F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 157: Was Wu Shi too fast, or Kimi too slow?
"Welcome to the live broadcast of qualifying for the 2015 Formula One World Championship's opening round, the Australian Grand Prix. This year, we will see four new drivers take to the track: Wu Shi, the Chinese driver for Williams, and Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian driver for Sauber."

David Croft began to introduce the changes in the teams this year to the audience, but without a specialist to sort it out, the average viewer would still be quite confused.

After discussing the personnel changes, he had to emphasize the roles of Wu Shi and Verstappen.

"Wu Shi, a driver from China, whose car number is 59, is not only the first Chinese driver to come to an official F1 race, but also the youngest driver in F1 history. He is only 16 years and 101 days old, and there are still 264 days until his 17th birthday!"
"It's hard to imagine that such a young driver would come to the track. Even though he won the F3 championship in the 2014 season with an overwhelming advantage, we still have to worry about his racing. Does he have enough experience to drive F1? Will he be able to bring the car back intact?"

"His partner this year is Felipe Massa, an experienced driver who may be able to provide him with a great deal of guidance. In any case, now it's time for us to enjoy his race."

David Croft, as the official commentator, did not mention that the FIA ​​had begun adjusting the competition rules for young drivers in response to Wu Shi and Verstappen.

The simultaneous entry of two of the youngest drivers in history into F1 raises questions: is it a sign of a wealth of young talent, or are the teams pushing them too hard?

Wu Shi sat in the race car, with Jonathan squatting beside him, reiterating, "This is your first official race. You need to remember, bringing the car back safely is more important than anything else!"

“I understand, I will pay attention,” Wu Shi responded. Jonathan’s repeated emphasis on this point was simply because rookie collisions often mean hitting the cornerstone of their own careers.

He has gained a very deep understanding of the car through winter testing, and it is unlikely to have any problems unless it is pushed to its limits.

The screen in front of the cockpit displays the track conditions: the air temperature is 29 degrees Celsius and the track temperature is 38 degrees Celsius, which is obviously a pretty good temperature, so there is basically no need to worry about the tires overheating.

However, the weather map on the screen shows that there will be significant crosswinds today, reaching 2.6 meters per second, which is particularly noticeable in areas nine and ten, making it very easy for vehicles to lose control.

During practice sessions, all the teams had already noticed this problem.

As for how to avoid it, that really depends on luck. As we all know, it is very difficult to predict weather over a large area, let alone crosswinds in a small area.

“My suggestion is to go straight for soft tires; making it into Q2 is the most important thing,” Jonathan said.

"Medium tires are fine. Trust me, we must save the soft tires for the Q2 to Q3 upgrade, otherwise we will be short a set of tires."

Wu Shi said that when setting qualifying lap times on this track, soft tires are far superior to medium tires.

“Okay.” Jonathan nodded and gave the instruction.

After the medium tires were put on, race car number 59 landed with a whoosh and drove away from the pit area.

Based on the results of the three training sessions, a time of around 1 minute and 28 seconds would be enough to enter Q2. With this in mind, Wu Shi immediately started the warm-up lap.

Q1 had plenty of time, and after the first lap to warm up the tires, Wu Shi began to try speeding.

On the Albert Park circuit, most of the kerbs can only be partially grazed, because grazing too much will prevent you from getting back onto the asphalt in time. Once you cross the kerb, you're immediately on grass with no grip, which can ruin any driver's race.

After Turn 16, you'll find yourself on the long straight.

"I'm starting."

When Wu Shi explained in TR, DRS was already turned on. The acceleration and top speed of the race car in low drag were stronger. The roar of the engine and the sense of crisis brought by G-force made the adrenaline surge.

When the race car reached the checkered line, its speed had already reached 303 km/h. Wu Shi glanced at it and continued to accelerate. When he was about 100 meters away from the second-to-last orange marker on the track barrier, he began to slightly ease off the accelerator.

The speed at this time is 319.

The resistance caused the vehicle, which wasn't pushing at full throttle, to slow down slightly. As soon as the vehicle passed the orange marker, Wu Shi immediately applied the brakes and began to slow down by following the track until the last orange marker was passed. Then, he began to turn the steering wheel to the right, preparing to enter the curve.

Turns 1 and 2 are a combination turn. After slightly pressing onto the apex of the turn, you need to immediately straighten and turn left. After passing these two turns, you need to adjust the differential.

Wu Shi was a bit slow in his movements here.

He said in TR, "It feels a bit understeerable."

Then the car drives onto the left curb, at which point you can slightly release the steering wheel and steer to the right curb.

However, as the accelerator was fully depressed when exiting the corner, the rear wheels began to spin slightly.

Wu Shi felt the slight swerve of the race car, but didn't release the throttle at all. He quickly adjusted the direction to stabilize the car, and when the speed picked up, the rear wheel speed finally matched the speed, and the car regained grip.

From the outside perspective, he almost lost control and fishtailed, which was very dangerous.

However, the broadcast was focused on Ferrari's Kimi, who was using yellow soft tires while everyone else was using white medium tires.

Based on the practice sessions, the lap times on the soft tires were significantly faster, so everyone was focused on Kimi's lap times.

Despite the harrowing rescue, Wu Shi remained completely unfazed and unterred.

After Turn 2, there is a straight road. With DRS fully engaged and a rapid upshift, the top speed is close to 310 km/h.

However, this speed cannot be maintained for long. You must immediately slow down and remember to turn off DRS. Turn 3 is steep and the connecting Turn 4 is a large arc. It is extremely important to ensure that you can pass through Turn 3 quickly and also gain speed in Turn 4.

When accelerating past Turn 3, Wu Shi could feel that the medium tires still didn't have enough grip, so he couldn't accelerate faster to turn left in Turn 4, otherwise there was a risk of fishtailing.

After turning five, the straightaway ends, and the first timed segment concludes.

29 seconds 001.

Immediately after, brake and maneuver through turns 6 and 7. Turn 8 is a large arc turn, so press the accelerator while steering. Then comes turn 9, a right-angle turn, followed by turn 10, another large arc turn.

This track features a lot of slow corners followed by fast corners. After all, street circuits have to adapt to the terrain and can't guarantee the variety of corners like specially designed tracks.

The race car sped along, passing the finish line of the second timing segment as it approached Turn 11.

28 seconds 678.

Jonathan nodded after seeing this. It was a very good result, and it looked to be on par with Kimi's result when he was on soft tires. So the question is, was Wu Shi too fast, or was Kimi too slow?
(End of this chapter)