Jackson Racing were formal and orderly, so they didn't reprimand Luca right away during the race. Silence over the radio was more consistent than communication, yet it felt heavier and unnerving than usual. It put Luca in a state of disquietude because he could sense the tension and the restrained words the engineers were holding back behind sealed lips.
"...AN UNBELIEVABLE OUTCO IN GERMANY AS BOTH JACKSON RACING DRIVERS COLLIDE INTO DRAMA IN SECTOR 3—RODNICK OUT OF THE RACE, WHILE LUCA MIRACULOUSLY ESCAPES DAMAGE! THIS IS ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS—A SHOCKER AT BERGWALDRING!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"
Rodnick's reckless lunge into the inside of Turn 13 ended up being the final move of his race. It was an unfortunate turn of events, not just for both drivers, but for Jackson Racing as a whole. The fierce intra-team duel resulted in a costly outco of Rodnick bagging zero points in Germany.
Luca's sharp move to block the inside and anchor his position had pushed Rodnick into a very severe braking response, one intensified by the corticosteroids running through his system. His tires nearly locked up, but even before they could fully judder, they shredded a significant layer of rubber that should have lasted for the remainder of the lap. The thick oceanic smoke that the FRC emitted through Turn 13 said everything about how blustery that braking was.
Rodnick lost control and tried to flick into ergency brake migration mode, but it was too late. His car had already veered sharply and was now swinging directly toward Luca's trajectory.
And this was where the guilty feeling creeping into Luca's chest found its origin.
[Spatial Awareness 1]
[SYNC BAR: [][][][] 25%]
His Spatial Awareness Skill instantly lit up, flagging the threat incoming in a blistering 0.5 seconds. If Rodnick's FRC connected with him at this speed and angle, there was a dangerously high chance the integrity of his car would be compromised, putting him at major risk of a DNF.
As usual, the system left Luca to make the radical choices and actions on his own. He didn't even need to ponder; his racing instincts took over imdiately and had him veer toward Rodnick. If Rodnick was going to crash into him, then Luca would crash into Rodnick too. He didn't take it as recklessness, just more like calculated defiance. And he knew he had the upper hand of more montum, full control, and tires that hadn't fallen apart. The laws of physics also assured him he would survive the impact.... and Rodnick would not.
"...Unbelievable scenes here at Bergwaldring! Marcellus Rodnick's out! He's in the wall and that's a definite retirent...!"
"...Smoke everywhere from those two Ferraris. That was a desperate move, and it's cost him everything...!"
"... Rennick survives—just barely! But what a collision, what a ss for Jackson Racing...!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOHH!"
"...This will spark serious questions in the garage! Both Jackson Racing drivers make contact in Bad Rauenberg!"
Both Luca and Rodnick were supposed to be punished by Race Control, but since Rodnick was unable to continue racing, only Luca received the penalty. It was initially 10 seconds for Rodnick and 5 seconds for Luca, so Luca was handed his 5-second penalty just monts after the contact, where he had left his teammate screaming like a madman and punching the wheel of the FRC into demolishnt.
Well, the car was already damaged; Luca had elbowed it off into the barriers, and it looked like Rodnick was glued to it. Because of the impact and the state of the car, Rodnick didn't mind venting his rage on the steering wheel, punching it into such a mangled form that his knuckles bled through his gloves.
"I WILL KILL HIM! I WILL KILL HIM!" Rodnick roared savagely as the marshals and so crew mbers managed to get him back into the garage. Condolences ca flying from everywhere, but everyone knew to keep their distance.
His bloodied hands reached for Luca's driver poster in the garage—right beside his own—gripped it from the top and tore it into an almost perfect half. "I WILL KILL HIM! I WILL KILL HIM!"
"This is simple rebelliousness against team orders. You shouldn't make anything more out of it. Luca didn't switch because he didn't want to switch," Mrs. Jarvis said in the JR Managent suite.
"It's stupidity to still say that now," Pires hissed. "Look at how the fans in red are celebrating his survival—from a contact with his own teammate."
"Are we talking about the cause of the contact, or who's in support of it? Luca has no control over who celebrates."
"But how can we even switch such a thing mid-race? I don't think Marcellus would agree if it was him. What are Matthews and the rest even doing down there?" Sutherland had a softer voice, but his tone wasn't any less concerned.
"Like you said: rebelliousness. He's becoming rebellious, and the events leading up to today have only amplified it..."
"Luca has just a single year left with us in his contract. We need to stretch it. And for that, we need the driver as happy as possible. What cognizance do you think Luca currently holds?"
All except Pires shrugged.
"A subconscious part of him knows he has just a year left with us, and that subconscious part is exactly what we're seeing here. SIX MORE RACES TO GO. He wins one, he's happy—we offer five more years. We can't afford to slack now unless we're ready to lose grip on him and let them snatch him with the mindset he's carrying."
Luca was filed into the safety car parade while he was being discussed. The German crowd celebrated him like crazy, but he was more concerned about his side pod, which had been damaged from Rodnick's front wing.
During the safety car parade, he called for a stop because the system had already warned of aerodynamic strain to co. He was going to drop down the ranks, but a safer car was a better bet.
Despite the commotion unfolding in the garage, a commotion that other team garages giggled and laughed about, the pit crew mbers still managed to get their tools out, along with another set of hard compounds just to overlap the ones he already had.
Luca could see the rowdy movent galvanizing in the garage, making him wonder how the heck Rodnick was raging. He then noticed the service ti was EXTRELY lengthy.
"Focus, guys!" he yelled. "Focus!"
Assuming Luca hadn't yelled "focus!" the ti would've breached four seconds. The service ti hit a painstaking 3.3 sec, and Luca barreled out of the pitlane with urgency to rejoin the race. He slipped serving his penalty ti because they had already poorly executed the service.
[Retrieving pitstop info...]
[Service Ti: 3.31 seconds]
[Front Tires: Hard → Hard]
[Rear Tires: Hard → Hard]
[Front Side Pod: Damaged → Replaced]
[System's prediction: 12 sec—15 sec]
[Host's pitlane Entry and Exit: 13 sec]
Unbelievably, Luca Rennick hit P15 when the Virtual Safety Car finally went offline. However, right after that period ca a pitstop session, and since he was fresh and ready for flyers, he began to retake what was once lost and eventually made it back up to the sa P9 when it seed the drivers had ceased their stops.
Luca felt a certain energy, as though Erik Haas wanted the both of them to clash for a duel, but he didn't even spare the guy a thought.
[Analyzing Ferrari (JRX-97) and host's distance from 8th Position]
[You are 1.5 seconds away, host.]
That was Nyström right ahead of him, moving with that Audi that was saturatedly designed with the colors of Sweden. Luca knew Nyström was going to vex if he eventually overtook him; he could already sense the growing anger radiating off that car.
Imagine being an F1 driver, and you were fully aware of one particular rival who had dropped far down the leaderboard. Now, he was magically right behind you, with the third most fierce-looking chassis on the grid, closing the gap mostly through corners with that accelerative might.
[>>>
T1---------
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