"Ah! Aaaaaah!"
The grandstands at the start-finish line erupted in a collective frenzy. The raw speed and violence of formula racing detonated right before their eyes, sending adrenaline spiking through the veins of every spectator.
Gasp.
In the commentary box, David Croft and Martin Brundle both sucked in a sharp breath, exchanging a look of pure shock. Their eyes were wide, filled with delight.
Like George Russell, they had believed Kai could overtake Anthoine Hubert. But believing is one thing; witnessing it happen in the span of a single lap was something else entirely. It was visceral. It was undeniable.
"Surprise!" Croft shouted. "Absolute surprise!"
The broadcast immediately cut to a slow-motion replay.
It happened in the complex between Turn 13 and Turn 15. Hubert's line through the chicane was slightly unstable. He braked a fraction too early, compromising his exit speed. It was a fleeting error, a blink-and-you-miss-it deviation.
But Kai, operating with total focus, saw it.
He braked late, pushing the limits of adhesion into Turn 15. The car shuddered, dancing over the curbs, but he didn't hesitate. He pinned the throttle.
A monster exit.
Hubert and Kai rocketed out of the corner nose-to-tail, but Kai's superior momentum devoured the gap instantly. The rest was history.
Main straight. Slipstream. Pull out. Overtake. Claim the apex of Turn 1.
It was fluid, decisive, and brutal.
He gave Hubert no chance to fight back, carving through Turn 1 and Turn 2 with silky precision before powering away.
"Magnificent!" Brundle praised. "On paper, it looks like Hubert just made a small mistake at Turn 15. But look closer. Kai has been glued to his gearbox, matching his rhythm, applying constant, suffocating pressure. He made sure Hubert saw that red nose in his mirrors every single second."
"He denied Hubert the mental space to drive cleanly," Croft agreed. "He forced the error, and when the window opened, he smashed through it."
"And now," Brundle continued, "the roles are reversed. Hubert is the hunter, trying to hang on. But look at Kai. He's pushing. He's using the braking points of the technical sector to stretch the elastic. Before Turn 10, the gap is already 0.8 seconds."
"That's not all," Croft interjected. "Look at Sector 3. Kai is flying."
The commentary ceased as they watched the onboard feed. Kai's driving was like turbulent water channeled into a smooth pipe—violent yet controlled.
He fired the red-and-black ART machine out of Turn 16, turning into a streak of light down the main straight. It was a masterclass in carrying speed.
"Beautiful!" Croft slammed his hand on the desk. "The gap is now 1.033 seconds! Kai has cleared his two teammates and is up to P4. He's hunting for the podium."
"And we can confirm," Brundle added, "that the contact with Pulcini on Lap 1 had no lasting damage. That is crucial because his next target is... Dorian Boccolacci."
Yesterday, Boccolacci had started P3 and finished P6, furious at the squandered opportunity. Today, starting P3 again, he was determined not to repeat history. In the cutthroat world of junior formula, wasting chances was a cardinal sin.
More importantly, he refused to lose to the "outsider" again.
For Kai, the situation was precarious.
"Balance is good, everything looks nominal," Borreipaire radioed. " However, left front temperature is rising significantly. You need to manage it."
Barcelona is a tire killer, specifically for the left front. They were only on Lap 4, not even a third of the race distance, and the sensors were already screaming.
The other problem was the gap. While Kai had been fighting through the pack, the lead trio had bolted. There was a two-second gap to Boccolacci. In GP3, without a massive pace advantage, closing two seconds could take five to seven laps.
Catching is one thing; passing is another.
"Tires are good for now," Kai reported, checking his dash. "Keep me updated on the temps. Pierre, I'm initiating push mode."
Borreipaire's heart skipped a beat. This was their first race weekend together, but a silent understanding had already formed. "Copy."
Kai didn't just put his head down and charge. He began to stalk Boccolacci like a chess player.
He would surge forward, filling Boccolacci's mirrors, feinting a dive to spook him. Then he would drop back, cooling his tires, lulling the Frenchman into a false sense of security. Then he would push again, aggressive and wild, looking like he was ready to crash them both out.
It was psychological warfare. For four laps, Kai tormented Boccolacci, making his nerves fray.
Boccolacci tried to push to break the tow, but the Trident setup couldn't match the ART's race pace. Kai was like a ghost haunting him—impossible to shake, impossible to fight.
Frustration boiled in Boccolacci's chest. Just attack me already! Let's fight! Stop playing games!
He checked his mirrors again. Kai was coming. Fast.
Here we go again. Another fake attack?
No.
This time, the wolf was actually at the door.
Lap 9. Halfway through the sprint race. The gap was under a second.
Boccolacci saw the move coming. Kai was looking to the outside of Turn 1.
"Got you!" Boccolacci thought. He defended perfectly, moving left to squeeze Kai's line without leaving the inside open. It was top-tier defensive driving.
Kai backed out.
Boccolacci felt a surge of adrenaline. He had held him off. He settled into combat mode, parking the bus through Turn 2 and Turn 3. He was sacrificing his mid-corner speed to block, backing Kai up into the chasing Hubert.
It was valiant. It was exciting.
But Brundle noticed something odd. "Kai is taking a different line. He's prioritizing the exit. Boccolacci is parking on the apexes to defend, but he's killing his own momentum."
Then came Turn 7. A sharp right-hander.
They entered nose-to-tail. Kai braked late, his front wing millimeters from Boccolacci's gearbox. Boccolacci survived the corner, but his exit was compromised.
Kai, utilizing incredible car control, caught a slide on the exit, corrected, and immediately jinked to the right to get out of the dirty air.
Gap: Under one second.
DRS: Enabled.
Brundle gasped. "It was a setup! The whole lap was a setup!"
From Turn 1, Kai had been manipulating Boccolacci. He forced the Trident driver to drive defensively, ruining his flow and exit speeds, while Kai maximized his own run through the technical sector.
It was all for this moment. The short burst of DRS after Turn 8.
It was a slaughter.
Kai opened the rear wing. The speed difference was massive. He breezed past Boccolacci before they even reached Turn 9. He slammed the door shut, took the racing line through the fast right-hander, and vanished into the distance.
Boccolacci didn't even have a chance to defend. He had spent all his energy fighting a phantom, only to be assassinated in broad daylight.
"Clean! Clinical! Fatal!" Croft roared. "Kai moves up to P3! Boccolacci is left wondering what hit him!"
"But wait!" Croft shouted. "Look at the front!"
Chaos.
While Kai was dissecting Boccolacci, the leaders were fighting for their lives. Arjun Maini (Jenzer Motorsport) was all over the back of Raoul Hyman (Campos Racing) for the lead.
Hyman was struggling. The Campos car lacked mechanical grip, and Hyman was fighting understeer in every low-speed corner. Maini was relentless.
The pressure broke him. At Turn 14, Hyman braked too deep. The car washed out, running wide into the runoff area.
Maini shot through.
Kai, having just cleared Boccolacci, swept past the recovering Hyman a few seconds later.
In the blink of an eye, the order had shuffled.
"Kai is up to P2!" Croft screamed. "He is hunting down Arjun Maini for the win!"
Maini had barely processed taking the lead when he saw the red-and-black shark in his mirrors.
"I thought Dorian was holding him off!" Maini yelled.
"He's past," his engineer replied, voice tense. "Arjun, focus. Head down. No dirty air ahead. This is your race to lose."
Maini swallowed hard. The guy who started P8 was now P2. He was coming like the Terminator.
Do you know what it feels like to be hunted by a devil?
Maini pushed. But Kai was calm.
However, reality struck. The tires.
Kai's left front was blistering. The aggressive climb through the field had taken its toll.
"Tires are blistering," Kai reported, his voice devoid of emotion.
Borreipaire took a deep breath. "Copy. Maintain rhythm. Finishing is the priority."
"Oh, Pierre, so little faith? That hurts my feelings," Kai deadpanned.
Borreipaire choked. Is he joking? Now? A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "What's the plan?"
"Not sure. Let's see for two laps. But Pierre... never give up. It's not over until the line."
Borreipaire straightened his spine. "Copy."
Blistering is a nightmare. It causes vibration, loss of grip, and unpredictability. It's like driving on marbles. But Maini was in the same boat. He had burned his tires chasing Hyman and trying to escape Kai.
Brundle spotted the change. "Kai has switched to 'Qualifying Mode.' Not maximum attack, but maximum precision. He's nursing the car, avoiding the curbs, driving on eggshells to save the rubber while maintaining speed. He's dancing on a razor blade."
It was a masterclass in management. Despite the blistering, Kai was gaining 0.2 seconds per lap.
Lap 16. Two laps to go.
"Push, Kai! Push! Push! Push!" Borreipaire yelled.
It was now or never.
Maini responded, defending desperately. He parked the car on every apex, breaking the rhythm. The gap fluctuated—0.4s, 0.6s.
Final Lap.
Maini was perfect through the first two sectors. He covered every line.
They approached the final chicane (Turns 14-15). Maini nailed it. The final corner, Turn 16, loomed.
Maini braked late, trying to maximize his entry speed to deny Kai a run.
Too late.
A puff of smoke from the front right. A lock-up.
The crowd went silent.
Kai didn't panic. He had anticipated this. He wasn't aiming for the DRS zone on the next lap—there was no next lap. He was aiming for the drag race to the line.
He sacrificed his entry, swinging wide to square off the corner. He treated the throttle like a trigger.
Maini ran slightly wide due to the lock-up. A gap opened.
Kai dove. He cut back to the inside, finding traction where Maini had none. He shifted, revs screaming, turbo spooling.
The Cheetah pounced.
He pulled out of the slipstream, ignoring the dirty air, and pulled alongside Maini on the main straight.
Maini saw him. "Hell no!"
Maini swerved right, trying to squeeze him. Kai held his line.
BANG!
"Contact!" Croft screamed.
Wheels banged. Carbon fiber shuddered. Neither driver lifted.
Maini's swerve cost him momentum. Kai's refusal to yield kept his speed up. The red car surged ahead by a nose.
They crossed the line.
"KAI!"
"IT'S KAI! HE WINS! AAAAAH!"
Croft was standing up, veins bulging in his neck.
"Side by side to the line! Maini locked up at the final corner! Kai cut back underneath! They touched! They banged wheels at 280 kph! And Kai takes it!"
"0.165 seconds! The gap is 0.165 seconds!"
"From P8 to P1! He has sword-fought his way through the entire field! The Barcelona Miracle! This is a race for the ages!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to... KAI!"
"Pole position! Feature Race win! Sprint Race win! A clean sweep on his debut weekend!"
The circuit was melting down. Lorenzo was screaming incoherently in the stands, grabbing strangers and shaking them. "That's my friend! That's Kai!"
In the pit lane, Borreipaire, the man of ice, exploded.
"YES! P1! Kai! P1!"
He slammed his fist on the console. He forgot his dignity. He forgot his reputation.
"You are the man! Do you hear me? YOU ARE THE MAN!"
"Aaaaaah!" Kai screamed back over the radio, the joy erupting from his chest. "Pierre! We did it! Ha! We did it!"
It was pure, unadulterated euphoria.
Borreipaire felt a song bubbling up in his throat. He couldn't stop it.
"Baby, baby, baby, ohhhh..." he sang into the channel.
Silence.
Then, a new voice cut in.
"Kai, this is Fred. Beautiful drive. Also... Pierre, I didn't know you had such talent."
It was Frédéric Vasseur.
Borreipaire froze. His soul left his body. He turned his head slowly, like a character in a horror movie, to see the entire pit crew staring at him, trying not to laugh.
"Oh, bringing sexy back..." someone whispered.
The garage erupted in laughter. Borreipaire buried his face in his hands.
Race Summary:
P1: Kai (ART Grand Prix) - Fastest LapP2: Arjun Maini (Jenzer Motorsport)P3: Dorian Boccolacci (Trident)
The rest of the field was left reeling. George Russell and Anthoine Hubert finished in the points (P4-P8 range) but were overshadowed.
Further back, Jack Aitken fought a bitter duel with Giuliano Alesi for P11, with Alesi edging him out by 0.260 seconds. Neither scored points.
Kai had done the unthinkable. He became only the sixth driver in history to achieve the "double"—winning both weekend races. He left Barcelona with maximum points (48).
He had turned the Spanish Grand Prix into a one-man show.