Chapter 12 – It’s best if he remains insane till the very end

Editor: Sammy

Proofreader: PenguinStel

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I need to hold onto my position! Hold onto my position!

He will advance this time around, with him outdoing the others, he won’t tolerate anyone overtaking him.

At the first corner, accidents tended to occur because it was the closest turn from the starting line.

Both Marcus and the technical director coincidentally faced the gods and prayed, hoping that both of their drivers would pass through smoothly.

Winston’s ice-cold voice echoed at the side of Hunter’s ears, “Shift down to the second gear.”

As Hunter’s race car followed the track’s beautiful racing line¹The racing line is the optimal path around a racecourse. It consists of looking at the radius of each corner/turn., everything was immensely chaotic shortly behind him.

Hunter charged ahead without a scruple and in front of him was a driver from the Lotus team.

Don’t be anxious, Hunter, don’t be anxious.

Think about how Winston chased the back of Ciel, he was clearly very patient, waiting for the best opportunity! 

Throughout it all, Hunter, with no less than five rounds of pursuit, continuously maintained the distance between him and his opponent. He couldn’t be thrown off.

On the straight track that came right after the hairpin curve, Hunter utilized traction²Traction is the maximum static friction produced when two surfaces rub against each other without slipping. Generally, the higher traction between the wheels and ground, the better. It allows cars to have better acceleration, cornering and braking, all without wheel slippage, allowing the driver to have more control over the car. to give chase. He changed his direction the moment his opponent was slowing down and thus, was in a state of almost zero-gravity. Although his overtaking wasn’t sharp, it was still like red wine streaking across the tip of a tongue; untouchable and ungraspable, dashing past just like this!

After that, Hunter started to vigorously chase after the one in sixth position, Duchovny. 

Marcus covered his mouth in complete disbelief.

“The Hunter whose forever overtaken… just now did he… did he just overtake the Lotus team drivers?”

“His control’s much better than what we’ve imagined.”

Hunter exhaled.

Patience… Patience… Hunter, don’t be anxious.

Duchovny hadn’t anticipated that the person chasing his back would suddenly become Hunter.

This young sports star was inexperienced and hadn’t performed any exciting overtakes on the track yet. Hence, Duchovny decided to maintain his current pace.

But after three to four rounds, Duchovny suddenly felt an indescribable sense of crisis.

That was because behind him, Hunter hadn’t been overtaken by anyone at all, and most importantly, he was getting faster and faster. In these types of situations… the other clearly wanted to overtake himself!

“Son of a bitch…” Duchovny sneered and sped up.

But what surprised him was that although Hunter had pursued him for about seven to eight rounds, there weren’t any signs of overtaking. Until the left corner that is, where Hunter followed the beautiful racing line and didn’t hesitate to launch a wheel to wheel battle at the heart of the corner³Heart corner refers to the inner corner of the track, almost causing Duchovny’s nerves to split. 

“Oh— Oh—” Marcus nervously exclaimed. 

However, Duchovny was a veteran driver after all, he successfully defended his position as he exited the corner, and picked up speed upon entering the straights in an attempt to shake off Hunter.

“If only our power unit was just a tad bit more powerful, that overtake just now would’ve been successful,” the technical director regretfully sighed.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, Hunter hasn’t given up yet!” Marcus didn’t know why, but he felt that today’s Hunter was different from the one in the previous matches.

In the rounds afterwards, Duchovny repeatedly perspired in cold sweat.

At this moment, Hunter had actually prepared to make a pit stop!

“Prepare immediately! Hunter wants to pit! I need you to be quick! Quick! Quick! Quick!”

Marcus was like a lunatic.

The mechanics quickly coordinated together, and after Hunter exited, he increased the car’s horsepower and pursued Duchovny; setting the fastest lap time of the season for his team.

“This dude is insane… “ The technical director widened his eyes, yet was unable to open his mouth to stop Hunter.

“Being insane is good… it’s best if he remains insane till the very end…” At this time, Marcus’ heart was beating rapidly.

After three rounds, Hunter once again launched another overtake at the same corner, starting yet another round of wheel to wheel battle.

Marcus covered his eyes, “Oh my god— Why does this bastard love this corner so much!?” 

But at this moment, Hunter didn’t care about anything else anymore, taking this race as if it was his last.

Release yourself, Hunter.

He rushed out of that corner.

“Look! He’s overtaken Duchovny! He’s overtaken Duchovny!” 

The technical director yelled out.

The moment Marcus opened his eyes, he realised that Hunter had long since reached the end of the straight and breezed through the hairpin curve. 

Yet Duchovny was behind him, and after passing through the hairpin curve, all he could see was Hunter’s dust. 

“Oh my god… he… he’s still planning on overtaking more racers?”

From a logical point of view, the sixth position to the team was already a huge improvement from last year. Furthermore, to be able to maintain this spot, which was virtually always monopolized by first-class drivers, till the end of the race was already worth celebrating.

But there was a cry from the bottom of his heart: Go! He can still go faster!

Hunter gradually lessened the gap between him and the person in fifth position round after round.

And that person was none other than Donald from the Sauber team.

At this moment, Donald had already completed a stop and his goal was to overtake Peni from the Renault team. 

But to his surprise, not only was there a guy on his tail already, it was even a driver he wasn’t familiar with at all!

“How did this happen!? That dude, Duchovny, got overtaken?” 

Hunter was about to follow Donald into the left corner, he would compete vigorously with Donald without a scruple.

“Why is it still this corner!?” Marcus almost suffered a heart attack because of Hunter.

Donald was steadily driving on the defence, blocking Hunter off from the most optimal route.

But Hunter still followed as close to him as before.

Donald’s back was full of cold sweat, who exactly was this guy?

Such technique and courage. Donald couldn’t figure out the other’s identity no matter how hard he tried.

Now, he was no longer thinking about Peni who was in front, and instead, had to defend his position in the remaining laps!

After a few laps and numerous corners, Donald was about to have a nervous breakdown because of the man behind him!

“Hunter is about to come in! Move, you lazy bums! Quick quick quick!” Marcus howled out loud.

After the team set a new record of the season for tire changing, Hunter charged towards Donald.

After defending time and time again, Donald was gritting his teeth. He felt that he was being pushed more and more towards a tight corner. The guy on his back… he couldn’t believe that this fellow had tangled with him for so many rounds, doesn’t he feel fidgety already?

Don’t be anxious, Hunter… Don’t be anxious…

Take this as a kiss, both your race car and the track will then understand what you want you want to say to them.

The crowd, who in the beginning was only paying attention to Ciel, Owen and also Winston struggling for the top three, gradually noticed the battle taking place between Donald and Hunter.

“Fuck, who’s that pestering Donald from Sauber for the past ten rounds? It makes people feel so fucking nervous!”

“I don’t remember! Let’s see who that is!”

“Who cares about who the fuck he is! All I know is that Donald should be swearing at him hundreds of times in his heart!”

“It’s Evan Hunter! Hunter from Marcus’ team!”

“What? He… he’s that impressive?”

Donald gnashed his teeth, he’s been so pressured by the bastard behind him that he even missed the opportunity to make a pit stop!

He hasn’t made this sort of mistake in three consecutive seasons.

When they finally arrived at the last lap, Hunter initiated another overtake at the ninth corner without faltering. His racing line, paired with his ruthlessness when cutting in, made Donald feel as if he was done for.

Don’t underestimate me, fucking kid!

Under Hunter’s perseverance, Donald also continued to press on through. He had a premonition that if he let Hunter go this time around, he wouldn’t have the ability to defend his position the next time he faced this kid!

After the two cars passed through the final corner, they began to speed frantically on the straights.

Everything was about to go out of control.

The numerous spectators all stood up, mouths gaping as they watched the two cars practically cross the finish line together.

“So what’s the result?”

“Who’s faster?”

“It’s out, it’s out! Donald is faster by 0.3 seconds!”

“Oh— What a pity!”

“But… it’s still quite impressive…”

After the match ended, Hunter continued to drive far away.

His heart was violently thumping from the various cheers, it couldn’t be calmed even after a long while. 

He closed his eyes…

So this was how it felt to go all out.

As he brought the car back to the pit⁴The location where cars make their pit stops. It’s where their garages are at, a red Ferrari kept following by his side.

He turned his face and the latter reached out his hand from within his car.

Hunter smirked. He knew that it was Winston.

He faced the other and held out his arm as well. 

Although it was obviously impossible to touch each other, Hunter still felt a sense of satisfaction, as if he was being tightly held by him.

Winston, did you see that?

I got the points!

The first F1 points in my entire life!

When Hunter drove back, Marcus went up to give him a huge hug.

His shoulders were slightly trembling. It was quite clear what Hunter’s sixth position meant to the whole team.

The surroundings exploded with rounds after rounds of applause.

Hunter felt a little muddled.

Everything felt like a dream, not realistic at all.

“Heavens, you were so disobedient today! We told you to hold onto eighth place yet you actually dared to overtake Lotus and Mclaren!”

“But you did really good!”

“The top eight is fundamentally for the drivers from bigger teams, so you were really bold today!”

“Hey! Why aren’t you saying anything? Have you turned foolish?”

“I… I…” Hunter opened his mouth, yet he was unable to say any coherent words. 

Marcus understood and laughed heartily, ”Could it be that you’re too emotional right now so you can’t speak clearly?” 

“No, I just want to say that I’m hungry…”

After two seconds of silence from the surrounding people, everyone laughed out loud.

An F1 driver consumes as much energy as a marathon participant.

Hunter grabbed the food that the team had prepared beforehand and stuffed it all into his mouth.

“Slow down! Slow down! Do you want to choke yourself!”

Right after Marcus finished, Hunter immediately choked.

“Oh my god! Quickly bring some water here! This guy’s about to choke himself to death!”

In this match, Owen from Red Bulls burst out in the last two rounds and surpassed the ‘Great White Shark’ Ciel, capturing the sub-championship position. Winston lost to Ciel by a gap of 0.3 seconds and took third place. But after tallying the points from the four races, Winston ranked second. It was an achievement that made people admire him greatly.

In the post-race press conference, Marcus was beaming with joy. Evidently, the media was also interested in Hunter’s performance this time around.

“Hunter, there’s a rumour floating around that you and Ferrari’s Winston interacted with each other prior to the match, is it because of the relationship with Winston that you’re able to feel like you belong in Formula 1?”

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The author has something to say:

When frying eggs:

Hunter: I’m so good! I want a reward! I want a reward!

Winston: What kind of reward do you want?

Hunter: Kiss and hug girls with big breasts and ass!

Winston: Kissing and hugging are ok, but don’t think about girls with big breasts and ass.

Hunter: … 

Don’t focus on the fact that Hunter didn’t get into the top three because F1 is completely different from a traditional sports competition. Its variables are huge, not only does it depend on the technique of the car, but it also depends on the car’s performance. Even Schumacher⁵Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest drivers in F1. He won 7 world champion titles in his career and had the record of setting multiple fastest laps and pole positions, and more in his career. can’t be assured that he can advance to the top three in every match. So little Hunter was really brave this time around.

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[1] The racing line is the optimal path around a racecourse. It consists of looking at the radius of each corner/turn.

[2] Traction is the maximum static friction produced when two surfaces rub against each other without slipping.

Generally, the higher traction between the wheels and ground, the better. It allows cars to have better acceleration, cornering and braking, all without wheel slippage, allowing the driver to have more control over the car.

[3] Heart corner refers to the inner corner of the track

[4] The location where cars make their pit stops. It’s where their garages are at

[5] Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest drivers in F1. He won 7 world champion titles in his career and had the record of setting multiple fastest laps and pole positions, and more in his career.

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Notes:

Racing line:

Tbh this is really confusing to explain clearly in a sentence, so here’s a video explaining it! If you wanna learn more about the little things about the sport, this channel explains tons of F1 technical stuff so do take a look heehee!

Pits: 

The area where all of the different team garages are located at. It’s right below the DHL banner. Unfortunately, I’m not exactly sure which circuit this is since the photographer didn’t indicate yingyingying, someone pls let me know because I can’t tell AAAAAAA

Photo by sebastiaan stam from unsplash.com

Pit stops:

Here’s a video of Red Bull’s pitstop because Imma babee Red Bull fan! They have set the record of the fastest pit stops in 2019! 

Anyways, there are about 20 people in charge of a pit stop and they must ensure that a stop is within 2 seconds. It is important for the team to be fast and efficient during a pit stop so as to not lose as much time as possible in the race. 

Below is a photo of the Sauber crew practising their pit stop in the Singapore GP. The cars stop right outside of their garage during the pit stop.

Photo by Goh Rhy Yan from unsplash.com

Garage:

This is where they keep both their cars during agrand prix. Here’s Williams’ garage, and a throwback to their simple but classy Martini livery.

Photo by Goh Rhy Yan from unsplash.com

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nura: 

Both the track and the car expresses that they don’t wish to partake in the relationship between Winston and Hunter 

• 1
  The racing line is the optimal path around a racecourse. It consists of looking at the radius of each corner/turn.
• 2
  Traction is the maximum static friction produced when two surfaces rub against each other without slipping. Generally, the higher traction between the wheels and ground, the better. It allows cars to have better acceleration, cornering and braking, all without wheel slippage, allowing the driver to have more control over the car.
• 3
  Heart corner refers to the inner corner of the track
• 4
  The location where cars make their pit stops. It’s where their garages are at
• 5
  Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest drivers in F1. He won 7 world champion titles in his career and had the record of setting multiple fastest laps and pole positions, and more in his career.