OK Number 46 - The May Offensive

"With Kallen on Pole, she sits in front of Li Xingke on the inside, so she'll have the inside defensive line goin in to turn one, so she can take it a little bit easier into turn one, as the first light goes on. She was fastest in the wet session yesterday, but it's dried up today, they're all starting on the soft dry tyre, as we go to four lights, five lights, and we are racing! And it's Xingke who gets a marvellous start, Kallen was caught napping , it was a very brief window from the fifth light coming all and them all going out, she was caught out by how fast it switched and now Xingke is sweeping around the outside of her! Xingke has taken the lead out of the first corner, left plenty of space on his inside, but he carried more speed through the corner and has gotten ahead through Beau Rivage! That's a crucial move for Xingke, and Kallen's job of putting a stop to the Chinese drivers winning streak has been made that much harder! It's Xingke from Kallen, from Gino from Bradley from Lamperouge from Kururugi from Zhou from Naoto! What a start!"

Jeremiah finally took a breath as they ground the front tyres to dust, understeering through Massenet as the pack trundled along. The entire grid appeared nervous, with the cars having uncertain body language, nobody quite willing to throw away their race on the first lap.

This was most prescient for Kallen, who had crashed the previous year trying to overtake and was visibly uneasy at this reduced pace, clearly wanting to get up to full speed but second guessing the risk element, something she would not have done in 2017 or 2018. It was pleasant to see how her style had evolved from fast, but messy and crash-prone to just fast but messy, with a new sense of awareness, with that element likely at the forefront of her mind being how she had to ensure she wasn't too hasty in trying to overtake Xingke.

Not that she really could; as they rolled from lap five onto lap six, while she had not once fell below a seconds separation from Xingke, no opportunities had yet arisen. Diethard shook his head, before he passed comment.

"She can't get close enough, she's sniffing all over his diffuser, but she can't get past. It's like Lelouch and Suzaku last year; Suzaku had far younger and softer tyres, but he just couldn't get track position over the Franc. Suzaku was far too cautious to go for the move like Kallen had done earlier in that same race, and while she's definitely learned from it, there's a downside to being skittish, as we can see."

However, while Kallen could not advance beyond Xingke's pace, his pace was not a slow one, and they were pulling away together as a unit, with the third placed Gino a growing gap behind as the eleventh lap began, and Diethard and Jeremiah continued discussion.

"So what would you do if you were Kallen, Diethard? Do you stay out, wait for him to pit and try and go hell for leather?"

"Well, that was what she did last time out in Malaysia. She stayed out longer, and while Xingke was carving through traffic Kallen jumped ahead once she pitted a few laps later. The trouble is that she's on the same tyre as Xingke and will have degradation at around the same point. She'd have to try for a very brief undercut, as I can't see there being an opportunity to go for a prolonged undercut."

"That's right Jeremiah, and that's made more pointed by the fact that strategy isn't solipsistic. If Kallen pits, it's not as if Geely won't know that and cover her off by also pitting. Lap fifteen now, the two leaders are a good bit ahead, almost twenty seconds, they're just stuck together like glue. Gino has radioed in regarding a loss of his turbo, so he's down on power, but he's not getting overtaken by the people behind him at least, he's being saved by what saved Lelouch last year again, but it does mean that the top two are getting away from the rest of the pack."

Gino was, more specifically, having an ecu issue which disabled the connection between the MGU-H and the turbocharger, making the latter far slower to spool up. It would be solved by a system reboot, which could be performed once the car stopped to pit, but for now it was serving Kallen's interests very well.

However, the focus on the front pair, a pair being a more suitable descriptor of the affair than a battle given how much it would represent a perversion of the latter term, almost distracted from the chasing pack, which would have meant missing a dramatic moment up at Sainte Devote as the leading cars were moving through Upper Mirebeau.

The camera switched to watch Rivalz leaving the pits, having pitted early, come out, but while that was the intended focus of the camera director, it did not end up being the centre of attention, as just at the edge of frame, Rolo suddenly speared left and up the escape road, his front left tyre ending up a mass of smoke and rubber.

Jeremiah immediately gasped as the camera followed the stricken car, before the view switched to the onboard footage of the car, as the commentator tutted.

"It's the tyre again. Soon as he hits the brake, the outside left just disintegrates, and he's a passenger at that point. That's becoming an altogether too common sight, they'll have to see what they can do about that. Rolo's out of the race, but he moved a good way down the escape road, so I don't think we'll see a safety car."

Diethard nodded in agreement, saying "It's dangerous for tyres to delaminate this easily, but that's above our heads. We are now at nineteen cars, with Xingke still keeping Kallen behind, as the Japanese woman contemplates how she can- wait, hang on, team radio!"

Kallen sounded breathless when she came over the radio, shouting down her command.

"Guys, I've got a plan, get a new set of soft tyres ready, I'm pitting this lap."

"Are you sure? Your strategy is to go to hards-"

"I'm coming into the garage this lap and I'm not leaving until I get a set of softs. You can cooperate, or you can lose us this race. C'mon, yarimashou!"

Kallen had been stuck behind Xingke for twenty-two laps when she went to pit. Over that time, while Xingke's pace was still requiring her to work to keep up, she was given lots of time to think. Not just over her strategy, but over the events of the last three days, and how it would influence this race.

All of this culminated on her committing to the two stop strategy, going from soft to soft, before doing a final stint on the medium, where everyone else was going from soft to hard. However, Kallen had a plan.

The first inspiration came from news of Gino, communicated to her from the pits. He was twenty seconds behind, holding up a queue of cars. If she pitted now, she would come out just ahead of this train in clean air, able to push far faster than she was doing now.

Of course, this would also be true if she had pitted onto hards. However, she did not know if her pace difference on new hard tyres would be enough to leapfrog Xingke on old softs. She would have only one lap to effect the undercut, so she had to use her fastest tyre to make sure she umped ahead, even if it meant having to pit again later. Once she was ahead, she could build enough of a gap to pit again and retain the lead, or at least that was the theory.

This being borne out in Kallen finishing the race ahead of Xingke depended on two things. The first was a hunch, but a substantiated one.

After Thursday practice, Kallen had seen Xingke visibly short of breath and exhausted, and that was just a session to practice and get to know the setup, not even pushing flat out. Whatever was the matter with Li, she would take advantage, as she knew from her own experience how pace degraded through a race when exhausted.

One of the reasons Kallen had been seen as much better at qualifying than racing, among things such as a propensity to get into collisions and a very specialised style, was that her fitness was not up to maintaining her frantic style for two hours. She would tail off, and lose pace. Suzaku, by contrast, was a weak qualifier, but could sit doing qualifying laps for hours at a time without getting tired, simply by virtue of how much of an inhuman gym rat he was.

Of course, Kallen had seen to overcoming this weakness over the winter, but for whatever reason, while she had largely curbed it, Xingke did not appear to have done, and still finished his sessions wiped out and exhausted.

Whatever the reason, Kallen would use this to her advantage. To win, she would have to pull out a twenty second lead before she pitted. The soft tyres in the first stint had lasted twenty-two laps. That was just under a second a lap she would have to pull out over him to have a pit stops' gap which would require her to do twenty-two qualifying laps in succession, in conjunction with her softer tyre and his growing fatigue. No breaks, no slip in focus, no room for error. She would have to drive the perfect lap. And then do it again. And then do it twenty more times.

The second element this depended on was her. She would have to maintain qualifying levels of pace, qualifying levels of aggressiveness, qualifying levels of risk, and qualifying levels of aggressiveness for twenty laps.

She could do one. She'd had to do two one time in 2018 when she finished her lap before the flag ended the session. She had never tried stringing together five, let alone over twenty. But that was hardly going to stop her.

As she left the pit lane, she flicked up the limiter and hammered the throttle out towards Beau Rivage. Drag her scrambling front tyres around at Massenet. Flick the rear at Casino. Give the finger to whoever designed the rain gulley at Mirebeau. Poke the bear through the hairpin. Kallen, as she fell into a spell of her own making, very quickly stopped thinking about the exercise as a series of several individual, unitary laps to be completed. Instead, she took it corner by corner.

Hook the rear around Mirebeau Lower. Wide approach into Portier. Take a breath while holding tight to the right down the tunnel. Kallen, as she broke down into the Nouvelle chicane, found that the road became narrower, and her field of view stretched more into the horizon. Her body seemed to be responding more to implicit thought than active thought. As her arms and feet moved almost by instinct, she suddenly realised she was no longer driving consciously, instead driving in a fashion where she was almost telepathic, feeling a degree of separation between her brain instructing her limbs and the limbs performing the task, like she was using the controls of an arcade machine. She was well beyond absorbing the views flying past, well beyond absorbing cues outside of what would get her around the next corner. And then the next. And then the next.

And then the next.

It was the racing equivalent of autopilot, as she seemed to pay an unusual degree of attention to the sensation of taking in a breath, letting out a breath, ripping away a tear off, even blinking seemed to be all she could think of as her bodily functions completely devoted themselves to getting around the next corner, detached from any other realities of the world, whether it be the attempt to build a gap to Xingke, or even that there were any other cars on track. Kallen had this whole track to herself to just pound round, as fast as her tyres and downforce would let her. She just reached the physical limit of her car, and then just stayed there, refusing to budge no matter how much her tyres and suspension protested.

She was almost limp, her neck bobbing from side to side against either crash pillar. She did not have control over her body, she realised; her thighs and shin muscles were asleep, and anything above the shoulder was buffeted at the whims of g forces and the wind. All she could do was give it general directions. Her instinct was not one over the entire lap, but more individual. As she approached a corner, her instinct for that specific corner would take over. And then the instinct for the next corner would take over. That these corners came in a particular order was not of relevance; it was simply one corner, after another, on one great big lap within Kallen's lucid dream.

And like that, it was over; Kallen's out-of-body sensation almost led her to miss it, as she flew under a board, hung out over the edge of the pit wall. She just caught seven characters as she woke back up, but it was enough.

'KK11PIT'

She could no more tell if it had been twenty seconds or twenty hours. If the team was calling her to pit, approximately twenty laps had passed, though her determination as to how many laps had past would be as inaccurate as any estimation as to what order positions three through nineteen sat in, or what tomorrows weather would be. She was only returning to this plane of existence and cognisance as she was braking into Rascasse and peeling off into the pits. Only once her pit limiter was slammed on could she… no, destress wasn't the right word, moreso an exercise in trying to wake herself up, deliver a slap to her own face, shaking herself and zoning back in, now that the hero stint was over. She didn't know if it had worked or not, but as she slid into the box, she knew she had done everything she could have. She was only just returning to alertness as her mediums were put on and she was cleared to go. She didn't have a moment to lose, so the jack man had hardly had a chance to leap out of the way before Kallen leapt out of the box.

Kallen pressed down the limiter as soon as she crossed the exit line, almost crushing it beneath her thumb as she took the shortcut through Sainte Devote on pit exit, running up Beau Rivage, without the slightest clue as to where she was. Now that her stint requiring total concentration was over, she tried to recontextualise herself, asking over the radio "Where am I? Did I build a big enough gap? Where's Xingke?"

There was a pause on the line as Kallen crossed over Massenet, before a fuzzy voice, broken up by the tall buildings, began to speak, though she couldn't make it out. She had to wait until she had come out of the tunnel for the reception to clear up and finally ask the question and hear an intelligible answer, anticipating either celebration or disaster.

"Naoto sixth… Zhou fifth… Kururugi fourth… Gino third… Xingke second, you're in the lead, you're in P1."

Kallen roared, punching her fist into the carbon wall bordering her cockpit in celebration. She had made the undercut work on the first lap she had in cool air, coming out ahead of Xingke, before then building enough of a gap to stop again and not fall behind him. She had been right; he couldn't keep a sustained charge over a race distance, he wasn't fit enough. He would just build a gap early on and cruise, without putting too much stress through the car or himself.

The last thirty lap stint to round out the seventy-one lap event was not nearly as dramatic, as Kallen had drained herself considerably maintaining such a high speed over such a long period. However, her delight almost seemed understated, even accounting for the bloody knuckles she had got from how hard she punched the sidewall of the shoulder protectors, compared to how the team responded to her coming around the last corner, on the last lap, to win the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time in her career!

The entire team, even the caterers and cleaners, here at Monaco were leaning out over the pitwall, forming a human wall, almost falling out and onto the track as they waved their fist at the pink and black car as Kallen shot it past. They were all hanging out of the chain linked barrier, feet against the corrugated wall, one arm hanging onto the fence and the other raised in a fist to celebrate. She joined them as she slowed the car up Beau Rivage, as she shot her fists out of the cockpit, absolutely overjoyed. She only slowed as she came up to Mirebeau Upper, where a marshal handed her the Hinomaru flag of Japan, holding up and above her head triumphantly, the air holding it horizontal as she sliced through it, allowing the creases and folds to flutter at their ends.

She had done it.

The radio fired up, as her chief engineer shouted into the microphone, blasted through Kallen's ears.

"ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE, WELL DONE, AWESOME JOB, YOU JUST CAME IN AND MULLERED THE FIELD, FANTASTIC."

She laughed, as now Bartley came over the radio and picked up where he had left off.

"YES! Well done, absolutely fantastic. We knew you had it in you, but goddamn, that was Pole lap after Pole lap. We were caicing ourselves, just waiting for some slip, but it never came. Now go enjoy some damn champagne, I've no doubt you're thirsty after putting in that much work."

She chuckled again, still waving the flag like a madwoman, before breathlessly saying "That was definitely a tall order, but… whew, hell yeah!"

She pulled the car up to the front straight, and felt a surge of pride as she lined up behind the number one stand. Still holding her flag, she stood on the nose of the car, holding the top ends with her two fists up and behind her, screaming victoriously, before she leapt off the car and ran up to her team, jumping up to be embraced as the first winner of the year who wasn't Xingke.

Xingke, of course, came second, and was moving over to congratulate her. Kallen finally escaped the mass hug cum mosh pit, before she turned and met hands with Xingke, shaking palms at a twenty past eight angle before they separated. He looked pleased to have competition, and vocalised it promptly with a grin.

"Great race, I was stunned when I heard you were on softs. I thought there was no way you could pull twenty seconds in twenty laps."

Kallen chuckled, as Xingke looked as if he was about to continue, however his face shifted before he buried his face into his elbow crease and coughed viciously into it. Kallen stood back, as it appeared as if Xingke hacked up a lung into the bit of overall covering his arm. He eventually finished, before reaching for a drink and sighing.

"Sorry about that, it was a tough race. Anyway, on and up, should be good fun in the championship now that you're on the pace!"

But enough about pace or work, she had just won the Monaco Grand Prix! Kallen was the first driver to beat Xingke this year, it was her first time winning or getting Pole at the most prestigious Grand Prix on the calendar, and it was a sign that the Geely was not beyond defeat. As well, she had finally made good on her promise around Monaco, beating Tohdoh and finish on the podium here in 2017 and setting a time that was good enough for Pole in 2018, only losing it to a penalty. She was finally on top in Monte Carlo, claiming her ninth career win.

"ABOUT DAMN TIME!"

The Camelot team laughed as Kallen proceeded to somersault into the swimming pool down by the chicane, holding the trophy triumphantly, before the rest of the team jumped in after her in jubilant celebration. Diethard and Jeremiah, standing in front of a screen displaying the proceedings live, both chuckled as the mosh pit grew around Kallen, who was being lifted up and effectively began to crowdsurf through the pool.

As she continued to shout joyous celebrations, high on exhaust fumes and adrenalin, Diethard smiled at the pure display of positive emotion, all incredibly wholesome, before clearing his throat, and beginning his post-race coverage.

"Well it's been a long time coming, it's the first win since Austria of last year for Kallen, and what style to take it in. She just had another gear today, and absolutely pulled out all the stops. She's reformed her style, gotten it winnowed and refined down to a fine art, but it's not that reformed. It's still aggressive, but not out of control. It leaves nothing on the table, with the rear more active than a fruit fly, but it's never panicked or flighty. She has reached a new level of one lap pace, and then, not satisfied, just did it for twenty laps on the bounce."

"Aye, and I think she needed that win. She entered this season having taken a huge confidence hit, and there were hundreds of people who were talking about how she didn't deserve a seat anymore, or should retire, but she really showed that her seat was earned. I can't think of anyone else on the grid who could have sat at Qualifying pace for twenty laps. It must have been exhausting, but look as she's high-fiving all the crew, she looks like she's gone for a light jog."

"Haha, yes Jeremiah. Now, let's look at the championship."

Waiting a moment for the graphic to appear on the live feed, Jeremiah then took over, explaining the state of play in the championship, with four races completed.

"Kallen is the big winner from this, jumping from eighteen to forty-three points, overtaking Rolo and Suzaku, the former of whom failed to finish with a tyre failure, and the latter of whom who has been having a torrid start to the season. They are sitting on twenty-eight and twenty two points respectively. It also just about saw her leapfrog her brother Naoto, who with his sixth place finish is three points behind his sister at forty points."

He paused, before moving to the second placed driver, who still led the overall standings, as he explained with a finger pointed at the screen.

"However, the order of first and second remains unchanged, and the gap between them has grown. Xingke may have just gotten his first defeat of the season, but second is better than Gino got, and their gap of twenty-four points has grown to twenty-seven, with ninety three and sixty six points respectively. So, to sum up, Xingke ninety-three, Gino sixty-six, Kallen forty three, Naoto forty, Rolo twenty eight, and Suzaku at twenty two."

At this point, Diethard took over, providing commentary on how the year was taking shape as opposed to expectations in December and January.

"Of course, Xingke grabbing the championship by storm wasn't what anyone expected before pre-season testing, but there have been other surprises. The rookie Rolo is ahead of his world champion teammate, which we'll get to in a minute, because there is another inexperienced driver outclassing his champion teammate, and that's Naoto Kozuki, who coming back from a huge injury two years ago is effectively a rookie. Jeremiah, I must ask; these two have been teammates before, and Tohdoh won out convincingly. What's changed? Is Naoto much faster, or is Tohdoh slower after his sabbatical?"

Jeremiah frowned, before shrugging and responding "Well, it's a bit of both."

Then another pause, before the former driver continued into the thrust of his point. "I don't think Tohdoh has had a significant or disproportional dip in experience, particularly given that Naoto has been out of the sport for longer, but it is important to look at his psychosis. When Kallen beat him, Tohdoh immediately was so discouraged he left the sport. We don't know what's going on in his head, and how his confidence is doing. Suzaku talked a lot about how confidence informed ability, and we might be seeing that in Tohdoh. Of course, there's also Naoto bringing his A game this season, complimented by the car. The Rebellion car was made for the styles of Kallen and Lelouch, which is far closer to on that compliments Naoto's driving style than Tohdoh's, with Suzaku being the only driver whose style is similar. So I think it's a combination of the two."

Diethard nodded. "Right. So, back to the other surprise; what's on Earth's happening at Schwarzenritter?"

First win for Kallen, she breaks Xingke's streak! Hell yeah! Review, like, whatever, Kallen's back!

~G1ll3s