A Day of Learning

William woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring away. He sleepily felt around for his alarm clock and hit the snooze button. He finally decided to get out of bed and start his day. Breakfast was again, porridge and berries, something that William had come to appreciate as it never got old.

After getting dressed and eating, he started his walk to the track.

'I really should get the team to rent me a car.' He thought.

Finally after 30 minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the track. Mark was already by the data screens waiting for him.

"Good morning William." Mark said.

"Good morning." William replied. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"First, we're going to let you drive around the track for a bit to get used to it again. Next, we're going to run qualifying sims."

"Alright, let's get going."

Hunt's first few laps were spent remembering all his braking points. This of course led to a few lockups but eventually, he got back into the groove of the track.

Hunt: Okay, I think I'm ready to start qualifying sims.

Mark: Okay, let's aim for a time around 1:27.9 to 1.28.5. Go for as many push laps as you need. At the end of the runs, we'll make setup changes if necessary.

William did a lot of push laps and by time he felt consistent in his laps he pulled in for setup changes he had pretty much worn the tires to the end of their very short lives.

"I think more downforce might help a little bit." William suggested. "The car feels great on the straights, it's just through the faster corners like sector 1, I'm having to break a lot more than I think I need to because I can't turn in."

"Alright," Mark said. "Anything else?"

"Nothing else."

After a bit of waiting while the mechanics adjusted the wings, William was able to get back into the car for a few more laps. With a touch of extra downforce he was able to drop his previous personal best of 1:28.276 to a more comfortable 1:28.098.

Mark: Ok Hunt. That's session over. Session over. Box this lap.

Hunt: Copy.

Hunt finished the session P8. His best lap was the 1:28.098 that he set with the new setup. His teammate finished the session P7, his best lap a 1:27:904. Even by looking at the timing sheets George was finding something in the car that William wasn't, and he was determined to figure out the reason

'Maybe I should ask him.' He thought. 'Couldn't hurt could it?'

After a bit of waiting, George was finally available to talk.

"Hey, George." He started. "What are you doing with the setup of your car?"

"I'm running a lower downforce setup. Sure you've got some fast corners but the time you lose going through them you can gain back by being fast on the straights, plus the added DRS helps a lot."

The two continue to talk about their setups and their theory behind them while waiting for qualifying to start.

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Qualifying [Q1]

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Qualifying started and Hunt informed Mark about the changes he wanted to the car.

"Hey, Mark." Hunt began. "I know the mechanics are going to kill me for this, can we revert the car back to a lower downforce car. I did some talking with George. He told me to try it."

Mark showed some hesitancy before speaking "Hunt, from what I've seen, you like a very planted car, Russell on the other hand came from a team who excelled at straight line speed and not much else. You see where I'm going here? George sets up his car to resemble the car he drove the most with, I don't believe that such an extreme set up would suit you. What matters in a setup is personal preference. You and George have vastly different preferences, so something that works for George might not work for you."

Hunt was quiet for a bit. "That makes sense," He finally said. "Thanks"

With the setup's aside, William got into his car and was soon given the green light to leave his garage. After warming up his tires on his outlap, he started pushing. His first lap was a 1:28.235. Good enough for a temporary P1 but as the time ticked down and faster cars did their runs, he was relegated to P9. At the 3 minute mark of the session, William was still P9, 6 positions clear of the elimination zone. His team made the call to not do any more laps this session. It was risky, but they needed to save tires. William made Q2 sitting in P10.

"So," William started. "Who missed Q2?"

"The usual suspects the two HAAS's, the two Alfa Romeo's and Nicholas Latifi"

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Qualifying [Q2]

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Q2 rolled around and William's first lap was on a set of older tires. The lap was still competitive though, netting him a P8 as most of the other drivers did their benchmark times. When the other drivers started setting their faster times, William's benchmark lap was sent tumbling down the order into P13. Near the 5 minute mark, he went out for his one and only fresh tire run in Q2. His lap was a tidy and quick lap setting his personal best lap with a 1:27.973 throwing himself up the order in P6. A more stressful session than William really needed, but he couldn't blame the team, they wanted the majority of runs to be in Q3 to ensure a good qualifying position, and in order for that to happen, there were sacrifices that needed to happen.

Hunt: Where are we?

Mark: We are P6, we're through to Q3.

Hunt: And who missed the mark?

Mark: The Williams of Jack Aitken, the two Alpha Tauri's, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, and the McLaren of Daniel Riccardo.

Hunt: Yikes. Wouldn't want to be them right now.

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Qualifying [Q3]

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When Q3 rolled around, William was one of the first drivers to hit the track and set his last. His lap was good enough for P3 but again, as faster cars set their laps, he was sent tumbling down to P10. Once the session was about halfway through the session William went out again, this his lap was good enough to bump him up to P6. He stayed there for most of the session before the final laps started to come in.

[Commentary Over Final Laps]

"First driver to come across the line is the Jaguar of George Russell, his lap bumps him from P9 on the grid to P6. Next across the line is Sebastian Vettel, his lap time moving him from P8 on the grid to P7. Now, the McLaren of Lando Norris across the line, he improves from P10 to P8. Here comes the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, he moves from P11 to P7. Now his teammate Fernando Alonso, on his one and only lap, can he improve, Yes he can, from P12 to P6. Now William Hunt, down the main straight 3 green sectors can he improve from his P11? He moves up to P4. Now for the big teams, first of the bunch is Stoffel Vandoorne. Can he improve? Yes He can, from P12 to P3. Now his teammate Valtteri Bottas can he improve from P7? He does, going up to 4th. Now the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, can he extend his lead over the rest of the field? Yes he can, the gap to P2 is now 4 tenths of a second! Here comes Charles Leclerc, purple in the last sector, can he do anything about pole? YES HE CAN CHARLES LECLERC HAS TAKEN PROVISIONAL POLE! Now, his teammate Carlos Sainz, can he improve? Yes he can, he moves up to P2. Now, the final run of today, Red Bull's Sergio Perez. He had pole position here last year, can he replicate that again? No! Just barely misses it, he goes up to P2"

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The Grid

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P1: Charles Leclerc

P2: Sergio Perez

P3: Carlos Sainz

P4: Max Verstappen

P5: Stoffel Vandoorne

P6: Valtteri Bottas

P7: William Hunt

P8: Fernando Alonso

P9: George Russell

P10: Lando Norris

P11: Sebastian Vettel

P12: Esteban Ocon

P13: Daniel Riccardo

P14: Lance Stroll

P15: Yuki Tsunoda

P16: Jack Aitken

P17: Pierre Gasly

P18: Nicholas Latifi

P19: Kimi Raikkonen

P20: Mick Schumacher

P21: Callum Ilott

P22: Nikita Mazepin