F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 106 Three Seconds, Ten Laps, Is There a Chance? (4k)

Because Verstappen reacted quickly, he was already 0.4 meters ahead of Ocon when he crossed the starting grid, while Rosenqvist was 0.5 meters ahead of Ocon.

Wu Shi had better distance control; he was only 0.2 seconds behind Rosenquist after exiting the corner.

He had just entered the halfway point of the track when he slightly veered his car. Rosenquist in front of him quickly pulled to the center line, while his car remained on the outside.

Realizing he had been tricked, Rosenquist immediately returned to the outside line, but Wu Shi seemed to have known he would do that. The car, which had just turned, turned completely and drove straight into the center line, heading straight for the inside.

Rosenquist had already changed lanes before and could not change lanes again, otherwise it would be considered drawing a dragon and he might be woken up and penalized. So he followed the rule well.

Swish!
Wu Shi cut into the apex of the bend, and with a clever trick, he not only fooled the inside player but also caused Rosenquist to make two sharp turns, resulting in a slight loss of speed.

Rosenquist was also shrewd. Since he couldn't stop him at the entrance to the corner, he would trip him up at the exit. He stuck firmly to Wu Shi's left side, as if he wanted to crush him in the apex of the corner.

"Oh! Rosenquist won't give way, Wu Shi can't get from the apex to the outside, he can't accelerate! He squeezes into Rosenquist, will Rosenquist let him pass?"
"No! He won't move aside!"

The commentator roared, his wide eyes catching a startling sight: "They've collided! Their tires are completely fused together!"

The moment Rosenquist felt the slight tremor in the car, he realized that this guy was going to crash into him!
He had finally managed to get a front-row seat and didn't want to lose this opportunity to score points!

"Madman! Madman! Madman!"

While he was cursing loudly in TR, he quickly moved towards the outside.

But he found that Wu Shi's car seemed to be stuck to him, with the two tires still rubbing against each other, and he could almost hear the squeaking of the rubber!
Is he trying to take me down with him?!

Rosenquist no longer dared to force the issue and immediately moved to the outside as quickly as possible.

Whoosh!

He drove over the buffer zone and out of the white line.

Wu Shi, who had won the entire track, steadily drove his No. 32 car, replacing Rosenquist, and sped past on the outside.

Inside the P room, many technicians were holding their heads and mouths agape, completely at a loss for words.

In their view, Wu Shi directly and forcefully pressed Rosenquist, and after a moment of stalemate, Rosenquist's race car suddenly seemed to be bounced away and landed directly off the track.

Let's watch the replay!!!

The commentator was also confused, wondering why Rosenquist, who had initially been prepared to fight back, was suddenly scared away.

Then, in slow motion, he saw it clearly.

The wheels of the two race cars were pressed tightly together, and you could even see slight deformation of the tires due to the mutual compression.

This scene was breathtaking!

Rosenquist was clearly startled; slow-motion replays show a slight rotation of his helmet followed by a slight outward turn of the steering wheel.

However, Wu Shi's vehicle followed almost immediately.

If it weren't for the slow motion, no one would be able to see such detailed footage!

Even with the slow-motion replay showing all of this, the narrator still found it hard to believe, still thinking that Wu Shi was just squeezing outwards while Rosenquist was trying to avoid it.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "What a wonderful coincidence! Wu's driving was too aggressive!"

In the footage, if Wu Shi had pushed outwards with just a little more force and speed, both cars would have retired from the race! Then, Rosenqvist, fearing a collision, quickly increased the distance between them.

"What a spectacular wheel-to-wheel battle! I never imagined that these two drivers would deliver such a thrilling fight!" The commentator seemed to be enjoying the spectacle even more.

Wu Shi, who came in third place, dared not say he was not satisfied; his heart rate reached an astonishing 200.

He was well aware of the danger of what he had just done; if he hadn't reacted in time, he would have been forced to withdraw from the competition!
He was not only challenging the limits of his own perception and control, but also challenging Rosenquist not to panic and steer erratically!
The incredibly precise operation he just performed made his brain feel like it was on fire, and his ears were ringing, like an anemic person standing up after squatting in a latrine for a long time.

But in any case, he made it to third place and is about to face Ocon, who is known as the Lion!

He had barely completed one lap, and before he even entered the attack range, another vehicle collided with him, and the damaged vehicle came to a stop in the buffer zone.

Fortunately, the main force had just passed by, and Matthew immediately stepped in and pushed the two immobile race cars toward the guardrail.

This simple maneuver did not trigger the yellow flag, and the match continued.

Alan TR: "Rosenqvist made a mistake and withdrew from the race."

Thirty seconds later, Wu Shi heard the news from the team. He wondered if he was the reason why this decent driver failed to finish the race.

But that's the cruel reality of competitive sports; the consequences of mistakes must be swallowed with tears in one's eyes.

By the ninth lap, he had closed the gap to Ocon to 0.2, and was ready to launch an attack.

At this moment, he realized O'Connor's defensive capabilities; this guy wasn't easily fooled.

If you only move slightly towards the inside line, he will also move slightly and will not change line at all. Only when you change line significantly will he follow suit with a significant change in line.

This situation continued for three or four consecutive bends.

Wu Shi could only follow closely behind him, looking for an opportunity.

With weaker vehicle performance, following other cars is already difficult, let alone overtaking.

Even Pan Zi, who lagged behind in the pack, struggled for half a year and couldn't overtake more than a few Prema team drivers.

He's the only one driving this car right now; otherwise, there's no chance of maintaining such a close following distance.

On the twelfth lap, he almost caught up with Ocon's tail.

This time, just as he was about to enter turn eight, he quickly changed lanes to the inside and adopted an overtaking posture.

O'Conn reacted quickly, blocking the middle line to take up defense.

At this moment, Wu Shi suddenly pulled the outer lane sharply, crossing the entire lane to reach the outer lane.

O'Conn was momentarily slow to react, mainly because he was guarding the paint and had a defensive advantage. He didn't know what Wu Shi was going to do, so he didn't make any move.

Overtaking on the outside often relies solely on vehicle performance, hoping for a mistake from the opponent, or a combination of curves that allows the outside lane to become the inside lane.

However, the curves of the combination of 8, 9, 10, and 11 are not good, making it very difficult to overtake on the crossroads.

Because after the outside lane enters from Turn 8, the next turn is still a left turn, so the outside lane remains the outside lane. Only when you reach Turn 10 (right turn) will the outside lane become the inside lane.

Typically, during this process, the outside drivers will be pushed back in distance.

The commentator also saw it very clearly, and he quickly stated his speculation:

"It's impossible for Wu to change lines and overtake here. Turn 8 and Turn 10 are too far apart, and Turn 8 has a very large angle, which will seriously slow down the speed of the outside drivers when exiting the turn!"

Those who understand the situation generally agree with the commentator's viewpoint.

Even the team leader and Alan in the pit room knew that it was unlikely that their positions would change at this bend.

“Too hasty, we should have pushed them for two more laps,” Alan said.

"They're young after all," the team leader said, quite content. However, no one knew that this set of crosses was the result of Wu Shi's preparation for three whole laps. In those three laps, he tried almost every position and made the same movements.

He made it clear to O'Connor that he only wanted to cut inside and overtake.

Therefore, when he moved to the outside this time, O'Connor sluggishly guarded the inside.

Taking the inside line means stepping into the apex of the corner, which means slowing down to a very low speed!

With Wu Shi on the outside, he naturally gained a half-body lead over Aokang by relying on a quick in-and-slow out strategy.

But this is only temporary. Once the apex is cleared, O'Connell, who can quickly get out of the paint, will gain a speed advantage and will soon overtake Wu Shi.

Therefore, Wu Shi exerted his strength at this moment. He controlled the car and did not give way to the outer lane at all, which meant that Aokang could only accelerate along the left side line.

This squeeze affected Aokang's upshifting and acceleration, forcing him to return to center later to avoid a crash.

And it was in this short time that Wu Shi's even more powerful gear shifting and acceleration capabilities were demonstrated.

He closed the gap by exiting corners later and accelerating later, relying solely on his driving skills.

He and Ocon exited the corner at almost the same time, and he was only one front wing behind!
But, that's enough!
Turn 9 is a fake turn; at the current speed, there's absolutely no need to hug the apex of the turn.

After turning nine, turning ten arrived, and Wu Shi had already moved to the inside lane.

O'Conn was well aware of the situation, but with the two cars side by side, he couldn't make any lane-changing maneuvers and could only try to squeeze them in!

Wu Shi glanced at the scene and felt the gusts of air pressing down on him, knowing that the French lion wanted to crush him inside the paint.

He didn't back down and swerved the steering wheel sharply, seemingly wanting to collide with him.

Whether Aokang's mentality was good or not is unknown, but he was definitely stubborn. He didn't react at all to the oncoming vehicles, as if he was telling Wu Shi directly, "Want to crash and retire from the race? Then bring it on!"

Wu Shi was certainly not a reckless man who only knew about torpedoes. Every move he made was a test. If the opponent gave way, that was a good thing. If the opponent did not give way, he also gained an advantage.

And so, O'Connor stopped pressuring him!

In that brief moment of psychological maneuvering, he had gained more room to maneuver out of the corner.

Buzz! Click!
The race car rolled past the apex of the corner, its right wheel completely out of bounds, squeezing every last bit of space on the track.

Relying on his inside game, Wu Shi finally closed the last gap with Aokang, and the two cars were now completely side by side, with no one able to tell which was ahead!

Next, after passing the fake turn 11, there is a long straight, with the camera pointing directly at the two race cars, like two flying arrows!

In the blink of an eye, the long straight road was almost over, and the number 12 turn at the end of the straight road was still a right turn.

Of the two players side-by-side, Wu Shi is still in the paint!

Now, Aokang either has to brake even later or give up its position.

This guy was naturally not going to let Wu Shi pass by so easily, so he barely braked when he got to the bend.

But he still didn't get the chance. Why?

Because Wu Shi also failed to brake, they both missed their braking point and rushed off the track together!

This intense confrontation kept the camera firmly focused on the two individuals.

However, Wu Shi had already begun to brake slightly before he veered off the track.

Once they were completely off the track, the grip on the grass was so poor that the two could only slowly make their way back.

Because Wu Shi was on the right, he returned to the track earlier, and because of his earlier slight braking, the braking force he needed was actually less than that of O'Connor.

So he was faster than O'Connor, so he regained traction and started accelerating.

The speed and time difference between the two trips allowed Wu Shi to surpass Wu Shi.

By the time O'Connor returned to the track, he had already lost his position.

If he holds on until the next left turn, he will have inside position and a chance to continue his fight.

But there are no "ifs". Wu Shi relied on his maneuvering from the eighth turn to deliver the final blow!

Such a brilliant move was completely captured on camera and witnessed by the audience in the stands.

Even though there weren't many people watching the game, applause still rang out.

"To everyone's surprise, Wu made that overtake! I have absolutely no idea how he did it! Although he eventually went over the track limits, he maintained the lead until he left!"

The commentator speculated that this would not result in a penalty.

Upon seeing this, the team leader immediately summoned the consultant responsible for communicating with the FIA ​​and asked him to go to the race office to check on the situation.

On the track, Wu Shi, who had jumped to second place, was not too happy because he was nearly three seconds behind Verstappen.

Wu Shi TR: "His lap time."

Alan did not reply immediately. He glanced at the team leader. Now that the two Van Amersfords were occupying the front row, it would be more in the team's interest to bring the first and second cars back.

"I remember at Silverstone, you promised to help him win twenty-one championships, right?" The team leader didn't give any instructions, but asked in return.

Upon hearing this, Alan smiled and said, "I understand."

随即，在TR中，说道：“1分33秒4到1分33秒8。”

Wu Shi responded: "copy."

Three seconds, ten laps, is there a chance?

As the vehicle climbs higher, the tires are already severely worn. If the speed is increased aggressively, it will inevitably lead to a situation where even if the vehicle catches up, it will be unable to launch an attack.

Even if a god came, it wouldn't help in this situation!

Wu Shi TR: "I can maintain a lap time of 1 minute and 33 seconds, and I hope to catch up with him."

Each lap takes 0.4 seconds. You can catch up after seven or eight laps. After the last two laps, it depends on your skill level.

But his tire condition was indeed much worse than Verstappen's, who had been cruising in first place the whole time!
His ability to maintain higher lap times with bad tires is entirely due to his keen sense of tire condition and extremely high driving precision.

The driver's and crew's TR (Traffic Tracking) is something that all teams can hear.

Many people shook their heads upon hearing this, saying that with such a huge gap, to think of surpassing it was simply a pipe dream!

"Wu hasn't given up on winning yet, but I really don't think he has a good chance. It's not that I don't believe in his abilities, but the gap in all aspects is too big now, so big that it can't be bridged by technique alone!"

The commentator also offered his own perspective on this dialogue.

　There will be another chapter later!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)