Chequered Flag | FORMULA ONE (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

After 3 free practice sessions around the Jeddah track, I was quite satisfied with my pace around the track. I was in front of Ember for all three of the sessions, and it satisfied my desires so far. But, I was wondering if Ember was showing her true pace during free practice though, or was she sandbagging?

Anyways, I tried to concentrate on the qualifying session ahead of me. As the time started ticking, I sank into my race seat and the team released me onto the track. I was happy with my pace during free practice, so Q1 shouldn't be a major problem for me. And indeed, my flying lap propelled me into second place. I returned to the garage and watched the timing sheets. I could see my name falling down as other drivers set faster lap times than me. It was a nerve wracking experience, and I was even wondering if I would somehow fall into the elimination zone. Thankfully, only 8 other drivers set faster times than me and I was in P9 for Q1. Ember was P11 so both Haas drivers were to move onto Q2.

It wasn't a long wait before Q2 began. My engineers refilled my tank to the right amount of fuel and changed some minor settings on my car. Soon enough, I was ready to rock and roll.

As I went out on track, I was more careful because I was right in the middle of a whole trail of cars coming out for their runs. For the whole warm-up lap, I had to maintain my distance. It wasn't an easy task when the car behind me was tailgating me. If I slowed down too much, the car behind would have overtaken me, and I would need to back off even more. Nonetheless, I managed to keep a gap from the car in front, without losing my track position.

I crossed the line to start my flying lap. I was happy with the car so I drove nicely, hitting every apex and getting on the throttle nice and early without slipping. In a blink of an eye, I found myself on the line again to complete my lap.

T: Nice lap, Mick! You're currently P1. I reckon you'll likely stay up there for the whole Q2.

M: Thanks!

T: Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy.

Honestly, staying in P1 felt good. Although this didn't guarantee a pole for me, I was enjoying the sight of other drivers struggling to beat my time. Especially Ember, in Q2 she had three runs, and at most she got P5. Even her P5 run got beaten by quite a number of drivers. Ultimately, she ended up in P9. Knowing she was struggling a little made me smile. Damn I feel like a bad person.

Maybe I was...

Screw it, let's focus on Q3 now.

Once again, the team let me out onto the track. This time I had a clear track ahead of me since I was the first one out of the pitlane. I drove slowly on the out lap, preserving my tyres as much as possible. After the out lap and I reached the pit straight, I noticed the wave of cars exiting the pitlane, but it didn't bother me as I zoomed past them with a blue flag.

I focused on the track in front of me for the duration of the lap. In fact, I was concentrating so hard that I forgot to change some settings on my car. As a result I locked up at turn 13, the hairpin. I quickly adjusted myself and completed the lap. Of course, I was currently on provisional pole, but soon my time was beaten by many other drivers.

M: Sorry, I lost a lot of time at turn 13.

T: Keep your head down, Mick. Come back to the garage. We'll take care of your car for a few minutes and you can continue your session.

I drove slowly into the pitlane and stopped in front of the Haas garage. The mechanics lifted my car and pushed it into my designated spot.

As the mechanics inspected my car, I stared at the screen. Ember was on her flying lap. On screen, there was a purple first sector, green second sector. I watched as Ember sped through turns 25 and 26, braked and dived into turn 27, and picked up throttle to cross the line and finish a purple final sector.

Her flying lap pushed her up into P3, and I was astonished. She had the pace, just that she didn't show it in any of the past sessions.

I had to put down another lap better than hers. As soon as the mechanics were done with my car, I drove off. I prepared myself on the outlap and drove very hard on the flying lap. I was trying to recreate what I did in Q2.

But the track conditions seemed to have changed. The track wasn't as grippy as it once was, and I found myself needing to brake earlier than usual, or I would run wide. I continued to push the limits, and in the end my time went from P9 to P7, right behind Ember, who fell from P3 to P6. That wasn't great, was it?

M: Should I do another flying lap? There's 3 minutes left for Q3.

T: Your car's condition seems to be fine. Just cool down for a lap and go for it afterwards.

M: Copy that.

I did as I was told. I drove slowly around the track once more before starting my final fast lap of the session. This time I think I nailed it. I saw my first sector light up a beautiful shade of purple. This is going to be a good one, I thought.

Thought...

As I completed my second sector, my steering wheel flashed red. There was a red flag.

M: What happened?

T: Ember crashed at the last corner.

M: What? She ruined my lap!

T: Calm down, Mick. Everything's going to be okay.

I took in a deep breath and slowed down my car. I drove past the crash site and saw her car totally wrecked. It looked like a high speed crash. Thank goodness Ember was fine though.

After I drove into my garage and jumped out of my car, I went to my driver room to get some rest. P7 it was then. Not a great position but I'll see what happens tomorrow.

After some rest, I figured it's time to go home. I went to say goodbye to the team when I saw Ember's broken car there. The gearbox was totally destroyed, and the team would have to change it.

I couldn't help but raise the corner of my mouth upwards. Ember was bound to start at the back of the grid tomorrow.

Qualifying Results:

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

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It's close to the end now :')