With a gentle turn, Zoe tangented away from Val, the kick up of snow billowing over her as Val landed, the typically exitable Swiss now a little more irked by the snow kicked up, but hey, it was what she got for being in the slow lane.....so with it, she got back to Val's left, keeping out the way. The two were hurtling down, a sight to behold, ginger and yellow in a chaotic harmony, as Zoe gently pulled back on her wing's toggles. With a gentle rise, she pulled away from the slope, switching sides on Val's path, coming down on a steeper section and carving hard on the snow, using it to create momentum to come away from the slope once again and come aloft.

With a loud whoop, Zoe was back in the air again, the blonde-haired Swiss girl totally enamoured with the moment. It felt odd to her, strange even to be a jack of all trades, somewhat a master of none. Her background and her education really pointed towards her doing more than this, but well, who was she to care? She was happy, living, and completely sucked into her own momentum, something she kept up her own rate at. Val seemed to at least half tolerate her- give her shit, give her real feedback, rather than just be a flat-out hater or a kiss-ass. Val was fucking real, she thought to herself. The kind of girl who would sigh at her shitty comments, but would come along for the ride. Zoe probably should have seen that bit, but hey, it was another partner in crime for the things she got up to. And that stuck with.

Coming back down as she had gone up, Zoe hit a few berms, using the wing to amplify each and every send, travelling almost a superhuman distance if it wasn't for the fact she had a giant yellow speedwing carrying her from point to point, completely enamoured with this. The route still had a little while to go, with a few more huge crevasses coming up- this wasn't a glacial mountain, but the rock just fell away completely at points, to huge spaces that no skiier would want to go down into without something to pick them up and over.

Valentina shook her head as she heard Zoe whooping and hollering once again. It was an absolute wonder how that girl had so much energy around her. With that being said, Valentina knew she didn't have a single problem with keeping up. Their energy was just expressed in different ways. Valentina continued to stay glued to the ground, her skiis carving through snow as she watched Zoe soar in the air like she was some sort of bird. Sometimes it was better on the ground, but with the way Zoe was making it out, it seemed like the air wasn't a bad option either.

The Colombian continued to pick up speed, using her sticks and her legs to steer herself around obstacles accordingly. With every bit of speed that she was picking up, she knew that her reflexes had to be faster. She didn't want to wrap herself around a tree and become a Valentina pancake. Because this course was not traveled very often, there were obstacles like trees and rocks around. It wasn't the speed that killed skiiers, it was the sudden stopping that killed people, and Valentina knew better than to not take an obstacle seriously.

Luckily, she had the privilege of having an apparatus she could pull upon when things got too dicey. Like the giant crevasse she was coming up hot on. She wasn't pizza-ing whatsoever, only french frying as the crevasse got bigger and bigger. Once her field of view was enveloped by the crevasse, Valentina pulled on her apparatus, catching a bunch of air and sending her up in the air to clear the crevasse. The Colombian also took this moment to flip off Zoe, because she totally deserved it.

Zoe chuckled, bounding over a small patch of trees and another crevasse, watching as Val swung past her, middle finger raised, all right before her. Well, that had to be responded to...that wasn't on! Zoe pulled down on the risers, diving down and bringing it down onto the snow, flying the wing fast and turning hard to skim across the powder, kicking up a fine white spray as she whooped, pulling hard on the toggles, fully aware of where she was now relative to Val. With almost a poetic turn, she turned in the harness, almost upside down, waving two middle fingers back, burying the toggle and barrel-rolling the wing, coming down hard into the powder with a hard plonk. She was laughing too much to care, the Swiss girl barely moving but now getting underway, following behind Val on the run down, swinging by her side from time to time, just enjoying the petering out as the snow and rocks began to increase in number.

The run was beginning to run out, but there was still some fun to have- Zoe taking the chance to use her momentum to get airbourne again, right over Val and bobbing over a set of trees, bringing herself down right by Val's side, getting another shot of her Colombian partner in crime, a visible smirk on her face now they weren't barelling and thundering down the mountainside, the Moroccan pine showing signs that this wasn't the high Alps, but a mountain in North Africa, an arid and dry landscape now better visible beyond the peaks of the valley. Fast route down this had been.

Coming to a halt with a hard pizza and skid, the wing collapsed in front of Zoe as she put the brakes on, giggling with joy as she waved to Val, yelling for her to come over.
"Now wasn't that something!?" She yelled, chuckling as she pulled the wing in tight, unclipping from her skis. With a gentle patter into the powder, Zoe was running over towards Val as she misjudged the speed a little. Val was still moving a little....ahh, shit. This might hurt a little. Probably not because there's a lot of powder, Zoe realised, barely diving out of the way, going for the embrace but being comically denied and no doubt causing Val to faceplant into the snow. Well....the right intentions were had, Zoe thought to herself?
"Shit, sorry! You alright?"

Landing back onto the powder, a giant white cloud of snow flew up behind her as she continued carving through the mountains. The Colombian had quite a bit of momentum behind her and Valentina was more than interested in keeping that up as she observed a shadow suddenly overcome her. Why did it get so dark all of a sudden? Valentina looked up to see the last thing she wanted to see on top of her. Zoe Mercier, in the sky above her, with double the amount of birds being flown as she barrel rolled her way over her. Valentina could not have rolled her eyes any harder than she did at that moment. Seriously, Zoe?

Valentina glanced back to watch Zoe landing, almost watching her eat shit as she trailed behind her. The run was coming close to and end and Valentina knew it. She looked forward though, knowing that she had a lot more to pay attention to than Zoe being an idiot behind her. There wasn't enough airspace for both her and Zoe, which was fine because Valentina was much more suited for the ground. Eventually she saw Zoe zip in front of her, Valentina being able to do absolutely nothing.

Valentina was so busy bobbing and weaving through trees that she hadn't even realized that Zoe had stopped ahead. By the time she realized, she had already accumulated too much speed to stop in time. Seeing the figure come closer and closer to her, Valentina's eyes grew wide as she tried to pizza as hard as she could, before realizing there was nothing she could do to stop or get out of Zoe's way. She had to stop so hard that she went perpendicular in the snow, causing her to stop suddenly and launch forward. She didn't know what it was about Zoe, but she always found a way to make herself more annoying. Val got a good mouthful of the powder as she fell forward, before getting up and blowing some sand out of her mask. Valentina wasn't happy whatsoever. Pulling her goggles up, Valentina had a fiery look in her eyes. "Eres estúpida?" Valentina yelled, "Are you stupid? What the fuck were you thinking? No, of course I'm not alright, pendeja!"

Zoe shrugged, in an odd admission, knowing she might have to take the blame for that one. Well, a little...
"Well, sorry Val! You were going pretty fast, I thought we were stopping here?!" She said, going from her apology to a little bit of aggro, the girl not knowing even herself when to temper her own personality.

Sighing, Zoe crashed into the snow, exhaling hard, pulling her mask and goggles off, helmet in hands with her scowl now visible.
"Well, apart from that....nice little run down, wasn't it?" She added, trying to defuse the situation, a rarity for Zoe yet something common with her trait- well, she didn't really give too much of a shit about any of it. No doubt she was gonna get shit from Val all the way down, but eventually, she'd calm down...right? Val was fiery as hell, always on edge she felt, but well, Zoe hadn't met anyone like her who was willing to follow into these crazy schemes.

She sat back up, gathering the wing in and getting it as small as possible, before throwing it onto her shoulder, staying on her skis and using them to gently walk down the slope, the snow dying back now quite significantly in the pine forest, as she looked back across to Val, very much aware she would have a scowl on her face.
"That did look fucking sick. Lot of footage we can use there!" Zoe added, her exited self moving on too quick, knowing she might have still been pissed off. Kit in hand, the snow was running out, so Zoe had the chance to take off her skis and then sling them into her other hand, keeping them close. It was awkward to hike with all this, but they had a little while to go still.
"So uhh....yeah, that was fun, right?" She seemed a little naiive to how pissed Val was, but hey, she had to melt her down, Zoe thought to herself....even if it seemed awkward now, the Swiss girl looking over her shoulder.

Valentina really couldn't believe what she was listening to right now. Why was Zoe so calm and lackadaisical about nearly causing a collision between the two? Valentina didn't understand, and it certainly didn't help that her face, among many other things, were hurting right now. She scoffed as she looked around to find if she'd dropped anything. An impact like that definitely meant that she was going to lose a few things. Just looking down she spotted that her shoulder camera had become dislodged in her fall, leading to her bending down and picking it up as she looked for other things.

She hadn't heard half of what Zoe had said as she was busy looking around in the snow for her lost parts. It didn't seem like anything else was lost, somehow, besides some things she wouldn't really miss. Valentina knew that Zoe should have known that it was not smart to piss Val off, let alone try to interact with her after you've pissed her off. Zoe certainly had a bit of audacity and tenacity to her, one that Val was not very keen to deal with right now.

"Fun?" Valentina turned to Zoe, a thousand bladed glare coming from her eyes. "Yeah, it was fun up until you decided to be an idiot and stand in my way." Valentina grunted, as she dismounted all of her cameras off of their mounts. "Seriously. What were you thinking?" Val sighed.

Zoe shrugged, sighing as she adjusted the way she was carrying the wing over her shoulder, taking a firmer grip with her gloved hands.
"You were going slower, I thought you were coming to me, sorry gal...look, whatever, it is what it is. Come on, we're nearly there now. Neaaarly there..." She replied, almost going into song towards the end, trying to take the sting out of their argument, sighing as she brushed her hair back, getting some of the snow out of it. She probably expected this of Val now, she had a temper about her- then again, she could too, given how much she sometimes came to blows...sometimes it was best to just let it go. She did look like she had taken a bruise, but again, mentioning it would probably get a heap of shit- not like it was the worst that the two of them had suffered on their adventures. Zoe herself had broken her ankle pretty nastily in the past, but well, she wasn't one to be stopped that easy.

She thought to herself, they were on a frozen mountain together, and more likely than not, Val would probably appreciate the good that had come out of this. Despite being like they were the Gallagher brothers at times, they were like Oasis, rockin' the world when they were together. Even Zoe, as headless as she could be at times, wasn't completely apathetic as to why people did the things they did. Her just being mindless was gonna get this, so it was stiff upper lip till they got further down, the Swiss girl taking all her own cameras off and hucking them into her North Face pack.

And that they did, making their way through the thinning snow in the forest down to a small track, where a grey Mercedes G-Wagen was parked. Zoe's credit card certainly worked wonders at the hire car office, and while pretty much any cheap 4x4 would have done the trick.
"Bagsy driving!" She squeaked, throwing her stuff straight into the back seats and bolting into the driver's seat- still wrapped up in most of her gear. Throwing her boots into the back, she grabbed a pair of trainers, a tasteful set of Nikeys, Zoe still keeping her jacket on for warmth. After all, the heating in even a fancy car like this would take some time to really spool up, as she took a good look back to Val, sighing out. She knew she had to say something, or Val was gonna be real, real mad.

"Look, I really didn't mean it. Promise. I know you're mad...so I'll make this up to you, food's on me tonight. I'll get us something fancy to treat after that....we did good, mon ami. That was fucking crazy..."

The trek down the forest had allowed for more than ample time for Valentina to cool down. Maybe a bit literally considering how much snow was around. As explosive and volatile as Valentina's temper was, it was entirely in the range of possibility for her to cool down somewhat quickly. At the end of the day, Zoe was going to Zoe and there wasn't much that Val could realistically do to alleviate the Zoe things that Zoe did, much to her annoyance. As much as it annoyed her it was just one of the things that came with working with Zoe. Considering the antics they got up to, her annoying little idiosyncrasies were something she was more than willing to deal with.

Eventually they got down to the G-Wagon that Zoe rented, and much to Valentina's relief, Zoe decided she was the one to drive. Which was great, since Valentina wasn't entirely in the mood to drive right now. It gave her an ample opportunity to just sit back and unwind while Zoe drove them back to the hotel. A hot, steamy shower at near boiling temperatures sounded absolutely divine right now. Chucking her stuff into the back seat, she closed the door and she climbed into the passenger seat, before the car eventually rolled off.

"Yeah.... yeah..." Valentina rolled her eyes, "Just drive. We'll talk about this later."

Zoe shrugged as she turned the G-Wagen down the hairpin bend, knowing that Val was undoubtedly gonna take a lot more time to cool off, and knew it wasn't . Putting some music on from her bluetooth-connected phone, some quiet house playing in the stereo, the Swiss girl sighing as she turned another bend, sloshing slush billowing behind the black G-Wagen. Subtle it wasn't, but hey, Zoe's pockets were deep and when she saw this was availible, she just had to. After all, it was big, spacious, and a Mercedes that could go off-road- why not?

It was a strange thing, between the both of them. Sometimes Zoe wondered why Val decided to keep coming back- it wasn't the money, was it? It probably wasn't, Zoe guessed- Val did pay her own way, so chances were, it was that Zoe was the only girl that was as crazy as she was, and as willing to get stuck in with her. Perhaps in their own weird way, they put up with each others' oddities- and in their sports that they did, there were very, very few partnerships because barely anyone did it. Plus, Val even when mad was kinda cute to Zoe. Like an angry rabbit thumping away, she couldn't help but still feel under all that shit, there was someone sarcastic and willing to cut the shit with her.

The road continued to wind, as Zoe turned down the radio, knowing that even in spite of what Val said, she had to break the silence, as they came out of the high mountain valleys and now on the bigger roads towards Marrakesh, taking them gently down out of the High Atlas.
"Merde...yeah, that caps off the adventure nicely. Done with Morocco, baby...didn't really have much in mind after this. There's this project a friend of mine keeps talking about, someting insane to do with a propelled wingsuit concept. Shit, you ever wonder you'd try it?"

Valentina rolled her eyes as Zoe continued to go on about whatever it was she was going on about. Eventually Valentina was going to cool down, but right now Valentina figured that Zoe wouldn't really catch onto the fact that she wasn't entirely interested in talking. She was just going to keep going on and on like the Energizer bunny. Zoe never really knew when to stop when it came to talking, no matter how Zoe was feeling.

The concept of a propelled wingsuit intrigued Valentina, but it was going to be a while before she did some crazy shit with it. "A propelled wingsuit?" Valentina sat back and looked at Zoe, "I'm not hopping in one of those until I get more comfortable in it." Something like that could turn Valentina into a pancake pretty quickly, hence her not being very privy towards piloting such a thing. "You get me some sessions learning how to use it and maybe I'll think about it."

Zoe chuckled, looking across to her with a wry grin, knowing she felt pretty much the same....but knew it was possible they would still do it anyway. It just felt like a given thing, an inevitability

"Me learning how to use one of those? Shiiit...." She added, giggling as she shifted up, overtaking a slow moving tractor on the valley road, picking up a little more pace as she sighed, her coo almost showing that yeah, she was maybe pulling back from it. Then again, she was always the ideas girl. Val seemed to send just a little harder than her, Zoe always right behind. Well, unless her peachy ass was right in shot, then in which case, yeah, Zoe knew where she wanted to be. First to fly, send and be kicking ass. Still though, she had plenty of time for Columbian compadre, even in spite of the stupid shit they got into.
"Okay, maybe we learn it together. Make a video out of it, if I'm going in, I'm not going without you, hey!" Zoe giggled, knowing that while it was dark, they could both take that humour- they were living life on the edge, and well, a certain thing came with it, the two driving out into the middday sun.

----

Hugo took a deep breath, looking across the small room with an almost vacant stare. The temporary lodging in the team's motorhome, with a bed, a small desk and a lamp above felt like a bit of a cage, but nothing compared to some of the crappy hotels he'd stayed in. He could take this. Privacy, well, almost with how little soundproofing it had, but it was home at least. In a white underlayer with sponsors on, leggings to go with it, the Portuguese teen seemed at ease, as if he was taking a moment of zen before he had to go back out again.

The phone gave a gentle buzz, as Hugo reached across the bed, picking the device up with a gentle swipe, seeing the caller ID flash before he did.
"Hey, Hugo! It's Maxine....how is my client doing?" The sound of Maxine Blake, his agent rang through, as he put it off speaker, taking the phone to ear. He leaned back against the wall, feet sprawled across the bed, the British 40-something woman the handler for Hugo's brand, reputation, and right now, involvement in F1.
"Good, good thanks Maxine. You good?" His accent came across, his English stellar and unbroken but clearly accented with the Portuguese tinge it had. He did speak French, Spanish and English fluently, a gift of a good education, that and a dad who travelled.

"Yeah, not too bad thanks, actually. How have you settled in over there at Valkyrie? Been a while since pre-season, hey?"
"It's good...shit, I'm pinching myself....can't believe we made it, into F1 Maxine! This is insane..." Hugo said, Maxine chuckling as he breathed a sigh of relief almost to himself.
"Yeah....and what's she like? Kasumi, I mean."

"Oh yeah, she's cool, Maxine. Really nice. Super friendly. Wouldn't want to be her though...she is going to have a lot of pressure. With you know...."
"For sure Hugo...she's the first female in modern F1, she will have doubters. But she isn't a PR stunt, she is more than capable. Her pre-season times raised a lot of eyebrows, I'll say that now. It's impressive she didn't end up at the other teams- Red Bull were making serious enquiries before this gig happened. I know you two challenged each other a lot last season, so I'm glad there's no bad blood from when we spoke last."
"Not an issue. We're here to get points, the team comes first. She seems cool, anyway. Far better than some assholes I've had before."

"That's great, that's great...just remember, you're also here to boost your reputation. You aren't here to race Hamilton, but you need to show what you're made of. Shit, if the team is lucky, you might score points. That's a very good day....Valkyrie is clearly minted, with a lot of money and a hell of a lot of resources for a new outfit, but you have to still remember, they are behind the curve. Remember, you are now in a shop window, Hugo. Lot of people are going to talk about you, like we said.....what you now do, say, feel about things, actually matters. You behave like a child, trust me, the Principals talk about it. So be better thab that. And because I know you aren't rolling in money, the reason Valkyrie has you is because you're talented. So's Kasumi. So show them what you're worth, and everyone else too- this game is fickle and you need to be more than just a walking pound sign. Let's forget the whole Ferrari thing, yeah? Lots of new opportunities here, and a good chance to build up your reputation. Don't be an arsehole, keep up good optics and socials, get good race pace and I'll be fielding calls for you in no time."

"Pretty difficult to forget they lied to me, Maxy....ahh, yeah I guess you're right. Thanks for the heads up."
"It's literally what I get a cut for. I wouldn't get paid if I didn't think about your best interests and talked to the right people, would I?"
"Well, that's why you're talking about reputation now. Let's just take one season at a time, shall we before we look at more cut for you?" Hugo said, Maxine audibly laughing, knowing they could chat shit like that from time to time, as side-on as that joke went.
"Haha...well, I am that confident in you. You have this. It's going to be a long season. Just focus on what's first. Don't be a dick. Remember the media training, but have good optics. You're the underdog, Hugo. Go get em."

(all yours to start off the next chapter officially :) )

The bright sun beat down on a sunny Australian morning, the sun shining on the beginning the latest Formula 1 season as teams got ready to head out and make their debut for the season. This season was the first season for CASTROL Valkyrie Racing Honda, an American team who had punched their way into the grid and joining Haas as one of the American teams on the grid. Ironically, neither of the drivers for the team were of American origin. Another surprising thing was that the team had opted to scoop up two rookies for their first driver lineup. Though, neither driver was a slouch. Hugo de Olivera had just come out of a 4th place finish in the previous F2 season he competed in, racking up a few wins along the way. Joining him, was Kasumi Brown, who had blazed a trail in the automotive world by being the highest finishing female in open-wheeler history, coming off of a second place finish in her last season in Formula 2.

Kasumi was attracting attention from constructors like Williams and Toro Rosso, but she had ultimately opted to sign with Valkyrie Racing, knowing that it was the fastest path to having a car that wasn't playing second fiddle to another team. Two rookies weren't unprecedented, but the precedent of this very occurrence didn't bode very well for Kasumi and Hugo. Of course, Kasumi aspired to beat the low expectations that everyone had for this team and turn some heads in this coming F1 season. Kasumi knew that since the team had entered so late, they were behind when it came to development.

Teams had many years on Valkyrie, and some teams weren't even close to competing. With this knowledge, however, the management of Valkyrie racing knew they had to run things as efficiently and as well as they could. They poached whoever they could from other teams, letting their wisdom and experience guide the team. Despite all that, however, the team also went with an entirely new team principal to oversee everything. Their current team principal, Kimberly Rossi, had no prior experience with managing a motorsports team, let alone a Formula 1 team, but yet the owners and management of Valkyrie Racing saw her to be the best candidate regardless of her inexperience.

But here they were. In spite of the lack of experience and the newness of the team, they were here on day one, ready to go. Kasumi stood beside her car, her helmet on her head as she waited for her mechanics to finish up the last touches to the car. Kasumi stood in her white overalls, complete with green and red accents to match the car sitting in front of her. Her red-pink visor was flipped up, the British born driver looking over the garage in front of her as she prepared to make her debut on an actual race weekend in the pinnacle of motorsport. Kasumi's eyes shot over to a mechanic, who started to beckon her into the car. She started to walk, eventually clambering into the rather snug cockpit of the Formula 1 car.

It took a little while, but Kasumi was eventually secured into the car, the racing driver slipping on her gloves and stretching her fingers as she heard the car rev to life. Glancing down at the steering wheel, it was going through its usual start-up procedures and cycling through its initial diagnostics. All seemed to be clear so far, as the screen eventually flashed a giant "N" for neutral. Kasumi took the liberty to give the engine a couple of revs, the turbo V6 bellowing in the garage. Eventually, the computer in front of the cockpit was raised up, before a mechanic backed up into the pitlane, watching for cars to come. As soon as the pitlane was clear, he waved Kasumi forward, indicating that it was finally time to go. Shifting the car into first, it rolled forward out of the garage as she turned right, the F1 car now clambering along at a strictly governed 38 miles per hour as it rolled down the pitlane.

It didn't take long before Kasumi's engineering chirped in on the radio. A female voice chimed in on the radio. "Practice start at the end of the pit. Position 3. Push hard after this out lap, and then come box afterwards." Kasumi pressed a button to acknowledge the directions, before pulling over just past the stop light. "You are clear behind. You are clear behind, Kasumi." Kasumi took a deep breath, before holding down the throttle just high enough so that the car wouldn't bang against the rev limiter and so that the car wouldn't stall right out of the gate. Holding the clutch down, Kasumi did an internal countdown. At the end of it, Kasumi let go and let the car launch forward, gradually applying more and more throttle as she cycled up the gears, minimizing wheelspin as best as she could.

Hugo had certainly lit the F2 series up, as had Kasumi- and to now prove his skills in F1 machinery felt like a dream come true. This wasn't the simulator at Maranello, where he'd worked as a development driver- this was an actual machine that could go easily past 230mph on the straights, and induce neck-bracing Gs through corners. It was a fighter jet with wheels, and felt like it had the technology of one to boot. A modern Formula One car was an incredible piece of engineering, even Valkyrie's attempt was laden with CFD, wind tunnel and fluid dynamics testing at every contour and carbon composite piece, and it felt like it.

With FP1 and FP2 ahead, Hugo had followed Kasumi out, setting into the track at Albert Park and keeping a nice pace. Following a few diagnostics first- it wasn't alien, but in the white helmet with the red and maroon hexagonally-patterned trim and an orange visor, the Portuguese driver was certainly recognisable to his home fans, a pattern similar to the one he had back in Formula 2. The car's striking livery was as classic as the Gulf Oil livery to motorsports fans- a white Castrol livery with red and blue dovetails, with the title sponsor flanked by others such as BP, Sagres, Rockstar, and a handful of others that had dotted the American-based team's first attempt. It had to be said, such a classic livery just made it a magnet to anyone who loved motorsport, especially classic JGTC racing- the Supras and NSXes of old had a livery, and the Honda power unit sowed that nicely together. A crisp roar came from behind Hugo's firewall as he buffered brakes and took turn one at speed, the G-forces of the hard right and left pelting at his neck, the acceleration blistering as the car span a little on the exit kerb, throwing marbles aside.

"Okay, telemetry is looking very neat, let's set a nice race delta through the next few, and we'll pit you in three laps time with Kasumi. How are the tyres?" The British engineer asked, Ray Baldwin a bloke that Hugo trusted deeply even in spite of knowing him barely a few months now. He was from another team in the Banbury area, he couldn't remember which, but had a glut of knowledge and experience on the pitwall. So far, Hugo was in his element, focussed on the machinery's capabilities and not fucking it up.
"Tyre deg seems nice, heating seems inconsistent. Softs are not going to work as well in this weather if we've got this weather on Sunday!" Hugo communicated, the Portuguese braking into turn three and taking a fine line through, chuckling as he could only remind himself....this was Formula One.

Rounding around the last set of corners, Kasumi held down the radio button on her steering wheel. "Car feels alright. Stable through the high speed corners, some understeer in the lower speed corners." Kasumi indicated. "Copy. Push lap. Mode 7, Kasumi, Mode 7." Her engineer said, as Kasumi looked down at her steering wheel. She tweaked the dials on her steering wheel, before her steering wheel screen flashed a giant "MODE 7" on the screen. Rounding around turn 15, Kasumi threw the car around, keeping a moderate amount of throttle as she made her way through the tight series of corners.

Rounding around the last corner, Kasumi opened up the throttle and sped down the opening straight. Rowing through the gears, Kasumi's open wheeled car cut down the straight like a hot knife through butter. The car quickly climbed up to speeds higher than 150 miles per hour, but it didn't phase the racing driver. She was trained to withstand speeds and conditions like this. The g-forces that resulted from a fast lap like this were nothing to her, not after years and years of training and experience. As the braking point for turn 1 came up, Kasumi practically stood on the brakes as the car slowed. At the same time, she went down a few gears to make sure the car would slow down and rotate enough into the next turn.

A bit later, Kasumi back around the last corner again, the car barreling at a much faster rate as she crossed the line. "That was a 1:22.3. 22.3. Box, box." Her engineer said, as Kasumi pressed the button on her screen to confirm the pit. The racing driver had to make another round around the track as she made her way back to the pit stop, eventually finding herself in the speed limited stretch of road after a slower lap around the Melbourne Grand Prix. The pink car of Racing Point pulled out ahead of Kasumi, presumably to go on their practice laps and whatnot. Kasumi only pulled into her pit booth, her mechanics coming in and inserting devices to cool down the brakes and lifting up the car as it was pushed back into the garage. Once the car was settled, Kasumi clambered out of the car, removing her gloves and helmet as her race engineer came up to greet her at her car. "How'd the car feel?" The race engineer asked, pulling up the telemetry data from Kasumi's fast lap.

"Good." Kasumi said, as she removed her balaclava. "I did notice some understeer at turn 11 and 12, car didn't bite in. However, the warmed up tires did alleviate the low speed understeering. Turn 3 felt better on the second go." Kasumi said, getting into a conversation with her engineer. As she conversed, Kasumi glanced at the screen behind her engineer, watching Hugo in his car and working his magic with Valkyrie Racing's first car. Hopefully the car treated him well.

Hugo paced another lap around Albert Park, the car now feeling a little more like it read its trend in the corners, through entry and exit displaying its true form. After all, practice programmes were set up that way, and the data coming in now was a true test of the car after pre-season testing a few weeks back.
"Right, nice qualy run and we'll bring you in. Qualy run, Hugo, confirm?"
"Confirm." The Portuguese replied, crossing the start finish and giving it his all. The car at 90% felt ridiculous compared to Formula 2 machinery, and to think this was even slower still than the Ferrari he had done some light testing with. It was a strange feat that he had gone through the programme so far, and now here he was, at its sidelines- cast away. Out of money, he shouldn't have been here. And yet here he was, the talent he proved in F2 and the surrounding backing he had, well, what was left of it, backing him into a Formula One seat. On qualy pace, he was proving himself nicely- the car set up neatly complementing his style. He never had the absolute focus in qualy, it was something he was working on, a real thing he put a lot of time and effort into- his racepace and elbows out approach was what made him spicy more than his absolute pace, something Kasumi would likely have the better effort of him. Still, he could put in a competitive time, and with practice coming to an end, he had a few more scenarios to run.

---

With practice now over, the Portuguese clambered out of the white, green and red coloured machine, the end of Practice 3 now showing up Valkyrie's pace- it wasn't as bad as initially thought, but even Hugo knew it was going to still be tough. The big talking point on the paddock was the simple truth of an 11th team- they had to score more points than Williams or Haas, in order to get in for the prize money. Top 10 after all got a payout- and any less than that meant nada, which was effectively economical suicide for this young, fledgling team. It was why F1 never really had more than 10 yeams- but here Valkyrie was, a risk and a brave, bold one among many trying to survive. Taking on the teams that were established in the sport would be tough, but they had no option but to succeed, and no doubt the owners had put it all on black, taking on Hugo and Kasumi to deliver. Though Hugo knew he and Kasumi had talent, this was the big game. Up against Russell, Magnussen, Grojean, they were going to be stripped back and fighting hard against players that had been here at least a year, the latter two almost a decade. Oh yeah, that and Laurent Pascal, someone he wasn't going to want to come across in the pitlane...

Stil, stepping back, Ray had some helpful insights for him, Hugo thought to himself. Pointers on what FP 1, 2 and 3 sessions had yielded- the car was shit, the performance was worse than that of the Alpha Tauri due to the customer PU, the grip was good but only just better than Williams, making for a car that on delta, would score 18th on the grid in race conditions. Lot of work to do. But it was what it was. Handling the media had gone well, Hugo and Kasumi answering the questions well, responding in a PR-driven, reponsed measure that the team would need to give answers for. It all went well, and here they were, sitting in the lull before Qualifying here in Australia. And in that pit-box, Hugo was taking a moment to go over the data one more time, seeing Kasumi do the same.
"Hey up, you all good over there?" He asked, aware his team-mate was someone he talked to from time to time- while in his own bubble, he had a care for her, and even in spite of the more forced social media stuff, he could talk to her not as a rival, but as a friend.
"How you feeling, Kasumi? Caraho...I can't believe this is real. Here we are though...no great expectations of us. But we get into Q3, one of us....I think we're gonna be beers in, no?"

In the gap of time in between FP3 and qualifying, the staff of CASTROL Valkyrie Racing were hard at work on both of the cars, setting them up so that they could extract as much pace from these cars as possible. Kasumi stood next to her race engineer, analyzing the telemetry gathered through the various practice laps they ran over the three sessions. It was valuable information, given that the more that they figured out the car and the track wore in, the more that they were able to hone on in the ideal setup for their drivers. She and her race engineer were working in tandem to make sure they were on the same page, and making sure that the setup was as perfect as possible for not only the upcoming qualifying session, but the race session.

Once she was freed up and the race engineer went to analyzing more data, Kasumi was standing against a wall in the middle, sipping from her drink before she was talked up by her teammate, Hugo. Her old rival in the junior series was now her teammate, and it was still a rather surreal experience for her. The two scrapped a lot and had many encounters together, but to share the same garage and even the same car to an extent... she couldn't have asked for a better teammate to navigate this experience in. It wasn't easy being a rookie in this sport, and she was glad to have someone she could share the experience in.

"I'm feeling a bit nervous." Kasumi laughed, "It's our first quali in Formula 1. The whole world is looking to see how we do in these cars." The British driver said. As Hugo mused about getting into Q3, Kasumi chuckled. "If we make it into Q3 in our first qualifying in Formula 1, more than just a beer will be in order. I've half a mind to get us some champagne for that alone." Kasumi was well aware of the true pace of this car. She wasn't driving a Merc, a Red Bull, or even a Ferrari. This car was the freshest on the grid and was the least developed, with a team just as green. Kasumi hoped that as the season went on, their car would improve to the point where they could even fight for a win. "How about you - you feeling okay?"

Hugo chuckled, shrugging to Kasumi's knowledge that indeed, the car wasn't going to go far. But they could try, and pull off some kind of upset. He felt good working with her, knowing that whilst most drivers would fight against each other and be total rivals even in the garage, sticking away from each other and only working for the team on the track and in debriefs, the two were actually alright with each other. Better than that asshole, Laurent. He was genuinely despicable, and worst of all, actually a talent. The money coming in from his family made him a necessity at Haas, and while he was good, the attitude of smarmy rich prick resonated far beyond just his own pit box.

"Oh yeah, too right. But then again? Just climb into that car and treat it like F2. We got this. What happens, happens." Hugo added, responding to her first question, then listening to her next after clicking through the telemetry, taking in a few early brakes and late deployments of ERS.
"Yeah....mostly. Just trying not to think too much about it. It's just a racing car....that goes faster than any other. It'll be fine." He commented, the response half there, but enough in his mind.

He would be there when he put his helmet and gloves back on- after all, you didn't get into F1 by being second best. You got there by being elite, and age was not a factor in that. That was what seperated most people from racing drivers, and most racing drivers from Formula One. A level of athletic fitness, cardio, mindset, conviction, and absolute talent. Hugo knew you got this far by being absolutely cut-throat, relentless and totally, totally trusting in your will to win. Even in a car like this- it was knowing the limit before the limit, and getting the best time possible. There were 20 other people that wanted that too.

With a data debrief over, Q1 was fast on the horizon. It was going to be a tough session, but they had to make the most of it, the two of them debriefing and getting ready to go out onto the track once again. Helmet and HANS device on, Hugo slowly did up his Alpinestars gloves once more, before clambering back into his machine, surrounded by a small group of engineers and other pit personnel. Taking a moment, he shut his eyes, visualising the turns for almost a solid minute, opening his eyes at the bright white light outside the doors. There was no time to think about what was going to happen. Just to execute it.

"Alright Hugo, nice, deep, breath. You are out first. Q1 starts in 90 seconds. We want to put your car on a banker first, then we'll go for another once we see what your time looks like. Let's see what this machine can do, Hugo. Nice and steady." His engineer called out, as Hugo exhaled, leaning back, shutting his eyes for a second and opening again. The engine roared into life as the mechanics pulled everything away, and on the chatter in his ears, he got ready to go. He was going in front of Kasumi on this run, and on the unrubbured track, he knew it would be poor. But it was worth a shot, as he pulled out of the garage, lulling slow in the pit lane, before planting his foot at the end and letting the Honda power unit roar.

The gap in between FP3 and Qualifying quickly passed as the data briefing ended and the engineers of Valkyrie Racing sorted out all the data that they needed to. In what seemed like a blur, Kasumi had found herself inside the cockpit of the VR-01, her gloves off as she stared at the screen in front of her. Hugo was due to be out first today, which meant Kasumi had more time to analyze the data in front of her and listen to what the engineers wanted to tell her. On the screen in front of her were projections of qualifying laps, accounting for the track evolution and standings of the grid. However, since Q1 had just started, the only thing on the board were the various people taking their outlaps.

Kasumi eventually slipped on her gloves as a gap started to open up. Hugo was long gone on his outlap and now was Kasumi's time to go on her outlap. The computer was retracted and pushed away as an engineer stepped out to look at the pitlane. He held out his hand and looked to the side, waiting for a Red Bull to pass before beckoning for the car to come forward. Kasumi shifted into first gear, letting the car roll out and eventually turning onto the pitlane as she made her way on the outlap. Kasumi's heart was pounding as she merged onto the track, slotting in between cars and keeping to the side so that she didn't impede anyone on the way to her qualifying lap.

It was about two minutes before Kasumi made her way to the last chicane. As she rounded around the last set of corners, Kasumi eased off on the throttle to not only let the Mercedes on a flying lap past, but also build up a gap to the car in front of her to reduce the amount of dirty ear. She kept along at a slow pace, before her engineer chimed in on the radio. "You are clear in front and behind. Push now." The engineer said, prompting Kasumi to pick up the pace and set out at full speed onto the straight, commencing her qualifying lap.

Qualifying in a car like this was never gonna be easy, but Hugo knew full well he didn't get here based on giving in, but on giving everything. It wasn't about 11/10ths, that was how you crashed, it was 9/10ths, that fine margin left in reserve that stopped you from writing off millions of dollars of carbon fiber engineering insanity. The G-forces were throwing his neck from left to right to left, as he stuck on the rear of a Red Bull on an out lap. It was an experience only a few people on this planet knew how to manage, a number roughly double of that of people who had stepped foot on the moon. The last few corners came fast, the brakes searing and even in spite of their carbon-ceramic compound aching under the sheer force of a modern Formula One machine, their glowing red and amber visible from afar in the hard braking zones, as Hugo took a neat line and kept it pinned through the last corner, flat to floor, DRS open. A long exhale hit, as he ran it again for the next banker, and prepared for the assault again.

The end results were hardly surprising, but were better than probably most were expecting in the paddock- Hugo had put the car on P18, and while both cars of Valkyrie were out of Q1, they had come faster. A smug fact was that Hugo knew he was ahead of Laurent Pascal, and beating the Haas had been a satisfying thought. He was a cool, easygoing man, but beneath that ex-Ferrari academy talent was a little rivalry, only the kind that knew the guy was an asshole. Beating him, well, that was fun. Amusing even. Pulling in, he drove the car to a halt and waited as the engineers came to his side, the crew lifting the car on a jack and hauling it back inside. He undid his harness as he exhaled hard, visor open and his hands already grabbing the side of the cockpit.
"Nicely done, Hugo. Couldn't have really asked for more, you did what you could. How was it?" Ray asked, the British engineer leaning against the wheel of the car as he knelt, Hugo clambering out and out onto the pit floor, standing as the engineer followed lead.
"Good, good. Car is understeery through two and three. But we can't do anything more. Better to comprimise the car there than anywhere else." Hugo added, Ray nodding, as he looked at the telemetry board.
"Now where did you get so knowledgable on knocking yourself back, eh? That's what we thought too. Not bad though. They'll be a lot of questions in the presser after this. Go get yourself a drink, we'll debrief this, and then you'll be up for interviews in an hour with Kasumi." Ray replied with a certain confidence, a knowledge almost of rookies as Hugo took his helmet off, followed by his balaclava. Qualifying was still on, and even the inner F1 fan in him despite knowing there was a debrief about to take place, knew he wanted to know who was on pole. Kasumi would come in soon, and they'd be running through it with Kimberly herself once they had all the data back.

After her first official qualifying laps in Formula 1, Kasumi put up a very respectable time that put her into P19. It wasn't enough to make it into the next qualifying session, but it was a much better result than many were expecting. They weren't dead last in their first qualifying session, and were ahead of teams that had been in Formula 1 far longer than they were. As Kasumi pulled into the pitlane, her car was promptly carted inside. Once she was inside the garage, Kasumi undid her harness as well, taking off her gloves and climbing out of the cockpit as she also undid the strap to her helmet, pulling off all the stuff that was on her head before taking a deep breath. Looking at the Q1 results, it seemed like George Russell had managed to squeak into Q2, leaving his teammate (and Valkyrie Racing and Haas) in the dust.

Walking up to her engineer, the woman was overlooking the telemetry of Kasumi's qualifying lap, her throttle and brake inputs in the form of a graph. The woman turned around to look at Kasumi as she grabbed a sports drink off the table next to her, taking a sip as her engineer cleared her throat. "How'd the car feel?" The engineer asked, as she moused over Kasumi's telemetry once again. "Good, though on turn 3 I had issues getting the car to rotate. Missed the apex by a bit. Front end wasn't quite getting in like I wanted it to." Kasumi said, as the engineer nodded. "What about high speed stability? Downforce okay?" Kasumi nodded, "I was able to keep it mostly flat through turn 11 and 12, car held on very well."

Some time had passed and it looked like there was going to be a battle between Verstappen, Bottas, and Hamilton for the pole position of this grand prix. Those three were fighting like crazy for and putting up burning laps after laps. In the meantime, however, Valkyrie Racing was about to wind down and debrief after their first qualifying session. Kimberly had just interpreting the data and reading over reports from all the engineers and analysis. Right now, Kimberly wanted to talk to the drivers themselves first, and see what their take on things were. Kasumi was still sipping on her drink, standing before her team principal. "So, how are you guys feeling right now? First qualifying for all of us -- and you guys did a great job out there. Great work, you two."