Melewati garis start-finis sudah dalam gigi tujuh dengan jarinya menekan tombol menyalip untuk menguras baterai demi akselerasi dan kecepatan maksimal, ia tetap di sisi kiri lintasan sampai tepat saat ia hampir mencapai penanda lima puluh meter, ketika ia membelokkan mobil ke tikungan sementara ia berada di 300 kph. 1
Dengan kakinya masih menekan penuh pedal gas, ia memotong tikungan begitu agresif sehingga hanya ban kiri yang tetap di lintasan sementara yang lainnya berada di kerbs atau di luarnya, meminimalkan jarak di lintasan sebanyak mungkin.
Tidak ada yang berubah untuk Tikungan Dua, karena pedal gas yang ia tahan maksimal di lintasan start-finis tetap sama melalui dua rangkaian tikungan pertama, hanya kehilangan 7 kph di sepanjang dua tikungan itu sebelum mengerem agresif tepat di awal kerbs luar Tikungan Tiga.
Ia mulai menurunkan gigi dari gigi tujuh sampai gigi tiga sambil menjaga kontrol gas yang ketat sepanjang jalan sampai keluar tikungan, berpindah ke tengah lintasan. Ia masuk ke apex Tikungan Empat, The Loop, lebih awal dan melebar saat keluar sambil menjaga disiplin gas yang ketat sebelum segera kembali menginjak gas.
Dari gigi tiga ke empat ke lima dan mengambil Tikungan Lima, Aintree, sambil menaikkan gigi ke enam saat ia memasuki Wellington Straight, ia segera mengaktifkan DRS 1 dan sekali lagi menekan tombol menyalip sambil tetap di sisi kanan lintasan saat ia terus menaikkan gigi sampai gigi delapan.
Begitu ia melewati penanda rem lima puluh meter di ujung lintasan lurus, ia segera mengerem dan menurunkan gigi ke gigi empat sambil sengaja memperpanjang tikungan sebelum menurunkan gigi ke gigi tiga di keluaran tikungan saat ia berpindah ke tengah lintasan, perlahan menambah gas sambil mengambil tikungan Luffield.
Semakin ia menambah gas, semakin ia mengembalikan setir ke posisi netral, menaikkan gigi ke empat saat ia mulai keluar dari tikungan, lalu ke lima saat ia melebar dari tikungan dan kembali menekan gas penuh, naik melalui gigi dari lima ke enam lalu tujuh sambil mengambil tikungan Woodcote dengan kecepatan penuh ke lintasan pit lama. Ia berpindah ke sisi kiri lintasan dengan matanya terfokus pada tempat penanda jarak berada saat ia berpindah ke gigi delapan ketika ia berada seratus meter dari ujung lintasan lurus.
Ketika ia mencapai penanda lima puluh meter, dalam gigi delapan dan menekan gas penuh, ia memutar setir ke kiri sekitar satu derajat, membebani ban kiri sebelum membelok ke kanan ke tikungan Copse pada 310 kph, sepenuhnya mempercayai bahwa gaya aerodinamis mobil akan menurut dan menjaganya tetap mengarah dan menghadap ke arah yang benar.
Saat ia keluar dari tikungan, ia turun ke gigi tujuh, tidak ingin mesin terlalu bogged down 1, mempersiapkan diri untuk rangkaian tikungan berkecepatan tinggi yang akan datang sambil berpindah ke tengah lintasan. Saat ia dekat dengan bagian Maggots dari tikungan, ia sekali lagi menaikkan gigi ke delapan sebelum ia membelok dari tengah lintasan ke kerbs kiri, lalu membelok ke kerbs kanan sambil menurunkan gigi ke tujuh dan kembali ke tengah lintasan lagi.
Sambil masih menekan penuh, ia sekali lagi mengarah ke kerbs di kiri sebelum akhirnya sedikit mengangkat dan mengerem begitu ia keluar dari rangkaian itu, menurunkan gigi sambil membiarkan mobil masuk ke apex sebelum menurunkan gigi ke enam dan kembali menginjak gas di apex, membiarkan mobil melebar saat keluar.
Ia kemudian membelok ke kiri ke Hangar Straight dan segera mengaktifkan DRS dan Menyalip sambil menaikkan gigi ke tujuh. Saat ia melewati bawah jembatan layang, ia menaikkan gigi ke delapan saat ia perlahan mulai bergerak ke kiri ketika Tikungan Stowe mendekat dengan cepat.
Di penanda jarak lima puluh meter, ia akhirnya menginjak rem dan, saat ia mulai membelok, menurunkan gigi dari delapan ke enam, tetap sabar sampai ia mencapai apex sebelum segera kembali menginjak gas, keluar dari tikungan dengan lebar dan menaikkan gigi ke tujuh saat zona pengereman berat menuju chicane mendekat.
Begitu ia melewati penanda jarak seratus meter, ia segera mengerem dan menurunkan gigi sampai ke gigi empat saat ia mulai membelok ke chicane sambil trail-braking 1. Ia sudah melepas gas dan rem saat ia mencapai apex pertama dari tikungan pertama chicane.
Ia kembali menginjak gas sesaat di keluaran tikungan pertama sebelum sekali lagi perlahan mengurangi input gas sampai ia meluncur di apex tikungan kedua sebelum segera menginjak gas dengan sentuhan halus saat mobil melebar.
Saat mobil berada di sisi paling kiri lintasan, ia sudah kembali menekan gas penuh, menaikkan gigi ke empat lalu lima saat ia membelok di tikungan terakhir, lalu gigi enam saat ia mulai menguras apa pun yang tersisa di baterai sampai ia melewati penanda waktu.
Ia akhirnya mengangkat kaki, memulai urutan pendinginan sebelum ia kembali ke pit untuk mengisi bahan bakar dan mengulangi ini sekali lagi.
Tapi pendinginannya tidak penting bagi siapa pun, karena semua orang sedang melihat waktu putaran yang ditampilkan di papan waktu atau layar tempat mereka menyaksikannya berlangsung.
1:27.100
Waktu putaran yang ditampilkan membuat semua orang yang tahu waktu putaran apa yang dijadikan patokan baginya tidak bisa berkata-kata. Itu adalah sesuatu yang tidak pernah mereka bayangkan terjadi pada push lap pertama seorang pembalap dalam kondisi kering, tapi ia hanya terpaut 0,498 detik dari putaran kualifikasi tercepat Max di tahun yang sama saat mobil ini berlomba.
Itu saja sudah cukup baik, karena ia berada dalam setengah detik hanya dari dua hari mengemudi, tapi ketidakmampuan mereka berkata-kata bukan karena itu. Itu karena fakta bahwa ia mengendarai dengan kompon yang lebih keras, berkat ban uji Pirelli, yang berarti mereka memperkirakan mobil akan setidaknya terpaut satu detik, jika bukan satu setengah detik, dari kecepatan tercepat yang bisa dicapai mobil hanya dari bannya.
Handicap lainnya adalah mesin Honda itu sendiri, yang untuk musim 2018 masih tertinggal antara 15 sampai 25 tenaga kuda dari mesin Renault yang lemah. Ini juga dipasangkan dengan mesin yang ditempatkan di mobil yang tidak dirancang untuknya, yang berarti mobil itu tidak kompetitif di lintasan lurus. Ini berarti semua keuntungan yang mengalahkan defisit itu diperoleh di tikungan.
"Sialan," Horner mendapati dirinya berkata tanpa direncanakan sama sekali.
Going through the start-finish line already in seventh gear with his finger on the overtake button to drain the battery for maximum acceleration and speed, he remained on the left side of the track until just as he was about to reach the fifty-meter marker, when he turned the car into the corner while he was at <anno data-annotation-id="c949c061-9960-13fc-4c55-a6f4f8b52293" data-title="300 kph.">300 kph. 1 </anno>
With his foot still flat on the throttle, he cut the corner so aggressively that only the left tires remained on the track while everything else was either on the curbs or beyond them, minimizing the distance on the track as much as possible.
Nothing changed for Turn Two, as the throttle that he had pinned at the maximum on the start-finish straight remained the same through the first two corner sequences, losing only 7 kph throughout the two corners before braking aggressively just at the start of the outside curb of Turn Three.
He started downshifting from seventh gear all the way down to third gear as he kept tight throttle control all the way to the corner exit, moving to the middle of the track. He got into the apex of Turn Four, The Loop, early and went wide on the exit while keeping tight throttle discipline before immediately getting back on power.
From third to fourth to fifth and taking Turn Five, Aintree, while shifting into sixth gear as he entered the Wellington Straight, he immediately activated the <anno data-annotation-id="0df1192f-b8a6-d2a3-a46d-d27fb96f0a66" data-title="DRS ">DRS 1 </anno>and once again pressed the overtake button while remaining on the right side of the track as he continued upshifting all the way to eighth gear.
The moment he went past the fifty-meter brake marker at the end of the straight, he immediately braked and downshifted to fourth gear while deliberately extending the corner before downshifting to third gear on the corner exit as he moved to the middle of the track, slowly increasing the throttle while taking the Luffield turn.
The more throttle he increased, the more he returned the steering towards a neutral position, upshifting to fourth gear as he started exiting the corner, then up to fifth by the time he was wide of the corner and back on full throttle, going up through the gears from fifth to sixth then seventh while taking the Woodcote turn flat out into the old pit straight. He moved to the left side of the track with his eyes focused on where the distance markers were as he shifted into eighth gear by the time he was a hundred meters to the end of the straight.
When he reached the fifty-meter marker, while in eighth gear and on full throttle, he turned the steering left by about one degree, loading the left tire before turning right into Copse corner at 310 kph, fully trusting that the car’s aerodynamic forces were going to comply and keep him heading and facing the right direction.
As he exited the corner, he dropped down to seventh gear, not wanting the engine to be <anno data-annotation-id="b6fd194d-481f-55d6-a551-c21a40df6d5b" data-title="bogged down">bogged down 1 </anno> too much, setting himself up for the upcoming high-speed corner sequence while moving to the middle of the track. As he was close to the Maggots part of the corner, he once again upshifted to eighth gear before he turned in from the middle of the track to the left-hand curbs, then turned to the right-side curbs while downshifting to seventh gear and getting back to the middle of the track again.
While still flat out, he once again aimed for the curbs on the left before finally lifting for a bit and braking once he exited the sequence, downshifting while letting the car get into the apex before downshifting to sixth gear and getting back to power at the apex, letting the car go wide on the exit.
He then turned left into the Hangar Straight and immediately activated DRS and Overtake while upshifting to seventh gear. As he passed under the overpass, he upshifted to eighth gear as he slowly started moving to the left as Stowe Corner approached him rapidly.
At the fifty-meter distance marker, he finally got on the brakes and, as he started turning, downshifted from eighth to sixth gear, remaining patient until he reached the apex before immediately getting back on power, exiting the corner wide and upshifting to seventh gear as the heavy braking zone toward the chicane approached.
As soon as he passed the hundred-meter distance marker, he immediately braked and downshifted all the way down to fourth gear by the time he started turning into the chicane while <anno data-annotation-id="1d4fdb46-e024-87f0-0510-3dfedb38aa1a" data-title="trail-braking">trail-braking 1 </anno>. He was off both throttle and brake by the time he reached the first apex of the first corner of the chicane.
He got back on power momentarily at the exit of the first corner before once again slowly reducing the throttle input until he was coasting on the apex of the second corner before immediately getting on power with delicate feathering as the car went wide.
By the time it was on the leftmost side of the track, he was already back on full power, upshifting to fourth then fifth gear as he turned on the final corner, then sixth gear as he started draining whatever remained in the battery until he passed the timing marker.
He finally lifted, starting the cooldown sequence before he was to return to the pit to refuel and repeat this once again.
But his cooldown was of no importance to anyone, as everyone was looking at the lap time that was being displayed on the timing board or the screens they were watching it unfold on.
A 1:27.100
The lap time being displayed had everyone who knew what lap time he was being benchmarked against speechless. It was something they had never imagined happening on a driver’s first push lap in dry conditions, but he was only 0.498 seconds off Max’s fastest qualifying lap in the same year this car raced.
That in itself was good enough, as he was within half a second from just two days of driving, but their speechlessness was not from that. It was from the fact that he was driving on a harder compound, thanks to it being Pirelli test tires, meaning they had expected the car to be at least a second, if not one and a half seconds, off the fastest pace the car could do just from the tires.
The other handicap was the Honda engine itself, which for the 2018 season was still between 15 and 25 horsepower behind the weak Renault engine. This was also paired with the engine being put in a car that wasn’t designed for it, meaning it was not competitive on the straights. This meant that all of the advantage that beat the deficit was gained in the corners.
"Fuck me," Horner found himself saying without planning to at all.
<annotations style="display: none;">186mphDRS (Drag Reduction System): A driver-activated switch that opens a flap in the rear wing to eliminate wind resistance and spike top speed on straightaways.Bogged Down: A loss of acceleration that happens if a driver stays in a gear that is too high for the engine’s current speed.Trail-Braking: A high-level driving technique where the driver slowly and progressively releases the brake pedal while actively steering into a corner.</annotations>
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