Race Engineer - Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 2

Preparing for a race is always stressful, but add a new driver and you get sleepless nights. That's what I've had for the past 4 nights. I keep on going over data, simulator sessions or strategies in my head whenever I close my eyes.

But today, we're finally getting to see if all the hard works pays off. We flew into Barcelona two days ago and today is Friday. The first car day for Max in a Red Bull. The first two practice sessions are today and it's getting me excited.

I'm walking through the paddock, it being completely alive right now. Several members from different teams are walking around, all in different directions.

I spot the Red Bull garages, walking into Max's side. His mechanics are already getting the car ready.

"Morning Mackenzie" Jacob says, as he is lifting a tyre and putting it down. I smile at him.

"Morning Jacob. Ready?" I ask him, while I collect a headset for today. I put it around my neck right now.

"Off course" Jacob simply says, as another mechanic starts talking to him. I just turn to the monitors in the pitbox, plugging in my headset and putting it on my head. I'm in contact with other team members now, while we're getting everyone and everything ready.

A little while later, they start the car, to let it warm up. Max walks into the garage, his suit wrapped around his waist. He's still wearing his cap, while he smiles at me. I move one of the sides away from my ear.

"Good morning, Mackenzie. How are you?" Max asks me, while he just leans against the table.

"Morning, Max. I'm good, you?" I reply, getting the information ready I want to go over with him.

"I'm good, very excited"

"Good. Alright, listen. Please, don't push too hard in this session. We just want you to get used to the car, used to the team. I'll be here whenever you want to know something from the steering wheel or whatever. Just don't have to many expectations for today. We just want to get data out of the sessions so we can have a good Saturday. Besides that, just have fun" I tell him. Max has a smile on his face while he nods at my words.

"I'll go out as soon as possible, to get the most out of the session" Max says, looking towards his personal trainer, Jake. He throws Max his balaclava, while mechanics put tyres on the car.

"Alright, you know where to find me" I tell Max. He nods and turns away, walking to Jake, where he puts his helmet on as well. He gets in the car and a team member helps him with the safety straps, securing him in the car.

I cross the pitlane towards the pit wall, taking my seat in between Simon and Dan Fallows. Dan is the Head of Strategy, a really nice guy.

I see that the timer has started for FP1. I turn around to the garage and nod at Max's mechanic for him to let Max go. On his turn, he gives the sign to the rest of the team and 5 seconds later, Max drives out of the pitbox and towards the track.

I follow his car on the monitors, as well as checking the car information. Everything on the car seems fine from the data information,

"How does the car feel, Max?" I ask through the radio. It takes Max a few seconds to reply.

"Quiet good, just a bit of oversteer into some fast corners" Max replies. I nod to myself, debating what to do.

"Alright, come back in, we'll change it" I tell Max.

"Pierre, Max has oversteer, could you get that fixed?" I ask the Car Performance Engineer, Pierre Wache.

"Sure, will do" he answers. I nod once again to myself. Max drives back into the pitlane, stopping his car in front of the team. They roll him back inside to change some setups. I just wait until he can get back out.

He does very soon after, driving out of the pitlane and onto the track again. After half a lap of watching everything, I decide to ask him again.

"Better?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to get in a timed lap"

"Alright, go for it" Max finishes his outlap, before starting his flying lap, speeding up in the last corners. He zooms past on the pit straight, making me smile to myself. I check his sector times and they're quiet good, matching his simulator times when he first did some laps.

He finishes his lap, slowing down again as well for his inlap.

"1.26.649, good lap, Max" I don't get a reply, but I wasn't expecting one.

"Should I come back in or do another lap?" Max asks me.

"If you think your tyres are still good enough for a fast lap, than go for it, but don't if the tyres are already pretty worn off" I reply, watching his tyre wear on the screens.

Max decides to come in, not wanting to ruin his tyres for now. I cross the pitlane back into the garage, my headset around my neck. Max is sitting in his car with his own monitor on the hood of the car. I just put my headset on so I can talk to him.

"Alright, just look through the data of the lap, see if you can see anything you can improve. I think it's best to try another lap in a few, so we can focus on the long runs in the second session of today"

"Yeah. I had already noticed some small mistakes that I can improve on in the next laps, so my time will get better"

"Alright. Take your time, I'll hear it when you're ready" I hand him a few data sheets, with all the information on it from his last lap. I turn to Pierre, who is going through some data himself.

I start discussing some car perfomance things with him, as he has some points that he noticed. He said that they'd change it for the next lap, saying it will only get better than this.

After around 10 minutes, Max wants to go out again, so I retake my seat at the pitwall, giving his team the signal to go.

Max sets another couple of times in the session, but his quickest time comes around the end of the session.

"That was very good, Max. 1.25.585, P6" I tell Max. I see that he's done 29 laps in total this session and I decide that it's enough for now.

"Box at the end of the lap, Max. You're done for this session, good job"

"Copy" I just get back. When I see him pulling up to his garage, I walk over there, seeing him getting out of the car. He takes his helmet and balaclava off, while Jake hands him his bottle with water.

"Good session, Max. P6 is great" I tell him, earning a smile from him.

"Do you know who's in front of me?" he asks. I nod.

"Vettel, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo, in that order" Max nods.

"What was Daniel's time?"

"1.25.416, so very close to yours" Max nods, looking satisfied for now. He walks over to Pierre himself, me standing beside them. The three of us discuss some things for FP2, but we let Max rest for now. The second session is going to be hard working as well.

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