CHAPTER 592: BRAZIL CAMPAIGN

Since this was Brazil, it was a safe bet for teams to strongly strategize for a wet race.

Truthfully, since it had drizzled a day after the general arrival, the expectation was that the clouds would remain open for the rest of the week, pouring on and off until and even after Sunday.

However, it wasn’t the case.

For the visiting Europeans, they got to experience their first sunshower of the year.

The other days were partly cloudy and partly sunny, and the qualifiers fell under this mild atmosphere, the track glistening with dew and carrying an evocative scent of wet asphalt and fuel that made every driver feel alive again.

Interlagos faithfully waited for Formula 1 for fourteen months.

A few other racing events had passed through during that time. There was a motorbike and two GT races. These managed to keep the circuit awake.

Each of the events had its own memorable moments, including the crash that broke the leg of a rookie GT racer.

But Luca’s win last year was still the main gold standard, the story everyone remembered, and for many rivals, it added a bitter taste to the air upon arrival for qualifiers.

The alphabetical billboard of Autódromo José Carlos Pace, stretching across the hills like the Hollywood sign, displayed a widened photograph of Luca, raising a fist in victory.

It was a majestic sight, but since he was still in Jackson’s colors in that image, it sent ironic waves across the paddock.

Q1

The lack of rain worried Luca that he might not have his edge after all this round.

His Brazilian GP win last year had been built upon his wet skills, mainly Slipsense & Rainborne. They made him unstoppable in those chaotic, slippery laps.

A few drivers had tried to challenge him, but none had survived the storm.

Marko, in particular, ended up telling the story of his own DNF after an overconfident attempt to snatch Luca’s line.

He would likely avoid both Luca and T8 again this year, for good reason.

But with no wetness in sight, Interlagos was basically just another counterclockwise track with uneven ground level.

It was rudimentary enough for any professional F1 driver to handle.

In the end, Luca decided to shift his mentality from relying on wet conditions for victory.

His resolve then came from other elements; from pure control, precision, and instinct rather than weather.

But during qualifiers, that resolve was violently challenged by the rest of the grid.

The way the F1 drivers fought for their positions was so brutal that it made it nearly impossible for anyone to raise a good sail above the turbulence.

Every team seemed to have sent their drivers out for battle. From T1 to the back straight was simply a loop of professionals pushing limits with microscopic margins.

Despite not being as consequential as the main race itself, the Brazilian GP was an event to reckon with.

When Q1 advanced to maturity, teams yet to send out their second drivers, such as Trampos and Luca, were suddenly hit with concern that their drivers could risk disqualification.

The FL times already set by those on track were too tight.

Eventually, a sense of wild control gripped these teams. All remaining drivers were unleashed within minutes, pace chasing pace in a frenzy to stay alive in qualifying.

Q2

A very impressive first round of qualifiers almost had Luca disqualified.

He finished P13. Unbelievable.

The way the round picked up in magnitude was terrifying. Luca and Luis, P13 and P15 respectively, fought desperately to salvage those positions in what was supposed to be a composed, unhurried session.

Fortunately, Q2 served as a reset for all Q1 survivors. They made their claim in the next round, leaving the bottom of the grid to be decided for Konarski, Rice, Lloyd... and Addams.

But Q2 was humbling all the same.

Despite upping their game, both Velocita and Trampos found themselves fated with their two rookies qualifying outside the top ten once again.

Victor was the most disgruntled of the two. He had felt his pace was just right, yet others kept beating his time by fractions.

After finishing P9 in the last race, a solid start at least within the top ten for this round was what the German had hoped for.

Matteo, in lieu, was proud. His support went entirely to his teammate after the ruling on his qualification.

P12 – Matteo Bianchi

The world had been inexplicably silent about the young man’s P7 finish in Hungary. There had been no whisper or recognition about it.

But the riper a tree’s fruit, the more stones people cast at it. Matteo’s time was coming again.

If he had qualified impressively, it would’ve opened a new Chapter, a continuation of what had happened earlier in the year.

Maybe this time, he would be strong enough to rewrite the narrative of his own story.

[Lap time: 1:08.368]

"Freaking hell. What is that?"

That lap time was quick by normal standards, but not for Interlagos.

It placed Luca close to disqualification once again, with a Q2 finish at P8.

His reaction was valid because the qualifiers seemed as if everyone had been injected with dobutamine straight from an EpiPen.

He survived, but Dreyer did not, gaining the spot above Matteo by the slimmest fraction of a second.

This strive bound Luca to expect his rivals were experiencing the same, but they seemed to have regular qualifiers, almost as though he was on a separate difficulty mode entirely.

Yet, the main surprise of the day came from the two Jackson Racing drivers, Derstappen and Di Renzo, both of whom cruised into Q3 effortlessly.

Also, Q1 and Q2 were acquired by them respectively with varying fastest lap times.

Their success prematurely painted Brazil in silver. Jackson Racing could be back in form.

Q3

Gratefully narrow escapes were not the kind of start to the week a driver like Luca wanted.

During the second break, when the team asked if he was feeling nauseous, Luca shook his head with a firm negative.

Luigi, Damgaard, and the rest had arrived in São Paulo with banners held high, yet Luca’s own seemed subdued in length.

Nevertheless, there were three rounds for a reason—and also why he hadn’t been disqualified in the first two.

By Q3, the field looked clearer, with fewer rival colors to cause distractions. Provided it was Rennick behind the wheel, that clarity translated into a tangible boost in performance.

This way, he carried speed through every corner with great ignorance, knowing he had a very poor error rate and a high alteration faculty.

Sector times fell steadily, giving him momentum for the next lap where he pushed the limits further, optimizing his braking points and apexes to rival the milliseconds others were putting up.

During his third attempted flying lap, Luca believed he had complete control at that point.

He set the pace once, but was overtaken again by a notorious JRX-97 piloted by Di Renzo, and subsequently, the W12, too.

Using their dashboards, the three drivers essentially checkmated each other on the irregular track, jockeying for position without ever touching.

Meanwhile, another pair fought quite physically.

It was Russian star Marko Ignatova and four-time Grand Prix winner Jimmy Damgaard.

Eventually, the two tangled in a simple crash at a hairpin, disqualifying themselves.

This infuriated the rest, who had invested everything into their laps, only to face a session restart.

At the restart, Luca immediately sensed an advantage that worked in his favor.

His rivals didn’t regain the momentum they had carried in the initial trial. The second taste was truly not as sweet as the first!

Everyone except for Luca lacked the constancy he maintained so effortlessly because of how less intoxicating the second Q3 attempt was. And this was the game-changer.

Luca pushed harder with this opportunity, and eventually, his banner soared higher than all the rest, his dominance reasserted.

P1 – Luca Rennick

P2 – Buoso Di Renzo

P3 – Antonio Luigi

P4 – Ailbeart Moireach

P5 – Albert Derstappen

[Congratulations! You have acquired pole]

[Lap time: 1:06.456]

[You attained the Fastest Lap]

[You have received: 1.2 T]

"...And what a spectacle we witnessed yesterday at Interlagos! Stunning history was made as Luca Rennick set the fastest qualifying lap, securing a brilliant pole position for Sunday’s race..."

He’ll start ahead of his former teammate and fiercest rival, the reigning champion—oh, what a lineup we have in store!

It hasn’t been Velocità’s week, with Damgaard disqualified and Bianchi only managing P12, while the champions of Squadra Corse may be in for a frustrating outing, with only Luigi up front and Marko relegated to the back of the grid..."

On race day, Luca drew in a deep breath, his hands resting firmly on the wheel.

Pole position was his. All that remained was to seize victory with the advantage.

With the same helmet he’d worn last race, Luca rolled onto the track, surrounded by thousands of spectators, yet feeling a curious solitude as he prepared for the warm-up laps.

It was very hard to believe this was the same circuit last year where a sea of banners condemned him, a chorus of slurs echoing through the surrounding valleys and creeks.

His face in photos had been scarred with hate by red X marks. "RENNICK THE TRAITOR!" had been written on banners.

This reminded Luca just how far he’d come, and now there was no turning back in his story. He was on the path to becoming the greatest motorsport driver the world had ever known.