Duel Highlights
Round 11: German Grand Prix

Duel 1: CHS (Aston-Martin Red Bull Racing) VS FLT (Red Bull Toro Rosso)

The first Duel and Cheese Sandwich was facing down Fluttershy. And it was under serious circumstances. Now 11 races into the season, Cheese was stuck in second-to-last with 11 points to his name. Meanwhile, Fluttershy of the Junior Red Bull team had beaten the crap out of both Red Bull outfits black and blue and was 5th in the standings, only being beaten by the Top 4 of Celestia, Dean, Viral and Akula. And there were rumours that Cheese would be out of his seat if he didn't get a move on.

Cheese really needed to improve. And the duel was his chance to show Fluttershy, Christian Horner and the media what he was capable of. However...

To give credit, Cheese was able to keep up with the timid pegasus and was even able to get past! It was a shame when he suffered a puncture after hitting something on the track at Turn 7. This resulted in a DNQ and Fluttershy would move on again. And Cheese was in serious jeopardy of not seeing the end of the season at all.

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

The second Duel put the two back-marker teams against one another. Williams' Yona was taking HAAS' Chrysalis. Chrysalis was confident, as she had gotten a few tips about the track from her lover, Akula. The only problem was the car. It was still the same slow and back-hard and tricky-to-drive VF-19 that they had started the season with.

While the FW42 wasn't any better, being light on downforce, draggy and overweight, Yona was starting to get herself familiar with the car and was starting to keep up with the faster Sandbar. And she had found a setup that worked well with her driving style.

And it was this that resulted in Yona moving on to the final.

Duel 3: LUN (Alfa-Romeo) VS BMI (McLaren)

Duel 3 and Luna was taking on Big Macintosh. The MCL34 and the C38 were quite close in the field. However, the difference between the attitudes of the two drivers was like chalk and cheese. In Luna's case, she was seriously frustrated. She had gone quite a few races without managing to qualify for a final and she felt like she was regretting her decision to sign for a seat in F1. Thankfully, her sister and Giovinazzi convinced her to keep trying.

Big Mac, on the other hoof, was feeling down on himself. After his spin at Silverstone that resulted in a DNF from the Top 5, Macintosh was going through a dark moment. He was clearly not following Unofficial Formula One Rule 31: Prepare for Heartbreak. He was doubting his abilities and his driving was beginning to suffer as a result.

Quite early into the race, Mac lost the back end and spun into the gravel at SudKurve. Luna was moving, much to her pleasure.

Duel 5: TWI (Mercedes-AMG Petronas) VS OSC (Aston-Martin Red Bull Racing)

Dark clouds began to gather over the Hokenheimring, as Duel 5 got off the ground. In this Duel, Twilight of Mercedes was taking on Oscura of Red Bull. And for Twilight, the time was right to get things right. Unlike Akula and Viral, Twilight didn't heed the warnings and ran the same livery that Hamilton and Bottas ran. The nose of her Mercedes was painted in bright white, before it peeled away into her lavender Mercedes livery. The livery was a reference to the (not entirely true) story of how Mercedes had to strip the white paint from their cars at the last minute in the 30s to meet the minimum weight limit.

As of Oscura, she was running the livery she had used in Austria. But it wasn't the car that would win this race, but the driver. As on Lap 3, it began to rain. And on that lap, Oscura pitted for Intermediates. Twilight stayed out and would pull a massive lead over the dark unicorn. And there was a reason for that.

Despite the rain starting, the track was still way too dry for the Intermediate tyre to be used. Twilight knew this, because she had done the calculations all in her head before she made her decision to stay out. As a result, Twilight easily took the victory by the Mercy Rule.

Duel 6: RBD (Scuderia Ferrari) VS PIN (Aston-Martin Red Bull Racing)

The rain began to pour once Duel 6 was ready to start. In this duel, two best friends from rival teams would face each other. Yes, Rainbow Dash from Ferrari would face against Pinkie Pie of Red Bull. Rainbow now had recovered from her shell-shock and was now trying to get back into competitiveness.

Pinkie was a challenging opponent, but nothing seemed to be coming together for her, as she locked her brakes and hit the gravel at Hairpin. Unable to get herself out, she had to forfeit.

Duel 7: CEL (Alfa-Romeo) VS VRL (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)

In Duel 7, Viral Velocity was facing off against her rival #2, Celestia. She had faced off with the princess multiple times in the season, finishing second to her twice. Now, she would need to beat her in order to advance her position. But she wasn't overly worried. First off, she was very talented behind the wheel of her Mercedes. Also, she had received plenty of advice from mentor Valtteri Bottas and Akula, so she was quite confident.

Speaking of Akula, she felt like she needed to thank him for all the help she had gotten from him. And having run a livery as a sign of respect for Lewis, she decided to do the same for her changeling friend. So, she painted her Mercedes in an identical pattern to the livery that Akula had used at the start of the season. But instead of black-on-red, she went for a black-and-red slash design. And as a further homage to Mercedes history, she did what Akula did and stripped her Mercedes of all sponsorship decals.

In the actual race, all the tips from her mentor and Akula paid off and she was easily able to take the victory from the Princess of the Sun and her Golden Alfa.

Duel 8: SPI (Scuderia Ferrari) VS SAN (ROKiT Williams)

Duel 8 and two legendary teams from F1's history would go head-to-head. Sandbar of Williams and Spitfire of Ferrari would face off in this duel. Ferrari and Williams were both historical rivals, having faced off against one another in the 80s for World Championships with the likes of Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet.

Sandbar, however, was no Nigel Mansell. He was just a young pony. And since he was young, he was prone to making mistakes. It seemed as if Sandbar had taken a step back at Germany. Somehow, he had made a serious adjustment to the angle of the rear end components of his car, result in heavy rear end grip and serious oversteer.

It was no surprise when Sandbar lost the backend at the exit of SudKurve and hit the barriers, causing him to forfeit.

Duel 9: SIL (BWT Racing Point) VS GLA (HAAS)

In Duel 9, Silverstream was to face off against Gladmane. Something that the two drivers had in common was their lack of race qualifications. Both of them hadn't qualified for a race in a while. And thy were determined to make the cut here in Germany.

However, it didn't excuse how bad their cars were. The RP19 and VF-19 were not the best cars on the grid and were easily outpaced by the MCL34, STR14 and R.S.19. It would be down to the driver that had the better amount of skill that would win the day.

In the end, it turned out to be that Silverstream was the better driver, as she took the win.

Duel 10: APP (McLaren) VS LTD (Scuderia Ferrari)

In Duel 10, Applejack was facing off against Lightning Dust. Upon seeing who her opponent was going to be, Applejack was worried. The Hockenheimring had plenty of long straights, which perfectly suited the powerful and fast Ferrari's. The MCL34 was not on the same level as the SF90 in terms of speed.

It didn't help the farm mare that Lightning was getting great tips from her mentor, Charles Leclerc, to be a better driver.

Eventually, those fears were realised. Dust was just way too fast for AJ and easily took the win via Mercy.

Duel 11: RAR (Renault) VS OCE (Toro Rosso)

Duel 11 and Rarity was up against Ocellus. This duel was a close one, as the differences between the two cars were not existent. The STR14 and R.S.19 were both decent mid-pack cars, and were capable in great hooves (or hands). Whoever was the better driver would take the victory in this duel.

To everyone's surprise, it was Ocellus who took the victory from Rarity and put both Toro Rossos on the grid for the final.

Duel 12: GAL (BWT Racing Point VS SUR (Renault)

The final duel in Germany and it was fought between Gallus and Suri Polomare. And the griffon was in serious trouble. The Hockenheimring was a track that played against his driving style. Also, the RP19 was not a very effective car in the short term race pace. The R.S.19 was better overall in most cases, which was the factor that gave Suri the victory.

Author's Note

My apologies that this chapter took so long, but I was busy with other things (like real life).