My Formula 1 System

Bahrain Grand Prix

Location: Sakhir, Bahrain

Date: Feb. 6

Time: 1 PM

Track: Bahrain International Circuit

Track Length: 5 km

Total Laps: 50

Track Type: Permanent road course

Lap Record: Luca Rennick 1:33.130

The first qualifying session of the new championship campaign. Who would take the first pole position? That was the buzzing question passed amongst all as the Bahrain International Circuit was groomed to perfection to host the 30–45-minute afternoon event.

These were the participating drivers in this qualifying activity. Since they were the first drivers to jump into action, it was presumed that they were subsequently the main drivers who would represent their respective teams throughout the year:

Alpine Swiss F1— Józef Konarski and Yokouchi Yūichirō

Bueseno Velocità— Davide DiMarco and Jimmy Damgaard

Haddock Racing— Ailbeart Moireach and Denko Rutherford

Iberia Grand Prix— Hank Rice and Mikhail Petrov

Jackson Racing— Albert Derstappen and Buoso Di Renzo

Nordvind Racing— Elias Nyström and James Lockwood

Outback Performance— Luis Dreyer and Max Addams

Squadra Corse— Antonio Luigi and Marko Ignatova

Trampos Racing— Luca Rennick and Victor Surmann

Velox Hispania—Alejandro Vasquez and Desmond Lloyd

To preserve tradition and resuscitate the sportsmanship that was once lost somewhere around last year, all the drivers and team principals moved around to greet, salute, exchange pleasantries, and shake hands with one another.

It wasn't entirely compulsory to shake everyone's hand, so Luca carefully selected where his body angled to. Owing to that, he met both Albert Derstappen and Max Addams. Both were more or less glad to see him in person, hale and hearty once again, and looking 100x more fiercely competitive than that wild F2 season.

"Welcome to Formula 1," Luca told each of them individually. "You fully deserve to be here."

After the civility, all teams returned to their garages to kick off the day's true purpose. For his own self-interest, Luca's personal goal was to clench the fastest lap for at least one of the three qualifying rounds.

Yes, of course—he didn't have the fastest car. He never did. Qualifying was primarily about speed, but other agents were involved, and without commingling them as a whole, speed alone could easily lead to ruin.

Luca elaborated more on this as a quiet lecture to Victor, who was visibly anxious about commencing his first-ever official Formula 1 career as a main driver and not just an unneeded reserve. Luca told him to ease his worry and focus on competing with other drivers who were around his level.

Many drivers made the mistake of reaching too far and ended up overwhelming themselves. It was far more productive to focus on the midfield battle, the ones truly within reach. Find consistency, build rhythm, and make your mark in your own tier before climbing the ladder.

Although this was the best building block for a successful career, Luca reflected on how he himself didn't even cleave to that structure. Instead of starting slow and steady, he had vaulted from nothing to something within a short period of time and began squaring off against drivers he once thought were miles away.

All because of the system, Luca was at 20 while at the stage of his career where he should be at 26 or 28.

[Generating track layout...]

[... successfully generated]

[....----T4----.

/ \\

T3--' '---T5----.

/ T6-T7

T2 |

\\ T8

T1 |

\\ T9-T10

'--T15----T14----T13--'.....]

At the start of Q1, some very suspicious and cunning team strategies were played by Squadra Corse and Bueseno Velocità. Luca thought Haddock Racing also had the same intent, but they did the opposite right at the juncture of confirmation.

In order to preserve tire health and overall car integrity for the next two and more important rounds, Campanella sent out Luigi late into Q1, and so did Velocità's team principal for Davide DiMarco.

Their cars, powered by the HiCE, were quick to wear faster, so they wanted to cut off enough time, almost to the conclusion of the round. Since the cars were fast, they had no doubt they would still make it above P16 and qualify for the next round, which was all that mattered.

Ailbeart Moireach for Haddock Racing joined mid-session, so it wasn't entirely clear if that was the plan from the beginning.

Regardless of when and wherever they joined the first round, their actions truly supported Luca's pursuit for a fastest lap out of the three to be set that afternoon.

Before the track became congested in the later minutes with the powerhouses who intended on being tardy, he was only tasked with the competition of rivals like Marko Ignatova, Max Addams, Luis Dreyer, Albert Derstappen, Jimmy Damgaard, and Elias Nyström for the fastest lap.

And this right here was currently his engineering caliber, since he practically had all the data from the 97 integrated into the Z24 now. Not to forget, Derstappen was currently driving the 97 and wasn't a super driver. It seemed he wasn't yet sharpened enough to drive something with such tenacious potence, and so, Jackson Racing would let him train, equip, and habituate himself to the demands of the ThunderKat 2.0.

[Aerodynamics +1]

Seeing the sun bright up in the sky put a smile on Luca's face. The very fact that they were in a desert country for the first race of the season made him happy, because the heat would favor his engine's special feature of converting heat energy into electrical output for extra speed.

It was this very silver spoon that gave Luca the subtle but impactful edge in Q1. While other drivers were pushing their machines to the limit with every flying lap—burning through ERS and relying on short, limited boost windows—Luca's car stayed alive with a continuous stretch of boost, as long as he was really heating up.

Of course, this wouldn't have been possible if Heat-Energy Recycling wasn't at (20). Another car's engine with the same feature would forever be capped at (5), and could never exhibit the vigor and flair that Luca's did.

Trampos was full of celebration at the end of Q1, even though Victor was eliminated. Since Luca claimed the fastest lap for that round, it was still something to be proud of while they regrouped for Q2.

The world, watching through live broadcast and not physically present at the circuit, couldn't truly believe their eyes at the sight of Luca Rennick back in Formula 1 action once again. And in his first qualifying activity upon return, he set the fastest lap?

Even Luigi and DiMarco had to steal glances at him to fully assess his potential even in Trampos. Why was he flying like that? Although they weren't contending for the fastest lap and were merely preserving their position for Q2, Luca's consistent speed showed exceptional promise that warranted caution from all rivals.

Q1| Luca Rennick|

When it came to Q2 and Q3, Luca didn't even make it to the top five fastest. It became increasingly difficult and far more competitive, as all drivers were now in full-blown action, chasing the fastest lap and striving to avoid elimination.

Luca managed to come just a step close to the top five at the end of Q2, thereby fully escaping elimination and still labeling himself as a strong contender to the surprise of everyone who expected him to drop, owing to Trampos' low engineering heights.

Q2| Antonio Luigi|

At the finale, Q3, Luca was displaced three steps away from the top five.

P8 — Luca Rennick

It wasn't the position he planned to commit to, but Luca knew the future of the Bahrain Grand Prix's result was still bright, especially with the 7 Catalysts and 5 Wrenches he had at his disposal.

In the meantime, as a medium of compensation, Luca happily received his Tokens—the reward for his Q1's fastest lap.

[You have received 0.2 Tokens]

[Current Inventory:

—Tokens: 0.6]

At (1), Luca wondered what he would be able to change or create within the F1 System.