Turbulence [𝗠.𝗩.]

Qatar, Pre-Race Cont

"Max Verstappen needs to outscore Ricciardo by 3 points during the Sprint to win the title. Can he do it?"

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QATAR
17TH RACE WEEKEND OF THE SEASON - 4TH SPRINT WEEKEND
OCTOBER

Even with the fans in my face, I'm burning up. This is worse than Singapore. The cars have both been altered. Frankly, every single team has had to adjust their cars. More vents for airflow, protection for vital parts that won't survive even the slightest damage when the sand becomes too much for it.

It's so unbelievably dusty as we go out from the pit lane.

Shit, I'm behind Mick, and the dust he's kicked up in the pit lane alone has me worried about my car. It's just everywhere.

And it's not only leftover dust from the construction that's just been finished. We're in the damn desert.

As I go around on an out lap, the sand smacks into my visor, sticking to the plastic sheeting that protects it. I could yank off a tear-off strip, but what's the use? It'll just do it again. I'd rather be in the rain than this. At least on a wet track, I would have grip. I have none here, and it's not like we have tyres designed for dusty tracks.

"This is bad."

"Everyone's struggling. Let's focus on data for now, okay?"

"Yeah. Feels more like a rally track, though."

I have to try and treat this like a normal session. It's our only one. Gotta love sprint weekends. But I'm not feeling confident. I'm on a set of hards because there's just no way in hell soft tyres will last long enough to get good data. I'm not certain they'll be any use come qualifying.

And the sun... it's glaring at us as it slowly sets.

"Does Mick have a darker visor than me by any chance?" It's worth asking. I go through turn 10 as I'm asking, pushing a little, but not too much.

"Negative, you're both on the darkest possible."

Well... fuck. This is going to mean we have similar visibility troubles during the sprint shootout. As if we didn't have enough troubles. At least my lap times aren't bad. And some of the dust is clearing, but that won't mean much. Once the track goes quiet after this hour's session, the wind will blow it all back over the fresh, slippy tarmac.

Ahead of me, a McLaren comes partially off at turn 5, slicing through one of the polystyrene boards. I nearly end up following and taking out another one. The track just refuses to offer any grip, even though we're been out for about fifteen minutes now.

"How are you feeling about the setup so far?"

"The rear feels a bit off. Tyres are going anyway, so I'll come in next lap."

"Copy and confirm."

I stay in the car as adjustments are made. The mechanics take off the front wing and start working on the suspension - I hadn't noticed trouble with it, but there must have been something in the telemetry to make them decide to adjust it. I focus on the screens in front of me. Others are still out. Times are falling, even if people are still coming off the tracks a fair bit. So the surface isn't rubbered enough. Or the wind is making it hard for the cars to keep the track clear.

The team send me back out with ten minutes left. I only lost twenty minutes waiting for the changes to be done, but it's valuable time.

"Qualy runs?"

"Yep. Get some in, let's hope we've got the setup right now."

The set of softs I'm thrown onto warm up fast, but the track is still slippery as all hell. I end up flying out of the track at one point as the entire car slides off at a turn. Thankfully I'm not hitting the sandy gravel traps. I have to abandon that attempt though, and admit that I felt the kerb and floor of the car make contact.

"Took that turn badly. Any sign of floor damage?"

"Checking now."

I don't hear anything as I try to go for another qualifying run. Thankfully, I don't slide about this time, but the wind is picking up, throwing a bunch of drivers off the track and kicking up more sand. Which settles right on the track. Qualifying is going to be an absolute nightmare.

And I'm dreading it when I return to the garage a few hours later. The humidity has risen sharply since we left the cars behind in Parc fermé and headed into meetings with our teams to go over all the data and strategies. It's muggy now. The sand has gone back over the track. I won't be surprised if anyone spins off.

Sat in the car, the screens are taken away from me as they prepare to send me out. The mechanics are complaining of dust in their eyes and I understand it; it's bloody nasty.

Carlos sends me out, just ahead of a Red Bull. The instant the light goes green, I'm off. Yes, I have to do a warm up lap first, but I want to be out in relatively clean air. Which isn't saying much. There's also the fact that everyone will be piling out... and they are. As I set off on my flying lap, there are still cars leaving the pit lane.

That doesn't bode well for my plans to get into Q2. I'll give it all I have anyway. We've set the car with enough fuel for multiple push laps. I'm on used softs - because we need some for the shootout.

"Track limits being deleted like crazy."

"I'm not surprised. There's fuck all grip."

My next lap time is an improvement... that gets deleted. At the same turn that others have been caught out on. I'm told to stay out and give it whatever the tyres have left because times are dropping to under a minute twenty-seven. I lose another time because of the goddamn track limits, but my fourth attempt stays on the board. And it stays high enough to get me into Q2.

I get a momentary respite from the heat as a bag of dry ice is dumped on my lap while we wait in the garages. I wish I could keep it on my lap for the rest of the session, the car was already uncomfortable during free practice, but now that we're all pushing for the fastest lap, everything feels hotter. Yet the sun is down.

It's not a good sign for what the weekend has in store for us.