Turbulence [𝗠.𝗩.]

Japan, Race Day

"After a disastrous qualifying, I think there is a chance for Jaguar to climb back into the points, but there's no hope for a podium finish. The McLarens have that secured with their amazing qualifying positions."

⸻

JAPAN
16TH RACE WEEKEND OF THE SEASON
SEPTEMBER

I don't like having a pit lane start, but at least I've not got the ten-second penalty Logan was slapped with. The amount of parts needed to repair his car was enough for officials to decide it was a new one, essentially.

Everyone goes into the formation lap as I sit at the pit lane, waiting patiently. I won't be released until the grid has passed me. Logan is behind, and as the grid flies off, we're let out. I'm at the pit lane exit, onto the track as cars collide to my left; I move aside to try and avoid any debris, but I'm not sure I have, it's everywhere. I'm into the first corner, wheel-to-wheel with Vettel, but he forces me aside and I have to stay behind him as we go into the next three corners.

Yellow flags come up. I'm not surprised. We might well have a safety car come out. But until we do, I will fight. P17 isn't good enough. I want to get at least back to P10—

Safety car.

Knew it was coming. We crawl behind it, through the immense debris at turn 1. It's bad. I do my best to avoid as much of it as I can; a puncture would be race-ending at this slow pace.

"Tell me if you spot any damage from the debris."

"Will do. You're fine for now."

A few drivers head into the pits. They're all coming out behind, but they're all the drivers who likely had damage. They won't have fresh tyres unless they damaged their tyres in whatever went on. They're no threat to me... yet.

We're into Lap 4, and the safety car is still out. The debris isn't as bad, but there's still a lot of it. It could mess up our floors... but Mateo is on the radio, telling me the safety car will be coming in by the end of this lap. They're risking it with what's left on the track.

The race leader - I don't know who - crunches us up real tightly. We end up almost two-by-two, and I can see it's a Red Bull that's zooming off. We all follow, as fast as we can. With no chance of DRS for two more laps, I don't know if I can take on the Alpine in front of me. I'll have to try, though. We're both on hard tyres, we're both going to have a similar pit window.

I dive around the outside at the hairpin. Ocon can't move to block me or he'll get slapped with a penalty. He knows this, and he can only watch as I pass him and pass Webb, who was trying to keep Ocon at bay. Perfect. Ocon chases me, though, as I leave Webb behind; so this fight won't be over just yet. We still don't have DRS but I take the hairpin just ahead of Vettel, at a real tight line, and I'm past him as we exit the turn.

Lap 7 brings DRS, and I'm close enough to bridge the gap and make a DRS train in the main part of the pack. I have Schumacher ahead. It's late in the season. We aren't racing for the team anymore. We're racing for ourselves. I start piling on the pressure, leaving him no choice. I get up to his inside on lap 9, at the hairpin again; He can't match me because he hit the brakes earlier than I did.

Onto another Alpine. The DRS train has broken, but I'm not bothered. There's one zone here. It doesn't matter. This is a test of skill, not speed.

"Gasly ahead. Tyres look good."

It's a green flag to keep fighting. The curvy turns of 3 to 7 are where I strike. He takes one tightly, but I go wide, slipping past easily. My tyres are coming to life as his are starting to suffer. We're all expecting high deg here - it's bloody Suzuka - but starting out on hards has been the right call so far.