The surface imperfections of the track was visible from here — a patch near Turn 1 where the tarmac was lighter in colour, repaired recently, the grip there fractionally different from the rest of the straight.
He catalogued every necessary information and filed it in his head.
'Albert Park is a semi-street circuit,' he thought. 'Average corner speed lower than Suzuka. Higher than Monaco's tightest sections. Surface is smooth but the layout has fast direction changes in the middle sector.'
'The car will want to understeer here in the high-speed left-handers. The rear will be active in the short straights where the braking zones come up fast.'
He had studied the circuit layout for six minutes that morning. That was all he had needed. The framework had done the rest, cross-referencing the geometry with everything Suzuka and Monaco had built in his nervous system and producing something that felt less like knowledge and more like recognition.
