Formula 1: The GOAT - Chapter 304: Race Weekend | Saturday | Qualifying Shenanigans IV

’Why did I do that?’ Jewiss found himself asking as he looked at Fatih, who was driving off the racing line in front of him after having ruined his attempted push lap. But that line of thought only lasted for a short moment before something else overpowered it as he said to himself, ’I didn’t see him. Also, they are the ones who are playing unfairly.’

This train of thought had been compounded by frustration from Fatih and Team Arden’s actions since yesterday, as they kept making it obvious that they weren’t going to play fair for the sake of the title. He was okay with them doing it for one another since his team was also planning on doing the same, so his feelings were quelled for a moment. But all of that was thrown out the window when he learned that they had extended the slipstream to all cars other than his team’s, and he was just informed of them planning to adjust so that any car could get a slipstream on all of the straights. This would definitely harm him since he was now at a disadvantage, with only two teammates while everyone else had three cars to slipstream them, meaning they would have an additional advantage on the third straight, and the lap times were definitely going to be faster. In a fit of frustration, when he saw Fatih on a push lap, he decided to do something about it.

But when he expected Fatih to lay low for a period, he immediately accelerated and moved back onto the racing line. An answer immediately came as Lucca Allen drove past him very fast on a qualifying lap, tucked behind Fatih for a slipstream advantage, showing him that all his attempt had done was kill his own push lap. Fatih was not going to stop slipstreaming other drivers on that same lap he had been interrupted.

Reactively, he started chasing the two of them for the remainder of the straight before Fatih moved out of the way while Lucca Allen used all of the speed advantage he had gained to catapult himself into the corner. Jewiss followed him into the Derek Minter straight, only to be met with an unbelievable image: there was another car in front of Allen, giving him another slipstream.

{Jewiss, let’s keep up with our warming-up plan and do nothing else,} his race engineer’s voice was heard, reminding him not to push the tires when he wasn’t on a qualifying lap, causing him to slow down when he would have continued chasing him all the way to the end of the lap.

{Tell me his position after the lap,} he said as he started weaving left and right. But before he could even focus on that, he had to move aside as Fatih was currently in the middle of slipstreaming another car.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he shouted as he felt suffocated by what was happening, as there was nothing he could do. Unintentionally, Fatih’s actions were having a mental effect on Jewiss.

And as if to pile on top of it, his race engineer spoke again, updating him on his request. {Lucca Allen is currently in P2 with a time of 1:25.241, six-tenths ahead of you.}

“FUUUUUUCKKKKKKK!”

………

“IT IS THE FIRST TIME I’M SEEING A TEAM COMPETING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP SLIPSTREAM ALMOST ALL OTHER TEAMS AS A MEANS OF ACHIEVING THEIR GOAL, BUT IT IS DEFINITELY WORKING BECAUSE JEWISS HAS NOW FALLEN ALL THE WAY DOWN TO P9 IN THE QUALIFYING STANDINGS!

WE STILL HAVE FIVE MINUTES ON THE CLOCK, AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS TIME for TEAM ARDEN TO GO FOR THEIR OWN IMPROVED LAPS NOW THAT THE TRACK HAS BEEN RUBBERED IN! THEIR LAP TIMES WERE SET AT THE START OF THE SESSION, AND THEY SPENT THE REST OF THE TIME HELPING OTHERS.

IT IS DOOHAN GOING FIRST AS HAUGER SLIPSTREAMS HIM ALL THROUGH THE START-FINISH STRAIGHT! AND BASED ON THE TRACK MAP, FATIH WILL BE ON THE LONGEST STRAIGHT BY THE TIME HE REACHES IT, AND HE WILL BE SLIPSTREAMED FOR THE ENTIRETY OF IT! THEY HAD TIME TO PRACTICE IT ON OTHER TEAM’S CARS, AND THIS ALLOWS THEM TO DO IT PERFECTLY AGAINST ONE ANOTHER!”

Doohan, using the slipstream from Hauger as a slingshot into turn one, continued advancing so rapidly across the remainder of the sector that by the time he started sector two, “A PURPLE SECTOR ONE, BEATING FATIH’S MONSTROUS TIME! AND HE HAS FATIH ALREADY READY AND SET, AND THEY GO TOGETHER ONE AFTER ANOTHER THROUGH THE RISE AND FALL OF ELEVATIONS ON THE LONGEST STRAIGHT OF THIS TRACK’S CONFIGURATION!

DOOHAN NOW HAS A MORE THAN TEN-KILOMETERS-PER-HOUR ADVANTAGE AGAINST FATIH’S LEADING PACE AS HE PUNCHES A HOLE THROUGH THE AIR FOR HIM BEFORE HE MOVES OUT OF THE WAY FOR DOOHAN TO CONTINUE WITH HIS LAP! IT IS ONLY GREEN AND PURPLE IN HIS MINI-SECTORS!

IT IS NOW ALL UP TO HIM TO FINISH IT ON HIS OWN, AS FATIH IS NOW REPOSITIONING TO SLIPSTREAM HAUGER ON HIS QUALIFYING PUSH LAP! THE COORDINATION OF THESE DRIVERS HAS BEEN VERY GOOD, AND NOW IT IS BEARING FRUIT AS HAUGER GOES THROUGH THE FINAL BEND INTO THE START-FINISH STRAIGHT!

IT IS NOW A RACE TO THE FINISH LINE, AND HE MOVES ALL THE WAY TO P2! HIS FINAL AND SECOND SECTOR WERE AN IMPROVEMENT FROM HIS PREVIOUS TIME, BUT HE IS TWO-TENTHS FROM FATIH’S LAP TIME!

BUT THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE FOR THE OTHER TWO! THEY ARE NOW GOING THROUGH THE START-FINISH LAP WHILE DOOHAN RUSHES AHEAD TO POSITION HIMSELF TO SLIPSTREAM HIM ON THE LONG STRAIGHT, JUST AS FATIH HAD DONE FOR HIM! IT IS A TACTICAL CHESS BEING PLAYED BY TEAM ARDEN, AND NOW IT ONLY LEAVES FATIH YET TO PUT IN A COMPETITIVE SECOND LAP!

HE IS SETTING HIMSELF UP FOR THAT AS HE STARTS HIS TIRE WARM-UP SEQUENCE WITH TWO MINUTES STILL REMAINING ON THE CLOCK! HE WILL HAVE A FEW SECONDS STILL ON THE CLOCK BY THE TIME HE ARRIVES TO START HIS PUSH LAP! IT IS TIME TO SEE IF THE RUBBERED-IN TRACK IS GOING TO GIVE AN IMPROVEMENT OVER HIS ’ALL CHAINS REMOVED’ LAP!

HOWEVER, IT IS HAUGER’S TIME TO SHINE AT THE MOMENT, FINISHING HIS FIRST SECTOR A THOUSANDTH OF A SECOND TOO SLOW TO BEAT DOOHAN’S PURPLE SECTOR, BUT IT IS STILL AN IMPROVEMENT OVER HIS PREVIOUS LAP TIME IN THIS SECTOR! AND AS ARRANGED, HE MEETS DOOHAN WAITING FOR HIM ON THE LONG STRAIGHT AS THEY FORM A TRAIN GOING THROUGH IT TOGETHER!

ONE PUNCHES THE HOLE, AND THE OTHER GLIDES THROUGH IT, AND HIS SPEED ADVANTAGE IS SO MUCH THAT DOOHAN IS FORCED TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY EARLIER AS HE CAUGHT UP TO HIM TWO-THIRDS INTO THE LONG STRAIGHT! IT IS ALL ON HIM NOW AS HE LIFTS, DOWNSHIFTS TO FIFTH GEAR WHILE TURNING, AND THE MOMENT HE TOUCHES THE CURB, HE GETS BACK ON POWER THE SAME WAY FATIH DID! IT IS A RUN TO THE FINISH LINE! FATIH, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS FINALLY ENTERING THE LONG STRAIGHT, STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS WARM-UP LAP!

COMING OUT OF THE FINAL CORNER INTO THE START-FINISH STRAIGHT, IT IS A FIGHT AGAINST DRAG, AND HE WINS IT IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE AS HE SETS A PURPLE SECTOR AND MOVES TO P2, BEATING HIS PREVIOUS LAP TIME AND GETTING CLOSE TO FATIH, LEAVING ONLY A GAP OF A TENTH OF A SECOND! HE KNOWS IT WAS A GOOD LAP AS HE CELEBRATES, BUT THEY ARE NOT DONE YET!

IT IS FATIH’S TIME TO SHINE, AND HE IS ALREADY ADJUSTING HIS APPROACH IN THE FINAL CORNER! HE IS BACK ON FULL POWER ON THE START-FINISH STRAIGHT! HE LEFT IT ALL THE WAY TO THE LAST SECOND FOR THE MOST ADVANTAGE, AND HE IS ON GOOD PACE AS THE TWO DRIVERS ARE NOW IN POSITION TO SLIPSTREAM HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE SESSION TO SET IT IN STONE THAT HE WILL BE AT THE TOP OF THE TIMING SHEET FOR BOTH RACE ONE AND RACE THREE!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH! WE HAVE A YELLOW FLAG IN TURN FOUR! WHAT IS THERE?!

AAAAAAAAAAAH, IT IS JEWISS!

HE SEEMS TO HAVE LOST CONTROL AND GONE OFF ON THE UPHILL EXIT OF TURN FOUR AND THE ENTRANCE ONTO THE LONG STRAIGHT!

HE IS STRANDED, AND IT KILLS ALL CHANCES FOR FATIH SETTING A FINAL LAP!

HE IS SLOWING DOWN AS HE PASSES THROUGH THE CORNER, LOOKING AT JEWISS, WHO IS STRANDED ON THE GRASS TRYING TO LEAVE! HE IS NOW GUARANTEED TO START FROM THE LAST POSITION ON THE GRID IN THE FINAL RACE!

A CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCE OF ALL THE ADVANTAGE HE GAINED INDIRECTLY FROM OTHER DRIVERS! THE CHASE FOR THE TROPHY HAS JUST GOTTEN HARDER FOR HIM!”