Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 21

Mature Content, will warn with 💃 later on.

I had very mixed emotions heading into qualifying. On the one hand I felt relieved that Victoria knew the truth about 'A', however there was still a feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach - what if she lets it slip? It's not that I don't trust her, because I really do, it's just that she's so close with her brother and might let something out accidentally without realising it.

Despite this, I was still able to safely make my way through the qualifying sessions. That was until the start of Q3.

The first major mistake of the weekend came from one of the Ferraris, Sebastian Vettel. It must have been the heat because he rarely makes an error however this one sent his car straight into the wall. Overheating in the tyres caused them to lockup as he started his outlap, the resulting crash putting a red flag on the session.

I was mostly just annoyed at the fact that I had to sit in the sweaty cockpit for longer. No one had yet put in a time so we were all in the same boat.

It had been pretty tight all day between the top four teams. Red Bull usually had a very slight edge over us Force India however it did vary among sessions. In Q2, Esteban and I were P2 and P3 respectively, only falling short of Seb's fast lap. Now we'll have a fighting chance at pole since Seb was out, that's as long as we stay faster than the others.

I was the first car back out after the red flag, eager to set a fast lap in the clean air. I also just wanted to get this qualifying over and done with, time seemed to go quicker when I was out on track.

My first flying lap was an improvement on my fastest last from the last session, surprisingly. None of the other drivers seemed to put in a time close to mine - were they on different tyres or something?

A> 'How many laps should I put down?'

T> 'Do another flying one, then come in. We'll send you back out at the end of the session if needed.'

A> 'Okay. Am I on a different tyre to the other drivers?'

T> 'No. The others are struggling with overheating issues. As you ended the last session earlier than them, your engine and tyres are cooler.'

A> 'That's good to hear.'

I did as the team ordered and finished another flying lap before I came back into the pits. As predicted, my time wasn't as good as my initial lap because of the overheating issues. None of the other teams seem to be able to match my time just yet, even after everyone had set a fast lap, I was sat on pole. I didn't expect that to last, though, due to the other teams trying different strategies which would probably work better.

I sat in the garage, watching how the times were getting closer and closer to the one I had set. With about four minutes to go, the Mercedes of Valteri Bottas managed to beat it by a mere 0.016s. His teammate, Lewis, was 0.2s behind me. Esteban's main focus today was getting ahead of Max Verstappen because of what happened in Montreal - so far he wasn't able to do it.

Just as I was prepping to go out again, Esteban set a time that was faster than Max's. The Dutch driver was waiting in the garage, I don't doubt he'd want to get back out there as he was beginning to slip down the grid. I managed to get out before Max which I expect him to be annoyed about. Sorry, love - team tactics.

I was just about to cross the line to initiate the beginning of my flying lap when the yellow flags came out - DRS is disabled. The smile found its way onto my face when I looked at the clock and I saw that there was only two minutes left of the session. Every driver that is currently out would have their laps compromised, especially Nico Hulkenberg who was the one who caused the flags, and therefore will not be able to improve which is the most excellent news for me. The chances of me starting on the front row seemed to be growing larger and larger as the seconds ticked on. The yellow flags were eventually taken down with fifty seconds to spare - not enough for anyone to set a better lap.