My Formula 1 System-Chapter 416: Red Sea Rising

Since the German Grand Prix was scheduled right after the Austrian Grand Prix, there were a lot of doubts that Luca would compete. Germany was speculative, wondering if Luca's absence would stretch into more than one round, thereby missing the German GP and skipping what should have been a homecoming.

So, there were celebrations when the Driver List for the race officially emerged and Luca's name was clearly listed, with a profile passport of himself beside it; a photo he had taken since last year at the exact start of his career in an FIA Trampos camera booth.

Luca had no idea what he was going to meet in Germany. He was busy calculating in his mind how many points were left that he needed to win the championship. He gauged and calibrated the average points attainable from P1 to P5, which is 16 points, and then multiplied it by the number of races left, which was 7. The resulting product was 112 average points he could grasp.

What Luca had now in the standings was 159 points. So, adding that up meant 271 points. Luca looked at that figure as the hallmark. If he surpassed it by the end of the season—he did very well. If he did not exceed it—not a good season. But a good season or not also depended on where other rivals finished.

On the airplane, Vance was scrolling through his phone using the plane's WiFi. While scrolling, he came across a video that warranted Luca's attention. Then another video, and another, and another; all live and happening right at that moment.

Seeing that Luca had his eyes closed, maybe in sleep or meditation, Vance proceeded to show Mallow and Sara instead, deciding he would show Luca later. But immediately, and without caring, after watching, Mallow tapped Luca wide awake and shoved the phone screen into his view.

Luca couldn't believe what he saw. The fact that the live icon displayed several different locations meant this was actually staggering.

Italy might be the most passionate motorsport country, but the words: passion, fervor, unyielding, and devotion belonged to Germany and its people. Their history even spoke for them in this sense. So, when Rennick, the driver whom they had gravely devoted themselves to and poured their ardent into, was coming, they had picked up celebrations to welcome him back, regardless of how fate had separated them.

The simple explanation here was that Germany's heavily obsessed with Luca.

Munich. Berlin. Frankfurt. Hamburg. Cologne. Düsseldorf. Stuttgart. Dresden. Luca felt like a god, maybe because he was being taken as one.

The screen was split in four, so Luca could see all four broadcasts at once. The first was Munich's Marienplatz, which he initially thought was painted in red, but later realized it was actually a sea of people dressed in red. They were waving flags printed with his face, and beautiful fireworks were being wasted in broad daylight. The second was Frankfurt, more aggressive and chaotic, because whoever was filming kept tripping repeatedly. But Luca could clearly see that traffic had stopped entirely, and thick red smoke had saturated the air.

This made him fear for safety upon landing, because the crowd in Berlin was already at the Brandenburg Airport too. When they landed, Luca could see the sea of chaos in the distance, but thankfully, the airport security knew how to handle the situation. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Because of this, they did not take the exit through the main terminal but were discreetly escorted through a service hangar. From there, a convoy of blacked-out vans followed a rarely used logistics route that weaved around the airfield and exited through an industrial access gate on the eastern side.

They bypassed and escaped the crowd completely, Luca's heart racing fast like never before. He couldn't forget the way everyone shouted the moment it was confirmed he had arrived in Germany. And all through the country, the rolling live video on Vance's phone broadcasted everyone roaring louder the instant the news reached them.

Every city TV screen and billboard ignored the FIA's 14th round advertisement and instead displayed Luca's Trampos F2 winning pictures, moving photos, and then full videos too. The best display was in Alexanderplatz, still in Berlin and not too far away, but they didn't take that route. The giant screen there was surrounded by everyone who had gathered to rewatch the final laps of the Italian Mega Prix, with the crowd surging in excitement every time Luca's Dallara swept through an overtake or executed those outstanding weavings in Serpeggiare's dangerous turns.

The country was wild, and within moments, it was officially termed a public disturbance by national authorities. The scale of the turnout not only overwhelmed local infrastructure but also raised concerns among organizers about how the upcoming race would be executed smoothly. Security units warned that if crowd control wasn't properly enforced, the frenzy could spill over into the paddocks, threatening schedules, safety, and even the mental focus of drivers.

Luca's mental focus was definitely threatened... but in a good way, though. So, he tried to imagine how all of this would affect his rivals, rivals who had definitely never seen such sheer passion for a simple F1 racer. How would Luigi, DiMarco, and all of them respond to this? Would they be intimidated? Smallified? Distressed? Wow. Could this really affect their race?

As Luca thought deeper, he just realized how this had practically placed him in a hot seat. He almost felt like calling out to the entire country to stop this immediately, but he knew that wasn't possible.

What they were literally doing for him now was treachery, treachery to Jackson Racing! This was a complete betrayal to the team that had given him a seat, a future, and a place in Formula 1. And yet, here he was, being celebrated like a returning king by a nation that no longer officially had any claim to him. This was treason!

Jackson Racing, an English team, still had him under contract while Germany couldn't care less and continued to declare him as their hero. What would Jackson Racing's response be to all this? Trampos wasn't an F2 team anymore but now an F1 team, meaning they were rivals, regardless of being siblings. So it was just like Jimmy Damgaard getting celebrated by Outback fans and the entire nation of Australia. Heaven knows Velocità wouldn't take that lightly.

Luca's heart raced even faster as he realized the deep fracture this could cause. He sighed and cussed at no one in particular but the forces of life itself. Why did problems keep coming toward him? He just wanted to race in F1 and become successful within the system, for crying out loud.

After settling into a luxury hotel, Luca finally succumbed to rest and acclimatization. There was a lot of jet lag and travel fatigue to recover from, but when he did recover, he was up and ready for practice, re-engaging with Jackson Racing again, and he could immediately sense that the entire team had their own opinions about the madness they had all witnessed.

But typical of Jackson Racing, no one really said anything, and everything continued as usual: practice sessions, team logistics, and the Track Walk.

Still, Luca felt weird and out of place again, just like he did when he first joined the team. If there was a metric that measured team relationship dynamics, it would show a drastic drop from the halfway point where he once stood to now just 10%.

German Grand Prix

Location: Bad Rauenberg, Germany

Date: Aug. 29

Time: 12 PM

Track: Bergwaldring Circuit

Track Length: 6 km

Total Laps: 50

Track Type: Permanent road course

Lap Record: Saša Milošević 1:20.345