Hugo paced another lap around Albert Park, the car now feeling a little more like it read its trend in the corners, through entry and exit displaying its true form. After all, practice programmes were set up that way, and the data coming in now was a true test of the car after pre-season testing a few weeks back.
"Right, nice qualy run and we'll bring you in. Qualy run, Hugo, confirm?"
"Confirm." The Portuguese replied, crossing the start finish and giving it his all. The car at 90% felt ridiculous compared to Formula 2 machinery, and to think this was even slower still than the Ferrari he had done some light testing with. It was a strange feat that he had gone through the programme so far, and now here he was, at its sidelines- cast away. Out of money, he shouldn't have been here. And yet here he was, the talent he proved in F2 and the surrounding backing he had, well, what was left of it, backing him into a Formula One seat. On qualy pace, he was proving himself nicely- the car set up neatly complementing his style. He never had the absolute focus in qualy, it was something he was working on, a real thing he put a lot of time and effort into- his racepace and elbows out approach was what made him spicy more than his absolute pace, something Kasumi would likely have the better effort of him. Still, he could put in a competitive time, and with practice coming to an end, he had a few more scenarios to run.

---

With practice now over, the Portuguese clambered out of the white, green and red coloured machine, the end of Practice 3 now showing up Valkyrie's pace- it wasn't as bad as initially thought, but even Hugo knew it was going to still be tough. The big talking point on the paddock was the simple truth of an 11th team- they had to score more points than Williams or Haas, in order to get in for the prize money. Top 10 after all got a payout- and any less than that meant nada, which was effectively economical suicide for this young, fledgling team. It was why F1 never really had more than 10 yeams- but here Valkyrie was, a risk and a brave, bold one among many trying to survive. Taking on the teams that were established in the sport would be tough, but they had no option but to succeed, and no doubt the owners had put it all on black, taking on Hugo and Kasumi to deliver. Though Hugo knew he and Kasumi had talent, this was the big game. Up against Russell,  Magnussen, Grojean, they were going to be stripped back and fighting hard against players that had been here at least a year, the latter two almost a decade. Oh yeah, that and Laurent Pascal, someone he wasn't going to want to come across in the pitlane...

Stil, stepping back, Ray had some helpful insights for him, Hugo thought to himself. Pointers on what FP 1, 2 and 3 sessions had yielded- the car was shit, the performance was worse than that of the Alpha Tauri due to the customer PU, the grip was good but only just better than Williams, making for a car that on delta, would score 18th on the grid in race conditions. Lot of work to do. But it was what it was. Handling the media had gone well, Hugo and Kasumi answering the questions well, responding in a PR-driven, reponsed measure that the team would need to give answers for. It all went well, and here they were, sitting in the lull before Qualifying here in Australia. And in that pit-box, Hugo was taking a moment to go over the data one more time, seeing Kasumi do the same.
"Hey up, you all good over there?" He asked, aware his team-mate was someone he talked to from time to time- while in his own bubble, he had a care for her, and even in spite of the more forced social media stuff, he could talk to her not as a rival, but as a friend.
"How you feeling, Kasumi? Caraho...I can't believe this is real. Here we are though...no great expectations of us. But we get into Q3, one of us....I think we're gonna be beers in, no?"