F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 179 Now the opportunity has arrived! Can he seize it?!
Vettel's entry lap wasn't particularly fast; instead, the two Red Bulls got tangled up again—a scene that seemed familiar! But this time, Ricciardo's front wing was completely knocked off.

With his front wing damaged, Ricciardo was overtaken by Verstappen of Toro Rosso and his teammate Kvyat, and then even Alessandro, driving the "GP2 engine" car, passed him.

On the next lap, Ricardo, unable to hold back any longer, had to pit.

After his first lap, Vettel began to consistently break his own fastest lap record.

He was a full two seconds faster than Rosberg in one lap!
After being informed of this gap by the team, Rosberg was under immense pressure. Before he could catch up with Wu Shi, he would have to face the pursuit of the four-time champion!
Rosberg immediately asked the team, "Tell me more about Vettel and me?"

He was seeking help from the team.

The team, however, remained rational, or rather, had no other options. A voice came from the TR:
“You all need to pit again, Nico. He has newer tires, so he'll push harder to close the gap, but you all need to pit again.”

"Simply put, if he surpasses me, then he wins? I mean, he'll eventually be ranked ahead of me?" Rosberg asked, his voice strained.

Yes, that's right.

Rosberg fell silent upon hearing this.

On lap 20, Vettel was 2.4 seconds behind Rosberg. Before the lap was even over, he could already use DRS after turn 14.

Fortunately, the Mercedes engine remained powerful, helping Rosberg hold on.

On lap 21, McLaren told Fernando in the radio, "OK, Fernando, I have an announcement for you. There's a problem with the car, and we'll have to pit this lap."

TR paused for a moment, then continued, "It's over."

With Rosberg retiring, Vettel caught up with him and overtook him by braking late at Turn 15 and cutting inside.

Rosberg didn't give up. After entering the starting straight, he turned on DRS to try to counterattack, but he wasn't far enough away to catch up.

The huge difference in tire size rendered the engine useless.

If Wu Shi had seen this scene, he would most likely have said, "Even Mercedes-Benz has its moments?"

But now, when Jonathan told him about this, he exclaimed in surprise, "WHAT?!"

What kind of horror story is this? He took down Rosberg in two laps, so I'm next?!
Rosberg's behavior was absolutely appalling! He should have at least tried to stop it!

In reality, he was just cursing in his mind that the two sections of DRS at Sepang Circuit made it easy for the cars with the advantage to overtake the cars with the disadvantage, which was not a result that could be changed by human power.

“Fantastic, excellent! Wu Shi is 5 seconds ahead of you, Hamilton is 7 seconds ahead of you, and both of their tires are severely worn out,” Ferrari told Vettel.

On the 22nd lap, Vettel, like a superman, closed the gap on Wu Shi by 2 seconds in a single lap.

Jonathan immediately said in the TR: "Don't get tangled up, he's very fast, your tires need to do a few more laps."

"OK."

Wu Shi wasn't a fool. When someone is two seconds faster than you in a lap, don't talk about "exploding power," because in the end, it's the tires that will burst.

On lap 23, Vettel easily overtook Wu Shi in the DRS zone after turn 14.

This is the huge difference between new and old tires.

On lap 24, Vettel closed the gap on Hamilton by more than 3 seconds in a single lap!

"BOX! BOX!"

Seeing this, Wei couldn't hold back any longer and recalled Wu Shi to change the tire.

This time they switched to medium tires and were expected to run 18 laps. When Wu Shi came out, he was behind Rosberg and just in front of Kimi.

"Hey! When did he catch up?!"

Seeing another Ferrari, Wu Shi was startled, thinking that the Ferrari had arrived again. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Kimi's No. 7.

“He switched to medium tires on lap 15, no need to worry,” Jonathan said.

On lap 25, Hamilton was overtaken in the DRS area at Turn 14, and he immediately pitted, switching to medium tires as well.

On lap 26, before Wu Shi could launch an attack on Rosberg, Rosberg was recalled by the team for a tire change.

Now, the scene seemed to have returned to the position of the drivers behind the safety car.

“You are 22 seconds away from Vettel.” Jonathan’s voice crackled through the headset.

Wu Shi remained silent. Both he and Ferrari had neutral tires. Although they were newer than Vettel's, they couldn't push too aggressively, otherwise they wouldn't be able to last until the next stint.

How far away is Rosberg from me?

"More than 14 seconds, he is behind Kimi and has not yet overtaken him."

"Did he switch to hard tires?"

"Yes."

"."

It seems Rosberg can no longer pose a threat to him. With 30 laps left, can Rosberg keep going on those hard tires? He doesn't know what Mercedes is thinking, but he can cruise with peace of mind.

Ahead, Hamilton set the fastest lap time of 1 minute 43.976 seconds. The fastest lap time doesn't count towards points now, so Wu Shi won't be chasing it.

On the 28th lap, Rosberg overtook Kimi, and the gap between him and Wu Shi had now narrowed to within 16 seconds.

"Am I getting closer to them, or am I falling behind?" Wu Shi was unsure of the situation.

“Hamilton is very fast now, closing the gap on Vettel by one second per lap. The difference between you and Hamilton is 0.4 seconds per lap,” Jonathan said.

After a moment, Jonathan spoke again over the team radio:

"Hamilton plans to take action against Vettel on the track; he has to do that to win the championship."

"Meanwhile, Mercedes told Rosberg that he should overtake you and Vettel, but I think it will be difficult for him to do so on his hard tires. What you need to do now is to hold onto the podium."

In the next few laps, the front row drivers were running quietly, but in the middle, Perez torpedoed Grosjean and Hulkenberg torpedoed Bottas, causing two lap accidents in the high-speed corners.

However, the Sepang circuit is wide, so this did not lead to any subsequent crashes.

Jonathan looked at the scene on the screen. Fortunately, there was no major accident. Otherwise, if the safety car had been deployed, Wu Shi would have definitely been at a disadvantage.

“Our long-distance performance is not ideal,” Wu Shi suddenly said in TR.

“Yes, we know, you’ve done a fantastic job to be in this position,” Jonathan said, trying to comfort Wu Shi, thinking he was upset.

As fuel levels decrease, vehicle weight reduces, and tire wear rates also decrease.

On lap 34, both Perez and Hulkenberg were penalized ten seconds.
Kimi pitted on the same lap, switching to hard tires, which looked like his last pit stop.

"Kimi's tactics were a huge success. After this tire change, he will have a huge advantage, and all the drivers ahead of him will have to pit again. The safety car helped him a lot."

"Ferrari's strategy for this race was absolutely brilliant!"

"Wasn't it Vettel's own brilliant strategy that he devised?"

The six-star crosstalk group continued their banter, and with the competition already halfway through, the situation on the field became clearer.

On lap 36, Hamilton closed the gap to Vettel to 13.921 seconds, while Wu Shi closed the gap to 19.311 seconds.

Rosberg is 26.301 seconds behind Vettel, and it seems that Rosberg is also giving it his all. Jonathan judges from this that Rosberg must stop three times, otherwise he will not be able to finish the race.

On lap 37, Vettel made his final pit stop and, unsurprisingly, switched to hard tires.

When they exited the station, Wu Shi had already passed by, while Rosberg had just arrived. The two met before Turn 1.

Vettel held the inside line tightly at Turn 1, and the tire difference of more than ten laps made it difficult for Rosberg to launch an effective attack, posing no threat to Vettel whatsoever.

After failing to attack at turns 1 and 2, Rosberg faced extremely difficult attacks on subsequent turns, leaving him with virtually no chance to catch up.

After just three or four turns, Vettel had pulled away from him and began to quickly close in on Wu Shi.

A difference of about six seconds can probably be erased in four or five laps.

Wu Shi took a deep breath, feeling extremely tired. On a long distance, even the best driving skills could only be used to keep the tire in place.

On lap 39, Hamilton chose to pit, and Williams followed suit, immediately calling Wu Shi to pit as well.

"Williams is not only using Mercedes engines, but also copying Mercedes' strategies!" Bing Ge couldn't help but laugh when he saw this.

"Hey, why did Mercedes switch to hard tires?! There are still 17 laps left!" Fei Ge discovered the blind spot.

"He's out of medium tires! Mercedes has reserved extra hard tires this time!" the soldier shouted after glancing at the data.

Fei Ge knew what Bing Ge was excited about, and immediately chimed in, "Wu Shi still has a new set of unisex tires, right?"

"There's another one! I don't think Hamilton will be able to have a peaceful time from now on!"

"Based on the previous situation, the softer tires are about 1 second faster per lap on average."

"Wu Shi was only about six seconds away from Hamilton!"

"We've arrived at the station!"

The two watched excitedly as the broadcast from Williams' P room went live, and Wu Shi parked the car perfectly.

"It's a neutral fetus!"

How long will this tire change take?

"3.1 seconds! That's good! It's already quite good if you don't make any mistakes!"

The two men's excitement was not without reason; all astute spectators recognized the potential for a battle arising from tire differences.

F1 commentator David also got excited, saying, "I was saying before that Wu Shi was quite young and had plenty of opportunities, and now the opportunity has come! Can he seize it?!"

(End of this chapter)