F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 187 Entering Q3
During the second practice session, each team will further unleash the engine power limits and conduct long-distance stability tests.

However, Benfaniu completely disregarded the neutral tires and continued with long-distance soft tire tests.

Wu Shi's strategy tended to align with Mercedes', however, Massa made a braking mistake on the seventh lap and crashed into the wall.

Jonathan's voice came through the TR: "Wu Shi, we may need to try another set of tires for testing."

"clear."

If the test on medium tires is not a long-distance race, it is probably not very useful to see anything. Therefore, after pushing for two laps, Wu Shi stopped at the team's instruction to switch to medium tires for a long-distance test.

Shortly after, Kvyat also had an accident, ending his practice session.

Hamilton ultimately took first place with a time of 1 minute 37.219 seconds, improving by 1.8 seconds compared to the first practice session, and it looked like he put in absolutely no effort.

Kimi came in second with a time of 1 minute 37.662 seconds. This time isn't that amazing, but what's truly terrifying is that he ran 35 laps on soft tires!
Ferrari's tire management looks quite good. Vettel's strategic victory in the last race relied on this. One of the purposes of practice sessions is to allow teams to use this as a benchmark for their race strategy.

Wu Shi's speed wasn't ideal because he was using medium tires for long-distance testing afterwards. Back in the pit lane, he told Jonathan directly:

"Medium tires are almost 0.8 laps slower than soft tires, which is far from ideal."

"We saw that the soft tires were tested again at the end of the third practice session, as the race may depend entirely on them."

The biggest difference between the Shanghai International Circuit and the Sepang Circuit is the temperature. Because of the lower temperature, even softer tires will not degrade too quickly, and they can still reach higher speeds than harder tires.

Although medium tires can cover about seven more laps than soft tires, each lap is about 0.8 seconds slower, which makes the difference in performance data quite significant.

After the second practice session, Williams' pit stop was very busy because Massa's car had to be repaired before the third practice session the next day.

The third training session began at noon the following day.

"You'll be in charge of testing from turn 1 to turn 7 and from turn 13 to the finish line," Jonathan instructed Wu Shi.

The qualifying simulation in the third practice session does not involve drivers pushing their full strength for the entire lap, as this would be tantamount to revealing their hand to the other teams, something even a powerhouse like Mercedes would not do.

Therefore, in order to obtain data that can be used for reference, the team will have the two drivers conduct tests in batches for different time periods, and finally combine the results to infer the approximate qualifying lap time.

Therefore, in the third practice session, everyone's overall lap time was not as good as in the second practice session. The top six were the best teams in the league.

Williams pulled in two Toro Rosso cars, and the top ten were completely taken.

McLaren continued to struggle, trading blows with Sauber.

Brother Tou truly lives up to his reputation as a genius team selector. You know, he got the runner-up here last year, but judging from the situation this year, it'll probably be difficult for him to even get any points.

Even the careers of F1 drivers are the same, with ups and downs.

The qualifying race officially began at 3 PM.

Due to the superior performance of the soft tires, the front-row drivers did not use medium tires at all for Q1.

Teams like Sauber and Lotus, often considered lower-tier, might use white medium tires to try and collect data, or to save a set of soft tires for the race—although it's unclear what the point of saving a set of tires is in the Shanghai International Circuit, which has a two-stop system.

Hamilton went straight back to the pit stop after setting a time of 1 minute 38.285 seconds.

Based on the data analysis from practice sessions, it is very difficult for bottom-tier teams to break into the top 38-second range, so there is no need to spend extra effort on it.

But after setting a time of 1 minute 38.211 seconds, Wu Shi still performed a second lap on the track, trying to find the balance of the vehicle.

With the clocks stopping in Q1, both Manor cars were naturally eliminated, their time of just over 1 minute 42 seconds resembling that of an F2 driver. However, this wasn't a problem with the team's engineers or drivers; this F1 team was already on the verge of collapse, and simply finishing the race was a major victory. The two McLarens were also eliminated with times around 1 minute 39.2 seconds. If Button and Alonso hadn't encountered the Manor team, they would have had a good chance of finishing last this year.

The last elimination spot went to Hulkenberg of Force India.

After a ten-minute break, start the clock on Q2.

"These soft tires will be used in the race, so please take good care of them," Jonathan reminded them as usual before the start.

This means that there is only one chance to try. If you try twice, the tires will definitely be at a disadvantage when starting the car, and you will be in a passive strategic position.

Jonathan certainly knew the pressure that saying this would put on a rookie driver, but this was F1, not child's play. If he chose not to disclose certain information because he was afraid of putting pressure on the driver, it could lead to even worse consequences.

"I see."

Wu Shi nodded, glanced at the data on the screen one last time, and recalled the scene in Q1.

In the race, you need to frequently adjust the brake balance, and you must remember exactly how many times the rollers should slide.

I took a deep breath, my heart pounding, and waited for the convoy to give me the order to start.

The weaker teams release their cars first, and the track conditions will improve further after they complete their first flying lap.

With five minutes remaining, the clock struck, and Wu Shi was released.

The team only gave him one chance to speed around the track.

As he left the repair area, he saw a huge red flag being raised on the field directly opposite, and the crowd seemed to be shouting, but wearing a helmet and headphones, he couldn't hear any of it.

By the time the warm-up laps began, the performance of this soft tire set had already been thoroughly understood.

After one lap, after turning 16, you enter the long straight and rush into the starting grid. The gear has already shifted to 8th gear. The first turn of the Shanghai International Circuit is a very large semi-circular arc, which is connected to turns 2, 3, and 4 like a twisted fern.

From the moment I started in fifth gear and reached the apex of the corner, I was gradually thrown off and kept downshifting, slowing down step by step until the apex of Turn 2 appeared. I increased the steering, twisted the front of the car through, and slightly hit the curb.

Then, on the downhill turn 3, it was still difficult to shift up to the next gear, and I could only maintain around third gear.

Only when I saw the heart of turn 4 did I start to accelerate and sprint.

What was the qualifying time for Q2? The team gave a time of 1 minute and 37 seconds.

This isn't too difficult; the real challenge lies in controlling the game to consistently advance into Q3 within 1 minute and 37 seconds.

Running the engine at full power would be the best approach, but that might affect the Q3 later, so Wu Shi didn't do that.

hum!
As he quickly shifted up gears, Wu Shi swiftly adjusted the knob to raise the brake balance to 58, bringing the gear to 7 and accelerating rapidly.

After passing the first timing section's checkpoint after Turn 5, Jonathan breathed a brief sigh of relief; his skill level was still there, and he hadn't let the pressure affect his performance.

Wu Shi's running style was basically the same as in the practice race, and he finally crossed the finish line in 1 minute 37.555 seconds. This result was excellent enough that it was almost impossible for him to be out of the top ten, so he could call it a day.

After the cooling process was completed, the situation on the field became clearer.

The 12-minute Q2 session ended with the following players eliminated: Sauber's Eriksen; Red Bull's Kvyat; Toro Rosso's Verstappen and Sainz; and Force India's Pedro.

The drivers who made it into Q3 returned to the pit lane, and ten minutes later, they made their final push to fight for pole position!

(End of this chapter)