Hey everyone!
There's currently a campaign running for this fanfic here on Webnovel!
If you're enjoying the story, please take a moment to leave a review. Just scroll down to the review section and share your thoughts—it really helps the novel gain more visibility.
For every review received, I'll release 1 extra chapter as a reward.
Let's push this together! 🚀
...
Inside the cockpit, Alex Sun waited quietly for the formation lap to begin.
Meanwhile, on F1 TV's F2 livestream, the pre-race highlight reel had just finished. Countless fans were already gathered in the chat, the screen flooded with comments filled with anticipation for the Baku main race.
The broadcast immediately switched to the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan. Commentator Jolyon Palmer's voice rang out on cue, energetic and familiar.
"Good afternoon, everyone watching on F1 TV!"
"I'm Jolyon Palmer. Welcome to the live broadcast of the Sunday main race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship in Baku."
After a brief introduction, Jolyon Palmer leaned slightly forward and quickly moved to the starting grid.
"Let's begin with the driver starting in P1—Alex Sun!"
He paused for a moment, eyes fixed on the screen showing Alex Sun's car, his tone becoming even more excited.
"I'm sure everyone remembers Friday's qualifying. He delivered an incredible lap of 1:53.987, breaking the F2 track record at Baku and pushing the circuit record into the 1:53 range. A performance like that has us all extremely excited for today's race!"
After a short pause, Jolyon Palmer gestured for the camera to switch to Lawson's car.
"Starting second is Lawson. He's also very strong. In fact, he also broke the previous record during Friday's qualifying. If Alex Sun hadn't delivered that stunning lap, the record would belong to him. Truly a case of two brilliant drivers appearing at the same time. Their battle today will be one to watch."
Jolyon Palmer sped up slightly, briefly mentioning Vips before emphasizing Piastri.
"In P3 we have Vips. Starting P4 is Alex Sun's teammate, Piastri. He's currently third in the championship standings, and from fourth on the grid he'll definitely be aiming for the podium."
"P5 is Pourchaire, P6 Ticktum."
"P7 Armstrong, P8 Boschung."
After listing those names, Jolyon Palmer shifted his tone slightly as he spoke about Guanyu Zhou.
"Starting P9 is Guanyu Zhou. Speaking of him, his luck in Baku hasn't been great."
"He won the first sprint race and closed the gap to Alex Sun in the standings, but after retiring in the second sprint race, the gap opened again. Whether he can fight back today remains to be seen."
"P10 Daruvala."
After introducing the top ten drivers, Jolyon Palmer took a sip of water. He then sped through the rest of the grid without further commentary.
"P11 Drugovich, P12 Lundgaard."
"P13 Beckmann, P14 Aitken."
"P15 Viscaal, P16 Verschoor."
"P17 Nannini, P18 Zendeli."
"P19 Sato, P20 Samaia."
"P21 Deledda, P22 Nissani."
With the grid introduction finished, the broadcast switched to the starting grid. The formation lap procedure was about to begin.
Three red lights lit up beside the track, then one went out, leaving two.
Marshals quickly checked the cars and cleared the track.
Once they left, another red light went out, leaving only one as the countdown continued.
Jolyon Palmer explained in real time:
"The marshals have cleared the track. The formation lap is about to begin. Once the red light goes out and the green light appears, the formation lap will start!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the red light went out and the green light came on.
The first formation lap began.
Starting from pole, Alex Sun was the first to react, guiding the red Prema car away from the grid to warm the tyres.
After the formation lap, all the cars returned to their starting positions and stopped. The lights switched to the race start procedure.
Once everyone was stationary, Alex Sun instantly entered a state where driver and machine felt perfectly connected. His eyes locked on the start lights, waiting for the five red lights that would signal the race start.
But to his surprise, the red lights did not appear.
Instead, three yellow lights lit up.
He immediately spoke over the radio.
"Mark, what's going on? Why are there three yellow lights?"
Mark replied calmly.
"Alex Sun, don't worry. A driver's car has a problem. According to the rules we'll run an additional formation lap. Be ready."
As soon as he finished speaking, the three yellow lights went out and the green light came on again.
Alex Sun shook his head slightly and tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he drove off the grid to begin a second formation lap.
Back in the broadcast booth, Jolyon Palmer quickly explained the situation to viewers.
"As everyone just saw, three yellow lights appeared just before the start, and now the cars have begun a second formation lap. That's because one of the cars developed a problem."
"According to F2 regulations, if a car suffers a mechanical issue after the formation lap and returning to the grid, the race control will order an additional formation lap to allow time to deal with the issue and ensure the race starts smoothly."
Jolyon Palmer pointed toward the rear of the grid on the screen.
"The camera is showing the back of the grid now. In P22 we can see Aitken's car stopped on the grid. It looks like he has a problem and hasn't joined the formation lap."
As the rest of the field moved away from the grid, the camera view opened up further.
Jolyon Palmer suddenly raised his voice in surprise.
"Wait a moment! It's not just one car!"
"In P20, Nannini's car is also still stationary. Clearly he's got a mechanical issue as well!"
His tone was full of surprise.
"Two cars breaking down right at the start—this is definitely unexpected!"
"Marshals will push both cars back to the pit lane. Aitken and Nannini will have to start from the pit lane later, which will likely affect their race rhythm today."
The livestream chat instantly exploded with comments.
"Two cars out before the start? That's crazy!"
"Hope Alex Sun isn't affected."
"First race this year with an extra formation lap?"
"Look at the Prema garage feed. Rebecca Lin's legs are crossed again. I swear, every time something happens to Alex Sun she gets nervous and does that."
In the Prema garage, team principal René Rosin maintained a calm expression, though his fingers unconsciously tapped the barrier as he watched the track and the data screens.
He silently hoped the unexpected situation wouldn't disrupt Alex Sun and Piastri's rhythm.
After receiving the message from race control, Mark immediately informed Alex Sun over the radio.
Then he added a reminder.
"Focus on managing the formation lap pace. Keep the tyres in the right temperature window. Don't let the situation distract you."
While listening to Mark, Alex Sun began aggressively warming the tyres.
He swung the car left and right across the track, then accelerated hard before braking sharply. The heavy braking quickly raised the temperature of the brake discs, transferring heat into the tyres and speeding up the warm-up process.
Despite the unexpected start with two cars suffering mechanical failures, Alex Sun remained completely calm.
He had absolute confidence in his pace—and he also had the system ability "Machine God's Blessing."
As long as his car avoided accidents, he would be unstoppable.
The car's overall resource consumption was reduced by 10%. That meant significantly lower fuel usage, allowing him to run lighter than the rest of the field. At the same time, the durability of the supersoft tyres would improve noticeably.
The second formation lap ended smoothly. All the cars returned to the grid.
This time, no cars failed.
Along the track, the five red lights began to illuminate one by one.
The 2021 Formula 2 Baku main race was about to begin.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (20 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.