[TS] Formula One Streamer - Chapter 187

It hasn’t been long since the fierce battle with Norris passed.

-Ricciardo follows closely, picking up the pace now that he’s behind Norris. He plans to make his move before the pit stop.

The next fight was waiting for us right away.

Like a hyena hovering around, waiting for the top predator to leave. Ricciardo was approaching, ready to bite into my flesh, just waiting for the moment I shook off Norris.

“By the way… this is quite frustrating…?”

For 9 laps, Norris didn’t even think about chasing, but as soon as I came out, he suddenly got aggressive?

The meaning of this was clear.

Yooihyun is easy, he can be challenged, Yooihyun can definitely be defeated.

“It’s infuriating…”

From a realistic standpoint, it’s true, and I can’t refute it, but still, it doesn’t feel good to be seen that way.

I shifted gears and pressed the accelerator pedal to raise my pace.

It wasn’t an emotional play. I needed to conserve the tires as much as possible until the next pit stop, and I also needed to raise my pace just a bit to match Ricciardo’s tempo.

Then it happened.

At the moment I raised the tempo, the practice race I had yesterday with the Blue Bull Duo suddenly came to mind.

‘It feels like time is accelerating…’

I was trying to imprint some law onto my driving that was as natural as the laws of nature. I wanted to apply something supernatural that neither my consciousness nor my unconsciousness could interfere with into my driving.

In the end, I was able to step into a phenomenon that could be called a state of no ego during that practice race. That means I succeeded.

Although that success didn’t last long, at the time I didn’t even recognize that I had succeeded. When I enter such a state, I don’t even know what changes.

When I regained my senses and looked back at the situation, I realized something.

An unfair race of 20 laps that seems impossible to break through. Added to that were Ricciardo and Perez, who were operating in an extremely defensive manner.

The fact that I overturned that situation clearly demonstrated how high the realm I pursue is and how it operates in a race.

Despite the performance of the race cars being identical, following the laws of nature through driving brought about results of a different dimension.

Exactly half a beat. The feeling from that moment when the flow of time was running exactly half a beat faster was truly thrilling. It felt like I was going to drown in ecstasy.

It would be nice if I could easily step into such a state.

‘It’s hard. I can’t be sure.’

It’s not easily done, so it must be a special moment.

Yeah. I had no confidence this time that it would work out like it did back then.

People say once isn’t difficult, but is twice hard? Maybe it’s because I’ve been to that state once that I feel my will breaking even before I start due to the height and difficulty.

Moreover, I now knew the essence and method of that state, so the very fact that I was consciously aware of that law made it impossible to clear my mind neatly.

The more I tried to escape, the more I fell into the contradiction of being trapped within the framework of consciousness.

“Should I focus, or not?”

It was a situation that made me sigh automatically.

Still, I had to try.

I felt certain that if I couldn’t enter that state again in this race, I would definitely lose my position to Ricciardo. With 48 laps still remaining, the performance difference of the race cars would lead to an increasingly widening gap.

‘Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think…’

I mumbled like a chant.

Erasing my existence, a desperate struggle to incorporate the movements of the race car into the laws of nature.

“Ah, I shouldn’t be desperate… That’s consciousness again.”

-What have you been muttering to yourself since earlier? Focus up. Ricciardo is right behind you.

“No! I can’t focus!”

Concentration is also consciousness!

-…It’s okay to believe, right?

Hearing Enrique’s voice filled with distrust, I gradually began to wipe my thoughts away.

I thought the opponent was Ricciardo, but it wasn’t.

This time, the opponent I had to fight was myself.

***

Ahead was Yooihyun, behind was Leclerc chasing the Blue Bull.

The strategy room of the Blue Bull, caught between the Ferraris like a sandwich, was operating busily.

“How’s Leclerc?”

“Fortunately, he can’t keep up. I don’t know why, but he seems to have used a lot of tires while overtaking Steven King.”

“And Ricciardo?”

“He’s already caught up; the question is when and how he’ll overtake.”

Today, the key player for Blue Bull was Daniel Ricciardo. He recorded good results in qualifying and is now showing good focus on the day of the main event.

The strength of Blue Bull would depend on whether he could surpass Yooihyun or not.

“Ricciardo has to do it. He has to in order to get to Perez.”

If he successfully overtakes, Perez, who is closely following him, will also find it much easier to surpass Yooihyun, so Blue Bull was desperately in need of a miraculous overtake from Ricciardo.

Thus, the focus naturally had to be on Ricciardo.

“Calculate when Yooihyun will pit and bring it to me. Prepare three options.”

“Understood!”

“And keep briefing Ricciardo on Yooihyun’s pace in real-time and point out overtaking opportunities.”

Team director Christian Horner was also focusing all manpower and information on Ricciardo.

Knowing that he had a crucial role in this race, Ricciardo was continuing to probe for gaps in Yooihyun while communicating with his race engineer.

Vroom!!!

The engine screamed painfully under merciless driving.

But Ricciardo had no intention of stopping.

-Let’s go for it this time. Next point, try in the continuous corners before the straight. Yooihyun’s tire grip has dropped significantly. He has slowed down a lot in the corners and won’t be able to sh**t down the straight like before.

“Got it.”

-Ricciardo, force your way past.

The voice of the race engineer rang in his ears.

It was a hunting command to either pressure him until he drops pace, force him to pit quickly, or simply overtake him.

Due to the hot weather, the tire condition of the Blue Bull wasn’t very good, but they knew that the Ferraris were in a worse position because of their independent suspension mechanism, making it a bold gamble.

Running at this pace, let’s see whether your tires will be the first to wear out or mine will.

However, for Blue Bull, this felt like a game they couldn’t lose, with all the analyses completed.

Telling him to push hard was an unspoken threat to either move aside or simply drop out of the race.

Ricciardo too was aware that it was a favorable situation for him.

“This time, I won’t let it slip.”

Lap 15. Even at this point, which was around a quarter into the race, Ricciardo was on guard. The concentration that should have been depleting was only filling up as time went by, along with his understanding of the Bahrain Circuit deepening.

Adaptation. Ricciardo was adapting.

He was adapting first to the race car B-31 that he was driving in an actual race and then to the Bahrain Circuit while driving B-31.

‘Right turn, cutting in.’

A corner that turns right. Ricciardo entered the right line at the corner entry point.

Vroom! Vroom!

Yooihyun entered faster, but because Ricciardo barely occupied the position, Yooihyun had to reduce his speed even more.

Debris from the tires scattered across the track due to the unexpected aggressive move.

Chiriririck!!!

The overheated brake pads of V-1 seized the tires with a bright heat.

In contrast, Ricciardo reduced his speed beforehand to minimize damage.

‘Slowly, steadily accumulating. Let’s have patience. The opportunity will come.’

Similar events unfolded at the next corner and the next one after that.

Countless repetitions of pressuring Yooihyun into an overtaking position while accumulating damage occurred.

It had been happening since lap 9, but the success rate wasn’t very high. In a comfortable state, Yooihyun’s defenses were so tight that not even a thread could slip through.

No attack seemed to work.

But now, it was different.

The tires had worn down considerably, and the more they wore, the faster they would deteriorate. No matter how good Yooihyun was, movement restrictions were unavoidable.

Moreover, pushing against a race car of at least one class higher, if Ricciardo could just hold on, overtaking would be a matter of course.

That’s when Yooihyun’s pace dropped significantly.

-Now! Now’s the time!

Finally, the timing to unleash the pent-up moments had arrived.

Feeling that instinctively, Ricciardo was already stepping on the accelerator before the race engineer could even say it.

But then

‘What’s going on? Why can’t I catch up?’

The distance wasn’t closing. Instead of closing in, it felt like it was growing.

Yooihyun’s V-1, whose flow seemed to change, suddenly began to accelerate while tracing more elegant curves than before.

It wasn’t moving further away, but it wasn’t getting any closer either.

So, it was like a rainbow.

In that moment, Ricciardo thought he was chasing a rainbow.

He couldn’t catch something that eluded him no matter how hard he tried; there was nothing he could do but think that way.