The Boredom Ends Here

Hunt woke to light streaming in from his window, finally the long break had passed and he could finally return to racing. The next stop on the Formula 1 calendar was the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the streets of Baku. Traditionally, Baku had been one of his favorite tracks with the amount of overtaking opportunities and long main straight making it really fun to battle on.

His flight out of the UK to Azerbaijan was at 10 in the morning. Which meant he had 2 hours to get through his morning routine and start packing. On his list of things were 7 changes of clothes, some sleepwear, some toiletries, and a hat.

Breakfast was porridge with blueberries, strawberries, and some mixed nuts. After wolfing it down he had an hour and a half to get to the airport and board his flight.

His team had booked him a spot on a Turkish Airlines plane. The flight was a total of 5 hours and by the time he arrived at the airport it was mid-day. He caught a cab and told the driver to take him to Hilton Baku where his team had booked him a room.

When he arrived at the hotel his teammate George was just checking in.

"Hey," George greeted "How are you doing?"

"It's been fine." He replied "Just happy that I've got something to do for a bit."

The two parted ways before heading up to their rooms. Hunt's room was nothing much, just a bed and desk. He pushed his suitcase into a corner of the room where he opened it for later use. His team had sent him a message to meet at the track for a track walk to get a feel for the track. He usually attended these track walks but since Baku was a favorite of his and the texture of the circuit could get so different from year to year. However, his team then immediately dropped a bombshell on him and told him that the track had just been repaved. This of course meant that the track would be slippery and he would have to then adjust.

The track walk went well but the real test would be FP1, when drivers finally got to hit the repaved track with their cars.

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The Next Day

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The drivers were all ready for the challenge that they would have to face. However, unlike the others Hunt had never driven on a repaved track. Hunt did however, watch the 2020 Turkey Grand Prix which most drivers had compared this to. And given how chaotic that race was, Hunt braced for the worst.

Hunt was ready to drive the second the pitlane light turned green as he peeling out of the pitlane. On his way out, he didn't really feel it much. It felt more or less the same as it did when he raced here last year. However, those thoughts were put to sleep when he took his first corner at speed. He narrowly missed the barrier as he steamed on into the runoff area.

Hunt: F*** man. I didn't think there'd be this little grip.

Mark: Yeah it's a bit slippery out there, just take a few laps to get used to the feel.

Hunt: Gee, I reckon' it's more than a bit slippery.

Mark: Copy

Hunt took a few laps and noticed that the clouds were starting to move in more and more, and decided to radio his team on a cooldown lap.

Hunt: Hey, is there a chance that we could see some rain soon?

Mark: Rain is not expected for this session.

Hunt: What about FP2?

Mark: Rain is expected during FP2. We predict it will only be bad enough for the intermediates.

Hunt: Copy

The rest of the session continued on without much trouble, Hunt finished a concerning P13 while his teammate rode high finishing P8.

After the session Mark called Hunt over to have a talk.

"William," Mark began, "Any changes you want us to make to the car?"

"More downforce would be nice." Hunt replied "I feel like I'm sliding all over the place with how the car is now."

"Alright, I'll forward that message to the mechanics"

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FP2

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As FP2 rolled around, the sky had opened up and was pouring rain onto the track.

Hunt and his engineer stood at the front of his garage.

"Hey, Mark," Hunt said "I remember you saying that the worst it was gonna get was inters. What happened to that?"

"Heh," Mark replied "I guess the weather report was a little off."

"Just a little?" Hunt replied, eyebrows raised

"Yeah, just a smudgex." Mark replied smiling. "Anyways, rain or shine, we've still got work to do. Just like you asked, the mechanics lifted the wings a lot both to make you comfortable and because of the rain. One last thing, be careful out there, we don't need you to smash the car and send the mechanics into a frenzy to get your car back together."

"Alright." Hunt replied.

Hunt's first impression of the track was simple. How in the flying f*** had the FIA not called off the session. The track was almost impossible. Understeer into the corner, and oversteer on the exit. He would have set a faster lap time running around the track.

However, halfway through the session, the rain began to let up, and soon, Mark called him in.

Mark: Ok. We believe that it's currently time for the inters. Box and we'll switch tires and make adjustments.

Hunt: Copy.

Hunt pulled into his pit box for a change of tires and the mechanics lowered his front wing a bit to give him more straight line speed but still retain the downforce he wanted.

Hunt felt now that the track was slowly getting more and more drivable. Now inside of sliding into every corner he was actually able to turn the car and get on the power without having to lock the wheel in the opposite direction. With more control of the car, he went on to set the fastest lap at the time. However, once the faster drivers and cars took to the inters, Hunt's lap time was quickly sent tumbling down the order to P15 only beating both Williams and Alfa Romeos. However once Hunt ran again, he managed a lap time good enough for P9.

Mark: That last lap time was a 1:45.365. That places you P9.

Hunt: YES!

The rest of the Free practice session wasn't very exciting. A few drivers had off here and there but there wasn't anything major to warrant a session stoppage. Hunt managed to improve his time to a 1:44.985 as the track started to dry up to finish in P8 with his teammate only managing P9.

Following the 2 practice sessions, their team boss pulled them aside for plans.

"Alright," He began "First of all, good job Hunt for having such a big jump in timing. I assume the extra downforce helped with your confidence?"

"Yeah, being able to go through a corner without having to worry if I'm going to spin is nice." Hunt replied

"So for qualifying tomorrow, since you both managed managed to get into the top 10 today, the team expects you to get into Q3 as a minimum. Ideally, P7 to P9 is the target range for your grid spot. Q1 should be cloudy with a chance of rain. However, the team is certain that Q2 will be intermediate conditions and expect the rain to be heavy enough by Q3 for the full wets."

Both drivers nodded understandingly

"That's it as of now. I know the qualifying session is going to be hard tomorrow, just give it your best. If you have any concerns you wish to voice, now is the time to do so."

William and George both their heads and their team boss said. "Alright. Now head home, and get some rest. I'm sure you'll need it."