Leo drove the back section of the cool-down lap.
Two-tenths. On a lap where the Sector 2 had been the cleanest he had run all session. On a lap where the framework had not been interrupted by traffic or mechanical issues or tyre temperature spikes.
Leo thought about this.
'Rossi's best lap. The setup change gave him the Sector 2 improvement I projected. His Sector 3 has been the strongest in the field all session. He is running at or near his ceiling.'
He thought about his own lap.
The forearm at 55 percent. The Turn 7 load at 6.8G. The front-left staying within range.
He thought about the one thing he had not yet fully accessed.
The Racing Instinct sat at 9.1%. Across two hundred laps of the pod, it had been a background calculation — a sub-process running below the active skills, shaping decisions at a level that was below conscious input. In the real car, across a full day of sessions, it had been the same. Background. Shaping. Present but not dominant.
