F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 144: Four seconds to go
“No, you’ve done very well. Now let’s move on to the long-distance test,” Toto said in TR.

"COPY."

The race car passed the checkered lines without any cooling pads, since a lap time of around 1 minute and 51 seconds is not enough to overheat the car's components.

After the first lap, Wu Shi felt he had grasped some of the characteristics of this race car in the corners.

The W05 is very stable in corners, which makes the driver very comfortable. This causes the driver to neglect careful control of speed, resulting in an actual speed that is too high when cornering, and thus having to correct the throttle, brakes, and steering.

Therefore, Wu Shi would say that those mistakes were not due to the vehicle's fault, but rather his own.

If you get used to the car completely and can make every corner perfectly in one go, you can definitely achieve a terrifying speed.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time. At this point, he not only had to follow the team's instructions and help the team test the performance curves and decay curves of soft tires over long distances, but he also had to constantly memorize the details of cornering.

In the next two laps, Wu Shi slightly improved his speed, and his time on the third lap was 1 minute 51.011 seconds, about to break the 1 minute 50 second barrier.

As they entered the fourth lap, Wu Shi's radio crackled to life: "Mr. Tony, I want to try adjusting some of the car settings myself."

Tony instinctively wanted to refuse him, since engineers with data to back up their opinions were more qualified to make decisions about adjusting the car's parameters.

Who do you think you are? You're just a greenhorn who's only just gotten his chance to drive.

However, Toto stopped him and said in TR, "I'll give you three laps to try out your ideas."

This scene drew attention from many in the team. They realized that Toto really liked and trusted the young Chinese driver; otherwise, he would have at least reminded him to "bring the vehicle back safely."

Having received permission, Wu Shi felt grateful to Toto—a rookie being able to take control of his car adjustments on the track was a testament to the team's trust in him.

He also felt some pressure, since he was now adjusting his driving style based on his intuition, which could easily lead to collisions in street racing.

It was from this point on that Tony started talking less.

To unleash the full potential of a race car, various parameters need to be adjusted when entering different types of corners, with two being the most important.

One is the front and rear brake ratio. This operation can change the ratio of front and rear braking force during braking, thereby controlling the weight transfer of the race car when braking.

In addition, this maneuver can selectively sacrifice the braking performance of the front or rear wheels in exchange for the grip of the front or rear wheels. For Wu Shi, the grip of the front wheels is more important, as he needs to enter the corner precisely and quickly.

The other one is differential control, which is more complicated.

As we all know, during a turn, the inner tires of a vehicle follow a smaller circle, covering a shorter distance, while the outer tires follow a larger circle, covering a longer distance.

If the tires are fixed on the same axle, then there will be a contradiction, because the outer tire needs to rotate more times to travel a longer distance, while the inner tire needs to rotate less times to travel a shorter distance.

This can cause the outer tire to slip while the inner tire spins freely, accelerating tire wear and wasting valuable power.

Based on this, a differential was developed for vehicles, which decouples the two tires on both sides through gears, allowing them to rotate at different speeds according to their respective needs.

However, this brings up a problem: if the grip on one side is too low, the engine's power will be transmitted to the side with no grip by the differential, so that the tires with grip cannot receive power input, which will eventually make the vehicle difficult to drive or even impossible to drive.

To cope with this working condition, a locking mechanism is installed on the differential. Once locked, the two tires become coaxial, preventing power from being transferred to the side without traction.

The "lock" mentioned in many off-road vehicle descriptions refers to a differential with a locking function.

As the crown jewel of human vehicle manufacturing, F1, although racing on a circuit, causes the center of gravity to shift to one side when cornering at high speeds, resulting in one side of the tires having greater grip than the other.

Therefore, it is necessary to "lock" it.

However, for high-performance cars like F1 cars, a full lockout differential is definitely not an option; instead, a limited slip differential is used.

This type of differential can be adjusted from a fully locked differential to a fully open differential by changing the gear position.

In this way, when one tire has lower grip, the power can be transferred to the side with higher grip by adjusting the locking level.

Such a complex and sensitive operation is actually accomplished through an electro-hydraulic system, which was programmed from the beginning.

The knob that the driver can adjust is actually adjusting the feedback level of the differential program, thereby achieving different sensitivities of the system under different track conditions, tire conditions, and driving styles.

Normally, a major task for drivers during practice is to figure out how to adjust the differential knob.

In the previous few laps, Wu Shi had already learned that some parts of the track were slipperier, so he needed to adjust the differential knob to change the power to the wheels.

Susu!

As the No. 6 Silver Arrow sped along, the T-frame view clearly showed Wu Shi constantly selecting knobs on the steering wheel. Sometimes, even after entering a corner, he would immediately hold the steering wheel with one hand while freeing the other to adjust a few parameters. The original race cameras were constantly looking left and right, but the broadcast noticed this scene and thus highlighted Wu Shi's T-frame view separately.

The commentators from various locations were immediately shocked upon seeing the broadcast.

"Was this really his first time driving an F1 car? Leaving aside adjusting the steering wheel in the corner, how dare he take one hand off the wheel in a corner?"

The soldier was very surprised, because many veteran drivers only make adjustments before entering a corner and then hold the steering wheel with both hands.

Anyone who drives a car at high speed and takes a corner knows that at extremely high speeds, even the slightest adjustment to the steering wheel can result in drastic changes in the wheels.

Not to mention that F1 racing cars have a very small steering ratio.

Wu Shi's maneuvering means that if there is a problem with his entry angle into the corner, he will have to rely on one hand to adjust the direction. And no driver would dare to say that they always drive an F1 car with one hand.

So the fact that he can do this means that he feels the steering is accurate enough and there is no need to make any further corrections. He can simply use the self-centering force brought by the camber angle of the front wheels to make adjustments.

"Maybe it's a habit I picked up from driving F3 before," Fei said.

"That's not a good habit. F1 steering doesn't allow for mistakes." The soldier shook his head.

While the two were talking, Wu Shi had already crossed the finish line on his fourth lap, which was the most tiring lap he had ever driven, and his hands felt like they were filled with molten lead.

Tony TR: "1 minute 50.366 seconds, congratulations, you've improved your lap time again, but I have to remind you that this kind of operation is too demanding on concentration and stamina."

Wu Shi TR: "Yeah, I'm just trying it out, I'll be able to find a comfortable setting soon."

Wu Shi certainly knew that the way he drove on the fourth lap was not advisable. Only when driving slowly do you need to make adjustments everywhere, while when driving fast, you don't need to make too many adjustments.

After all, fast cars are all the same in terms of speed, while slow cars are slow in all sorts of ways. That's why drivers need to constantly adjust the parameters in order to push the car to its limits.

On the fifth lap, Wu Shi indeed made far fewer adjustments, and he gradually became familiar with the W05.

At that moment, Alonso suddenly said in TR: "Hey, what's going on? This is a practice match, not a qualifying match."

Other drivers shared the same sentiment, such as those from Caterham, Sauber, and Lotus, who were all speechless.

After several laps of testing, they have gained a vague understanding of the fastest lap time.

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi, driving a Caterham car, couldn't help but complain on TR: "What does he think he's doing? Driving the fastest car in the paddock and causing a ruckus in practice? What an idiot!"

But no matter what others say, Wu Shi continues to drive his car.

By the tenth lap, his time had reached 1 minute 49.201 seconds.

This prompted the other teams to take action, and they began preparing to recall their vehicles in TR to replace them with ultrasoft tires for testing.

"Wow, ten laps, and the speed is getting faster with each lap! Could Wu Shi really be creating a miracle?" The soldier naturally knew about the pre-arranged seating agreement between Wu Shi and Mercedes-Benz.

"He's just getting used to the car, which is enough to show how incredible his adaptability is. As an F1 driver, you can't do without an exceptional ability to adapt."

"Because each rookie driver may only have one season, or sometimes just a few races, but I am still cautious about whether Wu Shi can create a miracle."

Fei Ge's tone was much gentler.

"What was the third-place finisher on this track last year?" After asking himself this, the soldier checked on his phone, quickly found the result, and said:
"It was Gross who set the 1 minute 43.058 second time while driving a Lotus car."

"Six seconds left," Fei said.

"No, you can't look at it that way. This year's cars should be slower than last year's, at least in terms of qualifying results." The soldier shook his head.

"How about we compare the results in Monaco?" Fei suggested, since both events are street circuits and have similarities.

兵哥立马翻看了起来，说道：“13年摩纳哥杆位成绩1分13秒876，前三名都在1分14秒之内，14年摩纳哥杆位成绩是1分15秒989，里卡多拿到第三，是1分16秒384。”

"Based on the pole position difference, there will be a difference of about two seconds," Fei said.

"Yes, that means the pole position time at the Singapore circuit this year is around 1 minute and 45 seconds, which means you're four seconds short?" Bing Ge said.

"If this analogy is correct, then it should be around this much difference." Fei Ge nodded.

“That still looks very difficult. Hey, but Wu Shi hasn’t used supersoft tires yet, right?!” The soldier clapped his hands and stood up to say.

(End of this chapter)