Bahrain: Late

As the teams showed up for Saturday practice and qualifying they were met with shocking news. Overnight heavy winds had blown sand all over the track making the slippery for the first people running.

Hunt found that out rather quickly as he spun while accelerating out of turn 1. However as more people spun the FiA red flagged the session and sent the track cleaners to get as much sand of the track as possible.

Finally after an hour of waiting, the FiA deemed the track clean enough and green flagged the session. Nicholas Latifi was the first person out on track in his Williams, he set a 0.59.021 (remember we are using the outer layout from 2020) but as the track warmed up the lap times gradually fell.

As time tick down to 45 minutes, Jaguar sent out its drivers out to run more test with their setups before parc ferme regulations set in.

(POV Switch: 3rd Person -> Hunt)

Hunt felt great, the car felt great, and he was setting personal best sectors after personal best sectors. He blitzed across the line to set a P7 lap time before getting knocked down to P8 by his teammate George Russell.

Engineer: Good Lap that's P8. Good Job.

Hunt: YES!!

However, given Hunts momentum, he chose to pit for a new set of tires and go again. His team agreed reasoning that the more he practiced the more he would be ready for Qualifying and the race. So on his next set of tires he was going great, green first and second sector on his way to his first purple sector of his F1 career when Mazepin who was on an inlap parked his car on the apex of the corner and then blocking Hunt as he tried to avoid him. Essentially ruining his lap.

Hunt: WHAT THE HELL! HONESTLY!

Both drivers came into the pitlane and Hunt was fuming. Once he got out of his car, he tore off his helmet and balaclava and stormed over to the HAAS garage. After a long and heated argument the Jaguar team was finally able to cool Hunt down and bring him back to the garage.

(Georges POV)

While Hunt had his troubles with traffic, George has a quiet FP3. He did 20 laps, his best lap landed him in P7 ahead of his teammate in P8. The only major moment he had was when he lost the back of his car out of the final turn and spun, tapping the tire barrier. Thankfully only the front wing was damaged.

Russell: Box! I lost the front wing!

Engineer: Pit confirm. Pit Confirm.

The session ended soon after with Vandoorne topping the timing sheets with Verstappen and Bottas close behind. After that it was the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez in P4 and then the McLaren's of Daniel Riccardo and Lando Norris in P5 & P6 with the Aussie beating his British teammate.

As the final practice session ended, Hunt and his new friends met up near the tea, trucks and started a conversation. Eventually they got so distracted by their talk, that when they finally checked the time, qualifying had started 10 minutes ago.

Lando's eyes widened as he shouted "NOOOOOO!"

Hunt, George, and Charles all looked over to him with a confused expression.

"What?" they all said in unison.

"THE TIME!" Lando cried.

Their eyes widened as they realized their day wasn't over yet and they still had qualifying. Instantly they bolted they own separate ways towards their garages.

Lets just say the teams weren't happy when Hunt and George turned up 12 minutes late for Q1. Nonetheless after a bit of reprimanding they got into their cars and set out for their only flying lap in Q1. Hunt knocked in a P8 while Russell locked in a P9 after their run, but as faster cars set their lap times, the two ended Q1 in 10th and 11th.

Hunt: Sorry guys, that was closer then it needed to be.

Engineer: Don't sweat it man.

Russell: Sorry about what happened before Qualifying, I'll making it back to you guys.

Engineer: Alright.

After that came Q2. The team has once again decided to tweak the setup and decided with even less downforce and more speed. Hunt was the first of the two Jaguars out, he was trying to get through on a set of yellow wall medium tires and had set a 0.58.012 on the mediums and shortly after Russell came through on softs with a 56:521. Yet as the timer ticked down, Hunt started falling down the scoreboard. First from P7 to P8, then from P8 to P9. Once he got to P9 his team sent him out to run again to gain more time on the softs. Yet all hopes were dashed as he lost his rear end and a snap of understeer sent him bouncing over the last curb and skittering over the dusty runoff.

Hunt: ****!! Ughh. Sorry guys.

Engineer: Its ok you tried that's all that matters.

As Q2 ended Hunt ended P12 and Russell just about made it in P10. When Q3 started Russell was sent out ASAP on a slightly worn set of soft tires he used in Q2.

He set a 57.645 and pulled into the garage. The lap had given the mechanics a good idea of how the car was performing and were it could be improved.

Engineer: How did the car feel?

Russell: The car was ok. A bit of understeer through the 2nd sector but that can be fixed.

After the proper adjustments were made to his car, he was sent back out onto the track. After setting an ok lap he was sitting high in P7 but once some of the top runners came through he fell all the way back to where he started back when the session started. As a last ditch effort the team sent him out again on another set of soft tires. It was just enough to jump him up to P9.

So after qualifying was over.

The Grid (From now on I'm going to use a random generator for the top 10 to spice up the grid.)

1: Lando Norris

2: Valtteri Bottas

3: Lance Stroll

4: Max Verstappen

5: Pierre Gasly

6: Fernando Alonso

7: Stoffel Vandorne

8: Charles Leclerc

9: George Russell

10: Sergio Perez

11: Daniel Riccardo

12: William Hunt

13: Esteban Ocon

14: Yuki Tsunoda

15: Callum Illot

16: Carlos Sainz

17: Kimi Raikkonen

18: Sebastian Vettel

19: Nicholas Latifi

20: Jack Aitken

21: Nikita Mazepin

22: Mick Schumacher