F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 125 Engine Failure
During the last week of May, Wu Shi asked the team for leave and stayed in Monaco.

In Hamilton's room, he lapped the Suzuka circuit again and again, gradually getting into the swing of things.

He reluctantly boarded a plane and left on the 29th, because the practice session for the F3 Championship Hungarian Grand Prix was about to begin the next day at noon.

Although he was already very familiar with this F1-level track, participating in practice sessions was a matter of respect for the competition, so he naturally had to go and participate.

Yes, it's definitely not because there will be a fine for not participating without a valid reason.

Sitting alone on the plane, looking out at the gray expanse of the sky, he suddenly thought how wonderful it would be to have a private jet so he could go there tomorrow.

The following day, after two transfers, Wu Shi finally arrived in Budapest, Hungary, a journey that took a full 17 hours!
This further strengthened his resolve to urge Panzi to buy an airplane; flying around on commercial airlines was simply torture!

Because he arrived at the racetrack a little after 7 a.m., Wu Shi went to the Van Amersford team's rest area, lay down, and fell fast asleep.

When he woke up, it was already eleven o'clock, more than an hour before the practice match was scheduled to begin.

"You're finally awake. I heard you just left Monaco yesterday at noon?" Alan asked.

"Yes."

"Then get ready, the competition is about to start," Alan reminded them.

After Wu Shi nodded, he got dressed and went outside. When he came outside, Pan Zi was talking to his engineer.

“Wu Shi, you’re awake. Why did you linger in Monaco for so long?” Pan Zi asked.

"some things."

Wu Shi knew that it was not advisable to make public the fact that he was practicing F1 in Hamilton's room, otherwise it would have a lot of negative impact.

After all, he's not a Mercedes player anymore, yet he's using the simulator Mercedes provided for Hamilton to practice, which is undoubtedly a violation.

Furthermore, Hamilton isn't given any other tracks, only the Neon Grand Prix for practice. If he can't figure out why, he might as well not race and just crash his car into a tofu block and die.

“Oh, the track is unfamiliar to everyone today, so you’ll probably widen the gap even further,” Verstappen said, no longer dwelling on Wu Shi’s situation in Monaco. Friends are friends, and there’s no need to pry into some private matters.

"Why?" Wu Shi asked instinctively.

“You’re always more adaptable. On tracks that nobody’s run before, your advantage is huge.” Verstappen said, shaking his head. He couldn’t understand how Wu Shi managed to do all that.

"Uh."

Wu Shi was a little embarrassed to say that he might not have been familiar with the go-kart tracks he used to be, but this track, sorry, he was more familiar with than anyone else present.

As an F1 driver, it's impossible that you haven't driven on the Hungarian Grand Prix track!
"Alright, time to get ready." Verstappen yawned.

"Ha~" Wu Shi also laughed along.

On the track, the drivers began to warm up.

"Wu Shi, this is a brand new track. You didn't participate in simulator practice during the week, so please pay attention to your mastery of the track. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the track in the first practice session, and then try speeding through the track in the second practice session."

Ai Lan gave Wu Shi advice through TR.

"copy."

Wu Shi listened to the advice very seriously, which was in line with his training program, where he never competed for first place.

From the first race until now, he has never won first place in a practice race.

So he lingered on the track, feeling the grip of every part of the track and memorizing the undulations. "Wow, this is very much in line with Wu Shi's style. He never runs fast in practice, but it's different in qualifying. He will use his speed to tell everyone who is the king of this year's F3 championship!"

Commentator Yorkson has already started praising Wu Shi, saying, "Wu's achievements are so dazzling that everyone was speculating about how he would win the match before it even started."

After driving a full fourteen laps, Wu Shi confirmed that he had a good understanding of the area and left the track with most of the other drivers.

At 1:30 PM, the second practice session began. Everyone started to gradually increase their speed and improve their lap times, but judging from the timings at various times, the unfamiliar track still affected everyone, and the improvement in their times was very limited.

Alan TR: "How fast can you run right now?"

Wu Shi TR: "1 minute 34 seconds".

Alan paused for a moment before saying in TR, "Keep practicing. I don't think anyone can achieve this result."

Because the team's instructions did not allow him to proceed at full speed, Wu Shi naturally took some strange routes in the way he wanted.

Many drivers wouldn't run like that, for fear of affecting their normal racing line.

But Wu Shi liked to run like this. Only by being familiar with every inch of the asphalt on the track could he know the optimal route when chasing.

After the practice session, Aokang took first place with a time of 1 minute 35.801 seconds.

The others all finished in over 1 minute and 36 seconds.

Once the drivers parked their cars back in the pit lane, they naturally learned from the team that Wu Shi had said he could run a time of 1 minute and 34 seconds.

The drivers all knew what was going on, but Ocon couldn't help but come over and ask, "Can you really finish in under 1 minute and 34 seconds?"

"Hmm, I think so," Wu Shi nodded.

“那为什么练习赛才跑1分36秒456？你至少应该尝试跑出1分35秒的成绩。”奥康说道。

"Don't tell people what to do. Haven't you ever run a big race? Who sets the fastest lap in practice?" Verstappen interjected.

O'Connor remained silent. Who would aim for the fastest lap in practice? It was definitely him.

When Verstappen saw Ocon's expression, he was surprised that his casual remark had come true. His expression became somewhat serious because it would be difficult for him to run under 1 minute and 35 seconds.

Wu Shi shrugged.

At 5:35 p.m., the first qualifying race began. Wu Shi easily set a time of 1 minute 34.981 seconds on the sixth lap and then returned to the pit lane.

After stopping the car, while everyone was celebrating, he found Alan and said, "See where I just pressed the 'Mark' button on the track?"

Alan nodded, pulled up the data, and saw nothing unusual from the curve alone. He asked, "What did you find?"

“I felt that the engine was under a lot of pressure here,” Wu Shi said.

Alan examined it carefully again, then frowned and said, "I don't see any problems. I'll have an engineer check the engine tonight."

"Yes, that's what I think too. We need to find out what the reason is."

While Wu Shi said this, he knew in his heart that there seemed to be some signs of malfunction in the engine's exhaust port, causing problems with the exhaust and potentially leading to engine failure at high speeds.

He planned to wait until evening to "study" it out with the engineer.

　Thanks to Hp_Lovecraft for the patronage! Thank you so much! I'll add an extra 4K chapter tomorrow!

　　The overtime work is finally over, time to get back to writing!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)