All of a sudden, a shower of debris and carbon fiber can be seen raining down the asphalt near Turn 1 as if something catastrophic such as an explosion had happened. It was then followed by a thick cloud of gravel and soil, as it seemingly disappeared into the dust, almost as if it faded into nothingness.
When the dust finally settles, it shows the wrecked and mangled remains of a blue navy car, along with a white and red car, with barely any wheels or wings left sticking to the blue car. It was the Hartman car of Harry Matthews. It had suffered a rear wing failure, spun uncontrollably at high speeds, and hit a Haas car belonging to Alexei. It spun sideways and straight into the Haas' fin and rear end, and was launched into the air as the HA22's side was sliced open by the fin of the Haas, almost as if it was about to be cut in half in mid-air, like a Ninja slicing a watermelon.
The car then barrel-rolled into the barrier on the outside of the gravel trap, whereas Alexei was lucky to simply brake hard and stopped in the grass. But the shocked fans are concerned about Harry's condition, as the HA22's right side was almost entirely cut open. The marshalls were quick to stop the session with a red flag and come to the drivers' assistance, as well as clear the wrecked cars.
Fortunately, both drivers survived, with the marshalls required to pull Harry out of the Hartman car while waiting for medics to arrive. From the looks of it, Harry seemed to not suffer from any serious injury, as he can get up on his feet. But he seems to be holding his right wrist, indicating that there's something wrong. As the qualifying day ended with Mario Ragazzi in pole position, news came out that Harry had broken his right wrist and was unable to race on Sunday. Yet another major obstacle the fledgling Hartman outfit has to overcome.
Nick was struggling to find a replacement for Harry, as the team rapidly assembled a new car to be raced on Sunday. After hours of searching, Jones finally found the replacement Hartman desperately needed. Although the replacement was a racer fan have absolutely never heard of before. Despite that, the team was relieved that they were able to find someone to fill in for the second seat while Harry is out of the equation.
Whilst there's a sigh of relief for the Hartman team, there was a major concern for Emiko and Kanae as Fumiko never returned from the paddock that night.
"Where's Fumiko-chan? Emiko, have you seen her?"
"No. Not at all. Normally she should be back from the paddock by now."
"This can't be good! What if something bad happens to her?! We need to go to the paddock and find her!"
"Are you sure, Kanae-san?"
"We must!"
And so, the two scrambled through the paddock as they frantically searched for their friend, who had seemingly vanished into thin air. Efforts to call her failed, as every attempt had ended in voice mail. After spending the night searching through the paddock, the two are forced to stop their search, as it's now late into the night.
"Damn. I can't find her… Did you?"
"No, I can't find her either, and the calls I made went into voicemail. Maybe she came back to the hotel without telling us."
"I'm not sure, but let's go back to the hotel and sleep."
"Sure. Let's hope Fumiko is there, safe and sound."
They returned to their hotel room shortly after, but strangely, she's not in the hotel room at all, adding even more concern.
"Very strange… Fumiko isn't here either. Where could she be?"
"At this point, she could be anywhere. I fear that something bad will happen to her…"
"I hope she's alright. We should report her as a missing person to the police tomorrow. Maybe they will help us with our search."
"It will help us a lot for sure…"
The next day, Emiko and Kanae went to the Melbourne City Police to report Fumiko as a missing person. They worked together with the police as the two continued to search for Fumiko. After searching the paddock and the deck of the Melbourne Circuit, they're still unable to find her.
Whilst the search for Fumiko is ongoing, the Australian Grand Prix is about to begin. 21 drivers lined up the start-finish straight as they began the formation lap. But one driver is Harry's replacement driver no one in the F1 world has ever heard about and isn't tipped to finish in the Top 10, as many cited that the driver needed some experience.
The man in pole position, Mario Ragazzi, has reasons to be confident in converting a pole into a win as well as dominating the race.
"I'm in very fine form today. With the fastest car on the track, this race will merely be another Ferrari sweep. This race… is mine."
At the end of the formation lap, The cars made their way to the grid. After a brief moment of being stationary, red lights began to appear ahead of the cars.
1 light
2 lights
3 lights
4 lights
And finally, 5 lights. It was then rapidly turned off. In an instant, the cars left the grid as the race was truly underway.
"It's lights out and away we go!" The commentator said loudly, as the race began.
The cars rapidly gained speed approaching turn 1, led by Mario's scarlet car. The big field of 21 cars bunched up into each other very closely as they braked and turned sharp right before a fast left turn. The car driven by Harry's replacement driver had to start from the pit lane and lifted off shortly after the rest had gone into Turn 1. There were three cars that made contact and suffered enough damage to eliminate them from the race after only 1 corner.
"Mario is pulling away from the pack as Richard and Martin are closing in as is Zachary in the Williams, as Alexei, Giovanni, and Ortis are out of the race!"
In response, the safety car was sent out and the yellow flags were waved to slow the field down while marshals cleared the wreck. Mario was behind the safety car as the field navigated a couple of laps around the circuit as the race was still under yellow flag conditions.
The safety car was slow, and Mario had a hard time warming up his cold tires, as it's struggling for temperature and grip.
"What a slowpoke. That safety car needs to go faster, otherwise, my tires will still be cold as ice, and that'll impact the car's grip and handling. I need to tell him to pick up the speed a little. There's already a slow freight train forming behind me, and for the sake of our tires, He has to go faster!"
"And what is Mario doing here? He's pulling alongside the safety car!" the commentator asked with bewilderment as Mario pulled alongside the safety car.
"Driver! Go faster, go faster! You're going to slow!"
The driver then picked up the speed as the safety car began to travel at a faster pace. The safety car remained on track for 2 laps until it pulled into the pits and the green flag was waved. The drivers immediately go racing again.
The observers watching from the deck are certain that Mario will pull off another dominating drive as he continues to disappear from the rest of the pack, extending his lead.
"Mario is in his best form yet. With the best driver behind the wheel of the best car, the outcome will be a foregone conclusion yet again. He's undoubtedly the very best on the field." one observer said.
"Indeed. And he will gain an undeniable advantage in the upcoming pit stop cycles, as his crew are the best in terms of strategy and changing tires. There's no doubt about it. He's in a world of his own." another replied.
In the next lap, the first cycle of pit stops is underway. The pit crews are lining up in their respective positions and pit boxes, anticipating their team's cars to enter and change the tires. As the cars entered the pit lane at a slow pace, they turned into their pit boxes, and swiftly, the crew unhinged the worn tires and replaced them with fresher tires. Once all was completed, the cars went back into pit lane and raced out on track once again.
Again, Mario and Ferrari got the upper hand and were able to build up a sizable lead after the pit stops. The Ferraris seemed to have the race in the bag already, as 2nd place Lorin Newton was almost 15 seconds behind Mario as the race reached half-distance.
Meanwhile, outside of the track, Emiko and Kanae, along with the police, were still tirelessly searching for Fumiko. Despite their best efforts, they're still unable to find her. Later, the police entered the paddock, where Fumiko went before disappearing and searched the entire area.
"Have you guys found her yet?"
"Sorry, but we're unable to find her. It's best for us to question the people around here, who knows they saw her around here somewhere…"
"Good idea. I hope they know where Fumiko is."
"I hope so too."
And so, the Melbourne police questioned a few people inside the paddock, whilst Emiko and Kanae did the same to the observers on the deck, where they last interacted with Fumiko. As they questioned a few people on the deck, they witnessed Mario's Ferrari speeding past the main straight. Not far behind the Ferrari, was the Hartman car driven by the replacement driver. The two assumed that it's just another car lapped by the leading Ferrari, as they continued to question the people on the deck. But again, they came up empty-handed, adding more concern on Fumiko's whereabouts.
All the while, Mario is leading the race when he sees a blue Hartman car in his rearview mirror.
"There's a Hartman car behind me… Nah, there's nothing to worry about, probably just one of those backmarkers needed to be lapped or so."
"Pablo, How far is 2nd place behind me?"
"3 seconds and he's faster than you."
"Who is he?"
"The Hartman driver! He's gaining upon you."
Mario was stunned to know that the Hartman trailing him is the driver in 2nd place. And to add to his bewilderment, It was the replacement driver hunting him down for the lead.
"What?! Are you serious?"
"Yes, I'm very serious! He's Harry's replacement and he just clocked the fastest lap of the race!"
"What the-? No way!"
"There's no way a Hartman can keep up with me… After all, they're one of the slowest on the grid! But fear not, with the power of my Ferrari, he will immediately disappear from my rearview mirror!"