Chequered Flag | FORMULA ONE (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER NINE

My phone rang and vibrated as it was time for me to wake up. Why can't I get more sleep? I thought.

I went on to do my boring morning routine of brushing my teeth and getting dressed. I then headed down to the cafe downstairs for breakfast with Ember. We ordered scrambled eggs because they're healthy and they taste decent too. Once we're done, we had to go to the track since it was qualifying day. The team wanted us to prepare for it.

As we arrived at the track, Sydney saw us first. She greeted us and signalled us to follow her.

"Where are we going, Sydney?" Ember queried.

"Remember the time you went from Austin to here in your Haases?" Yea I do. "The video's done and I'm going to show it to you."

Ember and I shared a look and shrugged.

Sydney led us to a room behind the Haas garage. It was fun, but not exactly dark. It had some seats and a projector sitting on a table, with a laptop connected to it.

Sydney started playing the video as we watched silently, without any popcorn of course.

We saw our cars moving across the screen multiple times, each time the camera angle was different. The video showed all the places we've been to, and captures all the moments we've had together, excluding our first kiss, thank goodness.

All in all, quite a decent video which would hopefully attract more fans to us, the Haas team, and formula one in general.

***

T: Just do a good lap in Q1 and Q2 and you would be fine.

M: Understood.

The team sent me out onto the pit lane and soon I was on the track doing a warm-up lap. I went around the track once, reminding myself once again about the apex, breaking points of each corner to take hold of a decent qualifying run.

As I exited the small right hander into the long turn connected to the pit straight, I positioned my car and hit the throttle hard to start my flying lap. I nailed every corner, except the hairpin at turn 6, where there was some minor traffic. Ultimately it was a good lap.

T: 1.15.003. P2 so far, you're safe for Q1. Come back to the pits, will you?

M: Copy.

I drove my cool down lap on the dirty part of the track, not to disturb the other drivers' laps. I then turned my car into the pit lane and stopped at the Haas garage, where the team carried my car inside.

As I was waiting for Q2, I watched Ember do her qualifying lap on screen. She was actually rapid on this track. Maybe the conditions suit her driving style, I thought. Then came the time: 1.14.828, topping the time sheet.

That astonished me a little, I never expected her to top the time sheets like that, but that confirms my theory I guess, and I was happy for her.

Not long after, both of us fell down the rankings as the top teams of Mercedes and Red Bull did faster lap times than us.

By the end of Q1, we were safe. Poor Latifi was eliminated, along with Giovinazzi, Tsunoda, Raikkonen and Stroll. Q2 went smoothly for us too, P4 for Ember and P5 for me. However, I only completed my Q2 lap on the second run since I spun on my first. The team was happy with the results nonetheless, and we just had to work harder during Q3. The driver's eliminated include: Russell, Norris, Ocon, Sainz and Gasly.

The team made us use the slipstreaming tactic during Q3. They sent Ember out in front of me first, and throughout the whole run, I got some nice low pressure air for decreased drag on the straights. In the end, I got provisional pole. 1.14.790.

M: Yes! That felt amazing!

T: Yes it did, Mick. Now swap places with Ember.

Ember slowed down for me to overtake her, which I very happily did. We did a cooldown lap and lined up for Ember's qualifying lap. We sped along the pit straight into the corners, and the second straight into the subsequent turns. However, at that time, something didn't feel right.

M: Am I too slow or is she too fast?

T: You seem to have a normal pace to me. Don't worry, keep doing what you're doing.

M: But she's getting too close behind me.

T: Let her overtake if necessary.

That conversation with Tayla was longer than I would've liked because it slightly diverted my focus away from driving. Nonetheless, I somehow still managed to keep Ember behind me.

That didn't last long though. At the hairpin, Ember was dangerously close to me. If either she, or I made a mistake, we would crash. I had no choice but to drive off the racing line to let her pass, and she did. I watched her as she attacked the final right hander and crossed the finish line.

I took a glimpse of the leaderboard: WIL: 1.14.528, provisional pole.

Holy cow, she's fast. Is she a better driver than me already?

Qualifying Results: 

Per, Bot, Ham, Ver, Wil, Msc, Ric, Alo, Lec, Vet, Gas, Sai, Oco, Nor, Rus, Str, Rai, Tsu, Gio, Lat.

You know the drill by now xD 

V.C.Tqvm! <3