F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 194 The safety car brought the story to an end.

"Oh dear, this neutral tire is really hard to use."

After running just one lap, Wu Shi couldn't help but complain.

That's not wrong. Although the track temperature had risen, it was still not ideal for medium tires, and Rosberg and Vettel, who pitted earlier, did not have ideal lap times.

If the tires hadn't been so worn out, running a few more laps on the old soft tires might have been better.

By lap 37, in the front row, Rosberg was a full 6 seconds behind Hamilton, Wu Shi was 2 seconds behind Rosberg, Vettel was 2.5 seconds behind Wu Shi, and Kimi was 4 seconds behind Vettel.

As for Massa in sixth place, he is already more than 20 seconds behind and is no longer in the same league.

"Have you noticed that Kimi's lap times seem to be faster than Vettel's?"

"Yeah, we were almost ten seconds behind before, but the gap between us narrowed after Vettel switched to the new white suit."

After analyzing the situation, Bingge and Feige suddenly realized why the front-row drivers all chose yellow-yellow-white tires: if a Stint in the middle dared to use white tires, he might lose his position!
"Is there really such a big difference between medium and soft tires?" the soldier couldn't help but ask.

"It seems to be this big." Fei nodded, then added:
"Kimi pitted four laps later than Vettel. You might not see the difference now, but once the medium tires start to wear off, the difference in lap times will probably become very obvious."

"So you mean Kimi is planning to chase Vettel in the second half?" the soldier asked with a smile.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out."

"Is it possible that Wu Shi's tires are newer than Rosberg's?"

"How is that possible? The two are only one or two laps apart, and Mercedes' performance is still superior."

The situation was exactly as the two had analyzed: Wu Shi was simply unable to catch Rosberg, and Jonathan had to be responsible for announcing the lap times in each segment to ensure that the car was under control.

“You’re gradually widening the gap between yourself and Vettel, but you’re not closing in on Rosberg. Just keep it at that level,” Jonathan said on TR.

Sitting in front of the command platform, he could clearly see the situation on the field.

Rosberg then accelerated again, widening the gap with Hamilton to 5.2 seconds. If he maintains this closing speed, there is still a slight chance.

However, judging from the previous Stint, Rosberg's tire management was quite difficult in the later stages, and Hamilton's tires were updated. Considering that 5-second difference, it was like an insurmountable chasm.

If Jonathan were in charge, he wouldn't have let Rosberg compete for it at all. Anyone who knows Hamilton knows that the ever-closing second difference is most likely a smokescreen.

Once you catch up to him within 2 seconds, he'll start accelerating, leaving you behind, and then slowing down so you have to catch up again.

This method continuously wears down the morale and tires of the drivers behind them.

After all, a complete victory is not just about winning the game yourself, but about winning the championship while your competitors withdraw from the competition, so as to maximize the point difference.

Therefore, rather than expecting a close battle between the two Mercedes drivers, it's better to look at the potential collision between the two Ferraris. Kimi is genuinely and continuously reducing the time difference with Vettel.

From the initial four seconds, it has now been reduced to 3.3 seconds.

The time difference between Vettel and Wu Shi gradually widened, indicating that Vettel seemed to be somewhat unaccustomed to this set of medium tires and could not keep up with the performance level he had on soft tires.

The most intense battle on the field right now is between Verstappen and Perez, who have been locked in a stalemate for more than ten laps in their quest to advance further in the points standings.

In the corners, Verstappen is noticeably faster, quickly closing the gap with Perez.

However, once on the straightaways, even with DRS (Drag Reduction System), Verstappen couldn't keep up with Perez's speed.

If Red Bull doesn't optimize its engine, it will likely struggle to remain competitive.

"Verstappen has moved up four places since the start of the race. After scoring points in the last race, he looks very likely to score points in this race as well. It's really amazing that he can get so many points before he's even 4 years old," Fei Ge said.

"Why do I feel like you're showing off a bit when you say that?" Soldier Brother looked at Fei Brother.

"What's wrong?" Fei Ge didn't realize the problem.

"If Verstappen is truly remarkable, then Wu Shi must have flown to heaven!" the soldier added.

"Oh dear! Perhaps Wu Shi's performance was too outstanding; I hardly compared him with these newcomers." Fei Ge laughed somewhat awkwardly.

"That's absolutely right. Look, this is the third race of the season. In the opening race, he was outmaneuvering Rosberg. In the second race, he was outmaneuvering Hamilton. And in this race, he's firmly holding Vettel in the lead. Aren't we already comparing him to these great drivers?"

The soldier felt a sense of pride in sharing in the moment.

Fei nodded and said seriously:

"I remember at the beginning of the season, many people questioned Wu Shi and Verstappen, saying that the two young drivers joining F1 was because F1 had become controlled by capital and lost its original racing spirit. "But after the opening race, the criticism of Wu Shi subsided, and after the second race, basically no one said that Wu Shi got into the paddock through special privileges."

The broadcast cameras kept focusing on Verstappen and Perez. On lap 41, Verstappen finally overtook Perez at turn 11, only to be overtaken by Perez again by crossing the line.

However, the difference in track driving skills between Perez and Verstappen prevented him from continuing to defend Verstappen in the next corner.

Ultimately, Verstappen overtook the leader and moved up to 8th place.

Ferrari TR told Kimi, "You're running very well right now, keep it up."

At this point, Kimi had closed the gap to within 2.6 seconds of Vettel, and with about ten laps left in the race, he had a real chance to launch an attack.

For various reasons, Kimi lagged behind his German teammate in the first two races. Although he doesn't usually show his emotions, he must have been competitive.

Rosberg was also closing in on Hamilton, with a 4.7-second difference between them.

Wu Shi was running rather bored at this point. He was already a full 8 seconds behind Rosberg, and Vettel was about 4 seconds behind him. He was completely out of reach.

In the P room of the West team, Louise said to Wu Zhenlin, "Wu Shi should not be surpassed. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will basically be in third place."

Wu Zhenlin nodded. To be honest, he found it a bit boring. It felt like everyone was just going their own way, and it wasn't as exciting as cutting in line on the road.

After several slow cars were outmaneuvered, on lap 49, the broadcast camera suddenly focused on two McLarens.

Between the two, Bottas was sandwiched between the two.

When Bottas used his performance advantage to fight hard and overtake, Button's front wing was hit and he flew off the track.

Alonso watched the two men's car accident, then accepted the ranking with a smile.

Fortunately, neither Bottas nor Button's vehicles had major problems, so they could take them back to the repair shop themselves.

By lap 50, even with a safety car, there was no point in pitting to change tires and try your luck.

On lap 51, Kimi closed to within 2 seconds of Vettel. In a few more laps, he would have entered the DRS zone.

Ferrari's impending internal strife has attracted a lot of live broadcast attention.

On lap 53, the time difference between Kimi and Vettel narrowed to 1.5 seconds.

After seeing this, Jonathan told Wu Shi in the TR, saying, "You can loosen the tires a bit; they're about to fight."

"Yes, I know. Can you give me a live update on their game? I'm really bored driving right now."

Although it wasn't quite the kind of ten-second run where there were no villages or shops in sight, it was still a run on its own. Wu Shi was already feeling excited about standing on the podium in his homeland.

On lap 54, the broadcast camera suddenly focused on Verstappen.

The little red bull was parked on the side of the road, and the racetrack was waving a yellow flag.

A rewind reveals that the 33 Red Bull entered the long straight, and then smoke was seen coming from the rear, the engine clicked a few times, and flames shot out from the tail.

After Verstappen got out of the car, he walked into the pit area through the track fence gate.

The camera lens seemed to capture his overflowing anger.

“Safety car, safety car,” Jonathan said.

"How many laps are left? What happened?" Wu Shi asked.

"Verstappen's vehicle broke down on the main straight and no one has come to fix it yet."

Jonathan said this on lap 55.

Wu Shi happened to arrive at Dazhidao and saw the staff members, who were pushing the cart, but they couldn't move it at all.

“Verstappen isn’t in neutral, they are,” Wu Shi said in TR.

Soon an engineer came to direct the operation. After finally managing to get the steering wheel to neutral, everyone pushed the car at an angle, and it got completely stuck at the entrance.

On lap 56, Wu Shi followed the safety car back and saw that the car hadn't been pushed into the pit lane yet, so he knew that the safety car was going to be there until the end.

(End of this chapter)