F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 165 Return to Second Place
In the Six Stars studio, Fei Ge shouted, "How could he drive like that!"

Verstappen's two consecutive moves had him somewhat on the defensive.

The soldier quickly chimed in, "Isn't running like this a good idea?"

Fei continued, "Although the competition is fierce and there are often some dirty tricks on offense and defense, Verstappen is simply disregarding the rules!"

The soldier continued to share his thoughts: "By blocking him like that, Wu Shi has more space! So no matter how Verstappen drives, I think it's a good thing."

"I unconditionally stand on the side that is in favor of Wu Shi."

After realizing what was happening, Fei Ge burst into laughter and said, "If that's the case, then it would have been better if Verstappen had knocked Rosberg out of the race."

The soldier said, "It's a pity that Hamilton probably won't be able to lap Verstappen."

"What? You want Verstappen to crash both Mercedes at the same time?"

The duo joked around as they watched Wu Shi set his fastest lap time again.

Compared to them, the official F1 commentators were much harsher, with David criticizing Verstappen's actions in strong terms.

Mercedes has already sent someone to the race organizers to communicate, but after suppressing his anger, Toto saw Wu Shi's lap time and couldn't help but ask Peter, "Why were Nico's previous lap times so slow?"

“The tire wear is very severe,” Peter replied. After Tony left, he moved from Hamilton’s crew to Rosberg’s crew.

"What about Wu Shi?" Toto asked in return.

“Wu Shi’s energy expenditure when attacking him was far less than his energy expenditure when attacking Wu Shi, and he made some mistakes in defense,” Peter said.

In Williams' P room, Jonathan rubbed his cheeks harder, thinking of something happy, but not something funny.

Wearing sunglasses, Claire had no more worries and smiled broadly.

To be honest, it's quite remarkable that Wu Shi was able to keep up with this guy who's like a cannonball, ready to explode at any moment.

Perhaps the teams have already communicated their strategies, as the mid-table drivers have slowed down further, now reaching around 1 minute 34 or 35 seconds.

On lap fourteen, Rosberg finally got DRS, but a yellow flag suddenly appeared on the track.

After driving around a bend, he saw debris flying everywhere on the ground ahead.

Mercedes TR: "Perez and Button had a minor collision. There's a lot of debris right in front of you. Be careful."

However, the yellow flag was removed after only three seconds.

But three seconds later, the yellow flag was raised again.

David commented, "It seems that fragments of Perez's car were left on the track, posing a certain hazard, and Matthew needs to clean them up."

Jonathan immediately shouted in the TR: "BOX BOX BOX."

Wu Shi happened to be at the entrance to the maintenance area. This lap was originally planned for the time to enter the station, but Jonathan just called it out in advance.

As I entered the white line of the repair area, I pressed the speed limit button at just the right moment, otherwise I would have been fined two thousand euros.

Once the vehicle came to a stop, the race car was lifted up by a jack.

Wu Shi only felt two brief bangs of wind before he was thrown to the ground.

2.987 seconds!
hum!
The vehicle started with a burnout and sped into the lane.

Jonathan TR: "You will meet Ricardo at the exit, don't let him stop you."

"Copy".

"Wu Shi is exiting the station, Ricardo is coming, what will their positions be?!" The commentator's loud voice drew everyone's attention to the exit.

The camera is pointed directly at the starting straight road, where the large red bull reflects the sunlight and shines brightly in the distance, and the car gradually grows larger.

Williams, at the exit of the repair area, appeared to be moving quite slowly.

So even in shots that are directly facing the race car and have no sense of speed, the Red Bull still makes you feel like it's getting incredibly fast.

Jonathan had more data and said in TR, "You'll be behind him, the yellow flag hasn't been lifted."

Wu Shi understood what was going on when he heard this.

Once you cross the white line, the speed limit in the repair area is lifted. Wow!

Even cold, soft tires are slippery!

Ricardo had already reached Turn 1 and attacked from the outside, forcing Wu Shi to stay behind.

Under the yellow flag, Wu Shi could not overtake, so he did not make any moves and simply followed behind Ricardo.

At this point, the dirty air from the car in front is not so dirty anymore, and the tire temperature is quickly raised. Although this will affect the engine's cooling, it's okay to reduce the power a bit. Let the engine suffer for now.

When the two arrived at Turn 6, the yellow flag was just lifted.

This was not a good place to attack, so Wu Shi did not make a move.

The camera then focused on Matthew, who had just run onto the track to collect the debris. He was holding a palm-sized piece of debris and some smaller pieces, and was running across the lawn toward the fence.

Approaching Turn 9, Ricciardo realized he had to defend, so he changed lanes to the center line to block.

Wu Shi, positioned on the outside, used his later braking to enter the corner at a sharp angle just behind Ricciardo, creating a crossover between the two lines.

Ricardo was puzzled. After this set of intersections, Wu Shi went to the right lane, but the next big bend was a left turn. Wasn't this giving him a favorable position?
Then, halfway down the curve, he watched the Williams approach, made a U-turn, and overtook it!

Ricardo TR: "What?"

This simple overtake is just like when Mercedes beat Williams before.

When turns 11 and 12 arrived, Ricciardo was unable to seize the opportunity to entangle the opponent like Wu Shi did.

He also got a DRS, but Wu Shi forcefully blocked him at the entrance to Turn 13. The gap left by this guy on the inside line was just big enough for one car to pass through, and Ricciardo thought it was not worth the risk.

Around the same time, Rosberg finally beat Verstappen.

After Wu Shi passed Ricardo, Sober's Nasr let him pass almost without any resistance.

Nasr didn't want to increase tire wear unnecessarily; blocking this Williams would not have brought him any benefit.

After overtaking Nasr, Wu Shi has returned to fifth place, with Vettel in fourth place leading him by 11 seconds. It is expected that he will have clean air for the next eight laps.

On lap sixteen, Kimi pitted, and Ferrari's clown-like abilities came to the fore as the rear tire got stuck during the tire change.

Whether they hadn't prepared a spare impact wrench or not, the rear wheel mechanic hurriedly stretched out and borrowed one from the front wheel mechanic.

Buzz!

The tires were removed.

Final tire change time: 8 seconds!
On lap 21, Massa pitted, changing tires in 3 seconds, and was blocked by Ricciardo as he exited the pit.

On the same lap, Hulkenberg pitted.

At this point, Wu Shi was in third place, while Rosberg was in fourth, with the two separated by less than three seconds.

On lap 23, Ricciardo, who had blocked Massa for the entire lap, pitted, slowing Massa's pace by a full four seconds.

Mercedes TR: "Nico, you need to pick up the pace, you're getting closer."

Rosberg's TR EDM: "I KNOW"

On lap 24, Vettel pitted, giving up second place. Sainz also pitted on the same lap.

With Vettel gone, Wu Shi was finally free from obstruction and began to push with all his might. Since there was a three-stop operation, he had to run ahead of the two-stop vehicles by a window of time!

The strategy team had already devised a plan to drive this set of tires until they were scrapped!

Fortunately, there was plenty of tires available in Australia, with no shortage of new soft tires, which gave him the confidence to continue.

As a result, the two people who were initially getting closer gradually drifted apart again.

Mercedes TR: "He used soft tires, we used medium tires."

Rosberg knew the team meant Wu Shi would stop twice. If they stopped once, the temperature would indeed be lower than usual, and the tires would wear out much faster.

But is he really going to run forty-five laps on these medium tires?!
(End of this chapter)