F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 177 Attack and Defense
Sainz's blocking was very frustrating. By the eighth lap, Wu Shi was already nearly eight seconds slower than Vettel.

However, DRS will be activated on the ninth lap, and the battles will soon become intense. Right now, everyone is simply lying low.

Therefore, there were almost no changes in the rankings throughout the entire eighth lap.

As Vettel crossed the checkered line, the race entered its ninth lap, and DRS was activated.

Unfortunately, the two DRS detection points, one after Turn 14 and the other after Turn 15, are currently unavailable.

Wu Shi and Hamilton didn't need to waste any more time, so they stayed on the racing line and focused on tire management.

Approaching Turn 14, Jonathan reminded us in the TR: "You are within DRS range, you can activate DRS."

"Copy".

As soon as he passed the monitoring point, Wu Shi immediately activated DRS.

Buzz!

The engine roared, breaking through the scorching air, and soon almost caught up with Sainz at the end of the straight. Unfortunately, everyone was in the DRS train at this time, and Toro Rosso also had the DRS that Gross gave up.

This is not a big deal at all. Overtaking in F1 is not something that can be done in just two or three corners. The overtaking shown in the footage is the result of several laps of accumulation.

At this moment, Wu Shi was waiting for the inspection point after turn 15.

rustling!
Back on the starting straight, DRS was turned on again, and the speed quickly soared to over 330 kph, with sparks flying from the rear of the car.

This speed is more than enough!

Approaching the braking zone, Wu Shi suddenly swerved towards the inside, giving Sainz little chance to react, squeezing into the inside and giving the front wing the lead before the apex of the corner.

Now, Sainz had to leave enough space. Although he tried to make the space as small as possible to increase the difficulty of Wu Shi's driving, Wu Shi didn't care at all and moved the whole car close to it. As long as Sainz didn't move closer, there would be no collision.

This incredibly precise positioning is what distinguishes top drivers from ordinary drivers.

Swoosh!

On turn 1 of lap 10, Wu Shi overtook Sainz and immediately pulled his car to the center line to enter turn 2, in order to defend against Sainz's counterattack.

He's overthinking it.

Sainz was completely powerless to counterattack Wu Shi at this point, and Hamilton launched an attack on him from a tricky angle at Turn 2.

"That was brilliant! Wu Shi squeezed into the inside with a late brake, gained the upper hand, and maintained absolute stability of the vehicle to complete the overtake! Sainz tried to make up for his position, but Hamilton arrived quickly."

"Oh! Little Sainz didn't notice the experienced hunter behind him, and he suddenly jerked the steering wheel! The car shook! Ah! Luckily! He regained control of the race car!"
"Ahead, is Wu Shi trying to overtake Grosjean at Turn 2?! Is he in enough space? Is he in enough space?!"
"Wu Shi was on the outside, with no opportunity and not fast enough. But Turn 3 is the opposite of Turn 2, a right turn, and Wu Shi immediately had to switch to the inside! It seems he had already decided to overtake Grosjean through the combination of turns!"
"Williams is displaying incredible speed! He's exploding, he's about to overtake Grosjean! Wow! The distance is perfect! Leading from the front wing! He's made the overtake!"

The dedicated commentator, his voice hoarse from speaking, rattled off a string of witty remarks, finally managing to cover everything that happened at the beginning and end of the race.

In the first round after DRS was activated, the positions on the board changed dramatically.

Wu Shi moved up to third place, keeping his sights on Hulkenberg, who was in second.

Hamilton followed Wu Shi closely, cutting melons and vegetables all the way, and was now in fourth place.

Rosberg was also blocked by Massa and finished eighth.

Verstappen, Kvyat, and others surpassed Perez, each moving up one place in the standings.

After turn 4, the battle at the front temporarily subsided, but the middle lanes at the back were still locked in a fierce fight.

Rosberg knew he couldn't be stopped, so he attacked Massa relentlessly, willing to wear out tires and waste batteries to finish the job.

Similarly, Massa was willing to wear out tires and waste batteries in order to stop Rosberg.

Unfortunately, at Turn 9, Massa slightly yielded a position, which Rosberg seized the opportunity to overtake.

At Turn 10, the inside and outside lines switched, and Massa overtook Rosberg to reach Turn 11, continuing to rely on his inside position to maintain his ranking.

Unfortunately, Rosberg wasn't too far behind, keeping Massa firmly on the right side, and then took the inside at turn 12, finally completing the overtake.

Once he overtook Massa, Rosberg quickly widened the gap to 0.5, which was enough to show how much time he had lost in the midfield.

Ahead, Wu Shi had already passed the checkpoint at Turn 14. His race car sped along under low drag, leaving a trail of sparks as he completed a cut-off to Hulkenberg before Turn 15.

Hamilton followed closely behind Wu Shi, and just as both cars were about to overtake Hulkenberg, Wu Shi suddenly braked harder than usual.

Heh!

Hamilton immediately followed suit, because he was unsure of Wu Shi's braking force and had to brake even harder to avoid a crash!

TR: "What is he doing? Is he trying to cause a car crash? Or has he not read the rules of the game?"

Hamilton's deep voice held little emotion; it was merely a complaint.

The moment Wu Shi braked, he knew exactly what the little guy was going to do.

As expected, Wu Shi's sudden braking gave Hulkenberg the advantage. After Turn 15, Wu Shi regained DRS thanks to his position behind Hulkenberg.

This time, he only consumed half of the tailrace before overtaking.

The Mercedes behind them was even more outrageous; with DRS also activated, it was nearly four or five kilometers per hour faster.

Fortunately, Hamilton wasn't able to overtake him in the second half of the race, otherwise he would have had to give up his lead here.

Wu Shi TR: "The engine output is too weak, our car is too slow."

Jonathan TR: "The temperature is still rising, you need to be mindful of engine power limits."

This team radio segment was again selected by the race organizers for a live broadcast. The six-star duo watched it and couldn't help but shake their heads, remarking:
"Mercedes-Benz is still too fast."

"But something's not right. Doesn't the Williams engine also use a Mercedes engine? Why is there such a significant speed difference?"

"Hamilton didn't run a single practice session. I heard he was saving engine power. Could it be for this?"

"Haha, where did you hear that nonsense?"

As the two joked around, they quickly arrived at Turn 14 on the eleventh lap.

Without DRS, Hamilton made a ruthless U-turn on the straight, demonstrating that the gap between the two cars was far more pronounced than in the Australian Grand Prix.

"They just overtook it like that?!"

"The performance difference between the vehicles is just too great!"

Mercedes secured the inside line, while Wu Shi moved directly to the outside, cutting into Turn 15 with an extremely slow entry and quick exit.

This driving method shifted the APEX point, which was originally located in the middle of the curve, to a position closer to the starting straight.

As Hamilton exited the corner, Wu Shi had just turned around.

Hamilton began to accelerate slowly, Wu Shi completed the turn, and the front of the car was already aligned with the track.

Boom! Buzz!
With the engine roaring, Williams immediately pulled up to Mercedes.

The DRS on the starting straight road belongs to Wu Shi.

When Hamilton saw the number 59 car in his rearview mirror, he finally understood how his teammate felt during the Australian Grand Prix.

Buzz! Roar!

Wu Shi moved to the right side of the first turn, about 200 meters before the braking zone, towards the inside line. Hamilton immediately defended from the center line, focusing more on blocking the inside line.

But Wu Shi then returned to the center line, seemingly giving up on overtaking.

At this point, the two race cars were almost touching, and Wu Shi had to ease off the accelerator a little to control the distance between them.

Just as he was about to enter the braking zone, he suddenly pulled to the left and pressed the accelerator all the way down.

Buzz!

Thanks to the advantages brought by the end-point DRS, Wu Shi was instantly on par with Hamilton.

Buzzing!

Both players slowed down and downshifted simultaneously. Wu Shi pressed hard against Hamilton, but Hamilton was not intimidated. After stabilizing his position, he used his lead to launch a counterattack and squeeze, leaving only an extremely narrow space for Wu Shi.

After Turn 1, the inside and outside lines switched, and Mercedes inevitably slowed down by a point, with Williams' front wing entering the corner first.

Whoosh!

Wu Shi regained second place and pulled away slightly – this was all Hamilton's fault for squeezing too aggressively, which caused him to lose speed.

The exciting battle ended with Wu Shi holding onto his position. After Turn 3, without DRS, Mercedes will have to pay a considerable price if they want to overtake Williams quickly.

Therefore, Hamilton did not choose to continue the attack, since Wu Shi was not slow to begin with, and following behind would not be too far behind.

Jonathan TR: "Just one lap later, you were 1.711 seconds behind Vettel, now the gap between you is 10.080 seconds."

Mercedes TR: "We need to overtake Wu Shi as soon as possible, otherwise the gap between us and Ferrari will only widen."

Both teams, locked in fierce competition, realized that Vettel was driving with incredible ease ahead of them.

But it would be impossible for Wu Shi and Hamilton to get along peacefully.

The final stretch of lap 12 is destined to be marked by a fierce battle relying on the two sections of DRS.

In the back row, Rosberg finally got past Ricciardo, and at this point he was 19.872 seconds behind Vettel, almost a pit stop window away.

(End of this chapter)