Chequered Flag | FORMULA ONE (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

I moved up from my original starting grid position from P7 to P6. Now that Ember's all the way in last place, I felt good about this race. The odds of her outperforming me was close to none. But still, I would try my best to extract most out of this Haas car of mine.

The red lights lit up one by one in front of us, and the cars accelerated hard as the lights went out. My start was only fine. Sainz and Ricciardo behind me were close to overtaking me along the first straight, but I managed to hold track position.

Because of my mediocre start and my defence against Ricciardo and Sainz, I fell back from the pack in front. The gap between Leclerc and I widened to 2 seconds just after the first lap. Without DRS and any slipstreams, I was going to have a hard time catching up to him on a circuit like this one.

As I crossed the line the fourth time since the start of this race, I took a glimpse at the leaderboard at the side of the track. The two Mercedes drivers were leading by a huge margin; I was here in the upper midfield; and Ember was already in the lower midfield in P14. How has she gained 6 places since the start of the race already?

I kept my head down and continued driving. Considering the current situation, it doesn't look likely that I'll gain any places by overtaking anyone. The most likely chance of me scoring higher points would be through strategy and overcutting.

M: Tayla, give me the best strategy you have.

T: You're going on a one stop, Mick. Pit as late as possible to overcut the others.

M: Copy that.

For the subsequent 3 laps or so, I focused on preserving my tyres while defending against the drivers behind me. Everything was going to plan until my steering wheel flashed red. As I drove around the track, I saw the two Mercedes cars in the barrier. I think Bottas had hit Hamilton. Well Toto Wolff's going to be pissed. At least the drivers are okay, it's the track that's not. Nonetheless, higher points for myself!

***

I drove my car to the grid. After what felt like hours of waiting, we're finally racing again. With some tweaking on the car, and a new set of mediums instead of old softs, I was confident I would do fine after this restart. I stopped my car where I did the first time, just one row further forward.

As the lights went out, my car launched forward pretty nicely, and I overtook Charles into the first corner this time.

T: Good job Mick, you're on the podium now. Just preserve your tyres and bring it home shall we?

M: Yes.

I stopped driving too hard and gave myself some room to breathe. I was fairly confident Charles was having a hard time getting close to me, let alone passing me, due to the nature of this track, so I was quite comfortable where I was. I might have a relaxing race today, which would be nice.

T: Mick, your pace is too slow. Speed up!

M: I'm not driving that slow am I?

T: You're one second off Perez per lap, Mick. You'll probably get overtaken if you make a single mistake.

I picked up my pace once again, pushing harder to chase down Perez. I wasn't expecting to overtake him, but I just wanted to be close just in case an opportunity comes.

T: Are you pushing Mick? You're still very slow.

M: What? I'm driving very hard now.

T: Oh no, I think it's the tyres. It's fine, Mick. Box this lap, box this lap.

As I completed the final corner, I turned left and entered the pits to the garage. I stopped in front of the pit crew and they changed my tyres to a new set of hards. It was a good stop, only 2 seconds. But because it was an extra pitstop, it cost me a lot of time, and I came out in P10.

Right behind Ember.

How? It had only been 25 laps and Ember was already in P9? If she would continue her momentum, she would win this race! Of course, that's almost impossible, but it's still a chance! I had to stop her!

I changed my engine settings to the most aggressive one there was, and I drove hard. Really hard. I found myself closing the gap to Ember. I knew my hard tyres weren't the best for this scenario, but I managed to pull it off. By lap 30, I was right on her tail, ready to overtake her.

However, there were no opportunities as she defended wildly. I dived into any gap that existed, but she spotted me and closed them before I managed to squeeze through them.

Many laps passed, and I found myself unable to chase Ember anymore. My tyres were gone again!

M: My tyres are shot! I need to box.

T: Sorry, Mick, but we don't have extra tyres for you. You'll have to save them on track.

M: What? No!

T: We're sorry, Mick, but you were just driving too aggressively. But if you slow down, you can still make it to the end.

I couldn't believe this! What was wrong with me today? The strategy was so bad, and it wasn't even the team's fault but mine! I should have focused on preserving my tyres more.

On lap 36, Ember moved on and overtook the car in front of her. On the same lap, I was overtaken by the car behind me.

And it all went downhill for me after that. I couldn't find my true pace with my terrible tyres, and I was overtaken by many drivers. In the end, I could only manage a lowly P14. It was such a bad result for me and the team, considering there were 4 retirements and the lowest I could get was just 2 places away.

I was so disappointed in myself. I started in P6 and dropped so many places just because of those stupid tyres. All I felt was tiredness, numbness, and remorse.

Jealousy was added to the list when I realised what happened to Ember...

Race Results:

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

Uh oh! What happened to Ember?

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