F1 Equestria: Duels of the Century

Red Bull Ring, Austria

Formula One Equestria Duels series

Duel 12: DNG (Scuderia Ferrari) VS OSC (Aston-Martin Red Bull Racing)/i]

Duel Type: Sprint Race, One-On-One

"Welcome, everypony! You are watching the 2019 Formula One Equestria Duel Series! I am Flim, joined once again in the booth by Flam and today, the youngest driver and the first Dutch driver to ever win a F1 Grand Prix, Max Verstappen!"

The Red Bull Ring has played host to the Austrian Grand Prix 31 times! And is known by a few names, formerly called the Österreichring, then the A1-Ring before becoming known as the Red Bull Ring we know today. Max, you've had quite a bit of experience with this track. Anything you wish to add on?"

"This track has always been appealing to fans. It may only be 4.3 km long (2.6 miles), have only 8 corners and average lap times nearing just one minute, the fans love this track. Remus, which is the tight hairpin after the long straight in the first sector is a hotspot for daring braking attacks, which I've had the pleasure of performing myself,"

"Yeah, we saw what you could do at that corner just two days ago! Let's get started with the racing, shall we?"

You've beat her before, Dean. You can beat her again, Dean thought to himself, as he strode down the grid, towards his Ferrari.

His opponent in the Duel, the final duel of the round, was none other than Oscura Galaxia. His proclaimed 'eternal nemesis'. Her Red Bull had been returned to its original colours, however, the car was now decorated with black flames with red highlights.

As for Dean's Ferrari, after the Mission Winnow scandal at Spain, the British Speedfreak switched the livery on his Ferrari back to the one he used in Azerbaijan for the rest of the season. Also, he had his own suspicions on Mission Winnow at the start of the season, but didn't want to state them for reasons only known by himself.

And here he was, in Austria. About to face off with his sworn enemy. But he wasn't too concerned. The Ferrari SF90 was a much better F1 machine in his hooves than the RB15, in his opinion at least.

But as he approached his car, ready to undertake the race, who else should he run into than Oscura. She was already dressed into her fire-proof suit and had her helmet at the ready in her magic. "Oh. Hello, Dean," She begrudgingly greeted, changing her tone when speaking the pegasus' name to one that basically said 'I hate you with every fibre of my being.'

"Hello, Oscura! Ready to see me walk away with second win?" Dean greeted, poking fun at her for the fact that he had a win and she didn't.

Oscura growled, before replying, "We'll see about that, Dean,"

"Yeah, yeah. You're all bark and no bite," Dean stated, before breaking the conversation, slipping on his helmet and getting helped into his Ferrari by the mechanics. He was handed the steering wheel, which he inserted into the column and straightened, the Prancing Horse logo in the middle of the wheel just waiting to be raced.

The car was dropped down onto the tarmac and the Ferrari engine roared to life, soon joined by the Honda of Oscura's Red Bull. The Mercedes pace car pulled away, with Oscura taking point behind it and Dean following for a lap of the Red Bull Ring.

On that rolling start, Dean picked out his points where Oscura could be passed. The most notable points were definitely Remus, Schlossgold and Red Bull Mobile, where the dark unicorn could be taken under the brakes. This was it, Dean thought, as they rounded Rindt and the pace car pulled into the pits and Oscura began to increase her speed. Time to give my nemesis another thrashing,

Oscura pulled around the final corner and went full throttle and raced away, Dean doing the same and racing after her. And the race was on.

Almost immediately, Dean made a move to take the lead. Using DRS down the massive straight before the Remus hairpin, he pulled alongside Oscura and caught her under the brakes. However, Oscura would get DRS down the next straight and took her lead back in the very next corner.

At the end of Lap 1, Oscura held the lead. But Dean wasn't finished with her yet. Dean would make another attempt at the same corner, but Oscura became wise to this and blocked him under braking. She managed to hold the lead for nearly the rest of the race, however Dean would not let up and kept with her the whole time.

The duel was so tense and close, Flim and Flam were on the verge of losing their voices by the end of the race.

On the final lap, everything changed. This time, Dean made a faint attack into Remus. However, he never made the attempt to get past, instead saving it with a risky diving attack into Schlossgold. It was a massive lunge, but it was doable. And while Oscura saw him coming, she immediately jerked out of the way.

But a split second later, she reversed that decision and turned into the Ferrari instead. Her RB's front-right wheel banged into Dean's side pod. But while the impact sent Oscura into the gravel, Dean carried on his merry way. It was obvious to Dean what the unicorn had just attempted and stated, "That didn't work, Oscura! You've hit the wrong part of me, my friend!"

Eventually, the yellow flag was displayed and Dean nursed his damaged Ferrari across the line and took the win, in one of the greatest duels in the entire series up to this point. And joy-of-all-joys (to Dean, at least), Oscura was far beyond pissed. Shouting multiple profanities at the pegasus over the team radio, she only finally settled down when the medical car came to pick her up.