Battle Scars // Esteban Ocon

3

Friday at Silverstone was a little different than most years. This year instead of 2 Free Practices, Formula One and the FIA are trying out a new lay out which consists of FP1 Friday morning followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

Then on Saturday it would be FP2 followed by the new Sprint Qualifying, which was essentially just a mini race of about 17 laps, to decide the starting grid for tomorrow's race.

It was nothing official and was just something that Formula One were trying out over a few races throughout the year and the British GP had been chosen as one of those races.

It was weird to think of qualifying being on a Friday and then only having one Free Practice before qualifying but it as something new and it also could make the race weekend very interesting.

FP1 had been nothing interesting for Abi. It was just about getting a feel of the car and the track and sorting out a few strategies with the team.

She exited her car after it was pushed back into the garage. Once she was out, she removed her helmet, balaclava and gloves before handing them over to her performance coach Sarah.

"Thanks Sarah." Abi smiled at the woman as she was handed a towel in return for her racing stuff. It was definitely one of the hottest weekends so far for Silverstone and the drivers were definitely feeling it the most inside the cockpit.

"What are we thinking?" She asked as she approached her performance engineer Louis. Abi had been P14 which she wasn't too thrilled about meaning she was 6 positions from being the slowest driver in FP1.

The pair were joined by Andrew and discussed the plans for qualifying later on and how they could improve their pace for qualifying later on.

Although qualifying this weekend wasn't exactly as important as it usually is due to the grid position being decided by Sprint tomorrow. But they still wanted Abigail as far up the time sheet as possible to give her the best chance at qualifying higher tomorrow in the Sprint.

After talking for 10 to 15 minutes, Abi was free to go and relax before she had to be back in the garage in roughly 2 hours for qualifying.

Abigail left the Alpine garage with her performance coach Lorelai and headed for the motorhome to get something to eat before qualifying.

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"Radio check?" Andrew's voice came through the radio in her ear as she came out of the pit lane with Esteban behind her for the start of qualifying.

"Loud and clear." Abigail replied as she started her out lap. She was getting a feel for the track and getting some heat into her tyres as she came around turn one and into turn two.

She reached the Hamilton Straight and the start finish line before picking up speed and beginning her first fast lap for qualifying.

Both Abigail and Esteban managed to survive Q1 and made it into Q2 were they were knocked out P11 and P13 respectively. It meant they both had a bit of overtaking to do in the sprint tomorrow to up their starting grid positions but overall they were both relatively happy with their results.

Abi exited her car and after a brief conversation with Andrew and Louis about her performance, Abi was free to leave the garage and head to the media pen with Lorelai.

"Well done today." Lorelai spoke as the pair walked from their garage to the paddock while Abi removed the top half of her race suit and tied it around her waist.

"Thanks. Hopefully we can improve tomorrow." Abigial replied as they arrived at the busy media pen that included interviewers and journalists along with drivers who had been knocked out in Q1 and Q2.

When she walked into the media pen with Lorelai behind her ready to record her interviews, she was pulled aside by Rachel Brookes to be interviewed.

"Abigial, P11 today in qualifying, 0.1 of a gap to Vettel, do you think you could've made Q3 today and what's your thoughts on the sprint tomorrow?"

"Yeh. Naturally Seb's a great driver and it would've been nice to reach Q3 for the first time in my F1 career on my home race weekend but I'm happy with P11 especially with the Sprint tomorrow. It's something new that the FIA and F1 are exploring so it makes the race weekend different and interesting for not just us but everyone at home watching."

"What's your predictions for Sunday? Where do you think you'll finish? Could we expect a home podium?" Rachel wondered causing Abigail to laugh.

"I think a podium could be a little hopeful. Naturally it would be amazing especially for my first year in Formula One but I'm just happy to be racing here at my home race and I'll aim for a top 10 finish and see what happens after that." Abi explained as she played with the sleeves of her race suit.

"Thank you very much Abi. Best of luck over the rest of the weekend." Rachel told the Alpine driver.

"Thank you." Abi smiled in reply before moving on to the next network.

After completing a few more interviews with different people, she was eventually relieved of her duties and free to head back to the motorhome, get changed out of her race suit and head back to her hotel for the night.

Being born and raised in the English city of Liverpool meant it wasn't possible for her to stay at home during her home race but her family had made the trip down to Milton Keynes where they were staying in a hotel.

Her parents were her biggest supporters, they'd drop everything to bring her to karting events, which was where she made friends like Lando, Alex and George.

It was nice to have a lot of her family in attendance for the race. Her parents would get to different races on the calendar if they could but naturally it wasn't always possible so it was nice to have them here for this weekend.

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