F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 223 What are you hiding?
At Williams headquarters, the fourth meeting regarding the Austrian Grand Prix has concluded, and the final setup has essentially been finalized.

The Red Bull Ring is a very high-speed track with a significant elevation change of over 60 meters, which puts the car's suspension to a severe test.

This track looks simple, but it's actually very difficult to run.

The in-vehicle footage from previous years (referring to 2014) all demonstrates that the key to this track lies in the details—

Making perfect use of the track width is especially important.

Furthermore, the Austrian circuit's Turns 4-8 have frequently changing track regulations, making it a significant challenge to drive the car well according to these annual changes.

At the same time, because the track has few curves, and except for Turn 3, almost all of them are high-speed curves, it puts even greater demands on the drivers' precision.

As we all know, the faster you go, the harder it is to get the target right.

After the collision at the previous station, Wu Shi's vehicle was repaired and a new power unit was installed, as it would not be penalized under the four restriction rules.

"The weather for qualifying and the race is somewhat uncertain."

Back in Europe, the weather became an unpredictable factor, causing Jonathan some concern.

“This will indeed make the strategy more difficult,” Wu Shi said.

The complexity of strategic decision-making is beyond the imagination of outsiders; it's like asking someone with decision-making difficulties to choose the best one from dozens of similar options.

Sometimes, what supports a decision is not absolute data, but luck within probability.

Wu Shi also disliked this kind of thing, since he didn't remember the specific details of each game.

For example, he had no recollection of the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.

Jonathan patted Wu Shi on the shoulder and said, "Leave the rest to us, just focus on running the race well."

"Ah."

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, just run normally."

"Ah."

In the following days, the team arranged for Massa to explain the key points of the Red Bull Ring to Wu Shi.

This course demands a lot of experience, yet it's always new and exciting to run, something Massa is quite familiar with.

After this track returned to the calendar last year, both Mercedes drivers were surprisingly eliminated, and pole position fell to him.

Friday, June 19th, the practice match begins.

Because it rained on Thursday and it was cloudy, the track was very slippery.

After driving a few laps, Wu Shi felt that racing was significantly more comfortable than in Monaco.

After he reported some minor issues, Jonathan told him that Massa's feedback was also that the overall condition of the car was good.

As for why it's good, it's unclear whether it's because the car's development is back on track or because the FW37 is inherently better suited to this track.

Mercedes still leads in lap times on this track, but after just two attempts, Wu Shi found that FW37 seemed to be almost on par with them.

However, practice matches are not qualifying matches, so he didn't hesitate to hide his crotch and didn't dare to run too far ahead.

Yi Lian finished fourth with a time of 1 minute 11.3 seconds, slightly slower than Kimi.

In the afternoon, the second training session began quickly, and Wu Shi felt more and more that the car was in its element here.

Then he saw Massa nearly collide with Ferrari's team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, as he returned.

The newly replaced power unit and gearbox of car number 59 are also very well integrated.

McLaren, however, was not so lucky. The transmission of the A-class engine broke down again, and after it was repaired, there was almost no time left for testing.

Vettel also encountered gearbox problems.

After the first two practice sessions, Wu Shi privately met with Jonathan and together they studied the practice performances of the two Mercedes drivers.

"You mean you feel you have a very good chance of pole position here?" Jonathan asked, somewhat incredulously.

It's worth noting that Wu Shi would never speak so confidently about pole position in any race.

"Has the gap between us and Mercedes narrowed?" Jonathan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Wu Shi shook his head and said, "For high-speed tracks, the most important thing is power output. In this respect, we can say that we are almost the same as Mercedes-Benz, if not the same." As he spoke, he brought up the complete track map.

This track has a total of 10 turns, of which turn number 2 is practically negligible.

If this counts as being gay, then Monaco is all gay.

Because there are few curves, all the details can be shown in the photos.

“Our top speed on the straights is almost the same as Mercedes’, but in the corners, it’s very difficult to create a gap,” Wu Shi continued.

Jonathan nodded. The simpler the track, the harder it is to create a gap.

How confident are you?

"It's fifty-fifty," Wu Shi said.

Jonathan looked surprised again. He thought Wu Shi had come to him about this because he was confident that the outcome would be a 50/50 chance.

But then I thought about it again, and I realized that Wu Wukai is already very strong!
Even Massa, who is very skilled at this track, wouldn't dare say he has any ambition to take pole position.

Wu Shi's previous behavior spoiled them.

After the conversation, Jonathan did not pass on the confidence that Wu Shi had mentioned to him.

If Mercedes finds out, it's hard to say whether they'll change their qualifying setup to secure pole position.

As long as Mercedes believes Williams is weak, they can still survive.

The following morning, as the third training session began, the weather forecast brought bad news: it was going to rain.

This news makes the first half of the practice matches especially important.

Midway through the practice session, a shower began, making the track slippery.

Without hesitation, Wu Shi went to the station, changed into partial rain tires, and went out to try it out.

The Red Bull Ring's ups and downs, combined with the slippery, rainy road surface, made driving even more difficult.

Not long into the second half, drivers like Sainz and Hulkenberg slipped and nearly triggered a yellow flag.

Verstappen, on the other hand, was like a fish in water in the rain, even faster than Kimi, which drew a lot of attention.

However, Wu Shi's lap time was not very fast, which led many people to make the wrong judgment. Perhaps Wu Shi is not good at racing in the rain?
This speculation didn't last long before it faded away; it wasn't Wu Shi who achieved the result.

Instead, when reporters posed this question to the team leader or some of the drivers, they simply smiled and remained silent.

After three practice matches, Wu Shi's performance was average, while Massa's performance was more outstanding.

“Wu Shi, we noticed that this is one of the few times you've fallen behind your teammates in practice. Is it because you're not good at this track?”

In a post-match interview, a reporter asked...

Wu Shi glanced around before speaking:
"This track isn't particularly difficult, but I feel that improving speed isn't just about mastering every corner; there must be techniques I haven't yet mastered."

The reporters understood the unspoken meaning: it meant something they weren't good at; it was a euphemistic way of putting it.

Then, in an interview with Verstappen, this question was asked. Verstappen shrugged and said:
“He can say whatever he wants now, and I do think there are some skills involved.”

After the interview, Verstappen put his arm around Wu Shi's shoulder and asked, "What are you hiding?"

"Huh? No?" Wu Shi was taken aback.

"Hehe, I know you're definitely plotting something. Is it pole position? Is it going to rain this afternoon? Or is your car really that good? Massa's results are much better than Monaco's."

Verstappen continued speaking, pressing Wu Shi for an answer.

"It's probably going to rain," Wu Shi said.

Panzi looked up at the sky and said, "Of course, you're going to replicate the Malaysian Grand Prix."

Verstappen's eyes revealed envy; he prided himself on having enough talent in driving, yet he always seemed to fall a step behind.

With the competition between Red Bull and Red Bull this year, he longs for a better race car to compete with Wu Shi.

(End of this chapter)