The bright sun beat down on a sunny Australian morning, the sun shining on the beginning the latest Formula 1 season as teams got ready to head out and make their debut for the season. This season was the first season for CASTROL Valkyrie Racing Honda, an American team who had punched their way into the grid and joining Haas as one of the American teams on the grid. Ironically, neither of the drivers for the team were of American origin. Another surprising thing was that the team had opted to scoop up two rookies for their first driver lineup. Though, neither driver was a slouch. Hugo de Olivera had just come out of a 4th place finish in the previous F2 season he competed in, racking up a few wins along the way. Joining him, was Kasumi Brown, who had blazed a trail in the automotive world by being the highest finishing female in open-wheeler history, coming off of a second place finish in her last season in Formula 2. 

Kasumi was attracting attention from constructors like Williams and Toro Rosso, but she had ultimately opted to sign with Valkyrie Racing, knowing that it was the fastest path to having a car that wasn't playing second fiddle to another team. Two rookies weren't unprecedented, but the precedent of this very occurrence didn't bode very well for Kasumi and Hugo. Of course, Kasumi aspired to beat the low expectations that everyone had for this team and turn some heads in this coming F1 season. Kasumi knew that since the team had entered so late, they were behind when it came to development. 

 Teams had many years on Valkyrie, and some teams weren't even close to competing. With this knowledge, however, the management of Valkyrie racing knew they had to run things as efficiently and as well as they could. They poached whoever they could from other teams, letting their wisdom and experience guide the team. Despite all that, however, the team also went with an entirely new team principal to oversee everything. Their current team principal, Kimberly Rossi, had no prior experience with managing a motorsports team, let alone a Formula 1 team, but yet the owners and management of Valkyrie Racing saw her to be the best candidate regardless of her inexperience.

But here they were. In spite of the lack of experience and the newness of the team, they were here on day one, ready to go. Kasumi stood beside her car, her [url=https://www.helmade.com/en_us/helmet-design-arai-gp-7-frp-vertex.html?custom=eyIzNTk3OCI6IkJST1dOIDEyIiwiMzU5NzkiOiIyNjk0ODkiLCIzNTk4MCI6IjI2OTM3NyIsIjM1OTgyIjoiMjY5NDk3IiwiMzU5ODkiOiIyNjkzOTUiLCIzNTk5MCI6IjI2OTQ1NCIsIjM1OTkxIjoiMjY5NDMzIiwiMzU5OTIiOiIyNjk0ODUifQ]helmet[/url] on her head as she waited for her mechanics to finish up the last touches to the car. Kasumi stood in her white overalls, complete with green and red accents to match the car sitting in front of her. Her red-pink visor was flipped up, the British born driver looking over the garage in front of her as she prepared to make her debut on an actual race weekend in the pinnacle of motorsport. Kasumi's eyes shot over to a mechanic, who started to beckon her into the car. She started to walk, eventually clambering into the rather snug cockpit of the Formula 1 car. 

It took a little while, but Kasumi was eventually secured into the car, the racing driver slipping on her gloves and stretching her fingers as she heard the car rev to life. Glancing down at the steering wheel, it was going through its usual start-up procedures and cycling through its initial diagnostics. All seemed to be clear so far, as the screen eventually flashed a giant "N" for neutral. Kasumi took the liberty to give the engine a couple of revs, the turbo V6 bellowing in the garage. Eventually, the computer in front of the cockpit was raised up, before a mechanic backed up into the pitlane, watching for cars to come. As soon as the pitlane was clear, he waved Kasumi forward, indicating that it was finally time to go. Shifting the car into first, it rolled forward out of the garage as she turned right, the F1 car now clambering along at a strictly governed 38 miles per hour as it rolled down the pitlane. 

It didn't take long before Kasumi's engineering chirped in on the radio. A female voice chimed in on the radio. "Practice start at the end of the pit. Position 3. Push hard after this out lap, and then come box afterwards." Kasumi pressed a button to acknowledge the directions, before pulling over just past the stop light. "You are clear behind. You are clear behind, Kasumi." Kasumi took a deep breath, before holding down the throttle just high enough so that the car wouldn't bang against the rev limiter and so that the car wouldn't stall right out of the gate. Holding the clutch down, Kasumi did an internal countdown. At the end of it, Kasumi let go and let the car launch forward, gradually applying more and more throttle as she cycled up the gears, minimizing wheelspin as best as she could.