My Formula 1 System

XXX— Marcellus Rodnick

"...And that's a DNF for Marcellus Rodnick," came the heavy words eventually at some point.

The commentator's voice wasn't loud or expressive, but calm like even he didn't want to believe what had just happened. But it was confirmed now. Rodnick's Ferrari had come to a halt, and the marshals moved toward the motionless JRX-97 like undertakers.

".. The former World Champion—on his return from injury—will not see the checkered flag today. What a bitter pill. You have to feel for him..."

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

During the announcement, silence really hit Kyalami Grand Prix as rival teams didn't even understand much to celebrate. The feed was tragic because Rodnick was still strapped in the car with his head still bowed. Many weren't sure but they could see his shoulder bouncing up and down. Tears?

All Silver Stallions in the garage had their hands on their heads during the moment. They were stunned, and the telemetry remained stale all through.

"...It's hard to overstate how disappointing this is for both Marcellus Rodnick and the team. That car was a championship-winning machine, and it's just let him down when it mattered most. We'll find out what the issue was, but for now, it's a painful early exit. Rodnick is out..."

The MkII hadn't even featured in more than one race, and it was already showing major, race-defining problems like this. What the heck. Luca couldn't believe it. What did the system say it was again? Thermal Ion Flux radiation?

He had tried to ask more about it, but received no reply. Questions that didn't directly concern the host's or the car's immediate wellbeing were just deprioritized. It was almost like Luca trying to get the system to explain a type of steering wheel to him mid-race. So, he was met with silence.

Because of that, Luca didn't know about this—>

He just assumed that the radiation was dangerous across the board, affecting every car it touched. Instant fear of the MkII or more broadly, the RBioL, gripped him, and he couldn't help but think about how narrowly he'd escaped the same fate as Rodnick today. What he didn't realize was that he would gradually sense the energy and electrical fluctuations precisely because his car wasn't a high-ERS machine like Rodnick's.

In truth, Luca didn't know the specifics we know here. And that lack of knowledge made his instincts, his very being, label the MkII as nothing short of a murderer.

"I will tell the team about this immediately after the race," Luca said firmly. He was certain the team would be at a loss trying to figure out the exact cause of Rodnick's DNF, and if he brought this up, they could eventually start pointing fingers at DiMarco and Velocità.

YES! Imagine if this was eventually red-flagged by the FIA, that would mean Velocità might be forced to withdraw the Tempesta Mark 2 from competition.

Now, the MkII was a scourge for everyone, even for Velocità themselves. Because until DiMarco had fully synced with this new technological order, he was bound to make mistakes that could spiral back to bite him too.

Case in point, just as DiMarco was hammering that insane 380km/h+ speed to claw his way back to the P1 he'd earlier lost, he came into contact with both Marko Ignatova and Antonio Luigi, teammates who were attempting a classic pinch maneuver, trying to sandwich DiMarco into the racing line and force him into an error.

But DiMarco, paired with the unpredictable MkII, was far too impatient, and with that unstable grip of control, he ended up grazing Luigi's rear wing while forcing his way past Marko, muscling himself out of the bacon part of that sandwich.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

The contact threw both Ignatova and Luigi into disarray. Luigi's car wobbled off balance as the rear wing caught that heavy transfer of kinetic force, dragging him wide off the apex.

Marko wasn't spared either as his suspension took a hit from the sudden shift in airflow and pressure, knocking him slightly off line, enough to cost him time. DiMarco, meanwhile, powered through the chaos and rocketed ahead, taking the provisional P1, driven forward by that monstrous S-level engine.

But that aggressive driving wasn't overlooked in the slightest. The stewards weren't blind. And DiMarco was swiftly slapped with a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Luca thought it was the best kind of penalty for the chaos DiMarco had caused with that Red Bull engine, which was currently the most expensive in the world. For what it's worth, first place might not be DiMarco's fate after all, not with that 10-second penalty hanging over him, ready to completely shift the race dynamics. Velocità lost their minds over the verdict, arguing that Marko and Luigi were the aggressors and that DiMarco was the innocent one, simply finding his way out of that stinky boxing technique they'd tried to execute on him.

But Race Control had to remind the furious Italian team that car behavior was also factored into penalty decisions and from what they could observe, DiMarco's new RBioL was now more than penalty-prone due to its enhancements.

The second round of pitstops was the consequential moment for Velocità. Every other driver—Luigi, Marko, Dreyer, Ailbeart, and Luca—had just seen a golden opportunity to make sure DiMarco didn't walk away with the lead. All they had to do was occupy the front while he sat tight in that box, burning away those painful ten seconds.

"...and there's just visible dismay on the face of Davide DiMarco. From hunting P1 to now watching it fade while stationary..."

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

Other teams were clever. They calculated precisely when DiMarco would box for both his pitstop and serve his time penalty, and chose that exact window to pit their lead drivers too. That way, they could reclaim ground while DiMarco was halted, rather than giving him clean air after he returned to the track.

This was a smart move because if they boxed after DiMarco had already rejoined the track, it would be too late. He'd already be flying ahead on fresh tyres, while they'd lose time individually entering the pits and rejoining into traffic.

Hurriedly, Luca slipped into the pitlane, right in the trail of Marko Ignatova. His system info flashed that he had about 12 to 14 seconds to leave clean. It was a tense moment as multiple cars were crowding into the pitlane, with engineers barking instructions and pitcrews leaping into action like clockwork. This wasn't just one or two drivers—it was a train.

And naturally, Luca—now widely regarded as the fastest pitter in Formula 1 all because of Pitstop Prodigy—left his box and sliced cleanly into the pitlane's exit segment, headed straight for the open stretch of track. Jimmy Damgaard, who'd been P7 before this messy cluster of pitstops, wasn't anywhere close as he was still far behind.

Luca rejoined the race in P1. Entry undisturbed. Challenge absent.

[1st Position]

"...And Luca Rennick exits first! He's taken the lead! What a stunning bit of timing and execution from the team!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

---A/N: 400 Chapters 💯 —>

Around 70% of the story now