Idea: Max suffers a career ending injury towards the end of 2021. Lewis wins the WDC and Max vanishes from the grid, disappearing to god knows where only to return in 2026 as Charles Leclerc’s race engineer.
When cameras catch sight of Max walking side by side with Charles, it isn’t the limp or the walking cane that catches their eye. It’s the matching rings on the fourth finger of their left hands and the way Max leans in close to murmur something in Charles’s ear as they enter the CL16 garage. It’s the way Charles’s touch lingers on Max’s broad shoulders, fingertips dancing along the seam of his shirt.
It’s the way the hard edge in Max’s eyes softens, just the smallest amount, when Charles smiles up at him.
It’s a relationship cloaked in mystery and shadow—no one knows what happened but they worry. They worry for the talented, ambitious Prince of Ferrari who’s now tethered to the jaded and cynical Max Verstappen who quickly garners a reputation for ruthlessness and perfection. He’s sharp, severe, and uncompromising—but Charles isn’t fazed.
Max is exactly what he and Ferrari need—someone to force change upon an institution too rooted in tradition. Someone to grab Ferrari by the throat and tell them to let heads roll if it means progress.
He and Max aren’t in love—far from it—but Charles has an image he needs to protect and telling the world he chose Max as his race engineer because the Dutchman is mercenary and cutthroat and willing to be Charles’s sword and shield in his battles with Maranello? Not very PR friendly.
Max clung to Charles because if he didn’t, he would have drowned himself in the nearest body of water. The love and affection he once had for the Monegasque driver had become tainted with obsession, possession, and ruthless ambition. Charles is his. His redemption and his future.
They’ll win 2026. Max will make sure of it.
