Chapter 540: S3 Australian Grand Prix
Race Day: May. 4, George Park Circuit, Melbourne, Australia.
Australian Grand Prix
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Date: May. 4
Time: 1 PM
Track: George Park Circuit
Track Length: 6 Km
Total Laps: 45
Track Type: Permanent road course
"...Hello and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to round seven of the Formula One World Championship! We are coming to you live from Melbourne, Australia, where the George Park Circuit awaits the drivers for a thrilling afternoon...!"
"...the glamour, the chaos and the drama of Monaco is behind us, and today, we shift gears to one of the most lethal circuits on the calendar! George Park Circuit never smiles! A track that punishes even the slightest mistake...!"
"...This is the first race of May this year, a change from last season when the Australian Grand Prix closed out the month. But whether at the start or the finish, Australia never fails to deliver fireworks in whichever campaign...!"
"....At six kilometers in length with forty-five laps ahead, drivers will be battling both their rivals and the unforgiving nature of the course itself. Strategy, precision, and nerves of steel will decide who rises and who falters today..."
"WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!"
[Ding!]
[Daily Quest has been Issued!]
[-·-EXECUTE EVERY TURN IN THIS 45-LAP RACE WITH PERFECTION AND NO SLIGHT MISTAKES -·-]
[DURATION: nil]
[Reward for Completing Sunday’s Daily Quest: (EXP)
-Wear Control +1
-Silent Restore +1
Reward for Completing Sunday’s Daily Quest: (Tools)
- (1) Wrench
- (0.6) Tokens
[Consequence for Failing Sunday Daily Quest: Punishment
-nil.]
Luca was astonished and intrigued because he had not seen any Daily Quest like this one before.
Unlike other race-related Daily Quests, this one didn’t straightforwardly demand a P1 finish and a victory. It was different and had a more precise goal, like that "beat the back straight time" Daily Quest he received last season in the Canadian Grand Prix.
What were the criteria for this? What exactly was perfection? No wobble? No wide exit? No oversteer correction?
There were a lot of tiny nuances and sins in every corner. A driver might miss the required apex by two centimetres, feather the throttle a fraction too long or too short, or misjudge the wrong angle. Perfection was a 50:50 chance.
And that was on a single lap, a lap with 12+ turns.
The system was asking Luca to hit perfection in all 45 laps—that was 500+ times of being flawless without a single mistake!
’That’s impossible. Even for me. I could be in a duel...’ Luca thought.
"Perfection" would mean no wobbles, no wide exits, no oversteer catches, identical lift-and-coast marks, flawless ERS harvest and deploy, delta kept to the thousandth under VSC, every turn-in on the same pixel—lap after lap after lap.
Even pit entry.
However, when Luca saw the rewards that came with the Daily Quest, he was mesmerised, even though he still believed the quest unachievable.
Wear Control (+1), Silent Restore (+1), Wrench (+1), Tokens (+0.6). This was actually a belated Easter gift from the system, most likely the best rewards combination so far. Luca would be bummed to miss out on them, but he knew finishing the race at P1 was the real priority as always.
Starting at pole, Luca had the better chance among others to finish in P1. If he did win this race, that would be five wins in seven races, a tie with the current record held by a late goat of F1.
P1— Luca Rennick
P2— Jimmy Damgaard
P3— Buoso Di Renzo
P4— Marko Ignatova
P5— Ailbeart Moireach
P6— Elias Nyström
P7— Luis Dreyer
P8— Max Addams
P9— Desmond Lloyd
P10— Albert Derstappen
P11— Matteo Bianchi
P12— Denko Rutherford
P13— Yokouchi Yūichirō
P14— Mikhail Petrov
P15— Alejandro Vasquez
P16— Victor Surmann
P17— James Lockwood
P18— Józef Konarski
P19— Hank Rice
P20— Antonio Luigi
Although it was a dog-eat-dog qualifier for the Australian Grand Prix, considering Hank Rice’s disqualification, Victor’s P16 qualification, Denko Rutherford’s top 10 loss, and Ailbeart Moireach’s P5 qualification, it was a wonderful evening for Luca on Thursday.
He crushed the framework of the grid by scoring the fastest laps in both concluding rounds, Q2 and Q3. He almost missed Q1 initially, even after entering the throng late just to compete a little and stay out of the P16-P20 elimination. Yet, he was the fourth fastest in Q1.
[Tokens received: 0.4]
Luca couldn’t say he hadn’t expected this kind of annihilation in the Australian GP qualifiers. One look at George Park from the overview, and even the track structure would tell anyone everything they needed to know about its ruthlessness without ever even having to race on it.
It was a difficult task to preserve your car’s pace while also daring to claim the fastest lap, when the track’s twists and turns were deliberately designed for your downfall. Throughout the sessions, it felt like a weighing balance for most drivers, where throttle press was on one side and flawlessness was on the other.
Hank Rice, a seasoned F1 driver who had circled George Park countless times, raced in the Australian Grand Prix more than any other active driver on the grid, yet still found himself in the barriers during qualifiers. This placed him in P19.
It seemed years of mastery didn’t spare him from the circuit and the competition’s cruelty, as six nudges were cautioned by Race Control during the qualifiers. Luca wasn’t in his cockpit, so he could only wonder what made the Englishman lose control where it mattered.
"...On pole position, no surprise—Luca Rennick! Four wins already this season, six races gone, and he looks set for a possible fifth in seven! Alongside is Jimmy Damgaard, in a super car, and must be desperate to make sure Rennick doesn’t walk away with another win...!"
"...Buoso Di Renzo up in third! For the first time this season, Jackson Racing finds themselves in the top three, and Renzo will be fighting to drag that team BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT!"
"WOOOOHHHHHH!"
"...the middle rows are stacked with a lot of names to watch, including Ailbeart Moireach, who fell short of the top five! Further down, Matteo Bianchi, Denko Rutherford, and Yūichirō Yokouchi will all be pushing for points. Mikhail Petrov in P14, Alejandro Vasquez and Victor Surmann behind, then James Lockwood and Józef Konarski...!"
"...But now, here’s the big talking point—P19, Hank Rice. After that heavy crash in qualifying, it’s a tough day for Iberia GP. He could have been dead last in P20, but that place was kept open... for someone else....
"...yes, that’s right. Antonio Luigi. The reigning F1 Champion starts today, all the way back in P20. No changes can be made now. The punishment’s sticks, and lets hope it’d be the last. But that’s the consequence of letting the tempers boil over after Monaco, and now he’s got it all to do today, starting from the very end of the grid...!"