Formula: A Tale of Survival (Chapter 1: Down Under)

All characters mentioned herein, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

I have seen a few works about Formula 1 on this site, but those feature drivers that are not on their storyline, so decided to so one with this instead.

Melbourne City Circuit

QUALIFYING SESSION

It was a hot and uneasy Saturday, as the session heads on to the Qualifying Session that was exciting.

And within minutes, Q1 had started. My main aim is to set the fastest lap of the race. Within 1 lap, no, 2 laps, or even several, to say the least.

But Qualifying went well enough. I managed to set some good times, ending up in sixth for the session (even if I still put together a good enough lap to make it onto the third row for the starting grid, but that was nice). My teammate initially started in 12th, but moved up to 11th place after some were gotten penalties for some infractions.

PRE-RACE CONFERENCE

Race Day arrived. It was time to get into the race and have some fun.

I was at at the cabin of my own unit, when my phone woke me up from my slumber. It was a voicemail from my team boss Taria Tauri.

"Aaron? Taria here. Just to let you know that you're going to attend the Driver's Briefing shortly. Be ready with what you need, and be sure to look your best. Oh, and the pre-race conference starts at eleven-hundred-hours. See ya."

11:00. I looked at my phone and it was already quarter to eleven. I woke up in shock. Eleven?! I thought desperately. Why didn't she mentioned it in the meeting I attended on Friday?! I then rushed to get things ready, and got out of the cabin of my own unit. It was already five to eleven when I am done, and I rushed to the pre-race conference all messily dressed up.

Sebastian was the first to notice. "What happened to you? You've looked like you had a hangover last night and got yourself in this mess!" I then said, "I blame my boss for setting the conference too early."

He then got me properly dressed up and I proceed to the Driver's Briefing. In there was Taria Tauri, my team mate Sierra Hedgehog, Evano Motorsports's team boss Amy Binders and both of their drivers, Romain Grosjean and Nikita Mazepin.

The conference was abuzz with a small group of reporters from Skye Sports, SNN, The Straights Times, etc.

Jokes aside, the conference was abuzz.

RACE DAY

Race Day arrived. It was time to get into the race and have some fun.

The lights went on one by one, and then... it's "Formula 1 in Australia is go". I was ready to start the race when there's "Turn 1 Carnage" behind me. Most of the time you could expect a few DNF's here, there, everywhere.

Then it was on Lap 3 that the Safety Car was issued as Ericsson retired from the race due to some engine problem. Looks like Sauber hasn't got what they had since a few seasons ago? We maintained our positions as we raced around. Two laps later, the Safety Car called in to the pits and we're back up to racing speeds.

On lap 13, Verstappen was heading down Turn 7, then Turn 8. He tried to ovetake me into the DRS zone, and alas, he spun me out of the podium contention. I dropped down five places, but regained the 5th position before lap 13 had ended for me. It wasn't until lap 17 then my team boss immediately radio'd that into my radio box.

Tauri: Aaron, you're doing great, except that blowout by Verstappen didn't help at all.

Wolff: Yeah, what a stupid move. I could've been on the podium contention but apparently, all Verstappen did was to spin me off that DRS zone between 9 and 10.

Tauri: And (oh yeah, about this) the steewards issued out a "PEN - WOL (Causing a collision)"- so, that means you've got a stop-and-go penalty for dangerous driving.

I was furious. I could not believe it. Being awarded a stop-go penalty for dangerous driving? Despite the fact that it was Verstappen who knocked me off, not the other way around? I thundered in rage on the radio.

Wolff: All for a spin that could've been much worse than those could've diddly splatoon'd on Verstappen!?

Taria heaved a sigh of frustration as she said to me to 'keep my head down' and continue.

Tauri: Yep, we can't do anything other than to tell you to keep your head down and finish the race.

I angrily reminded her about the incident that Ocon and Verstappen did during the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Wolff: Just don't remind me of the time where Ocon clipped Verstappen off the track, and he got a time penalty for that...

Tauri: We don't. So get your head down and finish the race. We've got points to rake in!

I then served my stop-go penalty 8 laps later. But then I had lost a lot of time, falling from P2 to P9 by the time I got out and another Safety Car would wind me up out of the points, because Grosjean had to retire due to tyre failure.

By Lap 46 I was in P2 and Pérez was in P1. Battling against three DNFs was one thing, but retiring from the maiden race you're in is another. And that's exactly what happened to my teammate Sierra Hedgehog. And I would go on to claim my race win in Australia 13 laps later.

And it was, a victory. A tainted one. To say the least. The penalty on Lap 25 didn't affect my chances of taking a race victory from Devon Motorsports's driver Sergio Pérez. And his teammate Leclerc finished 7th.

I was at the cooldown room with Lance Stroll when my team boss came by. I was exhausted after a long race, but I then discussed with her about the retirement of my teammate and whether this could affect the standings of the championship.

She replied that what happened did not affect the championship standings as he was classified P9 after that slip-up.

The standings are as follows:

Wolff (25 pts), Pérez (18 pts), Ocon (15 pts), Bottas (12 pts), Rosberg (10 pts), Verstappen (8 pts), Leclerc (6 pts), Vettel (4 pts), Hedgehog (2 pts), Magnussen (1 pt), Schumacher (0 pts), Stroll (0 pts), Mazepin (0 pts), Piastri (0 pts), Hamilton (0 pts), Giovinazzi (0 pts), and Latifi (0 pts). DNF's: Bourdais (Mechanical Failure), Ericsson (Mechanical Failure), Grosjean (Collision Damage),

PODIUM CEREMONY

The podium ceremony was quite joyful as our national anthem was played through, and the champagne spray was to be honest, I really hated alcohol, but I was there as the rules said so. It was a best shot to say the least, concerning the fact that Sierra was in P9. The race results was made official, with me as the race victor, Pérez in P2 and Ocon in P3. I was the race winner. Getting a race win despite the penalty was appaling, yet exciting.

It looks like he's the race winner of this Australian Grand Prix, and he's satisified!

However, there's a saying that whoever wins the season opener finishes 2nd in the championship standings! Can Aaron break that curse, and be able to defend his streak of Grand Prix wins despite what comes in his way?

Find out next in Round 2: Bahrain!