Time to Capitalize

William had had a wonderful qualifying session bagging his first even pole position. And now, as race day started, it was now up to him to bring it home and finish somewhere nice.

"Good morning William" Mark greeted. "Ready to race?"

"You bet," William replied, smiling.

"Ok. So, a small rundown today because today is going to be one chaotic race. Rain stuck around for a lot longer so the race is going to start on the wets. It shouldn't last long but it's still going to be there. After 20 or so laps we predict that the track will dry up enough for the intermediates and pretty much at the very end it will be dry enough for slicks. Whether we pit for slicks we'll decide then."

"Alright." Hunt said.

The driver parade and formation lap went by and William was sitting first on the grid.

"Welcome everyone to the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Yesterday, we saw one of the craziest qualifying sessions yet. And that ended with William Hunt from Jaguar on pole. Joining him on the front row we have Sainz, then Verstappen, Leclerc, Bottas, Vandoorne, Alonso, Ocon, Russell, Vettel, Stroll, Aitken, Gasly, Latifi, Tsunoda, Perez, Raikkonen, Ilott, Schumacher, and Mazepin bring up the rear."

Hunt: It's been a good while since I was last here. Wow I'm jittery.

Mark: Yeah, it happens all the time. First time on pole in F1. Just know. You can do this.

Hunt: Alright.

Mark: Just for good measure. Radio Check!

Hunt: Only thing I hear is my racing heart. Otherwise, loud and clear.

Mark: hahaha. Copy.

"As the five red lights turn on, the engines start revving as the five red lights are out and away we go to start the 2023 Baku Grand Prix. Everyone's had an absolutely crawling start. But as we go into turn 1, Hunt has held his lead, behind him Verstappen has gotten past Sainz. There's multiple cars off into turn 1 and it's the Alpha Tauri of Gasly, the Williams of Latifi and the Alfa Romeo of Aitken! Back to the battle up front, Hunt's still in the lead but how much longer can he hold on as here comes Max Verstappen. Hunt defensive to the inside, forcing Verstappen the long way around and Verstappen is forced to back out. But now, down the long straight Verstappen comes back at Hunt, into Turn 3, Hunt goes defensive to the inside, Verstappen to the outside. Into the corner, who brakes later? Verstappen does, ROUND THE OUTSIDE GOES MAX VERSTAPPEN. BUT HUNT HASN'T GIVEN UP YET! VERSTAPPEN SLOW OF THE EXIT, WHERE HAS THE GRIP OF THE RED BULL GONE? HUNT, NOW COMES BACK, INTO TURN FOUR, DOWN THE INSIDE AND HUNT'S TAKEN BACK THE LEAD! My oh my what an open lap this has been."

"Now as we can see what happened at turn one at the start of the race. It seems that Latifi overshot the corner and just collected the Alpha Tauri and Aston Martin. Wrong place, wrong time for the two."

<Lap 20>

Hunt: I'm losing a bit of grip. And the track feels a lot drier. When is the dry period expected?

Mark: The slicks are expected to be the better tire at lap 30.

Mark: Do you want to try and go long on the wets and then switch right over to the slicks?

Hunt: Let's try it, keep me updated on the delta. Tires don't feel too bad right now.

"Verstappen comes in but Hunt continues on, Hunt seems to be trying to go long on the wets and switching right to the slicks. Interesting, we'll see how that works"

Lambiase: Hunt is continuing on. He wants to try to go long on the wets and switch right over.

Verstappen: Let me know the delta.

<Hunt's Radio>

Mark: Verstappen has pit. He's gone onto the intermediates. The gap to the car behind is 20 seconds, most of the top 10 pit this lap.

Hunt: Ok.

<Lap 22>

Mark: Gap to Verstappen is 23 seconds. Last lap was a 1:44.978, your last lap was a 1:45.234

Hunt: Copy.

<Lap 25>

Mark: Ok, the gap to Verstappen is 19 seconds, box this lap.

Hunt: Ok.

"Race leader has pitted. Off come the wets, on come the hard tires. Will he be able to close the gap to Verstappen? As Hunt leaves his pit box, can he beat Verstappen into the corner? Just barely misses out. Will Hunt try to get Verstappen back? No he won't. He decides to play it safe."

Mark: Ok. Now it's up to you. You got us here, in 15 laps, Verstappen will probably pit for the mediums. You'll have the gap but he'll have better tires. Let's bring this one home.

Hunt: Ok.

<Lap 38>

"Race control has enabled DRS. Surely it's time for Verstappen to come in. And yes, in he comes as Hunt races by. Off come his intermediates and on come a fresh set of mediums."

Mark: Verstappen has pit. He is on the mediums. Let's keep pushing. Gap to Verstappen is 23 seconds. Estimated lap of arrival is lap 48.

Hunt: Ok

<Verstappen's Radio>

Lambiase: Ok the gap to Hunt is 23 seconds. Lets push.

Verstappen: Ok.

<Lap 44>

"Both drivers Hunt and Verstappen are pushing to the absolute limit. The gap however, has fallen to under 10 seconds! With how things are now we could see an absolute titanic scrape between the two."

Hunt: What's the gap??

Mark: Gap is 9 seconds, Verstappen is gaining nearly 2 seconds on you each lap. What's going on?

Hunt: I've been trying to save as much energy as possible. Let's deploy, yeah?

Mark: Heh, knew something was up. Good job.

<Lap 48>

"Verstappen was gaining nearly 2 seconds on Hunt but now. He seems to have fallen back to only gaining half a tenth on him! The extra energy Hunt saved must be working wonders right now!"

"Yeah, it was good foresight from Hunt to start saving energy for the final leg of the race. If Hunt wins this race today, he deserves every single bit of that trophy."

Mark: Verstappen is only gaining half a tenth on you right now. The current gap is 7 seconds.

Hunt: **** I've got almost no energy left. **** That's not good.

Mark: Just keep pushing, even with no energy you'll be able to hang on.

"What's this? Hunt's run dry on his stored energy? Not what he needed but it just what Verstappen and Red Bull wanted to hear."

<Verstappen's Radio>

Lambiase: Hunt's run out of his stored energy.

Verstappen: Can we win this?

Lambiase: If you get on with it. Head down, push hard.

Verstappen: Ok.

<Lap 51>

"Down the main straight onto lap 51. The gap has fallen down to under one second! Verstappen with DRS flies past Hunt, not much he can do here. But now through turns one and two, Hunt gaining, and now onto the next DRS straight, Hunt, with DRS tries it down the inside but is shown the door. Has Verstappen finally gotten this back? Through sector 2 nothing much Hunt can do but follow. Now, as they enter the main straight for the final time today, Hunt with DRS, Verstappen with the better car. Hunt has given everything in this race, can he finish it off and get the position back? Down the main straight, both drivers are giving it everything, Hunt gaining, gaining, gaining and as they both scream across the line has Hunt done it? Can Hunt pull off another miracle this weekend? YES HE CAN! IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON! WILLIAM HUNT HAS WON THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX! WILLIAM HUNT CAN NOW CALL HIMSELF A GRAND PRIX WINNER!"

Mark: YOU'VE DONE IT. P1! P1! GREAT JOB

Hunt: HOLY *** WHAT THE FUCK DID WE JUST DO. HOLY ****! LETS GOO! WOOHOO! YES! **** YEAAA!

Hunt: Holy ****! Guys thank you so much. Great strategy call today. I love y'all

Mark: Alright, when you get back to the pits pull up to the boards.

Hunt: Wow. Haven't been here in a while either.

<Verstappen's Radio>

Lambiase: That's P2. Unfortunate. Good effort Max. Good effort.

Verstappen: ****! GAHHH! So ****ing close. ****ing hell.

Lambiase: Yep, that's unfortunate. Let's bring the car home.

When celebrations began, Hunt was having the time of his life. He made sure to give Mark a good dousing of champagne while he was up there. He honestly still couldn't believe it even after he lifted the trophy. It all felt surreal to him. In his first year in F1 he not only managed to snag his first pole position, but he had managed to win himself a trophy.

But as he stood up looking over the crowd, the reality of the situation hit him like a truck. He had actually won a Grand Prix. He was really up here. And soon after, his emotions got the better of him and he broke down crying.