That's Racing Baby | Lando Norris

Chapter 2

"We need full send now Emilia. Push the car." John, Emilia's engineer, instructed. The pressure was getting to her. Emilia has just begun her last flying lap meaning she would have one last chance at getting into Q2. She was currently P16 which wasn't enough to progress to Q2 but if Emilia had a good lap, without going wide, she could do it. Emilia's spin yesterday had damaged her confidence and she needed to push that away and move on.

The first few corners Emilia breezed through with sector 1 of the Australian track being her best. Sector 2 is where Emilia usually lost time compared to her competitors but this time, she didn't. Emilia kept as close to the racing line as possible. Emilia In the final sector, quickly had to correct her steering. Emilia crossed the line P10, one place behind George. Emilia breathed a sigh of relief when the message came through that she'd made it through.

Emilia pulled into the garage and got out the car. There was a small chunk of time between Q1 and Q2 allowing Emilia to speak to her teammate. George was grinning, he was ecstatic which Emilia could see as he'd already taken his helmet off. Once George had seen his teammate, he embraced her in a hug. It was only Q1 but the garage was buzzing with excitement, they hadn't gotten both cars out of Q1 in years and it looked like there was still more to come from them.

"Q2 almost became a regular thing for you last season. What are you so excited about?" Emilia shouted to her teammate. It was loud even without the engines in the garage on.

"I'm excited for you, and for the team." George shouted. He ran his fingers through his hair as they both took in the atmosphere. If this is what it was like for one qualifying session imagine what it would be like if they won.

"Brilliant performance but you need to get back in your cars." An engineer ordered. They were always calm in situations like this and the drivers were very grateful for it. George fist bumped her and went back to his side of the garage.

Seeing as Emilia didn't take her helmet off, she just got straight back into the car. Emilia did some deep breathing and focused on the task ahead while listening to guidance from John. Emilia's exit out of turn nine needed to be better so she could be faster into turn ten.

Emilia's first lap in Q2 was fantastic. It got her up to P8. This session she was on the softs rather than the mediums as she was in Q1. That was tactical as her strategy for the race was to start on the softs despite there being a lot of tyre degradation.

Because her first lap of Q2 was very good, Emilia didn't need to go out until the end of the session to secure her spot in Q3 which would be a first for Williams in a while. It felt like seconds rather than minutes before she was waved out again.

"More of the same please Emilia." John encouraged. 

"Copy." Emilia replied as she opened her DRS flap down the main straight. Her final Q2 lap had started. She concentrated on her exit of turn nine and felt like she had more speed into turn ten. That was what she was looking for. The third sector went smoothly and she crossed the line satisfied with her lap. Obviously it wasn't perfect but she felt like it was enough to get her into Q3. She waited silently for the results of the rest of the grid.

"P8 congratulations. We're all into Q3. George got through too." John clarified. Emilia smiled and thanked her team for all the hard work they put in. 

The team stated that they didn't expect much from Q3 and that they should just go out and try their best. Emilia was relieved to hear that the pressure was off her slightly and more on the other cars who had more to prove. 

George and her were first out when the 10 minutes started. Emilia followed closely as she was getting a slipstream from her teammate. George took provisional pole with Emilia 0.3s behind him. They would slowly drop down the order as the Mercedes and others put in their laps but they would get an opportunity to reclimb the timesheet later in the session.