F1 Equestria: Duels of the Century

Duel Highlights
Round 9: Austrian Grand Prix

Duel 1: RBD (Scuderia Ferrari) VS AKU (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)

The very first duel. The Mercedes top driver would be facing Ferrari's top driver. And at one of the greatest tracks on the calendar, this was highly anticipated to be one of the best duels.

However, during the Free Practise sessions earlier in the week, Viral took some time between practise sessions and reviewed the Team Radio moments from France. However, she didn't take too kindly to Dash's comment about Akula during the race start, to put it mildly.

To put it bluntly, she was beyond furious.

Only seconds after viewing the video, she stormed out of the Mercedes garage, intent on getting physical with the Element of Loyalty. Thankfully, before she could find Dash and rip her a new one, Akula stepped in and calmed her down, taking the opportunity to devour all of her built-up rage (remember, he is a changeling). There was an investigation launched by the FIA to determine what should be done about Viral's sudden flared temper, but it was soon dropped. Although, Viral was warned that if a similar incident occurred again, she would be penalised accordingly for unsportsmanlike conduct and for bringing the sport into disrepute.

But Akula had a reason why he stopped Viral. He didn't want to see his friend's Super Licence revoked and see her kicked from her seat, just because she let her NASCAR 'Boys, have at it,' ideals get the better of her. Also, he knew that his opponent in the duels was to be the rainbow pegasus.

As for Rainbow, she wasn't intimidated by the Demon Lord. She was confident that her driving skill would be enough to deal with him. She thought that there was nothing special about him and that Mercedes only picked him, because he was an F1 expert. However, she didn't know the true reason why Mercedes picked Akula to be their Equestria Series star driver. Akula had been a test and reserve driver for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team since the beginning of the V6 Turbo Hybrid era (2014). Lewis Hamilton had trained him ever since he took the job. Niki Lauda himself, who was the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team up until his death, thought extremely highly of him and was not hesitant to put him in the main seat of the Mercedes team for the pony-intergraded F1 season (an idea which he supported massively).

Akula was the perfect Formula One package. And it was time to show the ignorant Dash what he was capable of. And, oh boy, did he impress.

At the start of the race, Akula didn't get the best jump and fell behind Dash. The pegasus immediately took the lead going into the first corner. She once again questioned, on her radio, why Akula was the star driver for the best team on the grid after such a lousy start. Little did she know, was that horrendous start was all part of Akula's plan...

Right on the backstretch heading towards Remus, everything changed. The Demon Lord suddenly got the jump on Dash down the rest of the straight and made a banzai attack move up the inside, taking the cyan Ferrari under the brakes and forcing her wide. After that, Akula took off, a shell-shocked Rainbow Dash left in his dust.

Not matter what happened, the gap to the shark-mouthed Mercedes would not decrease and by the end of the first lap, it was over. Dash had been humiliated by the Demon Lord of the Changelings, eliminated by the Mercy Rule after just one lap.

Duel 2: GAL (BWT Racing Point) VS BMI (McLaren)

The next duel was between two teams that had clashed before in the duels, but with different drivers. Gallus in his non-pink Racing Point was up against Big Mac in the red and yellow McLaren. Big Mac had butted heads with Racing Point before, but he was facing the other Racing Point of Silverstream and he lost.

But he was ready to show what he was made of. It also helped that the McLaren MCL34 he was driving was a very competitive car at Austria. His little sister's mentor, Lando Norris, qualified within the Top 10 and finished his race 6th. The McLaren was damn better than the RP19 in Austria.

It showed when Big Mac easily triumphed over the griffon and took the win.

Duel 3: TWI (Mercedes-AMG Petronas) VS CHR (HAAS)

Duel 3, two sworn enemies were taking on each other. Although it looked like Twilight had the advantage, Chrysalis was using the setup that her mentor, Kevin Magnussen had used during qualifying and was also the same setup that he had used in Australia. And was proven to be fast.

Chrysalis was able to keep her VF-19 within the ball park of what Twilight and her W10 Mercedes could offer, eventually getting past for the win.

Duel 4: VRL (Mercedes-AMG Petronas) VS CHS (Aston-Martin Red Bull)

Duel 4 was ready and Cheese Sandwich would be taking on Viral Velocity. But there was a problem. Gasly, Cheese's mentor, had struggled all week and was even lapped by his own teammate during the main race. And Cheese was running Gasly's setup, which seemed to work for him.

Viral, however, was just too good for Cheese and easily eliminated him after 2 laps.

Duel 5: CEL (Alfa-Romeo) VS LTD (Scuderia Ferrari)

Duel 5, Celestia was to take on Lightning Dust. For Celestia, she had started off the season well. A P4 result in Australia was followed by two wins in Bahrain and China giving her the points lead. But setback after setback had dropped her to third, just behind the Crimson Arrows. But now she was ready to undertake more championship results.

Lightning Dust, on the other hoof, was trying to get herself a meaningful result after a bad start to the season. She did have herself a few good results, but the washout wanted more. She wanted to get herself a win. While there was still plenty of races to go, she wanted her one of her wins to be at one of the most well known tracks on the calendar. She had already missed out in Spain, Monaco and Canada, but she was determined to have her win in Austria.

But Celestia was just too good for the pegasus and Celestia was in the final.

Duel 6: FLT (Toro Rosso) VS SAN (ROKiT Williams)

Fluttershy wasn't sure of her chances in Duel 6, as she would be facing off against Sandbar of the Williams team. It wasn't because of her car, that was for damn sure. Throughout the whole week, her yellow STR14 was a dream to drive in her opinion. She was able to push her Junior Red Bull car to the front of the mid-pack, not only beating out her teammate, but also both Albon and Kvyat in Free Practise.

The four Williams were another story. They struggled the whole week, not managing to outdrive any of the other teams in practise. And that wasn't a threat. But Sandbar was. When the chips were down, the earth pony colt knew how to play his cards right and squeeze out extra performance from his FW42 that the Williams engineers (or anyone else) did not know was there. Sandbar had managed to get the slow, overweight piece of crap that was the 2019 Williams on the podium in one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar, beating out Akula in the Mercedes in a dash to the line.

Flutters knew that she faced a tough opponent, but she was not going to give up. She knew that she had a great car and she knew how to use it. And use it she did. Not once did Sandbar make an attempt to pass her, for she was just too good behind the wheel of her Toro Rosso. It also helped that nothing came together for Sandbar and he was eliminated.

Duel 7: SPI (Scuderia Ferrari) VS YON (ROKiT Williams)

Duel 7, Spitfire in the Ferrari was taking on Yona of the Williams. At first, things didn't look good for the yak. Spitfire was one of the three fastest Ferraris in practise, only being beaten out in times by DangerDean and Charles Leclerc. As for Yona, she was the slowest Williams of the four. She had been beaten in times by Russel, Kubica and Sandbar the whole week. She didn't have a hope in hell of making the final.

Thankfully for her, Lady Luck was on her side. Throughout the whole Duel, she lagged severely behind Spitfire and was very close to being eliminated via mercy. However, on Lap 3, fortunes turned in favour of the back-marker. Going through Red Bul Mobile, the back end of Spit's SF90 kicked out violently and sent her into the barriers. While the car looked okay, the engine was severely damaged and the Wonderbolt could not continue, letting the Williams into the final.

Duel 8: RAR (Renault) VS APP (McLaren)

Rarity and Applejack, two friends were facing off in Duel 8. Even after failing to qualify for the French Grand Prix and finishing poorly in Canada, spirits were still high with the fashion mare. EVen though the R.S.19 wasn't the best car in field at Austria, it wasn't appallingly bad either. However, Applejack had been strong throughout the week, just like her brother. Their MCL34 had beaten the crap out of the field black and blue in Free Practise, only outshined by the front-runner teams and Fluttershy.

However, going into the Duel, everything went wrong for the British factory team. Something just wasn't working right with the engine and the farm mare began to suffer. Rarity easily exploited Applejack's problem and took the win for Renault. And once the race was done, the problems of AJ's McLaren became clear. For some reason, the litium-ion battery wasn't charged properly and was causing the electrically powered KERS and TERS to fail, cutting the MCL34 of some of it's power. And even more strangely, this was only affecting Applejack. Big Mac, Norris and Sainz seemed to be fine. The McLaren engineers would get some time to figure it out before the next round.

Duel 9: OCE (Toro Rosso) VS SIL (BWT Racing Point)

Duel 9 was between two mid-pack teams. Ocellus was taking on Silverstream. Having witnessed Fluttershy's incredible duel with Sandbar, a fire was lit within the reformed changeling. If her teammate could fight off Sandbar, she could probably do the same. Although her STR14 wasn't as fast as Shy's, it was still a good mid-field car.

To make matter better, Silverstream's RP19 wasn't the best car. Both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll failed to get out of Q1 in Qualifying and failed to finish within the points in the race. Ocellus was confident that she could win, but she tried her hardest in the duel. However, the hippogriff wouldn't give up, even though she eventually lost.

Duel 10: LUN (Alfa-Romeo) VS PIN (Aston-Martin Red Bull)

Duel 10, Pinkie Pie was taking on Luna. It was only at this round that the tips that her sister offered her paid off. Luna was staring to perform better, just like Giovinazzi (who got into Q3 and finished 10th in his race). She was also improving and even outshining her mentor in some areas.

However, Pinkie Pie had just as good of an advantage as Luna did. Her mentor, Verstappen, was an ace at this track. And the Austrian crowd that came to the race were massive Verstappen fans. With the support of the crowd and a mentor who knew how to drive this track well, Pinkie was feeling good about her chances.

The duel was close, but it was the experience of Pinkie's mentor that got her the victory.

Duel 11: SUR (Renault) VS GLA (HAAS)

The second to last duel before Dean and Oscura went head-to-head, and Suri was taking on Gladmane. Both former villains, now racing in the most professional sport in the world. Although, it became obvious which driver was going to make the final. Gladmane's mentor, Romain Grosjean had struggled with his HAAS all week. Nothing seemed to work for the Frenchman and Gladmane began to feel his pain.

His HAAS was horrendously slow in the duel, easily being outperformed by the R.S.19. There was no chance for the con-pony and he was eliminated.