Chapter 559: S3 Belgian Grand Prix. 4
As a man of his word, Luigi avenged his team. He had said he would pay back for what Luca did to Marko in the previous race. And in some way, he did in this race.
With veracity in the press of his throttle, Luigi strained his prey, Luca. On the sodden tarmac of Spae, vengeance was set to be served.
Luca couldn’t deny that he felt the aggro from Luigi—his late braking to claim the inside and relentless slipstreaming. Having the Mercedes W12 in your mirrors wasn’t a nice feeling.
Yet, in the young Italian’s mind, he only thought Luigi was trying to put pressure and intimidation to unnerve him, not the threat of actual contact.
The reigning champion chased down the faltering Ferrari, threading his line through the Belgian circuit’s chaotic split of weather.
Each lap felt like driving two different races stitched into one, and Luca’s grip woes only grew worse under the split skies.
The half-dry, half-wet issue also affected Luigi and other drivers, but not as much as Luca. So, Luigi made good use of his time.
He could have taken a shorter time to overtake Luca, but the track’s infamous nature of enforcing a single racing line made overtaking difficult.
This flaw had always been a complaint, and it was meant to be corrected in the Expansion Project of last season. But no action was taken by the FIA on Belgium’s track.
"...and Luigi is right there, crawling behind Rennick. Through T3, he’s no more than a stretch away—"
"...down the straight, the delta is nothing now! And we see DRS going wide! ANTONIO MAKES HIS MOVE...!"
"WOOOOOHHHH!"
Luca’s Spatial Awareness screamed at him, so his only reflex was to attempt a Straightaway Chopping, but unfortunately, he lost more rubber grip while trying to do so.
[Tire Surface Disintegrity: -7% Grip]
Accepting the inevitable, Luca eased off to prevent a spin. This would allow Luigi to take the lead without any more hassle.
In the rules, when your machine is clearly wavering, the driver is obliged to let go of lines. This prevents chaos and unnecessary incidents.
But Luigi wasn’t satisfied with simply slipping past. Once the pair approached the drenched sector, that was when he pressed harder, refusing to grant Luca the clean dignity of yielding.
The champion feigned loss of grip. He deliberately twitched his wheel erroneously, so his tires could forget what grip was for a few seconds.
Angling his Mercedes, he then rammed through from the side.
"OOOOUUUUUHHHH!"
The crowd in that sector roared as Luigi scraped Luca’s side pod, jolting the Mazerunner and his Z24 off racing balance.
"...that’s a contact there! The spray is to blame. Luigi’s car twitches and slams into Luca. Both cars still move...!"
"WOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
"Sorry, sorry—lost it on the wet! I swear, I had no grip there, just slid into him. The car twitched, nothing I could do!"
**Copy, Antonio. No review from the stewards. Don’t worry. The surface was soaked there. Good job in recovering**
P1— Antonio Luigi ↑
P2— Luca Rennick ↓
Luigi grinned inside his helmet, hidden from the cameras but loud in his spirit. The lead was his, and the excuse had been swallowed whole.
With the Z24 unsettled and falling back, it didn’t look like Rennick would mount another challenge anytime soon—if at all in this race.
Although not all of it, the reigning champion had some of his vengeance, and now he could stretch that gap lap after lap.
"...Antonio Luigi takes control of the Belgian Grand Prix! The tifosi will love this one. After all the questions, all the doubts, Spae might just be the stage for the reigning champion to reassert himself...!"
"...on a track like this, that is no small statement!"
**Unbelievable. Nothing from the stewards?**
**Don’t lose your head, Luca. Fresh hards will reset you. We can still fight back. Box next lap.**
"Copy," Luca replied tightly.
The team didn’t like the contact that rattled Luca. Even though he was about to lose the position anyway, he didn’t plan on losing momentum.
Now, Jimmy Damgaard had a clear opening. In a matter of seconds, leaderboard relegation might just begin.
The team also didn’t buy the excuse of "losing grip," as Squadra Corse’s garage just claimed.
How can an F1 world champion lose grip on the same shallow wetness a rookie like Matteo Bianchi was smoothly navigating on?
As Luca recovered himself from the grass, track strip, and back onto the asphalt, he chuckled to himself, realizing this could be vengeance from Australia.
It seemed Luigi didn’t forgive him for crashing Marko on the home straight in Melbourne, and this shove was apparently the bite back.
If not for Gripper keeping the Z24 planted with its worn tires, Luca might’ve been spinning into the barriers—mission successful for Luigi.
"Haha," Luca laughed.
He was happy to play this game.
P2— Jimmy Damgaard ↑
P3— Luca Rennick ↓
In Trampos’ garage, the call for Luca’s pit stop was the most hotly debated so far this season.
Which compound would save them here? Should they gamble with another wet set, try to hold on with hards, or even risk an experimental adjustment? Every option had consequences: they would either lose time, or Luca would lose his race.
[Host, immediate compound change recommended. Wear Control efficiency nearing limit.]
While the engineers argued over data points and the strategists pressed for simulations on whether hards were truly the call, Mr. Grant stood up, placing his hand on the back of Colt’s seat.
He silenced himself deliberately, shutting out the noise of their debate, relying instead on his instincts.
After a long pause, he finally spoke resolutely:
"We’re going wets. No adjustments, no wing changes, just wets. Send him out fast."
The room froze for a moment as everyone looked at the team principal in surprise.
Other teams were already planning for hards to override the half-dry, half-wet issue, so why would they go wets and plunge themselves into deeper peril?
A certain Karoline, a junior analyst seated two rows down with her tab in hand, dutifully picked up right after Mr. Grant. She had something to say to back him up, as he had requested before he even spoke.
"Precipitation levels are still rising, the showers shifting to stratiform from the east as we speak. Wets will become optimal. Hard compounds risk double pit within three laps."
As soon as the engineers received Karoline’s feed, they instantly validated it without a second’s doubt.
Adjustments were made immediately to align with the sudden new plan. McCauley quickly ordered that the white-striped compounds be replaced by the blue-striped.
The entire pit stop was generally recalibrated, and also right on time, because Luca was rolling down the pit lane.
**Full wets now, Luca. No adjustments. Straight swap. Weather’s picking up, you’ll be covered**
’What...?’
[Service Time: 1.90 seconds]
[Front Tires: Intermediate → Wet]
[Rear Tires: Intermediate → Wet]
[Ding!]
[Grip restored. Risk of Aquaplaning: Reduced]
Luca decided to shove his questions aside, suppressing the urge to snap at his team for putting on wets when he had wanted the real weapon for this drying track.
If they were wrong, it’d be on them when he spun out and crashed.
So, he dropped the clutch at green light, tires screeching until he rocketed out of the pit lane to rejoin the race.
P5– Luca Rennick ←
"...and Rennick is back on the track, rejoining only in P5! That’s four places lost from the lead he once held... and hang on— is that fresh full wets? Full wets on the Ferrari!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"
"...That is... bold. Very bold. While the others are eyeing the hard compounds, Trampos have gone the other way entirely...!"
Trampos supporters shook their heads in disbelief, saying this was a reckless decision, while rival camps were secretly delighted at the prospect of their downfall.
Others were curious to see if this audacious call would lead to glory.
But Trampos had conviction. They knew they had just saved their star driver’s race.
Had he gone onto hards, he would have been forced back in almost immediately for wets, losing seconds and tumbling even further down the pack.
─── 🏁 RACE CONTROL DISPLAY ───
⁕ Weather: Rain
⁕ Track Temp: 21°C | Air Temp: 17°C
⁕ Lap: 37 / 45
⁕ Race Time: 01:12:28