F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 164 Tower Cannon
At the end of lap 11, Rosberg pitted for tires.

Wu Shi remained on the track, and no one expected that he would continue to push on those tattered soft tires.

Jonathan did not agree directly, but instead said in TR: "Follow our inbound instructions."

在刚刚，吴轼和罗斯伯格的速度都已经跌落至1分34秒的水平，而作为对比，前方汉密尔顿第十圈的圈速是1分32秒911，第四名马萨的圈速是1分33秒879。

Clearly, Rosberg would be at a huge disadvantage if he continued running, and might even find himself surrounded by two Williams cars, so he made it to the pits.

Wu Shi understood what Jonathan meant: if the results in the first two time slots were too bad, they would definitely have to pit for a tire change, otherwise they would just be wasting time.

He could clearly sense that the tread patterns on the four tires were gradually expanding, with a large amount of aged rubber migrating outwards.

If the assessment is based on the team's data, then it is best to pit and change tires at this time, otherwise the risk of a tire blowout will also increase.

But that was just the team's data; Wu Shi had a different method for calculating vehicle data.

In his prediction, this tire set could still demonstrate a certain speed after pushing for two more laps, but at the cost of a gradually increasing chance of a puncture.

'I can control it'

On the straight road, Wu Shi blinked twice to divert the sweat that was about to flow into his outer corners of his eyes. His eyes stung, but thankfully he didn't have to blink again.

Before Turn 1, the #59 Williams finally got back on the racing line. Wu Shi had to control the brakes with extreme precision with his left foot to keep the tires behaving properly, providing enough braking force without locking up.
laugh!
The race car struggled a bit, but managed to enter the corner.

The camera then focused on Rosberg as he entered the pits. In a dramatic turn of events, Mercedes, the team least likely to suffer from tire wear, had to pit on lap 11, despite being led by the safety car for three laps.

Buzz~
The Mercedes-Benz No. 6 was parked precisely in the parking space, and the front and rear jacks immediately lifted the car.

Click!

The blasting of the cannons went off in unison, and the four men removed the four soft tires. Then, the four men waiting nearby immediately put the new medium tires on.

Kucha!

The air cannon went off, the tires locked, and the vehicle landed.

Buzz!

Rosberg started.

3.11 seconds.

A good tire change.

Jonathan stared at the screen; Rosberg's total time from pit entry to tire change exit was 22.177 seconds.

He exited the station, watching as Sauber driver Ericsson was about to cross the exit.

The Mercedes crew clenched their fists.

Oops!

Just a hair's breadth away, Rosberg landed right behind Eriksen, attempting to overtake him by using the inside line closer to Turn 1.

Wow!

The neutral tires hadn't reached operating temperature at all, resulting in a slight fishtail.

Rosberg had to swerve sharply to regain control, thankfully avoiding becoming a spinning top, otherwise he would have lost even more time.

Wu Shi, who had not yet pitted, had just passed the first timing segment and was 0.3 seconds faster than on lap eleven. This means that his lap time when he pushed might be faster than Massa's behind him!

Jonathan rubbed his cheeks. Could it be true that Wu Shi had told him before that tires were better than Rosberg?!
He breathed a slight sigh of relief; it seemed this guy wasn't messing around, and occasionally he would say a few truths in TR.

Immediately, his and the strategy team's attention shifted to Rosberg on the out-of-field lap, as the lap time set by Mercedes on the medium tires would be closely watched.

Today's low temperatures, while extending the lifespan of soft tires, also make it more difficult for medium tires to warm up.

Rosberg did not surpass Eriksson's speed until after the first timeout.

After getting a general idea of ​​the situation, Jonathan looked at Massa's tire data. It seemed that the soft tires could last until after 20 laps before degrading to the point of being unusable. Therefore, most people would likely adopt a one-stop strategy.

So the question is, how many laps can a neutral tire last?
"Should we stop again?" he asked the strategy team engineer.

“If we want to compete for second place, we will definitely have to stop twice,” Barrera said.

“Hmm.” Jonathan nodded. Next, they still needed to check the performance of the neutral tires.

Only Verstappen, Perez, and Ericsson started on medium tires, but Ericsson pitted for soft tires during the safety car on the first lap.

Verstappen and Perez's lap times are not that relevant.

Wu Shi discovered that when the tires stopped absorbing polluted air, the tire pressure dropped significantly.

Therefore, he pushed himself a little harder in the next few corners, and the slight slippage of the tires made him break out in a cold sweat in the sweltering heat!
'Controllable'

On lap 33, Wu Shi's lap time returned to 1 minute 112 seconds, but Hamilton was faster at this point, almost breaking the 1 minute 31 second mark.

Now, the leading old man has pulled ahead by a full five or six seconds. If he continues like this, he will be able to create a pit stop window by the twenty-third or twenty-fourth lap.

Rosberg's lap time for his first lap has also been released: 1 minute 34.111 seconds.

Jonathan TR: "I see the tires are in pretty bad shape."

Wu Shi TR: "Yes, but I can maintain the speed for at least two more laps, what do you think?"

Jonathan TR: "Wait for our instructions."

Upon hearing this, Wu Shi realized that he had the advantage in lap time and that he needed to continue pushing the tires to their limits.

On lap 13, Rosberg had overtaken Hulkenberg and moved into tenth place, ahead of Verstappen of Toro Rosso.

Mercedes' performance gave him the opportunity to overtake after just one combination corner.

After the straight, Rosberg made his move at Turn 9, aiming for the inside, but the Toro Rosso made no defensive move.

He only cut into the inside lane after the vehicle in front entered the braking zone.

However, Toro Rosso suddenly swerved to the right and made a sharp lane change in the braking zone, which startled Rosberg, who thought he was about to overtake Rosberg!
"F**k! F**k! What is he doing?! Dangerous driving! Does he want to kill me?!"

Rosberg's furious voice, mixed with electronic music, rang out in the TR.

He avoided the collision only after his front wheels started emitting white smoke.

Inside the Mercedes-Benz Arena's P-room, Toto's face was gloomy, and he subconsciously touched his headphones.

In Williams' P room, Jonathan pursed his lips. He wanted to laugh, but felt it would be unsightly.

Because of this unexpected turn of events, Rosberg was pulled away from the leader by a margin of 3 points.

Fortunately, on the next curve, Mercedes' powerful engine propelled him to close in on Verstappen at high speed.

This time, Rosberg didn't rush to penetrate the paint. Instead, he planned to outmaneuver the Red Bull, whose performance was far inferior to Mercedes, by running the court side-by-side.

However, after entering turns 11 and 12, he realized he was wrong.

Verstappen was even more irritable than Wu Shi, and he actually let the car go straight toward him. He had a feeling that if he didn't create some distance, it would definitely crash!

Does that damn Dutchman have no sense of reason?!

In a split second, Rosberg reacted, increased the distance between the two vehicles, and once again avoided a collision.

There's a DRS section right after Turn 12, so falling behind isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Then he saw the little red bull brake just before the bend, allowing him to overtake it instantly.

"."

(End of this chapter)