That's Racing Baby | Lando Norris

Chapter 63

Toto had found out something from Alfa Romeo and it was that they would give them an answer to whether Emilia would be considered for the seat by the end of the race weekend in Singapore. Until then, Toto said they wouldn't look at other options. Emilia was thinking about them though. Endurance racing? Le Mans would be quite exciting to partake in.

But for now, Emilia was still in Formula 1 and she had to make the most of it. She needed to prove Jost wrong. Qualifying in Russia was the next thing to take on and rain added an extra challenge. They had to find the dry patches on the track to gain speed but for Q1 it wasn't dry at all. Wets were required and though it wasn't raining, inters weren't even considered.

Emilia waited for everyone else to go out. In the rain, you wanted to be the last driver out there because you'd get the best track conditions. The blue-striped tyres removed eighty-five litres of water per second from the track when driving at 300 kph. So the more cars that removed water, the drier the track would be meaning it would be faster for the car behind. Of course, that was ideal but the big black cloud above the circuit looked like it was going to liven up qualifying by adding more rain.

Emilia joined the queue of cars waiting to start their flying lap but made sure her tyres were kept in hot condition so when she was the next car to go, she was ready. Emilia started her lap accelerating down the straight and keeping it tight round the first corner but trying to have no resistance to slow her down. The first corner wasn't even a corner really instead it was a slight bend. No massive manoeuvres of her steering wheel were necessary.

The second corner was very slower and involved Emilia braking heavily. She used the painted kerbs but avoided the orange kerbs that would, in these conditions, probably spin her car around. Emilia had to fight the car going round the long left-hander to make sure she got the best line.

Turn four was tight so Emilia had to break a substantial amount but had to keep going as fast as possible. Emilia also had to make the car stay on the track as much as possible. As she rounded the corner, she felt the wind on the side of her car try to take control of her rear but Emilia corrected her steering quickly and carried on. It was not nice weather.

Most of sector two was composed of ninety degree corners that slowed cars down. Emilia accelerated between them but could never get higher than sixth gear before having to come back down again. The second sector was finished off by a long straight where DRS flaps would usually open but due to the rain, it hadn't been enabled.

The final sector wasn't challenging apart from the two chicanes. The latter was uphill adding an extra challenge of controlling the car and keeping it facing the right way. Emilia managed it so and assumed everyone before her had as there was no one stranded or any signs of yellow flags.

Emilia felt her first lap was alright but there was room for improvement. It was a good first attempt. She got a good feel for the car and was comfortable but of course, the feel of the car would change as the wetness of the track changed.

Still, Emilia safely excelled into Q2 not making anyone in her team worry. In fact, her pace was a lot stronger than George's. She was adapting to the changing condition a lot faster than her teammate. Emilia took that as a big positive and it filled her with confidence going into the next round.

It was drier for Q2 and there was a debate between the blue and the green striped tyres. Everyone started on the wet tyres and their decision was reinforced when the drivers got out on track. It was too slippery for inters. However, maybe on the second run, they could try it out.

"Emilia this pace is brilliant keep it up." John praised after her first lap in the second qualifying stage. Emilia loved hearing his voice. It was calming and certainly not irritating like the other engineer she had the previous race.