After a couple of back-and-forth exchanges and internal tussles to attend to every important call for his attention, Luca finally carved out ti to focus on his required duties.
The board eting itself was dense, ranging from financial projections to operational minutiae, but only one thing, of course, held his interest: Their confirmation of the tech upgrade.
They spoke just superficially about the complexion and disposition of the upgrade, especially how it represented the team’s technical direction.
Luca was reminded that this didn’t co easily. Months of recalibration and negotiations with Ferrari were what brought this developnt to life. Credit was duly given to all who had contributed, letting their persistence refuse to settle for marginal gains.
This upgrade wasn’t ant as a short-term patch but a statent of intent, aid at stabilizing performance, unlocking consistency, and positioning the team to challenge more aggressively in the coming races.
Luca agreed.
The managent urged him to proceed with physical inspections, study the manuals, and attend further technical briefings in the coming days.
Luca welcod the idea with genuine enthusiasm, happy to indulge.
Mr. Roland, a Ferrari representative, and no, he was not the sa individual who had attended Jackson Racing’s eting, as sibling teams maintained a strict protocol on representatives to preserve autonomy
Mr. Roland had been a trusted presence with Trampos Racing since the beginning of their partnership, when Mr. Fisher penned down his signature, sealing the agreent.
His expertise had beco integral to the smooth delivery of every tech upgrade, ensuring that all specifications were t without compromise. He was keen to share a few monts with Luca, discussing the finer details of the upgrade, and Luca, appreciative of his involvent, shared the sentint of mutual respect and anticipation.
Accompanied by a handful of senior crew and engineers, Moritz among them, Roland led Luca away from the garages and into the technical storage wing, where the bulk of the new upgrade components were housed before installation.
They called it the integration vault—a climate-controlled room designed more like a laboratory than a race facility. Rows of sealed containers rested in modular racks, each tagged and monitored.
The air was cold, precise, and sterile, stripped of oil and rubber scent. It didn’t feel like an engineer’s den, yet the quiet hum of machinery still made it strangely fascinating.
The tech support from Ferrari ca as a manifold of engineering necessities, not just a single model upgrade. The new chassis model was barely ten percent of it all.
The technical storage housing itself stretched nearly a hundred feet wide and almost twice that in length, so vast that the crew occasionally employed electric pallet trucks to move across it efficiently.
Crates and sealed racks held power-unit components, revised suspension elents, aero packages, updated ERS modules, cooling systems, and simulation hardware. It was a dense, orderly sprawl of precision, an impressive technical myriad that promised more than many could fathom.
"The core engines are frozen by regulation," Roland began as he led them to a specialized workstation. He pointed like a man who truly understood the molecular weight of the hardware. "But the architecture surrounding it is where we win the war of attrition," he finished.
He gestured for a junior engineer to lift a protective casing, revealing the MGU-K thermal shielding. It wasn’t the standard foil; it was a dense, woven composite that looked almost like basalt. "This is more of thermal stability than heat resistance; exactly what we’ve been working for the team. We’ve mitigated the soak that plagued you in Shanghai. I guess now, you’ll have the sa deploynt on late laps as you had on lap one."
Luca nodded earnestly.
He had eyes as much as he had ears.
He could see the reprofiled energy harvesting maps displayed on a nearby diagnostic monitor. The curves were shallower and more elegant. With this integration, Luca would have smoother traction on exits without the need for . No more jagged snaps when the ERS kicks back in.
Before they moved on to the next bracket, Roland tapped an inverter housing he called "reinforced." Inverters were chassis parts, and this new type was thicker and redesigned to stifle the electrical noise that often triggered micro-failures.
Next into the vault, Roland signaled for the overhead lights to intensify, illuminating the revised gearbox casing. It was a marvel of a lighter composite-tal blend, shedding grams without sacrificing structural integrity.
"The ratios are specifically tuned for the high-downforce demands of the European leg," Roland explained as Luca traced the machining on the casing with his fingers. "We’ve optimized the shift intervals to keep you right in the power band’s sweet spot."
Bingo.
This was the missing link for Luca.
The digital data showed a refined engagent that promised better drive out of slow corners and an end to the erratic rear instability. He just hoped all this could be integrated into the Z24, enhancing it, not exactly for a new model.
He could already visualize the feel: the car would be calr on the entry but sharper on the pivot, a weapon that wouldn’t fight its own massive torque he had levelled up.
Finally, they reached the most substantial hardware change: the Rear Suspension and Kinematics Update. This was the architectural soul of the upgrade.
Roland stood by a set of redesigned carbon-fiber wishbones, explaining the move to a new pull-rod rear suspension geotry.
"We’ve revised the anti-squat characteristics," Roland said, gesturing to the pivot points. "The goal is to unlock the rear. By improving the tire contact patch control, we’re ensuring the rubber stays flat against the asphalt, regardless of the load."
Luca looked up at him as if he had spoken in his tongues.
Roland understood his disbelief and assured him with a smile that it was the truth.
Ferrari often integrates suspension upgrades tightly with aero philosophy, but this one was on a whole new level.
It seed Moritz and the others were still awed by it because they gathered together, discussing how this practically makes their drivers outstandingly consistent over a full sixty-lap distance. And this in turn translates to performance and platform stability for them, the engineers.
"The anti-squat," Luca asked, pointing to a pivot point, "will it hold through the compressions at the Karussell, or am I going to bottom out?"
"It’ll hold," Moritz promised, "even if you decide to drive through a brick wall."
"Well, looking at his South African highlights," Mr. Moritz cracked, "driving through walls is the only thing he hasn’t tried yet."
The room imdiately fractured into laughter. Luca joined in, feeling the camaraderie knit back together.
"Alright, alright," Roland chuckled, waving them forward. "Enough cody. Let’s see the new model specins before your wind tunnel team cos to reclaim them."
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