F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 211 The Complexities of Monaco

As a jewel of street circuits, the Monaco Circuit naturally possesses the most prominent characteristics of street circuits—winding, narrow, and challenging.

Almost the entire track was fenced off, and if a driver made even the slightest mistake, he could suffer a minor injury or even be forced to leave the track.

The numerous elevation changes and variations in light and shadow along the track further enhance the difficulty of this course.

Wu Shi was naturally very familiar with this track; hadn't he just run it with Louise on the sofa before?

However, familiarity doesn't mean anything; you also need a good car.

Monaco is a bustling commercial city, and many drivers live there, so Wu Shi arrived as early as Wednesday.

He went to Leclerc's house for a visit, and at that time, Hervé Leclerc seemed to be in good health.

Later he went to the old man's house.

Hamilton's stylish attire at home often makes people forget his professional identity as an F1 driver.

"You can't touch this thing this year." The old man patted the Mercedes simulator in his house.

"Haha, I'd also like to come and learn how you guys tune it," Wu Shi joked.

That evening, the drivers had a yacht dinner party. Sixteen drivers attended, and Ricciardo took selfies of the entire event, showing off his signature big teeth, and posted them on Instagram.

This picture has attracted many people to share it, after all, it is a group photo of almost all F1 drivers, which is worth treasuring for many fans.

The relaxed and enjoyable days ended on May 21st, and the drivers arrived at the prepared track to begin preparing for the practice race.

"It's a bit cold today," Massa said, waving his hand in the air.

"After all, it just rained." Wu Shi looked at the track, a hint of worry in his eyes.

Unlike other racetracks, Monaco doesn't allow for much room for error.

Despite some drivers' precise maneuvering on major racetracks, they often make frequent mistakes in Monaco.

This is like asking you to maintain a straight line along the gap between the floor tiles; any normal person can do that.

When the path under your feet is only the width of your foot, the difficulty is about the same as before, but most people still wobble and stagger.

This effect on psychological state is particularly pronounced on a narrow track like Monaco.

Even locals like Lock & Lock often lose control of their speed, resulting in understeering and crashing into walls.

Furthermore, the track is somewhat deceptive, with some corners having buffer zones that can easily mislead drivers into thinking they can brake later, when in reality the braking distance is already insufficient.

Even Wu Shi had to admit that it was extremely difficult to fully utilize the vehicle's performance on this track.

"It seems pointless to say anything now, let's focus on preparing for the practice match." Massa clapped his hands.

The difficulties in adjusting the vehicle over the past two weeks have affected the driver's mentality to some extent.

Wu Shi shook his head, keeping a thought to himself: "The cramped Monaco is no longer suitable for the increasingly large F1 races."

However, as a public figure, he cannot say such a thing casually.

As he sat in the cockpit and drove onto the track to begin practice, he became increasingly convinced that his opinion was correct.

The extremely long downhill slopes and various blind turns can be quite challenging.

Of course, the most frustrating thing is the Westbrook car; the steering is just too difficult!

The slight rain and low temperature on the ground made the situation more serious than expected.

During long-distance testing, Wu Shi experienced tail slippage several times, forcing him to adopt a more conservative driving style.

After driving for half an hour, he brought the car back, got out, and said to Jonathan:

"It's just too slippery. It's not a problem with overall downforce, but rather the fragmented nature of the vehicle makes it struggle."

These words gave the engineers and mechanics present a real headache. They knew the problem, but how could they fix it?

Wu Shi didn't have many clues either, and could only glance at the other drivers on the broadcast camera.

He looked over and saw Rosberg running, his vehicle scraping against the guardrail as it slid past.

"Hiss, he almost wrecked the car." Wu Shi took a breath. Watching others run was definitely more nerve-wracking than running himself. Why was that?

"Were you here last year too?" Jonathan suddenly asked.

"what?"

“Rosberg’s mistake in qualifying,” Jonathan said.

"Hmm, then it must have just been an accident?" Wu Shi shrugged, there was no need to speculate on such meaningless things.

“I’m just telling you that the qualifying window might be shorter than you think,” Jonathan cautioned.

"This station is a challenge."

After exchanging a few words, the two began making adjustments to the vehicle.

After the initial uphill section, the Monaco circuit quickly enters a long downhill section, causing the brakes to naturally tilt forward.

The shift in braking balance leads to a significant loss of front wheel steering grip, resulting in the most unpleasant understeer problem in street racing.

The current problem with Williams cars lies in this: the rear wheels don't bear enough load, putting the front wheels at a disadvantage, which ultimately prevents them from entering corners faster.

This problem has been on the table for several days, but there is no good solution yet.

After much discussion, the engineers decided to start with the suspension and tire pressure, as these are currently the easiest areas to find brake balance.

After making adjustments, Wu Shi drove back onto the track, but the car still struggled to navigate the curves, especially downhill, where the front wheels were almost sliding, making him realize that it still wasn't working.

Ultrasoft tires do not provide the desired grip on wet and slippery roads, and the wear and tear is not optimistic.

"The new asphalt is too slippery," Wu Shi complained as he drove.

The result was a full hour and a half of practice, during which Wu Shi entered the pit lane seven times and ran two sets of supersoft tires.

Massa was no less impressive; his speed also remained at a mid-range level, and he struggled considerably.

When the clock stopped after the first training session, the old man's Mercedes was still competitive, taking first place with a time of 1 minute 18.750 seconds.

Second place went to Verstappen with a time of 1 minute 18.899 seconds, which made him the star of the show.

What Westbrook saw was that the upgraded aerodynamic kit made the car less competitive than the Red Bulls in Monaco.

Wu Shi ranked 9th with a time of 1 minute 19.666 seconds, while Massa ranked 11th.

Such a poor performance in the practice match immediately attracted the attention of reporters, so as soon as the practice match ended, reporters pulled Wu Shi and Massa aside.

"Hello, Wu Shi." The reporter stammered in Chinese before asking in English:
"This is your first time participating in the Monaco Grand Prix, and it seems that the team is having some problems, as the speed is not as sharp as in the previous races."

Wu Shi pressed his tongue against his cheek before saying, "Yes, we are still looking for the balance in the tuning. I think our car has speed, but it may not be a good match for this track."

"You upgraded the aerodynamic components at this station. Has it brought sufficient benefits?"

"Uh, well, I think the upgrade will bring long-term benefits, but we need more time to study the specifics here."

After Wu Shi finished speaking, the reporter turned to ask Massa.

The answers were largely the same: FW37 seemed to be struggling to adapt in Monaco. After the interview with Wei, Panzi was surrounded again.

Just like when he was a child, his chubby face always made people think he was pouting during these interviews.

After offering their congratulations, the reporters changed the subject and asked:

“Max, your practice results are quite good. We see that you are performing better than your teammates, but you know that's not our focus.”

“You’ve been competing with Wu Shi since your karting days. This weekend, your car seems to be more competitive. Do you think you will achieve better results in your competition with Wu Shi?”

Verstappen paused for a moment, then said, "This is the first free practice session. You know we're all adjusting our cars. A temporary lead doesn't mean anything."

Wu Shi, who was listening from the sidelines, smiled knowingly. If it were in private, Pan Zi might have said directly, "Just wait, this victory is mine."

Unfortunately, this is in front of the media, so one should be careful with their words and avoid making any inappropriate remarks.

During the second training session in the afternoon, the weather turned bad; it started raining after running for only a short while.

Then Mano's Melchior pressed down on the water at the tunnel exit and crashed into the guardrail, triggering the red flag.

Even after the track was cleared, the drivers were no longer willing to risk going out to race.

“Perhaps I should go out and give it a try,” Wu Shi said.

"Data from rainy days isn't very useful, at least not for the main competition," Jonathan advised.

"Hmm." Wu Shi nodded.

The second training session ended in the rain, perhaps because of his victory in the previous leg, he became extremely eager for victory in this leg.

It should be said that human nature is greedy. Even though they just happened to win a championship and reached the top of the standings, they still tried to maintain it.

Jonathan noticed the anxiety on Wu Shi's face. This station had faced significant problems from the very beginning, so it was no wonder the young man was so emotional.

The team is also quite troubled. They've had one great race and one terrible one, and now it's their turn to have a terrible one. If the problems raised by Wu Shi can't be solved, then this race will face huge problems.

Reporters seized the opportunity to stop Wu Shi, who was preparing to return to the back area.

"This rain is really unfortunate; most teams weren't able to complete the tests they were supposed to. How are things going for you?"

"We were in the same boat; the slippery road and the red flag disrupted our plans," Wu Shi answered honestly.

"Are you able to complete a competitive setup before qualifying?" the reporter pressed.

"Heaven knows," Wu Shi said, blinking.

"You mean if it stops raining, we'll know the answer?" the reporter asked.

“God knows.” Wu Shi used a more appropriate word.

The reporter understood now.

That same evening, reports emerged that Williams was facing research and development difficulties and might fail in Monaco.

"Williams' muscle car is useless on complex tracks."

"Street competition prowess is what truly matters! Wu Shi doesn't seem to be up to par!"

"Have you forgotten Wu Shi's performance in Singapore last year?"

"Just a nobody who got a championship by sheer luck."

Perhaps because of his fame, there are increasingly more extreme comments online.

Wu Shi had no time to pay attention to these idle gossips, but things from the community would always reach his ears in various ways.

"This is the inconvenience of becoming a driver in the public eye. I went back to the Netherlands recently and was recognized everywhere I went. I definitely don't like that."

During dinner, Verstappen shared his thoughts on the matter.

“Don’t worry about these things too much. There will always be people who belittle you. They’re just a bunch of naive fools who know everything,” Vitter comforted her.

Off the track, most drivers have a relaxed and friendly relationship.

After dinner, almost no one chose to rest; instead, they all returned to their respective teams to conduct evening adjustments.

On Williams' side, many engineers didn't even have dinner. They were working overtime to use the actual data collected in the first training session as simulator calibration and to adjust the function formulas.

"Let's start the test," Jonathan said as Wu Shi approached.

Wu Shi nodded and stepped into the simulator.

With the new parameters, the cars on the simulator have become just as difficult to drive as they are on the track.

This is a good thing, indicating that the parameters and function model are very consistent with the actual situation.

Almost every half hour of running, Wu Shi would participate in a meeting that included engineers from the UK headquarters.

Every question he raised was answered, and engineers kept coming in to ask him why the curves he encountered differed from their simulations.

Is it a problem with the driving performance? Or is it a problem with the specifications? Or is it simply not in line with reality?

We constantly try, constantly improve, constantly communicate, and constantly adjust parameters.

These are the brutal overtime nights every race weekend. Normally, with the help of test drivers, this work wouldn't rely entirely on the official drivers.

However, the test drivers on the Westbrook team are not very skilled. While they can provide reference for stability during the development process, they cannot provide guidance for pursuing the limits.

Wu Shi and Masa worked with the team until very late.

When the simulation ended and I stepped out of the rear area, the windows of the other convoys were also shining with white light.

This isn't just a one-off occurrence; it happens at every race. Most teams are relentlessly pursuing speed and yearning for higher rankings.

"We left relatively early," Wu Shi said self-deprecatingly.

“Of course, you’re still growing, you need to go to bed early and get up early,” Massa joked.

"6." Wu Shi's casual catchphrase.

This piqued Massa's interest, prompting him to ask her a series of questions.

When Wu Shi saw the Brazilian driver learning about the usage of the number "6" with great interest, he was a little worried that the occasional catchphrase he used in the paddock might lead him astray.

The rain finally stopped the following morning, and the track conditions improved rapidly, becoming completely dry by 11 a.m.

The third training session begins.

Because the heavy rain during the second practice session delayed many teams from testing various tire compounds, this third practice session was extremely busy.

Monaco's complex circuit has a wealth of crash highlights, most of which occur after Turn 10.

When Wu Shi was doing the warm-up lap, he felt that the adjustment of the steering arm brought a larger cornering angle, but it also made it very easy for the front wheels to lose traction.

The driver's window is getting narrower and narrower.

He thought to himself silently.

(End of this chapter)