Lap 16

slipping away

The rain was not originally in the weather forecast. It became a headache for the teams. The downpour started as they were a few minutes away from starting their formation lap.

Devlin wondered how weathermen could still keep a job when they messed up so much. If she messed up that much, she would be kicked to the curb for Fred or Paul to take her place.

They had clear blue skies for the whole weekend. Devlin thought she would have an easy win as it was a simple race with her starting on pole and Mick directly behind her. Alex had somehow pushed his car up into third. She didn't question his driving, but the car. She knew that he would help her gain a lead. He was an amazing driver and would defend his position as much as possible, hopefully holding Max and Charles up for a few laps.

~

Surprisingly, everyone kept it between the lines. There were other ways that the teams helped Devlin though. Ferrari messed up on their pitstop with Carlos when they planned on double stacking. Perez was speeding in the pit lane and there was an unsafe release for Lando from McLaren which nearly took out Lance. Dev and Mick were flowing around the track as fast as they could without crashing out. They had a few late nights on the Sim and it was definitely paying off.

Charles could barely see the two Mercedes through all of the water spray. He was in awe that they were able to keep such pace in the current conditions.

Charles spoke too soon when he watched Mick slide off in front of him. His car came to a halt quickly but Charles was past him before he could rejoin the race. Charles just now had to catch up to Dev. Who was currently flying around the track like her hair was on fire. Ferrari's last pitstop hadn't helped his cause either.

The track was drying out though, they expected the rain to completely stop within the next few laps. There were still 21 laps to go.

Devlin ducked into the pits for new tyres and there were only 4 laps left. Charles asked Xavi what her pit-stop time was. 2.1.

Mercedes was flying, the team was and so were their cars. Mick was still in Charles's review. Charles was worried about holding Dev off if she switched to slicks but her cornering speed would be a little slower than his.

Then out came the red flag. Charles just prayed his team was ready for him.

~

"Tsunonda crashed out in corner 7." Devlin knew any crash in this weather on this track would be anything but good.
"Is he alright?"

"He's ok."

"What position are we in?"

"P3 at the moment. Mick and Leclerc are ahead."

"Fuck. Did they have new tyres?"

"Negative, they both are on wets but we will pit Mick and I predict Ferrari will as well given the gap to you."

By the time Devlin got into the pit lane, Mick was pulling out of the box right behind Charles. Mercedes couldn't get the jump on the Italian team. Devlin had really wished that they had messed up on this pit stop for Mick's sake.

Dev came to a stop behind Mick right next to the Ferrari pit wall. The marshalls hadn't released a time yet for the race to resume. They had to repair damages made to the wall. Dev hoped that they did it soon, eventually they would be running close to their 2 hour limit and make them finish under safety car. She knew Mick would let her by and she would sure give Charles a run for his money in the last four laps. She flicked up her visor and took in all the sights and sounds of the pit lane. Toto was out of the garage and walking up the pit lane, that couldn't mean anything good.