F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 209 Have you ever considered taking over WDC?
Wu Shi first went into the lounge, where Claire was waiting for him.

"Oh, congratulations on the return of our champion! Wu Shi!"

Claire shouted happily, then came up and gave him a big hug.

"Thank you, this is all thanks to everyone's hard work. Spain is truly a lucky place for us."

Wu Shi was a little breathless from being hugged, but he understood the deputy leader's excitement.

Williams' last title win was at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, which was won by the King of Polo.

"Yes! This is our lucky place! It's been three years, a full three years! I thought we would never win again."

After releasing Wu Shi, Claire put her arm around his shoulders and looked at the handsome young man in front of her. As she spoke, her voice became a little hoarse.

Williams is having a really tough time!
As the jazz aged and the team's financial situation deteriorated, she faced immense pressure when she was pushed to the forefront!
This year has been a wonderful surprise for her, as the team has gained tremendous exposure in every race thanks to Wu Shi's presence.

Regardless of which country's Sky Sports or the Daily Mail, Wu Shi would inevitably be featured on the front page of every game, his white Wesleyan jersey leaving a lasting impression.

The price has now increased many times over if you want to have any logos engraved on this garment.

When Wu Shi's father initially defied public opinion and signed him with a contract far exceeding that of a rookie, there was considerable skepticism within the team.

But Wu Shi proved everyone wrong with one match after another, showing that Williams had really made a killing!

Wu Shi could understand Claire's excitement and felt an indescribable emotion along with the deputy team leader's emotional fluctuations.

Victory is not just one person's victory; it represents many connections that link the entire team together.

He thought about the attention and respect he received after joining the team. Although his abilities played a part, he was very grateful that Claire and his colleagues were willing to support him in developing the race car.

"Ms. Claire, you'd better act happy. The Sir will be watching from the podium later," Wu Shi said with a smile.

Claire immediately wiped her eyes twice, smiled, and said:
"Yeah, yes, I should be happy, I'm just too happy!"

Just then, a sound came from the corridor, and Vettel and Kimi walked in.

Just like his nickname "Iceman," Kimi offered a simple congratulatory message and then fell silent.

Vettel, on the other hand, was quite excited despite not winning: "Hey! You've got a fantastic victory! There's never been such a young winner in the entire history of F1! I don't think there ever will be!"

"Haha, thank you. Luck is on my side at this station. I was just saying that this is a lucky place for our team!" Wu Shi responded.

"Yes! Williams' last victory was three years ago! You've revitalized this team!"

Vettel, without regard for Claire standing to the side, spoke directly.

He saw a deeper meaning in those words. Why did he go to Ferrari? Because he had the biggest dream of owning a Ferrari in the paddock!
As a German, he grew up under the influence of Schumacher, and even now, he still remembers that distant afternoon during his go-karting days when Schumacher personally presented him with the victory trophy.

Schumacher's great achievements were largely accomplished with Ferrari and this great team.

But since 2008, this great team has never won the Constructors' Championship again.

Although he won four championships with Red Bull, what he really wanted was to win a championship with Ferrari!
He joined Ferrari to lead the team back to the championship!

So when he saw Wu Shi carrying Williams, he couldn't help but feel like he was looking at someone with the same ambition.

Wu Shi had no idea that Vettel was thinking so much; he only felt Uncle Tilted Head's enthusiasm and gave him a warm fist bump.

"What were your thoughts when you saw the two Mercedes crash?" Vettel asked with a smile and curiosity.

"Ah! Of course I was stunned!"

Before Wu Shi could finish speaking, the host's voice rang out from outside, and the staff in the dressing room reminded Kimi to go and receive his award.

Vettel quickly wiped his sweat with a white towel, and then heard his name called. He hurried out.

The cheers and applause outside were exhilarating.

"Next, please welcome our winner of this race! Williams Racing's 16-year-old Wu Shi!"

The host exclaimed excitedly.

Wu Shi put on his hat. He felt that the excitement had worn off while he was in the car, but as he walked step by step toward the door, he couldn't help but smile.

"Waaaaaahh ...

As his voice rang out, the crowd of Williams, who had packed up one side of the fence, cheered enthusiastically. Because they were so close together, the sound created a considerable roar.

At this point, Wu Shi no longer suppressed his smile and waved his hands at the audience.

Amidst the cheers, he was somewhat worried that his colleagues in the crew would shout themselves hoarse.

He stood on the podium.

Looking back, the five-star red flag was waving on the electronic screen. Now no competition would get the national flag wrong, after all, he was on the podium every time. If the competition organizers in various places still didn't prepare properly, it would really be prejudice or dereliction of duty.

However, after quite some time, the national anthem was not played, and the scene became awkward for a moment.

"Huh? What are they doing? Did they forget to prepare the national anthem beforehand?" Fei Ge was taken aback.

Six Star Sports' editor-in-chief directly decided to extend the broadcast time this time, so the footage of Bing Ge and Fei Ge was still not cut off.

"That's not right! They should have realized this possibility when they saw the second stint, no, even the third stint. This is so unprofessional."

The soldier shook his head as he spoke, unable to resist complaining.

"Logically speaking, they shouldn't have done that. Wu Shi has stood on the podium in Spain before, so they should have prepared in advance," Fei Ge chimed in.

Fortunately, it didn't take long before the march began.

Both the studio and the competition venue fell silent.

As the familiar voice rang out, Wu Shi couldn't help but hum along, and he couldn't help but turn around several times.

After the national anthem finished playing, the two people in the studio spoke again.

"Look, when we were sixteen or seventeen, we were still singing the national anthem on the playground, and he's already standing on the highest podium singing it," the soldier said with a smile.

"Yes! This is the first time the national anthem has been played at an F1 awards ceremony. This moment will surely be recorded in the history of motorsports in our country!" Fei Ge affirmed.

Meanwhile, although the post-race interviews have not yet taken place, photos of Wu Shi waving on the podium have already been circulated on the Chinese internet.

In less than a minute, the first short review was posted on various platforms.

"China's first F1 driver! Wu Shi wins an F1 Grand Prix!"

The title quickly went viral and caused an uproar on major racing forums.

"Holy crap! What's going on?! I barely missed an event, and now this has become a huge news story!"

"Awesome! Awesome! Absolutely awesome!"

"Thank you Mercedes! Thank you boss for the crown!"

"Ahhhhh! Wu Shi is so handsome!"

At the scene in Spain, Artur Mas, President of the Catalonia Regional Community, presented the championship trophy to Wu Shi.

"Congratulations, young man! You have become the youngest Grand Prix winner in F1 history!"

Mas extended his right hand. Wu Shi shook his hand and said, "Thank you for your congratulations!"

After receiving the trophy, he raised it high towards the field!

Then, President Maas handed the team trophy to Claire, the team principal, who, with a bright smile, raised the trophy and waved the hard-won prize.

The broadcast camera focused on Sir Williams, who was sitting in a wheelchair in the audience.

"It's not easy. It's been many years since Williams last won," the soldier remarked.

"You haven't done your homework properly. How many years exactly is 'many years'?" Fei Ge teased.

The soldier couldn't say for a moment, so Fei said, "It's been three years."

"It seems you were prepared for Wu Shi to win all along," the soldier laughed.

"Shouldn't we prepare?" Fei asked with a smile.

After the trophy was presented, Wu Shi shook the champagne and sprayed it first to the crew members below the stage, and then felt two cold currents behind him.

Vettel and Kimi both sprayed him, and Wu Shi immediately turned around and sprayed back.

After they had sprayed each other with champagne a few times, Wu Shi wiped the champagne off his face and finally asked Claire, "Want to have a turn?"

“Of course!” Claire nodded.

"Oh ho!"

Claire neither dodged nor flinched; the aroma of champagne, like the joy of victory, captivated her.

Finally, the four of them stood on the podium for a group photo.

Then a female interviewer came up, first speaking a few words in Spanish to the audience, and then approaching Wu Shi.

"Congratulations, Wu Shi! Congratulations on winning your first stage victory! How does it feel?"

"It was absolutely wonderful. There were some unexpected issues at the start of the race, and none of us expected Mercedes to experience this."

"So when I saw two Mercedes crash off the track right in front of me, I was stunned for a moment, but my heart started pounding. I knew my chance had come."

"I was so excited that my hands were trembling, and I almost forgot how to control the car, but Jonathan told me in time that I was 65 laps away from victory."

"I calmed down and realized that I needed to focus on running the remaining laps well. I couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Vettel is no pushover, and I was always on guard against him."

"Finally, I successfully completed all the laps and won the race. This race was wonderful for me."

"I am grateful to the team for giving me a competitive car, and I am also grateful for the hard work of every member of the team, which finally allowed me to stand here."

Wu Shi delivered his acceptance speech.

"Yes! We saw you quickly pull away from Ferrari, and this victory is undeniable. Your strength is admirable, and you are still so young! Finally, congratulations again on your victory!"

After the interviewer finished speaking, he turned to greet Vettel and begin the interview.

The interviews on the podium are like this, quite standard, nothing sensational.

After the interview, the three of them left with the trophy.

Meanwhile, the reporters in the stadium were very active. First, the two Mercedes sprinters had already finished their interviews before the race ended, since Mercedes had collectively clocked out after the first lap.

So when Wu Shi passed by the big screen before returning to the P room, he saw this interview.

When asked by reporters, Rosberg frowned, and whether it was due to the bright sun or something else, he said:
“I set my engine mode wrong, so I didn’t have enough power on the straights. Lewis caught up, and I knew he was going to overtake me, so I shut the door to hold my position because I wanted to win the race.”

"Then he rolled on the grass and crashed into me."

Wu Shi took a sip of water, but Rosberg was indeed a bit slow. If he hadn't fallen behind at the start, he would have caught up with Rosberg.

Immediately following this conversation was a scene of Hamilton facing the camera, where he said:

“I was going almost 17 kilometers per hour faster than him. He had some space on his left, and when he blocked me, I naturally went to the right. Then he closed the door, and I went onto the grass, lost traction, and then we crashed.”

The reporter asked, "Do you think it's fair for him to do this to you?"

"I don't want to discuss this. Let's just focus on the rest of the game," Hamilton smiled.

"What decision did the tournament organizers make?" the reporter pressed.

“Nothing,” Hamilton said helplessly, then added, “They said they couldn’t make a decision.”

This interview was displayed, and many people stood here, including the other drivers. Everyone was actually very curious about the final result.

After the interviews with the two drivers were completed, Toto's interview was released.

"It's impossible to say who is responsible for all the mistakes and who is completely blameless, so I don't want to blame any driver."

Toto is still the master of impartiality. Wu Shi smiled, put his things behind the team, wiped his sweat, and took the water to the post-race interview area.

Just now, right here, the reporters interviewed Princess, Old Man, and Toto, who had left work early.

As Wu Shi arrived, more than a dozen microphones were shoved at him.

Wu Shi recalled the scene of Talking Tom playing musical instruments.

"Hey Wu Shi, congratulations on your victory today! We saw you played exceptionally well. The retirement of two Mercedes-Benzes secured you the championship. What are your thoughts on that?"

The reporters in the audience immediately started asking strange questions.

"It's a very unfortunate thing. You know F1 racing is full of risks, and I don't want any kind of accident to happen, so I'm very relieved to know that Hamilton and Rosberg are alright."

As always, Wu Shi said, "You ask your questions, and I'll give my answer."

"After the Bahrain Grand Prix, we all know that Mercedes held an internal meeting. They believed that the behavior of the two drivers had threatened the team's interests and were considering replacing one of you next year. Are you aware of this?"

The reporter's next question immediately became more provocative.

Wu Shi shrugged and looked at the camera, saying:

“I’m a Williams driver, I don’t know what’s going on at Mercedes. It’s like if you’re on the BBC and he’s on Sky, would you ask him if he’s leaving and then want to replace him?”

“Yeah, I think so.” The reporter nodded.

Wu Shi's eyes widened. "You're awesome," he said bluntly. "Then I hope you can talk to your boss when you get back and tell him that you think SKY's work environment is better and you want to leave and join them."

These blunt remarks annoyed the BBC reporter, but Wu Shi didn't care. In his mind, the BBC was not a good thing.

This kind of subjective emotion is actually not suitable to be vented here, but he was the one who started it.

SKY's reporter's question was less sensitive, though it wasn't a good one either. He asked:

"Just now, we saw you share your acceptance speech. You are now the youngest points champion, and no one else noticed that your points have reached 94!"

"This has surpassed Lewis's 90 points, and you are now the points leader, as well as the youngest points leader."

"We've seen the competitiveness Williams has shown. Have you considered taking over WDC?"

Wu Shi puffed out his cheeks; this was indeed a difficult question to answer.

(End of this chapter)