F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 117 A Massive Slaughter (Part 2)

Wu Shi rarely logs into his publicly verified social media accounts, so he has long forgotten his account password. He also doesn't follow his public accounts, so naturally he is not very aware of the situation.

All sorts of information are flying around, and the comment section is filled with heated arguments.

He spoke highly of Wu Shi in every way.

"The youngest karting Grand Slam winner in history! Six-time consecutive F3 European Championship winner! How can he not be qualified to be an F1 driver?"

"Correction: It's now their seventh consecutive championship." (From three minutes ago)

"Is there anyone in the paddock who has a better track record than him before becoming an F1 driver? I think once Wu goes in, he will dominate F1 racing just like he dominated karting and F3!"

Wu Shi covered his forehead, "Dude, don't flatter me to death!"
However, the next reply was even more arrogant: "With Wu's skills, he could win the championship even driving a Caterham race car!"

hiss!
Wu Shi gasped when he saw it. No, this Caterham is even worse than a Sauber. How could he possibly drive it?!

He didn't expect to have so many brainless fans. These comments claim to be praising him, but that's only because it's 2014. In 2024, they would all be idiots! They would all be killed without any qualms!

The negative comments about him are quite normal; they are mostly racist remarks, comments about custom-tuned cars, and accusations of bribery—attacks that every driver might encounter.

"Don't you usually watch these things? Your current popularity is higher than all of ours combined." Foco was a little envious; he wanted to try being an internet celebrity.

“There’s nothing to see here. They’ll either say I can or I can’t. I know for myself whether I can or not. I don’t need their judgment,” Wu Shi said.

"Just what I thought!"

Pan Zi chuckled and said that he was also someone who didn't like to show his face in public and didn't want to pay attention to unfounded remarks, otherwise he wouldn't have given so many classic answers to reporters.

The three of them had lunch together, and at 4:30 pm, the second round of the ranking competition began.

This qualifying session, like the previous ones, was divided into two groups, with the fastest lap determining the starting grid for the second race and the second fastest lap determining the starting grid for the third race.

The competition started with odd-numbered sequences, allowing Wu Shi to watch the contestants from the maintenance area.

"Didn't you take a break at noon? I see that people in your hometown have a habit of taking a midday nap," Ai Lan said, noticing Wu Shi's dark circles.

"No, I'm not very sleepy anymore after noon."

Wu Shi shook his head. He had originally planned to rest for half an hour, but because of the rumors, the other drivers kept bothering him to find out the news and gossip.

He was well aware of the importance of the confidentiality clause in the contract, so he didn't reveal anything. He even pretended to be unaware and asked a few boastful drivers for details he didn't know.

This behavior greatly satisfied the vanity of drivers who couldn't beat him on the track, but could beat him in bragging and gossip.

"The overall speed was much faster today," Wu Shi said.

“Basically, the average lap time in the second qualifying session was faster,” Alan said.

"Why is this happening?"

"Maybe some drivers pushed themselves to their limits in the previous qualifying session. After all, not everyone is like you," Alan laughed.

In the first qualifying session, Rosenqvist achieved the fastest lap with a time of 1 minute 10.197 seconds, a significant improvement.

The second place went to Bromqvist, with a time of 1 minute 10.547 seconds.

"Your turn, good luck! Get pole position," Alan said.

"Lend your auspicious words."

Wu Shi got into his car. After 29 laps of the main race in the morning, his understanding of the track had improved significantly, making it easier for him to achieve the same time as yesterday.

Because he was confident enough, he was the first to drive out of the pit lane, and after two warm-up laps, he immediately started setting lap times.

"Wu, start dominating the lap times right away!"

The broadcast immediately focused on Wu Shi, where race car number 32 darted left and right through the narrow streets like a slippery eel.

“His familiarity with the track has improved a lot. Yesterday he still had a lot of corrections to make in qualifying, but today he doesn’t need to do so many complicated operations at all.”

"Moreover, we noticed that he adjusted the braking ratio and differential more frequently in the corners, indicating that his driving style has changed compared to before."

The narrator's professionalism is beyond question. He explained some details that viewers might miss, so that everyone could better understand Wu Shi's situation.

With his continuous introduction, Wu Shi successfully crossed the finish line in 1 minute 10.013 seconds.

It was a bit slower than yesterday's score, but it was definitely enough to secure pole position.

"Wow, the time is a bit slower than yesterday. It seems the new running method hasn't brought about an improvement in performance, but the consistency is definitely better than yesterday," the commentator added.

After achieving this result, he went straight to the maintenance area.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes passed and no one could break the lap time. The fastest, Aokang, only managed 1 minute 10.192 seconds, which was even slower than yesterday's lap time.

That concludes Saturday's matches.

The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow.

Once all the drivers returned, the team leader called a meeting and emphasized, "Bringing them back safely is your only task."

Shortly after the meeting ended, a few drops of rain fell from the gloomy sky, but not much. By nightfall, the rain had been falling for most of the night.

At 11 a.m. on the second day, the rain eased slightly, and all the cars stopped in their starting grids after the survey lap. However, five minutes before the start of the race, the rain suddenly intensified, and all the teams had to adjust the tire pressure of their rain tires.

Three minutes later, Alan said in TR: "The race will not have a standstill start."

Sure enough, when the race started, the safety car was still at the front and slowly began to move away.

Now, everyone just needs to follow the safety vehicle.

The race went on for six laps. Actually, the rain stopped by the third lap, but the race organizers, for safety reasons, did not start the race and continued to lead with the safety car until a racing line was created on the track, at which point the safety car was removed.

On the slippery road, Wu Shi could clearly feel that the race car was not easy to control. Even the rain tires did not provide enough grip. He had to find the most suitable route while driving to obtain better grip conditions.

hum!
Five seconds after the safety car left, the race officially began, and all the cars accelerated simultaneously.

The voices sounded very imposing, but everyone's acceleration didn't seem very fast; it felt like they were just shouting but not actually moving.

In fact, for a group of F3 drivers, no amount of caution is too much in the rain.

On slippery street races, even the slightest mistake can lead to retirement.

Wu Shi also slowed down his gear shifts to match the grip of the road. He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that Aokang was not following.

The two already had a gap in skill level when playing on dry ground, and this gap widened even further in the rain.

So I reckon it'll be another game where they lead the field.

When he arrived at Turn 2 again, Wu Shi did not attempt to push the limits. He downshifted and slowed down a little earlier to enter the turn. The rubber debris on the ground made the turn even more slippery, and even his rear wheels slipped slightly because he accidentally ran over these rubber particles.

If he hadn't reduced the throttle output in time, the car would probably have fishtailed.

What seemed like a rather slow entry into the corner to him was still a bit too fast for Ocon behind him, so Ocon was more cautious and braked earlier.

However, caution is a good thing, and Ocon's No. 2 car naturally steered towards the corner.

Following closely behind was Verstappen's number 30 car, whose route was completely different; he was actually preparing to cut inside and overtake.

Cutting into the inside lane to overtake inevitably causes the tires to run over rubber particles, resulting in insufficient grip. Panzi even braked a ridiculously late.

Screech!

As expected, car number 30's front and rear wheels locked instantly, and the entire car continued to surge forward to the right with tremendous inertia. Relying on a speed of over 140 kilometers per hour, car number 30 made up for the distance it had fallen behind in the blink of an eye and came to the flank of car number 2.

Just as Aokang had turned halfway around the corner, he suddenly heard the sound of an engine. Turning his head, he saw an out-of-control race car hurtling towards him at high speed.

Snap!

The enormous impact instantly sent race car number 2 hurtling wildly. By the time Wu Shi heard the crash, both out-of-control race cars were already hurtling towards him.

'Holy crap!'

As he cursed inwardly, he immediately abandoned his perception of the entire race car.

Bang!
Three race cars crashed violently into the guardrail, scattering shattered debris all over the ground.

"Oh! NO! There's been a collision in the front! We saw Verstappen skid, he went straight for O and Wu! The cars behind are coming too, and Foucault has managed to brake!"

The commentator spoke at breakneck speed, and before he could finish speaking, the cars behind him were already catching up.

The cars in front were fine; when they saw the situation was bad, they braked suddenly.

The cars behind them, however, were completely obscured by the thin curtain of water created by the splashes from their tires.

The drivers continued to brake at their usual braking points, and in the blink of an eye, they were close to the car in front of them at high speed. They had no idea why the car in front had braked earlier!

boom!
Two more race cars collided head-on due to their inability to avoid each other, and with the remaining momentum, they hurtled towards the guardrail.

Just as Wu Shi and his two companions had recovered, they were hit by two more violent collisions.

Boom!

The series of collisions left the track in a complete mess.

As expected, the safety vehicle was dispatched immediately, and yellow flags were being waved at all the guardrail windows.

As the traffic slowed down and the water mist lessened, the drivers' visibility improved, and finally, no more collisions occurred.

The broadcast camera focused on the accident site, where six cars lay scattered haphazardly at Turn 2, leaving only enough space for one race car to pass.

Wu Shi opened his goggles, unbuckled his seatbelt, and climbed out.

Fortunately, the loss of perception was swift this time, otherwise there would definitely have been a major problem.

When he saw that Aokang was driving very conservatively in the rearview mirror, he didn't think an accident would happen.

It turns out it was Panzi again! Only he would have the courage to drive like that in the rain.

He put the headrest aside, propped himself up on the frame, took a few breaths, and looked around. He soon spotted the driver of a race car lying motionless in his seat behind him.

His heart skipped a beat; he feared something might have happened to one of the drivers.

Wu Shi didn't even look at the race cars that were still passing by. He went straight over the obstacle and ran past them, prying open the driver's goggles.

After recognizing the face, he called out, "Hey! Tatiana, are you alright?"

"No, it's nothing, I'm just a little groggy." Tatiana's eyes were half-closed, as if she hadn't yet realized what had happened.

"Huh, it's okay."

Wu Shi waved to the staff to call for medical help, and then helped her unbuckle her seatbelt.

Ocon and Goddard also climbed out and rushed over to help.

Soon, the six drivers left the track through the gaps in the guardrail and finally reached the safe zone.

“Max! Why were you so reckless!” Ocon took off his helmet, his face full of anger, and turned to shout at Verstappen.

“I just couldn’t stop in time,” Verstappen said, taking off his gloves.

"Ha!" O'Connor scoffed and left.

Wu Shi patted Verstappen on the shoulder and asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Pan Zi shook his head.

Thanks to the safety features of the race car, only Tatiana, who was in slightly worse physical condition, experienced some discomfort among the six.

None of them said much. Accidents on the track are normal, and it's understandable that Aokang got angry. It all depends on the person.

Racing is inherently a dangerous sport. If Verstappen had controlled the car just now, no one would have talked about the risks behind it; they would have only said that his bold attempt led him to an amazing overtake.

Of course, in Wu Shi's view, Pan Zi's move was purely a torpedo, because under the track conditions just now, the car was going to pass the inside line at that speed and there was no possibility of stopping.

He and the others returned to the repair area. When Alan saw him, he immediately came over and said, "Don't be discouraged, it's just a game."

"What could I possibly be discouraged about?" Wu Shi said, both amused and exasperated. It wasn't his mistake that caused him to miss the championship, so he felt no sense of responsibility or pressure.

"Tsk, isn't this a rare opportunity to comfort you?" Alan joked.

"Hahaha!"

The team leader laughed heartily upon hearing this; he took it all in stride.

Although the collision resulted in the retirement of three Van Amers Ford vehicles from the race, the fact that everyone was unharmed is enough.

With Wu Shi alone holding 175 points and Verstappen's points on the current leaderboard, Prema simply cannot catch up.

He never expected to have a chance to win a team championship this year.

The retirement of six cars did not trigger a red flag; instead, the safety car led the way by slowing down the pace.

It took the Matthews six laps to clear all the cars off the track, and the race resumed.

After just four laps, someone else climbed onto the wall, and the safety car came out.

The race resumed on the twentieth lap, but it ended after only two laps.

United Kingdom driver Bromqvist took first place, Jack Dennis second, and Giovannizi third.

From the start of the competition until now, Wu Shi has finally had the opportunity to stand in the audience and watch others receive awards.

"God bless the Queen~" Wu Shi hummed a little tune from the United Kingdom.

“I can almost hum your national anthem,” Verstappen said.

"Hahaha, I also know the Dutch national anthem, du du du du~" Wu Shi changed the tune and hummed it.

"Wow, how did you learn that?" Vestager exclaimed in surprise.

At that moment, the national anthem of the United Kingdom was played, and Wu Shi and Vestager fell silent, remaining solemn.

After the national anthem ended, Wu Shi said, "I quite like this tune."

“Really? Haha.” Vestapan chuckled twice.

The third match in the afternoon will be held at 3:40. The weather is so unpredictable; the rain stopped at 1:00, and the sun came out ten minutes later. It's really bizarre.

Therefore, by the time of the third game, the road surface was almost completely dry.

　I've been traveling and working overtime recently, so updates might be delayed. I apologize to all my readers in advance!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)