Hugo kept his cool as he put floor to throttle, and did as Kasumi may have well thought. His starts were good, and while in qualifying his pace was above average when things got to it, it was in races he found it best to get elbows out. Melbourne's start straight passed faster than a glimpse, and taking the chance to pass the Alfa of Kimi right ahead of him, and Latifi too, the heavily braking Williams giving Hugo a perfect route through on the outside as they went three-wide through the messy straights. Hugo was totally in that moment, and no doubt, it was a bit of a signature of things to come. A lucky break, or a ? Kasumi had the room to follow, but right now, Hugo was focussed on holding position, and through the next few corners, he could keep his calm, the grip not exceedingly convincing but the powerplant behind him giving enough power to build on and keep going.

"Nicely done, that's P16, P16." Hugo gave no response, not excited, just focussed in. He was here to race, and not to concede. Turn 9 and 10 came fast and quick, the aero of an F1 car keeping it virtually glued, the G-forces swinging through his neck as he could see Kasumi being able to follow through the hole he'd made through the other backmarkers, though they were getting moment to moment changes in the delta. It mattered nought, because now he had to keep it on.

The end of lap one felt like an exhale, but F1 was non-stop. It was going to continue, and while Russell ahead was still in a Williams, he was going to leave Hugo for dust with the rest of the train that was ahead. Simply put, the Valkyrie wasn't going to close that gap, and for now, Hugo knew he just had to get his head down. Lap after lap, time after time.
"Okay, good work, Hugo. Remember, we're on a one stop strategy, no changes to that. How is the car, copy?" 

"Car is good, let me get on with it." Hugo replied sternly but he didn't want his focus ruined. He was here to bed himself into the race, and that was his strategy.

And so it went. From something climactic and epic, now it felt like the first lap had gone, Hugo Olivera was here alright. Lap after lap passed, and on the now scrubby mediums he knew he had to do the other part of holding the gap. He could see the delta time of Raikkonen behind him, flickering and up and down with DRS, but with the ability to equalise that thanks to Russell's slipstream, he could bed himself in here. Hugo didn't think about his teammate, but deep down, hoped she'd be able to make advantage of the train he was going to soon be leading.