My Formula 1 System

Luca took a cautionary look at the leaderboard display on the dashboard to assess who and who had visited the pits as the 26th lap was upon them.

P6— Luca Rennick

P7— Luis Dreyer ↑

P8— James Lockwood ↑

P9— Elias Nyström ←

P10— Ailbeart Moireach ↑

P11— Alejandro Vasquez ↑

P12— Hank Rice ↑

P13— Desmond Lloyd ↑

P14— Ansel Hahn ←

P15— Denko Rutherford ↑

P16— Jacob Jakobsen ←

P17— Mikhail Petrov ←

P18— Javier Montez ←

Luca frowned when he saw Ansel's drop in position on the leaderboard.

It wasn't only the pitstop that had relegated him; he must have suffered earlier overtakes.

"Darn you, Ansel. It's just one point. Hold on to it."

Luca wasn't even sure what he was in support of. Was he actually interested in Ansel's progress, or was he interested in Ansel's previous position as the barrier between the upper half of the pack and the lower half, where a smaller yet impactful group of rivals were creeping up from?

Whichever it was, the support had failed because Ansel was no longer progressing, and neither was he the middle belt of the leaderboard anymore.Now, Ailbeart Moireach held P10, and Rice wasn't far behind.

...But it seemed Hank Rice was going to visit the pits in this 26th Lap. Luca could see thousands of Iberia GP fans cheering and waving their flags through the drizzle as Rice, in P12, vanished into the pitlane.

P11— Alejandro Vasquez

P12— Hank Rice →

P13— Desmond Lloyd

"...26ª volta neste Grande Prêmio do Brasil..."

"WOOOOHH!"

Luca bet Ailbeart Moireach would soon pause his own race and return to his team base for a pitstop. Surely, after that climb from P18 to P10 under these slippery conditions, his tires must be more than exhausted.

**Stay sharp, Luca. Velocità is getting ready for a pit stop**

**It could be Davide, it could be Jimmy—we're not sure yet**

**But considering Davide hasn't made any moves on Jimmy for a while, it's looking more likely to be him**

That was true. Luca quickly realized the situation. Right now, Jimmy Damgaard was ahead of Di Marco, which was unusual. Normally, due to the team's well-known driver structure, Di Marco always took the lead position from Damgaard.

So, the fact that Di Marco hadn't made a move to overtake yet made sense. It was likely that he had plans to pit soon, and overtaking Jimmy at this stage wouldn't make much sense.

Holding that position would only risk unnecessary tire wear or positioning issues before the stop and would also kill Damgaard's momentum, making it easier for Luca—a rival—to capitalize.

Just exactly as Luca analyzed the situation, it happened. Into the 27th Lap, Jimmy Damgaard zipped past the pitlane while DiMarco dived in, trailing after Rodnick who entered earlier, letting Damgaard inherit his position.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

Though DiMarco was 2.5 seconds ahead before he deflected into the pitlane, Luca could still analyze his car.

From the analysis, he realized how bad DiMarco's tire wear was. No wonder their gap had shrunk from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds—DiMarco had been driving steadily and carefully.

The tire wear was so bad that had he stayed out longer for one more sector, Brazil would've had another DNF with his name on it.

"...back to back pitstops here as Davide DiMarco joins his rival, Marcellus Rodnick on the pitlane as they roll to their garages! Who will emerge first?! Rodnick has the earlier advantage, but Velocità can be a fast pitcrew...!"

As free as a highway was the remainder of the home straight. Luca happily sped away into the next lap, moving up not just one position, but two positions above. It was two since Rodnick had temporarily left the pack, leaving an extra position up for grabs.

One by one, all the drivers eventually snapped up all the points until Rodnick and DiMarco managed to rejoin at P7 and P9, respectively.

P4— Luca Rennick

P5— Luis Dreyer

P6— James Lockwood

P7— Marcellus Rodnick ←

P8— Elias Nyström

P9— Davide DiMarco ←

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

[4th Position]

[Analyzing Ferrari (JRX-92B) and host's distance from 3rd Position]

[You are 2.8 seconds away, host.]

Luca knew Damgaard's car was subtly faster than his, the chassis fundamentally better than his own 92B in general. In fact, Jimmy Damgaard piloted the exact same chassis and engine model as Davide DiMarco.

The Red Bull (RBioL) and the Tempesta.

It was almost amusing how the team seemed to have decided there should be some level of distinction between their two drivers, and the Tiered Pursuit strategy dictated exactly that.

However, even if Damgaard had a better RBioL, Luca knew for a fact that his own tire performance was superior. From his system analysis, it was clear how bad Damgaard's was in comparison to his own.

While neither of them had pitted yet, Luca's tire health was noticeably better, giving him an advantage in grip and control.

And when factoring in the subtle yet significant boosts from his high Attributes, it was inevitable that Luca would start closing the gap sooner rather than later.

Velocità made the call for Damgaard to stay out on track during the 28th lap, just as Antonio Luigi dived into the pits.

It was a logical and reasonable decision on their part. They needed at least one "active" driver maintaining race pace while the other—DiMarco—was still in the process of building up tire warmth and regaining momentum after his own stop.

Having both drivers fresh out of the pits at the same time was rarely an ideal scenario for any team. A quick glance at Squadra proved the point—while Luigi was pitting, Marko was still out there, pushing hard in P1, carefully managing his tire wear.

P1— Marko Ignatova

P2— Antonio Luigi →

P3— Jimmy Damgaard

P4— Luca Rennick

So, when Luigi peeled onto the pitlane, Damgaard inherited P2 that he once lost sometime earlier in the race. And Luca, now less than a second behind, zipped by on the wet track into P3.

[3rd Position]

Damgaard had managed to escape his DRS on the home straight by indeliberately pulling away when Luca almost got that slipstream hooked.

Luca doubted he would survive in this Lap 28.

"...And just like that, the podium battle shifts again! Antonio Luigi dives into the pitlane, handing P2 back to Jimmy Damgaard. But right behind him, Luca Rennick wastes no time and sweeps up into third! Jackson Racing is now officially in the podium spots...!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

"...The 28th Lap is looking critical. Can Damgaard defend, or will Rennick keep climbing..?"

[Analyzing Ferrari (JRX-92B) and host's distance from 3rd Position]

[You are 0.5 seconds away, host.]

Luca grinned when he saw a slight twitch in Damgaard's rear tires. It was clear now that tire wear was becoming intolerable. With this slippery track, Damgaard could spin out if he didn't handle his Red Bull well.

This was going to be a simple overtake for Luca, and he wished Jimmy Damgaard could accept that. The fellow young menace was actually trying to defend!

With worn-out intermediates?!

Ha!

Even though Luca had his own level of tire wear, he could still grip the tarmac better than Damgaard, make manageable turns, and accelerate over the slickness.

But Damgaard was with an 80% degradation rate and a huge number of rubber millimeters lost. And he was WEAVING to deny Luca P2.

Without putting much effort, Luca expertly cut through the rain to the outside of Turn 2, chuckling to himself at Damgaard's pettiness just to not let him through.

Luca planned to do the same thing Nyström attempted some laps ago at Turn 4 and Turn 5 in Turn 2 and Turn 3 since they had a similar track layout.

"... Jimmy Damgaard is fighting it! He knows Luca is coming, and look at that defensive weaving—oh, that's bold! But he's losing traction, and Luca is just gliding over the wet surface, still managing to carry speed..!"

"...Through the rain, Rennick moves to the outside—Damgaard squeezes, but he can't hold it! Here comes Luca—this could be it...!"

Damgaard, not as smart as he thought he was, flowed into the outside of Turn 3, while Luca claimed the favorable inside line, the best line for the upcoming 900m straight.

Damgaard gritted his teeth angrily as he realized Luca had asserted asphalt beside him. He decided to fight his ground and hit the straight first before Luca.

"...a golden spot for Rennick as he slips in through the inside line. But Jimmy Damgaard refuses to give in as both drivers face a wheel to wheel battle before the first straight...!"

[900 m Straightaway ahead]

Luca was stunned at Damgaard's total stupidity! Had he ever seen such a thing like this so far in his career as a Formula racing driver? He wasn't sure.

The fool had everything against him.

Poor grip for braking and acceleration.

And a wet track beneath that would amplify the poor grip.

Luca, on the other hand, was troubled only by the wet track. Even in that, Slipsense & Rainborne had mitigated its effect on him.

Damgaard was at the brink of a spinout, Velocità should just accept it.

There was no way he could drive an extra 4km of wet asphalt again with those overtaxed tires. So, imagine if Luca honed Side-by-Side King, a skill that'd totally disrupt a driver's racing ever since it was leveled up halfway completion.

Luca didn't want to crash Jimmy Damgaard. Yes, the fellow youngster was a wild card, but he hadn't troubled Luca to the extent his teammate—DiMarco—had.

But Side-by-Side King emerged instinctively, and Luca couldn't stop it!