OK Number 70 - Gansidui

"How the hell did we get here?"

Jeremiah's question, aired into the void of the livestream from within his commentary box overlooking the Interlagos front straight, was left unanswered by Diethard, serving more as sarcastic commentary on how insane this season had been. Just as it had looked like a desert highway headed straight to Luoyang as the crow flew, the tyres changed, and Kallen looked to be the top dog in the initial period where 2019 chassis were being run with 2018 tyres, but while she thrived in chaos, the grid did eventually adapt, and develop cars suited to the new tyres. At the same time, Suzaku had changed teams, and proceeded to bend the rest of the grid over and paddle them. It almost hurt to try and rationalize, however someone had to do it, and so Diethard cleared his throat, and began trying to unpack it.

"I do think we need to look back, at this championship, how it's unwound itself and ebbed and flowed, because no one has taken… taken much of a grasp of the whole thing. No one has taken this season by the scruff of the neck for the entire way through, there have been phases where the balance has shifted towards certain packages, but…"

Diethard stopped, as he reconsidered the statement. Even as the season had definitely had phases and periods where certain packages were stronger, that did not mean the leaders were not tripping over themselves. Austria, Hungary, Italy, if the people who were strongest at those points, Xingke, Kallen and either Kallen or Suzaku respectively, had had good races, there would be a lot more certainty to this fight. But while they have tripped over themselves and scored own goals, it had opened the field up. Their periods of dominance were perhaps not as dominant as it would seem.

However, Jeremiah disagreed, ironically starting "No, I'd agree with you on that first bit. If you look at this chart behind me, the line graphs of the points total of each driver after each race over the season, we can visually see who has been dominant at which points in time. Of course, early on- yeah, there as you see pretty much a forty-five degree straight line in orange for the first few events, it was pretty much just the Li Xingke show. What, he got five… no, he got three wins on the bounce, and… even including the hiccup in Monaco, which I'm not even sure was necessarily his fault, that track is just crazily dependent on skill, he got five out of the first six races… won, he won them."

"I get that, but I think there's something that's been overlooked." Diethard pointed out, aiming his finger towards the board. "We do get at Xingke for not having scored a podium since his win in Montreal when the tyres changed, but there's someone who has been flying under the radar with a nearly identical streak; Gino."

Jeremiah, not having noticed this trend but spotting it the moment it was pointed out, made a face and pondered aloud "Ah… mm."

With this new datapoint, Jeremiah tried to outline the season from this new framework, beginning hesitantly "Gino… his only win came in Austria, when everyone else except Rolo and a few backmarkers had their tyres explode, but he had been scoring regular seconds and thirds up to that point. It wasn't really noticed, with how much Xingke was running away with it, but Gino was always the next man on the podium after him."

"Alongside Naoto." Diethard pointed out.

"Mm…" Jeremiah murmured, skeptical of this hypothesis. "Naoto I think is a bit different, I'll get to him in a bit. But Gino peaked quite early with the tyres, and like Xingke, hasn't quite had the same edge since they were changed. It's not been as noticeable, it's not been as severe a drop, but he's only had one podium since the tyre compound changed."

"Yeah, that's fair." Diethard nodded, accepting that his friend would return to this point in time before continuing to pull on the Gino thread. "It's strange, because off the back of that streak without podiums, it feels almost as if Gino's found his way into this title showdown kind of by accident, like he's reversed into it or something."

"That on the other hand I don't think is fair." Jeremiah responded, playfully using Diethards phraseology to reply, but in the interests of defending who was, to him, a good friend, particularly given their similarities; upper class Britons, well built, public school educations, with an American bent. Metaphorically rising out of the trench, Jeremiah began "He did peak early, and has been sitting on that initial bank of points, but he's never fallen off. I mean, he's finished in almost every race, I think the only race he failed to finish… no, wasn't Austria… sorry, it was Hungary, when he ran out of fuel."

The more straightforwardly Anglican Diethard could only shake his head and bury his palm in his face in secondhand embarrassment. No matter how reasonable the explanations seemed, in the world according to Diethard Reid, this was not an excusable mistake at this level, and he could only sigh in frustration for about the nineteen hundredth time since the event, "Such a goddamn simple mistake."

"We move forward." Jeremiah persevered, well used to his colleagues stodgy nature. "But he's only had five races where he finished outside of the top four, and if you compare that to some of the other people in this fight, some people have been up and down and up and dow-"

"Just say Kallen, we know who you're talking about." Diethard interrupted.

"Well in fairness I was thinking of Kallen and Xingke on the inconsistency front." Jeremiah laughed, conceding the point readily. "But yes, as his teammate she is a good comparison. There were four races where she did not score a single point, whether it be because she didn't finish, whether it be because she finished in eleventh… after… making an incredibly late stop for tyres, but anyway, or, finally, whether it was those two races where she just wasn't allowed to turn up. She was banned from racing until Malaysia. She has had to put on absolutely earth shattering, dominant performances to make up the points for those races where she wasn't dominating."

"But, in fairness to her, someway and somehow, she bit, clawed, scrapped and squeezed her way into this final shootout." Diethard made sure to point out, audibly respecting her tenacity to fight her way in with just overwhelming, unrefined barrages of sheer pace. A humourous thought then struck him, and he quietly chuckled "Of course… I mean… it is interesting, I think, to look at the two drivers, who both have maintained a very consistent level of performance throughout the season, both been at about the same place all year… and the fact that both of them are Kōzukis."

They both howled in laughter at this coincedience. They were such incredibly different drivers, they had gone about this season so differently, and yet the two illegitimate siblings had been closely matched on points per race.

"I mean, this goes towards my point, I think, regarding Naoto." Jeremiah underlined. "He's not really like Gino. Naoto, I think, started at a bit lower of a pace compared to Gino, the meme went that you would know the podium before watching the race, it would be Li, Weinberg, Kōzuki in that order, but unlike Gino, he's stayed there. He's still scoring semi-regular podiums, which absolutely made up for the gap Gino had pulled on him in the early season."

"That may well be so." Diethard gently acknowledged. "But it's interesting seeing that Kallen and Naoto are the two drivers whose average amount of points per race has been pretty flat all season They've kept the same average finishing position pretty consistently, even if Kallen's results had more extreme oscillations. Xingke and Gino had theirs drop away, Suzaku and Rolo had theirs ramp up hugely late into the season, but Kallen and Naoto are at about the same throughout."

Jeremiah nodded, however to call them similar would have been a mistake, a point he was insistent on.

"But they're in the middle in different ways. They're both consistent, but what are they consistent in doing?" Jeremiah explained socratically. "Kallen, for example, has performed at about the same level all season. Excluding the farce in Italy, Kallen has only finished a race and not been on the podium four times. All season. She scores huge points in a lot of races, but also scores no points at all in a lot of races."

Diethard snorted a laugh, before replying "So pretty much the real incarnation of the 'Podium or DNF' thing they chant at eSports."

"Basically." Jeremiah chuckled, before shaking his head. "She'll make a Twitch account next thing you know. Anyway, she has maintained… that, consistently. She has been consistent in her inconsistency. Her strategy since Australia- actually, no, scratch that because she wasn't at Australia, he strategy since Malaysia, effectively, all the way to Mexico."

"In that way they're the opposites of each other." Diethard replied, the penny audibly dropping. "Naoto hasn't peaked at any point. Of course, he won in that… absolutely, just tragic Hungarian Grand Prix, and I can't imagine what has been going through his mind since that day, how it's been affecting him. But he has just kept scoring points, just keep swimming to the end. No need to DNF, just keep scoring points. And it's what he's been doing, and it's worked for him. His only retirement was, again, in Austria, where… how many drivers didn't finish? I know several were not classified as they were too far behind, but they didn't crash, I can't tell, embarrassingly, how many people saw the chequered flag, but anyway."

Jeremiah nodded, starting off a new thread before being cut off, "Of course by contrast, there's Suzaku and Rosenberg, who- huh?"

Cut off midstream, Jeremiah could only look aside at a frustrated Diethard, who was visibly suppressing many emotions.

"Good lord…" Diethard, face still buried in his hand, replied with the voice of a man who had not slept in decades. "You are gonna be making that mistake until 2029. It's Schwarzenritter now."

"Oh sh…" Jeremiah nearly swore, as he realized what he had missed. "Yeah, that's still not sunk in after how long? Anyway, the stories of Suzaku and SR this year have been pretty inseperable, even after the former parted ways with the latter. They have both risen at the same time, with Suzaku getting four wins and five podiums in a row. SR have been less dramatic about it, but Rolo has absolutely been shot up to the leaders with another Lloyd Asplund wonder."

"Aye." Diethard nodded. Asplund was arguably the greatest designer of the modern era, matched only by Rakshata, and without the peculiar, lavender haired character who got lost on his way to the set of an Alice In Wonderland production, the new team would not have bounced back up to the front.

Acknowledging this, Diethard continued "They had a very poor start to the season, the car was only penned in January, only finished halfway through preseason testing, and so… the work that would ordinarily have been done in the second week of free testing was just done in the first… six, seven races, just getting the car up to spec, getting a sense of wind tunnel correlations. It took up to Austria to get a podium, and even that, they mostly lucked into on account of everyone else having tyre failures. But their growth has been exponential."

Jeremiah raised his finger and pointed out "But none of this affects Suzaku anymore, since he's off in Rebellion-land."

"That he is, but it sure does affect Rolo." Diethard replied. "He's gone from a bit player to, sort of like a reverse Gino, stumbling his way into contention at the eleventh hour."

"Yeah, it still feels strange to say 'Title possibility, rookie Rolo Lamperouge'." Jeremiah laughed, still trying to comprehend how he, having not really been on the pace all season, had wormed his way into the shootout. Lloyd had brought the car from the lower midfield to arguably the best car in the field, debatably level with Rebellion. Camelot seemed to have fallen back a bit, from the fastest to third due to outdevelopment. After all, the field had been levelled and put at a standing start after Austria, and, with SR's initial disadvantage of starting late was nullified as they all began again from a standing start, allowing them to gain the upper hand. However, the concept of Rolo, completing his elder brother's unfinished business, was to Jeremiah the far more intriguing story as he changed lanes, picking up "We've never had that, have we? We've never had a rookie win the championship. Very interesting if this is the first year that happens."

Diethard let out a slow breath, before sighing "Given that he's the lowest of anyone mathematically still in the fight, don't count on it."

Diethard licked his lips thoughtfully, before adding "But yeah… I think… yeah, given how this season has unwound, with people peaking early… like, Gino's almost a category unto himself, because although he did peak early, he's kept it… there, or thereabouts, but Xingke, since the tyre change, has fallen off the face of the earth. It's quite amazing to see him still leading the championship after this much time battling the upper midfield, and there are murmors out of the Geely camp that they think this title is getting away from them, even as they go in with the most points. But with Xingke's lack of pace after Canada, Naoto's low-flying lack of big points hauls, Kallen's lack of consistent finishes, and Suzaku's lack of pace before Japan, there are two other drivers mathematically eligible to win the championship."

"If Xingke, Naoto, Kallen and Kururugi all crash out it's basically a crapshoot between Gino Weinberg and Rolo Lamperouge to see if either of them can get second place in the race to seal the title." Jeremiah summarized, getting to the nub of why this year had been so insane.

They both nodded, before Diethard then raised his finger and added "Of course, a tie isn't unfeasible. If Xingke doesn't score, Gino comes third, and no one else gets ahead, then they'll be matched on points at 223. Similarly, if either Kallen or Suzaku comes fourth, Xingke is out, and no one else interferes, again there'll be two people on 223 points."

"Yes, but there's a way to unravel that." Jeremiah offered, tappeting his pen off the desk. "The countback. You take the two people tied, and see how many races each of them won. Whoever won more will be classified ahead, which in any tie that involves Xingke means the Chinese pilot wins by default, as he has won more races than anyone."

"And it goes further." Diethard said, taking over. "We can kinda see this with Kallen and Suzaku. They're both on 211 points, but Suzaku is ahead in the standings. They both have four wins, and they both have two second places, but while Kallen only has one third place, Suzaku has finished third twice. We need to go down to number of third place finishes to work out who's ahead, that's how close they are."

Jeremiah paused, before raising a finger and observing "It is quite interesting how these two drivers are so closely matched. They are so massively different in style, in the kinds of seasons they have had, but right now, you can't separate them unless you go into the smallest of small print. It's fascinating."

"It is." Diethard nodded. "Well that's our roundup ahead of the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, we're looking forward to seeing you throughout the weekend. It's forecasted to be dry on Friday and Saturday, with forecasts of rain on Sunday, and it's all to play for in what is the final race of the season. You can catch us both on the regular broadcast, see you then."

"Now, let's start this Thursday press conference. To the number eight driver, Xingke, you're guaranteed the title on Sunday if you finish in the top two, and so long as Naoto does not win, it is very likely you will be champion as well so long as you finish the race higher than eighth place. However, have not finished on the podium since Canada, ten races ago. How are you feeling? Are you confident?"

"Moh…" Xingke shrugged. "I'm the points leader, so… I guess I'm feeling fine."

Xingke might have said more, however he seemed to trail off, before coughing into a cloth, a prolonged moment of pause as his mouth exhaled phlegm and lungs into the tissue. After an awkward moment, it passed, and Xingke signaled for the next question.

"You have not partaken in a final race title decider before, how have you prepared for this?"

Xingke blinked, before replying in a both droll but savage voice, "I have, you know."

He paused, before explaining "The World Endurance Championship may not be as prestigious, but let's not pretend it doesn't exist. In any case, no alcohol, a good nights sleep, come, see, conquer. It's quite straightforward."

The reporter was humbled by failing to remember that Xingke was not just the newcomer to this table who had hung around the back of the grid for perhaps six or seven years, but a decorated endurance and GT car champion, with six Le Mans victories and four WEC titles under his belt before he made the transition to open wheel single seaters at his peak, finding his greeting to be an underwhelming national team.

Now quite red, the journalist cleared his throat and asked "Will you be driving with Geely next year?"

"My contract ends next month. I am trying to work out where my best path lies, I still don't quite know myself, so I'm perhaps not the most qualified person to say."

"Is that a no?"

XIngke frowned scornfully, before replying "Traditionally people say they don't know when they don't know, but I'm not very good at English, so please, you tell me where I'll be driving next year."

"Thank you Xingke." the reporter retreated. "Now, someone else who has partaken in a shootout here before is the reigning world champion, Suzaku Kururugi, if we can go to you. Conversely to the gentleman beside you, you have been catching up, and are on a four race long winning streak. Do you think this momentum can serve you well around this bullring of a racetrack?"

Suzaku sighed, looked down thoughtfully, before slowly giving his initial answer, murmuring "I try not to think of momentum. The hot-hand fallacy, the idea that because I am on a good streak, I am entitled to this win, that I have already won it, is destructive. If you remove emotion, remove the idea that this is an important race, that this isn't just… well, a race, you come in with no preconceptions, you can just knuckle down and drive well. There isn't a part of you worrying about the championship. That will sort itself out one way or the other; you drive as well and as fast as you can, and you either win, or you don't. It's that simple; you drive as well as you can, and you either win or you don't."

He snickered, before mentioning, as an aside "More abstractly, I have either the best or second best car, I'm in the best form I think I have ever been in my career, and I will let you in on a little secret, a little part of me I'm sort of… deliberately suppressing, fully expects that when we meet again on Sunday evening, I will be a double World Champion."

Feeling the almost infectious charisma that did not usually come from Suzaku unless he was turning it on deliberately, the reporter almost stepped back. Was he trying to psyche the competition out? Put out a narrative of inevitability, in the hopes it would percolate into the mindsets of the other drivers? Regardless, the reporter had a job to do, and continued "Well, that's confidence. I would not have expected one Kallen Kōzuki to be defeated at the confidence stakes. From the number seven to the number eleven, Kallen, if I can go to you, you were in a title showdown with Kururugi last year. What have you learned from that, and how are you going to approach it differently?"

"I was…" Kallen responded, before pausing and finding new words, "… a very different person, I think. Headstrong… well, I'm still a bit headstrong but…"

Kallen shook her head, before looking down. It was visibly hard to phrase what she was feeling, that was clear, however she fought through it, and put some words to it in a figurative capacity, even if not quite literal.

"No, I don't think about that. It's not real. I'm… I'm here, I'm not out there. I don't know, but I think I brought… I carried too much into that car, into that Rebellion. I need my anger, the fire, the works, I need all that to be able to have the mental strength and drive to keep my foot in, to go for the gap, to brake that bit later…"

Kallen shook again, before starting to answer, again speaking quite abstractly.

"But… I learned that day I can't bring fear, I can't bring fear into that car. I can't think at all about what could happen. If you're marginal on braking, if there's a window of braking that suddenly ends and it becomes too late to avoid spearing off into the wall, if you're afraid, you will brake too early into that window… to give margin. If you do not have fear, you will be able to push the margin closer to the limit a little more, a little more. You need to remove it. I was afraid, last year. When Lelouch hit me, I was so angry, because I was scared. To me, it was endangering our lives, I was scared of what could have happened if we had been less lucky. What if either of us had been hurt? I felt that he was putting our lives, and the lives of the marshalls at the side of the track, at risk, recklessly."

Stunned, the reporter asked "And now?"

"Now… I think, I'm in a better headspace." Kallen answered. "I can't… be hurt, in a car. I can't be injured while behind the wheel. I know I can hurt the car, but I cannot hurt myself."

This was, of course, wrong. It was provably wrong too, as one only needed to go back to the Japanese Grand Prix to prove the opposite; Kallen ripped several muscles, and tore her arms to bits. At the same Grand Prix the year before, she had been hospitalised for a week after running into the back of Li Xingke, and then, at the Japanese Grand Prix before that, Naoto had almost lost his legs. One could say that the Kōzukis had bad luck at their home Grand Prix, but that racing was dangerous was an irrefutable point.

But, to protest that it was factually false to say that Kallen could not be hurt was to miss the point. It was about manipulating the excitable, easily frightened monkey brain between her ears into quietening down, that there was no danger, and that the instinct to slam on the brakes was not founded in reality, instead, fit to be thoughtlessly ignored.

Her inner monkey, her fear, was a siren atop a coastal rock, singing to lure Kallen away from the target, if Kallen were to allow it. She had allowed her chance to slip through her grasp once; not again.

And she wasn't in the car, she was safe.

Bit more reflective in this chapter, taking more of a slowed-down review of where all the moving parts is before we move into the Brazilian Grand Prix, which will take up the rest of the story from here. Please be sure to leave a review, letting me know how you think the story is going, things you've liked, things you didn't, and your predictions for how this ends!

~G1ll3s