"I don't know, I thought we'd be inundated with applications for our two seats, given that nobody wants to be in a works team."
"Actually, I believe Tingis was happy with a test driver status at a works team, so I'm not sure that's true."
"Exception to the rule and all that. But anyways, it seems sitting back and letting people come to us is just not working, so we're going to have to delve into this pool ourselves."
Louis Krindle and Matthew Tyrtin were standing the team's small conference room, having just finalised all the car's details and testing, with Louis looking furious and Matthew attempting to keep calm in front of his rather irascible main driver.
After about a minute's silence, Louis piped up, saying "So, got any ideas on who we want to contact?"
Matthew looked at Louis, before reaching for a folder marked "Free Agents". It wasn't big, despite the number of people in that position, simply because there hadn't been enough time for proper scouting. Indeed, Victoria was the biggest entry so far in there, as she was a Lodgertian driver. There were some, Matthew Portland for example, who had substantial information, but given how famous those people were, there was little hope of catching them, especially as a second driver.
"Well, there are a certain few that we can remove from the list, given what our requirements are."
"And what would those requirements be?" inquired Louis.
"Someone who's very fast, but also rather reliable, because realistically, we're not aiming high in the constructors' championship, we just want as many point as possible. And if I'm honest, you'll be relying on your speed to get you far, but reliability is not your strong suit, it never has been, and I doubt it will ever be. So we need a reliable second driver who can hit the tail end of the points, but not crash into a wall or another driver every other race."
"So, who fits that bill?"
Matthew took out a lot names from the folder and placed them in front of him. "Well, based on what we can garner from their past record on the basis of ability, this is who I think would fit in nicely, although I've kept in those highly unlikely to join us just for comparison."
"That's ... an expansive set of names you've got there," replied Louis after about ten minutes of skimming through the material. "How are you going to pick someone to join us?"
"That's the problem, not enough of these drivers have expressed an interest in racing, or even finding a seat, in this championship after applying. It's like they've just vanished off the radar. So we don't know how good those lot are."
"Why don't you just contact the ones you have solid data for, and see who's eager out of them? Or, try and consider more people for the role."
And with that, Louis walked out of the room, effectively ending the meeting.