F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 133 Yes! Yes! Yes! (Two-part series)

Alan came out with the crew, opened an umbrella, squatted down next to him, and said, "The rain will get heavier, be careful not to push too hard."

"Ok, I know."

While the two were talking, the crew removed the four rain tires from the cart frame and began inflating them.

"The air pressure is a bit low."

"What?" Alan asked, puzzled.

"Forget it, let's just play normally."

Wu Shi shook his head. Low air pressure would result in a larger tire contact area, leading to better traction and making it more advantageous in the early stages of competition.

However, because of the large contact area with the ground, the tires will overheat quickly, leading to an increase in tire pressure and increased tire wear.

It can be said that low tire pressure is more competitive than high tire pressure in certain situations, such as in some qualifying races.

However, it's better to have higher tire pressure during the race to avoid a tire blowout while driving.

Alan held up the umbrella, glancing at his watch every now and then.

The track was unusually busy at this time. In addition to the staff preparing the tires, many people were adjusting the front and rear wings of the race cars.

The settings for rainy weather are very different from those for dry weather, and their core purpose is to increase the vehicle's grip.

Ten minutes later, the staff left the site, and a safety vehicle led the way to start the race, followed by a dynamic start to avoid the risks of a static start.

After the safety car passed Turn 7, it entered the maintenance lane located near Turn 8.

Verstappen had already practiced lane control beforehand, squeezing all the cars together before slowly turning into Turn 7 and making left and right turns to warm up his tires.

Wu Shi was no exception; the Norrislin circuit was too short, and that short distance was not enough for the new rain tires to reach their optimal operating temperature.

Compared to the wild tire warm-up of these two drivers, the rest of the riders were very civilized, because such operation in the rain, if not careful, would not be a tire warmer but a wall warmer.

No one is willing to take such a risk unless they feel that the risk is manageable.

Wu Shi was certainly able to control the vehicle very well. As he swayed left and right, the tire temperature rose significantly, allowing him to push the limits of his maneuvering even further.

However, while he was warming up the tires, his attention was mainly focused on Verstappen's car, as they were about to reach the checkered line.

Once Verstappen crosses the checkered line, the match will officially restart.

Therefore, Wu Shi knew that Pan Zi would definitely accelerate suddenly at some point, restarting the race before the people behind could react.

His prediction was very accurate; at Turn 8, Verstappen's car turned significantly less.

If you weren't keeping a close eye on him, you probably wouldn't have noticed this detail.

Most people did not expect that Verstappen would take advantage of the moment when he straightened the car to start accelerating.

hum! ! !
The previously suppressed engine roar suddenly exploded, and Verstappen took the lead, driving into the starting grid straight.

Almost simultaneously, Wu Shi also began to accelerate, but Jordan King in front was clearly fooled by Pan Zi's feint and thus slowed down by half a beat.

By the time he started accelerating, Wu Shi's car was almost alongside his.

However, before crossing the grid lines, the overtaking ban was not lifted, so Wu Shi precisely controlled the vehicle and fell behind Jordan King by one front wing position.

At this time, the rain was still light, the water on the ground was shallow, and the rising mist was not thick enough to completely obstruct the driver's vision.

Wu Shi watched helplessly as Verstappen left quickly, but was limited by the rules and could only "slowly" accelerate with Jordan King.

Finally, after Pan Zi crossed the checkered line, the overtaking ban was lifted, and the race officially resumed!

The torque on the rear wheels of car number 32 increased dramatically in an instant, and the engine roared violently, even causing Jordan to turn his head to look at it from the side.

'It's raining! Full throttle and you're just waiting for a spin!' he thought to himself with a sneer.

The expected skidding and spinning top-like motion did not occur; instead, race car number 32 sped away after kicking up a spray of water.

'NO!'

Jordan King couldn't accept this situation, but he dared not step on the gas pedal too hard or shift gears too quickly, and could only rage helplessly.

Because at this point he already felt the race car was out of control, and if he dared to be greedy for this little bit of time loss, it would lead to the vehicle going out of control.

Although Wu Shi decisively passed Jordan King on the starting straight, as the car's speed increased, he was unable to shake him off immediately.

Soon, the race car sped through the first false turn, and the rain and mist transformed into a white dragon, spreading across the track.

As he approached Turn 2, Wu Shi braked prematurely, so early that everyone thought he had made a mistake.

But Jordan, who was right behind Wu Shi, was suddenly startled. His visibility was already poor, and he didn't realize that Wu Shi had braked early until they were very close.

To avoid a collision, or rather, because he had no idea whether slamming on the brakes would cause him to lose control, or whether the brakes could reduce the speed to a safe level, he could only steer outwards while simultaneously applying the brakes intermittently to slow down.

buzz~
Shifting down to second gear, Wu Shi saw Jordan's situation through the rearview mirror. He nonchalantly turned into the apex of the corner, taking the corner in the most inside manner.

Susu!

Wu Shi sped away.

At that moment, Jordan was struggling to turn around. When Wu Shi blocked him, he broke out in a cold sweat and his rhythm was completely disrupted.

On the track, any mistake is a sign of failure.

In that short time, Jack Dennis caught up, along with Ocon and Lucas.

Now, Jordan King's situation has become even more difficult.

Jack almost caught up with him, while Ocon bravely drove straight into the paint where Jordan had left open.

Lucas was not to be outdone and followed Ocon, but he slowed down even faster.

The group exited the bend almost simultaneously, but Aokang, due to his excessive speed, had to widen the bend to ensure he had enough space to exit.

Jordan was then pushed outwards until he reached the right side of the guardrail, where he could go no further and had to brake to avoid being hit by Ocon, who was still pushing outwards.

Unfortunately, it's unclear whether Aokang hadn't yet controlled the vehicle or was deliberately pushing it outwards.

Bang!

His rear wheel collided with Jordan's front wheel, causing his race car to bounce up and land, but it was still able to drive normally.

However, Jordan's car suffered a direct damage to the left front suspension.

If we hadn't exited the corner slowly enough, we probably would have lost control.

In the brief moment that the two crossed paths, Lucas and Jack simply passed them.

The chain reaction of the five cars at Turn 2 happened in an instant, and the complexity of the situation left the commentator momentarily speechless.

Alan TR: "Attention, yellow flag."

Wu Shi (TR): "Received."

Another yellow flag appears, what a stroke of luck!
Because he had created some distance on the straightaway, he was completely unaware, or rather, unconcerned, that this was actually a chain reaction caused by him.

But before he could be happy for even two seconds, Matthew on both sides of the track started waving green flags again.

Wu Shi (TR): "What's going on?"

Alan TR: "Jordan's vehicle can still glide; it will glide to the intersection by itself, so there's no need to send Matthew to push the vehicle or dispatch a crane."

Wu Shi remained silent upon hearing this.

He knew that at this point, his only option was to close the distance with the guy in front of him.

Because of the change to rain tires and the slippery road surface, everyone's lap time generally dropped to around 53 seconds. However, Verstappen, in the front row, maintained a lap time of around 50 or 51 seconds, thus quickly widening the gap with the main group.

Wu Shi was certainly not slow either; he was the only one who kept up with Verstappen.

Two laps later, he seemed to have closed the gap a bit, but the rain gradually intensified, and Verstappen's car would splash up huge sprays of water as it passed by, almost completely obstructing his vision.

Faced with this situation, he had to become cautious.

It was at this moment that Alan said in TR: "There are only six minutes left in the game."

The race is divided into two types: timed and lap-counting. If the time lost prevents the completion of the remaining laps, the race will be terminated based on the time remaining.

Wu Shi TR: "Yep, I know, how much faster am I per lap than him?"

Alan TR: "0.1 to 0.3 seconds."

Wu Shi silently calculated in his mind: 6 minutes, approximately 12 laps.

He was 1.8 seconds behind Verstappen at this point, which meant he would catch up around lap nine, leaving him with only three laps to launch an attack.

"Oh! Unbelievable! Verstappen and Wu Shi's lap times haven't dropped significantly yet. They're still struggling to maintain a lap time of around 51 seconds, while Lucas, in third place, has a lap time of only 54.121 seconds."

The commentators were incredulous; the two leading riders were now pulling ahead of the others by 2 to 3 seconds per lap!

After expressing his amazement, he added, "The organizers have penalized Ocon. He will be penalized with a pit stop for his actions just now, and he probably won't be able to compete for the championship in this race."

As the rain intensified, the drivers behind became increasingly cautious, but because the water on the ground was getting thicker, some drivers still kept slipping.

Wu Shi didn't dare to follow Verstappen completely at this point. Firstly, the visibility was indeed too poor, and secondly, he knew perfectly well how he had taken down Jordan King.

Given the current situation where visibility is zero after following another car, he could easily guess that Pan Zi would definitely pull the same trick.

This reflects both his understanding of Panzi and Panzi's understanding of him—a belief that even under these circumstances, he could absolutely control the vehicle to prevent a collision.

Wu Shi expressed his gratitude to Pan Zi for his trust.

Verstappen TR: "What was his lap time?"

Engineer TR: "51.263"

Verstappen TR: "Why?! Why is he faster than me? How can he drive so fast if he can't see the road?!"

Faced with Verstappen's questions, the engineer had no answer.

Alan TR: "Verstappen is asking you why you're able to maintain your lap time when you shouldn't be able to see anything."

Wu Shi TR: "I once spoke with Hamilton, and he said that when you can't see anything, just count the seconds, and you'll know when to brake, even if you can't see the curve at all."

Alan TR: "."

Wu Shi was just saying it offhand, although some drivers have indeed said it, but that's simply playing with one's life.

After all, vehicle speeds can vary frequently, so how can you possibly guarantee that tiny difference in seconds?
The reason he was able to maintain this speed was not because he had the ability to see through the water mist, but because he could tell the distance he had traveled by the speed of the tire rotation.

This is extremely demanding on his brain, so he spoke much less than usual, especially when he reached the major straight sections.

However, this still won't allow you to run the fastest route, as the racecourse route is not fixed in the rain.

Top drivers in rain races are not only better able to control their vehicles and maintain stability than ordinary drivers, but they are also able to find the best grip spots on the track.

Verstappen's lines may seem similar on the surface, but there are differences in each lap, which are his attempts to find grip.

Wu Shi is doing the same thing. Even on the track that Verstappen just ran, the grip will be different due to the water spray and the rubber particles brought by the backflow of water.

He had to admit that it was a tough battle, and he almost stopped responding to Alan's constant reports on vehicle conditions and suggested parameters.

Susu!

Two Van Amersford cars raced past in quick succession, with only two and a half minutes remaining in the race.

Wu Shi is finally very close to Verstappen.

But overtaking is too difficult!

Before, you could maintain your lap time by relying on calculations with your eyes closed, but you need a good view to overtake!

At the end of each straight, he had to rush through the rain left by Verstappen before he could see the situation in the bend.

Even so, there were a few times when he was hitting the water mist, he would immediately slow down because he felt the airflow was not right.

Sure enough, Panzi used the same trick he had just used, taking a fast-in, slow-out route, but braking hard on the curves, forcibly changing to a fast-in, heavy-brake, fast-out rhythm.

This kind of pace would be like handing someone a free kill on dry ground, but in the rain with no visibility, the riders behind would undoubtedly be terrified and might instinctively lock up and slide off the track.

Wu Shi relied on his good mental fortitude to resist the urge to swerve outwards, and instead stubbornly stopped behind Verstappen, almost colliding with him several times.

"Hiss! What are Max Verstappen and Wu Shi doing?! Is Verstappen trying to make Wu Shi run into him?" The commentator was also horrified by what he saw.

Alan knew this too, but he couldn't tell Wu Shi to stay calm at a time like this when it came to winning the championship. He could only say it in TR:
"There are four slow cars ahead, you're going to get lapped."

Wu Shi (TR): "Received."

The words had barely left his mouth when Verstappen had already passed a slow train.

Just as Wu Shi was about to follow, the slow car suddenly tried to return to the racing line.

Wu Shi was highly focused, his flashing red taillights appearing and disappearing in the rain and mist.

He noticed the situation, quickly slowed down, changed lanes, and drove past, then shouted into the TR:
"Hey! Is he an idiot? Didn't his convoy tell him there were two guys behind him?!"

Alan TR: "Calm down, I'm communicating with their team! You need to watch out for the three ahead of you too."

The driver wasn't really to blame; the instruction he received was, "There's a car lapping behind you, move aside."

So when the driver saw Verstappen pass by, he assumed he had passed by and naturally went back to his own line.

Because of this delay, Verstappen pulled away from the distance he had finally closed.

Wu Shi silently calculated in his mind that although he could catch up, the chance of overtaking was extremely slim. However, he would not slow down until the very last moment!
The teams of the drivers who were lapped were very well informed, knowing that there were two lapped cars, so there was no situation where Verstappen changed lanes immediately after being let go.

"The accident just now delayed Wu by about 0.3 seconds, but he actually caught up again on this lap. Oh! Verstappen is changing his cornering rhythm again. Wu's visibility is very poor, and he can't find an overtaking line in the rain and fog!"

The commentator exclaimed in amazement as Verstappen repeated his trick when they reached the seventh hairpin bend again.

"Verstappen, just like before, still wanted to force Wu to make a mistake, but Wu's ability to control the vehicle was very strong, and he did not swerve to avoid it."
"No! Wu turned the steering wheel inwards, and his left front wheel touched the curb a little bit! His car skidded!"

Wow!

Car number 32 went out of bounds at turn seven, but after three laps, it came to a steady stop on the track.

"Oh, no crash? Uh, sorry, I mean, Wu actually managed to control the vehicle!" The commentator realized he had misspoke.

Alan TR: "Slow down, there's still one lap left."

Wu Shi took a deep breath. He had planned to use an even more extreme inside turn to overtake, but the road shoulder was far more slippery than he had imagined. He barely touched it, and the vehicle instantly lost control at that speed.

If there were still about ten laps left, he would definitely have been able to figure out the situation on the track before making a safe overtaking maneuver, but unfortunately there weren't enough laps left.

On lap 37, checkered flags were waving on the high platform of the starting straight.

Verstappen sprinted across the finish line.

Verstappen TR: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

He shouted excitedly, even driving incredibly fast on the return lap, because the person he most wanted to share his emotions of victory with was someone he could only see after the car returned to the pit lane.

(End of this chapter)