After the opening few laps where Avogadro fell down the order from 5th to 12th, passing Stoppelbein to go back up to 11th; the German giving him a hard time to help his team-mate as best as he could:
Avory: "No! I told you we shouldn't have done this! We should not have gone for the hards! You didn't listen to me!"
Pitwall: "Keep your head down. You are still in this race; they will come back to you"
Avory: "He started on hards too. Where is he?"
Pitwall: "Saukkonen is P6. Montés on Mediums just passed him. Arias catching on Mediums too."
Avory: "He's six places ahead of me! How is he staying ahead?!"
Pitwall: "He and Nevarol went too hard on their hard tyres too soon. They will come to you. Keep bringing them in gently. Lavi 1.8 seconds ahead on worn softs..."
Dispatching the worn hard-running Nevarol, Purrcedes of Sonoshee and Mahri first to pit from soft to Hard, Avogadro finds himself up in 8th, closing back into Lavi who alluded him before getting ahead of the snake and wolf when the prince was closing in; fortunately for him, a gaggle of cars began to pit; Goodwin, Da Costa, Thorvaldsson and Lavi all pit from soft tyres to mediums, allowing him to shoot up to 6th and then pass Da Costa and Goodwin on their first laps out on cold tyres. Petri is now directly ahead of him.
Pitwall: "Good moves. That was a good lap; you made it count."
Avory: "Yes! I know! ...I see him. He's right there."
Pitwall: "Your tyres are in a better condition."
The preceding laps allowed Da Costa, Thorvaldsson and Goodwin past on the faster and newer medium rubber now it had warmed up; but Avogadro didn't let this distract him, he kept the otter in his sights and used the faster cars compromising Saukkonen's line to his advantage, just staying behind and letting him waste more rubber, until, at last, he got a great exit on the final turn and popped open the DRS to lunge down the inside of Saukkonen on lap 33. It wasn't enough to overtake but he was alongside and went around the outside at turn 2, sticking beside him as they take the beginning of the esses side-by-side until the prince edged out ahead, slipping back up in P5.

The position didn't last for long; Avogadro was unable to brake the one second gap and found himself being reeled back in by the otter with the help of DRS. One small mistake at the hairpin meant he was venerable to the DRS himself on lap 37 on the long back straight. He defended the inside but Petri kept to the outside and slipped past heading into sector 3. They were side by side at the apex but Avory had to brake earlier and Saukkonen had the better outside line, earning him the place as they went into the next turn. The pair were catching the backmarker of Fortier as they powered through the triple apex corner; but for reasons unknown at the time, the Tremblant oversteered at the final corner, careening into the concrete wall on the inside at the exit of the corner. Whether he was spooked by the lapping Furrari behind him or there was a failure on the car; the front nose of the car was crushed in the concrete and front suspension snapped. Somehow the Frenchman managed to reverse out of it, trying to keep going, but as he continued down the straight as if to make it back around the entire circuit to pit, he knew the front suspension was broken and couldn't continue; stopping by a marshal's post to retire the car. A few more drivers came in under the VSC it caused to pit, including our two championship leaders, shredding their hards and daring to go onto the softs for the final 17 laps; Petri coming out in P7 and Avogadro P10 with Mahri and Nevarol between them as the Marshals clear the debris. Stoppelbein pits from hard to soft too, freeing his team mate up and hoping to slot back in ahead of Avogadro, but VSC ends and ends up slotting back in behind the bird and Lavi. In the dying laps, Petri powers on in P5 with Catalina Arias seeming a surprising challenge to the Finn; fighting and passing him demoting him down to P6, just one place ahead of the determined raven-hoopoe who wanted the best for the team, but in this moment just wanted to stay as close as possible and secure his crown in the drivers championship... Petri fought back, trying to catch a tow from the cat and use the DRS, but it's not quite enough and he remains P6 with Avogadro finishing P7 behind, securing the prince the driver's championship.

Across the line…
Pitwall: "THAT'S ONLY TWO POINTS BEHIND! MY PRINCE, YOU ARE A FURMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPION!!!"
Avory: "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YEEEEESSSSS!!! #### YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! YES MAN!!! GET IN THERE!!! GET IN THERE!!! #### YES!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YESSSSSS" [lots of incoherent screaming and chanting]
Pitwall: "YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT AVO!"
Avory: [sounds of crying]
Pitwall: "Are you crying?"
Avory: [sniffles] "no." [sniffles] "You're crying." [sniffles]
Pitwall: "You're making me cry... Come on. Bring it home..."
Avory: "Thanks mate..." [sniffles]
Pitwall: "Avo. You're to go to the grid. You've got permission to give these yanks some doughnuts. They'll like some doughnuts."
Avory: [sniffles again] "Copy that."
Pitwall: "See you there, champion."
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2023 was an exciting season for Furmula One; the Championship lead changed 8 times with 7 different drivers from 6 different teams. 11 different race winners from 8 different teams and every permanent driver ended up on the podium who had a full race seat. And it all came down to the final race to decide if we got our first repeat champion in recent years, or a new champion.

2023 was, however, certainly a disappointment for the Cuzata Furmula One team. Returned to their traditional merlot livery after a special British Racing Green one in 2022; Cassandra Ouellet and Prince Avogadro ended up on the podium only seven times between them, including a victory each at The Finnish GP and the Singapore GP respectfully. Ouellet did lead the driver's championship after Silverstone before her victory at the KymiRing, but then flatlined for much of the remaining season, with points only then being scored in Belgium, Abu Dhabi and Mexico; loosing positions to Da Costa and Saukkonen who went on to battle for the championship up to the final round, and Trey Goodwin and her own teammate, Prince Avogadro, who she finished all behind come the final chequered flag. It was the difficult year for the team; they lead it through the mid-part after assailing a flatlining Tremblant, and only lost it to Conda for one race on countback; and then lost it finally to Furrari in the final two rounds unable to score a point; even loosing 2nd place to Conda again.

But 2024 hoped to be different.

With renewed vigour and perhaps a point to prove after being awarded only a 1 year contract extension with Cuzata, Cassandra Ouellet won the opening South African GP and Avogadro's first podium came in Malaysia, followed by a win at Suzuka which also netted them a double podium. The driver's championship was still anyone's game but Cuzata seemed confident in the constructors, and went on to dominated it apart from a minor blip after Australia where Furrari was 1 point ahead for just the second round of the season.

A second win for Avogadro, and his fourth in Furmula One, came at the prestigious Monaco GP which began to suggest an unfolding championship story between himself and the reigning Furmula One Champion, Petri Saukkonen, emerging which persisted as the two were never overtaken in the championship by any other driver from there on...

Avogadro's third win that season came at the Finnish GP from pole, where his teammate, Ouellet, won 12 months before, and then was not able to convert pole into a win at his home grand prix at Silverstone, coming second to former world champion Samuel Lopez instead.

Petri Saukkonen appeared unbeatable over one lap pace, securing pole position at the first three rounds before finding a better balance and set up with the car; trading poles for better race pace which netted him four podiums in a row from Portugal to Austria, and then his first win of the season at the German GP.

Belgium followed after which was won by Avogadro going into the summer break; only for Netherlands just after won by Saukkonen who shared the podium with the Prince. But these were the last wins for the pair where it counted, as the teams that were slow to start the season had begun to catch up and took vital places, points and podiums away from the pair, including Saukkonen's own teammate, Nico Stoppelbein, who went on to win two further grand prix, and Prince Avogadro's own boyfriend, Gunnar Thorvaldsson, who won their first race since 2022 with Bahrain.

Singapore was perhaps the tipping point. Billed as the ultimate dual, it was Saukkonen's undoing; with the exception of an unfortunate wet strategy blunder at Silverstone which he redeemed in Germany, Singapore was his second worst finish of the year and second time without scoring a single point; something he should of tried to avoid but fortunately his teammate saved him from a greater deficit; netting Avogadro a further 18 point lead with 2nd, rather than a full 25 for first which Stoppelbein won.

As the gap persisted and barely, if at all narrowed, time and races were running out and Saukkonen needed a good result at COTA, Circuit of the Americas, for the United States Grand Prix, to keep the championship alive into the final round... Prince Avogadro just needed to stay within 2 points of Saukkonen to secure the championship... unless they finished on the podium, all Avogadro needed to do is hang onto the back of Saukkonen and finish directly behind him...

The battle was though... but the prince hanged on in the Texan sun, finishing 7th to Saukkonen's 6th, meaning that he had become the 2024 Furmula One World Champion.

He wished it could have been won in style, winning the race or finishing on the podium, but nevertheless... he was Champion of the World.

Unfortunately, Cuzata lost the constructor’s championship; Furrari stole it back to win it back-to-back in the final three rounds. Ouellet didn’t win another race since the opening round and only scored two podiums thereafter, finishing 7th in the driver’s championship. Her seat is under threat as Cuzata look to push to get both drivers and constructor’s championships in 2025.

We will have to see how this story will continue to unfold…
____________________

Prince Avogadro Lo'Raven belongs to myself,  Avogadro LoApostropheRaven
Cuzata F1 Team belongs to  Blaze37
Based on events within  FurmulaOne
All other characters, teams and properties belong to their respective owners.
Art by  leggy2fast
Original artwork not yet uploaded by the artist