken, around two hours from their home. They had gone hiking up to stunning mountain vistas and indulging in Swiss chocolate.

It had been Joel who suggested going elsewhere, wanting to make the most of the sun without heading straight into the snowy mountain. He and Levi had grown up near Interlaken so they knew how nice it was.

Anneli was heading to the Red Bull Factory the next day so she didn't mind taking a moment away from any type of sport. She had to meet the team members and engineers in case she ever needed to take over, as well as try out the sim for the first time.

They were heading to the crystal clear waters nearby, happy to jump into the calm lake. The sun was shining bright, the air was fresh, and the view was breathtaking. As they sat on the dock watching the sunset for over an hours, knowing they had nothing to do but be with each other.

"I love water," Joel sighed happily, running a hand through the water.

"If you love it so much, why don't you get in!" Levi laughed as he pushed his brother into the water.

The water splashed as Joel tumbled in, the waves rippling as he did so. The group above laughed happily as Levi peered over to make sure he hadn't accidentally killed his brother.

"Hey!" Joel called as re-emerged. "Uncalled for!"

"Not really," Levi laughed. "Don't worry, I know CPR if I have to rescue you!"

"You're mean," Joel wined. "Elijah, get him!"

Elijah gave a small salute before pushing Levi over the dock...sadly Levi grabbed Elijah's arm and pulled him in with him. Anneli grinned as she rolled her eyes.

"Elsa, don't be a party kill, get in here! And you, Ann, or I swear, I'll drag you both in!" Levi called cheerfully.

Elsa signed but took off her jacket and shoes regardless. She took the safe route of heading down the rocks by the side and carefully stepping in. Anneli noticed her friends staring at her as she narrowed her eyes.

"Come on, Nel, don't tell us you're scared of water now!" Joel joked.

"Oh I'm not," Anneli replied as she threw her hair into a bobble. "Just trying to find the fun way to do this."

Elijah let out a bark of a laugh as he watched his girlfriend take off her jumper, leaving her in a sport bra and shorts. She kicked her shoes off into the grass and backed up as far as she could.

Anneli laughed as she ran down the wooden dock, feeling the planks bounce beneath her feet. She leapt into the air, flipping, and plunged into the cool water below. The sun sparkled on the surface, and Anneli swam lazily, enjoying the weightlessness of being submerged. She surfaced, shaking her hair out of her face, and grinned at her friends.

"That was so dramatic!" Elsa commented with a small smile.

"It's Anneli," Elijah grinned. "She's dramatic without trying to be half the time."

"That's because the blunt truth for you is dramatic," Anneli commented as she floated at top of the water. "I hope you know we aren't driving back until I've dried off."

"Fine with me, I'll get a tan," Elsa replied. "Considering it's going to start getting cold within the next weeks."

Switerzland got quite warm during the summer months, which people were always surprised about when Anneli told them. She imagined it was because she associated the country with snowy mountains.

"Are you sure that you don't want company tomorrow, Neli?" Elijah asked as she swam around the lake.

"No thank you," Anneli replied. "It's not a long flight and I have someone meeting me there."

"Oh, I forgot that's where you're going tomorrow!" Levi gasped. "Red Bull...that's so cool."

"How come that's cool but racing for Dams isn't?" Anneli raised an eyebrow.

"I know nothing about racing but everyone knows Red Bull," Levi shrugged. "Besides, I've been medical help for some of their skiing events."

"I see," Anneli whistled.

"What time is your flight?" Elsa questioned while she climbed back onto the docks and lay down.

"5am or 6am?" Anneli guessed. "It's early."

"It's not that early, I start my shift at 4am most days—"

"No one asked Levi," Elijash joked, splashing water at him.

As the sun began to hide behind the clouds, the group made their way back towards the place they had parked. As always, Anneli was driving. Her friends stopped offering after they realised that Anneli was a terrible passenger, either wanting to say something about their driving or just on edge with it. So they gave up the offering.

Anneli preferred it that way. Besides, her friends still paid the expenses wherever they went.

"You've never been to England before, have you Nel?" Levi realised. "You'll hate it."

"I will?" Anneli hummed.

"It's nothing like where you live," Levi nodded. "The air isn't as nice and people just barge past you—"

"Don't put bad thoughts into her head," Joel contested, hitting his shoulder.

"But I'm trying to help!"

"I know you are but that doesn't change the fact I'll be there all the time," Anneli reminded them.

Anneli allowed her friends to launch into other conversations while she focused on the road. She loved these people, as crazy and unusual as they could all be. It was a life she enjoyed very much.

She just hoped that tomorrow would go as smoothly as today did.

Chapter 6: Milton Keynes

Chapter Text

As the Red Bull Factory rolled into view and Anneli realised that her first F2 season was about to end, it almost seemed like the year had sped away from her. She felt like the first race was only last week and yet, she would be racing in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks.

Her flight from Switzerland to England had been peaceful as her father had ended up paying for business class, despite Anneli insisting she was just fine in the economy. Kimi was less worried about where she was sitting and more worried about people recognising her or harassing her. It was possible when she was publically seen with Kimi and the majority of race fans knew she was his daughter.

Anneli wouldn't deny that it was a lot easier to go business class but it was important for her to remind her father that she travelled economy most of the time for F2, unless she had decided to travel with Sebastian or her father.

Elijah was partly right about Anneli's opinion of England. She couldn't say that it blew her away when she drove toward Milton Keynes but her driver, a Red Bull employee, had explained that there were nicer areas of the country to go to if she wanted to see nature or history.

Anneli didn't, it didn't interest her but it was nice to know.

"Anneli, welcome to the factory," greeted Christian kindly. "How was your flight?"

"It was okay," Anneli shrugged. "Average."

At that moment, Christian couldn't help but see the resemblance to Kimi's personality. Not to mention, Anneli looked a lot like him in the way her face naturally rested and everything about her was fully relaxed. A look of new members were nervous, it was natural, but not Anneli.

"Shall we head inside?" Christian suggested.

Anneli nodded and allowed the team principal to show her around the factory. Everyone was incredibly supportive of Anneli and she enjoyed to see the all the different departments. The Formula 1 factories were a lot larger than Formula 2.

"We've made some arrangements and Dams have agreed to place our livery on your car in Abu Dhabi," said Christian brightly. "It's officially announced and we're going to let you complete a practice session."

"Sounds great," Anneli nodded.

"I've also heard that you haven't found a trainer for next year so if you like, we can sort that out for you as well," Christian suggested. "We're here to help you, just like other juniors and reserve drivers."

Anneli nodded, watching the mechanics hard at work. Sometimes she wondered if they ever got bored of their job. They never appeared to but, surely, at some point...you want to put down your hat and call it a day?

"Max, Checo, this is Anneli Rikkonen," Christian introduced. "She'll be our reserve driver."

"Nice to meet you," said Checo as he shook her hand.

"Likewise," Anneli nodded.

"Hi," Max smiled, moving to shake her hand as well.

"Anneli here is driving for Dams in Formula 2," Christian explained. "So she'll be at most of your races too in the garage."

Anneli gave a small nod.

It wasn't exactly a thrilling conversation when the people in the room weren't huge talkers. Anneli hated starting conversations anyway so she wasn't much use when it came to that.

She could sense Max staring at her as if trying to work out how to try to start a conversation with the Finnish girl. Or perhaps he was interested in the small tattoo on her neck (a bear - the national animal of Finland as she was proud of her heritage (even if she lived in Switzerland now).

"I'll let you three talk," Christian offered kindly. "Then you can do some sim work."

"Yeah, okay," Max nodded.

Christian gave them a nod before following the staff member who was waiting at the door for him. Anneli guessed it was an engineer since he had an iPad out as they walked.

"Have you flown far to get here?" Checo questioned.

"It's around an hour and a half from Switzerland," Anneli replied

"You are from Switzerland?" Max questioned. "I thought—"

"People think I live in Finland because I am Finnish but I have lived in Switzerland for a long time," Anneli interrupted. "I do go to Finland to visit my mom but I am still living with my dad."

"Ah, that's cool," Max nodded. "How has your f2 season been?"

"Worse than I wanted but it's a rookie season so It could have been worse," Anneli answered. "If I win Abu Dhabi, I will be happy."

"I can give you some tips if that helps," Max offered.

"Sure," Anneli struggled. "I would like to win Abu Dhabi, my entire family and boyfriend will be there."

"Abu Dhabi is special," Max agreed.

Truth be told, Anneli didn't really want to talk about racing but she also understood that's what she was employed to do (not just race in general). She just found it a little exhausting when she had to do it with a team and media already.

"Do you know much about England?" Anneli questioned, shuffling in her spot. "I have only ever been to Silverstone..."

"It's not as nice as Switerzland. I haven't explored much," Max shrugged as Checo nodded in agreement.

"You have been to Switerzland? I live in Baar near Zurich!" Anneli smiled, she loved talking about home. "I'm into snowboarding so I go into the mountains all the time."

"Snowboarding? I wouldn't have put you as a snowboarder," Max stated.

Anneli appreciated the fact that Max told the truth outright and she'd heard from most people that it was the case; that would work well considering Anneli was that way too. There was also a lot of talk that the man was incredibly funny without trying to be.

"You like Snowboarding?" Checo questioned.

"Love it," Anneli corrected. "It gets me away from racing and I have a good group of friends to snowboard with. It is good for fitness."

From there, Anneli, Max and Checo were able to have a nice conversation before heading down to the sim racing. Admittedly, Max beat both of the other two without much thought but Anneli still gave them a run for her money. She clearly had skills.

She hoped she would be happy on the Red Bull Junior team and she truly hoped it was going to help her get an F1 seat. With one race left, her rookie season would be over.

She'd be damned if she didn't win the F2 championship in 2023.

Chapter 7: Good Luck Charm

Chapter Text

If you asked Anneli Räikkönen if she thought she would race better than anyone on the Formula 1 grid, she'd tell you she could.

Anneli didn't have a big ego but she was ultra-realistic; she knew her flaws and her strengths as well as those around her. She'd analysed the driving of the current F1 grid and she understood where she would fit within it.

She knew for a fact she could out-drive Robyn Saunders in equal machinery but in all honesty, most of the grid could because she didn't have the years of experience. She was just lucky in a good car and a good attitude towards putting in the hours.

Anneli knew she was better than Logan Sargaent because they had raced together and she also thought she could take on De Vries and potentially Mick Schumacher.

Some people thought it was a character flaw that Anneli would echo these thoughts but those who knew the young woman were positive she knew exactly where she had her statistics from. Anneli didn't say anything she wasn't sure of. It's what made her such a valuable asset.

In her opinion, those who didn't know their worth in the sport were wasted talent anyway.

Jenni Dahlman, Anneli's mother, had always taught her that knowing her worth was the biggest thing she could do in any aspect of life...from men to sports to friends. So, Anneli gave her mother credit for that feature in her life.

"I won't be late, Anneli, I promise," Jenni spoke over the phone. "You worry too much."

"I didn't say you'd be late," Anneli corrected. "I asked if you would be there friday or saturday."

"Obviously Saturday! I want to watch you in the Formula 1 car," Jenni replied. "Has your dad freaked out yet?"

"No. I don't think he will," Anneli replied as she shrugged despite her mother not being able to see it.

Jenni hummed on the other end of the phone.

"How was meeting the Red Bull team?"

"Nice, I think. My english wasn't the best," Anneli replied. "I'm still working on it but we seemed to get along. Max and I are on the same level, Checo is just a little awkward at times but he was nice."

"Good," Jenni breathed. "Good. Okay, I'm going to end the call now but I will see you in Abu Dhabi. I love you, Anneli."

"Love you too mom, bye."

Ending the school, Anneli let out a faint sigh. She was glad that her mom was coming to the race but part of her was worried that all her family would distract her from what she was trying to do: win.

It was weird for her sometimes because she still remembered all of the days she sat in the Ferrari garage, watching her dad put his helmet on and ruffling her hair. She remembered how the engineers would let her sit with them or how Sebastian would make sure she was taken care of, had eaten and was happy.

She even remembered how Alonso would wave at her when she walked, clinging to Kimi's hand, and Valterri pulling faces at her while talking to her in Finnish as one of the drivers native to there.

It seemed odd ot her that she would be back in the f1 paddock as a junior driver, walking next to her retired father and watching those she had grown up around. It was surreal in a way.

"Anneli, we leave in a few hours, make sure you have packed," Kimi warned as he walked past her room.

"Got it," Anneli called back.

"Can I help?" Rianna asked as she stood in her doorway.

"Of course, come here," Anneli smiled,"Do you want to help me find my racing things?"

"Yes!" Rianna bubbled with excitement.

"Okay, my gloves should be in that drawer right next to you," Anneli spoke as she zipped her helmet into its bag.

Rianna came running back with the gloves, dropping them into Anneli's suitcase. Anneli adored her siblings and Rianna was impossible to ignore with her cuteness.

"I'll bring your picture for good luck," said Anneli as she unpinned the picture.

Rianna let a little squeal at this.

It was a drawing of Anneli in a race suit, standing on top of the podium. She hoped it might bring her some good luck and if it didn't, it was still from her little sister.

Anneli had a customised helmet for the final race of the season; the top had the Finnish flag with snowy mountains surrounding it to represent her favourite place in Switzerland. The rest of the helmet was decorated as frozen since Anneli had braced the ice nature of the family name. She also had Kimi, Jenni, Minttu, Robin and Rianna written around the base. On the top of the visor, the words 'Racing for Seb' for clearly shown.

"What do you think, Ria, think I'll win?" Anneli questioned.

"Yeah, you fast!"

Anneli smirked as she placed the final things into her case, zipping it closed.

"I hope so," Anneli breathed. "Okay, let's go find Robin."

Anneli took Rianna's hand as they headed to find Robin.

______________

Snow Club: Group Chat
Fish 🐠: Joel
Let it go ❄️: Elsa
Ambulance 🚑: Levi
Rich kid 💸: Elijah
Ice Cube 🧊: Anneli

Fish 🐠
Heard you flying out today

good luck

Let it go ❄️
yeh good luck

Ice Cube 🧊
thanks guys

Ambulance 🚑
THINK OF ME WHEN YOU WIN

Rich kid 💸
Levi, why would she think of you
and no one else 😭

Ambulance 🚑
I'm the favourite

Let it go ❄️
🤣

Fish 🐠
No you're not

Ice Cube 🧊
I don't have favourites
and no i won't be thinking about you
or anyone. If I win, I'll think
of taking a nice nap

Rich kid 💸
Wow exciting

Ice Cube 🧊
It is, thank you.

Ambulance 🚑
A NAP?
NO. GO PARTY IF YOU WIN

Ice Cube 🧊
In all honesty, I would
but my siblings will be with me
so many something family-friendly

Fish 🐠
cute but boring

Let it go ❄️
If you win, we'll throw you a party
when you get back

Ice Cube 🧊
Deal

Chapter 8: Robyn Saunders

Chapter Text

A portion of people in the world collectively hated one thing: travelling with their family. Some people didn't get along with every family member, some people liked to travel alone and some just found it too stressful.

Anneli was a mix, she found travelling with her family stressful because they still had kids to try and manage but they were lucky since Kimi was used to it. Anneli found that she preferred to travel alone most of the time because she'd always get quality sleep or just...relax. She found that impossible with her family but not in a bad way.

Kimi had rented a private jet because they all knew that it would be hell trying to get the entire family through a commercial flight and Kimi just wanted it to be easy for Anneli's last race of the season. It was also the first time that Elijah would be joining them and Anneli still wasn't sure what her father's standpoint on it would be.

In private, he didn't want Anneli to have a boyfriend at all but he was always pleasant enough around them both. Minttu just blamed it on a thing most fathers did when they wanted to protect their daughters so Anneli just agreed with her.

Anneli's mother wasn't flying with them, even though Kimi and Minttu didn't mind, but it wasn't a surprise. Anneli's mother would be flying in with her husband instead and didn't want to impose on the family.

On the flight there, Rianna forced Anneli to sit and watch both of the mamma Mia movies. Anneli didn't mind but she wanted to nap (another perk when she travelled alone). Anneli rather liked musicals so she picked up on the songs quickly and even enjoyed singing so it was less painful than it seemed. It just made Anneli think of Fernando Alonso, who she had spoken to a few times as a child and again when she had been in the F1 paddock. He could be a funny guy if you got to know him.

"Anneli, what are you thinking about?" Elijah questioned, his swiss accent coming out.

"Nothing interesting," Anneli hummed.

"You looked very spacey," Elijah replied.

"No worry, Elijah, she stares into space often," said Minttu, English slightly broken up.

It was rare for her to speak in English. After all, she was Finnish too and her whole family spoke that. However, Elijah couldn't speak their native language so they adapted to English for him.

"It means she is thinking of something smart," Kimi corrected as Robin climbed onto his lap.

"It was not a smart thought," Anneli replied. "I was just thinking of ways to annoy Fernando."

Kimi snorted,"You can't annoy Fernando. You spent all your time in the paddock as a child and there were many times Fernando ended up accidentally babysitting you when you would run off."

"You had a habit of exploring," Minttu nodded. "I would have to run all around the paddock or get Seb to find you."

"Adventures are fun," Anneli muttered with a faint smile. "Why did you never get me a babysitter if I was a runaway?"

"Eventually, the drivers knew you anyway and knew where to send their staff to bring you back or people in the garage would keep you busy. You would watch the race with the mechanics." Kimi replied with a smile. "You were a good kid."

Notably, Anneli raced in F3 from 2017-2018 before taking a year break due to an accident and going back into it for 2020, struggling with her recovery through that season but bring it back for 2021 by winning the F3 championship. She was no wonder-kid when it came to racing, she had to work for it. It was, nice in a way, since she raced alongside Mick in 2018, who won the championship that year. With both of them racing, Seb attended a few of their races.

Now the German was retiring and Anneli was going to miss seeing her Godfather around the paddock and on screen. She was lucky that he promised that he'd still attend some of her races and the odd F1 race as a spectator.

When they landed in Abu Dhabi, Anneli quickly settled in. She had been there before so it was nothing knew to her and they weren't big people when it came to tourism in general. They'd arrived on Thursday and would be waking up and heading straight to practice.

Formula 1 practice.

It seemed surreal to Anneli that she would be driving a red Bull F1 car along with having their livery for her F2 race. Everything about it gave her hope.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯

"Can you hear the drums Fernando?" A soft voice sang the ABBA song as she crept up on a certain Alpine driver.

"Anneli, you will be the death of me."

Fernando Alonso sighed as he turned to face Anneli Räikkönen, the young woman who always seemed to find him no matter where he was in the paddock, never fearing his reaction or trying to make friends with him like the other drivers...only remembering him from her days as a kid.

Fernando Alonso smiled. "So the rumours are true, you are in practice?"

"You know it," Anneli replied with a smirk. "Did you miss me?"

"I do but you have not been around the paddock—"

"I have things to do, Nando," Anneli replied smoothly. "I'm a racer now, did you know?"

"No," Fernando replied sarcastically. "Never heard it...it is not like I watch your races."

Anneli chuckled as she glanced at her dad by Sebastian. Deciding to leave Fernando alone, she echoed her goodbyes as Fernando called after her.

"And stop singing that song, Nel!"

Anneli, despite her casual nature normally, grinned as she jogged over to her dad and godfather. Sebastian and Kimi always found it a little strange that Anneli got on so well with Fernando since the Spaniard didn't usually form the closest friendships.

Anneli had left Elijah, Minttu and her step-siblings in hospitality for a short period while she went to speak to some of the drivers she knew. It wasn't that she didn't want her family speaking to them as well but this was something Anneli liked to do alone.

"Hey Seb," Anneli beamed. "Feeling positive?"

"You know I am always am, Nel," Sebastian replied as he placed his arm over her shoulder. "Your dad and I were just talking about you."

"Oh?"

"He wants to know what to buy you when you win," Sebastian teased.

"If I win, the trophy I get will be enough."

"But it is your last race of your rookie season," Kimi complained.

"I don't need anything," Anneli chuckled.

Kimi still looked like he was trying to work out what he was going to do to celebrate when his daughter got on the podium because he knew she would.

"Robyn is there, you need to meet her," Sebastian realised. "Hey, Robyn, come!"

With a slightly tilted head, Anneli watched the woman walk over to her. She was medium height, had dark brown skin and chocolate brown hair with striking hazel eyes, all complimented by her black Mercedes race suit that was half down, showing her fireproof underneath.

"This is Anneli," Sebastian introduced. "And Kimi."

"Nice to meet you," Robyn smiled as she shook their hands. "I've been watching your races, Anneli, you're incredibly talented."

Anneli didn't always like praise but she was thankful for it anyway.

"Thanks," Anneli replied smoothly. "I'm driving for Red Bull in the practice session today instead of Checo so I'll be seeing you on track."

"Ah, that's cool!" Robyn beamed.

"Sebastian likes to talk about you," Kimi commented kindly.

"Oh really?" Robyn chucked, glancing at Sebastian,"Good things?"

"Very good things," Anneli replied, finnish accent strong.

Anneli had seen Robyn Saunders on track; she knew the woman would have been a force to reckon with if she had passed through F2 (though she was curious of how she managed to not go through F2...) and Anneli was looking forward to driving against her.

"Lewis mentioned that you've brought your family," said Sebastian slowly. "Did you invite—"

"No, I haven't invited my parents," Robyn replied, "But Ash, Ollie, Corrine and Ash's girlfriend Dove are here."

The Räikkönens sensed that Robyn didn't have a good relationship with her parents. Anneli couldn't imagine that, she'd be nowhere without her father backing her up.

"Did Oliver bring Hallie?" Sebastian questioned happily.

"They did, I'll make sure they stop to find you later," Robyn grinned. "It was nice meeting you, Kimi, Anneli, I can see Bono glaring at me to hurry up."

The group turned around, indeed seeing the race engineer giving Robyn a 'hurry up' look as they prepared for practice. Anneli smiled, reminded of her own race engineer, a Brazilian called Luiz.

"Nice to meet you both," Robyn nodded slightly. "I'm being summoned."

With a small wave and goodbye, Robyn jogged towards the Mercedes garage.

"I have a bet that you get better times than her in practice," Kimi whispered.

"I'm in a better car than her," Anneli shrugged with the same whisper. "But they could just run tests..."

"They won't, it's Abu Dhabi," Kimi replied. "Go get her, Anneli."

Chapter 9: The bet

Chapter Text

"I just think you need to be a little more enthusiastic!"

"Don't be an idiot. No one wants that."

"They do, media do!"

"Jack, stop it," Anneli groaned.

With the practice session including rookies from outside of Formula 1, some from F2 and even Indycar, it meant that Anneli was not alone in being a standout. Having raced together for the past year, those in Formula 2 had agreed to gather together in the paddock after the media from Practice, allowing for a sense of familiarity.

Eventually, the others ( Robert Kubica, Pietro Fittipaldi, Logan Sargeant and Robert Shwartzman) had all left, it left the three friends of the 2022 Formula 2 Paddock.

It also gave Jack Doohan and Felipe Drugovich time to annoy Anneli Räikkönen and it was just so easy to do so.

Anneli got along with both of them just fine but that didn't mean they hadn't found ways to try and tease her...which was just pure annoyance for Anneli, she didn't really get the concept of teasing.

Otherwise, Felipe Drugovich was one of her good friends in Formula 2 and was going to win the 2022 championship. She was happy for him and knew he was going to be kept as Aston Martin's reserve driver in 2023 so chances were, she'd see a decent amount of him.

She and Jack had a mixed relationship. Anneli wasn't very talkative so while Felipe didn't mind too much, Jack wanted someone to talk to. However, he was good at knowing when Anneli was in a good mood and always made an effort to speak to her.

"I don't need to be enthusiastic, I just need to race well," Anneli replied.

"You're too much like your dad," Jack laughed. "You sound exactly like him!"

The Australian was right, Anneli would admit.

"I am enthusiastic, I just don't need to smile and wave a flag to show it, Jack," Anneli replied honestly. "Maybe if they stopped talking to me on the radio, I'd win more races."

Felipe grinned. He found the Finnish girl incredibly amusing.

Before either the Alpine or Aston Martin juniors could respond, Robin Räikkönen had ran up to Anneli and took hold of her hand.

"Hello Robin," Anneli smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Dad sent me to rescue you," said Robin sweetly in Finnish.

"I bet he did, alright, I'm coming," Anneli replied, standing up.

Jack and Felipe gave her curious looks.

"Dad wants me, see you on track!" Anneli hurried as she let Robin drag her towards the Red Bull garage.

There were just forty minutes until practice so Anneli had to get ready. She had been in the paddock since the early hours for debriefs with the team because it wasn't something she liked to do right before getting in the car. Not to mention, she had Formula 1 practice and then F2 right after.

Placing on her new Red Bull junior race suit was surreal for her, it felt so official.

"This is weird," Kimi commented as Anneli held her helmet in her hand.

He stood alongside Minttu, Robin and Rianna in the RedBull garage. Anneli's mother was also there but speaking to Sergio Perez.

"It's weird for me too," Anneli replied. "But a good weird."

"You'll be fine," said Elijah half-heartedly as he watched Sergio Perez claim into his car.

Anneli found it amusing that Elijah had made the comment, considering he didn't know what Anneli or Kimi were saying, he just guessed.

"You'll be better than fine," said Max Verstappen as he appeared besides them. "No different from an F2 race. Just in a fast car."

He laughed lightly as he said it, not really caring about the fact Kimi and

"I have a bet against Jack so we'll hope so," Anneli commented as she placed her helmet over the balaclava.

"You better beat Doohan with flying colours," Elijah said with pursed lips. "Please do, I don't like him."

"He's lovely," Anneli replied shortly as she made sure her neck brace was attached. "Okay, bye."

Anneli's mother gave her a kind smile and thumbs up as Robin and Rianna clapped their hands. Anneli wondered if they were reminded of when they went to their father's races.

"Good luck," Max nodded as Anneli climbed into the car.

"I don't need luck," Anneli replied honestly. "But I appreciate the words."

Max chuckled as he stepped away from the car so Anneli would get ready to leave the garage.

It was these sorts of opportunities that meant a lot to the Formula 2 drivers, a chance to show other teams what they were capable of so they could potentially grab a seat for the next year. Even though they were filled for the time being, teams were always looking for talent for their junior teams, reserves or even drivers if anything happens to their current one. It also showed other drivers, such as Pato O'Ward (an Indycar driver) that they might enjoy driving in Formula 1.

"Okay, green light, Anneli. You can head to track."

Focused and determined, Anneli hit the acceleration and headed into the pit lane, following it down to the track for free practice. Red Bull had been quick and got Anneli on track before anyone else. The Finnish driver knew why...people had questioned why they had signed this random rookie in F2, who was older than half of the grid, someone who'd taken more breaks in racing than you typically should.

The Red Bull race engineers knew that Anneli was not a talker and if they had learnt anything from Kimi's radio messages over the years, she wouldn't be thankful for them either. Instead, they let her know how her tyres were fairing and whether she needed to move out of the way for any cars.

They knew she was desperate to race around the track with all her might...so they let her to a reasonable amount (they didn't want to damage the car) but they'd already won the championship and driver's championship so they weren't risking too much.

She also wanted to win the bet against Jack.

He had better that Sergio Perez would clearly produce a better time than Anneli by the time that practice was done. Feeling slightly offended that Jack didn't have faith in her, Anneli now just wanted to prove a point.

Not to mention, she hadn't liked the way Elijah had acting like he knew the paddock when he'd never been around her when she was racing...and the fact he didn't like Jack was a new result...perhaps jealously?

"What times am I getting?" Anneli asked through the radio.

"Currently sitting P3 behind Saunders and Russell,"Gianpiero Lambiase, Max's race engineer responded."You're last lap was a 1:26.886."

"What is Sauders time?"

The other end, on the pit wall, Christian Horner smirked as he attempted not to laugh. Anneli reminded him of Max — which was a good thing considering Max was a world champion and a brilliant racer. However, Max could also be a risk-taker.

"Saunders is hitting 1:26.612 but remember, this isn't qualifying or the race, it's just practice," Christian added. "But if you want to show what you can do, there is currently only Leclerc on track and he is behind you."

"Copy," Anneli replied.

Time to make some teams regret not having faith in me to get the points Anneli thought as her eyes focused like raser sharp knives.

Anneli knew it was unlikely to finish the session with the best time but she at least wanted the satisfaction of getting P1 at least once. She did that with ten minutes of practice left and she was proud of herself for that.

By the time practice was over, she had the third fasted time with the Mercedes about her. She was satisfied and she also won the bet against Jack because Sergio was two places below her. Even if it was only practice...to Anneli...it was more.

"That's great, Anneli, well done," Christian praised as she drove into the pits. "Cracking drive."

"Thanks," Anneli replied shortly as she stopped in the pitlane for the mechanics to move the car.

Climbing out the car, she felt pride in herself. Admittedly, she hated doing media duties and part of it put a downer on the session but overall, she was perfectly happy.

"Told you," Anneli whispered to Jack as she walked past. "You owe me that drink now."

"Deal," Jack beamed. "Although he doesn't look happy about it."

Anneli's eyes followed to Elijah and she groaned.

"Sorry, he is under the impression that when I speak to a guy, it must mean I want them in my bed."

Her blunt words never caught Jack Doohan off guard but he always found it slightly amusing when others got either offended or just surprised. It also seemed as though Anneli's words were true since Elijah was walking towards him.

"Bye Jack," Anneli sighed and headed towards her boyfriend.

"I don't—"

"Yes, you don't like him," Anneli rolled her eyes. "Let's go back to the garage. I have to speak to the mechanics and my family."

Chapter 10: Bright Lights

Chapter Text

Bright lights were something that Anneli Räikkönen was used to, whether it was racing, nightclubs or lights from the snowboarding adventures. She liked bright lights, they gave her an odd amount of comfort that she was still alive and in control while keeping her focus.

There were different bright lights, however. When she saw the bright lights while snowboarding, she knew she was going down the right mountain and that, perhaps, they gave her peace as people would head inside when it got dark.

The lights from the nightclubs gave her a buzzing feeling as she would dance and drink vodka like it was water. She was interesting to be around while drunk because she acted reasonably normal compared to her usual blunt and odd personality.

These bright lights were different. They were a symbol of pure control and power; a show of what she could achieve the things she had been dreaming of. A lack of red lights to show she was in front of the lead...a wave of a flag to show...

"What a season! Anneli Räikkönen wins the Formula 2 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!"

Relief filled her body as she thought about the difficult year she had and how she had tried so hard just to finish fourth. There was something rewarding about this, especially now that she had won while wearing the Red Bull logo. It proved to them that she deserved them.

Climbing out of her Dams car, arms raised into the air as she stood onto of it, she let out a light 'yes!' in Finnish. Every part of her body buzzed with an excitement she had never felt before as she ran to hug her team. The mechanics were all important and she did her best to be friends with them.

"Well done Neli," said Kimi as he hugged her over the barrier. "I'm so proud of you."

Even Christian Horner was there to congratulate his newest recruit to the driver's academy.

Anneli's mother didn't say anything but she did hug her daughter. Elijah hugged her too but seemed awkward considering she still wore a helmet. Anneli didn't pay attention to it as she took her helmet off, ready to be handed to the interviewer.

"How do you feel to win your first race in F2 during your rookie season?" Alex Brundle questioned.

"It's nice," Anneli shrugged.

Anneli Räikkönen was a woman of few words, everyone knew that.

"The news that Red Bull has signed you as their junior and reserve driver for 2023 caught a lot of people by surprise. Would you like to comment on that?" The commentator questioned, holding out the microphone.

"Not really," Anneli replied honestly. "They asked and I signed...and I'm proud to wear the livery in P1."

As she went into the driver's room, she was happy to see the video playing of her overtakes and team celebrations.

Felipe Drugovich and Liam Lawson sat on each side of her and having Felipe next to her only made her more happy. Anneli would easily consider Felipe her best friend on the grid and she was glad he won the championship. She just wished he'd found a seat for next year.

"Neli, I'm so happy you won mate," said Felipe, pulling her into a hug.

"Thanks Felipe, well done on the championship," Anneli replied.

Liam looked slightly out of place until the two made their way to sit down and talk about their racing. Anneli didn't say much, too busy pulling her hair out of their braids, chugging water and wiping off the sweat.

Anneli wasn't the type of person to say 'I can't believe it' or 'it's something I could have never imagined' because she did. She thought about this moment every single race and she could damn well believe that she was there.

Lifting that trophy into the air was the most satisfying thing she had ever done.

Every time she got into that car, she thought about winning because that's what she was there for...even if it sometimes felt like a hobby...it was a hobby she liked to be good at. If she didn't like it, she'd stop doing it, that's what her dad always said.

But damn, did Anneli like holding up the trophy.

She stood on the podium with a small smile on her face, though her Räikkönen genes made her expression less expressive. Nevertheless, the pure joy she felt standing on that podium was undeniable.

She had worked so damn hard to be there. She had faced bullying all through karting just for existing on the planet as a female; she'd nearly broken a relationship with her mother over racing; she'd dealt with her father being who he was and trying to live up to that.

"I told you," Kimi spoke quietly as he hugged his daughter for the second time. "You did not believe me."

"I never said I didn't believe you," Anneli replied as she held her trophy. "I just did not reply."

Anneli remembered her father's words of 'I know you'll win', which he said to her before she jumped into her car. Elijah had wished her luck but Anneli didn't believe in luck so it didn't matter all that much.

"See? My good luck worked!" said Elijah.

Anneli was walking with her boyfriend to the Red Bull garage after getting changed, having been invited there to watch the last f1 race of the season.

"I don't think it was luck, I think it was good driving," Came the voice of Max Verstappen.

Anneli turned to him, the driver coming to wish Anneli congratulations before he needed to get into the car.

"That is what I said," Elijah disagreed.

"No, you said your good luck worked but it wasn't luck, it was driving that made her win," Max argued back, "I'm not trying to be rude mate, I just think you congratulate her for winning because of her driving."

Elijah glared at Max so viciously that Anneli thought he would lunge at him.

"Thank you, Max," Anneli quickly interrupted. "Have fun in your last race."

"Thanks," He nodded, not casting Elijah a last look.

Anneli gave Elijah a warning look, signaling him to stay quiet, and wondered why the Switzerland-born man seemed so angry this weekend. She felt like he didn't even want to be there, despite having asked to come.

She was starting to think he shouldn't have asked at all.

Chapter 11: Bottle of...water?

Chapter Text

The F1 Abu Dhabi party was a luxurious and exclusive after-party event after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was a prestigious gathering of the elite, where celebrities, F1 drivers, and VIPs came together to celebrate the end of the racing season and enjoy a night of entertainment. Normally done in the Amber Lounge, it's where you want to be. Though this year, it was taking place on a yacht in celebration of Robyn Saunders' birthday.

Naturally, there were times where F2 drivers were invited along as they celebrated the end of the season. Anneli wouldn't deny the invitation, for she was one of the most party-feral drivers out there, though you wouldn't believe it.

However, before that, Anneli had agreed to meet Jack and Felipe a few hours before so they could talk about their plans. Anneli didn't want to and was already dealing with Elijah's complaining for leaving him. She was beginning to think bringing him wasn't a good idea at all.

"It's only you that has a problem," said Anneli as she tied her hair up.

"I'm the one that's left alone, Neli," Elijah returned.

"Minttu already offered you to spend the day with them," Anneli replied. "It's your choice if you do not but this is my time with my friends and you don't want to come to the party."

"I don't like your friends— they hit on you!"

"They've never even flirted with me," Anneli pointed out as she stood and grabbed the bottle she'd filled. "I...I want to get to know people and I can still go just because you don't want to. Please do not take that away from me."

"Fine," Elijah huffed.

Anneli grabbed her bag and headed out of the hotel room towards the foyer, where her friends were waiting for her. With Felipe not having a seat for next year in F1, Anneli wanted to spend time with him. Sadly, the reigning Formula Two champion is not permitted to remain in the series for the following season. If she was honest, she liked Felipe more than anyone on the grid, she'd go as far as saying he was her best friend. Jack got on her nerves but he was a good friend too.

"Anneli!" Jack grinned. "My favourite scary fin."

"I wouldn't call her scary," Felipe disagreed. "Maybe a little angry at times."

Anneli rolled her eyes and pushed both their shoulders, which was easy when they were either side of her.

"No, Felipe, I am not angry," Anneli disagreed. "I will take the word scary if you say so."

"I do," The Australian nodded. "Felipe agrees with me too, don't you?"

"No," The Brazillian shook his head.

"I hate you both," Anneli mumbled.

"You love us really," Jack winked.

Anneli didn't reply as they walked towards the hotel gym; the three liked to train together sometimes without their trainers around, giving competitions to make it a little more enjoyable and Anneli found gym work peaceful.

"I want you to come to Switzerland," said Anneli as she tied her shoelaces.

"I love Switzerland," Jack replied. "But why?"

"Felipe said that the two of you want to learn snowboarding, I will teach you but only on my favourite mountain," Anneli explained as she gulped her bottle.

"I would like that very much!" Felipe beamed.

"Great, you can come next week if you like," Anneli suggested. "I have no plans. My dad said you could stay with us, we have spare rooms."

The two stared at her with wide eyes as they realised that meant staying with the Formula 1 world champion. While Anneli never thought much about it, that was a big thing for Jack and Felipe (though they had met and spoken to Kimi with Anneli before).

"Anneli, that is not water," Felipe said as he stood next to her and got a smell of it,"Water doesn't spell like Vodka—"

"I never said it was water," Anneli smirked.

"You're drinking Vodka," said Jack, nose scrunched. "Really?"

"It calms my nerves," Anneli admitted. "And the two of you are stressful and I have to go and party with Formula 1 drivers later while not letting Seb see me get into an unrespectful state of drunkness...I think that is a word."

"You are one different woman, Neli," Felipe laughed.

"What are you like when you're drunk?" Jack questioned curiously.

"I do not speak English when I am drunk," Anneli admitted. "Just very angry Finnish or bits of German."

"Damn," Jack snorted. "I wish I could see that."

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While Jack Doohan would not be able to see a drunk Anneli Raikkonen, a handful of people sure would.

It was a beautiful night in Abu Dhabi, and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. Everyone was excited about the party happening on a luxurious yacht. The yacht was anchored in the middle of the sea and was decorated with sparkling lights. The Formula 1 drivers were already on board, and the music played.

Anneli wasn't the one to purposely make a show of herself in any way as she didn't really see the point in it. In her mind, the best thing to do was to be comfortable so you were in a good mood and nicer to be around because being uncomfortable just made her moody.

"Anneli, hey!" Mick called as he saw her.

Mick always called Anneli his godsister — even though Anneli claimed it wasn't a thing —since Sebastian was godfather to both of them. They had grown up alongside each other so she supposed it made sense.

"Hello Mick," Anneli smiled. "Sorry I am late, Felipe talks a lot."

"Felipe does talk a lot to you because you're his favourite friend," Mick agreed. "No Elijah?"

"He hates parties," Anneli replied, "So just me."

Mick nodded as he led her towards the bar and the two of them were thrown into just the party people that the Formula One grid and their friends were when you put them all together.

As the night went on, the party became more lively, and people started dancing on the deck. The yacht was sailing smoothly on the calm sea, and the view was breathtaking. Anneli was the life of the party, and those that knew Kimi were reminded of him.

"You're too much like kimi, it's concerning," said Fernando lightly.

"I take that as a compliment," Anneli grinned.

"I'm not sure it was meant as one, Nel," Sebastian laughed.

"I can hold drink better than dad," Anneli winked.

Anneli left Fernando and Sebastian behind as she made her way towards the bar to fill her now-empty glass. She slid into one of the stools next to none other than the man she was a reserve driver for next year.

"Hey Anneli," Max Verstappen greeted.

"Hello," Anneli replied as the bartender pulled a shot glass out. "Can you just pour that into a normal glass?"

"But that's vodka—" Max commented.

"It doesn't do anything," Anneli shrugged. "I am immune."

"I doubt that," Max pointed out. "Have many shots have you—"

"I've drank the entire bottle," Anneli interrupted. "Concerned?"

"Impressed, slightly concerned."Max corrected. "That a habit?"

"No or else I would be crashing my car each weekend or falling face-first into the snowy mountain," Anneli shrugged. "Besides, Elijah hates me drinking so I don't when I'm home."

"Elijah was the guy in the garage with you on Sunday?" Max questioned.

"Yeah he's..." Anneli hesitates. "I guess he is my boyfriend but it never feels like it."

"Seems like a red flag to me," said Max bluntly. "He's a bit of a dick too, no offence."

Anneli hummed as she asked the bartender for anything other than Vodka, fully bored with drinking the clear liquid. Max stared at her as she did so.

"Someone I know had a boyfriend like that before she got up and ran away to a race car. He spent all his time telling her that she couldn't race and that she was never good enough," said Max slowly.

"And?"

"She left him when she was given a chance she couldn't pass up. Now, she is with someone who loves her a lot and the two of them are about to move in with each other. We haven't been friends for long but I don't see the point in being with someone you are unhappy with."

"I'm not unhappy," Anneli replied honestly. "I just...feel nothing."

"You're not supposed to feel nothing," Max pointed out. "I was with Kelly for years, I loved her and I adored her daughter but the time apart killed us so we ended it. We're still friends but it's easier."

"I did not expect to be getting relationship advice tonight, it's sad," Anneli replied, standing up. "So you can either join me to annoy Mick and dance or be lonely over here."

As Max Verstappen scrambled up to follow after the Formula 2 driver, he started to wonder how he had never noticed her before.

Chapter 12: Broken Hearts

Chapter Text

Anneli Räikkonen didn't purposely keep secrets because she never saw the point in them, they didn't mean anything and they only caused trouble. However, she did have a slight flaw in her system: her mind didn't always think to tell someone something important and they would think she was keeping it a secret.

Her family knew this so they took everything with a pinch of salt and her father wasn't the type of person to get angry at that anyway. He trusted his daughter and as long as she was getting herself into trouble with keeping any secrets, he knew she had a right to do so. Kimi just wanted all of his kids to be safe and Anneli being an adult didn't change that. Especially because she didn't have as much of a childhood with all of the karting and athlete lifestyle.

"Anneli, don't forget that you invited Mick and Sebastian around," Kimi warned. "Don't be late."

"I am never late," Anneli shrugged as she tugged her boots on. "It's just normal snowboarding. I do it every Saturday I am home."

Chapter 13: A father's threat

Chapter Text

All was calm in the Räikkonen household.

Kimi sat in his living room with his family around him. His son, Robin, was playing Guess Who with his wife, Minttu. Sebastian Vettel was telling Kimi about what he and his family were planning and Mick was watching Rianna draw as he listened to the conversation.

"I told Anneli that I did not like her boyfriend," said Kimi to Sebastian.

"Why did you do that?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She needed to know that she isn't with him enough to see what he is really like and he does not respect her," Kimi spoke angrily. "He doesn't even really care about her."

"He didn't come to the party with her and she was mad at him," Mick added.

"See!" Kimi threw his hands up. "He only cares about himself and my Anneli does not deserve that."

"He was a little...off," Sebastian half-agreed.

"Giovanni said I am overreacting but I am not," Kimi concluded, referring to his former teammate and friend.

"Shouldn't Neli be here by now?" Mick questioned.

"She is normally late from snowboarding," Minttu shrugged. "Elijah drives very slow, she says."

Just as Minttu finished talking, the alarm system notified them that someone was pulling up the drive. Recognising it to be Elijah's car, Kimi, Sebastian and Mick went to wait for Anneli and him.

Except Anneli wasn't there.

It was an incredibly drunk Elijah, stumbling towards the door with a posture that screamed that he shouldn't have even been driving. His face was full of rage, blood and heartbreak as he pointed his hand in Kimi's direction.

"Your stupid daughter broke my nose!" He screamed.

"Where is Anneli?" Sebastian intervened calmly.

"Hopefully at the bottom of a cliff after she embarrassed me! said I was the one who didn't care but she's off driving herself into danger every weekend—"

Before anyone could stop him, Kimi Räikkonen had grabbed Elijah by the collar and shoved him up against his car.

"Where is my daughter, who the hell do you think you are?" He growled. "I swear I will kill you."

"Kimi, no," said Sebastian as he pulled Kimi's shoulder. "He's drunk."

"He left my daughter alone at night with a snowboard, Seb!" Kimi yelled. "I know her, I know she'll get angry and act like she has no bones to break!"

"We'll go find her," Mick suggested quickly.

"Put him down, Kimi," Minttu warned in Finnish. "I will make sure he gets home. Go and find Nel."

"Don't come back here. Don't even step foot near my daughter," Kimi growled.

Kimi dropped Elijah to the floor and quickly jogged after Sebastian and Mick to the car. Sebastian knew that the possibility of Kimi killing Elijah without him there was decent. Kimi didn't mess around when it came to his kids, not that Seb could blame him.

"She's an adult, I am sure she's just sitting in the resort somewhere," Sebastian assured, gripping the wheel.

"No, she would have called one of us," Kimi denied. "She's angry snowboarding, I know she is."

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The cold air blew relentlessly on the snowy mountain, creating an icy chill that permeated everything around it. The snow seemed almost alive, as if it was constantly shifting and changing under the gusts of wind. Despite the biting cold, a lone snowboarder hurtled down the mountain, her blonde hair whipping around her face with the force of the wind, protected only by her goggles.

Her face was set in a fierce scowl as she careened down the mountain, her board slashing through the snow with precision and speed. She had come to the mountain to blow off steam, to forget about all the things that had made her angry in the first place. But the more she snowboarded, the angrier she became.

Anneli Räikkonen was never the person to admit her feelings of anger to people because she enjoyed keeping her stone-faced personality...it made her unpredictable and she enjoyed it. Yet, as she got to the bottom of the mountain, all she wanted to do was cry.

Focus knocked, her board hit a rock and Anneli felt herself hurdling forward and rolling down the small remained of the slope, groaning as she stared at the sky. She didn't seem to be harmed but her board was broken.

She didn't have the mental strength to move, deciding to rip her helmet and goggles off instead and just glaze at the stars above her. The mountain she was on wasn't used during the night by many people because the resort didn't like it. Being a regular and who she was, Anneli had persuaded them to let her use it at night and it brought them revenue in return.

The Räikkonen didn't know how long she had lay there...she was the type of person who could just sit and do nothing as she enjoyed the world... time easily slipped away from her.

"NELI!" A voice yelled through the window. "ANNELI!"

She lifted her head up, aware of how cold the Swiss air really was as she squinted her eyes. Through the snow, she saw the face of Mick Schumacher running towards her.

"What were you thinking?" Mick yelled in anger, threatening to cry. "I thought—I thought—"

"I am okay," Anneli replied as Mick helped her sit up. "Uninjured."

"You've probably got hyperthermia, you idiot!" Mick replied as he text Sebastian.

"What are you doing here?" Anneli questioned.

"Elijah nearly got killed by your dad," Mick replied. "He left you here."

"We had a fight." Anneli whispered.

"Your dad isn't going to let him come near you anymore," Mick warned. "I hope you got rid of him for good."

"I broke his nose."

"You did."

Anneli frowned as Mick worried over her and she nearly threw up when she realised why. She saw it in his face...they were on a snowy mountain and it was likely Mick was reminded of his dad's accident.

"Anneli!" Kimi shouted as he skidded to a stop beside her. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did you fall?"

"I broke my board but nothing else," Anneli replied

Sometimes, Kimi forgot that Anneli was 22. To him, she was still the fourteen-year-old who was annoying Fernando Alonso and trailing after Lewis Hamilton because she was curious of the newbie, the fourteen-year-old who he was constantly worrying about getting lost.

Now he worried that she'd have her heart broken, crash during a race or just...struggle with the adult world.

"Hey Neli, let's get you home," said Sebastian. "You're freezing."

"I sat in the snow," Anneli whispered. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise," Mick replied.

Kimi helped Anneli take her board off her boots while Mick grabbed the broken board. Sebastian helped pull his goddaughter up from the snow, a frown on his face. Anneli didn't show any emotion as she trudged through the snow to where the lift took them back to the stop of the ski resort. Kimi wrapped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close to him as Anneli sniffled slightly.

"Anneli, you don't deserve this," said Kimi. "He isn't coming back to the house."

"What went wrong? We were such good friends back then," Anneli mumbled. "At what point did he decide I was an object to him?"

"I don't know Nel but I'm glad you stood up for yourself finally," Kimi replied. "You really scared me. Poor Mick was running trying to find you, he thought Elijah did something and Sebastian was Sebastian, just wanted to make sure you were okay. If Giovanni was here, he would have had a heart attack."

"I should have come home but I was so angry," Anneli replied as she shivered.

For the most apart, Anneli was incredibly quiet on the way home. Interestingly, Anneli could be a clingy when she was in the right mood and with the right people: such and Kimi, Giovanni, her siblings and Sebastian. So during the car ride home, Anneli was leaning against Kimi as she shivered. Mick kept glancing at her from the front of the car eventhough Sebastian smiled at him in reassurance.

"Anneli!" Minttu called in relief as she stepped out the car. "Let's get you sorted and into bed."

"Sorry Seb, this was supposed to a nice night," Anneli mumbled as she hugged her godfather.

"Anneli don't you worry about that," Sebastian smiled. "Mick will be here in the morning and I'll check on you in a couple days. I'll even bring the kids."

"Love you Seb," Anneli mumbled as Minttu led her inside.

"Are you sure I can't kill him?" Kimi said lowly to Sebastian.

"You can't kill him."

Chapter 14: Protection of friends

Chapter Text

Anneli knew that things would be different now.

Elijah didn't have that much of an impact of Anneli's life, if she was honest, but her whole dynamic with everyone else was certain to change too. Her friendship group would find out what happened, surely, and Anneli didn't know whether she'd tell them or Elijah would.

In fact, he'd turned up at her house, sober, the day after the event. Kimi wouldn't let him past the driveway and Mick was the one to leave the house and tell Elijah (as politely as he could) that Anneli didn't want to speak to him. From there, Elijah stormed off.

The following days of the incident involved a lot of sniffles, shivering and headaches for Anneli as she recovered from spending so long in the cold. Minttu had been worried but Anneli had assured her she was fine. Mick had spent the days cheering up too.

The moment when Anneli finally had her two best friends with her was one of pure happiness. Mick was sticking around until the end of the week before having to head to Italy to meet with Lamborghini. It was Wednesday so they had a few days.

"My favourite person!" Felipe Drugavich claimed as she fist-bumped Anneli.

"Rude," Jack joked.

"One must not lie, Jack!" Felipe beamed.

"Warning that dad is a little bit...untrusting right now," Anneli warned. "He will be fine with you two but um, I broke up with Elijah."

"Oh, really?" Felipe did his best to hide his smile. "Very sad."

"It wasn't really."

"Knew it," Felipe threw his arm around her shoulders. "Anneli, I did not like the guy anyway. You are powerful, you do not need a man."

"What he said," Jack nodded.

"Idiots," Anneli laughed. "You are glad I love you too."

"Aww, you love us!" Jack teased. "Thought I'd never hear it."

"Shut up or I will throw you off that mountain tomorrow—"

"No you wouldn't!" Felipe gasped. "Imagine the news! Anneli Raikonnen throws stunning Brazillian f2 champion off a cliff!"

Anneli snorted as she rolled her eyes.

Winter break was a good time for Anneli to get her fitness up and prepare herself for the coming season. She would do a lot of snowboarding, hang around her friends and just relax.

As they walked, Anneli stopped when her phone pinged.

"Who's that?" Jack questioned curiously.

"Uh I think It's Verstappen," Anneli replied honestly.

"Why is Max Verstappen texting you?" Jack questioned.

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Unknown Number
Hey Anneli, it's Max
you gave me your number
in Abu Dhabi
How you doing?

Anneli
Hello Max,
I don't actually remember giving you
my number if I am honest with you.
I'm good, what is up?

Anneli created new contact: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen
I'm not surprised you don't
remember, you were so drunk
but Christian mentioned you
Were doing sim work next week
do you want to meet up?

Anneli
Just you or Perez as well?

Max Verstappen
just me

Anneli
Okay

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Anneli was a blunt texter and she was glad Max seemed to be as well; otherwise, it could have been very awkward. Besides, Max seemed nice enough when Anneli met him so she didn't mind meeting up with him.

"Neli, what happened with Elijah because she seemed on edge about it earlier?" Jack asked quietly. "You don't have to say but...your dad seemed really worried when we left the house."

The Finnish-born woman hesitated. She wasn't sure what she wanted to tell her friends but she also trusted them with her life. Anneli had known Felipe since she was a child as they crossed passed the crossing. She also raced with him in ADAC Formula 4 before he moved up ranks when she didn't. She'd spent Formula 3 and 2 with Jack. She trusted them.

"He wanted me to stop racing and thought the two of you were trying to...flirt with me so I broke his nose," Anneli replied smoothly. "In return, he drove off drunk and left me at the bottom of the mountain."

"I'll kill him, Neli," said Felipe strongly.

"Dad wanted to but Seb stopped him," Anneli replied, rubbing her arm. "It's fine. It's done. I'm heading to England on Monday and then it's winter break for me."

"Are you sure you do not want me to come as a security measure?" Felipe questioned softly.

"I second that," Jack nodded. "Or you could come to Australia with me?"

"No and no," Anneli shook her head. "Winter break is for spending time with my family and I'll be in Finland for a day or two visiting my mother but other than that, I need to stay in Switzerland."

"I am on speed dial," Felipe assured.

"Enough of this soppy talk," Anneli demanded. "Let's get you two some snowboards and I'll show you how it's done."

To say Jack and Felipe were impressed was an understatement. They were fascinated watching Anneli snowboard, she had speed and agility...and she had a few tricks she knew. She didn't seem like the type of person who'd enjoy it if you looked at her. They respected her in many ways, even if she wasn't always the most emotion-filled friend.

One thing was sure, Anneli should never be underestimated.

Chapter 15: Simple life

Chapter Text

The thing about Anneli was that she never posted much of her private life over social media, only every now and again to show she was alive and lived a life outside of racing. She never posted about her friends and she never even mentioned the fact she'd had a boyfriend. The good thing was that she then didn't have to announce any breakups.

That didn't stop fans from posting their own things but Anneli never cared. She constantly saw people starting rumours that she and Felipe were together or that Jack and she made a cute sibling duo or something like that. She found it funny so she never really complained.

Her time in the Red Bull factory lasted most of the day she was there and Anneli felt like she had little to no social battery left. She knew she wanted one thing and that was food...and not knowing anywhere in Milton Keynes, let alone England, Max Verstappen was the one she called.

He'd already told her he wanted to meet up while she was there and Anneli was never shy to take someone up on an offer.

"Hey, Anneli!" Max smiled.

"Hello Max," Anneli replied smoothly.

"No Elijah or your dad?" Max questioned.

"I flew alone so no," Anneli answered. "Not that I would have brought Elijah anyway...your advice was...right."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"He's the reason my favourite snowboard is broken," Anneli concluded lightly. "I don't like people breaking my sh*t."

"Neither," Max agreed with a small laugh. "So...?"

"My dad will not let him near me so you won't be seeing him around," Anneli added. "I am not sure if I am supposed to be upset or not."

"If you're not, I don't think you liked the guy in the first place," Max shrugged honestly.

"We need to stop talking about my failed relationships every time we meet, do you know that?" Anneli hummed, kicking a rock. "What about you, what are your winter plans?"

"No a lot," Max shrugged. "I like racing in other vehicles, like rally cars."

Anneli perked up at this, stopping her stare at the rock on the ground. Interestingly, Anneli quite liked more violent or adventurous ports and rallying fell into that category for her.

"You like rally cars?"

"Yeah," Max beamed. "We should race one time and I have sports cars through my series. If you are going to be around the paddock more often, we should get along, no?"

Anneli nodded. She knew that it was a good idea and perhaps, if people saw that she was a good team player as well as a driver, they would be more inclined to think about her. She wanted that.

Max and Anneli seemed to naturally get along anyway because the Fin and Dutchman had the same level of humour and understanding. They didn't need false pretences if they had nothing to say.

"I found out that I have a new teammate next year," said Anneli lightly as they walked into the quiet restaurant. "His name is Arthur Leclerc."

"Oh, Charles' brother?" Max realised.

Anneli nodded as she sat down.

"I am flying out to Monaco to meet him just before Christmas," Anneli replied. "I have always done that with teammates. I do not like the first time we meet to be on the race track."

"Ah cool, I live in Monaco," Max replied smoothly. "It's nice."

"Not as nice as Switerzland," Anneli hummed. "I love it there."

"Because of the snowboarding?" Max laughed.

"That too," Anneli nodded curly, lips turning up into a small file. "Living with my dad is very stressful. The only downside to F2 is being broke."

Max shrugged. "You'll get into F1 one day, you're too good of a driver."

"Enough driver talk," Anneli demanded. "Uh...what do you do for fun?"

"I like esports," Max replied. "And hanging with my mates in Monaco too. Yachts and stuff. Lando has a little girl called Lily and we take her and Penelope, my ex-girlfriend's daughter, places."

"You still see your ex-girlfriend's kid?" Anneli questioned curiously.

Perhaps Anneli didn't know much about relationships, all things considered, but dealing with kids was something she really had no idea about. Then again, if Minttu and her dad split up, Anneli couldn't imagine a life where she didn't see her step-mother so maybe she was overthinking it.

"Well I was with Kelly for years, we both thought it was unfair for me to just leave forever from P's life. She is with her dad most the time but she and Lily are good friends," Max explained.

"Do you do anything for fun, other than snowboarding?" Max asked.

"Drinking—"

"I gathered that from Abu Dhabu—"

"— and annoying my group chat with Jack and Felipe or the F2 group. I also take my brother karting and paint with my sister."

"I cannot imagine you painting," Max replied with a small chuckle.

Max Verstappen had not known Anneli Räikkonen for long. However, her features gave him the impression of some things. She imagined she spent a lot of time in the gym because she was tall but well-built with muscles on show most of the time. Her face was mainly neutral, giving him the impression she was a little more difficult to get laughing and her tolerance for Alcohol told him she could party.

He was just wrong on a few things. He never would have thought she looked like a person who would sit down a paint and he'd been wrong to think she wasn't talkative. She just needed the right topic.

"I know you and Mick are friends," Anneli commented. "Maybe we should meet up sometime. Mick's always begging to visit me because I am his favourite, obviously."

"Who says you are his favourite?"

"I do and Seb backs me up," Anneli smirked.

"Of course, Sebastian would back you up, you are his goddaughter," Max added with a stern look.

"How do you know that?"

"Christian told me," Max shrugged. "Was it a secret?"

"No...people just forget!" Anneli huffed. "But Sebastian also doesn't like to lie."

"I will admit that."

Despite the two rather odd personalities, they spent the rest of the evening talking about completely random things. From food in their countries to celebrities they had met, it was everything apart from racing. Anneli liked that.

Perhaps this was a friendship she was willing to try for.

Chapter 16: Driver girlies

Chapter Text

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

YOUR INSTAGRAM GROUP CHATS
(🏎️) F2 drivers official
(👀) Felipe's fan girls

You've been added to a new group chat - Driver Girlies
Accept Delete

Räikönenn.Anneli
Uh hi?

Birdie girl🕊️
Hey Anneli!
It's Robyn :)

Indygirl 🇺🇸
I'm Jamie! Hi!

Birdie girl 🕊️
Jamie is my friend and Mira
is here too!

Gamer girl 🎮
Hi

Birdie renamed Räikkönen.Anneli
Ice girl 🧊

Ice girl 🧊
What is the purpose of this?

Birdie Girl 🕊️
I think it would be cool
If all the female drivers knew
each other because there
Isn't many of us!

Gamer Girl 🎮
We also have lots of gossip

Indy Girl🇺🇸
Well Robyn does anyway

Gamer girl 🎮
So you can hear all her
annoying love talk about Charles
or her gossip about her f1 friends

Birdie 🕊️
You love me really
You should name your
Baby after me

Gamer Girl 🎮
Nope. We're naming our
Baby Theo or Thea, Lan
And I decided last night

Ice Girl
Sorry to intrude but I'm
Still not sure who you all are

Gamer Girl🎮
Probably should have done
formal introductions

Birdie 🕊️
Jamie is my best friend and
she's driving in Indy NXT.
She's like super cool. She
Little but very fiery.

Birdie🕊️
Mira races for McLaren Shadow
But she's also engaged to
My bestie Lando Norris
She's hormonal because
she's pregnant so beware

Gamer Girl🎮
I'm not hormonal!
I'm barely three months
Pregnant anyway!

Birdie 🕊️
Anyway
My lovely boyfriend told
Me you were coming to Monaco
To meet his brother and
my very Dutch best friend said
You were meeting him too
I felt left out and think you
Need some girlie friends

Ice girl 🧊
Does one need to have
"Girlie friends?" I'm not
Familiar with the concept

Indy girl 🇺🇸
This is why you need us ❤️
We will teach you the ways of
ruling a paddock as the only
female.

Ice girl 🧊
Okay
I will be in Monaco next week

Birdie 🕊️
yay
I'm going to organise
a get together, how does that sound?

Indy girl 🇺🇸
Who with??

Birdie 🕊️
Me, Charles, Arthur, Anneli, you, Mira, Lando,
baby norris, max, daniel and Marissa. Yes?

Ice girl 🧊
Who is baby norris and Marissa?

Birdie 🕊️
Baby norris is mira and lando's daughter
she's a cutie
and Marissa is Daniel's girlfriend

Ice girl 🧊
you get very excited

Birdie 🕊️
What can I say?
I'm an extrovert sometimes

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

"Anneli, why are you looking at your phone in confusion?" Sebastian Vettel questioned as his goddaughter lay across his sofa.

"I have been invited to a 'get together'" said Anneli, biting her lip. "What is that?"

Sebastian's wife chuckled as she walked up the stairs with their son, Sebastian glancing at her as she did so. Despite her age, Anneli didn't have any experience with normal social life or youth. The only thing she had were close friends because she was constantly travelling or under the watchful eye of Kimi, who was terrified someone would try to use his daughter as a media outlet or similar.

"It's just like meeting up with friends, Neli," Sebastian replied. "Who invited you?"

"Robyn Saunders," Anneli replied. "Along with someone called Mira and Jamie."

"Mira is lovely! She's quite reserved at time but the two of you will get along very well," Sebastian concluded.

"How do you know that?"

"Mira also prefers things to be blunt and honest like you. I speak to her a lot because I fund part of her charity for disabled kids," Sebastian replied, putting his hand on Anneli's shoulder. "It'll be good for you."

"It might not be."

"Anneli, making friends is a good thing. Felipe and Jack are amazing but you need to have people you're friends with outside of racing too," Sebastian insisted. "If it's those three, I am going to guess Lando, Melissa, Charles and Daniel will be there too. All good people."

"And Max Verstappen, Arthur Leclerc and someone called Lily." Anneli added.

"Just try to be nice, okay?"

"Fine."

Anneli hummed as she scrolled through her phone, seeing what hilarious things fans were coming up with while racing was on break.

"Giovanni says I should invite people snowboarding with me," Anneli hummed.

"Did he?" Sebastian frowned.

"Yes. I think that's a bad idea," Anneli shrugged. "Felipe was a terrible snowboarder and Jack kept falling over. Not that Giovanni is any better!"

Sebastian shook his head, not surprised that Giovanni was joking around with Anneli and Anneli began to analyse the situation. She did that and then a few hours later, would realise someone was joking. Giovanni always joked it was the Räikkönen way.

"You know, Neli, you could try and open up to people," said Hanna, Sebastian's wife.

"Why?"

"Because you'll get better friends that way and it must be exhausting trying to hide all the time behind a cold face," Hanna said gently.

"Not really. It's just natural for me," Anneli replied honestly.

"You're impossible sometimes," Sebastian chuckled, shaking his head.

Anneli stayed at the Vettel household for just over three hours before heading back home. Sebastian gave amazing advice, not the Finnish girl would ever admit it to him.

The drive home was peaceful with cloudy skies and clear roads so it didn't take Anneli as long to get back as she thought it was. She enjoyed driving alone, away from all voices and giving herself utter silence.

Anneli began to think that Sebastian may have been right. With Felipe not racing next year and Jack ever having as much free time anyway, it wouldn't hurt for Anneli to get some more friends outside of her direct racing world but still understand the aspect of her life.

Joel and Levi still talking to Anneli and hadn't really brought up Elijah since initially selling them what happened. They knew what Elijah had done and had told Anneli they'd struggled to be friends with them and understand.

Elsa, on the other hand, had run off with Elijah somewhere. Anneli wouldn't have been surprised if Elijah had been cheating on her with Elsa, the two of them were always more than close. Anneli just always agreed with him when they said they were friends.

"Hi Nel," Kimi greeted as his daughter walked into the house. "Had a nice time at Seb's?"

"Yes, I got lots of advice," Anneli hummed.

"What was it this time?"

"Make friends."

"Will you?"

"Eh, maybe."

Chapter 17: Monaco

Chapter Text

If you asked Anneli Räikönnen how it felt to grow up in Switzerland, she'd tell you it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Here's the thing...Anneli had never — and would never — be a city girl, she didn't like its claustrophobic feel or the fact she couldn't just walk out of a house and have silence. She hated the way most major cities were overpriced and overpopulated (she knew it wasn't all of them but she'd only been to so many places).

Nothing would ever replace Switzerland's open air, peacefulness and feeling of home for Anneli. She even preferred it over her birthplace of Finland, though going to visit her mother there was always calm and she did love the place (she raced with their flag after all).

Yet, Arthur Leclerc could only go on and on about the wonders of living in Monaco. Surprisingly, none of it linked back to the fact it was filled with wealth or the reputation of the place. He did emphasise how glad he was to live near the sea and how there was great hiking routes or links into France.

Arthur was polite and very conscious that Anneli was his teammate next year; he didn't want to fall out before they even got to the grid. Even better, he wanted Anneli to be his friend, even if she was a little more...reserved than other teammates. Despite that, he found her incredibly funny when she wasn't even trying to be.

"My last teammate hated me," said Anneli to Arthur. "I never knew why, I think it's because I outranked him and his dad thought I was stupid. I threatened him once, it was fun."

Arthur grinned and shook his head at her.

"You won't threaten Charles, will you?" Arthur joked. "Not that Charles would do anything to get threatened, he's a softie, especially when with Robyn."

"Ah yes, Saunders," Anneli hummed. "She had set up a 'get together'. I only learnt what it was from Sebastian a couple of days ago."

"I know Robyn comes across as very excited but she is very kind and caring," said Arthur honestly. "If you want advice, she will give it to you."

"I don't need advice—"

"I'm not saying you do but if you did—"

"But I don't?"

"Okay!"

By this point, Arthur was in full uncontrollable laughter as he realised Anneli really thought he meant to go and ask Robyn for advice right this very moment. He already knew their social interaction was going to be more one-sided humour but he didn't mind.

"I have one rule," said Anneli as they walked towards the docks. "No race talk outside track, please. My dad has always been right about that. It is annoying."

"Okay," Arthur shrugged happily. "So what do you do for fun?"

"Don't let her answer that or you'll be talking about snowboarding for nine hours," came a cheerful voice from just ahead of them.

Max Verstappen stood reasonably relaxed as he waited for them both to get to the yacht that was waiting for them. His hair was windswept and he had a large grin on his face from previous comments.

Anneli thought it was rather odd to be going on a yacht in the winter months but Arthur had explained that Mira and her daughter, Lily, found it incredibly calming, something the two of them needed when around a group of people. Anneli respected that.

"Snowboarding deserves to be taken about for nine hours," Anneli concluded as she stepped up onto the yacht. "But I will restrain from doing so."

"How nice of you," Max replied sarcastically with a laugh.

From afar, you'd have assumed the two had been friends for years but they just had a similar sense of humour that was understood...both sides never really got too offended and Anneli was easygoing.

"Who is here?" Anneli asked politely.

"Daniel, Marissa, Mira, Lando and Lily," Max replied. "Robyn is always late if she's with Jamie. Charles is with them so he'll be late too."

Stepping into the main area of the boat, Anneli began to realise who the group she was about to make friends with were.

There was Daniel Ricciardo, one arm over the shoulders of a pink-haired woman, with a bright smile on his face and a cheerful voice. He was speaking to Mira Atkinson, a kind-looking blonde woman with black-rimmed glasses, and a shining silver engagement ring on her finger. Anneli knew who she was from her Instagram picture.

So naturally, Anneli assumed the pink-haired beauty was Marissa Romono, an Italian who was Daniel's girlfriend and PR manager. She was tall, tanned and seemed incredibly cheerful. They went well together.

Finally, the messy brown hair of Lando Norris could be seen at the bottom of the boat, arms wrapped around a small blonde girl — Anneli guessed she was no older than three — as she tried to put her hand in the water. Again, Anneli assumed this must be their daughter Lily.

"Hello!" Mira jumped up to greet Anneli. "I'm Mira."

"Hi, I'm Anneli," The finnish woman nodded.

"I'm afraid I'm not very good at small talk," said Mira lightly. "So my plan of doing that failed rather quickly."

"I hate small talk."

"Perfect," Mira grinned. "Lando, come here."

Lando quickly jumped up, picking up Lily effortlessly, and made his way to his fiance and the newcomers. He gave Arthur a polite nod, having met him before.

"Yo," Lando greeted. "Lily, do you want to say hi?"

From the tone in his voice, Anneli knew Lily wasn't a person for greeting new people. The little girl stared at her with determination to work out whether she was worthy of a hello.

"Down," Lily tugged on Lando shirt.

Nodding, Lando placed his adopted daughter onto the floor of the boat. Max stood watching curiously, leaning against the side, and making bets as to what she was going to do because he knew Lily rather well.

"Hi," Lily whispered

"Hello," Anneli got onto one knee,"I am Anneli but you can call me Neli if you want."

"Neli," Lily repeated happily. "You have pretty hair."

"Thank you," Anneli replied smoothly. "What are you holding?"

"Daddy's little car," Lily giggled, holding up the toy McLaren. "Vroom Vroom."

"I like you," Anneli concluded.

"I'm glad," Mira interrupted happily. "She's not normally so sociable with new people! It took weeks before she spoke back to Daniel."

"I think it's because Daniel smiled too much," Lando joked, bashing shoulder with Daniel lightly. "She didn't know what to do."

"No, I missed it!" A voice whined as footsteps echoed. "Let me guess, Mira and Anneli get along instantly and Lily said hi!"

"How did you even—"

"I'm a master predictor, Max," Robyn Saunders answers.

Robyn Saunders was everything but the news made her out to be...which was small, weak or unfriendly. However, the muscular and reasonably weighted dark-skinned woman was a beauty, strong looking with a sheepish smile on her face. She appeared to be good fun and Anneli knew she was from the night in Abu Dhabi.

"Hi again, Anneli!" Robyn sung. "This is Charles, my boyfriend, and Jamie, my bestie."

Jamie, being the most shy of the group, gave a small nod and hello while Charles gave a cute wave. By this point, Max had launched into a full conversation with Daniel and Marissa while Lily went back to trying to get to the water (Mira aiding Lando in stopping her).

"Sorry, we're late," Robyn apologised. "I couldn't find my phone."

"It's a regular problem," Charles joked. "This time, it was in the bathroom."

"Don't act as if you aren't losing things!" Robyn scolded. "It took us two hours to find your airpod the other day—"

Anneli could tell that the two of them had a relationship that she and Elijah never did. Robyn and Charles could tease each other without getting offended, grinning while they did so and through it all, Charles was still holding her hand. Elijah never did any of that.

"You're thinking too hard about something," Max observed as she sat next to him. "What is it?"

"Nothing that matters now," Anneli replied honestly, watching Lily spin in circles. "Do you do this a lot? Uh...going out in a group..."

"Yeah, it's good to get out of the house," Max nodded. "I have cats and sometimes they cause a lot of trouble so to escape it can be nice."

"What kind of trouble?"

"One of them got locked in a room and I had to smash through the door," Max laughed as Anneli's eyes widened. "It's not as dramatic as it sounds."

"Dad would not let me have pets because he thought I wouldn't look after them," said Anneli.

"Do you think you would have?"

"When I was home, yes!" Anneli nodded with a smile. "But I wasn't home much and I felt bad. Maybe they will now that Ria and Ro are old enough."

Silent for a moment, Anneli took in the ocean around her and breathed in and out carefully.

"The sea is calming," Anneli said quietly.

"It's nice," Max agreed. "It's better in the summer."

"Then maybe I'll just have to come back to Monaco later than," Anneli hummed.

"You should," Max replied smoothly. "You're always welcome here, Anneli."

Chapter 18: Dirt Track

Chapter Text

Perhaps it was a stupid decision.

Kimi thought it was a stupid decision.

Anneli also understood why he thought it was a stupid decision when she told him over the phone but she was also enjoying herself.

After all, the Finnish blonde has always loved going full throttle in a rally car around a random dirt track in the name of fun. She enjoyed the way it felt to have no one speaking in her ear, not having to worry about the complexities of a car that was easily damaged or scolded for being too reckless. She was free to drive as crazy as she needed with no judgment other than the soft laughter that tumbled from her mouth and the dazzling look in her blue eyes.

Why did Kimi find that a stupid decision?

Probably because Anneli was supposed to be on a plane heading to Finland to visit her mother before Christmas but Anneli could never turn down a little bit of fun before having family time. Family time meant little reckless fun and more sitting around talking, watching movies and just enjoying time with family so Anneli wanted to get the recklessness out of her system.

So, when Max Verstappen and Robyn Saunders asked if she wanted to join them for a little really car in France, Anneli jumped at the opportunity and rescheduled her flight for the next day instead.

"I'm going to move to rally car," Anneli screamed over the radio as she drifted around the corner.

"No, we need another girl on the grid in f1, Anneli!" Robyn screamed back as she followed the blonde in her own rally car. "Max, you're been beaten by two girls, how do you feel?"

"Not that surprised!" Came the voice over the radio.

Anneli couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard, her mind filled with amusem*nt and happiness as she let her reckless side escape in the company of two professional racing drivers who were (in theory) supposed to outrank her in skill.

They had driven into France to a dirt rally track, where Max had. It was supposed to have been Lando, Robyn and Max going for a day of racing but Mira had her first ultrasound and Lando refused to miss anything...so Lando offered Max to take Anneli (noticing the way they'd been hanging around each other.)

"Anneli, damn girl!" Robyn beamed as she stepped out her car. "Where have you been hiding that?"

"I used to go rally driving with my dad," Anneli admitted. "But life got...boring when I started to spend more time with my ex-boyfriend because he didn't like adventurous things other than hotels more expensive than my car!"

There was a grin on her face but her tone clearly echoes the troubles she had faced without realising it. Robyn didn't really know much about it but Max Verstappen felt like he did.

"Sucks for him, we should do this more!" Robyn hummed. "Mick told me you snowboard, you should take us some time."

"The offer is always there," Anneli shrugged. "Does Mick talk about me?"

"All good things," Robyn insisted. "He thinks of you as his sister. He watches all your races and so does Seb but I'm guessing you knew that"

"How do you know them?" Anneli questioned. "Seb has never told me before but I have never asked."

"Seb adopted her," Max joked.

Robyn rolled her eyes, giving him a light push.

"He used to sponsor me in W series and he's just kind of coached me," Robyn replied. "He's stepped in when my parents were being...uh... absent from my life."

"Sebastian gives me advice because he says me and my dad are the same person and I will get into trouble," Anneli replied honestly. "His advice is right and that's annoying."

"If it's good advice, listen to it," Max added with a shrug.

"But then he knows he's won," Robyn joked as her phone rang. "It's Charles, be right back."

Robyn jogged a small distance away, leaving Max and Anneli to stare at each other. Max was generally surprised at how Anneli let the ice-cold exterior melt slightly when she raced around the track and she could hear the excitement in his voice.

"I'm surprised you took up the offer to come, you said you'd be in Finland," Max began.

"You said I was always welcome and I never pass up rallying," Anneli replied with an unusually soft smile. "Seb said making friends is good...your group seems nice."

"They're great people," Max agreed. "They like you, just so you know."

"Not many people do so that's surprising."

"Not many people like you?" Max was surprised. "Why?"

"They get the wrong impression from radio messages and media," Anneli replied. "A lot don't like me because of dad and I just...I ignore them. I don't really care but I know it makes my dad angry."

"People don't like people who are winning," Max offered. "And then if you're not winning, you're a sore loser for being disappointed. It's just how it is."

"Maybe but I don't have to like it," Anneli added.

Perhaps the two had more in common than Anneli originally thought. If Anneli was being honest, she rather enjoyed the company of Max as he understood her a lot better than other did and he likes to be straight to the point.

"Do you go back to the Netherlands for Christmas?" Anneli questioned kindly.

"I don't know yet. I'll spend it with my sister mostly," Max replied. "I'm guessing you'll be in Finland with your mom?"

"For a few days but I've always spend Christmas with my dad, it just feels right," Anneli replied. "My mum and I have a fine relationship but she was never around that much unless I asked her to be. She'd always come running if I needed her but I grew up with my dad, Seb and Michael...until dad met Minttu and she's practically a second mother to me."

Anneli noticed Robyn coming back towards her with a happy smile on her face.

"My younger siblings also beg me to be around and I'm too nice to say no to them," Anneli added. "I also visit Seb at Christmas and the Schumachers."

"Say hi to Mick for me!" Robyn added. "I have to go, I promised to make a gingerbread house with Arthur and Lorenzo. Charles says they are annoying him."

"Go save him then," Anneli insisted. "I should be heading to the airport anyway so—"

"I'll take you," said Max quickly as Robyn glanced at him. "You go home Robyn, you need to make gingerbread."

"Okay, don't have too much fun without me," Robyn hummed as she waved.

Anneli stared on. Did Max Verstappen really just jump at the opportunity to take her to the airport or was he just being nice to Robyn by doing so?

Chapter 19: Snowflakes

Chapter Text

For Anneli and her family in Switzerland, it was finally Christmas. Anneli's younger siblings, Rianna and Robin, had eagerly awaited the arrival of Santa Claus, who had been promised to deliver their gifts. Anneli knew better at her age but seeing her siblings get excited was something she loved.

Anneli hadn't been the most exciting child around Christmas, but she liked it a lot. Kimi and Minttu always put in a lot of effort with her, as they were with Rianna and Robin, so every year was still special.

Unlike many other areas of the world, it's a tradition in Finland to open gifts on what other countries considered Christmas Eve and the family had brought this tradition to Switzerland. It was natural for them, even if some of Anneli's friends found it crazy.

Honestly, Anneli never really cared about presents...not really. She wasn't a very materialistic person until it came to snowboards. She did like her snowboards and helmets. Otherwise, she didn't care about necklaces and tiaras.

Her parents, whom Anneli considered Minttu as as well, knew just that. So, when she was handed a very obvious-looking present, she grinned largely.

"You didn't!" Anneli gasped.

"Did you expect me not to buy you anything?" Kimi raised his eyebrow.

"It's just...I'm an adult so I would understand—"

"Shut up," Kimi muttered as he hugged his daughter. "I will never stop buying you Christmas presents."

"Love you dad," Anneli muttered.

Anneli tore the paper off the brand-new snowboard. Kimi got her a new board every couple of years but this was different...the board Anneli had broken when she broke up with Elijah had been her favourite. It was a gift from Mick and Sebastian the day she got into Formula 3 after the hard times she'd had.

They couldn't recreate that moment but they could make a new one.

Instead of the markings being for Formula 3, it now marked Formula 2 on the back of it, along with Anneli's racing number and the Finnish flag. The front of the board was decorated with snow mountains and the northern lights. It was simply beautiful.

To her amusem*nt, the back of the board also had something inscribed on it.

Break her board and you die

by Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.

"Thank you," Anneli smiled gratefully.

"Neli, look what I got!" Rianna screamed. "Elsa!"

Ah yes, little Rianna was very obsessed with Frozen. Anneli had brought her a whole bunch of merch for her little sister while her brother also had a whole bunch of presents.

"It's beautiful Ria," Anneli replied.

"We also brought you a bunch of chocolate too," Minttu added.

In Anneli's opinion, Swiss chocolate was the best in the world. She knew some people would disagree with her but she really didn't care. She only ate chocolate once or twice a week so it was something of a luxury when she was on the diet she was on. She had to train harder than the men in the sport did so her diet had to be strict too.

"I know you desperately want to try that board out but you're having family time until you leave for New Years," Kimi made his daughter promise. "Then you can before you...what are you doing in January?"

"Hiking up a mountain," Anneli hummed.

"What?" Minttu gasped.

"I'm hiking up a mountain with Jack and Felipe," Anneli added. "Then I'm going to Sweden for the Race of Champions to support Finald but watch Seb, Mick and Felipe. After that, back to England for Red Bull seat fitting."

"Sounds busy," Kimi commented. "But safe."

"Hiking up a mountain isn't—"

"It's safe for you as I trust Jack and Felipe," Kimi interrupted. "You do it every year, even if it's usually with Seb."

Anneli rolled her eyes at her father. She found it hilarious that her dad was happy for her to snowboard and hike up mountains in the middle of nowhere but he still got nervous when she raced (even though he didn't like to say so) when they were surrounded by safety measures and medical.

Oh and Kimi was still moody when she used to bring boys home but she knew it was just a protective father thing. She dreaded what he'd be like after Elijah.

Elijah had tried to contact Anneli in hope the Christmas time meant she'd be willing to at least answer her text...but Sebastian beat Anneli to her phone. Sebastian didn't like to spy on people or cross boundaries but when he saw 'Elijah - dickhe*d' come up on his goddaughter's phone, he just had to answer.

Elijah didn't call again.

Sebastian never told Anneli what the conversation was, just that the man was in the past and he'd been blocked from her phone. For a while, it was odd that Anneli wasn't texting someone at least a couple times a day.

Now she was.

Max Verstappen.

She knew she shouldn't. It wasn't a good thing at all...it never was. With Robyn Saunder's 'friendship' with Charles Leclerc turning into a starstruck relationship, Anneli did not want the press to think the same about her. She had enough to deal with when it came to Felipe!

But Max got her humour, or therefore lack of, and he seemed to understand her broken sentences and blunt responses. It made an odd conversation to onlooking but they could it because it was just a Dutch and Finnish thing, wasn't it? ... Or maybe it was just a Max and Anneli thing.

"Anneli, you promised to make gingerbread with us!" Robin begged.

"I did," Anneli hummed. "What do you say...mum and dad vs us?"

Rianna nodded excitedly as Minttu laughed, nodding her head in agreement. Kimi narrowed his eyes at her, both knowing he couldn't bake at all. He barely cooked unless it was something simple.

Anneli was an average baker and she had no interest in design but she was good at technical aspects. She knew the measures needed for a gingerbread house to go together and aspects like that.

As expected, Kimi barely did anything while Minttu had their entire plan covered. She baked it but Kimi came to the rescue to help her construct it. In the end, it still fell apart despite all the laughter filling the room.

To the outside, they may have been the family of f1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen but inside their house, they were an average chaotic family.

Chapter 20: The Hike

Chapter Text

"Stop whining!"

"If I fall, you'll be the one crying!"

"You wanted to hike in the first place!"

"I wanted a nice and peaceful hike, not Anneli Raikonnen's hike of intense doom!" Felipe replied, crossing his arms.

They were halfway up hiking up the snowy mountain and Felipe Drugavitch was starting to understand how his style of hiking differs from that of Anneli's.

Jack Doohen, Anneli's Australian best friend, couldn't stop laughing at the two of them. He had hiked with Anneli before so he knew exactly what she was like but it wasn't until this year that he and Felipe became friends through her.

"Come on Felipe, it's good for muscle!" Anneli said happily.

"I hate you," Felipe groaned.

"You love me," Anneli teased.

It was always Felipe that brought out the more light side of Anneli and Jack always brought out her sarcastic side. The three of them were almost like siblings and one could assume they'd been friends all of their life.

"You're insane!" Felipe huffed as he continued hiking.

"I do agree there," Jack laughed.

"You're both dramatic," Anneli replied with an eye roll. "Felipe, I expected you to like this!"

"I do when it is chill!" Felipe replied. "You look like you are on a mission!"

As they made it further up the mountain, the more relieved Felipe felt. Anneli began to slow down a little so the other two could keep up. It was hilarious if you were to tell a random outsider, that a Finnish woman could beat a Brazilian man to hike a mountain. Of course, Anneli had trained and trained and was incredibly well-built and tall, so she did quite well.

When they finally made it to the top, Felipe let out a happy laugh. Anneli grinned at him as Jack yawned.

"We were quicker than I thought," said Anneli, checking her watch. "Good."

"You are officially crazy," Jack laughed.

Truth be told, Anneli missed racing. Most of her life revolved around it and while she liked the odd moments away from it, three months was just too much. She liked the stability of racing even though she adored her family.

Something just made her crave the excitement of it all.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

"Who are you texting, Ice cube?" Felipe asked as he leaned over.

They were on their way to the Race of Champions just a day after hiking up a mountain. Jack had decided to be a last-minute guest and tag along with them too in order to 'keep Anneli from being lonely' but Anneli knew he just wanted to spend time with them as well, especially when Felipe wouldn't be around the grid.

So instead of a nice quiet flight to Sweden, Anneli had to deal with Felipe and Jack acting like children on either side of her.

"No one," Anneli mumbled, trying to move her phone.

"When someone moves their phone, it's normally someone they like in a non-friend way," Jack joked.

Anneli screwed her nose up at him before Felipe gasped.

"She's texting Max Verstappen!"

"What?" Jack gasped with a grin. "Are you?"

"I'm reserve driver for his team—"

"I'm reserve driver for Aston Martin but I'm not out here texting Fernando Alonso or Lance!" Felipe replied suggestively. "And I bet you are not texting Perez so..."

"Just because he is a man and I'm a woman, it does not mean I'm in some secret relationship," Anneli pointed out. "Not that it means anything now! I'm not dating either of you and I text you too!"

"No, you don't," Felipe pouts. "Not that much, we have to annoy you into texting us back. You're willingly texting Verstappen."

"We are...friends," Anneli replied slowly. "I was invited by Robyn Saunders to be apart of their group of something called 'race girlies', whatever that was."

"No way, you're in Robyn's inner circle?" Jack blinked. "Why don't you tell us this stuff, Nel?"

"What is Robyn Saunder's 'inner circle'?" Felipe questioned, confused.

Jack gave a dramatic sign as if the two of them should have already known who the 'inner circle' was. While Jack was only a Formula 2 driver, he was on social media a lot and just thought everyone else knew what was going on too.

"Robyn likes to collect the girlfriends of her friends," Jack explained. "She's really friendly as Anneli now knows."

"And who are the friends?" Felipe asked, tilting his head. "Is this because she's dating Charles Leclerc?"

"Robyn's circle is Mira Atkinson, she's a pro-championship winner for the F1 e-sports and she's engaged Norris. Then there's Marissa Romono, Ricciardo's girl, I don't know much about her," Jack began, counting on his fingers. ".A new one is some Pianist called Mai Chen who's dating Gasly now...and now you're in so..."

"I'm not dating Verstappen," Anneli said clearly. "Robyn just made friends with me because I'm the only other female who's in with the F1 lot."

"Whatever you say," Felipe teased. "You and Max seem very similar..."

"I'm not talking about this with you, Felipe."

"But it's fun—"

"Anyway, Jack, you are flawed because Robyn's best friend is Jamie Chadwick and she doesn't date anyone," said Anneli, feeling like she'd won.

"True but Robyn was friends with Jamie before she joined F1," Jack pointed out with a shrug.

"End of conversation, we're here!"

Anneli quickly got out of the car, glad to finally have a chance to get away from her very annoying friends (even if she loved them). As expected, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher were waiting for her with large grins.

"Sebastian, they are bullying me!" Anneli called out.

"We weren't!" Jack replied with a grin.

Felipe and Jack were used to Sebastian and Mick being around when Anneli was so there wasn't any 'starstruck' when it came to seeing them. Plus, Jack and Mick were also very good friends as well, since their dad's had known each other.

"I believe Anneli, sorry," Mick said with a laugh.

"Haha!" Anneli pointed at Jack. "I win!"

"She was texting Max Verstappen, we had a right to tease her!" Jack argued.

"You're texting Max?" Mick questioned.

"Idiots," Anneli groaned in Finnish. "He's just like a teammate, you get it, don't you Seb?"

"Sure do," Sebastian smiled as he threw his arm over her shoulder. "Although—"

"Don't you dare."

"I...will not say a word," Sebastian smiled.

Anneli rolled her head as they all walked towards the hotel.

She might have hated the things they said at time but Anneli knew if anyone was going to tease her, she'd rather them be her friends. Besides, she supposed they weren't wrong in some ways.

Max Verstappen was one of the only people she did text on a day-to-day basis.

Chapter 21: The launch

Chapter Text

Anneli quite liked the Red Bull atmosphere.

She knew it wasn't for everyone; to some people, it might have seemed a ruthless place. There was no room for mistake but was there with any team...well, from previous records, there was.

Red Bull was strict in what they wanted from a driver and Anneli respected that; she didn't see the point in keeping someone who was pointless if they truly were at that moment in time. It also meant they kept a tight circle within the team and Anneli appreciated that too.

Anneli was back in Milton Keynes for her seat fitting as reserve driver. She'd also had a seat fitting at Alpha Tauri as she was contracted to be a reserve driver for them too. So she'd been to Italy and England within the space of two days.

After the seat fitting, Anneli decided to just stay in England for a few days after they unveiled the new car. The media team liked that as they got some time to film promo videos. The car launch was supposed to be a large event and they wanted Anneli there as their official reserve driver, not just their driver's academy member.

"Anneli, hey!" Max called as he saw her. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"You did not?" Anneli surprised. "Well...surprise?"

"Hi Anneli," Checo added, stepping forward slightly to shake her hand.

Anneli had to wonder if Checo ever got worried at Red Bull; they had a history of getting rid of drivers very quickly and replacing them with fresh F2 talent...Checo wasn't exactly a young driver and everyone knew Max was the golden boy. Max would only ever leave Red Bull on his terms.

"How was your flight from Switzerland?" Max asked.

"I flew here from Italy," Anneli corrected. "It was nice."

"How was your winter break?" Max questioned.

"It was good...I just went hiking with Felipe and Jack last week," Anneli explained. "Then I went to Race of Champions to support Felipe, Mick and Seb."

"You've been busy then," Max laughed. "Do you like the new suit?"

"It's a little different from last year and my normal DAMS but yes, I do," Anneli smiled. "And my helmet is cool."

Anneli was glad about her new suit being the fit it was, You couldn't see much and it did its best to make sure she wasn't objectified for being a woman in the sport. She'd had that in the past...people commenting on her waist and upper area so at least they wouldn't do it as much now. Other than that, it was about the same as her DAMS suit with changed branding.

After they did the photography shoots in the new suits, it was back to normal clothing of the Red Bull brand for the car reveal. Anneli doubted it would look any different their livery never did.

"Have you ever been on a stage like this?" Checo asked kindly, seeing Anneli shuffle in her spot.

"No," She shrugged. "Just on the podium...but my dad is here."

"He is?"

"He comes to everything," Anneli nodded. "Christian said it was okay."

Anneli wasn't particularly nervous, media didn't scare her other than the odd annoyance with how long it always took. This was a little different...it was the main car to show off to all of the sponsors and guests.

Despite the fact they were supposed to be paying attention to what the presenter was saying after the car had been shown (which Anneli liked)...Max Verstappen was too busy joking around her as they looked at the car.

Anneli finally understood what the term 'maxplaining' was.

The Finnish woman could also see her father rolling her eyes from where he stood as he watched Max point out parts of the car to his daughter. Kimi knew it would likely bore Anneli.

"Anneli, you are new to the Red Bull family this year," The presenter began and Anneli turned her attention to her. "What do you think of the sim work you will be doing?"

Anneli brought the mic up closer.

"Well It's to develop the car for Max and Check," Anneli replied shortly. "I also have my own races in Formula 2 so I know the car and how things work. I am hoping that my experience is useful to the sim work too."

As soon as the presenter stopped talking to Anneli and turned to Checo, Max was back whispering to her about random things...Anneli was doing her best not to burst out laughing in front of all the people. She could tell Max was as bored as she was.

"Now Anneli, you're one of the older drivers on the F2 grid, how does that change your perspective and how does being in the Red Bull family help you?"

"I started karting at a very early age but had to take a couple of years out so you could say my teammate Arthur Leclerc and I are in the same boat so I would not say my perspective is that much different. I think it makes me appreciate the fact I am here a lot more," Anneli explained the best she could. "I think being with Red Bull for me will allow me the sim time I don't always get and having the experience of Max and Checo should be invaluable."

The launch didn't go on for long after that but Anneli was rather bored all the way through. After all, she was just standing there listening to everything that was being said. When she finally exited the building, she was glad to have some fresh air.

"Hey, Anneli!" Max called as he jogged to her.

"Hi," Anneli replied, glancing at her dad, who waited leaning up against the car they rented.

"Sorry if I'm keeping you, I just wanted to ask when testing was for you?" Max questioned.

"February 14th," Anneli replied smoothly. "Why?"

"I just wanted to see if you'd be there at the same time as us," Max replied with a shrug. "But—"

"I'll be there through my testing and I'll be in the Red Bull garage during yours," Anneli interrupted. "That's what you are asking, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Max smiled slightly.

"You must really miss me," said Anneli with a hint of sarcasm as she began to walk to her dad. "See you, Verstappen."

Meanwhile, Kimi just glared at Max Verstappen.

Chapter 22: Call me a friend

Chapter Text

YOUR INSTAGRAM GROUP CHATS

(🏎️) F2 drivers official
(👀) Felipe's fan girls
(💕) Driver girlies

You've been added to a new group chat - Robyn's Grid Girlies
Accept Delete

Group members: Lily Muni He, Robyn Saunders, Mira Atkinson, Anneli Räikönnen, Jamie Chadwick, Mai Chen, Marissa Romono, Carmen Mundt

Robyn Saunders🕊️
Hello girlies

Jamie Chadwick🇺🇸
Robyn you have a group
Chat making obsession

Mira Atkinson 🎮
This is like our fifth group chat—

Lily Muni He ⛳️
It's a valid obsession

Carmen Mundt 💰
George disagrees

Anneli Räikönnen🧊
Why do you like group chats so much?

Mai Chen 🎹
Hello? What is this?

Marissa Romono 🇮🇹
Good question

Robyn Saunders🕊️
You are my grid girlies♥️
Give me a break I'm surrounded
By all male friends all the time
(Who I love) but I need you
I'll give introductions

Jamie Chadwick 🇺🇸
Oh uh here we go

Lily Muni He ⛳️
It can't be that bad

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
I present to you...
Mira, she's our E-racer/Lando girlfriend so she's always on the grid.

Mira Atkinson 🎮
Just warning you that
I'm currently having very bad
Hangry moments from being
Pregnant so beware

Anneli Räikönnen🧊
What is 'hangry'?

Mira Atkinson 🎮
It's when you're hungry and
Angry at the same time

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Mira said she'll name her kid
after me

Mira Atkinson 🎮
WHAT NO I DIDN'T

Anneli Räikönnen🧊
wow drama

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Then we have Jamie Chadwick
My bestie Indycar driver

Jamie Chadwick🇺🇸
Yeah excuse the flag
Robyn gave me
I'm actually British

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Then Anneli
She's drives for f2 and she's
With red bull now so cool
Her dad is also Kimi so bonus

Anneli Räikönnen🧊
Why is it a bonus?

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Driver with driver parent gets
A bonus point just because I
said so😍 plus Seb and mick
both look after us so there's that

Mira Atkinson 🎮
Sebastian follows you around like
a concerned dad, Robyn

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
He is my grid dad
Anyway
Then Marissa Romono is our stunning
Italian looking after Danny Ric.
Oh and her mum is Lamborghini
team principle

Marissa Romono 🇮🇹
Hi
My mum is that yes
She is a badass

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Then we have my bestie Carmen,
she's george's girlfriend and she's
a finical adviser

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
And of course, Lily <3
the best golfer in the world
so alex likes to tell me every day

Anneli Räikönnen🧊
So everyone here is on the grid?

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
More times than not yeah!
Y'all are my close friend group

Robyn Saunders 🕊️
Anyway, I'm here to say that
you all need to be in Bahrain please
We're going out for a preseason dinner

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

Anneli Räikönnen didn't know why people wanted her involved because as far as media went, Anneli wasn't fun to be around. At parties, she could get away with fitting in through her high tolerance to alcohol. She appreciated them trying to make an effort and Anneli also wanted to try and listen to Seb and Mick.

The start of the season was something Anneli was simply buzzing for as she stepped out into the Bahrain air. Testing was in less than a day and Anneli had left it until the very last minute to be there since she didn't like just hanging around.

Her family weren't flying out until the race weekend but they were coming to watch her first race like they did every year. It would be odd for Anneli not to have Elijah there...not that she wanted him there now.

"It's good to be back," said Anneli as she walked into DAMS garage.

It was only during testing that F2 actually got the garage as during an f1 weekend, f1 teams took them up and F2 got their own build-up paddock.

"Yo Anneli!" Liam, her race engineer, grinned. "How was your summer?"

"Peaceful and dramatic at the same time," Anneli replied briefly. "It was nice, thank you."

"Good," Liam smiled as the New Zealand-born looked at his driver.

"Is Arthur here yet?" Anneliq questioned lightly.

Liam stared at her blankly and Anneli could almost see the clogs turning in his brain as though she'd admitted to murder. The reality was that Anneli never called her teammate by their first name, everyone knew that since her first f4 race, it was just how it was.

"Not Leclerc?" Liam corrected.

"His name is Arthur, I can use it," Anneli briefly smiled. "I know, I've changed."

"I'm scared," Liam joked as he jogged to keep up with her. "Arthur got here half an hour ago, he's just getting his helmet on, which you should also do. Pitlane opens in fifteen."

"Yeah, yeah," Anneli brushed.

It was still odd for Anneli to be walking around in a Red Bull race suit and seeing the livery on her car. Arthur was a part of the Ferrari's driving academy but they didn't have their own suits/livery, just the logo on their uniforms.

Whereas Jack, Anneli's friend, was dressed and raced in Alpine livery.

"Hello Arthur," said Anneli lightly as she pulled on her gear and earphones.

"Hi Anneli, how are you?" Arthur replied kindly.

"Okay," She shrugged in reply. "F2 is better than F3...but it takes some getting used to so don't be upset if you struggle with the car, I did."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Arthur beamed.

"DAMS is good to race for though," Anneli added. "They are kind and I like you, unlike my other teammate."

"Good to know," Arthur laughed.

"Take that as a very big compliment, Arthur, Anneli hates calling teammates by the first name," said one of Anneli's engineers, patting him on the shoulder.

"Why?" Arthur questioned racing an eyebrow.

"Professionalism and...makes me beating them feel better," Anneli smirked. "But I consider us friends now, you are better than my other teammates."

Anneli didn't say anything else before she jogged back to her side of the garage to put her helmet on. Testing was something she enjoyed because she liked to see what the car could do...the bad thing was the amount of talking.

Chapter 23: The stare

Chapter Text

When Anneli heard that Felipe was going to potentially drive in his first Formula 1 race, she was ecstatic. For once, it was easy to tell as her smile radiated brightly. He would be driving in practice and if Lance Stroll's injury didn't get better, he'd be racing too.

Anneli had never met Lance but it seemed only right to route for Felipe being able to drive.

Sadly for her but good news for Lance Stroll, he was able to race. Felipe still got the experience of another practice as well as staying in the garage for the rest of the weekend (though he was likely to be there most of the time anyway).

KImi had arrived on Friday but had stayed away from the Formula 1 paddock and been in the Formula 2 one to keep his daughter company. He was accompanied by Antonio Giovinazzi every day he was there, who was in his Ferrari shirt as he was their reserve driver and Le Mans driver this year.

"Good morning Arthur," Anneli spoke calmly as she walked into the DAMS area.

It was Sunday and an hour away from the first feature race of the season. So far, Anneli had gotten P2 in Qualifying on Friday and proceeded to win the Sprint Race to leave her with Pole position for the race.

The F2 was always a lot earlier than F1, which Anneli preferred so she could watch the F1 races. The feature race was due to start at 1:20pm in Bahrain.

"Dad, Tonio, this is Arthur," Anneli introduced. "Arthur, this is my dad, Kimi, and Antonio."

Arthur seemed to remain calm as he shook Kimi's hand but Anneli could see the faint admiration in his eyes. Antonio gave Arthur a kind smile and a wave.

"I need to get ready, I'll see you after the race," said Anneli to her father.

An hour later, Anneli was sat on the grid watching the red lights count down, hands gripping the steering wheel and her face fully focused and relaxed.

Anneli got a good start as the lights went out, firmly ahead of Theo Pourchaire in second.

"Okay, Anneli, you've got Pourchaire behind you but you are faster currently," said Liam through the radio.

"Copy."

This didn't particularly mean much as a safety car was soon in place a couple of laps later with a collision of a few of the other cars. Anneli checked to make sure everyone was okay and it wasn't Arthur before regaining her full focus again.

When the safety car ended, there was nothing standing between Anneli and that win. At the halfway point, she led the pack by twelve seconds from Boschung, Arthur, Maini and Bearman.

Anneli couldn't describe the feeling of racing exactly but for her, it was like an artist running a paintbrush along a canvas. Sometimes you made mistakes that you could cover up with more paint and other times, there was nothing you could do but try your best to work with what you had. Sometimes you run out of paint. Yet, you still loved doing it because it was your favourite thing to do in the world.

Not that her expressions ever gave that away.

It was only when she crossed the finish line in P1 that you saw Anneli's more adventurous and exciting sides. She wasn't the type to scream down her radio about winning and she always thanked her team first but you could hear the happiness in her voice.

She was always happy winning races when her dad was there too. She'd been lucky that her dad could afford to put her through racing and he didn't have to...but he did. Anneli always felt that winning paid that back even if Kimi said that's not what mattered. Anneli's happiness mattered.

Standing on the podium and seeing her dad as she was handed a trophy made it all the more worthwhile and she grinned when she saw Felipe standing with Antonio and Fernando Alonso as well. They were her family. Not many people saw Anneli grinning unless she was on a podium.

Then she locked eyes with Max Verstappen.

He was standing with Christian Horner, looking up at the podium with curiosity...impressed with her racing. It wasn't just that either, Anneli had such a mysterious side to her but there was nothing mysterious about her podiums.

As the national anthems of France and Finland were played, Max and Anneli stayed staring at each other for a reason neither could place.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

Walking through the F1 Paddock with Fernando Alonso was always going to attack some attention but Anneli underestimated quite how much. She'd simply wanted to walk with Felipe and Fernando to Aston Martin before making her way to Red Bull. Her dad was going to Ferrari with Antonio.

"You can always switch to Aston Martin," Fernando joked as they made it to Aston Martin hospitality. "No one will blame you."

"Fernando, you can't keep trying to persuade me," Anneli replied in amusem*nt. "Don't you think my dad hasn't already tried to switch me to Alfa Romeo or that Jack wants me to go with Alpine?"

"But I am your favourite—"

"I don't have favourites, Nando!" Anneli shook her head. "Okay, maybe Felipe but—"

"Aha! Liar!" Fernando grinned. "But Felipe is Aston Martin too, no? Case won."

"Very funny, goodbye Fernando," Anneli hummed. "Bye Felipe."

Anneli hummed as she walked towards the Red Bull garage, a lanyard around her neck and wearing her Red Bull cap.

She'd spent the past couple of hours in a press conference, getting changed and having a small post-race meeting. There wasn't too much to talk about with the positive result but the team always went over what didn't go well or could be improved. Anneli was a good driver in that way; she always pointed out her flaws so someone could suggest a way to improve them.

"Congrats on your win again, Anneli," Christian Horner as he walked past her.

"Thank you."

"Hey Anneli," Max greeted kindly as she got to the main area of the garage.

He was getting his gear on, ready to take the car around the track and to the grid so the mechanics could work on it.

"You were at my podium celebrations," Anneli spoke directly but kindly.

"I watched the race and Christian likes to watch the podiums of the junior drivers," Max replied smoothly. "You raced well, you deserved to win."

"Thanks," Anneli smiled. "I guess I should wish you to win as well."

"You don't have to want me to win. A lot of people don't."

"No...no...I want you to win," Anneli denied quickly. "I'll be at your podium."

"Promise?" Max joked.

"I do what I say Verstappen," Anneli replied, glancing at him before walking to the viewing area.

When Max did win, Anneli found herself staring up at him just like he did to her just hours ago. He was standing on the top step podium with Robyn Saunders on one side and Fernando Alonso on the other. There they were again; different anthems and reversed roles in staring.

Perhaps this was the start of a reassuring habit for the two.

Anneli wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Chapter 24: Kill for me

Chapter Text

Anneli Raikonnon was a believer in hard work and she didn't believe in luck. She believed in understandable mistakes and small errors, all the way to a fluke or fortunate result but luck? Luck was a way of avoiding admittance to error or avoiding taking credit.

"I was lucky, that's why I won." or "It was just unlucky that the tyres did not last long enough."

No. Anneli just believed that you should be prepared for the unprepared and if you weren't, admit in. She knew people thought her harsh for it but it was the reason Anneli owned up to her mistakes and the reason people liked working with her despite her blunt nature. She never blamed anyone else and she always let people know they were doing a good job.

Wishing for luck brought unhappiness and Anneli didn't need that in her life.

It was not 'lucky' that Max Verstappen had chosen Anneli to like. It was simply a fact and Anneli hadn't worked out what she had done to cause it.

She wasn't interesting or fun; she wasn't even creative or exciting. Not to her...she was just Anneli; the most exciting thing about her was her father.

Max didn't think so.

Perhaps that's why he invited her to fly with him to Jeddah. Not only that, he wanted her to go to Paul Ricard Circuit with him to wish one of the Verstappen.Com Junior racers good luck.

She wasn't sure why she said yes.

That was a lie.

She said yes because she felt something was pulling her to say so. Felipe encouraged Anneli to try to make friends and Jack said Max was a good person. After all, Jack was friends with Mick and Mick trusted Max.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Anneli said in Finnish, glaring at her dad.

They were standing by the two places waiting for them. Max was stood by one and Antoine by the other. Anneli didn't take private planes when she travelled to races without her dad so it was odd.

"Max Verstappen..." Kimi began."It's odd."

"Do you care?"

"Not really," Kimi shrugged. "It's just...odd. I want to make sure you are safe."

"I am," Anneli assured. "So, I will see you in April after Australia. Bye dad."

"Bye Anneli, I love you," Kimi smiled.

"I love you too," Anneli replied.

Kimi gave her one final hug, something Anneli only really did with family, and headed towards the separate planes. Max's plane was matte black with orange markings, looking very Verstappen-worthy in Anneli's opinion.

"Hey, Anneli!" Max beamed.

"Hi Max," Anneli replied with a final wave to her dad and Antoine. "Thank you for inviting me. I don't know why you did but thank you."

"You are good company," Max shrugged honestly.

"So are your friends," Anneli pointed out.

"I didn't ask them, I asked you," Max replied honestly. "You didn't have to come if you didn't want to."

"No, I did," Anneli added. "It was just an observation. I don't get invited places...ever...unless it's Felipe and Jack, or Mick and Seb."

"People should ask you more often," Max said with a smile. "You're interesting, I'm surprised I never met you before."

"Feel lucky, I don't like meeting people usually let alone travelling over the world with them," Anneli joked.

"I'm so lucky," Max returned, playfully placing a hand on his heart.

There it was again; the stare.

The unbreakable stare where neither side said anything and locked eyes in an understanding manner. A stare that showed that there was something else there but neither side knew what to do about it.

Anneli had gotten out of a bad relationship barely a couple of months ago and Max had ended a long relationship with his girlfriend. They were both in the public eye, both racers. Surely, that couldn't work.

"Anneli—"

"No...I know what you are thinking," Anneli whispered. "We cannot. You are Max Verstappen."

"Just a name," Max shrugged honestly. "I could say the same about you being a Raikonnen."

"You are not the one that would be obliterated by the media, I am."

"You don't care about the media."

"True, I don't."

The stare again. This was a different stare.

This was a stare of possibility, one of hope for one side and one of conflict for another. There were certain lines that were not meant to be crossed and Anneli was sure this was one of them.

"Why am I not allowed to have feelings for you?" Max questioned openly. "I knew there was something about you. The understanding and the similarity...Abu Dhabi and then Monaco."

"I can't be one of these 'Girls', Max," Anneli argued. "I can't just be a trophy girlfriend who goes to the beach in Bikinis and kisses you when you win a race. I can't do it."

"I'm not asking you too—"

"And I'm not the type to stop racing because you want a little family or—"

"Anneli, I'm not asking that of you!" Max raised his voice. "I'm just asking you to try to make this work if you like me back. I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to."

"Fine," Anneli pursed her lips. "But if you pull an Elijah move at any point, You might have two world champions knocking at your house to murder you."

"Noted," Max grinned. "Elijah was a dick."

"He was."

Max Verstappen and Anneli Raikonnen. People could go from just being part of the same team to being on a private jet together admitting feelings in a very unique way. The guy who had it all in the world of Motorsports and the woman who was just trying to prove herself.

Anneli wondered how her father would take it.

"Robyn told me she added you to her little group," Max commented as he watched Anneli scribbling away.

She seemed to be drawing snowboard designs.

"She did," Anneli nodded. "It's a very...unique group."

"Mira says Robyn collects female racers and girlfriends like Thanos collects infinity stones," Max grinned. "Mira is obsessed with Marvel. Since Lando and I are friends, I'm around her a lot."

"I have never seen any marvel movie before—"

"Seriously?"

"I have refined hobbies and likes," Anneli admitted. "I have never been a movie person."

"Don't tell Mira that, she named her cats after movie characters," Max laughed. "So you just snowboard?"

"I love snowboarding, it's a way of being free outside of racing," Anneli smiled softly. "You should join me some time...if you're 'super star' contract allows it."

"Even if it was in my contract, I don't care," Max admitted.

"I don't know whether that's bravery, stupidity or both."

"Probably both," Max joked. "WIll it be worth it?"

"Everything that includes me is worth it, Verstappen."

Chapter 25: Whirlwinds

Chapter Text

There were different types of couples when it came to the race world.

There were the types that kept their relationship semi-private but didn't try to hide things when people found out; like Lando Norris and Mira Atkinson who didn't even try to hide their engagement or the fact Mira was pregnant. They held hands around the paddock but kept their personal lives out of the public.

There were those who kept it fully private and away from prying eyes to protect each side of the relationship; like Pierre Gasly and Mai Chen who did everything to make sure people left Mai alone and not stress her out. She went to the occasional races but everything else was fully private and off social media.

There were the out-in-the-open type of people who made an obvious point to let people know they were together; like Daniel Ricciardo and Marissa Romono who acted like best friends in public and were happy to tell each other about their personal lives if they wanted to know. They were both bright and fun people.

There there was the type who kept it out of work but they were happy to be public about it elsewhere; like Robyn Saunders and Charles Leclerc who were, without doubt, the most romantic couple on the grid. Charles made romantic gestures and they never lied to the media.

Then there was none of the above.

Anneli Raikkonen and Max Verstappen could keep a relationship private without even trying. The type that were happy with each other's company without being romantic or showing any displays of affection. No one asked questions so they didn't need to answer...though if they did, Anneli and Max were not the type of people to lie.

Besides, they were a part of the Red Bull family so no one ever had a suspension, even when they were flying to race and when flying to Jeddah. It just seemed normal.

Of course, one person was always bound to know.

In this case two...then three and by the end of the week, Anneli and Max's close friends knew. Anneli supposed it was obvious for them to know, they'd find out anyway.

Felipe seemed static for her, grinning when she loosely told him and Jack seemed unsurprised. Max had told Anneli that Christian knew and didn't care as long as they caused no issues. Lando knew, being Max's best friend, and so did Robyn Saunders.

"You two can double date with us!" Robyn grinned. "Come to Monaco! I would offer to cook but—"

"Robyn and I would blow up the kitchen," Charles interrupted. "We cannot cook."

"We're so bad at cooking, it's embarrassing, Charles literally burns bread," Robyn agreed.

Robyn and Charles walked alongside Max and Anneli as they headed towards the track. Normally, the F1 drivers wouldn't be there quite that early but they wanted to watch Anneli's race. She got hit on lap 15 and had damage to her wing. In return, she finished 10th instead of the 2nd she predicted.

"I can cook but I do not like to," Anneli explained. "It bores me."

"I love cooking, I just wish I wasn't a hazard at it!" Robyn laughed. "Max is a useless cook too—"

"I'm not that bad—"

"Liar," Robyn rolled her eyes.

Anneli was allowed two F2 paddock paces so she gave one to Max for the weekend, feeling like it was only right now, and the other to Felipe. None of her family were coming this weekend so she had no obligations. Arthur had supplied Charles and Robyn with theirs.

"Hi!" Arthur greeted as the group headed towards the DAMS area.

"Hello Arthur," Anneli hummed.

Charles and Robyn had flown with Charles to Jeddah so they'd already seen each other.

Anneli was surprised to see how curious some of the other drivers were to see Charles, Robyn and Max in the paddock. Sure, the f1 drivers were occasionally in the paddock (though most watched from their team garages, hospitality or driver room) but it was rare — nearly non-existent — to see three of them surrounding one team.

"How do you think you'll do today?" Max asked lightly.

I did plan on winning every race of the season," Anneli started in a bored tone. "But then I decided that was a little bit ambitious and settled on at least a podium per weekend."

Robyn and Charles both laughed while Max grinned at her. Anneli's tone was completely serious but she did have a small smile on her face.

"I see why the two of you are together, so cute," Robyn whispered as she pointed at the two of them.

"We are cute too," Charles made a point of saying.

"Course we are, Mon Cherie," Robyn smiled, gripping Charles' hand. "Anneli, even if you don't get a podium one weekend, doesn't mean it's always your fault."

"I don't believe in luck so it's either my fault or someone else's. There are only a few situations where I don't take responsibility for a collision and that's when data shows me there is nothing I could have done," Anneli pointed out.

"That's very...profound," Robyn smiled. "So I won't say good luck for your race...I don't know what to say...damn you got me."

"You just have to tell her to do amazing," Max grinned playfully.

"You don't have to say anything," Anneli replied kindly as she tied her hair back. "Just let me do my thing. Win."

Sadly, Anneli did not win.

She took it as a loss but also understood that she had started from P10 so P3 was still a podium. It wasn't a win but it would do and it kept her as championship leader. It was so easy to lose the championship in Formula 2 because of how tight the field was in points. Besides, Anneli wanted to set a record for a podium every weekend (and hope for no technical problems).

Anneli also found that Arthur was a joy to have around. Even though most of the time Anneli seemed cold-hearted and had a lack of response to people, she had her playful side.

A lot of Anneli's 'coldness' came from the fact she didn't understand some English words still and when the other person's first language was also not English, it made it harder. So, it was easier to just have less of a reply to Anneli knowing she wouldn't offend anyone. Over the years, her English got better but Anneli just had a habit of her short responses.

It kept the media at bay for a while too.

When she was with Felipe or Jack, she was more open and she was also learning to be that way with Max too. She even started laughing with Robyn by the end of the weekend.

Perhaps the girl nicknamed Icecube wasn't so frosty at all.

Especially when she and Jack were sharing a podium. They were chaos together; not quite as much as when Felipe was with them but they were still a whirlwind of friendship.

A cold whirlwind.

Chapter 26: Two surprises in one day

Chapter Text

"Neli, just listen!"

"Piss off."

"Anneli!"

"Mene helvettiin."

"I can't speak Finnish, you know that!"

"Elijah, I do not want to speak to you," Anneli Räikkönen replied calmly.

The past always comes back to haunt you. Truth be told, Anneli knew she was going to run into Elijah at some point and it made sense that he would have run off to Monaco. He was an incredibly spoiled boy — and mentally, he was still a boy, not a man — so going to Monaco was always what he did when he was 'bored'.

It had been six months since she'd seen him and if she was honest, she had kind of forgotten about him. She'd seen his mother at one point but she'd never liked Anneli so there was no conversation. Anneli's friends back in Switerzland had told her that Elijah still brought her up in conversation.

She had just finished practice and was waiting by the car for Max. All she wanted was peace, was that too much to ask?

"What happened was blown out of proportion," said Elijah with crossed arms.

"No, I don't think it was," Anneli glared. "You broke my favourite board."

"It's just a snowboard, Anneli," Elijah argued, rolling his eyes. "It means nothing over our love."

"There is no love, Elijah, I don't think there ever was," Anneli replied. "I thought maybe it was just me not really feeling anything but now I've learnt that you're supposed to feel something when you think you are in love."

"And you'd know that now would you?"

"I think I do."

"You're sleeping with Verstappen, aren't you?" Elijah scoffed. "I see you together all the time on social media."

"So what if I am?"

"That's just wrong—"

"He's been better to me in these past months and you were to me all those years" Anneli smirked. "And he's a lot better in bed."

"You bitch!" Elijah growled.

"You're not a dog, piss off," Anneli echoed again.

"She said piss off, dickhe*d," Came the voice of Robyn Saunders. "No means No."

Elijah eyed Robyn and her Mercedes top and cap. He wasn't an idiot, he knew what would happen to him if the public saw him treat their prized Formula 1 driver badly. So, he backed away while staring down Anneli.

"You did not have to do that," Anneli said kindly as she looked to see Max walking with Charles.

"Max did it for me, you know? I am a strong believer in karma and you don't deserve that guy annoying you. I know what happened," Robyn explained. "Seb wanted to murder him for days. Thank God he's not here."

"He's not but my dad is and so is Fernando."

"Fernando Alonso?"

"Yes. I annoy him but he's been around just as much as Seb has," Anneli replied. "I actually know a lot of grid, I just don't spend that much time with them...like Valtteri and Lewis. I was a...I think they call me a grid kid."

"Damn girl," Robyn grinned. "That's so cool, now I really want you to be on the grid with me...did not expect that from Fernando."

Anneli had been collecting trophies all season and so far, she'd been on the podium of every feature race and most of the sprint races. It was interesting in a way as DAMS weren't always the team on top and for once, they were fully prepared for Anneli to win the championship, even if Vesti and Pourchere threatened it.

Anneli's friends from Switzerland had all come to Monaco with her as it's somewhere they'd all wanted to go but couldn't afford to. However, Kimi had a private jet to Monaco and invited them all with them as well as offering to pay for their hotel rooms. He was always soft when it came to his kids and what they wanted and Anneli wanted her friends with her. They couldn't have F2 paddock passes because Anneli needed them for her family but her friends all had hospitality.

Truth be told, Anneli didn't care if she won in Monaco like a lot of other drivers did. To her, it was just another rich place and not her home race. If anything, she wanted to try and get Arthur to win if she could.

Anneli wasn't sure if she could outsmart the Leclerc curse.

"Please do not tell anyone Elijah is here because my dad will kill him," Anneli warned.

"I won't, don't worry," Robyn smiled. "So...how are things with Max?"

"Good."

That was all Anneli had to say. Things with Max were amazing, he was so kind and had the same humour as her, they cooked together and Anneli had started to join Max's twitch streams with Redline. She felt at home with him and she hoped it stayed that way.

"That's it?"

"I don't know what you want me to say," Anneli shrugged. "It's good, I am surprised it's staying as secret as it has. I think a lot of it is hidden by the fact I am in the Red Bull family."

"That's likely," Robyn agreed. "You know Anneli, every one of the grid girlies are here this weekend and I was thinking that we should have a yacht party."

"You really like to get people together, don't you?" Anneli hummed.

"Life is no fun if you don't have friends," Robyn insisted. "I think it's important in our career to make sure friendships don't turn sour like they have done before...to leave what happened on the track at the track."

"You are very smart."

"So are you, I've just noticed you don't like to show it."

It had been over twenty minutes since Charles and Max were supposed to join the two in the car park and Anneli was starting to get a little confused. She'd been taking part in the F1 free practice in place of Checo, with some good lap times too, and Max had only gone to get changed.

"Where have you been?" Anneli complained when they finally joined the two.

"Helping Lando and Mira," Max replied.

"Why, are they okay?" Robyn questioned, tilting her head.

"Baby Norris is on the way," came the voice of a pained Mira. "I'm never doing this again, Lando. Two kids is enough."

"Noted," Lando smiled.

Anneli could tell easily that Lando was filled with so much joy as he helped Mira to the car. Anneli didn't know that much about Mira to ask how far along she was but she got her answer now.

"Lando is too excited to drive, I don't trust him so please can one of you take us," Mira asked kindly. "Lando's parents are here but they didn't drive."

"Yeah, we can Mira," Max offered immediately.

"Everything we do is chaos," Mira complained.

"Hey, at least we're home, right?" Lando offered.

"At least we're home."

Unlike a lot of other professions, Lando couldn't exactly take leave when Mira got to her due date just in case she had the baby so Anneli assumed Mira stayed at home whenever there was races and hoped Lando would be home when the time came. They got lucky it was during the Monaco weekend as they lived there.

Taking someone to the hospital to have a baby wasn't quite on Anneli's 'to do' list for the day but nothing ever went to plan, did it?

Chapter 27: All over again

Chapter Text

v
Sometimes, Anneli Räikkönen got scared and just didn't tell anyone. It wasn't because she was embarrassed or didn't have anyone to tell, it was just because she thought it was her problem and no one else (unless she was in real danger). However, Anneli was scared that her father would kill her ex.

So, how did she deal with that?

Distraction.

Maybe a bad distraction but a distraction all in itself...

"Anneli, what has gotten into you?" Minttu questioned as she sipped on her drink.

All of the Räikkönen's were sat on a yacht, waiting on the docks for the rest of their party to show up. They were expecting a small range of people.

Sebastian Vettel was first invited when Kimi found out he was in Monaco and the ex-driver then brought along Mick Schumacher and Robyn Saunders. Kimi had yet to meet Sebastian's honorary daughter.

Next up was Antonio Giovinazzi, who had half-chosen to fly out just to see them all as well as hide under his Ferrari reserve driver title. He would be racing for Ferrari in the Le Mans 24-hour race in June, which Anneli was planning on visiting.

Anneli's friends were there too: Joel, Levi, Felipe and Jack. It was the first time Felipe and Jack had met the others but they were getting along quite well.

Anneli might have invited Max without telling anyone but Robyn. She'd yet to tell her dad that she was actually with him because Kimi had been so stern that he didn't think Anneli should get with someone too soon...but that had been months ago.

Every time Kimi questioned what Anneli was doing, she answered honestly but just left out that she was with Max. If her dad was worried she was alone, she would just reply she was with 'someone from Red Bull' which didn't always put her dad at ease. He didn't like the atmosphere in the Red Bull family of people being disposable.

While Anneli knew Kimi wouldn't have a problem with Max, or she hoped, she also didn't want Max to feel unwelcomed in her family and friendship group. She didn't want another Elijah.

"Where is Neli?" Kimi's voice sounded.

Everyone that he'd planned to be there had arrived apart from his daughter, which was slightly annoying when her friends were all there waiting for her. Luckily, Kimi liked all of Anneli's friends and most of them had already been in his company.

Robyn Saunders knew where she was but she wasn't going to tell.

"I'm sure she just got side-tracked, Kimi," Sebastian assured.

"Anneli doesn't get side-tracked," Kimi replied.

"We don't even know what hotel she's staying in," Minttu added.

"She's not staying in a hotel," Felipe whispered to Jack.

"What was that?" Levi questioned, his Swiss accent standing out.

Felipe hesitated. While he knew Jack was always okay to know about Anneli's life because they were her friends, he didn't know what the woman was comfortable telling her other friends. Other than Mick, Felipe and Jack both knew that Anneli told Mick everything.

Why hasn't she told Sebastian? Perhaps it was because she hadn't told her dad.

"Hello!" Anneli called brightly.

Kimi immediately turned towards her, surprised at her cheerful tone. Anneli wasn't an unhappy person but her tone was never particularly telling of how happy she was.

"Neli, you weren't answering your phone," Kimi scolded. "Were you driving?"

"No, I was just talking to Max," said Anneli smoothly before moving out of the way so Max could step onto the yacht.

Sebastian beamed from behind Kimi, quickly understanding just what this meant. In fact, the only person who seemed a little slow to understand the situation was Anneli's siblings, because they were young, and Kimi.

Kimi stared at Max.

"Hi," Max greeted kindly.

"Hi," Kimi replied.

"I have been meaning to tell you that I have been dating Max," said Anneli in Finnish so it was a little more private.

She made it sound like it wasn't a big deal because it wasn't...though Kimi thought it was.

"You have been dating Max Verstappen," Kimi said slowly. "For how long?"

"Nothing was fully official for a bit, we didn't want the media to find out and I wanted to make sure it was serious before I told you," Anneli replied trustfully.

"Anneli...are you sure about this?" Kimi asked carefully. "You know I don't like you having boyfriends but you are an adult with your own decisions."

"We understand each other, dad," said Anneli. "But we aren't ready to tell the media yet."

Kimi nodded before turning and shaking Max's hand with a small nod. Max's smiled politely as Antonio patted him on the back.

"Do we give him the talk?" Kimi whispered to Sebastian.

"No, Max is a good kid," Sebastian replied in the same whisper. "And there is plenty of people looking out for Anneli."

Kimi nodded as he watched Robyn teaching Anneli how to do cute hairstyles with Rianna's hair. It gave Kimi a fond feeling as he had never really seen his eldest daughter bond with anyone growing up and she'd never shown quite as much emotion until recently.

"I don't want her to get hurt again," said Kimi to his two best friends and wife.

"You can't stop that, she is twenty-three and she's her own person," Sebastian assured.

"It is natural to worry over her," Antonio reasoned.

"I cannot believe I will have this all over again when Rianna is grown," Kimi mumbled to his wife.

"You will have experience," Minttu smiled.

Anneli didn't even notice her father looking at them, she was far too happy spending time with her friend group. After Robyn had taught Anneli how to French plait Rianna's hair, Anneli's sister began to run around with Robin.

Having Robyn and Robin was going to get very confusing. Anneli was just thankful Robyn was happy to be called Bryn.

"Okay so let me repeat that," Robyn began. "Felipe is from Brazil, Jack is from Australia. Levi and Joel are brothers from Switzerland. Okay got it."

"For someone who has so many friends, you aren't very sociable," Max joked.

"Has she dragged you snowboarding yet?" Mick questioned.

"She keeps trying—"

"You don't need to make it sound like you hate it when you have never been," Anneli scolded, playfully glaring at Max.

Levi and Joel were finding this talkative Anneli incredibly weird and they didn't know how they felt about it. For as long as they'd known her, Anneli had only ever spoken in short statements or questions, now this?

"Snowboarding is...I do not know the English word," Levi trailed off. "Nicht unterhaltsam."

"Not entertaining," Joel translated. "The two of us prefer skiing."

"I don't mix well with the snow," said Robyn. "I'm a Tennis gal."

Just as Max went to reply to her, he was forced to answer his ringing phone. Anneli briefly saw 'Lando' flash across the screen as he held his phone to his ear. It was a short call with Max grinning and saying "Congrats mate."

"What is it?" Jack asked intrigued.

"Mira had a boy, they've called him Theo," Max announced.

"That's so cute!" Robyn squealed.

Anneli smiled at Max, who seemed happy for his best friend. Anneli knew that Max had always been someone who interacted well with kids and would likely make a great dad...she just didn't see that any time shortly.

"Enough talk, I'm jumping in the sea!"

As soon as Robyn had jumped up, so had everyone else around them. Rianna and Robin both begged to join the group, who were all jumping in but they were a little too young. Instead, they cheered everyone who was attempting to push their friends into the water.

Robyn had jumped in before anyone could try. Mick successfully pushed Jack into the water as Joel pushed Levi in. Felipe dived in very dramatically while Joel did a cannon ball. The only ones left were Max and Anneli...Max was attempting to push Anneli in.

Sadly for Max, Anneli turned. She wrapped her arms around his waist and through them both into the Monaco waters.

Chapter 28: Maxsplaining

Chapter Text

The noise of the F2 could be heard all around the track no matter where one was sitting and the Red Bull up was unmissable near the front of the pack, a white and blue Finnish flag-helmet in the co*ckpit. Commentary echoed through the speakers.

Anneli was in second behind a very annoying Richard Verschoor. She'd been trying to overtake him for three laps with Frederick Vesti hot on her tail. However, Verschoor was acting rather strangely and Anneli was convinced he was moving under braking.

"What is he doing?" Anneli questioned into the radio.

"We're looking into Anneli, that looked like moving under braking," Luiz replied sternly.

"I know!" Anneli replied frustratingly.

"Just focus, Anneli," Her race engineer warned. "Vesti 0.2 behind."

Verschoor moved over to the other side of the track and braked while doing so, which was not allowed. Anneli's car hit his wheel, causing her front wing to break and sending her spinning off the track. She hit the barrier at high speed and felt lucky that nothing was broken. Fortunately, the car stayed on the ground.

"Anneli, are you okay?" Luiz questioned.

"No, I am not f*cking okay!" Anneli yelled. "What was he playing at?!"

Anneli slammed her hands against the steering wheel as she let out an aggravated scream. After a moment to compose herself, she noticed the sharp stabbing pain in her head. The marshalls steadied her as she got out of the car but in that moment, she just wanted to be alone.

If Verschoor didn't get a penalty for that unnecessary move that put Anneli in the gravel, she'd quit racing. That wasn't her even being dramatic, no penalty for how obvious that was would be a complete and utter joke on the FIA's part and Anneli wouldn't stand for that.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

"Hey," said Max, standing in the doorway.

"How did you get in here?" Anneli mumbled, barely glancing at him.

"Christian helped," Max replied honestly. "Are you okay?"

"Physically? Fine. Just a concussion," Anneli shrugged.

While Anneli usually liked Max's company, she didn't particularly want it right now. Her head was killing her, she was frustrated and they told her she wasn't allowed to take a nap like she wanted to do.

"But you're angry because it wasn't your fault but it ruined your race anyway," Max reasoned, sitting next to her. "Trust me, I get it."

"Max, I appreciate the concern but this isn't the first time I've felt this," Anneli reminded. "It's racing. I'm just angry, I will get over it. Verschoor got the penalty to knock him off the podium and at least Jack got second. He deserves it."

"You're acting like it's wrong to be angry but it's not," said Max sternly. "Pretending it's not there won't do you any good at all, no matter what anyone says."

Anneli ran her hands through her hair.

"Sometimes it feels like no one wants me on the grid," Anneli admitted. "Whenever something like this happens, even if it's not my fault, people make out like it is."

"Join the club," Max joked. "I am used to it. They just hate people who are winning, Nel."

"But the difference is that you are in the top league and you are a man," Anneli emphasised. "You get hated because you are winning, I get hated because I am a woman and people think the only reason I am on this grid is because they wanted diversity, not because I deserve to be here."

"The way I see it, they wouldn't have kept you if you were no good, whether you're there for diversity or not. Robyn got her seat because they wanted a woman in the sport but they kept her because she is a good driver and they know it."

Anneli breathed in deeply. One thing that was very different about Anneli is that she actually liked someone reasonably responding to her; a lot of other people just wanted to rant out their feelings and have someone be understanding to them. She understood why they needed that but she never felt like it was something she liked.

If anyone knew anything about bad press, bad fans and a hard time in the sport, it was Max Verstappen. At least, Anneli thought so and her opinions all came from statistics.

"At least people like me in Austria because I drive a Red Bull livery," Anneli smiled softly, laying her head on Max's shoulder. "I wish I had a home race. People go crazy for you."

"They do," Max admitted. "Maybe one day, you will get a home race...until then, you can adopt another."

"I can't adopt a race track as my home track, Max."

"Just share Zandvoort with me."

"You're stupid."

"I see no stupid in my statement," Max grinned.

Anneli rolled her eyes.

"This is why it's called Maxsplaining," Anneli said in amusem*nt, glancing up at him.

Max shrugged but Anneli could see the amused smile on his lips. Sometimes she wondered if he knew he was doing it when he spoke and, if he did, did he do it on purpose?

"Hey, Max?" Anneli said quietly and Max hummed. "Would things be weird if I ever got into F1?"

"When you get into F1," Max corrected. "It would not be weird at all. Robyn and Charles manage just fine and there's nothing that different from when drivers are friends."

"Would you be jealous if I stole your seat?" Anneli teased. "What if I stole the seat of one of your best friends?"

"That is just the sport," Max replied. "It is brutal and if you stole my seat, I...would ask how much you bribed Christian."

"That's very rude."

Max smiled, glad he was able to direct Anneli's anger away from her without the Finnish woman even noticing. He knew how difficult it was in F2 when you were trying to impress people and when a race didn't go your way, it was frustrating.

"How are you going to steal someone's seat, anyway?"

"Simple. I'm going to pull a George Russell and get De Vries' seat." Anneli smirked.

"If you pull that off by the end of the season, I will buy you a house," Max hummed.

"Is that a serious bet?" Anneli narrowed her eyes.

"I'm serious," Max nodded. "You can even choose where. I don't care."

"Deal. What happens if I lose?" Anneli questioned closely.

"You buy us a cat," said Max, incredibly seriously.

"Buy us a cat? Do you forget I live in Switerzland?" Anneli raised an eyebrow. "Listen, Monaco is nice but I don't think anyone can persuade me to move out of Switerzland. So it would be your cat, not our cat."

"We can raise a cat in Switerzland," Max offered. "We can ask your dad to catsit for us...well Minttu because she told me she likes cats and so do your siblings."

"I'm alarmed at how you have thought this out," Anneli voiced.

"I mean I was going to bet it one night when we were out drinking but this is way better," Max replied playfully.

"But Nyck is your friend," Anneli realised.

"He is and still will be even if he's not in F1. It's just the sport, Neli. People are losing seats in all sports all the time, it happens and I can't change what happens," Max explained.

Only Max Verstappen would bet a house but only want a cat if Anneli lost. She didn't plan to lose but even if she didn't, she wouldn't mind buying them a cat.

Time will tell.

Chapter 29: Destiny

Chapter Text

"Hey Max, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Nel, what's up?" Max questioned.

Max fixed his gaze on Anneli, his eyes searching for any sign of her emotions as he waited for her to break the silence. Anneli appeared composed, but her lack of words left Max wondering whether it was due to pure excitement or nervousness.

She'd also just won at Silverstone, pretty much setting her up for a win in F2 this year and she knew the chances of winning it without even being there was high. It would certainly be entertaining if she did.

"You told me that you'd buy me a house..."

"Yeah I said I was being honest—"

"You haven't been on social media yesterday or today, have you?" She questioned, balancing on the edge of her feet.

"I don't really like social media, Nel," Max replied with a shrug. "You know that. Especially, two days after a race."

"Yes, I know that..." Anneli smiled.

"What is up?" Max questioned impatiently.

"You owe me a house."

"What?"

The stare was back. The stare that started all of this in the first place was when Max and Anneli realised from separate sides that they matched more than anyone else in the world.

Anneli said nothing else; she just laid her phone across the table for Max to read. Her face began to turn upright into a small smile as she watched his eyes widen at the words.

"I'm sorry, I know he's your friend—"

"Neli, this is amazing for you," said Max with a large grin, taking her face into his hands. "I'm sad for Nyck but I'm more happy for you."

"Even if I beat you?"

"I doubt you will but I wish you the best," Max laughed.

For a moment, Anneli let herself forget about the racing as Max placed his lips upon hers. For someone who didn't always understand the simple connotations of things, Max made her realise what people meant when they asked if you got fireworks.

Anneli had never felt this way with Elijah at any point, if anything they were barely affectionate at all because Anneli always felt like he only wanted her for the reputation that came with it...or he went to the opposite extreme and was obsessed with her. Anneli didn't even know if he loved her.

Not how Max did.

"I guess I impressed them at Silverstone," said Anneli softly as they broke away and Anneli laid her head on his shoulder. "Though I think they were just waiting for me to have the license points."

"I think you impressed everyone this season," Max admitted.

"It's caused...a reaction," Anneli began. "Some positive stuff, a lot of bad stuff."

"I always tell you not to listen to it, most of it is bullsh*t anyway," Max assured. "You should be happy...aren't you?"

"Of course I am but it's a little different when it happens in the middle of the season," Anneli replied honestly. "I'll likely lose my F2 championship now and I know that's not important as such but...I haven't actually got a seat for 2024, I'm only signed for the rest of the season."

"What do you need to win the F2 Championship?"

"I'd need Pouchiere to stay off the podium at least two of the races and most of the sprints. Everyone else is too far behind. Vesti could scrape it if he wins them all," Anneli explained.

"I don't think anyone will care if you win it though, Nel, not once they see how you do in that Alpha Tauri," said Max confidently.

"I might not do well—"

"Don't be ridiculous," Max scoffed. "The car isn't that great but if anyone can get anything out of it, it'll be you."

"Max, you know I don't like—"

"I'm not lying, Anneli," Max assured kindly. "I wouldn't lie to anyone, let alone you."

Anneli nodded, still laying her head on his shoulder.

Despite not being scared of many things, Anneli was nervous about being thrown into an F1 season that was mid-way through and replacing a driver people liked. She wanted to take his seat, she did, but maybe at the end of the season.

"So where do you want the house?" Max questioned in amusem*nt.

Anneli lifted her head, blonde hair flowing off her shoulders as she glanced up at him. The Finnish girl gave him an amused smile.

"Oh you're serious?"

"I'm serious."

Anneli Räikkönen will drive for AlphaTauri and replace Nyck de Vries with immediate effect ahead of Hungarian GP
Anneli Räikkönen will drive for AlphaTauri and replace Nyck de Vries with immediate effect ahead of Hungarian GP.

Anneli Räikkönen will join the F1 grid following a predicted championship-winning F2 season; Nyck de Vries debut F1 campaign has ended after just 10 races.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Anneli into the team," AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost said.

"There's no doubt about her driving skills, and she is known to be very strong-minded and determined. The team will also profit a lot from seeing what she can do."

The decision by Red Bull to send Räikkönen to AlphaTauri comes after she made a positive impression on Tuesday driving Red Bull's RB19 for the first time in a tyre test at Silverstone along with a thrilling F2 season.

Räikkönen is the daughter of World Champion, Kimi Räikkönen, who is present at a lot of her races. She only joined the Red Bull family at the end of 2022.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "Her times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Anneli on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri."

Watch Anneli Räikkönen join the Formula 1 grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix from July 21-23, with every session live on Sky Sports F1.

Chapter 30: Luck

Chapter Text

"Anneli, it's good to see you. How does it feel to be part of the grid?"

"It feels... I don't know. It should not be foreign to me, I have raced all my life but now there is the added pressure of the team," Anneli explained.

"Has your introduction to Formula 1 come sooner than you expected?"

"I think one thing, it was always like be prepared, you never know what's going to happen. Let's say, I didn't expect to maybe be in the car in Budapest, for example, but you never know. Surprised, but maybe not that surprised." Anneli answered. "But short answer, yes."

"Now we're told that you got up to speed very quickly, last week, driving the Red Bull at the Pirelli test. What are your expectations with AlphaTauri?"

"The car I drove a week ago was a pleasure. I obviously know that this weekend and now for the rest of the season it's a different car and some different challenges but I'm just going to get out there, not think too much about it, drive, and then go from there and just take some steps forward after that."

Anneli Räikönnën was no stranger to how the world worked. It worked in strategic and calculated ways and only those that played the game were able to advance further than the middle of the board, whatever life goal that was. It was like snakes and ladders were three steps forward could take you five steps back or where a simple easy access ladder took you to the top.

Anneli landed on a ladder to a career she had wanted since the day her feet felt a pedal beneath it, since her ears heard the roar of an engineer and she touched a steering wheel. Whether she'd fall back down was yet to be seen but Anneli only planned on rolling the dice to go up.

Robyn Saunders was handed a chance and even though she made it work with clear talent...Anneli had worked a lot harder for it in the traditional male route. The spot Anneli got was not from a chance at diversity or the word of a world champion, though Anneli knew Robyn deserved it. Anneli had gotten there through blood, sweat and tears just like the greats of Lewis Hamilton had. She treasured that: she had beaten men all of her life in this sport and now it was being recognised.

Regardless of what people thought about F1 pushing for women in the sport, like F1 Academy, they were there because they deserved it. Even if they got the seat due to the help of a company wanting diversity, they wouldn't keep it if they didn't deserve it in the long run.

A bonus was now she had an excuse to travel around the world with Max Verstappen too.

"The stars were bright, Fernando!" Anneli sang as she snuck up on one of the men she considered an uncle.

"Neli," Fernando warned with a playful smile. "Do you know no other songs?"

"No other songs with your name in it," Anneli beamed.

It was surprising how much being around other people could change you over the course of a couple of months.

Day by day, hanging around with the likes of Max's friends, Daniel Ricciardo, Robyn Saunders and others, Anneli had developed quite the playful side. It wasn't to be mistaken for her racing side because what was still as viscous but her personality had evolved to be a little more...smiley.

Max liked to take credit for that but he also knew it was due to everyone and her time in the Formula 1 paddock.

"I heard your dad is around," said Fernando as they walked side by side, both aware of people filming them.

"He has brought along the whole family," Anneli nodded. "So Minttu, dad, Seb's family, my siblings. My mama has come to...and Jack and Felipe. Oh! And Antonio is already here with Ferrari, of course, along with Arthur Leclerc because he is my friend now."

"How did you get passes for all of them?" Fernando questioned in amusem*nt. "I know Felipe is with us."

"With help!" Anneli grinned. "Jack is with Alpine. Mick got Seb's family the passes. See, problem solved Nando."

"I am glad you are happy and I am glad you are in the paddock," said Fernando proudly. "You deserve it, Neli, I mean it."

"Thanks, Nando."

"Now, stop annoying me and go and find someone else to annoy," Fernando joked.

Anneli rolled her eyes but began to head back to the Alpha Tauri garage anyway. She gave her signature hello to the other drivers, which considered of lifting her head to them with a straight face.

"Annnnnnellliii!" Daniel called as he jogged to keep up with her.

Anyone would have assumed, if they were a new fan, that Anneli had driven in Formula 1 for a while with the way she was treated by other drivers. She knew the paddock well from practically growing up there so she was no stranger.

"Hello Daniel," Anneli hummed. "Did Max or Mick send you?"

"Why do you assume one of them did?" Daniel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You are already in your race suit," said Anneli, eyes scanning the Lamborghini suit. "You look like you are in a rush so...Mick sent you. What does he want?"

"Actually," Daniel emphasised playfully. "It was Seb—"

"But Mick technically asked you—"

"Well yeah but—"

"I win then," Anneli smirked. "He wanted you to tell me that Seb is with my dad and Antonio, who want to see me before Quali, did he not?"

"You got it," Daniel nodded. "Good Luck this weekend, Nel, I mean it. Hey, maybe you'll beat Max."

"I'll be lucky to get into Q2 but thank you," Anneli scoffed, giving Daniel a fistbump. "Maybe I'll beat you."

"You wish."

Daniel had quickly learnt that Anneli didn't do hugs unless it was Max or her family, so he came up with giving her a fistbump instead. As Max's best friend, he'd be gutted if he couldn't make friends with Anneli. He didn't ever want her to feel awkward, or anyone for that matter.

This weekend meant a lot to Anneli to prove that kicking out Nyck was in the favour of the team and to convince all the fans that she was worth the ratings other drivers gave her. She had all of the support with her and there was no better feeling in the world. Practice had gone well too, which had given her a boost.

The only downside of the weekend was that Jos Verstappen was there and Anneli was doing anything possible to avoid him. She didn't like him but she assumed that Max would want her to be neutral with him...not that Kimi liked Jos either. Anneli just got bad vibes from him.

On the other hand, Anneli quite liked her new teammate, though she did miss Arthur too. Unlike De Vries, Yuki Tsundo did not know Anneli. They had no relationship at all and not much time to form one before they began racing. So far, it was going well.

"Sending people to find me isn't usually your style, Uncle Seb."

"I normally don't have to find you, Neli."

Sebastian Vettel embraced his goddaughter tightly, feeling a sense of pride just like he did with Mick and his own children. He'd been with her since she first started karting, keeping her company during the bad moments in her life and watching Kimi try to keep her under his watchful eyes until she was old enough to look after herself.

"Move over!" Antonio demanded, pushing Seb out of the way.

"I'm not dying!" Anneli huffed.

"This is a big moment!" Antonio insisted. "You drive fast, yes?"

"I'd be in the wrong sport if I didn't," Anneli replied in amusem*nt. "If any of you cry, I will hit you. That means you too, Dad."

"I wouldn't dream of crying," said Kimi in Finnish as he also hugged her. "Finger-nail biting nerves, yes. Crying? No."

"You do not need to be nervous, it's just like any other race," Anneli muttered.

"I get nervous at every race."

Things had changed for Kimi Raikonnen

His daughter used to the one running around the paddock trying to find him or annoying the other drivers. She'd stand on the chair, her mother's arms around her, as she listened to the headset and watched the screen hoping her father would win. She watched as he won his championship.

Now, he was the one nervous awaiting her first win in Formula 1, which he hoped would be soon, but would just be happy for her to finish any race. He knew he'd be sitting watching the screen with the headset on, listening to her radio and laughing at the way she drove just like him.

"Go and get them," Seb winked, patting her on the shoulder.

"Safely!" Kimi added.

"But aggressively!" Antonio added again.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

"Okay, Anneli, track has less traffic this time around."

"Copy."

"Oh let's play," Anneli whispered to herself.

With fresh hard tyres on her car compared to the used ones on the previous lap, Anneli was ready to go and get the times she wanted. She knew the car might not be Red Bull worthy but she would sure damn get every last drop of time out of it.

"What position am I currently?" Anneli asked as she started the last lap.

"P16."

Her new race engineer was a very polite Italian man called Gino, with a more humorous side than most. Anneli quite liked that and they had gotten along so far.

"Anneli, you got this," He assured. "Yuki is P17."

"Damn. Okay."

Anneli ached already from the pure force the car was compared to an F1 car but she knew it would be like that. Robyn had warned her but she was prepared. She'd worked with her trainer the entire work.

"Saunders only manages P7! And the last to put in a last time is the new rookie, Anneli Raikonnen!" Came the voice of David Croft, the sky sports commentator. "Can she get out of the elimination zone?"

Anneli couldn't hear anything but the roar of her car and the crowds.

"ANNELI RAIKONNEN KNOCKS ALEX ALBON OUT OF Q1 AS SHE GOES P10."

"Anneli, that's P10," Gino reported. "You are through to Q2."

"What about Yuki?"

"Yuki is P17."

Anneli felt bad in a way because she knew it would be frustrating for Yuki when Anneli was able to pull off P10 when she'd been driving less than him...but Anneli also needed the boost. As she sat in the car awaiting Q2, she breathed in and out deeply to remain in the zone.

"See, I told you that you got this," Gino hummed. "I think someone wants to say hi."

"What, who?" Anneli questioned.

"Neli!" Came the sweet voice of her sister Rianna. "Hei! Onnea!"

"Kiitos Rianna," Anneli replied.

The simple "good luck" and "Thanks" exchange between the two made all the difference for Anneli. Her sister Rianna and her brother Robin both wanted to go into racing too, with the two already karting, and Anneli wanted to be their role model like her father was to her.

Anneli liked to think it was Rianna's good luck that barely got her into Q3, if only by a thousandth of a second. Fernando got knocked out instead and Anneli was not going to let him forget it, though she didn't look forward to seeing him in her mirrors as she ended up Qualifying in P10.

"That was amazing, Anneli, P10," said Gino happily. "First Quali and you do that!"

"That was impressive, Anneli," Franz Tost, the team principle, added.

"I want an Ice coffee now and an ice bath," Anneli hummed."Who is on pole?"

"Saunders."

"Robyn?" Anneli's jaw dropped and she was glad no one could see through her helmet. "Not Max? I expected it to be Max as usual this season."

"No, It is Robyn Saunders," Gino repeated, amused.

"And who do I get to overtake first tomorrow?" Anneli questioned. "Who is in P9?"

"Ricciardo in the Lamborghini is P9. Alonso P11 is behind you and Schumacher P12 is behind him. Lamborghini have been quick in Practice, they are to watch for."

Anneli's body ached as she got out of the Formula 1 car, truly wondering how a race would feel the next day but glad to finally be in a place she knew she deserved to be. She was glad to finally be able to stretch as she made her way over to get weighed.

"Did I make you win?" Rianna asked as Anneli made her way to them.

"Of course you did," Anneli nodded.

Her father patted her on the shoulder as her mother gave her a beaming smile. Minttu gave her a wink as she held Robin's hand. Her family, the people that got her here in the first place, made all the difference.

She wouldn't change it for the world.

Chapter 31: Lights out

Chapter Text

There was something about being the daughter of a former world champion that made a rookie F1 driver all that more nervous. Perhaps it was the fear of disappointing them or the media thinking you weren't as good as they were. Maybe it was just the ego of wanting to be better than them.

For Anneli Räikkönen if was none of the above. The problem with having a former f1 driver as your father was the fear of the rest of the paddock thinking you had privilege, not skill. It was the thing Anneli hated most — people assuming she should not be there.

But hell, she'd show them.

When it came to words of encouragement from a World Champion, you'd expect some kind of wise words that put your head in the game ready for your first-ever race: something positive that was sure to keep you on your toes.

Not Kimi.

"If you don't want them to talk to you, tell them to leave you alone," Kimi began to his rant in Finnish. "You know what you are doing, you do not need them to tell you."

"Kimi, that is not what you should be telling her!" Minttu frowned. "Listen to your engineer, just because your dad didn't, does not mean—"

"I won a championship."

"She's a rookie, not an experienced driver yet," Minttu pointed out.

"But we don't need them to tell us that there's someone in front of us when we can see them," Kimi argued. "Anneli, you know that car and how you feel in it better than any of those engineers, remember that."

Anneli nodded as her father embraced her in a hug. She knew that her father didn't care where she placed in the race but Anneli Räikonnën didn't do failure.

"But also remember they can see things wrong with the car that you can't," Minttu added.

"Listen to the engineers, ignore them if I disagree or yell at them," Anneli concluded. "Okay."

Anneli was soon pulled out of the garage to stand for the national anthem. She was so close to being there before Martin Brudle caught her attention. She knew who he was, even though she had never spoken to him. Normally, she would have walked past him but he appeared to be in her way.

"Anneli, can we get a word of how you feel today?" Martin questioned.

"The same as every day," Anneli replied bluntly. "i want to win."

"In an Alpha Tauri?" Martin questioned in amusem*nt.

"If you do not want to win in any car, there is no point to racing," Anneli replied. "Excuse me."

Anneli made her way to where all the driver's were lining up for the national anthem due to start in a few moments times. She ended up between Max and Mick, ironically, so she didn't mind too much. The national anthem only lasted a few minutes anyway before she would be back to getting ready to hop in the car.

"How are you feeling?" Max questioned as they walked back to track.

"Ready for pain," Anneli replied. "Everyone tells me everything will hurt for the first couple of races."

"Yeah it will but you'll be good," Max shrugged. "Do you think you will get into the points?"

"If I start tenth, I am expecting it as long as no dickhe*ds get in my way," Anneli smirked, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

This took Max back by surprise slightly as Daniel laughed from behind him. Anneli gave Daniel a quick glance as he said "Good luck icecube!" and continued to head to her car on the paddock.

"She's gonna be the death of you mate," Daniel joked to Max, patting his shoulder. "How are you going to keep that one underwraps?"

"She is going to make it very difficult like she finds it fun," Max replied quietly. "They'll find out eventually but it would be nice if she got a chance to do well first so it's overlooked."

"She's going to get backlash either way, you know that right?" Daniel added. "The only thing that will help her is her last name."

Daniel gave Max a reassuring smile before heading to his garage, leaving the Red Bull driver hoping this didn't go up in flames for the sake of his girlfriend.

⋯⋯⋯⋯⊱🧊⊰⋯⋯⋯⋯

"𝙄𝙏'𝙎 𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙎 𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘼𝙒𝘼𝙔 𝙒𝙀 𝙂𝙊"

Anneli's reactions were quick as she got off her line faster than Perez did beside her. In a way, she found it kind of funny as a lot of people seemed to think that Helmet Marko wanted to replace Perez and Anneli was the lineup if she did better in an Alpha Tauri than Perez did.

Anneli wasn't sure if she wanted to drive as a second driver at Red Bull...then again, she was certain she could give her boyfriend more of a challenge than any of the others did.

"Alonso is within 1 second—"

"Yes, I can see Alonso, Gino," Anneli replied sternly. "I'm keeping in DRS."

Anneli wasn't a violent shouter in the car because she didn't see the point in it, she was just stern. She needed her race engineer to understand that she would ask if she needed him.

By the end of the first two laps, both Alpines had been taken out by Zhou. Anneli almost laughed since it put her into P8 from P10 in an Alpha Tauri.

The car didn't have as much pace as it could have, but Anneli knew its previous drivers were missing out. With good defending, clear air and DRS, the car had all of the potential. No where as fast as the McLarens or Red Bulls but enough.

"Fernando, you are really getting in my way here," Anneli mumbled to herself.

"𝙍ä𝙞𝙠𝙠ö𝙣𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝘿𝙍𝙎! 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙍ä𝙞𝙠𝙠ö𝙣𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝘼𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙤!"

"Super overtake, Anneli," Gino complicated."We think Sainz will pit next lap."

"Copy."

By lap 23, everyone apart from Max in front of Anneli had pitted, leaving her in second. God, Anneli really hoped her pit crew did not mess up this stop because everyone was so close to her behind due to the lack of pace in the car.

She wondered how Max reacted to her in his mirrors.

"Box, Box."

She and Max both went into the pits at the same time but he was far quicker out than she was. Anneli slotted between the Ferraris in 8th place upon Pit exit.

"Okay, Anneli, we think you have a chance here and are happy for you to push," Gino confirmed.

Anneli would to admit that this was a hell of a lot more exciting than F2 and she no longer felt bad about taking Nyck's seat at all. She had a feeling he would go back to FE anyway where he was happy.

It took longer than expected to overtake the Ferrari in front of her but it wasn't a surprise when they had far more pace than she did. It was only when Anneli was so close with DRS that there wasn't anything he could do. Saunders proved to be the biggest problem to overtake even with the lack of pace in the Mercedes.

"Plan B Anneli," said Gino.

Plan B, box the next lap and try to undercut the Mercedes.

By lap 60, Anneli's arms and shoulders were beginning to burn so much she generally cursed everyone who had told her so for jinxing her. She did her best to not let it bother her and focus on keeping ahead of those chasing her down behind her with more pace.

Anneli knew full well that if she didn't have the defending skills she had, she'd be toast.

But hey, if Robyn Saunders could get a podium in her first race, why the hell couldn't she? She was a Räikkönen, a Formula 3 champion, and a hopefully Formula 2 champion.

The result was determined by the ability the driver had to make use of whatever the car could produce. The car was only as good as the driver.

Leclerc had a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which helped Anneli out. Perez was now Anneli's only problem and she was barely holding him off. There was no real point in trying, she knew that but hell, she did try.

As soon as he had DRS, he was right around Anneli. It pissed her off beyond belief but there wasn't much she could do.

"Anneli, that is p4, what a brilliant drive and amazing point!" Gino congratulated.

"Well done, Anneli," Franz praised.

"Oh, that's nice," Anneli hummed. "Well done on the pitstops, they were good.

Anneli was thrilled, she honestly was, she was just in a little too much pain to focus on it too much. She underestimated just how hard this sport was on your body and she was positive you wouldn't be able to get out of the car on her own.

"I hate to ask this. I do. I need help out of the car," Anneli said once she'd pulled in.

"That's okay, Anneli, we'll send someone to help," Gino replied.

Embarrassed but still happy with how today had gone, she let out a loud sigh. It only took a few seconds before she was pulled out of the car. The engineers all gave her congrats and pats on the back as they placed the fans on the car.

After slowly walking to get herself weighed, she headed back to the garage where everyone was waiting, partially hoping just to be left alone so she could get her breath and feeling back in her arms.

"Anneli!" Kimi exclaimed, bringing her into a hug the moment he saw her. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," Anneli replied tiredly, leaning on him slightly. "My shoulders and arms hurt. They helped me out of the car, it was very embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing," Kimi assured, putting an arm around her shoulder. "I will help you back to your driver room."

"I guess P4 is an Alpha Tauri is pretty good then, isn't it?" Anneli smirked slightly

"You and I both know there wasn't much you were going to do against those top three." Kimi replied with a smile. "You are my daughter, I knew you would do well."

Anneli rolled her eyes even though she had a smile on her face. She knew it must be weird for Max to not have her staring up at him during the podium but he was going to have to get used to the fact she now had to do media.

She really hated doing media.

Chapter 32: Red Bull shirt

Chapter Text

Truth be told, Anneli hadn't always been as cold as she seemed; in fact, she wasn't even that cold at all, she was just very chill about everything. Her father always used to emphasise that there was no point in getting upset over things you couldn't control and if you could control them, focus on fixing it before you got angry.

She wasn't emotionless like the media made out, she was just relaxed. So relaxed that she could pull a full Kimi and take a nice nap before a race. Perhaps even relaxed enough that if she crashed, she'd likely just huff, get out of the car and shrug. Drive to Survive would hate it...or love the story they could make off her 'lack of emotion' but she didn't care.

To her, this was not some reality show.

Quite frankly, Anneli was surprised that no one had found out about her and Max because she was expecting someone to by now. She'd prefer if people didn't know at all, aside from the Max her parents, friends, Max's family and Christian Horner knew. But random people had no authority to know.

The funny thing about Anneli's family was that they were just surprised more than anything despite being nervous about Max. Part of Anneli thought her dad would be mad at Max for getting with her.

Kimi didn't blame Max for falling in love with his daughter.

He blamed Red Bull.

While Anneli's family had gone home while she flew to Belgium for the last race before summer break, even though it was only her second in Formula 1, so she was alone...in that regard. She wasn't alone for she was currently in a hotel bed with Max Verstappen.

She slept peacefully curled up at Max's side. The Dutchman was already awake but he kept his arm around her shoulders with Anneli's head leaning against it, he didn't want to disturb her. He knew they'd need to be at the track soon but Anneli didn't take long to get ready.

Her phone had kept pinging while he lay there on his own phone; she'd left it on the side table next to Max. He didn't like to pry but he felt like it might have been a good thing to check if anyone was after her for anything serious before he woke up her.

They were all from an Instagram group chat, notifications piling up.

(👀) Felipe's fan girls
Brazil-man: Anneli, you meeting me to walk to track?

(👀) Felipe's fan girls
Brazil-man: oi @Icecube reply to me

(👀) Felipe's fan girls
Jack-in-a-car: She's properly asleep Felipe

(👀) Felipe's fan girls
Brazil-man: Yeah, asleep in Max's bed—

Max couldn't help but smirk slightly as his eyes glanced down at that one. It was the last message on the home screen without clicking on them, which he wasn't going to do because it was Anneli's business, not his.

Felipe was just annoyed because traditions that he and Anneli did without even thinking about it, like going to track together and spending an insane amount of time together had been changed because of her new habits with Max.

"Anneli, your friends are messaging you," Max said as he shook her shoulder lightly.

"Tell them to go away then," Anneli muttered,"I am comfortable...as long as you don't move your arm, I am happy here. It cannot be that important."

"Okay," Max teased. "Just so you know, Felipe knows where you are."

"Felipe what?" Anneli shot up, eyes wide. "Oh, I was supposed to meet Felipe."

She groaned as Max passed her the phone, allowing her to read the messages. Anneli quickly typed out a response before tumbling out of bed while Max laughed at the reply, having been peering over her shoulder.

(👀) Felipe's fan girls
Icecube: It wasn't Max's bed. It was a hotel bed with Max in it

Brazil-man: Wow, icecube... I don't actually want to know. I want NO details of that.

Icecube: Go to track with Jack, I'll meet you there

"You're adorable," said Max as he got out of bed.

"Adorable?" Anneli hummed, turning to him. "Not the word I would use or imagine you using."

"Trust me, you surprise me more than I surprise you," Max added.

"I don't think I am that surprising—"

"I disagree," Max smiled.

Anneli rolled her eyes as she threw her shirt on with the jacket over the top. She wasn't massively into fashion, she always went for practicality, but Minttu had always instilled the habit of making sure she was dressed appropriately and looked like she belonged wherever she was.

"Do you wear anything but that Red Bull top?"Anneli questioned as Max finished getting ready.

"I don't care about fashion so no," Max shrugged.

"You should wear more of the buttoned-up shirt with the collar undone, I prefer you in them," Anneli commented briefly as she packed her rucksack.

"I prefer you wearing no top but I don't ask you to do that," Max teased, kissing her cheek.

"I don't have the English words to reply to that statement."

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Anneli was used to sprint weekends, unlike most of the other drivers. The main difference thing was that they had a separate qualifying in F1 for the sprints and the grid didn't get reversed like it did in F2. Anneli preferred the grid being reversed as it made the whole thing more fun and difficult. Anneli liked difficult.

On the other hand, Anneli had managed to secure a P10 in the sprint, which would have been great if it came with points but it didn't. The race wasn't all that bad either, though she got P11 and missed out on any points which slightly made her frustrated. She knew she could do better.

As usual— another Sunday, another win for Max.

Checo joined him in second. Finally, Charles was on the last step of the podium after Robyn had been unable to pass him with the lack of pace in her Mercedes.

"Hi Yuki," Anneli greeted as they made their way out of the paddock.

"Hi, Nel," Yuki replied lightly. "How are your shoulders after the race?"

"Not as bad as last weekend," Anneli replied honestly. "I tried that dessert you told me to. It was good."

"I told you," said Yuki, proud of himself. "Did you doubt me?"

"I don't doubt anyone but I am not a big food person," Anneli answered. "I thought that we should hang out over summer, no? We have not spent much time off track together."

"Okay," Yuki agreed.

"You should come to Switzerland and I will take you to all of the best food places," Anneli promised. "I have also invited some drivers skiing if you like that kind of thing."

Anneli began to tell Yuki about the different places in Switzerland as well as the food back in Finland where she was born, Felipe, Jack and Max had all caught up with them by the time they'd gotten to the carpark.

"Boo!" Jack exclaimed next to Anneli.

"Wow, I am terrified," said Anneli blankly.

"One day, I will scare you," Jack promised.

"You can keep trying, you will not do it," Anneli smirked. "Felipe, have you stopped being mad now?"

"I wasn't mad!" Felipe whined.

"You did sound a bit mad, Mate," Max laughed lightly.

"I am confused," said Yuki, looking between them.

"Felipe was just upset because Anneli was late," Max answered before anyone else could.

He didn't know what Anneli had told Yuki and he wasn't going to let anyone say anything without her permission on it first.

"Yuki is going to come to Switzerland with us," Anneli interrupted. "Who does that leave us with? Robyn, Charles, You four, Daniel and Mick. I think that is it."

"It will be fun!" Jack grinned.

He was just happy to be spending all his time with Formula 1 drivers. Plus, Mick and Jack were really good friends so it gave them time together too.

Anneli just wanted to snowboard and she was happy to have tag along too.

Chapter 33: Beautiful

Chapter Text

Max Verstappen always appeared very careless and cold to the media for several years and to the public for a while. He never cared if he was honest, he wished the media and social media didn't exist at all so listening to what they said never made much sense. In more recent years, he didn't let things get to him and showed more of his humorous personality in public.

He knew Anneli had her playful side and her more vulnerable side, but he never saw either in public. He understood but Anneli didn't seem like the sort of person to pretend to be anyone she wasn't, she was the most honest person he knew. For the most part, Anneli was quiet when they were alone.

Then one day, Max had to know where the name of icecube came from. It had been bugging him since he knew Anneli had a lot of personality he didn't know of it. The conversation started as they made their way through the airport after arriving in Switzerland.

"Neli, where did you get the name icecube?" Max questioned. "Is it just because of your dad?"

"No," Anneli replied. "Felipe and Jack named it me...because of my personality. A few people have used it since because that's all they see of me."

"You're not that cold though," Max shrugged. "Why is it you're like that around track?"

"When I was younger, I used to think that the boys would bully me because I was a girl into cars," Anneli began. "They didn't, I made friends with a lot of them but by that point, I'd already prepared myself for it so the media couldn't use it against me."

"The media will use anything against us," Max admitted.

"I didn't care what they used against me as long as it wasn't the fact I was a female because that is the one thing that wasn't up to me. If they said I was cold, a bad driver or rude, that's that but saying I 'drive like a girl' to insult me...I wasn't letting them," Anneli explained.

"That makes sense," Max agreed. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are to anyone, you know that?"

"I don't hide who I am with you, Max...if that is what you are asking," said Anneli quietly. "I...I don't know what to say about it. I don't purposely try to be emotionless, I just like to be honest and it's sometimes how I come across. I think I did pick a lot up from my dad."

"There's nothing wrong with you, I'm not saying that," Max quickly.

"I know," Anneli assured.

If they were alone, Anneli would have taken Max's hand in hers as they walked but they just couldn't risk it in a busy airport. Besides, in under half an hour, they would be around people who knew about them.

Talking off, Anneli was quite interested to see how Max would be with her family. He was staying with Anneli at the family house while he was in Switzerland, along with helping Anneli find a house she wanted. It turned out that he was really serious about buying her house, though Anneli wasn't sure how she was supposed to accept it with feeling no guilt.

She knew Max had more money than he knew what to do with, she couldn't imagine how much he had just from bonuses from each race win let alone his salary. Even so, Anneli didn't like to take money off people no matter how rich they were.

"Neli!" Kimi called to his daughter.

"Dad," Anneli replied in Finnish as she hugged him. "Please play nice."

"I always play nice," Kimi replied with a smile.

"Liar," Anneli crossed her arms. "This is different. You know Max."

"It will be fine as long as he does not know Finnish," Kimi joked, patting her on the back and realising her from the hug.

Truth be told, Kimi liked Max. Max was honest and made Anneli a lot happier than Elijah ever did. Anneli showed more love to Max in the short time than she ever did to Elijah and that was something that put Kimi at ease.

"I am excited for my racing friend to meet my hometown friend," Anneli commented. "They no nothing about racing so it should be refreshing for you all."

"As long as they're fun, it should be fine," Max said with a grin. "Are they nice?"

"They are very nice, even though they always make me drive," Anneli said in amusem*nt.

"She drives a truck," Kimi added, glancing at Max from the driver's seat.

"Oh?" Max hummed. "I can picture that."

"She's a better race driver than a road driver," Kimi joked as Anneli rolled her eyes.

"If her driving is like when we went rally car driving, I'm terrified—"

"Oi, I'm a great rally car driver!" Anneli whined, hitting Max's shoulder. "I beat you!"

"Barely—"

"I'd like to see you have an ego like that after we go snowboarding," Anneli muttered.

"Oh no, she's taking you snowboarding?" Kimi mumbled. "I am sorry for your loss."

"What?" Max's mouth partner in confusion.

"Snowboarding against me is the one race you cannot win," Anneli smirked. "If you do, I will retire from my racing career, never snowboard again and move to live on a remote island in the middle of nowhere."

Max looked between Anneli and Kimi, both of whom seemed happy with themselves at Anneli's words. She wasn't joking and Max wasn't sure if he should be scared or amused. Max wasn't even sure what Kimi meant by 'sorry for your loss' but neither seemed to elaborate.

Anneli knew. It was the loss of Max's confidence.

Then again, Max was more scared Felipe was going to push him off the cliff before he even had a chance to race Anneli.

As they pulled up at the house, Anneli let a happy sigh out. She adored being back home, especially when snow littered along the ground since it was her favourite weather. She was also glad to be with her siblings.

"Rianna! Robin!" Anneli yelled as she walked through the door. "Hurry up!"

"Neli! Hi!" The Finnish voice sounded as the little blonde girl came running at Anneli.

Anneli allowed Rianna to wrap her arms around her, hugging her back tightly. Robin soon joined the group and Anneli had to wait a few minutes before her siblings had allowed her to escape the hug. Minttu gave Anneli a smile from the stairs too, holding Grace.

Grace was the newest sibling to Anneli, just over two months old. She was born in June but with her racing career, Anneli hadn't had the chance to spend much time with her little half-sister. Her dad had sent her a lot of pictures.

"I brought Max with me," said Anneli softly. "He's going to stay with us while I am home, okay?"

"Are you going to leave soon?" Rianna asked with a sad voice.

"Not for the next week," Anneli assured.

"She has to go back to driving, Rianna," said Robin with his hands on his hips, sounding like authority. "Don't you, Nel?"

"I do but enough of that," Anneli replied. "Say Hi to Max. He can't speak Finnish so you need to talk English with him."

"Hi," Rianna waved at Max who smiled at her.

"Hey," Max replied.

Anneli immediately made her way towards her step-mum, who was holding baby Grace. Anneli hadn't seen her newest siblings since she'd visited them at the hospital so she wanted to see how adorable she was.

"Do you want to hold her?" Minttu offered.

"Oh I'm not...what if I drop her?" Anneli worried. "I'm not...I..."

"It's alright," Minttu assured as she placed the baby in her arms. "You've got this."

Though she wasn't completely sure she felt like she should be holding a baby, Anneli felt herself staring down with kind eyes. While the Finnish woman had no interest in having children right now or in the near future, her sister Grace was adorable. It gave her a fuzzy feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite place.

Max was looking over at her with fond eyes.

Kimi was glaring at Max.

When Max met eyes with Kimi, he just gave him a small smile. For Max, it was a little strange because he never saw Kimi smile much when he was on the grid and they had never really talked before Max met Anneli. He hoped they would get along.

Max still hadn't brought himself to formally introduce Anneli to any of his family yet. He had plans during the break to introduce her to his mother and sister Victoria...but he wasn't sure about his dad. Anneli would say what she thought and he knew they'd likely argue if Jos said anything about her racing or herself.

"We are thinking about moving to Italy," Minttu commented lightly.

"Why? I thought you love it here?"Anneli questioned sadly.

"Robin's karting is getting serious and it's a lot better for us to be in Italy for it," Minttu replied. "We want to support him the best we can. He's very talented. He had good teachers, didn't he? You and your dad...the genes are strong."

"It makes sense," Anneli agreed. "I think I am going to buy a house near Seb."

"Something tells me that you'll be in Monaco far more than you will be here," Minttu teased as she looked over at Max.

"You think so?"

"I think that man looks at you the way Kimi looked at me," Minttu smiled. "I know I am not your mother, Anneli—"

"You are," Anneli interrupted. "You are my mama just as much as Jenni, no matter how much she hates it. You have raised me since I was nine."

Minttu teared up as she kissed the side of Anneli's head.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, Anneli," She whispered. "You have made me a very proud mother over the years, I hope you know that."

Chapter 34: Through the stoe

Chapter Text

There were times when Anneli Räikkönen confused Max Verstappen. There was a time when she made him laugh or smile at her. She had yet to make him cry, which was always good. However, up until now, Max had never been scared of Anneli.

He trusted her and her driving...but she showed no remorse for the harsh terrain of the Switerzland mountains.

It was the first time he'd seen how she lived in the place she grew up and where she planned to live for the foreseeable future. She thrived in the snow, seemingly unbothered by the cold at all or the wind that would blow her ponytail behind her. When she was driving, she didn't flinch when her wheel slid slightly or if a piece of ice fell on her window from a tree. It was just Anneli.

Max knew what the movie Frozen was from his previous girlfriend's daughter and understood why Anneli's sister referred to her as such.

On the other hand, Max was sure that if he wasn't as laid back as he was, Anneli's family would have scared him by now. Every time Kimi talked to Anneli in Finnish, Max swore it was about him amplified by the fact Kimi would glance at him.

Kimi liked Max but he wasn't going to let him know that.

After a few days, Anneli made a joke out of the fact she and her dad talked about Max without him being able to understand before offering to teach her Finnish so he could. Max naturally accepted even though part of him did find it funny.

"What was it this time?" Max questioned as they left the house.

"Dad has been trying to stop me closing my bedroom door while you're here," Anneli joked, kissing Max's cheek,"I remind him that we are adults and we are not—"

"Oh my god," Max snorted. "I get the point. I bet he did not like that?"

"No," Anneli smirked. "But now he will stop treating me like a thirteen-year-old with a teenage boy in her room even if you are as immature—"

"I'm offended."

"You should be."

Max and Anneli laughed at each other as they drove through the snowy areas. Surprisingly, Max wasn't a bad passenger and didn't try to take over which Anneli liked. Sometimes he'd make small comments when Anneli got frustrated at other drivers but because they were reasonably far out from town, there weren't that many people around.

"Why haven't you learnt German if you've lived here all your life?" Max questioned curiously. "Isn't it spoken most?"

"Yes but the majority of people know English and I much prefer Finnish over German," Anneli shrugged. "Talking of...I need to go and visit Mama. Do you want to go before we head to Monaco?"

"That's going to make our schedule very busy," Max reminded. "If you want to, sure."

"I prefer being busy," Anneli admitted.

"Where are we going anyway?" Max questioned, looking out of the window.

"We...are..." Anneli stalled, wondering whether she was going to tell him or not. "Guess."

"I don't know, are you going to throw me off a mountain?" Max joked with a grin.

"Do you want me to? I know one right across town," Anneli retorted, rolling her eyes with a smirk.

"What's the alternative?"

"We drive ten more minutes to annoy Seb, Robyn, Charles, Arthur, and Mick."

"I prefer the second plan."

"Lovely!" Anneli beamed. "Since they're snowboarding with us tomorrow, they are staying at my house. Dad isn't thrilled with all the guests, he's not a people person but Mick doesn't count so really, it's just three guests...he will get over it."

"Why are we going to Seb's if they are staying with us?" Max wondered, tilting his head.

"Anneli and Mick wanted to visit Seb anyway and their flight got in early in the morning," Anneli admitted. "So Seb picked them up."

Max nodded in understanding as Anneli focused on the road. Like she said, it only took ten minutes before she was pulling up the driveway of Sebastian's house. Through the large window on the front, he could see Robyn twirling around a little girl while Charles laughed, clearly one of Sebastian's kids.

It was times like these when Max understood what it was like for Charles to be with Robyn. People that Max had raced against and never really knew on a personal level out of racing, like Kimi, Sebastian, and Felipe...were people that Anneli considered family and he'd just have to get used to seeing them more regularly. It was the same for Charles who suddenly had Seb as Robyn's 'unofficial dad' and her brother Oliver who was a known MotoGP racer.

The ways that connected people together could be crazy.

"Neli," Sebastian's voice came from the doorway.

The Finnish woman, who'd stepped out of the driver's seat, grinned widely and made a run for Sebastian to engulf him in a hug. Max trailed lightly after her as Sebastian smiled at him.

"Hi, Seb!" Anneli said happily.

"You're very happy," Sebastian hummed in amusem*nt. "This new lifestyle had changed you...in a good way."

"I don't know what you're referring to," Anneli replied calmly.

"Sure," Sebastian replied sarcastically.

He moved out the way so Anneli and Max could enter the house. Immediately, Anneli was being hugged by a sweet nine-year-old girl, who had been previously being spun around by Robyn, who had also entered the room with Mick and Charles.

"Hei, Emilie," Anneli smiled.

"Hei!" Emilie replied sweetly, her German accent mixing with the Finnish word. "You haven't visited in ages!"

"I'm sorry," Anneli replied softly. "I haven't been home much. If I buy you ice cream, will you stop being mad at me?

Emilie Vettel gave an excited nod and Anneli winked at her. Then Anneli locked eyes with a tall Monegasque with curly brown hair and a kind style. While she didn't see her former teammate as much, he had a place in her heart now.

"Leclerc."

"Räikkönen."

"Get here right now and hug me or I will push you off a mountain," Anneli demanded. "You get one hug a year, that's it."

"A hug, just for me?" Arthur grinned as he embraced Anneli. "I feel so special."

"Don't get used to it," Anneli reminded as she stepped away. "However, you were a much better teammate than my former Dams partner and you're the only one I considered my friend so I will allow you to feel special."

Arthur laughed as a very gorgeous Mercedes driver jumped out from behind him. Arthur jumped slightly, though still laughing, as Robyn Saunders winked at him.

"Hey, Nel!" Robyn greeted.

"I have arrived to be your taxi driver," Anneli bowed.

"Say your prayers, she's dangerous in the snow," Max joked.

It would take someone who was obvious to realise that Max and Anneli had a very interesting dynamic going on. They'd always playfully offend each other to a reasonable amount they knew was acceptable, attempting to come up with the best comebacks, before both ending up laughing anyway. Anneli liked to think it kept things alive and it was a style of romance she was quite enjoying rather than the sweet 'lovey' thing people had going on.

"Anneli scares me all the time!" Robyn commented lightly.

"I do?" Anneli raised her eyebrow.

"You can be scary," Robyn pointed out. "Not horror scary, more like...you're so chill with things that it scares me."

The blonde simply shrugged as she waved at Hanna, Sebastian's wife.

The group sat down and chatted for a short while since Anneli hadn't visited in a while and wanted to catch up with the Vettels. Charles and Max occupied themself with their own conversation as the trio that were commonly known as 'Seb's godchildren' by the fans chatted with Sebastian.

"Have you been snowboarding since...well, it happened," Mick questioned Anneli, referring to Elijah.

"Of course I have, I didn't let that dickhe*d ruin my life, Mick," Anneli replied coolly. "Dad got me a new board and I was back up there with Levi and Joel."

"Danny Ric is bringing his friend Scotty to battle you," Robyn informed her. "Did Max tell you?"

"Yes," Anneli laughed. "I find it quite funny. He is a professional snowboarder but I think he does tricks, not the style of snowboarding I do."

"But he's a professional snowboarder so you two should give us a good battle?" Robyn insisted.

"Anneli does not give up so it should be entertaining," Sebastian pointed out.

Truth be told, Anneli did not know all that much about Scotty James. All she knew was that he was Daniel Ricciardo's best friend, he was an Australian snowboarder, and...he was married to Lance Stroll's sister (she'd never get over that). She wondered how funny it must have been for Daniel to just be hanging around Lance outside of track but Anneli was pretty sure they weren't really friends, though everyone got along with Daniel.

"Also Nel, you need to spend more time with Mick because he's going insane without you," Sebastian joked, patting Mick's shoulder. "You're both on the grid now, you should be okay."

"The black and gold really suits you, Mick," Robyn added, referring to the Lamborghini brand."If only it would help you pass me—"

"Oi!" Mick glared at Robyn. "I overtook you last week—"

"That's only because you undercut me!"

"Don't fight," Anneli said, rolling her eyes. "I will overtake both of you next weakened."

"In an Alpha Tauri?" Mick and Robyn asked in unison.

Sebastian had a dumbfounded expression as he looked between the three of them.

"If I do not get some sort of high scoring or podium this season, I'm going to be in Alpha Tauri yet year but if I do...there may be a seat for me elsewhere."

"Are you trying to steal Checo's seat?" Robyn questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh...yes?"

"Serial Seat stealer, ha!" Robyn laughed. "I love it. I love Checo but you and Max together in a team would be chaos."

"I'm not sure Max and I would survive in a team together," Anneli muttered. "He wouldn't expect me to hand over race wins to him and I'd be damn sure I'd keep up with him a lot more than Checo has."

"Do you want to know a secret?"

Her words were very soft, an unlike-Anneli feature, and her eyes shined with secrets that swam within. Whatever she knew was important, the group knew that much, but it also appeared as if there was some fear behind them too.

"A secret?" Seb questioned. "You don't keep secrets."

"This is very new and I haven't had the chance to tell anyone and I'm not sure if I even should."

"We won't tell anyone, not even Max if you don't want us to," Max promised.

"I had a call from Christian Horner the day after the race," Anneli began. "Asking if I wanted a seat at Red Bull. At first, I thought it was just a general question to be curious but then he told me Perez was in two minds about retiring this year."

"He wants you to replace him," Sebastian concluded.

"They can't get Lando or Robyn like they wanted. It's between Yuki, Checo and I in reality. If I don't perform well enough then Perez will finish his contract until next year but if Red Bull thinks I'll do well in the seat, they'll let him leave early," Anneli explained quietly. "I will always do what is best for me but I'm not sure I can be a second driver to Max."

"Neli, you are one of the only people I know who would never be a second driver to Max," Sebastian laughed, placing a hand on her shoulder as he turned to glance at Max. "He wouldn't expect that of you and by the end of the season, Christian won't either."

"He's their golden boy, Seb," Anneli reminded.

"Maybe but I thought Lando was McLaren's golden boy and look at Oscar," Robyn pointed out. "They're doing well now. As for working well together, George and I have done just fine together, he's still his British self and I'm his fun-loving best friend! Lewis gave me so many tips on how to avoid another Rosburg situation."

"Why don't you talk to Max about it?" Mick suggested. "His reaction will tell you what he thinks."

Anneli gave a short nod.

Truth be told, she wasn't sure if Red Bull was going to be the best team for her but they had been the ones to give her a chance when no other team would. Sure, Lamborghini would have taken her but now they had Mick and Daniel with no intention of giving them up. What other choice did she have?

Besides, as her dad always said "she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to".

"Enough race talk," Anneli demanded, standing up. "Are you ready to head out?"

"I'll go grab our cases," Mick nodded and followed Robyn upstairs.

Sebastian smiled at Anneli and pat on the back before excusing himself to help Hanna make dinner. Anneli made her way towards Max and Charles, who were both in a deep maxplaining and Leclarifying conversation. Arthur was just sat on his phone as he watched the pair in amusem*nt.

"We're leaving in a minute," Anneli announced. "Sorry for causing you trouble Seb."

"You never cause us trouble," Hanna replied before Seb did. "We like having company and Robyn and Charles are really good at babysitting for us too."

"They have experience," Anneli smiled, thinking of Mira's kids. "Bye!"

"Drive safely!" Seb reminded.

"I always do!"

Chapter 35: A slope and a bottle

Chapter Text

Anneli felt like a teacher taking young children on a field trip.

She knew they were adults, professionals even, but they were all just so...children. Sure, it was fun and made great memories but it wasn't easy to organise things with a group of adults that asked like teenagers.

She just guessed Formula 1 did that to you after a while.

"I just think I would be safer in Anneli's car—"

"Oi, I'm your best friend!"

"She lives here and has been a hundred times!"

"I'm capable—"

"Daniel, Max isn't an idiot. I'm sure he can drive on snow just as well," Anneli broke up the playful argument. "Fine, I'll decide! Daniel, you go with Max and take Scotty with you along with Yuki."

Anneli was sure Daniel felt safe with Max, he was just teasing him. Besides, they had a car full of Red Bull employees, they'd be fine.

"Felipe, Jack, Mick and Arthur can come with me," Anneli demanded.

"That just screams chaos," said Max knowingly.

"Robyn and Charles, my friends Levi and Joel will drive you." Anneli ended. "Talking of which, here they are."

Levi was driving as he and Joel pulled up in a navy blue Jeep. They were both bubbling with joy at the thought of meeting Anneli's friends and the Finnish girl was positive they'd get on with Charles and Robyn too.

"We have arrived!" Joel exclaimed as he waved. "Nice to meet you all, I am Joel."

There was certainly a range of accents present but Joel's Switzerland one was the loudest. Then, of course, they had Australian, Finnish, Dutch, British, Japanese, Monégasques, German and Brazilian.

"Woah, there's a lot of us," Levi realised. "Hi, I'm Levi. Uh...do you all own snowboards?"

"Not all of them but I've already wanted Nina that we're arriving," Anneli replied smoothly.

"Nina?" Max questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm on a first-name basis with staff. They keep me a low profile," Anneli answered calmly.

Soon enough, everyone was piling into the cars and trucks outside Anneli's house. She knew she couldn't speed off or she'd lose Max so she kept her speed reasonable. Joel was driving behind Max so they created some sort of train going on.

"Okay Neli, we want all the gossip now," Jack said immediately as they got onto the road.

"What 'gossip' are you implying?"

"You know what."

"I don't know what," Mick spoke up, looking at Jack. "Am I missing something?"

"We want the Max gossip!" Felipe whined.

"There is none!" Anneli groaned, rolling her eyes. "You ask this every time I see you. What do you want me to say? He's a terrible Finnish speaker, that's for sure."

"You two are boring then," Felipe concluded. "No romance?"

"I'm not romantic, Felipe!" Anneli reminded. "He tries to be occasionally. The only gossip I have is that he wants me to meet his family but I'm positive he's keeping me away from his dad."

"I think that classes as gossip," Arthur added.

"His dad is a little miserable but he won't be rude to you upfront unless you say something bad," Mick advised. "Do you want to say something bad?"

"I just think he might blame me for the fact Max had a nice little family going on with Kelly—"

"But he broke up with Kelly before he even met you, Nel," said Arthur softly. "Everyone knows that."

"I'm never going to be able to give Max what he had with Kelly. I'm not a trophy wife and I need to race until I hate it," Anneli explained quietly. "He says he doesn't mind. I believe him. I don't believe his family will have the same views at first."

"His mum and sister will love you," Mick assured. "Vic is lovely. You forget that my family knows his family, Neli."

"Does your dad like Max?" Arthur questioned curiously.

"My dad still wants me to be single, Arthur."

"So that's a no?"

"He doesn't have anything against Max, I think he quite likes him but he'll never tell Max that," Anneli smiled. "My dad doesn't just hate people, it's more...How do I put it? People like small talk in other countries and find it rude if you ignore them but the Finnish don't see their quietness or lack of small talk as a negative. We just like our space."

"That's probably why he likes Max then," Jack snorted. "He doesn't do small talk either. Does he actually talk to your dad?"

"They do talk! And Max is so sweet with my siblings," Anneli replied fondly. "I just hope Levi and Joel like him too because after Elijah, they feel awful for not noticing problems."

"That's sweet of them," Felipe replied.

Anneli nodded as she directed the conversation elsewhere to focus on the road. She would keep glancing in her mirror to make sure she hadn't lost Max but he'd been doing a great job of staying close (not surprising at all.)

As they got to Anneli's favourite snowboarding spot, there was a sense of excitement in the car. Most of them had skied before so they were going to do that rather than snowboarding. Anneli didn't blame them if they were too nervous for the snowboard.

"Neli, this is your new Rival Scotty!" Daniel introduced. "Or your partner in crime, you can decide."

"Nice to meet ya," Scotty grinned, Australian accent strong, as he shook Anneli's hand.

Anneli began to show people where they could get their boards from, leaving just a few people behind. Those that had boards or skis, like Scotty, and Daniel and, most importantly, it left Levi and Joel with Max, Felipe and Jack. Anneli had already gotten them boards the last time they went snowboarding.

"So...you are Anneli's friend when she is away," said Joel lightly to Felipe and Jack.

"Yeah, we met while racing," Felipe answered boldly. "How long have you known her for?"

"A long time," Levi replied with a smirk. "She's a little firecracker, isn't she?"

Jack glared at Felipe slightly to warn the man not to try to act like he was Anneli's favourite friend. Jack wanted to make friends with Levi and Joel, not enemies.

"We call her IceCube," Felipe began.

Joel snorted before the two twins let down their

"We're just messing with you, bro!" Joel snorted. "We don't really care, we all know Neli doesn't have favourites."

"We like the name icecube too," Levi added, patting Felipe on the shoulder.

Mick was doing his best not to burst out laughing, having known the two of them and that they would pull something to try and worry Felipe or Jack. Luckily, Jack just wasn't that type of person but Felipe could accidentally say things without thinking sometimes.

"Okay, are you all ready to go?" Anneli announced as she returned with everyone else. "For safety, if you can't snowboard or ski, go with someone who can."

"Anneli, I was hoping to race you," Scotty announced playfully.

"You can race me if you want," Anneli smirked. "I heard you are less of a racer and more of a showman."

"I can do both," Scotty grinned.

"Oh god," Daniel whistled. "The rest of us should get a headstart."

"I agree!" Robyn clapped. "C'mon Yuki, me and you are both newbies so we can stick together."

As everyone began to head up to the top of the mountain, Anneli and Max stood by each other's side with Daniel and Max trailing after them.

"I'm going to propose to Marissa when we go to Hawaii on Friday," Daniel announced. "She loves romantic, that's romantic right?"

"Super romantic, mate!" Scotty assured. "What made you want to?"

"She wants to start a family so it feels right now," Daniel admitted. "We've been together for years, it's not like it's rushed."

"Marissa will love it, Daniel," Anneli assured.

"You'd be a good dad mate," Max added. "I didn't know Mar wanted that."

"Not like right now but within a year or so," Daniel shrugged. "I think it would be nice having a mini-me running around."

Anneli didn't understand the obsession with a lot of people wanting kids. She knew it was becoming less of a fact that it was a 'life goal' but to her, it was something you did once you were done exploring the world and wanted to settle. Anneli wasn't sure she could ever allow herself to settle...not really. Everyone around her seemed to do it but she was more bothered about the snowboarding and racing. Besides, Max was enough for her and she didn't need a baby with him to prove that.

Not that she needed to prove it. Max knew she loved him, even if it was in her own unique way.

"When you go to races, do you have to support Aston Martin because of your wife being Lance's sister or Red Bull because well, they sponsor you?" Anneli asked Scotty as they made it to the start of the route. "Or do you support Lamborghini because of Daniel?"

Scotty got this question a lot as he just laughed.

"All of them," He replied. "I'm mainly with Chloe in Aston Martin when I go."

Anneli hummed before the two of them headed down the snow. Max and Daniel were keeping up with them a reasonable amount but they had stuck together a little bit behind as Anneli leaned into the board, knowing the correct way to make it go faster with a good grip.

When she glanced over to the right of her, she caught the eye of Mick and Jack close together with Felipe behind them. Robyn had fallen over further up with Charles laughing as he helped her up. Levi and Joel, both preferring to ski, were further down the hill and going at a fast pace.

It felt like Anneli was sharing a piece of her home and her sanctuary with her friends, a place where she knew she could always go to release her emotions. A place which could be fun and sociable too. A place that was everything to her and it's why she couldn't pack up and move with her parents to Italy.

She adored Switerzland and the life she had there.

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As night fell, the group of friends left the slopes and took refuge in a restaurant. All of them were staying in the hotel that was located on the mountain, with a full day of fun prepared for tomorrow before everyone headed home. Even Anneli and Max were staying in the hotel, a bit of privacy from Anneli's family home.

"Okay, I just have to ask. Who spoke to who first?" Robyn questioned, sipping on her co*cktail.

"Max messaged me," Anneli replied smoothly. "Just when I thought I'd scared him off."

"What did you do to scare him off?" Scotty questioned.

"Mate, she can drink an entire bottle of vodka straight!" Max exclaimed to Scotty. "In two seconds with a straight face and she just looked me dead in the eyes."

"It's a normal thing to do!" Anneli defended.

"No, it's not," Yuki snorted, though he looked happy paying more attention to his food.

"You at least got super drunk right?" Arthur questioned.

"No."

"No?" Charles gasped. "How?"

"I'm Finnish."

"I don't think that has anything to do with it," Levi interrupted.

"It's just Anneli. She's like that," Joel added. "It takes her about two bottles of vodka and a few ciders before she's unable to walk. It's super useful when the rest of us are drunk."

"You must have been impressed then, Max," said Daniel.

"I was," Max nodded. "She hasn't done it since."

"I'll do it right now, I'm not driving."

Across from her, Mick gave her a look of disbelief while Max simply got up to buy a bottle of vodka. The whole table seemed to be waiting but Anneli just looked content.

"Do Finnish really hold their alcohol well?"

"No," Anneli snorted. "But you find most that drink will drink until they fall over, at least where my mama lives. I just...have a special skill and the taste of it doesn't bother me."

"It's like a party trick," Felipe teased.

As the bottle was placed into her hand, she did just as everyone wanted her to. Straight face. The shocked and impressed faces made her smile lightly as she placed the bottle to the sides. Max gave everyone a 'sold you so' look and shrug.

Anneli was starting to get used to being a people person.

But for no more than two days a week with select people.

That was enough socialising.

Chapter 36: Monaco and Mira

Chapter Text

Meow.

"Max, get your cat off me."

Meow.

"Max Verstappen, get this cat off my head or I'll swear I'll push you up against a wall and—"

"I like the sound of that but I'll move Jimmy anyway," Max snorted.

Anneli didn't hate cats, don't get her wrong, but one waking her up just didn't make a good impression. She understood that Max loved his cat and that was okay with her but she didn't appreciate 'Jimmy' standing on her head.

"She doesn't love you, Jimmy," Max sighed as he picked up the cat.

"Jimmy crossed my boundaries!" Anneli huffed. "Sitting on my head is off-limits!"

"Are you still going to push me up against a wall?" Max teased.

"Häivy!" Anneli cursed, showing Max her middle finger.

Max laughed as he moved towards the kitchen. The two of them had flown to Monaco for the last few days of their summer break, staying in Max's apartment. They hadn't spent as much time together as they did in Finland because Anneli was in the gym a lot more to get ready for going back to racing. Due to genetics, she had to work a hell of a lot harder and have more muscle than the guys did but she was okay with that. She did what she had to.

Before living Finland, Max had stuck to his word and brought Anneli a sparkling new house just near where Sebastian lived. Surprisingly Anneli and Max had a very similar taste in houses and style, which was quite nice and made it a lot easier to pick since Anneli wanted somewhere Max was comfortable in too.

"I'm sorry about Jimmy sitting out your head," Max mumbled as he slid his arms around her waist. "He didn't mean it."

"Sure," Anneli replied sarcastically. "I forgive him. You, I do not forgive."

"What did I do?" Max scoffed.

"You are a tease," Anneli concluded, rolling her eyes. "If you wanted me to push you up a wall that badly, you could have just asked. Now, you don't get."

Anneli gave him a stern look as she headed t

"How do you feel about meeting my family in Zandvoort?" Max questioned coolly.

"I will meet whoever you want me to," Anneli replied in the same tone. "I know that I'm not a people person but I'm not...I'm not rude and they are your family."

"I know they'll love you, Nel," Max assured.

"I'd appreciate if we got along but I won't cry if they don't like me," Anneli replied with a shrug. "Does it bother you that they might not like me?"

"It doesn't change anything, it just makes it easier if they like you."

"My family like you," Anneli said after a moment. "You and my dad get along better than I thought you would and my siblings love you."

Max smiled softly as Anneli trailed off. She was in her own little world as she got ready for the workout session, pulling on her running shoes and cap, along with a running jacket to hold her phone. Max was already ready to go.

They were multitasking by running and then heading to Lando and Mira's apartment. Anneli didn't exactly know Lando that well but he was one of Max's friends and Anneli liked Mira too. Max hadn't seen Lando and Mira's son yet so Anneli didn't mind stopping by.

The run there was lovely and peaceful, despite Monaco normally being a busy place. Max knew the nice places to run and Anneli trusted him completely. Anneli was a slightly quicker runner than him, having been used to running through snow and every weather possible, the Monaco weather was nothing compared to it.

"Lily, don't pull the cat's tail!"

Lando's voice echoed from inside the apartment as the two got to the door. Anneli heard giggling inside as Max knocked, followed by footsteps towards the door.

"Hi!" Mira beamed as she opened the door.

Truth be told, Mira looked exhausted but Anneli supposed that happened when you were raising a three-month-old baby and an autistic toddler (both of whom were simply adorable). Their daughter, Lily, was getting taller and was beginning to understand the world more. Anneli wasn't exactly sure how old she was but she knew she was close to late three, or early four.

"Hello," Anneli greeted.

"Hey mate," said Lando to Max, "Excuse the mess."

"It's all good," Max laughed.

"Maxie!" Lily squealed as the little blonde girl went running towards the newcomers.

"Hey Lily," Max smiled, crouching down to hug her."Are you okay?"

Lily gave him a nod and stared at Anneli with big eyes. Anneli smiled down at her and Lily went back to playing with the legos on the floor. Mira chuckled slightly as gave Anneli a reassuring smile, pushing her glasses back on her nose.

"Sorry, it's been a chaotic morning," Mira sighed, running a hand through messy blonde hair.

"Family life?" Max teased.

"No the kids are amazing and well behaved, he's the problem," said Mira, pointing to Lando. "Ordering way too much stuff and then we have to find a place for it all."

"Oi, half of it was yours!"

"Mine were baby clothes! You just order random things," Mira replied. "I don't care what you order but I'd prefer if you knew you had a place to put it."

"Okay, Okay," Lando smirked as he picked up his son. "This is little Theo."

Anneli immediately thought that Theo had Lando's face. She'd seen pictures of when he was younger during media guessing games and such, his kid has his resemblance. Especially the nose. It was even more noticeable because Lily looked nothing like either of them, due to being adopted so Theo's features stood out more.

"I think he's going to have brown hair," Max commented as he peered down at the baby."I bet that makes you happy."

"It would be nice not to be surrounded by blondes," Lando admitted.

"How has she been with the baby, does she get jealous?" Anneli questioned, referring to

While Anneli never got jealous of her siblings, she was aware that it was due to the large age gap and it could be common for siblings to get jealous.

"Not at all, she loves cooing at him," Mira answers. "Lily needs more attention sometimes anyway so she doesn't feel a lack of it, I hope. Besides, we drop very lucky and he's a sleepy baby and only cries when he's hungry. He can sleep through anything."

"You got really lucky," Anneli commented."Neither of my siblings was like that. I think Robin spent his entire time awake crying."

"I'm glad he doesn't because Lily would start crying too," Mira signed. "She's been so good with him. I'm thankful for that too."

"We're going to buy Lily a go-kart for her next birthday," said Lando happily.

"You are entering a world of a lot of money," Anneli warned. "As you know."

"Yeah but we have enough of it and I'd rather spend it on something she loves than it sitting in my bank account," Mira shrugged. "Besides, I already support other kids from disadvantaged backgrounds through charity work. I know what I'm doing and so does Lan. We just want to make sure Theo's old enough and we have a plan. If she's serious."

"I think it's adorable," Max beamed.

"Enough about the kids, tell me about your snowboarding trip!" Lando demanded as he placed Theo back into his crib.

"It was chaos," Anneli began. "So..."

Chapter 37: Verstappens

Chapter Text

Anneli knew it was only right that if Max were to meet her family, she should meet his. She wasn't nervous because Max had expressed how their opinions didn't change anything about them. Anneli just preferred for them to get along so family get-togethers would be as awkward.

What better place to meet Max's family than the place he represented on his flag? The Netherlands.

In Anneli's mind, nothing could go that badly. If there was anyone she'd struggle getting along with, it would be Max's dad but even then, Anneli wasn't going to be disrespectful. Minttu had always echoed that respect was everything and Anneli planned to show it.

"What is it?"

"It's a stroopwaffle."

"Why have you given it to me?" Anneli questioned, tilting her head at Max.

Max looked at her as though she was going insane.

"To eat, what else would you do with it?" He laughed. "Have you had one before?"

"Of course I have, I raced here last year," Anneli replied honestly. "I just thought we were keeping a low profile and you're now buying me food."

"Eh, no one needs to know I brought it," Max shrugged. "My sister and mom are waiting in hospitality. Do you want to go?"

Anneli nodded and the two of them headed towards Red Bull. It wasn't unusual for an Alpha Tauri driver to be offering between the two buildings so no one suspected a thing. Especially because it was only media day so fewer people were around.

"Hello, Anneli! I'm Victoria," The blonde introduced. "I'm so happy to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you," Anneli smiled politely.

"He talks about you so often," Max's mother added. "I'm Sophie."

Anneli nodded as her, trying to keep herself upright and presentable. They seemed lovely and Anneli didn't want to ruin the first introductions and she hoped they wouldn't see her as just Kimi's eldest daughter.

"We thought Max would introduce us sooner," said Victoria kindly. "But the two of you seem to have been super busy! Or Max is just being lazy."

"We were busy," Max replied, rolling her eyes. "We were in Switzerland snowboarding."

"I've heard you're quite the talented snowboarder, Anneli," Sophie complimented.

"Thanks," Anneli replied. "I've been snowboarding since a child."

"She's a better snowboarder than a driver," Max joked.

"You were terrible at snowboarding," Anneli pointed out. "You stick to racing, okay?"

Something told Sophie and Victoria that Anneli was going to fit right into their family like a natural and Anneli knew that if she could naturally speak with Max without worrying about what others might think, she would fit right in as well.

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Sometimes, an organisation could make a very bad decision. This decision was bad for the organisation, great for the media and pure chaos for those involved.

Whoever sat and requested Anneli Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell and Fernando Alonso in the same press conference mustn't have wanted any actual conversations with them.

Anneli and Fernando were surprisingly entertaining together and many people failed to know that because the media didn't always capture it. Fernando would whisper to Anneli, who would grin and whisper back.

Then there was Anneli and Max, who would just stare at each other from either side of the seat as they'd been sat fully apart from each other. As Max joked, Anneli would laugh quietly or stare intensely at him.

Daniel would glance knowingly at the two of them as he sat in his Lamborghini hoodie, the grid's new team for the year, glad that Anneli was there. Daniel knew better than anyone else that Max and Anneli made each other happier and they were learning to embrace that.

Poor George was stuck in the middle of this, not knowing what was going on with being out of the loop. He wasn't alone in not knowing, most of the grid didn't yet because Anneli didn't want them to think he was the reason she got her seat. It wasn't, she got the seat because she was a damn good driver.

"Anneli, let's go to you," said the interviewer,"How are you feeling about joining the grid mid-season and how was your summer break?"

Anneli held the mic up.

"I had a nice summer break, most of it was spent training and with my family," said Anneli shortly. "Joining the grid should not be a problem mid-season as I will treat it no differently. I am here to get points for the team and I shall do my best to do so."

"Were you working on power, were you working on endurance?"

"I still definitely had a good time and switched off from racing, but I was certainly looking after my body more than I usually would on a summer break because there is a jump from F2 to F1," Anneli explained. "But I think as well. Mainly endurance for me as power was already something I have trained for."

"What are your goals?"

"To be fast."

Did they think she was stupid? Or perhaps people had been media trained better than Anneli was because she didn't understand how anyone could want anything but to be fast. Being fast meant good lap time and if she had good lap times, it also meant she had skill. Therefore, if you were fast, you had the skills for it.

So, yes, she did conclude it was a stupid question.

Fernando Alonso found it hilarious as he smirked at the girl he considered a very annoying but lovable niece. Though, he'd give anything for her to stop singing that stupid ABBA song to him.

"Anything else? Are you looking to gain experience working with Yuki...?"

"Yuki and I get along very well, we even went snowboarding together over the summer," said Anneli smoothly. "For me, it's less about experience and more about helping the team. If that involves learning from Yuki, I will do so, but I have my driving style I shall stick too."

Everyone in the room who knew Kimi immediately saw how the two of them were related. Anneli didn't say more than she had to and she knew her place in the sport and what she planned to do there. Anneli didn't care about the politics of it, she just wanted to drive.

If she wasn't there to drive, what was she there for?

Chapter 38: Trophy

Chapter Text

Sometimes, Anneli Raïkkonën wondered if Formula 1 had become more obsessed with making their drivers into models and media sensations before they were good drivers. She'd been asked to do more media during the weekend than she had getting into her car, from games with Yuki (which she did enjoy) to reaction videos. She didn't enjoy all of it and she definitely didn't like the idea of being some random media girl.

In reality, she knew it was just about money. Everything was. She raced to get points for her team so they'd get more money and the media was their way of bringing in more sponsorship. Of course, Anneli was there to drive and that's all there was to her story. She didn't care what else they wanted her for as long as she got them the points they hired her to get.

"Yuki," Anneli called as she stepped into hospitality. "What do I eat for breakfast?"

It was finally race day in Zanfoort. There had been a close call during practice between Anneli and Oscar Piastri, where if Anneli hadn't chosen to slow down more than she would have done on a corner, she could have potentially gotten into a situation when the Australian crashed in a hard spot to avoid at full speed. She had said nothing about the incident, apart from the mumble in the radio of: "Piastri crashed and ruined my lap."

Every morning on the race weekend, Anneli let Yuki pick whatever they were going to be eating but it allowed her to focus on the weekend ahead of her instead of what to eat. He always made good choices and it was their way of bonding as teammates, something Yuki was worried they wouldn't be able to do. Now, they spent every race weekend dining together in the morning and for lunch if it was a late race, as Yuki would teach Anneli all about food (which she didn't know a lot about) and talk about differences in their cultures.

"Oh, we have a tag along," Anneli hummed as she noticed the newcomer.

"Hi, I'm Liam," The blonde, with a defining Australian accent greeted.

"Anneli," The Finnish woman nodded in return. "You are...the reserved driver, Lawson, yes?"

"That's me," Liam grinned. "I hope I'm not gatecrashing your breakfast."

"No," Anneli shook her head. "You can join us."

Robyn, the only other female on the grid, had emphasised the importance of Anneli making friends with the other drivers. Respect went a long way in the sport and no one wanted a driver who wasn't a team player. So she was doing her best to try to accept everyone with open arms.

It was hard to be a team player when she was starting fifth on the grid.

Anneli was constantly surprising people, she enjoyed it a lot, and she wanted the media to know she was the better choice. She just...clicked with this track and got to know it during practice. She'd drive on it in F2 so it was a track she knew well and a track she'd won at.

If she had a chance on any track, it would be this one.

Truth be told, Anneli didn't want to do better than Yuki at times because she knew he could be a great driver but he was overlooked due to his...slight rage problems. On the other hand, she had to prove herself and she couldn't allow anyone else to get in her way.

"Hi," Max whispered as Anneli stood next to him, ready for the national anthem.

"Hey," Anneli replied in the same hushed voice. "Are you ready for your hometown race?"

"I'm ready for all races," Max grinned. "And you? How confident are you in fifth on the grid?"

"If there's any podium I will stand on, it will be here," Anneli whispered back.

"Bet?" Max grinned

"That ended badly for you last time."

"I think it ended great," Max shrugged. "If you're on the podium, I'll do anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Anneli gave him a sly look as she turned back to listen to the national anthem. It was a lot better than some of the others she'd heard in the past. She knew the cameras would have been watching her conversation with Max but they were far too far away to hear.

Her mind reverted to her calm and cold nature as she let it prepare for the race. She didn't think about anything other than her reaction times, as her trainer did the dropping exercise with her on the grid.

The feeling of driving was something she adored on any day and even though the fans were there for Max. which was surprising, she felt like it was somewhere she'd grow to love. Since she didn't have a home Grand Prix, she'd never experience something that some of the other drivers did. She wasn't going to cry over it but it did it.

At lights out, she managed to get herself up a position and she maintained her position throughout the entire race, skillfully keeping an eye on the drivers behind her and listening closely to when her race engineer talked to her about how far behind they were.

The most crucial part of the plan was trying to undercut Pierre Gasly. Anneli had promised she'd do everything to look after her tyres so they could wait until they predicted him to pit. It was a risk but one that paid off.

Anneli hoped Max knew what he'd gotten himself in for because there was no way Anneli was letting Pierre Gasly past her now. Her car may have been slower but thanks to upgrades, it was doing better and Anneli had been known to have great defending skills.

It was almost ironic that she was holding Pierre off from a podium in an Alpha Tauri...the team he'd gotten a win for when no one expected him to.

"ANNELI, YOU JUST GOT A PODIUM!" Her race engineer, Gino screamed.

"I know, it is nice," Anneli replied simply.

As Anneli jumped out of her car, situated to the side of Max, her face hosted a grin not many people saw. It was one of triumph mixed with exhaustion but it was a grin all the while. A grin of a woman who defied all odds after years of racing since the age of 4. A woman who'd got there on pure merit, not diversity hires or accidental placing. She hoped the media saw it and she hoped it made them leave her alone.

Unlikely, but she could hope.

"I'm not sure when an Alpha Tauri could go that fast but if anyone made it, it would be you," Fernando Alonso smiled as she put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her in for a good.

The Aston Martin driver had finished second and had been keeping an eye on his favourite racer behind him in his mirrors.

Anneli wished her dad was here to see it; she knew he'd be watching as he did with every race but it was sad to know he'd come to so many races and missed her first podium. He was the reason she was here.

Except he didn't miss it.

"It's a good thing Giovinazzi did your dad a last-minute favour," Fernando whispered to her. "His commitments got cancelled so he came to see you race."

"You are joking?" Anneli gaped.

"No, it was a secret so I didn't tell you," Fernando winked as he moved to celebrate with his team.

Anneli practically sprinted to where her engineers had gathered, spotting her father at the front and launching herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to hit him with her helmet. She couldn't imagine any other father who'd be willing to just ask for a favour of a friend and hop on a place to the Netherlands for a race she might not have done well on.

She could have crashed, stayed in 5th, got hit...but no...her father was there to witness a step in her career. This was more important for someone like Anneli, who didn't have a seat for next year and since she was still on track to win the F2, she couldn't go back there next year.

"You're supposed to be in Switzerland!" Anneli grinned.

"Now I am here!" Kimi replied.

Even as Anneli was pulled away to do the interview and move to the driver's cool-down room, her mind was still blown that her dad was there. Anneli had to refrain from saying 'I told you so' to Max since the cameras were watching but she smirked at him.

"Your race was crazy," Max commented to Anneli as he watched the screens. "I didn't know your car could go that fast."

"I stayed in the DRS of Fernando," Anneli replied, turning to beam at Fernando. "And kept Gasly out of mine. When I had some oversteer into turn three, I thought he might have gotten me though."

"He was too far back," Fernando shrugged.

As Fernando talked to Max, Anneli's head began to whirl. All those times of looking up at each other on the podium...all the smirks and winks...they were on the podium together. It was almost like a calling to Anneli that it was meant to be — not that she believed in fate.

Suddenly, listening to the Dutch National anthem didn't seem so annoying because she listening to it standing next to Max, feeling out of place between two people more experienced than her, but as she locked eyes with her dad, she knew she belonged there.

Now she needed to find out how to make that bet with Max worth it.

Chapter 39: Band back together

Chapter Text

With the 3rd place sticking in her brain for the next few races, Anneli managed to just stay in the points with 10th and 9th place; other teams' cars were just developing to fast for them to keep up with and with Lamborghini thrown into the mix (which Anneli was happy Mick was getting a real shot), it was hard to keep up.

Anneli had met Max's dad during that period.

It hadn't been anything special; if anything, it had been nothing but two strangers meeting and being civil.

Anneli felt quite bad about it because Max talked about her like she was the greatest Goddess on earth from 'she snowboards too and...', you get the idea, and Anneli wasn't sure what to say to it. She imagined that Max was worried about his dad's opinion on being a racer and how that was supposed to work in a relationship.

While they had proof to show it worked — who could get more perfect than Robyn Saunders and Charles Leclerc? —it was going to be different for every person. Even, Jos didn't mention it and the two of them were left in a wid void of simple acceptance of each other. Anneli had no feelings about him, she hadn't spent enough time with him and in the back of her mind, she still knew about Max's childhood.

It made her realise how different things could end up. Both their parents were f1 drivers but they had different ideas on how to race their child and support their racing career. Max's dad wanted him to win and if he didn't, Max wasn't trying hard enough; Kimi wanted Anneli to feel like she did the best she could do, whether that was winning or just winning the race. Kimi had a lot of confidence in Anneli and he made sure she knew that.

In other news, Anneli hadn't requested any specific item from Max in return for winning her bet. Anneli had all she wanted and she wasn't very materialistic. Instead, she had one simple request.

"You don't have to say yes because I know it's a big ask," Anneli had begun as they lay in bed. "The last Christmas I had was with Elijah and while I've forgotten about him completely, I'd like to replace that memory...with you."

Max had stared at her in that moment, knowing that his girlfriend wasn't the most sentimental person so the request must have meant a lot to her.

"My mama is celebrating with her own family so Minttu suggested it would be nice for me to invite your mama and sister's family too," Anneli offered. "You don't have to, I know Vic has her own family too...maybe you do not even want to spend it with them—"

"I do," Max interrupted. "I want to spend it with you and Vic is going with her husband's family. I think my mom would like to join us too. If your parents are okay with that."

"For once, I think the iceman likes my boyfriend so you have nothing to worry about."

As you can imagine, it had put Anneli in a good mood. They were nearing the end of the season and it was more important than ever that the Finnish woman was in a good mood for racing.

They were racing in Texas, somewhere Anneli had never raced before. She'd spent a lot of the weekend watching the F1 Academy drivers, Happy women were getting more time dedicated to helping them move up as Anneli knew far too many who had stopped racing because they couldn't get sponsors as easily as the males.

Something much more important was happening in America that weekend.

"THE BAND IS BACK TOGETHER!" Robyn Saunders screamed. "MY INFINTY STONES!"

Robyn Saunders, wearing her Mercedes shirt and cap, beamed as she threw her hands in the air. A pair of police sunglasses were situated on her nose, something she and George Russell always had in common. She was holding the hand of a little blonde girl, Lily Norris, who was the daughter of the blonde next to her.

Mira Atkinson, wearing her McLaren Shadow merch, and pushing the pram with her son Leo Norris inside of it. She was laughing at Robyn's words, being able to hear her despite the noise-cancelling headphones that she commonly wore.

Next to Mira was Anneli, who was wearing her Alpha Tauri merch but no hat, with her hair tied into a tight plait. She was walking alongside Jamie Chadwick, who had finished her rookie season in a junior IndyCar.

Mai Chen, the girlfriend of Pierre Gasly, was the newest member of Robyn's collection of girlfriends. She held onto the leash of her service dog, Popcorn, who kept a watchful eye on her.

Finally, Marissa Romono was too busy laughing at Robyn to pay attention to anyone else. Her once bright pink hair was starting to grow back brown, creating a beautiful ombre that Daniel often reminded her he loved, though it was often covered by her Lamborghini cap he'd given her.

The band was back together: The pair of british drivers, The British e-sports racer, The finnish racer, the Singaporean pianist and the Italian personal insistent. An unlikely group.

"I still do not know what an infinity stone is," Mai Chen hummed.

"They're from the Avengers movies!" Mira gushed. "Pierre needs to do a better job at being your boyfriend if he hasn't shown them to you."

"She's just a Marvel nerd, Mai, don't worry," Marissa added with a grin. "I'm surprised she didn't name her son Captain America—"

"Oi!" Mira groaned. "That's a stupid name..."

"I do not know what infinity stones are either, do not worry," Anneli whispered to Mai.

Mai beamed back at her, though more shyly than Anneli would. Mai was a lot more quiet and soft-spoken than the rest of them were.

"Can I be a stone, RoRo?" Lily questioned, looking up at Robyn.

"Of course you can, Lily, you're my favourite," Robyn winked, looking down at Mira's daughter. "You make sure to tell your dad that you're my favourite, okay?"

"Okay!"

"One day, Lando is going to get you back for that," Marissa warned, pointing at Robyn. "He says you're teaching her bad habits she doesn't understand because she repeats things."

"Mira, do you think it's a bad habit?" Robyn questioned.

"Uh...I find it funny so..."

"Anneli?" Robyn pressed.

"She will grow out of it, no?" Anneli shrugged. "And Lando does find it funny even if he will not admit it."

"Thank you!" Robyn beamed. "I'm so glad I invited you to places, Neli. Talking of which, Pierre and I are in charge of the end-of-season dinner and party. Mira, have you gotten a babysitter?"

"Of course I have," Mira nodded. "At first, they were both going to stay at Luke's but Lily wouldn't let us go without her. So Luke's having Leo and Lily is coming to the races and being babysat by Lando's parents while we party."

"Your work-life balance is always crazy to me, Mira," Mai sighed. "How do you do it all?"

"I'm so longer racing for McLaren next year because the back and forth to England is difficult now," Mira admitted. "I'm practically a full-time mum now and I love it that way, though I do still part manage my charity but I earn no money from that."

Anneli couldn't picture herself ever being a stay-at-home mother, not unless she was finally done with her career (in terms of being bored with it) and done all the travelling and fun she wanted to do. Mira was happy, but it wasn't for Anneli.

"Okay, time to depart!" Robyn clapped her hands. "Anneli, I will see you on track."

With a small nod to the rest of the group, Anneli departed to the Alpha Tauri hospitality to get ready for practice. By now, she'd gotten into a good routine and enjoyed every moment of it (apart from the media). Her father hadn't come to any of her last few races since Anneli reminded him he had the whole rest of the family back home and he was also racing himself again, alongside watching Robin race.

"Hey, Anneli?" Mira called. "May I ask something of you?"

Anneli turned and nodded.

"I'm getting married in December since I decided I didn't want to get married pregnant in the summer and I like winter," Mira began. "Except I've only ever had Esme as my best friend and while she'll be maid of honour, I was wondering if you'd like to be a bridesmaid?"

"Me?"

"Yes," Mira chuckled. "You don't have to act so surprised! Robyn and Marissa have already agreed. Mai and Jamie aren't bridesmaids but they'll be there."

"I didn't know you liked me that much," Anneli admitted with a small smile. "I'd love to be your bridesmaid Mira."

"Perfect!" Mira beamed, taking hold of the pram again to leave. "Good luck on track, Neli. I hope you do well...just not as well as McLaren."

"Tell Lando to keep an eye on his mirrors."

Chapter 40: Unexpected

Chapter Text

It was important to note that Anneli had never been somewhere like Vegas before; she'd never been one to enjoy the big skyscrapers or bright cities. It's why she spent so much time in Switzerland and Finland, it was far more peaceful in the more reclused areas she lived. However, she couldn't help but be slightly dazzled by all the bright lights.

Until she saw the Vegas outfits they were putting everyone in.

"No! You look like...a rip off Charles Leclercs!" Anneli laughed as she held up the phone. "Who sighed off on this suit?"

Max Verstappen shrugged as he watched Anneli inspect the red and white race suits they had for the upcoming weekend. He knew she was happy they'd left Alpha Tauri's race suits alone and found the whole concept of being 'a special race' hilarious.

To Anneli, a race track was just another destination and it didn't matter where it was unless it was a personal or team home race. Perhaps to her, she often got annoyed that the US had three races while Finland had none (even though it was due to conditions of weather and costs).

"I hate night races, my sleep schedule is so bad," Anneli mumbled. "Then practice went on until the early hours of the morning. It's a good thing it's a good track to race on."

"Your anger after yesterday said otherwise," Max teased.

"I was mad because I only got P14, Max," Anneli pointed out. "Not because of the track. Also, I was sleep-deprived, okay?"

The two of them were lying on the sofa that was inside the hotel room, having messed up their sleep schedule to cater for the times of the weekend sessions. Not to mention, Anneli wasn't looking forward to the media.

A certain piece of news was already circling the web and Anneli knew she would get questioned on everything in the paddock, though she and Yuki had been warned to just avoid all the questions until official announcements were put out once things had cooled. A headline that put another 'silly season' into a potential mix.

SERGIO PEREZ ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

LIAM LAWSON IS SIGNED BY ALPHA TAURI FOR 2024.

ANNELI RÄIKKÖNEN TO WIN FORMULA 2 IF
POURCHAIRE DOESN'T WIN IN ABU DHABI

It was an odd concept that Anneli could win the series without finishing it and the chances of that had been so unlikely back when she moved to f1...there had just been so many different winners that it allowed her to stay up top without being there. Jack Doohen had promised his best friend that he'd do everything to keep Pourchaire behind him if he could out-qualify him and Anneli appreciated that.

"Neli, earth to Neli!" Max waved a hand in front of her face. "You spaced out, you okay?"

"Yes," Anneli breathed. "Max...do you think I am a fun person?"

"In your own way," Max chuckled. "Why does it matter?"

"Levi and Joel are here this weekend, remember? When I told them I'd never been to Vegas or gambled nor did I want to, they joked I was 'no fun,'" Anneli stated, looking up at Max.

"Everyone's version of fun is different anyway, Neli, you shouldn't worry too much," Max returned. "When have you ever cared about what people think of you?"

"I care what you think of me."

Max and Anneli locked eyes. Contrary to popular belief, Anneli did let herself show a lot of emotion around Max, even if it looked blunt to outsiders. She trusted him a lot and he'd always earned that trust, but that did not mean Anneli didn't have doubts about herself. She was still human and she had things she didn't like about herself, even if no one else was allowed to see.

"I never want you to feel—"

"You haven't," Anneli assured. "It's...I have never been in love until I met you and now I do not want to mess it up."

"I love you Nel, you can't mess anything up."

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To no surprise, Max won the Vegas Grand Prix. Anneli didn't mind because her car was never going to win against most the cars, let alone a Red Bull, so she might as well support her boyfriend. Besides, it was so funny to see him going from supposedly hating Vegas to singing Viva Las Vegas at the top of his lungs. Anneli didn't do too badly herself, landing in P8 so she brought home points she was happy with.

"Ew you're sweaty!" Joel complained as Anneli walked towards the driver's room.

"I wonder why," Anneli snorted. "Is it because I just drove for an hour and a half in practically a rocket ship?"

"You've gotten sarcastic!" Levi gasped. "Is this what Max is doing to you?"

Anneli rolled her eyes at them. She knew they were joking around down in hospitality while she got showered and changed, not even caring that it was well past ten. She also knew the two of them planned on going out gambling while she was in her meetings.

"Are you sure you don't want us to wait around for you, Nel?" Joel questioned.

"No, I have another meeting after my team meeting so it could be hours," said Anneli. "Go, just don't get too crazy."

Joel and Levi nodded as they allowed Anneli to move past them and into the team meeting. She wasn't in there for very long because there wasn't that much to say. It was more about talking to Yuki and why he didn't get into the points. Anneli's mind was elsewhere.

When it finally finished, she immediately headed to the Red Bull hospitality at a quick rate, avoiding the people around and signing autographs for little kids only. She gathered people who didn't keep an eye on where she was going. Even when she ran into Max, her mind wasn't thinking about conversation starters.

"Neli?" Max questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I thought we were meeting—"

"I am still meeting you in an hour," Anneli assured. "Just got some business to take care off."

"In Red Bull—?"

Anneli had already sneaked past him without replying. Her heart missed no beats as she moved sleekly up the stairs of the Red Bull hospitality and towards the office she needed. As her fist knocked on the door, her mind had no doubts about what she was about to do, even when the door opened and the man spoke.

"Hello, Anneli, you're just on time."

Chapter 41: A chance

Chapter Text

ANNELI RÄIKKÖNEN TO REPLACE SERGIO PEREZ AT RED BULL FOR 2024.

Just one week after the announcement of Sergio Perez, we find out that Liam Lawson has taken the spot of Räikkönen due to her move to the sister team. It's said that Räikkönen signed the contract during the Vegas Grand Prix weekend and kept it unwrapped.

"I do not doubt my ability to stay at Red Bull. I know I am a good driver and I know I can do a lot with a car that is fast," - Anneli Räikkönen.

"We're thrilled to have Anneli on the team. We've been thinking about having her in the Red Bull family for a long time and Checo's retirement allowed a spot for her to come up sooner than expected." - Christian Horner.

Therefore, your 2024 grid:

Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Anneli Raikonnen

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz

Mercedes: Robyn Saunders and George Russell

McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Lamborghini: Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher

Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Estaban Ocon

Alpha Tauri: Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunodo

Haas: Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg

William: Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant

Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Granyu

Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll

Read more:
Robyn Saunders renews contract with Mercedes at $10 million.
Lamborghini Team Principal, Lucia Romono, praises Schumacher.

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Perhaps it was a mistake; they say you shouldn't always work with the person you also dated. Work would always come home with you, no matter how good you were at keeping it separate. They say that two people who both wanted to be number 1 drivers wouldn't work either, especially when one of them was the 'chosen one' in the eyes of the team.

None of it mattered to Anneli.

She knew Max would always take prime place at Red Bull because that was the way it worked but she also knew Max wouldn't stay in the sport forever because he didn't do anything that made him bored. Anneli was also so laid back that she'd never bring the weekend home with her because she'd make sure to talk it out with Max before ever leaving the paddock.

If that made her stupid, she'd rather take the stupidity with $2 million waiting for her, far more money than she would have gotten at any other team as a rookie. Money comes with a reputation, she wasn't stupid, and Red Bull could hopefully give her that far more than Alpha Tauri would and outside of them, no seat was waiting for her.

Take your chances or lose them and future ones; that's what Max had once told her.

"So you were in Red Bull in Vegas to sign your contract?" Max grinned,"You already knew! When did you get told?"

"Christian wanted it all to be very quick so the media didn't speculate and get people's hopes up," Anneli admitted. "I knew back in October but I thought we'd do this properly. I wasn't going to tell you because no one knows about us so you wouldn't know...if that makes sense."

"I get you," Max assured. "I don't blame you for not telling me, you don't have to explain yourself. Although...I'm surprised Christian kept it from me."

"Christian knows about the two of us Max," Anneli pointed out. "I had to disclose that but they don't see it as a problem. He just told us 'not to act like an old married couple'."

"We do not act like an old married couple," Max scoffed.

"I don't even know how to act like that."

"I know, it's stupid."

"Ridiculous."

Anneli and Max grinned at each other as they walked towards the paddock. They'd become slightly careless as the season moved on, not caring what people assumed about them. There were so many rumours about possible matches around the paddock that it didn't even matter if people thought they were together, especially when they were going to be teammates.

"Anneli!" Nina, one of the employees who managed the media, called. "You are desperately needed in five minutes."

"Why? What for? I just got here—"

"You just won the Formula 2 championship!"

"Pouchere didn't win?"

"He couldn't get past Doohen!" Nine grinned. "Your parents are there too."

"Oh, okay then," Anneli hummed. "Max, I have to go."

"Go," Max laughed. "Congrats, Nel."

Anneli waved to him as she jogged with Nina towards the area where she was needed at. It was hilarious to her that she'd won the Formula 2 championship while being a Formula 1 driver, almost accidentally. She wondered how far up in points she would have gotten if she'd finished the season, glad that she managed to hold onto it. She knew she didn't need the win but she'd be lying if she said she didn't want it.

Even though Anneli didn't appear to have big of a reaction to it, everyone else clearly did. On the way there, she was thrown into hugs by Felipe and Fernando, both in Aston Martin shirts. Jack found her as she got into the main area, giving her a wink and a hug.

"I am so proud of you, Anneli," said Kimi, pulling his daughter into a hug. "You deserve this. All of it."

Anneli sighed in happiness as she locked eyes with Minttu, who gave the woman a soft smile as she tried to keep Robin and Rianna from running at their older sister. Her family had been the first ones to know she'd signed with Red Bull.

All her life, Anneli had to battle having her father's name and now, she felt like she was living up to it. She felt like she had more meaning than she ever had and when the sport stopped giving her that, she would leave.

Anneli never took anything for granted but she also knew her worth.

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"Don't let Mira DJ, She'll just play the Lando song!"

"Oi,I'm a good DJ! You'd just play Charles sad piano music, Robyn!"

"Marissa, come dance with your hot boyfriend!"

The night sky over Abu Dhabi was truly breathtaking as fireworks lit up the sky in vibrant colours. Anneli stood on the deck of a luxurious yacht, gazing up at the spectacle with a sense of wonder and awe. The water below shimmered in the light of the fireworks, adding to the enchanting atmosphere. As the final firework exploded in the sky, Anneli closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling grateful for everything she had accomplished.

Then there was the chaos unfolding behind her.

Despite starting the season with a slight lack of racing friends, Anneli now had more than she knew what to do with. She had people who cared about her deeply, ones who were just there for the fun and those who were there because they wanted Annei to be happy more than anything else.

"Are you okay, Nel?"

"I'm okay, Mick," Anneli replied softly. "Seb phoned me today, did you know?"

"He told me he would," Mick nodded.

"He asked if I was ready for my 'Red Bull era'," Anneli chuckled. "Robyn said the same thing, something about Taylor Swift..."

Mick snorted, knowing it sounded a lot like Robyn to compare Anneli to Taylor Swift's reputation era. With Robyn's sister being a singer, Robyn knew a hell of a lot about music.

"Are you ready?" Mick questioned. "I know you've driven races but this is different...this is a chance for you that I never really got."

"I'm ready for anything. I've never found the future scary and I'll take whatever comes."

Chapter 42: Epilogue

Chapter Text

They say everything must come to an end, a place where the future is unknown and one must decide how they want to imagine it, or maybe there is no future at all. The end is not always death, just an end to one particular part of a life.

An end of the year.

As the clock strikes twelve, the sky transforms into a dazzling display of colours and light, as fireworks explode all around them. A magnificent view, with vibrant hues of red, green, and gold painting the sky. The explosive sounds of the fireworks resonate through the air, creating a sense of awe and wonder.

In that moment, Anneli Räikkönen feels like she's stepping into a new world, full of endless possibilities and new beginnings. A year where everything fell perfectly into place and she no longer felt like she had to wear an icy exterior.

As she looked up, Max Verstappen pulled her close, his strong arms wrapping around her, creating a cocoon of warmth and security. The comforting scent of his cologne fills her senses, bringing a smile to her face. She looked up at him, his piercing eyes staring back at her with love and affection.

Together, they stand there, lost in the beauty of the moment, the world around them fading into the background. The only thing that matters is the two of them, wrapped up in each other's arms, watching the fireworks light up the sky. It's a moment that Anneli knows she will always cherish, a moment of pure magic and bliss.

No matter what happened; it didn't matter if racing got in the way or family didn't agree with what they were doing; it didn't matter if they didn't get the support of the public or the team; it didn't matter if they thought they hated each other. It was always going to be then.

Anneli Räikkönen: A finnish blonde that had a melted ice heart.

Max Verstappen: A Dutch brunette that happened to melt ice.

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"I said, "I would never fall unless it's you I fall into"

I was lost within the darkness, but then I found her"