On the broadcast screen visible through the Turn 3 barrier gap, the graphic showed five cars eliminated. Berg's name on the list. The word ELIMINATED in clean white text beside it.
Leo looked at the screen for one second as he passed.
Then he looked back at the track ahead.
Q3 was next.
Ten cars. Pole position. The real session.
Everything until now had been scouting. Everything until now had been building the library, reading the rivals, testing the limits of what the circuit and the car and the compound would give him.
Q3 was the last corner before the finish line.
He rolled into the pit lane and felt the Albert Park asphalt shift to the smoother concrete of the garage floor beneath his tyres.
The session had ended.
He had not yet driven his fastest lap.
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The garage changed when Q2 ended.
