F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 159 is pretty much the limit.

Wu Shi was the first to leave the repair area, with only two Mercedes-Benz cars ahead of him.

These two rivals seem poised for a life-or-death struggle from the very first appearance.

Wu Shi focused intently on the car. The soft tires did indeed provide much better grip than the medium tires, which meant more room for maneuver when cornering, especially for a Williams car.

His heart began to race as he aimed to break into Q3 in just one lap.

According to the tire usage rules, the tires used by the top ten drivers in qualifying, who make it into Q3, must be used at the start of the race for the tires on which they set their fastest lap times in Q2.

In other words, if you make it into Q3, this set of tires will be the starting tires for the main race, so of course the newer the better.

He went through the key points of each bend in his mind several times, like a slideshow. For the first and second bends, he needed to shift the gears to 3. He had to adjust the gears in the middle of the exit from the bend to maximize the speed of exiting the bend and avoid slipping.

At turns six and seven, the gearbox needs to be readjusted, and the braking ratio shifted towards the rear.

After passing turns nine and ten, the engine power needs to be adjusted to take advantage of the vehicle's top speed and try to close the gap in the other two timed segments in the second timed segment.

Despite the numerous maneuvers, his mind remained perfectly clear. Just as the slideshow reached Turn 16, the race car also arrived at Turn 16.

Buzz! ! !
Ranked mode activated, the car pressed the apex of the corner and rushed into the main straight.

Once the DRS detection line is passed, DRS is activated, and the engine outputs full power to combat the increasing wind resistance.

The strong grip provided by the soft tires allows the power to be released more quickly.

The shift acceleration time was faster than when using the Q1 medium tires, so after crossing the starting grid, the speed reached 307 km/h, which was 4 km/h faster than before, and the top speed reached 325 km/h, which was 6 km/h faster!

This straight section alone can squeeze out at least 0.2 seconds of time.

Of course, in the next two turns, Wu Shi got into position in one go, drove directly into the apex of the first turn, and kept the steering wheel in place until the front of the car was pointing three degrees to the right of the apex of the second turn before straightening it.

Based on previous experience, if you don't veer off the apex, when you reach the second apex, you need to give it another steer to the right to avoid taking too much of the slippery shoulder.

Click!

Without any correction to the direction, the entire race car was controlled with the precision of a machine. When it was halfway out of the corner, Wu Shi pressed the gear shift adjustment button with his right hand and then began to slide the pulley.

After making the adjustments, I quickly started to accelerate.

“It’s so much smoother than the Q1,” Jonathan muttered to himself.

Over the past few days, Wu Shi's most profound impression on him was that this guy's learning speed was terrifyingly fast!
Meanwhile, Rosberg, who had started lapping first, was nearing the end of the second timeout. His time of 27.986 seconds in the first timeout made him the fastest in the entire event, leaving everyone else behind.

But Hamilton immediately surpassed that time with 27.916 seconds, going even further!
Mercedes' performance has once again made it clear to the paddock that this year's front row will likely be a battle between their own players, and no one else can do anything about it.

On the track, Wu Shi quickly passed Turn 5, accelerated through the short straight, and the result for the first timeout was announced.

28 seconds 109.

This alone is enough to show the gap between Williams and Mercedes. However, Jonathan was still very satisfied. Although Wu Shi exited the corner a bit too quickly at Turn 5, he did not lose too much time as a result.

At this point, Rosberg had already crossed the second timeout, leaving a time of 28.101 seconds.

But Hamilton showed no mercy, allowing only twenty seconds for the fastest time before taking the second-segment fastest time of 28.012 seconds.

The battle between the two Mercedes drivers attracted the attention of most people on the track, and apart from the Williams team, almost no one paid attention to Wu Shi.

Just over twenty seconds later, Wu Shi also crossed the finish line of the second timeout with a time of 28.122 seconds, which was still only a new personal best and did not interfere with the Mercedes duo competing ahead of him.

At that moment, Rosberg had already crossed the finish line with a terrifying time of 1 minute 27.097 seconds.

It's almost at the 1 minute 26 second level.

Rosberg TR: "Wow, I feel like I ran pretty well."

TR: "Yes, it's pretty good."

Rosberg TR: "How did Hamilton and I do?" TR: "He was faster than you in the first two timeouts."

Rosberg TR: "."

In silence, Hamilton crossed the finish line, taking only 30.966 seconds in the final timed segment, for a final time of 1 minute 26.894 seconds.

The two-point difference made David exclaim in surprise:
"That was absolutely a perfect lap! Lewis' lap time is still so impressive. Even though he slid at the apex of Turn 15, he still managed to break the 1 minute 26 second barrier! He left us plenty of room for imagination!"
"I can't wait to see Lewis' speed in Q3!"

A round of applause erupted in the Mercedes pit lane, celebrating the two drivers' excellent results.

But their applause didn't last long before applause erupted in Williams' pit stop as well. Only then did everyone see Wu Shi, who had just crossed the finish line.

1 minutes 27 seconds 341!

Upon seeing this, commentator David exclaimed in surprise once again at the 0.2 point difference:
"Wu Shi brought Williams to a time of 1 minute 27.341 seconds! His amazing lap time was only 0.244 seconds slower than Mercedes Rosberg's! He has given us so many surprises!"

"Before the start of the competition, some people asked me if I thought Wu Shi was a good candidate and questioned whether he could make it into Q3. Although I thought highly of this young man, I did not give a positive answer considering his age and experience."

"But now! I think no amount of gossip can question this young driver's ability!"

"He not only has the ability to drive an F1 car, but he also has the ability to drive an F1 car well!"

The commentator spared no praise, drawing the audience's attention to Wu Shi.

The camera then focused on him, and the broadcast simultaneously switched to his radio communications with the team.

Wu Shi TR: "These tires should allow us to start the race in the best possible condition."

Jonathan TR: "Yes, congratulations! You've made it to Q3 in your first game."

Wu Shi TR: "Thank you, this is all thanks to everyone. Without a good enough race car, I would have no way to contribute."

After listening to the team's internal communication, David analyzed the situation for the audience:
"It seems that this young driver still has a lot of ideas for the race. We know that Williams has purchased Mercedes engines, and they may still be the only team that can threaten Mercedes, just like last year."

After David finished speaking, Martin Brundle, the chief commentary analyst who hadn't spoken much, said:
"Judging from the current situation, Williams is still able to keep up with Mercedes' speed in qualifying, but based on the data from the winter testing, I'm afraid they still won't be able to beat Mercedes in the long distance."

“That’s for sure. Mercedes has demonstrated its strength not only in the power unit, but also in the aerodynamic components that are so complex they’re hard to describe,” David said.

Like the Mercedes drivers, Wu Shi finished his race after completing one flying lap.

Back in the pit room, Jonathan came up and asked, "Is there any room left?"

Wu Shi shook his head and said, "I feel that's about the limit."

“Hmm.” Jonathan nodded. Looking back, he saw that the vehicle was struggling a lot, which meant that its potential was almost completely exhausted.

Wu Shi sat calmly in the cockpit; it was perfectly normal for Williams to be outrun Mercedes.

He estimated that the difference between the two in the Australian race was about 1.4 seconds.

In other words, Mercedes' potential has not been fully realized, and they will only run even faster in Q3.

He meticulously planned to start with a set of soft tires for three laps, just to see if there would be any opportunities on the track.

Of course, this opportunity is definitely not about attacking the Mercedes duo, but about the podium!
Vettel's exit time was similar to Wu Shi's. To improve traffic conditions, he did two warm-up laps before starting to speed on the third lap.

His operation was also very smooth, and he finished with a time of 1 minute 27.742 seconds.

Soon, everyone's results were announced. Massa finished sixth with a time of 1 minute 27.895 seconds, while Kimi was not far behind Vettel this time, finishing fifth with a time of 1 minute 27.807 seconds.

赛恩斯以1分28秒601排在第八，将大红牛的里卡多压到了第九，而维斯塔潘以1分28秒868排在第十二，也将大红牛的科维亚特压到了第十三。

Inside the Red Bull pit room, the camera focused on Marco, whose stern expression, both large and small, was almost suffocating.

The players eliminated in Q2 were Nasr (Sorbo), Verstappen (Toro Rosso), Kvyat (Red Bull), Hulkenberg (Force India), and Perez (Force India).

(End of this chapter)