In Love With Formula 1

Part 52

"Izzie Bewdley is absolutely flying round the track, absolutely phenomenal stuff Crofty"

"Yes, she is a force to be reckoned with in this car, I don't think anyone expected her to be this quick this soon, the practice in the simulation has obviously paid dividends, looking at all of the garages, everyone is watching Izzie fly by"

"I haven't seen anything like it in years, she is a natural, she was born for this, especially due to the fact she made her debut back in karting under a year ago"

"She is starting a flying lap, she is oozing every inch of power out of that car, she is absolutely throwing that car in to corners, and the car is loving it, her future teammate Olli Cadwell is also on a flying lap, but Izzie, is she gaining on him, she's overtaking him, on a flying lap, if this isn't a sign for how talented she is, equally matched cars, both on flying laps, this is incredible stuff"

"She goes purple through the second sector, she did a green sector one and is now on target for a purple third sector, is she going to put in a lap record? I think she is, she comes across the line, top of the timing sheet, That's a new lap record, a few milliseconds of an F1 car, that is magnificent Martin"

Izzie's POV:

I wasn't focusing on anything but my entry and exit of each corner, I wasn't focusing on the racing line or cars in front, I sorted that out by myself, I wasn't aiming for any special record I was just eeking out the power. It felt so good, although I was a rookie to these cars I felt comfortable, I was in a groove. I crossed the line and slowed down and my radio came on

"Izzie you were milliseconds of an F1 quali lap, absolutely incredible, bellissimo"

"Grazie grazie, should I box this lap?"

"Yes, we will have a debrief, everyone will want to talk to you"

"Okay"

I drove in to the pits and got out my car, I looked at the tyre wear to see that I had made them pretty grainy, and apparently I did that lap when they tyres were in that condition, I was pretty pleased about that, I could drive on worn tyres well, good to know.

I walked in to the garage and everyone was cheering and hugging me and patting me on the back, I didn't think it was that impressive, people surely did this sort of stuff all the time.

I walked over to the media area and Sky Sport F1 were the people waiting for me, it was Graham Hill, this interview would be good. I had a new approach, if I was going to be successful I needed to stop giving 2 or 3 word answers.

"Izzie, you just set an incredible lap, in testing, in a car that you have never driven before until a few hours ago, how are you feeling?" Graham asked me 

"Well it's obviously good to know that I'm settling in to the car well and getting the grip of things and getting up to speed quickly, and you know, a new car, never driven before, only been in the simulator, I wasn't expecting to be able to eek that much out of the car, I am pretty proud of the car the team have made as well as my ability to drive it well." I said as I took my hair out of my plaits and was handed a drink

"You're lap was a few milliseconds of an F1 pole quali lap, you even overtook your future teammate when you were both on flying laps, is this something that will be more frequent?"

"Yeh, when I got that radio message I couldn't really believe it, I was slightly in shock, I think I still am a bit, and passing Olli on my lap wasn't planned, I was just pushing to the absolute limit, and the state of my tyres weren't great when I set that lap, lots of graining on them, a fresh set of tyres definitely would have put me up in the list of legends"