F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 118 I was too stupid
A race on a sunny day always makes people feel more at ease. After parking his car in the starting grid, Wu Shi began to admire the race queens.

However, the other drivers were not as relaxed as him. After the midday rain battle, most of them were still shaken.

Given their concerns about the road conditions, they all bypassed the starting grid and drove into the inner lane, opting to do another reconnaissance lap. As a result, Wu Shi is now the only one parked on the starting grid.

A minute and a half later, Alan TR reported: "Aokang has chosen to start from the pit lane."

Wu Shi TR: "Was his car not properly tuned?"

Alan TR: "We don't know the situation at the moment."

In the second race, the six-car collision resulted in the most severe damage to the Aokang vehicle, suggesting that a problem was indeed discovered during the initial inspection and that adjustments need to be made.

With Ocon leaving, Verstappen, who started from third position, was now effectively in second place.

Thinking of this, Wu Shi looked back and thought, "This guy's been driving more and more recklessly lately."

He licked his dry lips, thinking it was better not to give Panzi a chance, otherwise a torpedo could turn a corner much faster than a line-following one.

Verstappen was also observing Wu Shi. He knew that with Ocon's obstruction gone, he only needed to surpass one person to win the championship!
This made him eager to try, and he unconsciously began to search for advantageous overtaking points along the entire track.

Verstappen TR: "You said Wu Shi's driving style on this track was relatively conservative?"

Engineer TR: "Yes, but I must warn you, don't be reckless!"

Verstappen TR: "Okay, I understand."

As the sharp bell rang, everyone withdrew. Wu Shi glanced at Pan Zi again before focusing all his attention on the indicator light in front of him.

Five red lights lit up one after another, then beeped for three seconds before suddenly going out.

This was another starting light with an unusually long wait. Wu Shi realized what was happening and immediately started moving.

Buzz!

The engine roared, and the race car propelled forward.

With Ocon absent, his flanks are open and he doesn't need to defend them at all; he only needs to watch out for Verstappen.

In the rearview mirror, Panzi's starting speed was about the same as his, but his gear matching was weaker, so he couldn't launch an attack at all during the starting phase.

However, as we approached Turn 2, where a significant reduction in speed was required, Panzi immediately cut in.

It's that extreme late braking again, all to seize the initiative.

Wu Shi ignored him and drove the car almost to the same level as the APEX point before suddenly turning around.

The No. 32 car is extremely biased towards high-sensitivity steering, so it was immediately engaged after the speed decreased.

At this point, although Verstappen's car was further forward, he needed to turn at the apex of the corner, which meant he would have to move to the outside left lane.

Wu Shi took the opportunity to drive into the bend, closely following the right edge line.

"Wu used a brilliant cross-line maneuver to defuse Verstappen's attack. Verstappen not only failed to gain position, but it also affected his cornering speed."

"However, this is very much in line with Verstappen's driving style. He always relies on braking later to find openings in his opponents and thus gain the position."

"It seems that Wu knows him very well, and even gave up his position early on, specifically letting Verstappen attack the inside."

"These two are truly friends who have competed together since childhood; they understand each other very well!"

After finishing talking about the front row, the commentator quickly looked behind and before he could say anything, two more cars slid off the second turn at the same time.

"It's Alexander and Richard, their race car has gone out of control!"

Clearly, this street race was an F3 killer; there were fewer accidents in these three races than in the first six.

On the track, after Wu Shi entered the straight after Turn 2, Verstappen followed him and sucked in the slipstream.

The gap between the two has widened, so in order to surpass Wu Shi, he must get as close as possible to him.

Therefore, he had to take even greater risks when operating the race car. This instinctive pursuit of the limits caused his adrenaline to surge, and he gradually put the risks behind him.

Swoosh! The two race cars swept across the road one after the other, scattering dead leaves, and turned into the next corner with a furious roar of their engines.

From Turn 3 to Turn 15, there were almost no good overtaking spots, so Verstappen never had a chance to make a move.

Wu Shi was surprised that Verstappen was able to keep up with him, but he wasn't worried because the temperature was low after the rain and the tires were far from reaching their optimal operating temperature range. After two laps, he could show Verstappen how to drive on the Pau circuit!
Whoosh! Click click~!

The continuous curves and inclines make the vehicles extremely bumpy and difficult to control, which is also a challenge of this track.

From turn 15 onwards, there is a slight downhill curve.

Wu Shi glanced in the rearview mirror and, sure enough, Pan Zi wouldn't give up on the longest straightaway and was preparing to use the wake to catch up.

As they approached the fake bend number sixteen, Panzi veered to the right to close the distance.

Wu Shi glanced at the road ahead and, without hesitation, veered slightly to the right while easing off the accelerator.

This brought Panzi closer and closer to him, but the track, which was originally about three lanes wide, would shrink drastically to two lanes at Turn 16.

So, while Verstappen appeared to be about to overtake Wu Shi from the right, he actually had to brake immediately, otherwise...
Bang!
Panzi's right front wing first grazed the guardrail that narrowed to the right, and then the entire vehicle was squeezed onto it.

The sturdy barrier instantly brought car number 30 to a stop, leaving Verstappen completely stunned.

It took him a while to realize that the space Wu Shi had just left was completely too narrow for a race car to pass through!
This guy took advantage of the visual effect created when the guardrail narrowed, causing a slight deviation in his judgment!

No, he shook his head, then felt that Wu Shi had left enough space; the car must have been going too fast just now, preventing him from completing the maneuver he had envisioned.

“I crashed. I was so stupid,” Verstappen told the engineer in the TR.

"Feel good?"

"Ok."

"OK."

When the track turned yellow, Wu Shi slowed down and said in the TR, "Is he alright?"

Alan TR: "It's okay."

Wu Shi TR: "That's good. He should have slowed down and moved back behind me. At that time, there was no opportunity to overtake."

Alan TR: "Yes."

With the loss of strong competition, Wu Shi's victory was no longer in doubt.

In the 36th minute of the match, Wu Shi crossed the finish line, bringing the score back perfectly.

The drivers who crossed the finish line behind him were all familiar faces.

Second Rosenquist

Third Ocon
Fourth Bromquist.

After Wu Shi parked the race car in the designated parking area and weighed it, reporters rushed over to interview him.

"Hey Wu, in the race just now, only Verstappen put some pressure on you at the beginning, but then he had an accident when he was about to overtake you. What do you think caused that?"

Wu Shi glanced at the reporter, a woman with thick eyeliner, and said:
“He was too greedy. Although I left him enough space for a race car to pass, it was difficult to control, so he had to slow down at that point, but he felt he could control it.”

“Yep, this is another PTW for you. You have now won eight races and are getting closer to your goal of twenty-one. But we have recently heard that you seem to have connections with the Mercedes F1 team. Can you share that?”

"Can you speak Chinese? I don't understand." (China) Wu Shi suddenly switched languages.

"???" The reporter looked puzzled.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the reporter stammered, "Okay, thank you."

Wu Shi waved at the camera; he had no sense of boundaries either, especially with reporters who lacked any sense of boundaries.

(End of this chapter)