New track! New Experiences!

F1 was in Miami and William was stoked as he entered the garage. Learning a new track was always fun. Mark was waiting for him by the car.

"Good morning William." Mark greeted. "Got word from your trainer that you, George, and a few others had a bit of a party a few days ago."

"Heh," William chuckled. "Yeah, still don't remember anything from that"

"Alright," Mark continued. "Let's get back to the race at hand. Since you've never driven this circuit before, this first practice session will be used for getting used to the track. So when the team lets you out, test the limits. Just try not to make the mechanics hate you."

"Alright, let's get moving then."

With that the session began for William. First, he worked on learning the layout of the track and where the best racing line was. Next, he worked out the latest points in which he could brake and still get the car slowed down. The only place he struggled to get the car through was the turn 14 and 15 chicane. The tight corners already proved troublesome to other drivers with many unable to stop their cars and going right over the chicane, but to William, it was a lot worse. The unevenness of the track unsettled his car each and every time he went through the section.

Once William had time to get out of the car. He was immediately talking to Mark about that section

"I can't keep the car stable through the section, I've tried a wide entry, I've tried a tight entry, I just can't. Everytime I go through that section the backend just drops." William said. "Is it just me or is that just supposed to happen."

"From what the others are saying it seems everyone is getting that sliding. I'll inform you if anyone managed to figure out how to get through without sliding." Mark replied.

The session continued without much more success from William. He was able to get a feel for the track but the turn 14-15 chicane kept hindering him.

His best lap was good enough for P9. His teammate fared better, his best lap netted him P7.

After the session ended, Hunt jumped out of his car and went to find George. Since George had set a lap nearly 3 tenths faster, he figured that George had figured something out.

"Hey," Hunt greeted. "How do you get through the turn 14-15 chicane without sliding as much as the rest of us?"

"I'm just taking it slower than most of you guys are, the more speed you're trying to carry into a corner, the harder you're going to slide."

"Ahh. I see, thanks for the help."

"Yep, no problem mate."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

FP2

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

FP2 rolled around and with new information in his mind and a fresh tactic, he was ready to attack the turn 14-15 chicane. However, his car had other plans.

"Welcome back Hunt." Mark started. "I'm sure you're excited to hit the track again this session but that's going to have to wait for a bit. The team has found a break in a part of the floor, we believe one of your bumps over turn 14 may have damaged it. It shouldn't take too long to fix but it will hold us back for today."

"Okay" Hunt said. "So what are we working on during this session?"

"After the car gets repaired, we'll work on race sims, which means heavy fuel and long runs on the medium and hard tires."

Hunt sat around in the garage while his team worked to get his car repaired. He didn't just do nothing however, he was watching George do his runs and seeing where he could brake, and how much speed he could carry into the corners.

Finally after 20 minutes of waiting, Mark tapped him on the shoulder and told him that the car was ready to drive.

After a few laps of warming up the tires, he was able to get into his first attack lap. The car felt a lot more understeery but that was to be expected. Once he reached turn 14 he put George's advice to work and immediately saw results. From then on, he tried to push the limits of that corner. This led to him spinning out a few times as he tested how close he could get to the perfect speed.

However, on one of his later runs, he pushed the limit too hard and lost the car, drifting through both corners before running out of room and slamming his Jaguar car side on into the wall.

Hunt: I Hit the wall, the car seems ok. Can you check for any damage to the car?

Mark: Car seems fine, box and we'll check the car again.

Hunt: Copy

Once William pulled into the pits, his team was able to check the car. There wasn't much damage to the car, his team had to replace a few suspension arms and give him a different set of mediums, but otherwise the car was fine.

Once new suspension arms were put on, William was sent back out on the mediums and the session went on. There wasn't much that happened for the rest of the session other than a brief yellow when the HAAS of Mick Schumacher ground to a halt through the fast sector 1. Some other notable moments were when the McLaren of Daniel Riccardo got himself all crossed up going into turn 14 and ended up going right over the sausage kerbs and got some serious air time. Or when George Russell had a mock battle with Lando Norris.

After a few more laps, the timer ran to 0 and FP2 was finished. William ended the session P8. A good improvement compared to his time in FP1. His teammate was not that far ahead in P7.

When William returned to his Airbnb, he was drained. He immediately grabbed a towel and a fresh change of clothes before hopping into the shower. After a fresh change of clothes and a shower, William was feeling miles better. He had vaguely remembered him thinking how much fun learning the Miami track was going to be.

'Yeah.' He thought. 'That aged real well didn't it.'

He flopped backwards onto the bed. His team had held a briefing after the race had ended and set some goals for the team to hit. And by the time the briefing was over, it was almost 4:30. And by the time William managed to get back to the Airbnb, it was almost 5. He decided on going simple for dinner and making himself a tuna sandwich, which he scarfed down. He wanted to unwind after a long day of work so he turned on his laptop and put on some movies.

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, it was already 9:30 and William decided that it was time to get ready for sleep. He brushed his teeth, and got into bed. He went to sleep thinking about the event of tomorrow.

'If just doing practice sessions was tough, he couldn't imagine what qualifying would feel like when every lap had to be picture perfect.' He thought. And with that in mind, he drifted off to sleep.