PROLOGUE

- May 6, 2012 - WSK Euro Series -

/Charles/

“There he’s, the bastard!
Damn, I knew it would end like this!
I touched him first while I was trying to pass him, but I didn't do it on purpose, he did and he didn't give me a little innocent hit that didn't change my race like I did with him, he threw me back a lot of positions ruining my race!
Damned bastard, I was ahead with him! Maybe I wouldn't have won, but I would have been close and then if the two of us race clean I'm superior to him and he knows it, that's why he plays dirty with me.
Always.
Always like this!
No, but who the hell does he think he is?
I know him by now, he's not a newcomer, he's been racing on karting tracks for years, he has experience, it's not like he needs to get the hang of it and so you have to be patient and careful.
This is just his shitty way of driving, what does he think he's doing, making a career of being an asshole?
There are others too, I feel sorry for him if he's not alone on the track and now he'll see if I don't remind him!
I drive the rest of the race with a single goal that isn't to get back to where I was and try to win, at this point I don't even give a shit.
All I want is to return the favor.
I have to send him a loud and clear message.
You can be an asshole to others and get away with it, but not to me.
Your throwing others off the track has become your driving style, your distinction. But it's a shitty style.
Run clean and correct and you'll see who wins!
In the end I do a lot until I recover I don't even know how many positions because I don't count them, but I get behind him and he's in the lead after having fucked me.
So I hold on until the end, I let him win not because I want to, but because I have no choice and when once we have passed he finally slows down, I go alongside and push him annoyed reminding him that I’m here too and that he won't do whatever the fuck he wants with me.
I remind him of this every time we run but this time he really overdid it! He ruined my race and I could have won, I would have been able to pass him because if we run cleanly I’m superior to him.
I push him off the track and maybe they’ll disqualify us, but I don't give a shit because seeing him win my race pissed me off too much, it was unacceptable. Rather than no one win anything and I'm happy like this!

Oh but he's talking about injustice!
Don’t talk bullshit because we both know that his push was on purpose, mine at the beginning wasn't and in any case he exaggerated in giving it back to me!
Now he’ll remember well not to tease me on purpose if he doesn't want to end up disqualified.
The verdict of the race judges is not long in coming and it doesn't surprise me, but it doesn't bother me either.
I’m damn satisfied with the ending, I may be out for this but at least he didn't win at my expense.
Either both or neither. Better neither.
When the journalist comes to ask me what happened I’m still in the most total satisfaction with myself, almost as if I had won the race and the entire championship.
- Nothing, Just an inchident!- I reply when he asks me what happened with Max.
Apart from the fact that I'm not 100% sure I said it right, maybe I need to study English better, but the calmness with which I say it’s cathartic because I know he'll look at my answer and will rant like crazy against me saying 'incident my ass!'
But they can't prove it and anyway what can they do? They've already disqualified me and I'm still extremely happy.
I couldn't let him get away with it, he has to stop playing dirty, you don't race at all costs, especially if those costs are someone else's.
Next time I'll show you on the track how to win without destroying other people's races. I may not have been perfect at the beginning, but I certainly hadn't ruined your race, I had touched you by mistake and passed you, but you were still behind me, the race was wide open.
You asshole Max Verstappen. Your name already haunts me and we are only 15, but I know it without my father or anyone else telling me.
I’ll never get rid of him.
- You two will continue to fight throughout your long and glorious careers.
I like his optimism. Both for the long and glorious career and for the fights with him because all in all I like to fight with him a little.
Okay, I like it a lot.
Damn, it’s fun, but only if I win. Today was shit but next time will be different.”

- CIK FIA World KZ Championship - September 22, 2013 -

/Max/

“It’s not the first championship I’ve won and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.
But I’m enjoying this one more than the others, even better, I’m enjoying it damn much more and not because it’s a karting world championship that allows me to enter the world of single-seaters, the categories that count to become a professional. And not even because it repays me for all the punishments and hard lessons from my father.
There’s only one reason why I’m enjoying it so much today and that reason is at my right, on the second-place step.
The championship winner’s cup is in my hands and I lift it happily, while Charles Leclerc is here next to me and he’s making this forced smile with his second-place cup.
His Majesty gave me so much trouble that this was definitely the most satisfying karting championship victory of my life and being young today is a great thing, I know that neither of us will give up and we’ll continue to challenge each other for a long time since we both want to move forward in this sector.
We have the same vision: for us racing is not just a hobby, but what we want to do forever, our job, our future and we’re both super gifted, so when I beat him it’s like beating the strongest and for me It's damn good to me to be able to do that.
I shoot him repeated glances to understand how irritated he’s for having arrived second behind me, but he ignores me and tries to pretend nothing has happened, the usual haughty unbreakable little prince. It always seems that nothing touches him except when he receives what for him is an injustice during a race, there you see how unbreakable and indifferent he remains!
However, even if he doesn't show it, I’m sure that he’s hating the final result of the championship. For him to come second is never a great result, it's terribly unbearable because second is not first.

After the ritual photos of the three winners of the tournament that ends today, we stop for a moment to talk to each other to understand if there are other things for today or if we are free and while we wait for some adult to give a shit about us or for our parents to take us away, Charles and I exchange a few words in his school English still full of pronunciation errors and limited sentences that perhaps it would be a good idea to improve considering that next year he’ll also be moving up a category. For me it’s different, at home my parents have always spoken English considering that one is Dutch and the other Belgian, so I grew up speaking that language.
- So where are you going next year? Which category? - I ask excitedly already looking forward to another championship where I can have fun competing with him.
Sure, then it’s better if I win, but if he wasn't good enough to fight back to me every now and then I wouldn't have fun winning when I manage to.
- Oh, in Formula Renault 2.0, we have a contract with Fortec. You?
The disappointment comes immediately and it’s a distinct flash inside me.
- No, we’re in European F3 with Van Amersfoort Racing. - Charles makes an expression that seems like the most controlled version of mine, but I think he’s disappointed too.
He’s just better than me at controlling himself, as always, and as I think about it, that famous answer in last year's race comes to mind.
'Just an inchident!' In my head I repeat his incorrect phrase as he said because it makes me laugh too much, but that is not what is absurd about the whole story, but the fact that INCHIDENT A PAIR OF BALLS! He pushed me on purpose out of spite, it wasn’t an inCHIdent! Just to ruin my race too!
But he was calm and serene and disqualified like me to say 'just an inchident'!
If we never meet again in the same categories, even though I think that sooner or later we'll meet again at least in F1 since we’ll both get there, I’m sure that I’ll always remember that day and that candid and serene outburst of his that made me furious like a beast.
Thinking back I smile ironically.
- Good, so until we meet again I have the advantage!
I always know how to break him down, I have a natural gift for that!
Finally his eyes light up when he looks at me and it’s clear what he’s thinking: how dare I be so cheeky?
- You see that if you run clean you won't beat me! I have to give you one back, I won't forget it! Even if we don't race in the same championship, one day we’ll meet again, you'll see!
Feeling him lit up like a match I burst out laughing and push him good-naturedly by the shoulder.
- Yes, then you have to give me a couple back, not just one! I feel like I've beaten you several times!
Charles still with a shocked but undeniably amused expression, returns the push because I can’t do anything to him that he doesn't give back. The famous 'inchident' was triggered by this. I had to return the 'push'. Too bad that mine was already the answer to his, but we'll never get out of this spiral and I don't dare talk about it.
- Hey, I've already given you the others back, today is the last one, but you'll see that we'll find ourselves in F2 and... - I like his optimism and I like his happy smile, how he's launched, how he speaks all fired up like never before.
Looking at him, he seems like a normal, calm guy, but I know that in reality he’s very different, if provoked properly. Obviously, I’m good at provoking others.
Then I remember my father and Ray's plan and I turn off a little disappointed, even if I don't know what my life will really be like.
According to my father, everything is already decided.
- My father and Ray say that after the European F3 if I do well and always win I can get the super license and they want to try to get me straight into F1, in short as soon as there is the possibility he’ll send me there even if it means skipping a few categories. But winning all the races they say is not that easy, I think...
We both know what it takes to get the famous super license, the one you need to drive in F1, and it’s not as easy as it seems. Not impossible, but getting it so quickly is not a walk in the park.
- Well, without me stealing your victories you can do it if you win all the races, then I'm sure your father and your manager will be good enough to let you have the rest.
- Oh, I'll leave everything to them... - I shrug my shoulders, not very interested in this, then I get excited again, hopefully. - And you? After Renault?
Charles shrugs and shakes his head, having no idea.
- I don't know, I'll see Nicolas. He says that gaining experience before arriving in F1 is important, he doesn't like to rush things too much, being precocious is fine, it means you really have what it takes, but it's also very important to perfect yourself and prepare yourself well because F1 is very tough and they burn you if you don't hold up.
Even though his English isn't the best, we understand each other well and it's nice to talk to him like this, in a normal way. Especially with the French 'r' that often slips out. I hope that as he grows and improves with the language he doesn't lose it because I love it!
I think it's the first time we've talked like this because before we used to stare at each other badly and collide, I would have even argued directly, but he's one who avoids arguments. He's like a wall, he gave me this idea, that's why every now and then I call him 'his majesty' to myself.
My father's gruff voice first and his father's gentler voice shortly after, call us to tell it's time to go, so I end with a sorry sigh. I would have gladly stayed with him a little longer.
Is it at the end of our confrontations that we discover each other? Or maybe I'm the only one who appreciates him after years of pure hatred and he can't wait to get rid of me?
For a moment I look at him and try to understand. His delicate and pleasant face smiles kindly and he’s happy while he does it, I clearly see a bright light in his eyes.
- I let my father do everything, even if I said something, it would still be done as he says... - then I laugh to lighten the mood by making this thing seem funny. He stares at me a little perplexed without understanding how I could consider it funny.
It’s by looking at him that I understand that this isn’t how it works for everyone and no, it’s not funny. I also understand that I don’t find it really funny either, but forcing myself to see it that way made me feel better.
Suddenly I realize that something in my life is not as it should be, but I think that my father's punishments have already made me understand that.
- See you then... we'll see where... - Charles realizes like me that before F1, if everything were to go well for both of us, we might not see each other anymore and if he follows the classic stages he could get there after me. Normal people dream but don't know if they'll make it happen, but I know that crazy father of mine and I know that one way or another he'll take me where he's decided since I was born and even if I wanted to fight him I couldn’t.
Anyway, I like racing, so I let him do it.
- At least in F1 and then we'll pick up where we left off.
I say it with a lot of confidence and he starts laughing again and I like his laughter even more, his face lights up, his eyes sparkle and I don't know what's happening to me today, but I like seeing how he laughs with me. It almost feels like winning a prize.
- You're very optimistic!
- You'll see, we'll get there!
Dreams, he's probably thinking now as he waves at me and leaves. I stay for a moment watching him with his second place trophy as he runs towards his father who hugs him, puts arm around his shoulders and leaves an affectionate kiss on his head; Charles is happy even though he didn't win, but I know that second place is a pain in the ass.
One day he'll show it to me and I hope it's sooner than I think.
My father calls me and I sigh in disappointment and then return to my reality while he scolds me as usual.
- Enjoy this trophy, you definitely won't win any more. You'll end up as a truck driver, I'm sure of it!
He's been saying this since I started driving karts, he always belittles me and then builds my life as if I were already an F1 Champion. I know he does this to encourage me to do better, but I also know that he’s the first and perhaps the only one to believe blindly in me. It's tiring to be his son, sometimes I just want an arm on my shoulders and a kiss on the head like Charles's dad always does, but now if he doesn't kick me in the ass it's a miracle.
Today I'm ending my life karting, I had a lot of fun, but I think it was thanks to Charles and all the trouble he gave me. Without him I would have won more, of course, but it wouldn't have been the same.
But yeah, come on... if I can do it, he can do it too and one day we'll pick up where we left off having fun like crazy doing wheel-to-wheel!
Until then, bye-bye!”

NOTES: I often changed the beginning until I decided on these karting moments, because I thought that in some way it could be a sort of beginning for the two of them. Here they’re teenagers and surely they were not even vaguely interested in each other, but the famous ‘Inchident' race is a bit of what binds them in a special way and that will remain a constant in future quotes, something that they themselves have always continued to think about. I remember reading a statement from those days by I think Jos who commented on their umpteenth clash on the go-kart track saying that these two (referring to Charles and Max) will continue to clash like this forever, meaning that they already felt their rivalry a lot and that because of their bad temper, they have never raced peacefully against each other. It's something that I liked and somehow I tried to include. Furthermore, they both always said that when they were little they hated each other because they took everything too seriously and couldn't separate the driver from the person. The different treatment of the two fathers towards their respective sons is well known, nothing that I made up. I don't know how true the speech about the project of their careers is, I imagined that they could both already have a clear type of path but I wrote it based on what happened later, at the time they clearly didn't know how their life would go, but I imagined that dialogue because in fact they meet again only in F1. Their paths are then really different until they both arrive in the top category.
Thanks for following me, I hope you will continue and that you will be patient until the 'juicy things' arrive. Kisses Akane