My Formula 1 System

In a billion-dollar sport like this one, it shouldn't be uncommon to fish out injustice or silent cheating occasionally. A sport that features razor-thin margins and deep technical machinery naturally fosters a playground for clever interpretations of the rulebook. Increased rules, increased opportunities to cheat, and potential for loopholes.

The constant evolution of regulations and loopholes means that what's legal today might be banned tomorrow. But of course, some team must have already reaped the benefits of it silently, winning a race or two with it. Taking a look back at every campaign, sometimes it's safe to say subtle cheating is part of the framework. So, behind the glamour of every car—yes, every one—teams push the limits of legality, hoping their simple tweaks go unnoticed.

Don't think the manufacturers aren't part of this. A war of its own kind is raging at that primary level, a war Luca seems to be crawling into the crossfire of. From time to time, manufacturers do intercede, and sometimes not so subtly. They often aid their customer teams with experimental parts, data access, or political shielding.

Take Trampos Racing, for example. By all accounts, Ferrari was backing their little rear wing enhancement in the Canadian Grand Prix. Logically speaking, Ferrari wouldn't benefit anything substantial from this little act, but the reason lies in the insurance between both parties. Supporting a satellite team is just like telling them: "We've got your back." And since Trampos were the major championship contenders honing their tech, Ferrari would like to assist them to their best capability so the championship could switch sides by the end of the season.

The new rear wing flex more than the standard 5mm for standard cars. Supercars do flex more than 5mm, but regulations allow as such since they are supercars. As a standard chassis, the Z24 shouldn't create less drag on straight-line speed—as it's supposed to be. Trampos aimed to support Luca's rise back to the top 3 with more fruitful overtakes as quickly as possible.

Luca didn't need to be informed about this, because it didn't matter. Even his system couldn't notify him of something as minuscule as that, especially since it caused good, not harm, to the car and his driving.

Although Luca was included in a lot of important talks that held magnitude, the team excluded him from these kinds, maybe because they sensed he held a strong philosophy of fairness and would reprimand cheating and injustice.

[Retrieving pitstop info...]

[Service Time: 2.00 seconds]

[Front Tires: Soft → Soft]

[Rear Tires: Soft → Soft]

[Rear Wing: Replaced]

The pitstop was smooth and efficient, and it didn't raise any suspicion from Luca at first. But later, he noticed something different. The Ferrari became lighter and sleeker in drag, and over time, he gained two Yaw Flex points. To get two points like that consecutively within 10 laps was quite rare at this stage, so it confirmed his growing suspicion about the new rear wing.

[Yaw Flex +1]

[Yaw Flex +1]

[Aerodynamics +1]

[SYNC BAR: [][][][] 37.5%]

But Luca's suspicion wasn't the truth. Funny, he thought the changed wing had had some minor disfigurement, and he'd simply been driving beneath full potential before the pitstop. Unaware this was a quiet upgrade, Luca dismissed it and never thought deeper about it.

P5– Luca Rennick ↑

P6– Elias Nyström ↓

P7– Hank Rice ↓

"...another great gamble from Trampos Racing! Early stop equals early rise! It has paid off for the Rising Suns here in Canada just as it had in the British Grand Prix. Timing the undercut perfectly, they brought Luca in for service earlier than expected, allowing him to make use of the clean air and a refreshed car to push through the net gaps…!"

"...Nordvind Racing tries their very best to mitigate, but Rennick leapfrogs both Nystrom and Rice, reclaiming a solid position in the top five. Now sitting in P5, the team couldn't have asked for a better lineup. We're seeing exactly the kind of top-five mix here worthy of fireworks..!"

[Analyzing Ferrari (Scuderia Z24) and host's distance from 4th Position]

[You are 2 seconds away, host.]

It didn't take long before Luca and the Squadra Corse driver ahead, Marko Ignatova, locked horns as the Canadian Grand Prix started to grow late, time ticking past 40 solid laps into the fifthieth.

[Slipstream Status: ENGAGING]

Car <— Approaching Slipstream (Minimal aerodynamic effect)

Car <<— Partial Lock (Drag reduction increasing)

Car <<<— LOCKED IN (Maximum slipstream advantage)

[Overtake Window: Unclear]

Marko Ignatova didn't ignore the mounting pressure coming from Luca, no matter how little. He was lucky—even though done unknowingly, he escaped Luca's slipstream exploitation. Because Slipstream Mastery was fully completed and mastered, Luca could latch onto tails like magnet snapping to steel, from a much further distance than regular slipstream use. Marko trusted his guts to change lane course smoothly, and that indirectly ruined Luca's progress.

[>>>>

-=----T1┐

T2

┌T4 |

┌T6-----T5└T3

<<<<<]

New lap. Luca closed the gap much faster with extreme speed down the home straight, mirroring that of a supercar. The expanded rear wing flexibility was helping very much—Mr. Grant, Ms. Valloton, and their circle watched with invested interest. Squadra Corse was troubled, as their sole nemesis aimed to throw their second driver down to P5. Since the race had entered its later stages, Rennick had to be more feared and regulated more than ever.

"WOOOOOHHHHHH!"

The crowd's roar exploded across Ladislas Duval as Marko Ignatova executed a flawless defensive weave, forcing Luca to rethink his dive into Turn 2. Luca didn't expect Marko to execute such high-speed artistry after the home straight. Thinking he was more adept in handling the momentum from the home straight, Luca let his overtaking intentions clearly known at T1, and more at T2.

But Marko proclaimed defiance by hugging the outside of T1 loosely, and then cutting deep into T2's inside line. Luca was left to either speed out of the track, through the grass, and then into one of the Olympic buildings, or succumb to the Russian's discipline!

"...SQUADRA CORSE CLINGS TO P4 AS IF THEIR CHAMPIONSHIP LIVES DEPENDS ON IT! THIS DUEL MIGHT NOT RESOLVE ITSELF SAFELY…!"

"WOOOOHHHH!"

[Slipstream Status: ENGAGING]

Car <— Approaching Slipstream (Minimal aerodynamic effect)

Car <<— Partial Lock (Drag reduction increasing)

Car <<<— LOCKED IN (Maximum slipstream advantage)

[Overtake Window: Optimal]

Definitely, Luca didn't sit back after that first blocked attempt. He let the fight cool down briefly at the chicane before attacking once more. With Gripper, the chicane didn't give him a single sweat, but it was bound to trouble Marko even at the slightest.

Taking good advantage of this, Luca closed in threateningly, frightening Marko with the looming shadow of his Ferrari at every corner of the chicane. The gap evaporated to less than a second and once T6 opened, Marko couldn't deny him of his slipstream anymore.

"...slipstream locked in! No way Ignatova can hold this time! Rennick's back on him...!"

P4— Luca Rennick ↑

P5— Marko Ignatova ↓

"...Luca Rennick in P4, Marko Ignatova in P5..!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"

**Yes! Yes, Luca! Good job, good job! That's how you do it—clean overtake, clean overtake!**

[4thPosition]

**P4 now, mate. P4! Keep the focus, keep the rhythm—great execution through the chicane**

"Yes. Let's keep going."

"...Trampos Racing flips Squadra Corse, and P4 is theirs! What a move! Slipstream locked, rear wing open, and nothing Marko could do to stop it...!"

Holding P4 and taking the positions ahead of him were the only objectives Luca had listed for himself now. He planned to stun everyone by pitting once in a 70-lap race like this one. It was time for him to access how good Wear Control was in order to understand its potential and how it worked.

Just a few laps into Luca's rise to fourth, a curious announcement flashed across the circuit: "Race Control: Stewards are currently reviewing questionable telemetry data. Further updates to follow."

The team in question wasn't named, but the murmurs in the paddock began almost instantly. Sudden announcements like this weren't new to Formula 1 races, so spectators carried on watching and cheering as if nothing was going to happen because it usually wouldn't result to anything.

But all the teams that had one or two tweaks in this Canadian Grand Prix became alerted and more focused, though doing their best to keep things calm and steady. Trampos, however, being new to this kind of thing, began sweating profusely.

The sudden announcement wasn't specifically addressed to them, but the timing and ambiguity twisted a knot in everyone's gut. Small beads of pressure accumulated across the team's canopy, figuratively sweating under the weight of possible exposure. To the public, they were composed. Internally, every line of data was now a potential noose.

"Okay, let's keep calm. Don't react. Just… double-check wing oscillation logs from Lap 32 onward."

"Fluctuations are still within the threshold and nothing has nudged over."

"Then telemetry review must be for someone else, right?"

"Maybe. But we're not betting the garage on that. Keep all overlays tight, no sudden adjustments, no messages to Luca. We ride it clean."