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Chapter Text

The paddock was usually a safe place for the drivers and team members. 2020 was a different year due to the covid 19 pandemic. Races had been cancelled and when a revised calendar came out, people were aware of the changes that were coming their way. Sanitising, social distancing and masks became the norm and no fans were in sight. The teams didn’t have as many members working at the track as they normally would and there was a set number of journalists and photographers who were allowed into the paddock.

Some people were anticipating that 2021 would be a better year due to the vaccine programmes. The drivers knew that things would remain the same going into the season.

To begin with, everything was as normal in the paddock as it should be. One issue which arose prior to testing in Bahrain was the missing parts to the Williams motorhome. This meant it took slightly longer to build. No one really thought anything of it as things could’ve been a lot worse.

Then things started to get a little bit weird.

During the weekend prior to the race in Bahrain, Alpha Tauri had issues with their food supply for the team. It appeared to be the case that the food had been swapped by someone and it was either out of date or not fresh at all.

Charles and Pierre had been walking through the paddock after the drivers’ briefing on Friday night when the Frenchman brought it up.

“It’s really strange, we’ve never had any trouble with the food supply but we honestly could’ve had food poisoning from it. Yuki would probably have eaten without a second glance.” Said Pierre.

Charles frowned.

“I wonder if any other team has had any issues with the food.”

Pierre shrugged.

“Not that I’m aware of but Franz has put in a complaint to the FIA.”

Alpha Tauri weren’t entirely sure what the FIA could do about it but they wanted them to be aware of the situation given that they had never had any problems before.

By the time the second race took place in Imola, it appeared that everything was alright in the paddock and no one was having any serious issues. That was until Carlos and Fernando reported to the FIA on Saturday morning that their cars had been keyed. Carlos’s car had been keyed along the driver’s side whilst Fernando’s car had scratch marks nearly everywhere but they didn’t stick out like on Carlos’ car. The FIA checked the cars and looked into the CCTV from the car park but there was nothing suspicious.

“Someone must have keyed it at the hotel, my car was fine yesterday.” Said Fernando, angrily.

The police questioned Carlos and Fernando later that night after qualifying and ironically enough, the CCTV at the hotel was down which meant there was no access to any footage in the car park.

On Sunday morning, Daniel was the next driver to report that his car had been keyed.

“It’s not entirely noticeable but I heard that Carlos and Fernando had the same problem with their cars so I thought I should say something.” Said Daniel.

Michael Masi was grateful for the information but felt helpless as to what the FIA or F1 as a whole could do given that the police had no information whatsoever.

By the time everyone arrived in Portugal, there were different rumours swirling as to what was going on with the different acts. Some people thought that there was an individual on the loose who didn’t like Spaniards but given Daniel’s car suffered the same fate, it didn’t make any sense. Others wondered if it was a group of troublemakers as it surely couldn’t be possible for one person to be behind all of these incidents.

Things took a slightly sinister turn when Valtteri insisted on speaking during the drivers’ briefing on Friday night. He had a reason to speak out.

“I was about to leave my hotel room this morning to head to the paddock and I noticed a bunch of roses lying on the floor. It wasn’t until I picked them up that I realised that most of the petals were crushed. I have told Michael so he knows but I’m not sure if the police will look into it. I think someone is trying to taunt me. He said.”

He glanced over at George before he looked down at the floor.

“I’m wondering if certain people are behind this after what happened during the last race.” He said, conspiringly.

Lando and Nicky narrowed their eyes at the Finn having picked up on a slight hint.

“What are you saying?” Asked Lando.

Valtteri turned to face the young Brit.

“George and I were involved in a crash during the last race. I wouldn’t be surprised if the roses are from a fan as a warning to stay away.”

George scoffed and shook his head, he was about to say something before his teammate interrupted him.

“The theory is that one person is behind this. I don’t think it’s someone who is a fan of George because he gets on well with Carlos, Fernando and Daniel. All three of those drivers had their cars keyed. It makes no sense. I don’t know who it is who’s behind all this but I have a feeling it’s either one person or a group. They can’t just be isolated incidents.”

“What if it’s a driver?” Asked Lewis.

The room fell silent.

“Whoever is behind this, they will be caught eventually.” Promised Fernando.

Lando had arrived in Spain, praying that nothing would ruin anyone’s weekend. He didn’t know what to think about everything that was going on in the paddock but he was sure that they were all connected. By Thursday, he was settling into his normal routine as it was media day. He would do the track walk with his engineers, have a briefing with them afterwards before he was faced with the media for most of the afternoon. He was unaware of a certain picture which would be spread across the Internet and social media whilst he was in the press conference. Charlotte wasn’t even aware of what was going on until Lawrence brought it up in the media pen.

“Lando, I hope you don’t mind me asking but what is the nature of your relationship with Max?”

The young Brit frowned.

“Sorry, do you mean Max Verstappen?”

Max was a good friend of his and Lando was wondering if Lawrence was asking about Max because he was leading the championship.

“I mean Max Fewtrell.” Corrected Lawrence.

Lando immediately felt sick. He looked over at Charlotte who was frantically typing away on her phone and he turned back to face Lawrence. His mind went blank and he didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry but I can’t comment.” He said, shakily.

Before he could be asked another question, Charlotte grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the media pen. Max Fewtrell was Lando’s boyfriend and the team knew as well as some of the other drivers. The public didn’t know and if Lawrence was asking about Max, it meant that something had happened. No one had been talking about Max in the paddock because he had taken a year off from racing so he wasn’t competing in any category nor was he in the paddock.

“Charlotte, what’s going on?” Lando asked, frantically.

“I’m so sorry.”

Lando paled.

“There’s a picture of you and Max online.”

Lando grabbed Charlotte’s phone and tears filled his eyes when he caught sight of the picture. Someone had uploaded it onto the Internet and everyone could see it. No one could’ve predicted that this would happen. Lando and Max had been so careful. The picture was taken at a golf course back in England and the couple were kissing. There was something at the back of Lando’s mind that was niggling away at him because the picture had been taken a while ago. It meant that someone had deliberately posted it since he was at a race. He wasn’t aware of the fact that his breathing was too fast until Charlotte held onto his shoulders.

“Lando, Lando, just calm down. Everything will be fine, we’ll sort this.” She promised.

The young Brit shook his head.

“How, how can we sort it? Everyone will have seen it.”

“You know we’ll still support you. Someone is playing a game doing this, they’ll get caught soon enough.” Insisted Charlotte.

Lando’s breathing eventually calmed down as Charlotte led him through the paddock towards the team motorhome. Charlotte refused to let Lando deal with the media when she wasn’t sure what they wanted to do. They hadn’t been anticipating this. She left Lando alone to deal with Zak and Andreas whilst Lando called Max. His boyfriend took things surprisingly well and Lando felt so grateful for having such a loving partner who was more concerned about him.

No one had any idea how the picture ended up online or how it spread across social media. Lando could only be honest in his interviews since he was forced to make his own post on social media. Most people were friendly and his priority was to get through races. Some of the journalists weren’t impressed but other drivers like George, Charles, Max and Carlos were happy to have his back in the media pen. He was so happy to get back home to England after the long weekend and he was thankful when Max picked him up at the airport.

The next race took place in Monaco. A few of the drivers were relaxing too much as nothing sinister or weird had occurred by Saturday. They were unaware of the chaos which would erupt after the race.

Sergio was on the roof of the energy station after the race having not long finished a facetime call with his wife. He was just enjoying the view when suddenly, something hit the back of his head and he blacked out. He had no time to react as his body hit the water.

Yuki had returned to the energy station after a disastrous race where he finished out of the points in comparison to Pierre who finished P6. He could only hope that points would be the norm during every race in the future. He was about to go to the briefing but he was feeling slightly chilly so went in search of his hoodie. It took him a while to remember that he had left it on the top deck of the station so he rushed upstairs to get it. He froze as he caught sight of someone in the water, still as anything and the thoughts about his hoodie went right out of his mind.

“Someone help! There’s someone in the water!” Yuki shouted.

When no one immediately came to help, he rushed back into the station knowing that he wouldn’t be able to pull the person out of the water himself. He was so glad when he caught up with Max and Christian.

“There’s someone in the water, you need to help me!” He begged.

Max and Christian just stared at each other in shock before they rushed after Yuki who made his way back towards the pool. The young driver jumped into the water before Max jumped in as well. It wasn’t until they grabbed Sergio that they realised it wasn’t just a random individual.”

“Fuck, it’s Sergio!” Max shouted at Christian.

His boss felt sick as he watched on whilst Max and Yuki dragged Sergio towards the edge. They managed to haul the Mexican out of the water and Christian leaned down to check Sergio’s breathing.

“He’s not breathing.” He murmured.

Christian quickly started to do CPR. Before he could ask for one of the drivers to call an ambulance, Pierre rushed out onto the top deck to see what the commotion was about.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s Sergio, he was in the water, unconscious.” Replied Max.

Before Pierre could even process what was happening, Christian was barking out orders.

“Pierre, call an ambulance.”

The Frenchman pulled out his phone and dialled for an ambulance whilst Max and Yuki could only stand by and watch as Christian continued with the CPR.

Eventually, an ambulance arrived and the police arrived shortly afterwards to take statements. Christian was furious when he was informed at the hospital that no one had seen nor heard anything suspicious. There was no CCTV in the energy station so there was no footage and no one had been near the top deck besides Sergio. Christian accompanied Sergio to the hospital and he was furious when the police tried to imply that it wasn’t deliberate.

“I doubt this was an accident, surely someone is behind this. The doctor stated that he has concussion and a bump to the back of the head.” Argued Christian.

“We are doing everything we can to find out what happened but we will need to speak to Mr Perez when he wakes up.”

Max had been waiting outside for news on his teammate seeing as covid restrictions meant that only Christian could really stay with Sergio. He should’ve been having dinner with Prince Albert and Kelly but he was too worried about Sergio. He heard his name being called and he looked up from his phone as he had been texting Kelly to see Esteban and Lance racing towards him.

“Hey, is Sergio alright? I heard that something happened at the energy station?” Asked Lance, worriedly.

Max sighed.

“Yuki found him in the pool unconscious and we pulled him out. He wasn’t breathing but Christian did CPR. They’ve managed to stabilise him but I haven’t heard anything other than that.”

“He’ll be okay though, right?” Asked Esteban, quietly.

Max had no issues with putting his hatred towards Esteban to one side as the Frenchman was clearly anxious about the state of his ex teammate. It was clear that both Lance and Esteban were worried given that they should’ve been on their way home.

“The last I heard, he hadn’t woken up and he has concussion but I’m sure he’ll be fine. He was stable and that’s good news.” Replied Max.

Esteban sighed and Lance rubbed a hand up and down his back.

“Do you think this was deliberate?” Asked Lance.

Max shrugged.

“I don’t know but I have a feeling that this isn’t the end.”

Max was right.

Thankfully, Sergio woke up and he was alright besides his concussion. He felt useless as he gave a statement to the police although he couldn’t remember much and he hadn’t seen anyone. The police could now at least confirm that someone had deliberately tried to hurt Sergio but they couldn’t confirm if the attacker had wanted him to drown. Someone was on the loose and now they were playing with fire.

By the time the teams arrived in Baku, many people were looking over their shoulders wondering when the attacker would make their next move. No one could relax for a long period of time as someone would occur late on Saturday night after qualifying.

Lance was on his way back to the hotel with his coach, Rob, after a long day. He had wanted to spend more time with his engineers hence why he was travelling late at night. There weren’t many cars on the road and Lance was just desperate to get back to the hotel and sleep. The drive wasn’t as quiet as he had been hoping for. Lance had been aware of a black car that was travelling behind him but he didn’t really think anything of it. It wasn’t until he was aware of a car on the other side of him that he realised they were trying to push him off the road. Lance tried to speed up but then the other car did the same and the Canadian was powerless to do anything as the black car nudged his car and he nearly skidded off the road. He quickly stopped the car and the black car sped off out of sight. He turned towards Rob who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Are you alright?” Asked Rob.

Lance breathed out slowly.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Rob shook his head.

“This has to stop.”

The police were informed and the following morning, Lance and Rob arrived at the paddock early to speak to Michael.

“Something needs to be done, someone is going to get killed.”

Chapter Text

Everyone was on high alert after Michael Masi sent out an email to all of the teams to inform them about Lance’s incident. Team principals were beginning to demand that extra security be available to every team at future races until the police were able to catch the guilty party.

Some people were hesitant about the race taking place in case anything happened. Michael had no reason to think that anyone would be stupid to do anything to the cars or harm the drivers. A lot of the team principals believed that Michael was taking a big risk in allowing the race to continue but then again, they needed to show the attacker that they were scared.

During the race, both Max and Lance suffered from tyre blowouts although Michael insisted that it wasn’t the fault of either Pirelli or an attacker. The issue was that everyone wanted answers as neither Red Bull nor Aston Martin had any warning that their drivers’ tyres would go.

Two weeks rolled by and the next race would be in France. Some people were anxious about what could possibly happen but others tried to carry on as normal.

Members of Alfa Romeo were anxious when they walked into the paddock on media day to discover that their team’s motorhome had been vandalised. The FIA called the police but there was little that they could do as no one had reported anything and there was no CCTV of the motorhome. No one could suggest who was to blame as the graffiti that was covering the motorhome was written in various languages. Kimi could understand some swear words in Finnish whilst there were also phrases in Italian but there were other languages as well. It wasn’t long before the graffiti was cleaned away and everyone was forced to go about their business.

Christian was standing out in the paddock as he watched the clean up operation on the Alfa Romeo motorhome. Toto walked up to Christian and stood next to him as they watched on.

“Hopefully this will be the only bad thing that happens this weekend.” Said Toto.

Christian sighed.

“I have a feeling that this isn’t the end.”

Christian was right. Whilst nothing suspicious went on during the rest of the weekend, that was all going to draw to a close.

After the race, Mick had gone to the media pen and then returned to the motorhome for debrief. Nikita wasn’t back so Mick decided to get changed and wait until everyone was ready. Mick made the decision to go and find his engineers after he had waited impatiently for a while. He reached the stairs and was about to take a step forward but he wasn’t prepared for someone to push him and he fell down the stairs, smacked his head and ended up landing at the bottom of the stairs unconscious. The motorhome had been quiet as people were packing things away so they could be sent to Austria for the next race. There was no one around to see the lonely figure who walked down the stairs and took a step over Mick before they disappeared from sight.

Gary was the one who found Mick as he had been in the garage and was returning to the motorhome for the debrief. He would never forget the sight of finding his young driver in a heap on the floor.

“Mick!”

Gary was no longer calm as he immediately rushed over to Mick’s side and crouched down beside him as he checked his pulse.

“Mick, Mick, can you hear me?”

When Gary crouched down to check Mick’s breathing, Guenther entered the motorhome. He stared at the scene in front of him with wide eyes before he rushed over to Gary and Mick.

“What’s happened?” Asked Gunether, frantically as he crouched down by Mick’s feet.

Gary looked up at Guenther with concern.

“I don’t know, I just found him like this, I was coming back from the garage for debrief and I found him on the floor.”

Guenther looked up the stairs before he looked down at the unconscious German driver.

“Do you think it was an accident or maybe someone pushed him?” Asked Guenther, suspiciously.

Gary sighed.

“I don’t know, only Mick can tell us that.”

Guenther stood up and called for an ambulance whilst Gary called for a medic. Nikita returned to the motorhome with his press officer before the medic arrived. He gasped when he saw Mick.

“What’s going on?” He asked, worriedly.

“There’s been an accident. We don’t know if someone pushed Mick down the stairs or if he fell down on his own.” Replied Gary.

Nikita swallowed thickly before he was pushed to the side as the medic arrived.

Word spread around the paddock about Mick and it wasn’t long before members from different teams were hovering around Haas to see if Mick was alright.

Pierre had to stop Charles from leaving as his friend was about to leave the paddock. He only knew about the accident because he had seen the paramedics rushing past him and he asked a team member what was happening.

“Charles, wait! You can’t leave!” Shouted Pierre as Charles walked past.

“What’s going on? Why not?” Charles paused to stare at Pierre.

“It’s Mick.”

Charles stared at Pierre for a moment before he looked down the paddock and quickly made his way towards the Haas motorhome. When he arrived, Mick was being pulled out of the motorhome on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. He was still unconscious.

“Mick!”

Charles rushed over and grabbed Mick’s hand as he walked along with the paramedics who were directing the stretcher through the paddock.

“Sir, we need some space.” Argued one of the paramedics.

“He’s my boyfriend, I’m not leaving him.” Insisted Charles.

Both Charles and Guenther hopped into the ambulance after the paramedics were able to get Mick steeled. Charles held onto Mick’s hand throughout the entire ride to the hospital.

It wasn’t long before police officers were descending upon the hospital and the paddock. Some of the drivers had already left so not everyone was aware of what was going on. Mechanics and engineers at Haas couldn’t say for certain who was around the motorhome as everyone had been busy packing up. At this rate, the police had to wait for Mick to wake up so they could determine what had happened.

When Mick did wake up, it was the early hours of the morning and Charles had fallen asleep with his head on the bed by Mick’s hand. Charles immediately woke up when he heard his boyfriend groaning. He sat up and squeezed Mick’s hand and then pressed the call button.

“It’s alright, babe. I’m here.” Soothed Charles.

Mick squeezed Charles’ hand as he sighed behind the oxygen mask.

“My head hurts.” Complained Mick.

“A doctor will be along shortly.” Promised Charles.

Charles was sent out of the room when the doctor came by so he could check on Mick. The Monegasque went in search for Gunether who had left to go and get some fresh air. When he found him, Guenther was on his phone.

“He’s awake.” Said Charles.

Gunther and Charles waited for the doctor to leave the room so they could see Mick. Almost immediately after the doctor left, two police officers turned up.

“We need to speak to Mick about what happened.”

“He’s just woken up.” Argued Charles.

“It’s better to do this now.”

The officers stepped into the room followed by Charles and Gunether. The doctor stayed by the door so he could monitor his patient.

“Mr Schumacher, I understand that you’ve just woken up and you’re probably still shaken up from your accident but we need to talk about what happened.” One of the officers said.

Charles sat sitting back by Mick’s side and he stroked a hand over his arm as his boyfriend sighed.

“I don’t know what I can tell you. I went into the media pen after the race and then I went back to the motorhome afterwards. Nikita wasn’t back yet so I went into the driver’s room to get changed. I was waiting for a while but I don’t really remember anything after that.” Replied Mick.

“Do you know if someone pushed you down the stairs or if you fell by accident?”

“I honestly don’t know. The last thing I remember was leaving my room and the rest is just a blank.”

The two officers shared a look.

“Thank you for your time, we’ll be in touch.”

The officers left the room once the doctor had shown them out. Guenther also went out as well so Charles and Mick could have some time together.

“What are his injuries?” One officer asked the doctor.

“He does have a concussion and some signs of memory loss but other than that he doesn’t have any significant injuries to worry about. He hasn’t broken any bones but he’s badly bruised in different places but he is quite lucky.”

“The memory loss, is that worrying?” Asked Guenther.

“It’s sometimes common with concussion. In other circumstances, it’s possible that he could’ve had his memory wiped from earlier in the day. It can’t be helped that he’s lost the memory of falling down the stairs.”

“Will it come back? The memory?” An officer asked.

“It’s difficult to say. Sometimes memories do return and other times they don’t.”

“Do you think that Mr Schumacher was pushed down the stairs?”

The doctor sighed.

“I can’t say for certain but I wouldn’t be surprised. The injuries that Mr Schumacher received could’ve been much worse. There are different things to take into account when an individual falls down the stairs. Different people can come away with different injuries and it can depend upon how many stairs there are, if they were pushed or tripped. It’s possible that someone might have pushed him but with no intent to kill. Until his memory comes back, there’s really no way to say for certain whether he was pushed or not.”

“Unless we have CCTV or an eyewitness.” Acknowledged one of the officers.

“What’s going to happen now?” Questioned Guenther.

“We’ll need to question everyone who was in the paddock to see if anyone saw anything suspicious. We can’t rule anything out and there’s the possibility that Mr Schumacher’s memory may not return.”

The officers and doctor left Guenther as he stood outside the room to keep an eye on Mick and Charles. Mick was now sleeping as Charles gently ran a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. Guenther knew that he was spying on his driver and he had no right to but he needed to keep an eye on him. There was no telling as to what would happen in the future.

The police were able to question everyone who was in the paddock at the time of Mick’s accident. No one had witnessed anything unusual although most of the members from Haas couldn’t determine who had been around the motorhome or garage who wasn’t authorised as they had been busy packing up.

Mick had left the hospital the next day as he flew out to Austria with Charles although his boyfriend was worried about him flying with concussion. He also wasn’t sure about having the German back in the paddock again.

“I’ll be fine, Charles. I don’t think they’ll come and finish me off.” Joked Mick.

Charles nearly held his breath.

“They could do anything next, Mick.”

The German’s memory of the accident didn’t return in the lead up to the Styrian Grand Prix so the police could only rule it as an accident for now.

On Friday night after both practices, Nikita and his dad, Dmitry returned to the hotel. As they were heading up the steps to enter the hotel, a car exploded. Dmitry immediately placed a hand on his son’s back as they fell to the floor to protect themselves. Several cars had been hit by debris and the car park was soon filled with the sounds of car sirens going off non-stop. Staff in the hotel rushed out to see what was going on before the police were called. It wasn’t until Dmitry grabbed Nikita’s arm to haul him to his feet that he looked out across the car park.

“That was my car.” Said Dmitry in shock.

The police rushed to the scene and soon everyone at the hotel was being questioned. Forensics were soon investigating what had caused the car to blow up. Dmitry was quite aggressive with the officers as he struggled to answer the questions, mainly because he was in shock as his car had blown up. Someone had possibly tried to kill him and he didn’t believe that the police were taking it seriously.

“You need to find out who’s behind this! I could’ve been killed!” Insisted Dmitry.

The following morning, all that anyone could talk about was what happened to Dmitry’s car. It didn’t take long for word to spread about how Dmitry had been speaking aggressively to the police officers at the hotel. Dmitry and Nikita were given a few looks and stares when they arrived at the paddock. Seb had been standing outside of his motorhome when he noticed Nikita and Dmitry’s arrival. He kept his eyes on the two men and didn’t even notice Max and Sergio walking towards him.

“Hey, Seb.” Greeted Max.

The German slowly turned and acknowledged both of the Red Bull drivers with a fist bump.

“What are you looking at?” Asked Sergio.

“Nikita and his dad have arrived.”

Max and Sergio followed Seb’s gaze as they looked down the paddock before the two Russian men were out of sight.

“How’s Mick?” Asked Max.

He knew that Seb was protective of the young German driver because he was friends with Michael.

“He’s shaken up but he just wants to get on with racing.” Replied Seb.

“I would be careful with his teammate around.” Said Sergio.

“What do you mean?” Questioned Seb.

“Maybe Nikita or Dmitry have been behind this. I’ve been suspicious of them for a while now.” Responded Sergio.

Max raised an eyebrow.

“Dmitry had his car blown up last night, do you really think he would do that to his own car? He could’ve killed himself.”

Sergio shrugged.

“He could’ve done it to erase some suspicion.”

Max tilted his head as he thought about it.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Seb scoffed.

“I doubt that Nikita or Dmitry are behind this. It’s probably the same person who’s behind everything that’s going on in the paddock.”

“They could’ve hired someone to terrorise everyone. It’s possible that they are behind this.” Argued Sergio.

“I really doubt it.” Said Seb, unconvinced.

“Only one way to find out.”

Chapter Text

Due to covid causing havoc, it had been arranged that there would be two races in Austria after France. The first race was referred to as Styria and then the second race would be called the Austrian Grand Prix like last year.

All of the drivers and teams stayed in Austria since there would be back to back races. Some of the drivers were working out in the time between the two races whilst team members were still working. The police were in touch with Michael and the team principals after what had happened to Mick and Dmitry before the Styrian Grand Prix. There were no official suspects and it didn’t help matters that the races were being held in different countries so when something happened, it was always a different police force who were involved.

It didn’t stop people from coming up with their own theories as to what was going on in the paddock.

Some of the drivers were adamant that Nikita had something to do with it but the Russian had already insisted on multiple occasions that he wasn’t behind this.

Media day went by as normal as some people within the paddock felt that they were being lulled into a false sense of security as there was nothing suspicious going on.

Seb had called for an early meeting ahead of the driver’s briefing on Friday night without Michael Masi so they could talk about what was going on and how they felt that the police should deal with everything.

It quickly became apparent that every driver was present except for one.

“Where’s Nikita?” Asked Seb.

All eyes fell on Mick who was sitting at the back of the room.

“The police appeared earlier and they said they wanted to speak with him and his dad.” Replied Mick, quietly.

That caused a reaction.

“I knew he had something to do with it!” Stated Sergio, angrily.

“Guys, we don’t know why the police are talking to the Mazepins. Dmitry’s car was blown up literally a week ago, maybe it’s to do with that.” Argued Valtteri.

Max snorted.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he blew up his own car.”

“I doubt he would do that.” Said Nicky.

Max narrowed his eyes at the Canadian.

“How do you know? He’s probably behind everything that’s been going on or maybe he hired someone.”

“What about Mick’s accident? Nikita and Mick get along quite well, they’ve known each other for years.” Seb pointed out.

Max shrugged.

“I don’t know but he doesn’t like all of us. It wouldn’t surprise me if his dad has something to do with it or someone close to them.”

“Maybe somebody is framing Nikita.”

All eyes turned back on Mick again.

“Well, he’s your teammate, Mick. What’s your opinion?” Asked Pierre.

“I don’t think he’s behind it. He wasn’t in the paddock when I had my accident and it would feel like a lot of effort to blow up his dad’s own car.” Said Mick.

“He could’ve done that to erase suspicion so that the police will do more work.” Said Sergio.

Mick shook his head.

“Do you really think that one person is behind this?”

“Nikita and his dad.” Replied Max.

“What if it’s someone who really hates the Mazepins? Someone could be framing them and then that would make sense with what Mick said.” Antonio suggested.

Max and Sergio didn’t look too convinced.

“I have a feeling it’s someone who doesn’t like F1 or like Mick said, someone who doesn’t like the Mazepins.” Said Lewis.

“Most of the drivers have been targeted and at least every team has, it would make sense.” Said Fernando.

“Do the police have any suspects?” Questioned Charles.

“Not really but then again, different things are happening in different countries so it’s being dealt with from country to country.” Replied Seb.

“Maybe it’s a crazy fan.” Suggested Yuki.

“It can’t be, we’ve not had fans at every single race.” Daniel pointed out.

“That would mean it’s someone who’s been at every race and has access into the paddock.” Said George.

“You can’t narrow that down. The numbers include photographers, journalists, drivers and team members plus those who work in the FIA.” Argued Fernando.

“The only one who I can see being involved in this is Mazepin.” Said Max.

Half of the drivers rolled their eyes.

“That’s because you won’t consider anyone else.” Snarked Valtteri.

“Oh yeah, who do you think it is then?” Asked Max, defensively.

The Finn sighed.

“I don’t know, Max, I honestly don’t know.”

“We should ask Michael.” Said Carlos.

Seb shook his head.

“He won’t discuss it. That’s why I called for an early meeting and why I didn’t invite Michael because I wanted different opinions. I’m sure he isn’t being told anything by the police.”

“So, we’ve got no chance of finding out who’s behind this?”

Everyone turned to look at Kimi as he hadn’t said a word about the incidents in the paddock before. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the attention landed on him.

“What? My wife is concerned.” He defended.

“Max has been getting a lot of attention since our relationship came out. He wants to come to races but he’s worried about how the media will react.” Said Lando, quietly.

“My family are concerned about me racing.” Said George.

“We need to find out what’s happening, we can’t even make a trap for the attacker since we’ve got no clue who it could be.” Said Fernando, impatiently.

“It must be someone in the paddock with enough access but it could literally be anyone.” Said Seb.

Before anyone could say anything else, Nikita and Michael stepped into the room. Michael frowned when he saw all of the drivers.

“Why are you all here?” He asked.

No one responded. A lot of the drivers were too busy glaring at Nikita and he wasn’t oblivious to it. He didn’t know what was going on.

When the briefing was over, Mick left Charles with Pierre so he could go after Nikita. Nikita was nearly at the Haas motorhome when Mick caught up with him.”

“Nikita!”

The Russian paused and turned around.

“Hey, Mick.”

“You didn’t hear this from me but some of the drivers think that you have something to do with what’s going on in the paddock.” Said Mick.

Nikita sighed.

“I knew that there were different rumours going around but I didn’t actually think that any of the drivers thought it was me.”

“You need to promise me that you have nothing to do with it and you don’t know who’s behind it. We had a meeting before you and Michael arrived and I defended you because I don’t think you’re behind it.”

Nikita just stared at his teammate.

“Nikita!”

The Russian nearly jumped as Mick stared at him seriously.

“Promise me you have nothing to do with this.”

“I swear, Mick, I’m not behind this and I don’t know who is.”

Mick nodded as he was satisfied that Nikita was telling the truth.

“We need to find out what’s going on, it’s getting difficult to trust people nowadays.”

“Who do you think is behind this?” Asked Nikita.

“Maybe someone who’s trying to frame you, that’s what I suggested but I don’t know. Someone said that it has to be someone who has access to the paddock but that’s a long list.”

Nikita sighed.

“I just want this to end, I don’t like the accusations.”

“Hopefully we’ll get some answers soon.” Said Mick, firmly.

Chapter Text

Mick and Nikita returned to the Haas motorhome together and the German couldn’t help but follow his teammate into his driver’s room.

“So, what did the police want to speak to you about?” Asked Mick, curiously.

Nikita sat down on his massage bed and stared up at Mick who was leaning against the door.

“I thought you believed me when I said I had nothing to do with anything that’s going on in the paddock.”

“I do, I just wondered if they had anything to say about your dad’s car. It was blown up about a week ago afterall.”

Nikita sighed.

“It was a small bomb, that’s all they know for now. The CCTV for the hotel’s car park has been destroyed. Someone knows what they’re doing, Mick, there’s been no CCTV anywhere when something’s happened.”

“Do the police have any suspects?”

Nikita sighed again as he ran a hand over his face.

“They want to keep an eye on my dad this weekend. Although they said it’s in case he’s targeted again, I think they believe that we have something to do with it.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is framing you. Maybe you should tell them who hates you and then they can go from there.”

Nikita scoffed.

“There’s a long list of people who hate my dad and me. It would take forever to find someone who could potentially be capable of hurting people in the paddock.”

Mick knew that Nikita had a point. If someone was framing the Mazepin family, there were a lot of people who hated them so it would be difficult to determine who was really behind everything.

The German returned to his room and he met Charles outside in the paddock when it was time to go back to the hotel.

“Hey.” Greeted Charles.

He placed a hand on Mick’s lower back as he led the German to the car park.

“I don’t like that everyone is accusing Nikita of being behind this. I mean, why would he blow up his own dad’s car? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Charles stopped and stared at Mick. The German sighed.

“I know you’re sceptical but I’ve known him for years, I’m sure he’s not behind this.” Said Mick.

Charles gazed into his boyfriend’s eyes and he could tell that Mick truly believed that Nikita was innocent.

“If Nikita’s not behind this, then who is?”

Mick sighed.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

The couple left the paddock and headed towards the car park. Both of their minds were racing as they considered who was to blame.

Saturday went by without any incidents although there was a high police presence and so many believed that nothing would happen on Sunday at least before the race.

Everything was normal on race day and everything was going according to plan for the teams as they prepared to race. The police didn’t spot any suspicious activity during the race but they decided to stay after the race in case anything did happen. They weren’t to know that something would happen that wouldn’t be seen by anyone.

Pierre was leaving the motorhome late at night when the paddock was practically deserted. By this time, there were only a handful of police officers who were still around but they were currently in a meeting with the FIA. Pierre was on his phone as he waited for Pyry to leave the motorhome. He was pacing around outside the front of the motorhome and was too busy to notice a shadow in the darkness. He wasn’t prepared for someone to cover his mouth and drag him in between two motorhomes out of sight. At first, Pierre panicked and he tried to struggle until he was slammed against the wall and had his arm twisted behind his back. He gasped in pain and struggled to breathe.

“Don’t scream, don’t say a word.” A voice warned him.

Suddenly, the hand that had been covering Pierre’s mouth was withdrawn and the Frenchman held his breath when he felt a hand raking through his jumper and jeans’ pockets. He closed his eyes wishing it would all be over soon. The attacker snatched his watch, bracelet and phone. He was just glad that Pyry had his backpack, otherwise the attacker could’ve taken more of his belongings. The attacker pocketed the items before he twisted Pierre’s arm tighter and the Frenchman winced at the pain.

“Thanks for the gifts, Mr Gasly.”

Pierre was roughly pushed to the floor and his attacker disappeared. He didn’t move as he ran a hand over his arm that had been twisted. He could hear shouting and recognised that the voice was his coach, Pyry. Instead of answering, he remained silent and didn't move from the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking past the gap that he was in before the person backtracked.

“Pierre!”

The Frenchman practically gasped when Pyry was suddenly crouched down in front of him. His coach looked worried.

“What happened?” Asked Pyry, worriedly.

Pierre shook his head. Pyry noticed that Pierre was running a hand over his arm as if it were in pain. He then noticed that his friend’s watch was missing.

“Come on, let’s get you up.” Said Pyry, quietly.

He stood up and reached down to gently hold onto Pierre’s arm so he could haul him onto his feet. Pierre was shaking but Pyry didn’t want to tighten his grip as he was worried that he would startle the young man. He led Pierre back into the motorhome and Franz nearly had a heart attack when he saw the state of his driver who was as white as a ghost.

“What happened?” Asked Franz, frantically.

Pyry led Pierre over to one of the seats and gently helped his friend to sit down.

“I don’t know, I found him in the gap between the two motorhomes. I think he’s been robbed, his bracelet is missing.” Replied Pyry.

“I’ll call Michael, he should still be around.”

Pyry sat next to Pierre who had yet to say a word and it wasn’t long before a couple of police officers stepped into the Alpha Tauri motorhome along with Michael Masi. Franz glared at Michael and he pointed at Pierre.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you had placed officers with each team like we asked.” Argued Franz.

Pyry frowned as he wondered what the team principal was talking about. He came to the conclusion that there had been private conversations between the team principals and Michael.

“I’m sorry, Franz, but like I told you before, it’s just not possible.”

Franz huffed and walked away as Michael sat down at the table where Pierre and Pyry were sitting.

“Pierre, can you tell me what happened?”

The Frenchman didn’t even acknowledge Michael’s presence as he just stared at the table. Michael raised an eyebrow at Pyry.

“I think he’s in shock, he’s not said a word.” Responded Pyry.

“So, you don’t know what happened either?”

Pyry shook his head.

“I had been talking to Franz whilst Pierre went outside. When I left the motorhome, I couldn’t see Pierre so I looked around. I went to walk past the gap between our motorhome and Ferrari’s motorhome and I spotted him. He was on the ground but he was rubbing at his arm as if he were in pain and I noticed that his bracelet was missing. I asked him if he was alright but he wouldn’t respond. I managed to get him back here and then Franz turned up before he called you.”

One of the officers was writing in a notebook as he wrote down everything that Pyry was saying.

“He grabbed me.” Said Pierre, quietly and out of nowhere.

Michael frowned.

“It was a guy?”

Pierre nodded.

“He warned me not to scream. He had covered my mouth and grabbed my arm before he dragged me in between the two motorhomes. He slammed me against the wall and warned me not to say anything. Then he removed his hand and started to search my pockets and everything. He took my phone, bracelet and watch. After that, he tightened his grip on my arm and thanked me for the gifts. I was pushed to the ground and he disappeared. Pyry showed up not long after that.”

“Did you see him at all?” Asked the officer who wasn’t writing.

“No, it was dark.” Said Pierre, regretfully.

“Did you recognise the voice at all? Even an accent?”

Pierre nodded as he thought deeply.

“I thought I recognised his voice, I, I can’t place it right now.” He stuttered.

“If it comes back to you, Pierre, you can inform us. Don’t worry about that right now, it’s just a good thing that you’re alright.”

Pyry glared at Michael again.

“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“Take Pierre back to the hotel. I need to have a word with the officers.”

Pyry sighed and helped Pierre stand up before he led him out of the motorhome. Franz then returned before Michael and the officers were about to leave.

“So, what happened?”

“He was robbed.” Replied one of the officers.

Franz sighed.

“Michael, we need to do more. Someone is going to get killed. The next race is meant to be at Silverstone, it’s supposed to be at full capacity for fans. What if someone is able to hide and more people get hurt?”

“There are people in my office working on reports to help the police regarding the incidents that have been going on in the paddock. It’s to help the police when we go to different races to determine if there’s a pattern. What we understand right now is that the person behind this has access to the paddock and has been to every race so far this season.”

“There’s lots of people who have access, it will take ages to work out who’s been at every race.” Said Franz, angrily.

“We’ll find out who’s behind this, Franz. I promise.”

Franz didn’t bother arguing. It was clear that he didn’t believe Michael but he just had to hope that someone would be caught soon.

It didn’t take long for the other drivers to find out about what happened to Pierre. Charles immediately flew out to Milan as Pyry had called him the following morning. The Monegasque was concerned when he lay eyes on his best friend after Pyry had led him into the apartment. Pierre was cuddled up in the corner of the couch wearing an oversized jumper and jogging bottoms. He looked so tired and he was pale as well.

“I’m so sorry, Pear.” Murmured Charles.

He sat down at the other end of the couch so that there was distance between himself and Pierre. His friend sniffed.

“I recognised his voice, Charles, but I can’t place it.” He said, sadly.

“It will come back to you.”

“What if it doesn’t though? I don’t want someone else to get hurt.” Pierre was panicking.

“This isn’t your fault, Pierre. The police need to do their jobs and find out who’s behind this. If something else happens, this isn’t your fault, you’re not behind this.”

Pierre stared at his best friend with wide eyes. Charles didn’t really believe his own words. He thought that the police were taking too long to do anything but there didn’t seem to be much that anyone could do.

When the drivers arrived at Silverstone for media day, there was tension in the paddock. Some of the drivers were now convinced that no good would come of having a full capacity of fans for the race. They were interviewed in the media pen about Pierre’s incident and they were questioned on their thoughts about what the police were doing. The drivers hid their true opinions about everything. They didn’t want the fans to panic so they assured the journalists that they believed the police would catch the person or people responsible. It was far from the truth. Everyone was aware of the increased police presence but then again, this was the first major sporting event with full capacity.

All of the drivers arrived on time for the drivers’ briefing on Friday night. Michael had yet to arrive and some of the drivers were hoping he would hurry up as Max started interrogating Nikita.

“So, Nikita, is your dad here?” Asked Max.

Nikita narrowed his eyes at the Dutchman.

“Yes, not that it’s any of your business.”

Max snorted.

“It is if he’s a suspect.”

“My dad isn’t a suspect, he’s not involved in what’s been going on. His car was blown up for crying out loud.”

“He could easily hire people to do this.”

“My dad is innocent.” Insisted Nikita.

“Are you innocent?”

“I am.”

Max tilted his head as he narrowed his eyes at Nikita as if he were trying to read his mind.

“Max, enough. I’m sure that neither Nikita nor his dad are involved.” Said Seb.

“How do you know?” Asked the Dutchman.

“Mick was hurt and Nikita wouldn’t hurt his own teammate.”

“If he hired someone, they might have hurt him by accident.” Max suggested.

“Just give it up, Max, we’ll find out sooner or later if Nikita has anything to do with it.” Said Lewis.

Max fell silent and then Michael finally appeared.

“Good evening, gentlemen.” Greeted Michael.

There were a few murmurs in response before Michael sat down and faced the drivers.

“Before we talk about the race and any formalities, I wish to make clear that there is an increased police presence within the paddock. They will be doing everything they can to make this event as safe as possible. If anyone has any concerns, please don’t hesitate to talk to your team principals, we are keeping in contact about the case and the suspects. I am in close contact with the police so I will receive information from them firsthand.”

“We’re concerned that this is still ongoing and no one is close to finding out who’s behind this.” Said Valtteri, angrily.

Michael gave Valtteri a look.

“The investigation is ongoing but we are dealing with different police practices because we are in different countries. We will find out who is behind this but we need to be patient.”

Some of the drivers rolled their eyes or huffed in frustration at Michael's comment that everyone needed to be patient. How much longer would they need to remain patient? Michael cleared his throat.

“Now, let’s talk about this weekend’s race.”

Most of the drivers left the briefing feeling slightly unsatisfied when Michael confirmed that there were no new leads to the case. Some people could sense that the attacker wouldn’t stop because there would be so many people about this weekend which meant that they could blend into the crowd.

Pierre bumped into Mick and Charles in the paddock as they were leaving for the night. As they walked in the direction of the car park, they couldn’t help but notice that there was a police officer outside every motorhome.

“Why are the police standing outside the motorhomes?” Questioned Pierre, thoughtfully.

“Mattia was telling me about Michael’s new plan. He felt that some of us weren’t happy about the safety in the paddock so he wanted an officer outside every motorhome as immediate contact if anything were to happen.” Replied Charles.

“It’s probably meant to deter the attacker from doing anything.” Said Mick.

The three drivers continued walking and they looked up when they heard some commotion up ahead. They noticed Jos, Max’s dad, engaging in an argument with one of the officer’s as Max tried to drag his dad away.

“Dad, come on, let’s go.” Pleaded Max.

“Then tell him to stop asking me questions about where I’m going and what I’m doing.” Snapped Jos.

Max apologised to the officer and managed to drag his dad away but it meant that Jos decided to argue with him instead. Pierre froze when he heard Jos speaking. Both Mick and Charles stopped alongside the Frenchman and they frowned at him.

“Pierre, are you alright?” Asked Charles with concern.

“The voice.” Murmured Pierre.

“What voice?” Asked Mick.

Pierre gasped.

“I need to go and speak to Michael.”

He turned and ran in the direction of his motorhome leaving Mick and Charles wondering what was going on.

“What does he mean?” Asked Mick.

“The attacker spoke to him, maybe he remembers or recognises the accent.”

Mick had a million thoughts running through his head but he didn’t dare say anything out loud. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be right.

Pierre ran back to the motorhome and burst into Franz’s office, panting. His team principal looked up at him and stood up.

“Pierre, are you alright?”

The Frenchman finally caught his breath.

“I know who attacked me.”

The two men went to visit Michael and when Pierre told him who he believed had attacked him, he stared at the driver in disbelief.

“You’re saying Jos attacked you?”

Pierre nodded frantically.

“I recognised his voice when he was arguing with the officer and Max in the paddock.”

One of the police officers stepped forward.

“That’s a pretty serious accusation.”

Pierre huffed.

“I know that! I’m sure it was him though, the voice came back to me and I’m sure it was Jos.”

“You know, Michael, Jos does have a temper. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s the one who’s behind this.” Said Franz.

Michael sat back in his seat.

“What do we do then?”

Pierre raised an eyebrow.

“Surely we should question him about it.”

“He’ll just deny it, we don’t have enough evidence either.”

Pierre huffed.

“We need to do something.”

“We could try and lay a trap.”

Franz didn’t look impressed.

“These accidents have all been unpredictable, how do you know when something will happen? Then again, with increased police security, maybe nothing will happen.”

“We could keep all eyes and ears on him, maybe that will make him nervous.” Suggested one of the officers.

Michael sighed.

“Whatever we do, we need to be careful. We can’t let him run.”

Pierre wasn’t very impressed as he left Michael’s office. Franz patted his shoulder.

“I know you’re annoyed, Pierre, but it’s not entirely surprising that they don’t want to question Jos. It could possibly just get him all worked up.”

Pierre sighed.

“I know, I just want this to be over.”

“I have a feeling it will be over soon.”

Franz didn’t know how correct that statement would be.

The officers did indeed have eyes and ears on Jos for the whole of Saturday. He was somewhat twitchy and didn’t like it when the officers questioned him about where he was going any time he left the motorhome. Michael was sure that if everyone kept an eye on Jos, the weekend would go by smoothly. What he wasn’t prepared for was an upcoming incident in the car park.

Most of the drivers and team members had left on Saturday night after qualifying. Some of the drivers stayed late to talk to engineers ahead of the race whilst various mechanics were checking the cars.

George left the paddock with Lando and Max Fewtrell. This was the first time that Max had been in the paddock as Lando’s boyfriend. He was concerned about his boyfriend and although Lando had already been targeted, Max was worried that something else could happen. The three men were talking about the possibility of George receiving a penalty for the incident between himself and Carlos on lap 1 of the sprint race. Both Lando and Max argued that it would be harsh to give him a penalty when Carlos had still been able to finish the race. They were somewhat blinded by a car that had all their lights and it was facing the three drivers. It was still some distance away but the lights were very bright.

“Jeez, it’s not even dark, can they not turn them off?” Lando complained.

The car’s engine revved once and then twice.

Toto had left the paddock behind the three drivers and he had only just made it to his car when the car with the bright lights began to move. George quickly realised that the car was picking up speed and that it was heading straight for Toto.

“Toto!” Shouted George.

Before he could even think, George raced over and pushed the German out of the way. The car then turned sharply and crashed into a wall. George helped Toto stand up.

“Are you alright?”

Toto nodded slightly as he looked over at the crashed car which he recognised.

“Thank you, George.” Said Toto, shakily.

George blushed before he followed Max and Lando over to the car as Lando hauled the drivers’ door open. The young Brit gasped when he saw who was in the driving seat.

“Bradley!”

It was Max’s performance coach. George and Lando couldn’t believe it. The coach was sitting with his head against the headrest as he groaned. Toto made his way over and peered into the car.

“It can’t be.”

It wasn’t long before George and Toto were dragging Bradley to Michael’s office. Michael let a medic see Bradley's injuries before the police were allowed to question him. Bradley sat in the chair across from Michael who was allowed to sit in on the interrogation whilst two police officers stood behind Michael. A phone was placed on the table to record the interview. Bradley had yet to say a word.

“Are you the attacker who’s been terrorising the drivers and teams in the paddock?” Questioned one officer.

Bradley shook his head.

“I’m not the only one.”

“There’s someone else?”

“Jos Verstappen, Max Verstappen’s father.”

Michael shared a look with one of the officers who happened to be the same officer whom Pierre had told about Jos. The Frenchman had been right.

“So you and Jos are behind this?” Asked an officer.

Bradley sighed.

“You should know that I was hired. I would never have done any of this normally but I needed the money.”

Michael frowned.

“Who hired you?”

“Helmut Marko.”

Michael held back a gasp of shock. He couldn’t believe that Helmut would be behind this.

“Why did he hire you?”

Bradley shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I’m being blackmailed. I’m a recovering drug addict, I used to take performance drugs during my sporting days. Someone found out but if the information goes public, I’ll lose my job. I don’t just work with Max, I do other work too, I’d lose everything. I don’t take drugs now, but someone found out and I swore them to secrecy but in return I had to pay them or the information would be made public. The money that I’m making isn't enough but I didn’t want to talk to Max so I went and spoke to Marko. He wasn’t impressed about the thought of me earning more money but then he said if I ran some errands for him that he would give me money for it.”

“So, Helmut asked you to run some errands? What, terrorise the paddock?” Asked one officer.

“I didn’t know what he had planned but he said at one point that he wanted to have fun. At first, it was just little things that some people wouldn't think about but then he started to get mad ideas into his head and I didn’t like it.” Replied Bradley.

“Let’s start at the beginning, in Bahrain, Alpha Tauri had problems with their food supply, did you have anything to do with that?”

“Yes, Helmut wanted to cause food poisoning so he was ordering rotten food and mucking around with the food supply. He made sure that Red Bull had good supplies whilst Alpha Tauri didn’t. I was in charge of making sure that Alpha Tauri got the bad supply but I tried to make sure it was unfresh, I didn’t want to make them ill.”

“Fernando, Daniel and Carlos had their cars keyed in Imola, you were behind this?”

Bradley nodded.

“The CCTV was down in the hotel so Helmut told me to do it but I didn’t want to do it too badly. He wanted me to smash one of the car windows with a brick or something as a warning of what was to come but I didn’t do it because I was scared of being caught. The car alarm would probably go off so I just keyed the cars.”

“What about the flowers outside Valtteri’s bedroom in the hotel?” Asked Michael.

“Helmut said it was a gift for Valtteri. He’s not entirely stupid. He said that people would probably think it was an obsessive George Russell fan who was behind it. Some of the theories were mad and Helmut loved hearing about it, he’s crazy.”

Michael couldn’t help but nod in agreement. The officers then carried on listing the different events that had taken place during each grand prix. Bradley had yet to mention what Jos had been up to besides attacking Pierre.

“Were you behind Lando’s coming out?” Asked an officer.

Bradley sighed sadly.

“I didn’t want anything to do with it. That was when Jos wanted to be involved. I was in a meeting with Helmut one day and Jos interrupted but he had overheard us talking. Helmut told him what I was doing and Jos said he wanted to take part because he wanted to cause problems for his son’s rivals. I didn’t want to out Lando but I had to since neither Helmut nor Jos are technically minded. I was the one to pay an anonymous source so they could post the picture online without anyone finding out who was behind it.”

“What part did Jos have in this?” Asked Michael.

“He pushed Sergio into the water at the energy station in Monaco, I had nothing to do with it.”

“Why would Helmut want one of his own drivers to get hurt?” Questioned one officer.

“He’s not been too impressed with Sergio’s results so far. Even though Sergio finished fourth in that race, Helmut wants wins and podiums. He’s desperate for Red Bull to win this year, he’s sick of hearing about Mercedes all the time.”

“Was Jos behind Lance’s incident where he was run off the road?”

Bradley looked down at the floor.

“No, that was me.”

“What does Helmut have against Lance?”

“He doesn’t believe that Lance deserves to be in F1. I was just to spook him by running him off the road, I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“Did you write graffiti on the Alfa Romeo motorhome in France?”

“Helmut told me what to write, I don’t actually know why he picked that team. He was maybe worried that if he picked a team like Mercedes that people would get suspicious.”

“Did you push Mick down the stairs or did Jos do that?”

Bradley sat up straighter in his seat.

“That was Jos.”

He scoffed.

“It wasn’t even meant to be Mick, he was meant to hurt Mazepin. I mean no one likes Mazepin and there would be a lot of suspects. The idiot got mixed up and he bolted when he realised that it was Mick. Helmut was furious when Jos told him but then it worked in his favour because everyone blamed Mazepin and Mick didn’t remember the accident or see anyone.”

“Was Jos behind the bomb on Dmitry’s car?”

“I definitely had nothing to do with it. Like I said, I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I would’ve warned Dmitry if I had known. You would need to ask Helmut or Dmitry where the bomb came from, I have no idea what kind it was. I didn’t even know about it until I heard the next day.”

“We know that Jos was behind Pierre’s attack but why would he want to hurt Pierre? Max gets along with him.”

“Jos is jealous of Pierre. He actually insisted on being the one to do the robbery. Helmut asked me but I said no so Jos said he would do it. He wasn’t told who to rob, just to rob someone and he picked Pierre. He’s been doing so well at Alpha Tauri and Jos is worried that Pierre will come back to Red Bull and beat his son. He wanted to scare him, I guess. Helmut wanted us to rob someone so that they would be too scared to come back into the paddock. Everything started off small and then grew.”

“Like the incident with Toto not that long ago?” Asked Michael, angrily.

Bradley shook his head frantically.

“I wasn’t going to run him over! I swear! Helmut was sick and tired of listening to Toto today so he wanted me to scare him. All I was going to do was drive at him and then stop like a foot in front of him. Then George pushed Toto out of the way and I was scared I was going to hit someone so I turned the wheel and ended up in the wall.”

Michael sighed as he sat back in his seat.

“Is there anything else we should know about?” Asked one officer.

Bradley shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“Did anyone else know about the plans or is there anyone else involved? Do Christian and Max know what you’ve been up to?”

“I swear they had nothing to do with it. Christian would’ve fired Helmut immediately if he had known. Max probably would’ve fired me. If they do know, they’re staying quiet about it but Helmut didn’t want them to be involved. He practically did all of this to help Max. Max wants to win races but he wants to win them fairly. He’s a team player.” Replied Bradley.

“Why did you come clean? You could’ve stayed silent.”

“I noticed that Pierre recognised Jos’ voice in the paddock and I knew that he would be caught. I was expecting someone to turn up at Red Bull and it didn’t happen. When I crashed the car, I knew that it was game up. That’s when I decided that if I was going down, then I would take Jos and Helmut down too. Helmut planned all of this and Jos has been a part of it.”

“You know that we will need to take you down to the station.”

Bradley nodded. He was then led out of the office by the two officers before a call was made to take Jos and Helmut to the station too.

Jos had been in his hotel and had practically left kicking and screaming with Max insisting that his dad had nothing to do with it.

Helmut left the Red Bull motorhome with the police officers quietly whilst Christian was left wondering how he had missed the signs that Helmut was behind this.

All three men were charged although only Jos and Helmut were sent to prison whilst Bradley was charged and made to do community service.

The paddock was now safe but when people heard the news, all eyes fell on Red Bull. Max, Sergio and Christian were forced to defend themselves and insisted that they had nothing to do with it nor did they know about Helmut’s plans.

People still skeptical but as the season carried on into Hungary, there was no suspicious activity which meant that the drivers and teams could then enjoy their summer and relax after a chaotic first half of racing.