Incident #1: The Radio Reveal
It all started with Taylor Swift.

Carlos had connected his phone to Max’s car Bluetooth because Max’s playlist had been — in Carlos’s words — “just engine sounds and weird Dutch EDM that makes my brain vibrate.”

Max had grunted but didn’t stop him. That, in Carlos’s experience, was as close to consent as one could get with Max Verstappen.

They’d been parked just outside the paddock, inside Max’s quiet, overpriced Audi. Aircon on low. The windows slightly tinted. The kind of privacy that breeds delusion.

Carlos was curled into the passenger seat like a sleepy cat, scrolling through his phone and nodding along to All Too Well (10 Minute Version) with the intensity of a man who had felt a breakup he hadn’t had. Max was beside him, tapping away on WhatsApp with his usual death-stare expression, probably replying to his trainer or making snarky remarks to Lando.

Carlos should’ve seen it coming.
Should’ve.