My Formula 1 System

The week of the British Grand Prix carried a lot of atmospheric heat that made many think the heat wave from Qatar had come hunting them again. There was electrified anticipation and tension running alongside as preparations intensified.

The UK was filled with headlines, news, projections, ads, and bold claims about the upcoming British Grand Prix and its predecessory qualifying event.

It was the fourth round of the season, and press conferences rolled out methodically. All teams and active drivers conducted theirs with confidence and caution, answering sharp questions and giving the community updates about any upgrades, downgrades, or changes made within their teams.

There was a single car upgrade apprised by Velox Hispania, a swifter Mercedes to be driven by Alexandro Vasquez. All teams took note of this, but clearly, it wasn't a matter of paramountcy considering the party involved. Luca remembered Velox as the same team that Erik Haas had moved to. He wondered how the old friend was thriving there in Spain, and if he would even have a chance at the starting grid this season.

Watching Trampos flourish with Luca's help just as he exited the team must have been a bitter pill for Erik Haas to swallow. Pride and resentment had become Haas' companions whenever he saw headlines crowning Luca as the rising star of the season. He was now questioning if it was even wise to leave, because obviously, it wasn't—albeit it was the best choice for Trampos.

After the Driver List made news, everyone welcomed qualifiers. It was a friable, dull afternoon there in London as the teams made their way to Stadhaven, the beacon of English motorsport legacy.

The circuit remained standing strong as a colossus of history and speed. It was still manicured and impeccably maintained—from the government roads leading to its entrance gates down to every single strand of grass in its sprawling landscape. Luca had always had a feel for Stadhaven because it was the edifice where everything began for him, and his résumé on its track, every GP so far, was flawless.

Even though he didn't win last year's, where he finished P4, he still managed to get the fastest lap in the race, just a second and 75 milliseconds behind Rodnick's lap time record.

The afternoon remained fresh even as agents, officials, and drivers filed in and the pitlane ripened with movement and purposeful doings and preparations. Before the stewards went down to business to organize the event of the day, officials moved around—building to building—shaking hands with one another.

The track was groomed, the asphalt scrubbed and polished, and the grass was currently being watered. FIA inspection vehicles were rolling through the entire 5.5 km complex for last checks like they usually do, to make sure no hazard escaped their notice. And while all these were carried out, Luca asked for the all-familiar track layout from his system even though he had just actually passed one plastered to a wall leading to the pitlane.

[Generating track layout...]

[... successfully generated]

[

┌-T16-T17-T18-=-T1 T6-T7┐

| | | T8

└T15 T2–T3┐ | |

| T4··T5 |

| |

| |

└T14-T13-T12--T11--T10--------T9

...]

Before Luca retired into Trampos' garage, he spotted Hank Rice and Yokouchi Yūichirō down the pitlane, both surrounded by their crew and a few reporters. He remembered the other day at the karting academy where he and the two drivers had spent half a day together. So, he walked over to Yūichirō first, exchanged a firm handshake and pleasantries before making his way to Rice finally.

They traded light banter about the academy event at Fairmere, joking about the kids' fiery competitiveness and debating who they thought would grow into future rivals. It was a brief moment of camaraderie before they dispersed to their respective team units.

For the British GP qualifiers, Trampos Racing had put their foreheads together in order to create the best order for their main driver, Luca, to flourish in the race on Sunday when the supercars would return.

Strategies had been confirmed for Sunday, such as Undercutting—which meant pitting early—Aggressive Play, DRS Exploit, and Towing, which required constant strategic placement for slipstream use. The weather was also taken into consideration because it had drizzled the day before, and on the day of qualifiers, the sky looked relatively moody too.

Since qualifiers was a short event and the chances of rain ruining everything were small, Trampos had to stick their bet to a dry strategy. Towing, Late Entrance, and Traffic Management were what Luca was tasked with that afternoon in order to prevail and potentially grab P1 for the team. He would also run on softs in order to match the speed of the supercars as much as possible, and this also attested to the Undercutting strategy planned for Sunday.

Victor, on the other hand, would run on hards and push early. Traffic Management would also be his job, but in this case, he would be responsible for slowing down rivals as best as he could.

Arms were interlocked over the backs of each other as the Rising Suns internalized their objective for the UK once again before they snapped the gathering and moved to their posts, the two drivers to their respective Ferraris.

Green light eventually buzzed on the pitlane, and the track was declared free to challenge its lap time.

As expected, the early competing drivers were the likes of Montez, Petrov, Kornaski, and others. Since they had cars on the lesser side of chassis capability, they often required to get out first, set a decent banker lap before track evolution gave the bigger drivers an upper hand, and avoid the looming traffic chaos.

Then, just minutes after Q1 began, other drivers like Max Addams, Derstappen, Nyström, Rice, etc., joined the track and immediately began to override the fastest lap set by Mikhail Petrov. Then minutes after that knowing phase, the field brewed even denser as more drivers introduced themselves like Dreyer, Damgaard, Marko, etc. The FL scoreboard became even more fragile with their presence as they were marked the most bitter portion of the grid.

Then, in the closing minutes of Q1, the super drivers took the stage, but before that, Luca made his own entry specially without a remarked group phase. His Ferrari glided into the front of the home straight, and he accelerated away to begin his out lap.

It was obvious to everyone that the objective for Rennick, Luigi, and Ailbeart—and potentially a few others—wasn't to actually attain the fastest lap, but to simply avoid elimination and move on to the next session without wearing down the car or wasting tires.

Although Luca knew he would receive 0.2 Tokens if he did get the fastest lap, he didn't want to act impecunious because of it or disturb Trampos to change their strategy to suit his personal needs for Q1 pole. Luca resolved to purely let Trampos run the original team-to-driver dynamic without interference.

His out lap was perfect, his throttle application was on point, and he felt like the tires were responding at 1000%. Stadhaven and its complex, tight nature with enormously wide grandstands and multiple but standard turns continuously unfolded itself. Luca let the Z24 stretch its legs so much that he almost made his second lap a banker lap too.

On the dashboard, purple-marked sectors were benefitting spots for acceleration and time chase—Trampos had integrated this recently.

The system took note of that since.

[TECHNOLOGICAL INTEGRATION has moved from 92% to 95%]

But those marked spots were mainly reserved for Q3 and the race. In Q1, Luca barely stressed the car through the sectors of Stadhaven, and even with the perfunctory driving, he was still satisfactorily above elimination. This chapter first appeared on M|V|L^EMPYR.

Q1:1— Elias Nyström

9— Luca Rennick

Trampos had great cause to be happy as Q2 prepped. Victor had wondrously survived Q1 elimination and secured a promised spot on the grid on Sunday above P16!

Since Matteo Bianchi fell short in Q1 and made P17, Trampos had the hope that their own rookie, Victor, could deliver a stunning qualifier here in the UK. And unlike Matteo's fall in Austria, they intended to use Victor's eventual position to the supreme best. However, that was an overreach for the team because Victor ended up being the slowest driver in Q2 that afternoon in Stadhaven.

Q2 was more challenging than Q1 by a wide margin, and Victor simply couldn't match the pace his frontrunners possessed. Trampos' strategy was a repeat from Q1: Victor in early and Luca in late. So, even with enough time, Victor wasn't parallel to the pace, and Luca himself didn't get enough flying laps, ending up in the middle of Q2's final leaderboard.

Q2: 1— Luis Dreyer

5— Ailbeart Moireach

7— Luca Rennick

9— Antonio Luigi

As the drivers returned to their garages in immediate preparation for Q3, the big rivals like as listed above glanced at each other with knowing looks as a gesture of recognition and acknowledgment of the unspoken yet shared ideology of conserving through Q1 and Q2, then striking best in Q3.

A capable driver who didn't make Q3 was Max Addams. P11 would be his starting spot on the grid, and he was bummed by that close call from Nyström, who took Q2's P10.

Max hadn't truly performed top-notch since joining Outback Performance. Perhaps his performance was above rookie standard, and it was just other matters—like the unstoppable Luca Rennick—that dominated the community's attention. Six points so far, 11th place in the standings. Even though he was doing better than nine other drivers, there's no doubt this wasn't the F1 career he had envisioned.

Albert Derstappen, fellow ex-F2 driver, eventually made P10 at the conclusion of a wild Q3. Max, seeing this, would begin planning for a perfect start on Sunday in order to overtake him early on. It wouldn't be surprising if a rivalry began to brew between them, because these were two drivers who saw themselves on equal ground, each desperate not to stagnate while the other pulled ahead in success.

Q3 was indeed tough, even for Luca, who thought he had significantly closed the engineering gap between himself and the super drivers. The British GP's Q3 was the kind of session that reminded everyone why this was Formula 1's sharpest edge. The track was rubbered beautifully, and the grip was perfect, making every one of those ten cars appear like missiles.

There was little to no overheating, so Luca had no extra power from Heat-Energy Recycling to exploit in his intended flyers. But he made sure to favor himself with Zero Drag on the straights and Navigable ERS at those purple-marked spots, making his exiting acceleration irreproachable.

In order to focus, he tried not to mind the progress of others, especially the two powerhouses he was marking. But at the end of the session, it felt like a simulation because every driver slotted into the position that perfectly mirrored the raw capability of their machines, as if the track itself had decided to reward engineering supremacy over daring.

Q3: 1— Antonio Luigi

2— Ailbeart Moireach

3— Luca Rennick

And unfortunately for those who dared, they were severely punished by the same price. Ambition had a steep cost; Marko Ignatova and Di Renzo would attest to it. Their crashes were high-speed, and they happened almost simultaneously but at different sectors, putting the stewards into brief confusion on how to handle the situation while pausing the ongoing Q3.

P19 — Marko Ignatova

P20 — Buoso Di Renzo

This was the first time in over two seasons that Marko failed to qualify, and he took the result with a low head, refusing any talk that came his way. Squadra Corse accepted the outcome confidently, even though it really put a dent in what they had already planned. But in the end, it would be almost impossible for Marko to stay at the bottom of the grid at the end of the race, so they had some hope.

But that didn't stop them from glancing over at Trampos' garage with hostility and caution, watching them share loving rapport. Luca made P3, Victor made P15. The team was standing in 2nd place. Squadra Corse couldn't believe they had to actually take this German team seriously—all because of Rennick.