Leo understood this the way he understood tyre temperatures and brake bias and sector time distribution — as information that changed the shape of every decision in the framework.
He stood up from the equipment case.
'Pole position,' he thought. 'And then the race. And then the units. And then the next round.'
One step. Always one step.
He reached for his helmet.
---
The Q3 pit lane was the quietest space Leo had occupied all day.
Ten cars. The gaps between them on the timing board. The paddock on both sides of the lane stripped of most of its traffic — mechanics moving but fewer of them, journalists staying back from the lane boundary with a deference that hadn't been there in Q1, the sense that what was about to happen was contained and precise and not to be interrupted.
He rolled to the exit behind Oscar Dubois's DAMS car.
