On Track For A Legacy (Formula 1)

Fun Down Under (Australian GP)

(AJ's P.O.V.)
Before I came to drive in Formula 1, I used to be brought with a car to the tracks. But now, whenever I have the availability I ride a bike to the track. In fact, Seb got me into cycling to the tracks. Whenever we stay in cycling distance of the track, Audi provides two bikes for me and Sebastian to ride. Australia was one of those times. During the ride Sebastian and I conversed about some random stuff. From helping the environment, to discussing the track and car.

I walked across mainstreet, so to speak, where all the teams have their motorhomes. I was going to get some food because I had yet to eat. I passed by the Alpine team doing a video. It looked like they where making burgers. "You're burning the burgers, Esteban!" I loudly joked as I passed them all. Making Pierre laugh loudly and Esteban fake throw some salad at me with a smile. I continued further to the motorhome of Audi. Greeting some of the workers and stand in line to get some food. Before going up to the 2nd floor, for the strategy meeting. Sebastian was to my right and the main strategist stood in front to explain. "The result is that lap times have come down by around three seconds – and overtaking should be easier" he begam to talk and showed some of the data. "That could mean the traditional one-stopper is not as ubiquitously used throughout the field, as track position may not be as all-important as in the past". Seb and I turned to give each other a look. "But despite that, the quickest option does still look like being a one-stop, starting on the medium tyres and then switching to the hards, ideally any time between Lap 17 and Lap 27". I thought about the strategy for a second. I never was real good on hard tyres. I could still hold my own, but I seemed to never get the hang on getting the tires just right. Soft and medium always seemed better to me. With the soft and mediums it felt natural. I just asked and they seemed to do their jobs. While with the hard tyres it felt like I was always working against them. "AJ, You don't seem particular  interested in the strategy" the team boss aaked turning to me. I sighed before explaining my worries with the hard tires. Luckily, they understood and so we made a deal. Of I could show them that I was able to drive and extend the soft and mediums, then we could maybe find a strategy that could work with those tires. So that was my job during the training session.

Training session

I watched the head mechanic walk backwards and hold his hand up. Telling me to wait as he looked for coming cars. There weren't any, so he moved his hand telling me to come forward. I drove the car out the garage and coming onto the pit straight I stuck my hand out of the cockpit and did a wave to thank my head mechanic. Something I always do when I get onto a track for the first time. I warmed my tires up and watched out for coming traffic. "Alright AJ, lets see how you do on the softs". I came onto the straight and drove the Audi full throatle. Driving through the corners, getting correct lines, driving past the blue flagged cars. Corners 6 and 7, where the first DRS detection is. Across the straight from 10 to 11 going full DRS. And soon over the finish line. We did a couple more laps on different tyres to see the differences. And when I did my outlap to go back to the garage, I had to give way to multiple people. In front of me the Willians of Logan was driving. "Seb coming behind" I was informed by the engineer, "and then Verstappen". I looked in my side mirror and saw my team mates car. I made sure to stay out of the way, and also for Max. But infront of me, Yuki only counted on Sebastian and could only avoid Max just in time. It reminded me that a mistake could be made easily and could have serious effect. Formula 1 is a sport that can be operated on safely when everyone has their attention by the track and the (surrounding) cars. I got out the car once back in thr Garage and was informed about which stragegy we where going to do. While Seb was going to do the one stopper, with medium and hard. I was going to do a two stopper, with softs and mediums. But made the agreement that if I couldn't hold this strategy, we where going to extend the soft tires and swith to hard for the one stopper. The team knew about my ability of extending the life of a tyres. One of the things my father thaught me early on in my racing career. Which showed to be effective during the Australian GP.