On Track For A Legacy (Formula 1)

Fun on the track walk

(AJ's P.O.V.)
The week of the first Grand Prix weekend of 2023 has arrived. I was nervous but excited to start this season and see what the Audi team has in store for me and Sebastian. But also for the fans of course.

Thursday Track walk:
The drivers and engineering teams had arrived on thursday while other members of the teams had arrived prior to this day. They where in charge of setting up the garage boxes and motorhomes for example. But for us drivers thursday is the day for the track walk. For some drivers the track walk is even mandatory to do them. Mainly for rookies its mandatory. For Max and Lewis for example its not mandatory. And thus the world champions both skip these walks. As Max likes to say "I rather spend another hour in bed". While some other expierenced F1 drivers, like Sebastian, still like to walk the track because they see it as a tradition. I have done track walks before, even when my father still raced. I remember doing them with him as a child. Walking beside him, which lead to eventually being carried because it took very long. Or I was on a push bike. Whenever we neared the finish he would put up a commentating voice. Yelling stuff that I was winning or something. And I always adored these walks. So I would probably be like Seb and continue the track walks untill I retire. Arriving at the garage box, I saw two bikes. I sighed in relief when I realized me and Seb where going to explore the track on the bikes. I even noticed the Go-pro that had been put on the steering bar of both bikes. For media purpose I suppose. Both Sebastian and I grabbed our bikes and made our way to the starting line. "Ready for the bike lap, AJ?" Seb questioned as he got ready to start riding off. I nodded "lead the way". Both me and Seb began to take our lap, talking about the corners for video content. Sometimes even a small joke would come out. "It's quite a long way untill the first corner" I admitted and Seb nodded, "yes, about 310 here with DRS". "Turn 2 and 3 don't look like a fast corner. But when you look at the data it is fairly fast" he explained. When going past the third turn and we headed down the straight, Seb pointed to where the DRS would open. "Right here is where the DRS starts for this sector and you can also quite easily attack and take a position". "Yeah, but you need to make sure that you are far enough in front of the other car for turn 4, right?" I questioned him. He is a veteran of course, so I used the opportunity to learn from him. He nodded and showed me the apex on turn 4. "Then its down hill through turn 5, 6 and 7" I said and felt my bike go down the slight hill. "Its tricky, because its a fast part. But go to fast and you'll loose your car in turn 6". "I had that with testing, lost the back on the curb and almost went straight" I told him. We turned right for turn 8. "Well, that is going to be gone right in the first lap" I told Seb and pointed to the board that was on the exit. He laughed "for sure someone will go there and take out the board". We continued to ride further. "This is a nice part. But they put track limits here" Seb told me as I drove over the curb to get the apex for turn 10. "If you do that tomorrow, you'll have a good lap" he laughed. But I went to far over the curb and lost my rear end of the bike, "but not when you do that". From turn 10 striaght towards turn 11 was the second DRS sector. "Hopefully there won't be this much traffic in the Quali" Seb commented as we weaved through the Mclaren team. "You have a blue flag! Move, Lando!" I called to the Mclaren driver, making him and his team laugh. "These are flat" I said as I drove over the red and white blocks in turn 11 and 12, "yeah but in turn 13 its a curb again". I always am suprised on this track with the straight from turn 13 to 14, that its not a DRS zone. "So you've done a perfect lap and you come to the last two corners. What do you do? Send it or brake early?" He asked as we stood still between the last two corners. I turned my head to look before giving my answer. "Well you have a bit of a bigger brake point here in turn 14, but you can give gas almost right after you finish the turn". He nodded. "Alright now lets see who wins the lap" he said and takes off. "Hey!" I screamed and went after him. "Down the straight! Vettel on the inside, Senna in the slipstream" he narratted and watches me close, "oh here she comes!". "And Senna takes the win!" I scream and laugh as I cross the finish with my arms up in the air. "You wish! You got 5 seconds penalty for speeding in the pit" he joked. "That happened one time" I yelled at him as he reminded me of almost loosing a F2 championship in 2017 because of that mistake.

Published: 5th of April 2023