F1 Equestria: Duels of the Century

Duel Highlights
Round 3: Chinese Grand Prix

Duel 1: SPI (Scuderia Ferrari) VS CHS (Aston-Martin Red Bull)

The first Duel of the third round in the season was held between two drivers from the two biggest rival teams of the 2010s. Spitfire of the Scuderia Ferrari team taking on Cheese Sandwich of the Red Bull team. Both had some of the fastest times during practice and they were both in some of the better cars in the season. So the race would be close.

And the race was close indeed, but Spitfire have shown to have much more control over her Ferrari and took the win from Cheese.

Duel 2: GLA (HAAS) VS YON (Williams)

Duel 2 was between two teams starting to fall back down the running. Gladmane of the HAAS team was up against Yona of the Williams ROKiT team. Previously, Gladmane had faced off against tough opponents. But not this time. His VF-19 might have been slow, but at least it was competitive.

Yona didn't even have a chance against the con-pony, and lagged behind for the whole race. There were some moments where the yak was right on the tail of Gladmane, but her Williams didn't have the power to overtake it, leading Gladmane to take the win.

Duel 3: AKU (Mercedes-AMG Petronas) VS LUN (Alfa-Romeo)

The third Duel was estimated to be another easy victory for the Mercs, as the team's star driver, Akula, was facing off against Luna of the Alfa-Romeo team. Knowing that his teammate, Viral, had beaten her in Bahrain, he planned to keep Luna out of the final of this race.

But that was a little difficult for him, as Shanghai wasn't his favourite track. And on Lap 1, everything became clear. Going into the first and second turns, Akula just couldn't seem to find the right braking point in the right-hand sweeper. And his constant misjudgment of his braking point is what cost him.

Luna quickly picked up on Akula tell, and on Lap 3, Luna made her move. She managed to get on the inside, and took the Demon Lord under braking. But despite being in the lead, Akula wouldn't let up and tried to take back his position with a kamikaze braking attack on Turn 14. But all his efforts were let down by his performance in Turn 1, and he was eliminated by Luna.

And having qualified for a race, Luna was very happy.

Duel 4: OCE (Red Bull Toro Rosso) VS SUR (Renault)

Duel 4 was between a pair of mid-pack runners that hadn't qualified for a single race yet. Ocellus of the Red Bull Toro Rosso team was taking on Suri Polomare of the Renault team. These two both hadn't qualified for a final race yet, so both were looking to make it into the race.

And it was close, but everything went wrong for Red Bull on Lap 3. Exiting out of the final turn, Ocellus went a little wide and suddenly got into a tank-slapper. She lost control and went into gravel, before hitting the wall. The entire left-half of her STR14 was destroyed, both left-side wheels and suspension were gone and the rear wing had come off as well. She had no choice but to forefit.

Duel 5: LTD (Scuderia Ferrari) VS VRL (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)

A battle of mother and daughter, Lightning Dust of the Scuderia Ferrari team taking on her daughter, Viral Velocity of the Mercedes-AMG team. Both had their own weaknesses on this track. Viral has a little trouble with tight corners following high speeds, so Turn 14 presented her with the most problems. But Lightning had some problems dealing with the long sweeping curves at Turns 7, 8 and 12, as she gives the corner too much throttle and goes off.

The race was close, but with too many mistakes being made on the sweeping corners, Lightning soon found herself eliminated by her daughter... via the Mercy rule.

Duel 6: RAR (Renault) VS CEL (Alfa-Romeo)

The sixth duel was between a princess and one of the mid-pack drivers. Celestia of the Alfa-Romeo team was taking on Rarity of the Renault team. Both of them had something on the line; to become the next driver in the season to pull off a hat trick, by qualifying for a final three times in a row (the first to do this was Viral Velocity). Rarity was confident, as she was trained by Daniel Ricciardo, one of the greatest F1 racers of all. However, Celestia was faster in her C38, despite it being a mid-pack car.

But the race wasn't close at all. Celestia led the race from the beginning and didn't give Rarity a chance. Eventually, Rarity was eliminated by the Mercy Rule, leaving a very disappointed Renault team in losing their star driver and a very pleased Alfa team, having their two drivers in the final, letting them reel in the Mercedes team even more in the Constructor's Championship.

Duel 7: SAN (Williams) VS DNG (Scuderia Ferrari)

Duel 7 became on of the most infamous duels in the entire series after the finishing of the season. DangerDean of the Ferrari team was taking on Sandbar of the Williams ROKiT team. In this duel, Sandbar had decided to make some mods to his FW42 to make it competitive. He had increased the engine power and equip especially lightened front and rear wings, to increase downforce and speed. However, the engineers of at Williams HQ hadn't been able to figure out why Sandbar's steering failed in Bahrain, but they were still looking into it.

Surprisingly, the extra mods to Sandbar's Williams had done the trick. He was able to keep up with the much faster SF90 of DangerDean. But going into the 4th lap, tragedy struck. While chasing down Dean on the back straight with DRS enabled, Sandbar actually managed to gain on the Ferrari. He had planned to take Dean under the brakes and hold the lead for the final lap. But as he moved up the inside of Dean's Ferrari and the colt began to turn for the hairpin...

...the FW42's steering failed again.

Sandbar immediately slammed on his brakes, but the forward momentum of his F1 car was too much for the brakes to take. Danger did the same and stopped in the gravel trap. But the momentum carried Sandbar through the gravel and into the tyre barriers... at just about 300 kph (186.411 mph).

Everyone and everypony in attendance and all of the other teams just watched in silence and utter horror as emergency rescue vehicles and Chinese paramedics rushed to the crashed FW42. And quite quickly, Sandbar was pulled from his wrecked car. Although he had taken a massive wallop, he was relatively fine. The only problem was that during the crash, he had smacked his head on the halo, knocking him out cold. And fearing a massive head injury, the paramedics rushed him to hospital for recovery. Yona had decided to travel with Sandbar to the hospital, and the Williams team boss had grounded both of the cars, until the cause of the steering failings was found.

And after a moment of relief, now knowing that Sandbar was recovering, the round continued and even though neither racer finished the race, the win was given to Dean.

Duel 8: CHR (HAAS) VS GAL (Racing Point/Force India)

Duel 8 proved that no matter how good a driver is, it's his or her attitude that wins races. In this Duel, Chrysalis of the HAAS team was facing off against Gallus of the Racing Point team. Once the race started, Chrysalis led all the way and Gallus was almost about to be eliminated by the Mercy Rule.

That is, until Lap 3. Going into Turn 9, Chrysalis lost traction and spun out. And while she was bringing the car back around, Gallus raced past and before Chrysalis could get going again, Gallus had eliminated her.

Duel 9: TWI (Mercedes-AMG Petronas) VS APP (McLaren)

Two friends were put against each other in Duel 9, as Twilight was put against Applejack. Nothing really much happened in this duel, but in the end, Twilight was able to beat Applejack to the finish.

Duel 11: OSC (Aston-Martin Red Bull) VS RBD (Scuderia Ferrari)

Two long-time rivals faced off in Duel 11, with Rainbow Dash taking on Oscura Galaxia. And it was one to remember.

Dash was not letting up and needed some more points and avenge the humiliation of losing to Fluttershy at Bahrain. However, her loss at the previous round was clouding her mind and she was beginning to make mistakes. Oscura, knowing that Dean had made it into the final after the incident, knew she had a goal to reach and didn't allow anything to cloud her focus. She didn't make a single mistake and she was easily able to beat Dash and claim the spot in the final.

Duel 12: FLT (Red Bull Toro Rosso) VS PIN (Aston-Martin Red Bull)

The final duel was between two of the Elements, Pinkie Pie of the Red Bull team was taking on Fluttershy of the Toro Rosso junior team. However, seeing that Fluttershy wouldn't stand a chance if she raced at full tilt, Pinkie decided to race her on Medium tyres to give the shy pegasus a better chance. The Medium tyre compound was the bridge between the Hard and the Soft compounds. While it wears less than the Soft, it isn't as fast. And while it's faster than the Hard, it isn't as durable.

Although there were worries, she had used the Medium during the Bahrain Final and didn't have a problem. So, she was allowed to do so by her boss in the Red Bull team. Fluttershy, of course, was racing on Softs.

And Pinkie kept true to her word, not pushing as hard as she did and therefore, giving Fluttershy a chance. And Fluttershy, after pulling a braking overtake move on Turn 14 on the final lap, was able to win and secure the final spot in the Final.