In the Prema garage, Alessandro Rossi was already standing at the pit wall with his helmet in his hand.
He had been watching the timing screens from the moment Leo's Sector 1 split had come through at 27.4. His engineer had said something in Italian beside him. Rossi hadn't responded. He had watched the Sector 2 split arrive. Had watched the final time lock in.
His expression didn't break. The face of a champion was built for moments like this — for receiving information that was unpleasant without providing the audience around him with evidence of the impact.
But his engineer noticed. The slight tightening of the Italian's grip on the helmet. The way his eyes stayed on the board for three full seconds after the time locked in. Rossi looked at things for exactly as long as he needed to. He had stayed on this one longer.
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