The Unlucky Prodigy

Chapter 10

. . .

March 18th, 2023.

Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The FIA Formula One World Championship.

Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

. . .

Rodrigo was sitting in his car with closed eyes trying to concentrate for his final Q3 lap. He had easily passed through Q1 and Q2.

So now he was idly sitting in his car, breathing controllably while in his pit box. He tried to envision the fastest lap he could possibly drive.

He could hear and feel how he would get pole position.

The muffled sounds of the crowd cheering, the deafening roar of the engine, and the tires squealing underneath him.

All the vibrations he's feeling underneath his seat, in the steering wheel, all of it. Just in his mind, he could practically see the track ahead of him.

Driving extremely close to the walls, and almost skidding around at the limit all the time.

As he crossed the finish line in his imaginary mind, he could hear some knocking on his helmet. He opened his eyes to see some of the mechanics joking around, laughing.

"We thought you were sleeping in there! Ahahaha!"

Rodrigo chuckled sheepishly at their antics. It was quite funny, he couldn't lie.

He heard a blip in his helmet and readjusted his eyes in front of him. A familiar voice came through the radio.

"Rodrigo. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?"

"In the zone. I'm gonna get that pole Gaetan. I can see it."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"1:27.7"

"Huh?" His engineer asked, extremely confused.

"That's the time I'm gonna get for pole."

"H-How do you know?"

Rodrigo put his index finger to his forehead and smiled. "I envisioned it."

"Sure, sure...not feeling any pain from your crash?"

"Nope. All good."

Rodrigo shook away the creeping thoughts of the fiery crash that happened two weeks ago. Inevitably though, the horrific scene flashed in his mind behind closed eyes.

Thankfully, he doesn't remember much of the crash but he does remember the blaring sirens and the immeasurable heat coming from the side of him.

But he's much more mentally stable than before. He shook away the terrible memory with a smirk, knowing that it wouldn't happen again.

The mechanics turned the engine on and he could feel the car come to life as it's turbo V6 hybrid purred.

The screen on the steering wheel in front of him turned on. The tire blankets were removed from the wheels and the head mechanic gave the thumbs up, indicating Rodrigo was good to drive out.

He flipped down his visor and that blocked out all external feelings. The only thing going through his mind was that he was going to set the fastest lap time of the session.

He put some pressure on the throttle feeling the car jolt forward. He pressed the pit limiter on his steering wheel (The button that limits his speed to adhere to the speed limit in the pit lane) and let the car roll down the pit lane.