F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 191 Why is everyone watching Williams?

Wei was unaware that his actions had sparked a series of speculations, which were not only expressed by the commentators but also by the Ferrari control room.

Rafa team leader Maurizio Arrivabene covered his mouth, staring intently at the screen.

He had naturally heard all of Westbrook's TR, and if Massa could also unleash Wu Shi's speed and catch up with Kimi, then the situation would be quite bad.

Although he didn't speak, Kimi's track engineers were already closely watching Massa's data. If Massa's speed was indeed faster on lap four, then...
There doesn't seem to be much we can do but tell the drivers to withstand the pressure.

“You are 1.1 seconds away from Rosberg, and Vettel is 0.9 seconds away from you,” Jonathan continued to explain.

Wu Shi silently calculated in his mind that DRS would be officially activated after crossing the grid line on the fifth lap.

The DRS detection point on the starting straight of the Shanghai International Circuit is after Turn 16, so you need to go around the whole circuit before you can use it.

There is also a DRS after Turn 13, but the detection point is located about one-third of the way into the straight.

As long as you are more than one second ahead before that point, you can avoid being hit by Vettel's DRS.

Similarly, if they can't create a significant distance, they might choose to wear down their tires and catch up with Rosberg.

At this moment on the track, it wasn't just Wu Shi and Wei team who were considering the upcoming activation of DRS; all the drivers who had a chance to overtake the cars in front were thinking about this issue.

Just entered the fifth lap,
Perez and Kvyat then began a fierce exchange of positions.

Today, the intensity and excitement of the midstream group's competition far surpassed that of the front row.

After turning the sixth bend, Wu Shi clearly felt himself being caught up.

He remained expressionless and began to speed up.

The two drivers in front of him accelerated even faster!

Hamilton's earlier actions of having Rosberg, who was setting the fastest lap time, constantly close in were not because Rosberg was slow, but rather to maintain a reasonable gap, thus wearing down his teammate's tires while protecting his own.

When it came time to create distance, the old man didn't hesitate. He demonstrated his exceptional driving talent in the huge "S" bend, easily maintaining his lap time through superior car line control.

Rosberg is having a tough time following behind. He can keep up with Hamilton, but the tire wear will be enormous!
"Watch out for your tires! Wu Shi is behind you. He's one second away from you right now. I mean, one second!"

The team's TR sounded, and Rosberg gritted his teeth and chose a slightly more conservative driving style, fearing that this kid might suddenly appear out of the way, like a ghost!
"Here, Hamilton pulled away from his teammate, his cornering speed was much faster than before, he wanted to prevent his teammate from getting his DRS;

"At the same time, Wu Shi also accelerated! Oh! Comparing the telemetry data, the places where Wu Shi accelerated are very similar to Hamilton's! What a keen track intuition!"

"Of course, Vettel isn't going to be outdone. Wait! Vettel isn't faster than Wu Shi. Is he going to be dragged out of the DRS zone by Wu Shi?!"

David was somewhat surprised.

In fact, Vettel quietly turned an unidentified knob under the steering wheel.

The knobs didn't change any configuration; they were simply informing the team that things seemed a bit bad as the tires wore out.

Top drivers have an extremely sensitive perception of their vehicles; at extremely high speeds, even the slightest imbalance can cause a race car to lose control.

At the Ferrari control post, the strategists immediately whispered among themselves to Vettel's track engineers, who were helpless in the face of Vettel's secret report.

Doesn't that guy's tires wear out? Can you really say he's completely overdrawing the tires' lifespan?

"Massa's lap time has improved, but looking at the tire wear after one lap, there's still a lack of comparison," David said with a smile, informing the audience of the data that wasn't broadcast.

Bingge and Feige had forgotten about the previous lap and were now focused on the Red Bull commentary.

Red Bull told Kvyat not to compete.

However, this instruction was completely useless. Even if it had been slightly useful, the two of them wouldn't have been changing positions with each other for several consecutive turns.

Such infighting on the track allowed the two Force India cars to maintain their lead without any worries.

Alonso and Button, behind them, also took the opportunity to close the distance.

"Hey, this Red Bull, it's still the same." The soldier slapped his thigh after seeing the two who almost collided.

This is unavoidable; the intensity of competition within the Red Bull team is far greater than that of other teams.

After all, the other teams might only really fight hard when they are facing the ultimate goal of winning the world championship.

And Red Bull?
Even if they don't get any points, they can still fight tooth and nail!
"Very good, very good. You kept up with Rosberg, but the tire wear is happening quite quickly. You need to be careful."

Jonathan's voice came through the radio.

Wu Shi knew that Jonathan was asking him about tire wear and whether he could maintain tire performance to meet the planned pit stop lap times.

He turned the bottom knob to the position marked "NIU". Jonathan saw the change in the racing control panel and immediately understood that this meant there was no problem at all.

Indeed, that was the case; after closing in on Rosberg for a second, he did not make any further moves.

With absolutely no room to overtake and tires that are planned to run for about ten more laps, this is not the time for him to show off.

Turn 13 on the fifth lap.

“Vettel is getting closer to you.”

Jonathan's voice suddenly rang out: "The Ferrari's engine power has increased. Is it still going to give it a try?"
"It's ok."

Wu Shi had already figured out the normal course of the game; any unnecessary actions he took at this point would only lead to a worse outcome.

So why not follow Rosberg?
As soon as the DRS detection point passed, it was exactly 0.91 seconds in, the DRS turned on, and the battery was slightly discharged.

Vettel behind him indeed took the hit from his DRS and was sprinting at high speed with even greater acceleration.

This is the performance when the battery is being used at full capacity!

Wu Shi didn't care at all. This DRS interval wasn't long. A difference of 0.9 seconds wasn't something that could be easily made up for. Did you think you were a Mercedes-Benz Mars Rover?

Buzzing sound!

When it reached the braking area, the gear shifted down with a click-clack motion. Each downshift was accompanied by a sudden, rhythmic hum from the engine, a sound that Wu Shi greatly enjoyed.

Amidst the beautiful sounds, he saw that Vettel had not chosen an offensive route.

After entering the apex of Turn 14, you need to turn right further to enter Turn 15.

A word of caution: when you reach the right shoulder of turn 15, absolutely do not accelerate, or you will definitely lose control.

There are two ways to solve this problem.

One is to avoid taking too many kerbs, as this will wear out the tires more and also requires a higher level of skill from the driver.

This is how most top drivers handle this corner.

When it came to Wu Shi, we saw that he ate a lot of roadside food.

This allows him to turn more sharply, which can avoid severe friction between the tires and the ground and reduce tire wear, but it will also mean losing the opportunity to go full throttle earlier, which means the speed will be slower.

"Wu Shi, you've gone too wide of that bend. Be very careful, don't go full throttle, or you'll lose control of the vehicle!" David shouted as soon as he saw the broadcast camera.

Buzz!

Wu Shi accelerated, adjusting the differential at the same time.

After so many laps, he had already figured it out: full throttle was indeed not possible, but he could drive at about 80%.

Outside of qualifying, this level of opening doesn't affect lap times much, but it can save a lot of tires!

The oil pump enters the engine, and with a roar, the power is delivered to the rear wheels.

The enormous bald tire wobbled slightly. Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Williams, number 59, made it through Turn 15 unscathed and headed straight for Turn 16.

David blinked twice, trying to rewatch the scene. It was amazing!
Many accidents occur on this bend because the driver accelerates when there is a significant difference in grip between the left and right sides.

And what about Wu Shi? How come nothing happened to him?
He ate so much of the road shoulder!
Vettel, who followed closely behind, drove quite normally, with his right tire only encroaching on the curb to the middle, without going any further in.

Rustle! Rustle!

The white Williams sped along the long straight, the increasing downforce causing intermittent friction between the car's undercarriage and the road surface, leaving a trail of sparks and flashes.

Two red Ferraris followed closely behind, their roar causing the entire grandstand to erupt in cheers.

"Whoa whoa whoa!!!!"

In the stands, everyone was shouting. Although it had been two reds chasing one white for the first few laps, now there were sparks flying from under everyone's cars, making it even more exciting to watch!

Up until Turn 1, Vettel had only closed the gap by 0.16 seconds.

“Very good. Vettel is temporarily unable to attack you. Keep it up. You have increased the distance between you and Rosberg to 1.03 seconds.” Jonathan’s voice rang out.

"No, I remember he didn't have DRS, right?!" Wu Shi asked, then began to concentrate on dealing with the "snail" combination bend.

Jonathan didn't speak at first, but waited until after Turn 4 before saying, "Yes, Mercedes is too fast. Their cars are probably better suited to this kind of cold track."

On the sixth lap, Wu Shi's gap with Vettel widened to about a fraction of a second.

Meanwhile, Kvyat forcefully activated DRS and pressed the OT button, pressing Ricardo on the outside and making a decisive overtake!

This shows a complete disregard for the team's words.

When they reached Turn 6, Kvyat went outside, and Ricciardo braked late to turn the tide and win the game.

The two Red Bulls attracted almost everyone's attention, and no one paid attention to the fierce competition behind the data in the front row.

"Massa's lap times have been further optimized, and tire wear control has also improved."

Before the Ferrari engineer could finish speaking, Massa's deep voice, which was used to communicate with the team, came through the radio channel.

"Yep, it's faster now! But it's so exhausting! Has that kid been driving like this the whole time?!"

Massa's voice was filled with excitement; no one knew how thrilled this former strong contender for the World Cup was inside his voice.

For race car drivers, achieving higher speeds is one of the most exciting things in the world, and achieving even higher speeds in the same car makes that "one of" even more exciting.

Dave didn't answer the excited Brazilian. He rubbed his forehead and looked at Claire with concern. He and Jonathan had been consciously protecting Wu Shi's secrets, but Massa had just revealed them.

Now everyone knows that Masa learned it from Wu Shi.

Suddenly, a strange scene unfolded on the paddock: the broadcast cameras were focused on the Red Bulls fighting amongst themselves, while all the teams simultaneously pulled up and watched Wu Shi's T-frame video.

Later, the director noticed the situation and gave a close-up of each team's pit garage.

"Hey! Why is everyone looking at Williams?!"

"No, I'm not looking at Williams, I'm looking at Wu Shi."

The six-star duo were completely confused. They hadn't translated the TR message in time, and both of them had overlooked what had happened before.

It must be said that sometimes they are indeed slightly lacking in professionalism.

However, people aren't really interested in the professional aspects; they're just drawn to the excitement.

Is this what home-field advantage is like?

"No, that's not it. Do other drivers get this kind of treatment at their home race? I think it's something that happened to Wu Shi just now. There should be a replay of it later."

The two waited for a while, but there was no replay.

Official commentator David, knowing what everyone was doing, said:

"This is something that cannot be learned. Massa was able to learn Wu Shi's driving style because the vehicles were the same. By using the same tuning and the same driving method, the same result could naturally be achieved."

"But the situation is completely different for the other teams."

He paused, then said with emotion to the technical lead:
"In today's match, he may not have shown the exciting moments that the public can see, but he has already excellently attracted the attention of all the professionals in the paddock."

By lap 6 and lap 7, the gap between the top six drivers became increasingly clear.

Hamilton gradually picked up the pace, Rosberg, while not closing in, maintained a fairly high level, while Wu Shi fell out of Rosberg's DRS zone.

Similarly, Vettel also chose to give up chasing Wu Shi. Just two laps in, his tires were severely worn, and his lap time dropped drastically.

The internal struggles between the three leading teams and within each team quietly came to a temporary end.

Laymen only see the spectacle and know that there's no overtaking or chasing in the front row, which is quite boring.

As David said, Toto and Nicky Lauda exchanged a glance, feeling even more regretful. However, Mercedes was not under pressure to win the championship at this time, so their desire for Wu Shi was not that great.

Arrivabene's lips twitched. He knew that Montezemolo had invited this guy, but he didn't come in the end. Even if he had come, his contract would probably have been torn up during the big purge before the 15 season.

The people on the hunting grounds each had their own thoughts.

The race continued, with the drivers racing lap after lap.

In the midfield group, Verstappen overtook Eriksen at the hairpin turn, catching Eriksen completely off guard. If he had been a step slower exiting the corner, he would have been pulled away completely.

The camera focused on Verstappen in the Toro Rosso pit room. He pursed his lips, whistled, and looked like he wanted to praise it. He hesitated for a couple of moments before finally laughing and clapping.

Lap 10,
Hulkenberg stopped on the grass due to a gearbox malfunction, right on the grass of the long straight after Turn 13, and a yellow flag appeared in the second timing segment.

Nasr became the first person to enter the station.

Throughout lap 11, the yellow flag had an effect, and Bottas and Perez pitted.

On lap 12, Grosjean, Verstappen, and Alonso all pitted.

This was already the first pit stop period, and it happened to coincide with the yellow flag for the timing section, so most teams chose to make good use of this time.

At the end of lap 13, Ferrari said to Vettel on the radio, "BOX BOX!"

Jonathan's hand tightened. This all happened so suddenly that he only had a very short time to decide whether or not to follow along.

As a result, he ultimately didn't go with it, while Dave had Massa go with it instead.

Vettel pitted and changed the tire in the blink of an eye.

"2.3 seconds!"

Ferrari had the fastest tire change of the entire race.

Jonathan thought to himself that it was fortunate that Wu Shi hadn't entered the station, otherwise he might have definitely lost his seat.

Massa's tire change took a full 3 seconds, a very routine tire change.

However, in a competition where the difference is only one second, let alone a difference of 0.7 seconds, even a difference of 0.3 seconds can easily cause problems!

On the first few turns of lap 14, the yellow flags for the section were still in effect. Jonathan fumbled with his fingers, just about to consider whether to keep going for another lap, when he saw the yellow flags disappear.

Without any hesitation, he said, "Push! Push! Push!"

Three pushes signal the final sprint, culminating in a pit stop for a tire change!
(End of this chapter)