Range Canydd's Formula-1 Adventures (English Version)

Part 2: First Steps

24 Feb. 9:00
Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir

The instagram account @visacashapprb captioned the post:

"Delighted to announce, Scottish cat Range Canydd joined the RB line-up earlier this year, replacing Yuki Tsunoda in the wake of the scandal. It will be interesting to see what the first cat in F1 history can do."

Range rereads and rereads those lines to himself. What could possibly have changed, though? Except for the comments: most of them contained a derogatory context, showing how much the team had screwed up the choice.

- Come on, it can't be a bad choice... - the cat thinks to himself.

- Rangee, is everything okay? - Daniel Ricciardo bursts into the room.

- Huh? It's okay. If you're talking about the comments again, I don't care anymore. An athlete is underestimated before his triumph...

- That's not what I mean. Today is the first day of winter tests! Let's go!

Winter tests is when, before the start of the season, teams test cars for one lap and try to find the best settings for the pilots. And the pilots themselves should try to achieve the best time at the expense of optimal settings.

Since RB, in the past AlphaTauri finished 8th in the Constructors' Cup last year, both of their cars rolled out third on the grid.

Every lap, Range tried to focus as much as possible on the track, applying the brake when needed and turning as hard as he could. But on lap five, he felt he was having trouble breathing.

- "Can I box? I can't breathe," said Range.

- Copy, box box. - engineer Mattia Spini said on the radio.

- What happened? - asked Laurent Mekies.

- One mentee needs to fix his lungs, - joked the engineer.

The RB drove in and the helmet of a Scottish cat appeared - black with blue stripes around the visor. Taking it off, Range climbed out and it was obvious he could barely inhale anything.

- God... it felt like a... like my heart's break dancing! - he said, out of breath.

- Well, I don't know, maybe we should put a tube under his helmet to give him room to breathe.

- I don't know what you're talking about, he needs ballast! - says the crew boss.

Having barely got the ballast together, Range got back in the car and drove off. And with all this fuss, only five minutes left for his best lap.

Range put in a lap of 1:20.833 at the end, which was enough to dramatically climb from 19th to 12th place, until in the meantime...

"Daniel Ricciardo, that's his last lap in this race. Oh yeah, puts in a good time, nestles in just behind Range. Wait, can you see that too, though!" - exclaims F1 commentator David Croft suddenly.

Daniel overtakes Range in lap time, and qualifies 9th, putting in a time of 1:20.649 and a Sector 3 best time. Fans become stunned.

"Ricciardo overtakes his teammate Range in lap time! P9 and P13 are not bad, maybe it's time to expect progress?" - Martin Brundle adds.

Pulling into the pits, Range hears from the engineer:

- Good time, Range, P13, two tenths behind Ricciardo. Not a bad start.)

- I agree, though I could probably be better, - the cat said as he took off his helmet.

- For a rookie on the contrary, it's rare for any of them to make it to the top 15. And you're P13 on the outsider car! That's already a sign) - Mattia tells him with a smile.

- That's good to hear)

Next, Range was strolling round the pitlane. Suddenly a black car with mint green stripes on the sides and a shiny silver nose drove into the pit. You could barely make out the blue number 63. Range waited for the pilot to leave the bolide, and he heard it:

- "It's the bloody box again, it's all gone. I was hoping we'd have a trouble-free start to the season. - said the pilot in a disgruntled but soft voice, taking off his blue helmet.

- All right, George, we'll take that into consideration.

- Yeah, sure, and then you sabotage me for Lewis. What's the point of that if we're not fighting for the championship, eh? - almost screams the pilot.

Suddenly Range looked up at the top of the pit wall where the drivers' names and numbers were.

- "So George Russell..."

Suddenly cars started piling onto the pit lane every second. Range followed the two dark blue cars with the Red Bull logo - the Red Bull Racing cars that had dominated last year (literally!), but judging by the drivers' remarks, the team had a heap of problems too.

The last to drive in was the same black-and-silver car, but only under the number 44. This driver Range knew for sure - and since childhood he dreamed to meet him in person. And today... he got this opportunity.

After the interview, Range immediately found this driver. He himself was turned towards Range.

- Rangee, hi) - the pilot approached. - How's the relationship with the team?

- God, I can't believe my eyes....

- What do you mean?)

- Great Lewis Hamilton, finally I met you) - jumped Range in an embrace.

- God, get off me, mate).

Range got off and sat down.

- Great Lewis, I would be very honoured to be friends with you.

- And friendship doesn't need such formalities) - Lewis says with a smile. - Then the question is: Are we friends now?

- Of course! - answered without hesitation, hugging Lewis Hamilton with his paws.

- Range, what the hell are you doing! - Dan Ricciardo shouting.

- OK, Lewis, I'll see you tomorrow.)

- See you tomorrow then) - the Mercedes driver waved his hand with a laugh.

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Hello again.
The new format is here. Look forward to part 3 - The first race.
THROUGH GOES HAMILTON!!!😂