Turbulence [𝗠.𝗩.]

United Kingdom, Pre-Race

@OliverHarrington come get your driver, she's causing trouble! - @LoganSargeant

@OliverHarrington this was all @LoganSargeant's idea! He told me to test drive one! How could I NOT buy one after this?! - @JessicaBond57

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ENGLAND
10TH RACE WEEKEND OF THE SEASON
JULY

We have new upgrades, again. Oliver's had the geniuses and hard workers at the factory crunching numbers and carbon fibre to get us new sidepods that guide the air more efficiently, new front wings that direct more air away from places where we're getting excess drag and so many other parts that I can't even keep up with all the changes.

We practically have a new car.

The weather looks to be in our favour: the sky is mostly clear. What few clouds float above us are light, small and fluffy. Hardly the type to rain down hell on us.

The atmosphere is electrified. It always is something else when it's your home race, but even more so when it's Silverstone. Most of the teams are based nearby. There are five British drivers on the grid. Expectations are high. The crowd - no matter the sport - is always more vocal when it's a British crowd.

And then there's the shimmer and dazzle of Hollywood. A film is being made, some fictional drama-type film based on the sport. There are the crews - muted in number due to it being an active race track now - and the stars of this film. I don't know if it have a name, nor am I remembering half the actors meant to be in it. I'll have a chance to meet them after the first practice session, where they want some of us around for background shots or something or other. It's all to make the film feel authentic, Oliver says.

I'll worry about it later. This is my home track, I've got to impress. Lewis is undoubtedly the favourite here: he's a 7-time champion of the sport. Lando has a huge following, as does George. They're loved here. I'm the newbie. Maybe I'll have more support than I've found at other circuits, but I highly doubt I'll be cheered as hard as the boys will be. Hell, I'm pretty sure even James will get more attention than me.

We spend the first session testing all the new parts, including some more that were only finished this morning and so haven't been as thoroughly tested as they normally would be. I'm flying around the track, each turn trying to throw my body around but failing to because the cockpit isn't letting me be moved that much.

We change out the front wing for another one, one that has new end plates that might make a difference even though the adjustment is minimal. The second one runs far better, even if all it does is shave the tiniest amount of time off my laps. The mechanics use plastic sheeting to cover me as they spray green flo-vis all over the left side of the car before I go out again and take in the joy of the track.

I spend a good portion of the remainder of the session flying around, pushing the car to its limits. By the time the session is over and we're back in our garages, I'm still the most confident I've felt in a while. Silverstone is just one of those perfect circuits. It's made for Formula 1 racing. Maybe I'm biased because it's home, but honestly, I can't help but actually feel like I might have a chance at hitting the podium again.

In the hours following the end of the session, I have no time to myself. Mateo and some of the other engineers want to discuss and show me all the data following all the tests - because that's what the laps were. Everyone seems to have treated the first session as a test one. It makes full sense: Silverstone is mostly a full-throttle circuit.