F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 221 Joint Statement
An exclusive interview on the podium is a privilege reserved for the victors.

Wu Shi and Hamilton withdrew from the competition early, so they naturally missed this opportunity; both of them were interviewed in the interview area.

"Hey Wu Shi, today's race was very unfortunate. You had a chance to overtake at Turn 1, but you collided with Lewis at the end. What do you have to say about this incident?"

"Lewis was probably too nervous today, and he understeered at Turn 1."

Wu Shi first made a casual remark as a joke, then said it seriously:

"This is a normal track accident. The competition was too intense, which caused the vehicle to deform and ultimately led to the tragedy."

“I don’t think it has much of an impact on me; every driver will encounter accidents.”

The reporter nodded and followed up with:
"Lewis's mistake was indeed unexpected. Do you think it was a deliberate result? Your current lead in the standings has forced him to do so."

Wu Shi looked at the reporter in surprise. "You dare ask this? Don't you want to make news in the hunting grounds anymore?"
He took a sip of water and said, "I have a very good relationship with Lewis. He is my senior and came to check on me as soon as the accident happened."

You ask yours, I tell you mine.

As expected, the reporter still wanted to mingle in the paddock; he only asked a probing question and didn't delve any deeper, instead showing interest in the upcoming matches.

“Nico Rosberg won the game today and will gain 25 points, closing in on you. Do you think you can defend your lead in the standings in the upcoming games?”

Wu Shi squinted and saw Hamilton walking over from the other side, and said:
“I remember Rosberg should have 78 points, and after this race his total points will reach 103. Lewis should be more worried about this than me, because he only has 102 points.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hamilton, who had approached, interrupted, saying, "Hey, I could hear you talking about me from a mile away."

“Yes, they asked me if I was worried about being overtaken on the leaderboard. I told them that you should be more worried than I am,” Wu Shi said with a smile.

Hamilton laughed after hearing this, appearing very relaxed.

The reporters, observing the atmosphere between the two individuals, leaned towards the conclusion that the incident was a normal track accident.

"The rest is up to you." Wu Shi gave the old man a fist bump and left the interview area.

The old man, facing the media, put away his smile and gave a serious interview.

The questions the reporters wanted to ask him were nothing more than his views on the accident and the standings.

The old man lowered his head and thought for a moment before answering the questions briefly:

"This was a track accident. I apologize for my mistake. I ruined my own race and Wu Shi's race, which caused us to be quickly overtaken in the standings."

"However, such accidents are inevitable in the process of competition, and I don't think it's a big deal."

"As for the points standings, Rosberg has already surpassed me, but obviously, he can only get a lot of points when Wu Shi and I are not on the field."

Hamilton's words were very aggressive, clearly showing his great dissatisfaction with Rosberg, because Vettel had already surpassed him in points, but he did not criticize Vettel.

As Wu Shi mentioned earlier, this withdrawal had a greater impact on Hamilton.

With the top four teams now neck and neck in total points, the predictions that Mercedes would easily win the drivers' championship have split among the experts.

Another group of people started supporting Wu Shi and Vettel to win the world championship.

Both sides have great passion for supporting either of them, with one being the youngest rookie in F1 history and the other being a four-time champion heading to Ferrari.

Either of these two winning the championship would generate far more buzz and significance than Hamilton winning.

The reporter, aware of the current standings, continued by asking:
"At this point, Sebastian Vettel has also overtaken you. Do you feel a sense of crisis? How should you face the upcoming matches?"

Hamilton laughed when faced with the question. Regardless of his inner thoughts, he had learned to remain calm in front of the media.

He said in a calm tone, "My points have been temporarily surpassed, but I'm not worried."

"This year's race car is very competitive. At the time, I thought the only threat was Rosberg, but later I saw Wu Shi as a threat."

"But now, I think the biggest threat is Wu Shi, who always manages to create miracles."

“I admire his qualifying perspective, and some of his maneuvers are hard for me to understand. I don’t know why he can drive the car like that.”

"The only thing that amazes me is his driving style. If he can get pole position again in Williams, I don't think it would be surprising."

The reporter looked at Hamilton with some surprise. How did he end up praising Wu Shi while talking about Vettel?
Moreover, this praise was truly astonishing.

The reporter nodded and asked no further questions.

In a subsequent interview, when asked about another two-time world champion, Alonso, Alonso made no secret of his admiration for Wu Shi, stating frankly:

"He is capable of creating miracles in the paddock."

Despite retiring from the race on the first lap, Wu Shi left a deep impression on everyone in the paddock. In interviews, whenever Wu Shi's accident was mentioned, most drivers' first reaction was to praise him.

The reporter then interviewed Verstappen, whose opinion on the matter differed from that of the other drivers.

Pan Zi's youthful face looked somewhat naive, but his words were full of barbs:
"Wu Shi and I have been competing since we were young. He has given me a lot of inspiration. If nothing unexpected had happened in today's match, he would have had a high probability of disrupting the front line and winning the game."

"This was not an accident. I watched the replay, and I really don't think so."

This time it was the reporters' turn to be surprised. Rookie driver Verstappen criticized the race's rulings and offended Hamilton in the process, killing two birds with one stone.

A reporter still needs to operate within the paddock. He can guide drivers to reveal information, but he can't be too aggressive. After all, Pan Zi doesn't come from an ordinary family, and in the end, it's probably this reporter with no connections who will suffer.

Therefore, he immediately changed the subject, saying, "The FIA ​​has already ruled on this, and both drivers involved in the accident have stated that it was an accident."

"Yeah."

Pan Zi did not continue to argue for his point of view. He simply expressed his opinion, and what did it matter to him what others thought?

After completing their interviews with the drivers, the reporters turned their attention to the team leader.

Toto stated that it was just a normal accident, expressed confidence in the accuracy of the FIA's ruling, and praised Wu Shi's skills.

Sir Williams was unwell and did not give an interview. Claire gave the interview instead, and her statement was consistent with Toto's, expressing trust in the FIA.

Clearly, both sides share the same idea: not imposing a penalty is an acceptable outcome.

As with previous matches, there weren't many highlights in the match itself, but there was a lot of discussion afterward.

This is simply a method of F1 operation, and as long as the community is enthusiastic, it is also beneficial to the commercial development of F1.

First, the Italian media sided with Wu Shi and attacked Hamilton, publishing a report titled "The Golden Right Front's Halberd Sinks into the Sand."

This sparked collective dissatisfaction from the British media, who began to criticize Wu Shi for driving like a novice driver and causing the accident.

With media from both countries getting involved, it naturally sparked a heated debate among car enthusiasts on social media.

Many who sided with Wu Shi directly criticized the old man:

"It used to be the golden left forward, now it's the golden right forward! Lewis's methods are dirty!"

"If you can't win on the track, you crash. Isn't that what Lewis always does?"

"Wu Shi is the most pitiful. He was driving carefully, leaving enough space, and he was still knocked off the podium." "Just wait, Hamilton will only get third place this year! First place is Wu Shi! Second is Vettel!"

These venting and accusations came from various directions, and it was only 2015, so car enthusiasts still had a clear memory of the old man's methods.

"The FIA's ruling is completely unfair! It was clearly Wu Shi who knocked Hamilton out from behind! He should be disqualified from all points for the year!"

"A yellow-skinned monkey has come to F1? Without a lot of money backing him, he's nothing!"

"Wu Shi is just a fool driving a specially tuned car. Without the FW37 that Mercedes specially built for him, he would be a bottom-of-the-barrel driver."

The various attacks against Wu Shi are even more disgusting, including accusations of racial discrimination and being a paid driver; trolls can always find an angle to attack him.

The chaos on foreign social media was immediately relayed back to China, sparking outrage among many netizens.

In 2015, the international situation was already leaning towards instability, and Chinese netizens, who were already holding back their anger, immediately began to take action!

As a large number of IP addresses kept jumping around and flooding foreign social media, the old man was bombarded with insults.

You discriminate against Wu Shi because he's a yellow-skinned monkey?
Then let's say the old man is silent, and that no one should accuse anyone of racial discrimination.

This level of verbal sparring even affected Wu Shi himself. Sometimes, when he was walking peacefully on the streets of England, people would come up to him and ask if he was Wu Shi.

This made Wu Shi feel uneasy. Damn it, this is a place where it is legal to carry guns. If he encounters an idiot and gets shot, who can he complain to?

He immediately contacted Sid and issued a statement on the official account he was operating, reiterating his view on the incident as an accident.

Privately, he also contacted Hamilton, wondering why these fans had become so extreme. It didn't seem that bad.

He got straight to the point: "I've recently seen some erroneous comments online! I apologize for their remarks."

The old man and Wu Shi's relationship had never deteriorated; after all, they weren't on the same team, and their relationship had been good before. As for the accident in Canada, everyone knows their own situation.

He immediately stated, "This is not your problem; it's the spontaneous behavior of passionate car enthusiasts. I also apologize for the situation on my end."

With both of them in agreement, the matter was easily resolved. Wu Shi suggested, "Why don't we issue a joint statement together?"

The old man readily accepted: "Of course, I have the same idea. We shouldn't let car enthusiasts attack each other; we should find a more harmonious way to get along."

After the agreement was made, the matter was reported to the team. Claire's opinion was also very clear: it was necessary to avoid any negative impact.

Mercedes also sent word that they agreed to issue a joint statement.

So, amidst the tight schedule, Wu Shi and the old man took some time to complete an interview-style statement together in the filming room.

The host, off-camera, is responsible for posing topics:
There has been a lot of discussion online about your car accident recently. What are your thoughts on this?

Wu Shi smiled and gestured for the senior to answer.

Hamilton smiled, then spoke:
"The FIA ​​has already determined that neither party will accept further investigation. I think this matter is over. There will always be some mistakes on the track that lead to accidents."

Wu Shi chimed in, "That's just how it is, an accident. There's no need to blame anyone."

“Yep, that’s it.” Hamilton shrugged.

The two looked at each other and realized they had nothing more to say, so they both laughed.

Then Wu Shi said, "Hahaaaa, yeah, nothing, it's all in the past. It was just an ordinary accident, we didn't take it to heart."

Hamilton chimed in, "YES! So there's no need for anyone to argue about this. We're good friends, and we've had this friendly relationship since he was a child."

The two's casual joint statement was indeed more effective than a formal statement. It was not extreme, and the fans who had been swayed by the rumors immediately came to their senses.

However, many people online are not fans of either side; they are just stirring up trouble and causing chaos. They do not want to see the two reconcile.

Fortunately, there are many normal people on the internet now, and the incident of Wu Shi's confrontation with Hamilton was thus forgotten.

Ye Ningning attends a boarding school and only gets to go home once every two weeks, a rare opportunity.

She has been in great distress lately due to her studies, and has fallen behind in several exams. Her father is too busy to know about this, but she already feels guilty about it.

So, as usual, when I got home, I climbed over the wall to go see my idol, who was always invincible and full of ambition.

As soon as I stepped outside, I was fed shit.

Fortunately, she wasn't the type of person who was easily swayed by others. In her memory, Wu Shi had always been a gentle person who couldn't possibly cause such a big upheaval.

So she quickly found the joint statement by Wu Shi and Hamilton, breathed a sigh of relief, listened to it several times, and finally completed the basic translation.

So she started collecting information and saw the recent situation.

They're still leading the standings!

'This blogger writes very professionally. Was Hamilton's lock-up intentional? Was Wu Shi's failure to ease off the accelerator also intentional?'

'Oh dear! Wu Shi and Hamilton's explanation of it being an accident doesn't seem to hold water.'

She became completely engrossed in these gossips, and after a long time, she came across a photo of Wu Shi exchanging cheek kisses with the Princess of Monaco.

"It's not that open-minded in China," she said, her expression changing instantly.

'Hmph! That's something his official girlfriend should worry about! Why should I worry about it?'

Ye Ningning was displeased, but quickly moved on from the matter.

However, she didn't know that Louise was completely unmoved by the cheek-touching greeting; cultural differences led to completely different attitudes between the two.

After understanding the whole story, Ye Ningning decided to make a video to clarify the matter.

At the same time, he went to Tieba (a Chinese online forum) and applied for an F1 Wu Shi Tieba account, intending to guide the situation in a positive direction.

At Mercedes headquarters, Toto convened another internal team meeting because the two drivers were now very close in points, and he feared that the situation in Spain would repeat itself, which would ruin Mercedes.

There absolutely cannot be any more accidents. He repeatedly emphasized that everything should be based on the team's interests, and that both Rosberg and Hamilton must obey the team's instructions!
He even directly hinted that if more trouble were to arise, it would directly affect the subsequent driver contracts.

Even though both players' contracts are for two years and will expire at the end of 2016, Mercedes still retains control.

Toto's tough stance has sparked some dissent within the Mercedes board, but given Mercedes' current situation, these voices have no influence on Toto's decisions.

If another chaotic power struggle erupts, Mercedes may truly be unable to guarantee the drivers' and teams' championships, something the board of directors cannot accept.

This meeting soon and inexplicably appeared in the hunting grounds, with the news headline:

Mercedes is internally disciplining its two drivers, and if another accident occurs, they may be replaced next year.

Upon seeing this, Wu Shi immediately perked up. If they can't just run people over anymore, does that mean I can just launch torpedoes at will?
It's important to know that the current regulations on tangent lines are quite lenient, and if torpedoes are controlled properly, the profits can be very substantial.

Don't ask him why he had this idea. It was Panzi who told him after studying the rules. Yes, it was Panzi who corrupted him.

In fact, excellent champion drivers must also have a deep understanding of the rules on the track; otherwise, they will be hesitant to overtake others.
(End of this chapter)