F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 163 Give me two laps! (5K)

The two race cars sped along the straightaway. As expected, Wu Shi moved to the center line to defend as they approached Turn 3.

Rosberg did not launch an attack, feeling the timing was not right. However, when he tried to brake while tracking the car, he found that the car in front of him was unusually slow. In a moment of distraction, the two cars sped closer together.

Seeing that a collision was imminent, he immediately slammed on the brakes and yelled into the radio, "Hey! What's he doing?!"

At the same time, Wu Shi also said to the team in the TR: "I feel that the vehicle is somewhat out of control."

After saying that, he stepped on the gas and drove out of the corner, widening the distance between himself and Rosberg, who had just braked suddenly.

The claim that the vehicle was out of control was just a self-defense spiel.

Having gained some time through cunning tricks, Wu Shi maintained his lead throughout the second timeout.

This is Williams' advantageous section, where he won't be too far behind Mercedes, so Rosberg doesn't have much of a chance.

However, in the third timing phase, Rosberg closed the gap to 0.12 seconds in just the two corners, number 11 and 12.

After Turn 12, there is a stretch of high-speed straight road.

Wu Shi saw that the Mei Ben, which was following him, was using the wake to quickly close the distance between them.

Is the difference really that huge?!

As he was puzzled, he became even more determined to block the Mercedes behind him.

Jonathan TR: "Massa can't keep up with you guys, you can activate mode four."

Upon hearing this, Wu Shi understood that Jonathan meant Massa couldn't provide him with support, so he didn't reply immediately. Instead, he pushed past the apex of Turn 13, gaining a new advantage by wearing down his tires, before speaking:
"I know."

Mode 4, to put it simply, is the high-performance mode, which puts enormous pressure on the engine and could potentially cause it to explode.

But at this point, there was no other way to hold onto their position.

He adjusted the parameters on the steering wheel, which indeed resulted in an increase in speed.

In the blink of an eye, Rosberg was right behind him. There were only three turns left before the long straight. Did Williams have a chance to hold off Mercedes' pursuit?

The huge performance gap cannot be bridged by tricks.

Wu Shi was fully aware of this, and fortunately, "DRS ENABLED" did not appear at this time, which meant that Rosberg still had no chance to use DRS.

The battery still has some charge, and the engine is in good condition.

Sprint with all your strength!

The two cars sped along the starting straight, sparks flying from their chassis. At the end of the straight, Mercedes was still some distance behind Williams.

Rosberg judged that this position was not the best time to attack, and it seemed that Mercedes was not going all out due to stability concerns.

Even so, the No. 6 Silver Arrows maintained a fairly high closing efficiency in the seven corners after the starting straight.

Jonathan TR: "We can be a bit conservative."

Wu Shi heard the crew's instructions and knew that, after the comparison in the previous lap, the strategy team had given up on directly competing with Mercedes.

The difference in quality between the cars is too great; it's simply impossible to compete.

"Oh."

After responding, he turned the engine power back up and entered Turn 8. In the rearview mirror, the Mercedes was almost at the rear wheel position, and anyone could see the huge difference between the two cars.

Commentator David shook his head and said with regret, "Wu Shi can no longer resist Rosberg's attack."

The downside is that this year's highlights will probably be the same as last year's, just watching the two Mercedes cars battle it out.

Approaching Turn 9, Wu Shi took the outside line, completely disregarding the huge space on the inside.

This further confirmed everyone's suspicions that Wu Shi was about to abandon defense. David then added:
"It seems Wu Shi has given up on defense. No! He suddenly changed lanes! But Rosberg reacted very quickly, moving to the outside!"

Wu Shi pressed through the apex of the corner from the inside, and Rosberg followed closely behind, managing to hold his position on the outside thanks to the Mercedes' powerful performance.

Turn 9 is a right turn, but the next turn 10 is a left turn. The inside and outside lanes switch, and Wu Shi, who is on the right, will not be able to control the inside lane, thus taking a longer route.

If Wu Shi hadn't been a bit faster exiting the curve, he probably would have lost his position here.

However, after Turn 10 comes an extremely long left-hand curve, and Rosberg, positioned on the left, takes the shorter inside line.

So, with both cars exiting Turn 10 at the same time, Mercedes, ignoring the slipstream, still managed to overtake Williams at two-thirds of the way down the long curve.

“It’s over, sigh!” David’s excited words turned somber, and he even shook his head again.

Race Control: DRS ENABLED!

At this moment, the small green button on the steering wheel unlocked.

Upon seeing this, Wu Shi's mind started working; there was still a chance!

He was already unwilling to be surpassed, and now he is even more unwilling to give up.

So, at the end of the main road, on the two high-speed curves 11 and 12, he risked a crash and relied entirely on his sense of the car to enter curve 11 by almost scraping the right guardrail.

A dark shadow flashed across the lens mounted on the two corner guardrails, followed by continuous vibration.

"My God! In this shot, Wu Shi is completely pressed against the edge of the track?!" David exclaimed.

The extreme driving style, which was tantamount to a crash, prevented the Mercedes No. 6 from taking full advantage of its high-speed cornering ability, and the gap remained within 1 second.

DRS activated immediately after turn 12!
Williams suddenly burst into even greater speed and caught up with Mercedes, then turned sharply at three-quarters of the way down the straight.

Rosberg unsurprisingly returned to the midcourt line, but Williams was more aggressive, continuing to press hard into the paint.

'Why aren't you slowing down?!' Rosberg wondered in surprise.

Yes, Wu Shi braked extremely late again. After the Mercedes in front slowed down slightly, Williams took the lead in the blink of an eye, and then a few wisps of white smoke came out of the front wheels.

Because the inside line was blocked, Rosberg had to take a longer route, which slowed him down even in a Mercedes car.

But once you exit the bend, it's a completely different story.

Rosberg almost touched Wu Shi as he turned the corner, and although he was half a car length behind, he had the opportunity to accelerate earlier.

We can't skimp on this!

Wu Shi gritted his teeth, pushing his senses to the limit, and every square centimeter of contact feedback between the tire and the ground was vividly etched in his mind.

He accelerated ahead of schedule.

The increased torque on the rear wheels caused slippage and spinning, while the front wheels barely withstood the acceleration impact, guiding the vehicle to straighten itself from the brink of loss of control.

In the footage, just as Mercedes was about to overtake Williams, Williams suddenly accelerated as well, even more rapidly, leaving everyone astonished!
It can be said that after the safety car, the entire track was back in order, with only the two drivers in positions two and three still battling it out! A lot of the camera was focused on these two cars.

After getting past Turn 13, there are still endless turns to come!
Having gained a one-third car-length advantage, Wu Shi once again demonstrated his penchant for psychological warfare, ruthlessly squeezing to the left and placing the left rear wheel into the tiny gap in front of the Mercedes' right rear wheel.

Rosberg felt the engine roar had never been so close; he thought this guy was completely insane! Was he trying to risk a fatal crash?!

Of course not, as long as Rosberg doesn't hit to the right, the two won't collide at all!

Susu!

In just a few seconds, the two cars sped past the straight section between bends 13 and 14.

Because they are half-side to each other, Wu Shi still occupies the right side of the road, and Turn 14 is a right turn, so the right side is the inside lane.

Squeezing on the straightaways wasn't entirely fruitless; people instinctively stay safe, and Wu Shi would follow every time Rosberg moved outwards even a fraction of an inch.

This distance deviation, which is almost imperceptible to the naked eye, is perfectly compensated for by the vehicle's extremely strong control.

Therefore, Williams maintained their advantage at Turn 14.

But the next turn, number 15, is a left turn. Rosberg, who was not far behind, naturally took advantage of this opportunity to block Wu Shi's inside line.

Even Wu Shi was completely helpless in the face of this situation.

All the advantage gained in the first two corners was given back at Turn 15.

Even though Turn 16 is a right turn, he was unable to regain the advantage.

However, this is just right.

After Turn 16, you'll be on the starting straight, where there's a section of DRS!

Therefore, in Turn 16, Wu Shi even had to be on guard, because if Rosberg braked, he would brake even harder!

Clearly, Rosberg is neither Hamilton nor Verstappen; he wouldn't think of such a method on the field.

Swish!
Mercedes-Benz crossed the DRS detection line, taking the lead over Wu Shi.

Williams got DRS, which allowed him to unleash even better acceleration and top speed on the long straight.

As he approached Turn 1, Wu Shi once again made a U-turn.

The difference in top speed left Rosberg feeling helpless.

Wu Shi silently thought to himself, "The eighth lap." There were still 50 laps to go. How many more laps could he possibly stop?
This kind of driving style is extremely damaging to the tires. The soft tires, which could have lasted until the fifteenth lap (the soft tires were predicted to last twelve laps, and the safety car lasted three laps), will probably need to pit on the twelfth lap under these circumstances.

The track temperature was low today, and with the safety car in effect, the originally recommended two-stop strategy was not as good as a one-stop strategy.

Jonathan TR: "You set a new fastest lap record."

Wu Shi: "?"

What the hell? !
Did Hamilton not bring the clean air from the front?
and many more!

Could it be that? !

Wu Shi then turned his attention to Hamilton at the very front. The distance between them was probably more than a second!
On that long straight, Hamilton definitely eased off the accelerator!

He naturally didn't hear the questions and angry shouts from Mercedes' internal TR, but he realized that this was an opportunity.

So, right after Turn 1, Turn 2 forcefully blocked Rosberg and brought him to the DRS inspection line.

DRS test passed, it's ready to use!
He and Rosberg activated DRS almost simultaneously, which meant that he arrived at Turn 3 with a small gap in this short stretch of road.

When he looked at Hamilton again, he found that the man had already been quickly led away.

It seems this is the old man's last gift. If we let him use DRS any more, we'll probably get criticized by the team.

The following turns 3 through 5 are arranged in a right-left-right pattern, with the middle turn 4 being the longest, which undoubtedly gave Rosberg more convenience.

There's no other way.

Wu Shi was breathing heavily. He knew that if he wanted to continue competing with Rosberg, he had to keep the gap between him and Rosberg within one second before Turn 12.

Jonathan TR: "The tire wear is very severe. We should conserve tires and secure third place."

“Yeah.”

Wu Shi responded, but continued to stubbornly stick to Rosberg's trail.

keep?

Maintain third place?

He's not that kind of person. If he can compete for second place, why would he give up?

If we can give up second place this time, can we give up first place and the World Championship next time?!

He used an even more extreme driving style to tell the team that he also wanted second place.

In Williams' pit room, Claire's smile had vanished, replaced by a cold expression, while Jonathan occasionally glanced back at the team leader.

Why are you so disobedient?!

From this point onward, the team's TR (Traffic Transfer) decreased significantly, indicating the dissatisfaction of the entire crew.

David couldn't help but say, "Wu Shi is an excellent driver. He stepped onto the F1 stage at the youngest age. We saw his fighting spirit! We saw his desire to win!"

"He was undoubtedly born for the racetrack. In his eyes, there was only moving forward, forward, and forward again! This fearless pursuit of ultimate speed made me feel as if I saw the shadow of those great drivers."

"However, perhaps because he is too young, he does not understand the importance of following the team's instructions, which will undoubtedly cause trouble for his future career."

At this point, chief analyst Brendel spoke up: "He's like Don Quixote charging at a windmill; the performance gap between the two cars makes these three laps of battling seem pointless."

These words silenced David as well.

Yes, in the footage, that Williams car used almost every track and tried every possible method to gain as much advantage as possible.

However, this advantage will soon be reduced to a tiny, invisible dot over long distances, disappearing throughout the entire race.

"But he gave us enough exciting matches, didn't he?"

As the two commentators spoke, the two race cars had already arrived at Turn 12, one after the other.

Mercedes TR: "He's very close to you, be careful, he can still use DRS to attack you."

Rosberg, panting heavily, finally yelled after rounding the bend, "Yes! I know!"

The DRS after turn 12 clearly gave Wu Shi another chance.

He quickly closed the gap to 1 point and followed closely behind Mercedes.

With Turn 13 approaching, he needed to gain control of the inside, so he didn't hesitate to dribble.

Here, Mercedes' pace was slightly slower, but only slightly, and Rosberg immediately seized the opportunity to push into the paint and take control of the space first.

Wu Shi could naturally change course again to the outside line and take over the outer route.

But Williams isn't Mercedes; he can't maintain perfect stability in corners. Doing so won't result in him taking the lead on the outside, but rather falling completely behind on the outside!
Since both turns 13 and 14 are right turns, the inside line taken by turn 13 will continue into turn 14.

He chose to follow closely behind Mercedes, and the smell of gasoline emanated from the helmet's vents.

Wow!

Rosberg drove onto the shoulder, the car vibrated slightly; he had entered the inside lane too quickly.

One mistake made him immediately look in the rearview mirror. Luckily, Wu Shi hadn't gone outside the lane, or it might have been dangerous.

He quickly turned the steering wheel, stabilized the car, and then accelerated.

'Is it true that consuming exhaust fumes can actually reduce tire wear?'

After passing Turn 13, Wu Shi couldn't help but complain that Rosberg had been driving too slowly, almost as if he was trying to conserve tires.

The lack of stability under high pressure has always been a major weakness of Rosberg.

This pressure isn't just because of competitors, but also because of pride. You have to understand that he's currently battling a rookie driver who's not even an adult!
He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose.

Wu Shi didn't think about it that much. He took Turn 13 more slowly, and the tires felt a little better.

However, Rosberg returned to his normal level at corners 14, 15, and 16, while Wu Shi was eating hot exhaust fumes and trying his best to grip the road, which made the tires wear out even faster.

However, once you pass Turn 16, you'll be back in the DRS zone.

Undoubtedly, he is still within Rosberg's one-second range.

Arriving at Turn 1 again, Rosberg saw Williams rushing up beside him again and felt a sense of frustration.

Lewis had already been two seconds ahead of him!
This might not be so bad news, since Lewis can no longer provide Wu Shi with a DRS after Turn 2 as he used to.

Unfortunately, although Wu Shi failed to regain the position this time, he closely followed into Turn 2 and was hit by DRS again.

If he had stopped abruptly just now.
No, stopping at that position would directly trigger the black flag.

Wu Shi had a very difficult time following, not only because of the exhaust fumes damaging the tires, but also because of the lack of downforce on the front wing, making the already mediocre Williams even more difficult to control.

Several times he frantically swerved the steering wheel in the bends, narrowly avoiding losing control and crashing into the wall.

At this moment, the director switched to Wu Shi's car camera.

By the tenth lap, the gap between the two cars had widened to 0.5 seconds.

Even with DRS, Wu Shi would be left behind by Rosberg after a few more laps.

However, despite the intense competition between the two, Massa, who was in fourth place, was still 2.3 seconds behind them, which is enough to show just how fast Wu Shi was!

Williams' strategy team realized once again that things were a little different, and even Claire couldn't help but say to strategy engineer Rodrigo Barrera:
"Is there no other way?"

Jonathan, who was listening from the side, was a little surprised. The team leader's expression was not good after Wu Shi secretly refused the team's instructions. But now she seemed to have changed her mind.
"So tenacious! Absolutely so tenacious! Wu Shi still hasn't given up. I seriously doubt how much longer his tires can keep him going! Rosberg and Wu Shi's lap times have both dropped by 0.3 seconds, and Massa is closing the gap with them."

"Regardless, I really don't want to see any problems with this rising star from China's tires!"

Regardless of whose fan they are, they are essentially spectators of racing, so when the two are fighting so fiercely, everyone is thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Entering lap eleven, Wu Shi had already fallen about 0.8 seconds behind Rosberg, and in another lap, he would be out of DRS.

Jonathan TR: "How are the tires feeling?"

Wu Shi TR: "Yes, I'm definitely better than Rosberg's tires!"

This wasn't the truth, of course. The grip of the soft tires was already incredibly low. If he hadn't been able to sense the feedback at any time, he would most likely have had to pit.

To be frank, whoever comes here can only slow down. If they maintain this speed, they'll just have to wait to slide to their death!
Therefore, the entry line into the turn at this point is quite different from that in the first few laps.

He didn't know how much longer he could hold on, but he would keep running as long as the tires didn't burst! Because Rosberg's speed was also slowing down.

Mercedes TR: "Box! Box!"

Suddenly, Rosberg heard team instructions through his headset.

Mercedes is going to pit for a tire change on the 6th!
In fact, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that this was inevitable. In the first two timed segments, Wu Shi and Rosberg had been closed to each other by 0.2 seconds by Massa, and the rate of decline was astonishing!

After Turn 15, Rosberg drove into the pit lane.

As the silver arrow blocking his path disappeared, Wu Shi said in TR, "Give me two chances to push!"

　Long chapter, a bit late, sorry!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)