F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 240 Braking Zone Lane Change?
As usual, during the pre-race driver parade, reporters boarded their vehicles to conduct their final pre-race interviews.

When asked about his thoughts on the poor starting position, Wu Shi replied in a relaxed manner:
"I pushed the car to its limit, and this is the best result we could achieve."

His relaxed demeanor drew praise from the reporter on the spot:

"Your mindset is excellent; every driver who achieves outstanding results needs this kind of mindset."

“That’s right,” Wu Shi said with a smile.

Verstappen suddenly jumped into the frame, laughing as he said:

"Really? You called me last night describing how fast the Mercedes was that it made you despair."

Seeing Pan Zi undermine him, the reporter immediately smiled and held up the microphone, asking:

"You'll start in ninth place, which puts you in the points zone. Are you confident you can hold onto your position and finish the race?"

Verstappen coughed and said with a smile, "Of course."

"Won't it end up like Monaco and Silverstone?"

This question wasn't asked by a reporter, because it would be too pointed, but by Wu Shi, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines.

"Hey! You can't be so sure if you put it that way. After all, I'm a newbie, and there are bound to be some mistakes I make."

Verstappen was completely frank.

"You two are truly drivers who dare to face your own hearts. It seems you've both made ample preparations for this race."

As the reporter left, Wu Shi punched Verstappen in the shoulder first.

Verstappen retaliated without holding back.

The two were playfully fighting, unaware that the telephoto lens was locked onto them.

“They have a really good relationship.”

"After all, we've been friends and rivals since we were kids, competing in various tournaments together!"

"This is really rare."

"How come you don't see them often anymore? Aren't Lewis and Nico also not often seen?"

I'm referring to the relationship they maintained.

The commentator paused for a moment, then said, "You're talking about driver relationships. I thought you were asking if there are any drivers in the paddock who have been competing since they were kids!"
However, he still said, "Lewis and Nico were quite on good terms before they competed for the championship."

This made the other commentator pause, and after a while, he spoke:

"Perhaps we will see that day?"

The reporter, busy as ever, found Hamilton and asked:

"Lewis, how does it feel to take pole position with such a commanding lead yesterday?"

Lewis, wearing sunglasses, said, "Nothing is certain yet; we still need to see how things go in the main event."

His unusually cautious remarks made many people realize that Mercedes' consecutive defeats had affected the drivers' mentality.

After the parade ended, the drivers returned to the pit lane and gradually became tense.

Jonathan continued to explain to Wu Shi the issues that needed attention regarding racing cars and the racetrack.

Before the game, a ball-catching reaction speed test was conducted to activate the brain.

Once everything was ready, everyone boarded the vehicles one by one to begin the survey.

There were quite a few spectators in the venue carrying German flags; it was unclear whether they were Rosberg fans or Vettel fans.

The bell rang loudly, and the staff retreated to both sides of the road.

Wu Shi looked up and saw a yellow helicopter flying low over the track.

The red light is completely off, and the tire warming process begins.

Wu Shi swayed left and right to warm up the tires, but saw that Kimi behind him was still the same, and the tire warming lap was not moving at all.

As expected of the Ice Man, he has his own unique way of opening the door.

Because he wasn't starting from the front row, Wu Shi's nervousness was greatly reduced.

The vehicles are all in their positions.

After waiting for a while, the departure instruction did not come. The indicator lights ahead were constantly lit with two green lights and flashing with three yellow lights.

Then Jonathan's voice came through the TR:

"Yes, Wu Shi, Massa encountered some problems when he stopped in the starting grid. We need to do a warm-up loop again now."

"This warm-up lap will be counted in the race, which means there are only 69 laps left in the race."

Wu Shi was surprised; this situation was indeed rare.

Everyone then diligently performed the tire warm-up routine once more.

Massa parked very carefully this time, stopping before his tires touched the yellow line.

After the race organizers' inspection, all vehicles were found to be in good condition and will proceed with the start of the race as scheduled.

Green flags waved behind them, and five red lights lit up one after another.

The two drivers in the front row must be incredibly nervous.

As a result, the two Mercedes cars paused the moment the red light went out.

Another major problem at the start!

This time, behind the Mercedes duo were no longer two Williams cars, but a Ferrari and a Red Bull.

Vettel has an exceptional ability to seize opportunities; upon noticing that Hamilton ahead was slowing down, he immediately steered to the left.

A mistake at the start on the straightaway means a huge loss of speed.

Before even reaching the pit lane exit on the straight, Vettel had already completed the run alongside on the left.

Wu Shi also noticed the situation ahead. Because he was in fifth place, he couldn't be in the same position as the previous station.

But he shrewdly followed behind Vettel.

Sure enough, when Hamilton saw Vettel catching up, his first reaction was to try to push Vettel to the left.

But Vettel didn't give an inch, and squeezed back wheel-to-wheel.

Hamilton cannot afford to lose any more points, so he cannot afford to go all out here.

In particular, he noticed the mistake made by his teammate Rosberg on the right.

So he didn't hesitate and immediately veered to the right to block Rosberg, taking advantage of Vettel's pressure.

They successfully thwarted their teammate's attempt to sneak in from the right side.

As a result, half of the track was exposed on his left side.

Vettel naturally took the lead, allowing Wu Shi to take advantage of the position further to the left.

The unpredictable nature of the super-long straightaways drove all the drivers to recklessly upshift and accelerate.

This is a distinctive feature of this track!
Therefore, everyone was traveling at extremely high speeds when approaching Turn 1.

However, Vettel, who already had the advantage, was very relaxed and veered to the left before entering the corner.

The space it leaves is only enough for one car to pass, but to pass, it will inevitably run over the white line on the left side of the track, and if you are not careful, you will also run over the grass and dirt outside the white line.

Driving over white lines, grass, or mud in such a braking zone is like thinking you're going to live a long life.

Therefore, Wu Shi could only slow down to match Vettel's pace.

Vettel turned right into Turn 1.

When the red LaFerrari points towards the apex of the corner, its lane will block the two Mercedes cars on the inside.

Rosberg occupied the innermost position, slowing down even more rapidly, forcing Ricardo to lock him down from behind.

As Vettel reached the apex of the corner, Rosberg squeezed into the innermost lane, gaining some space.

Only Hamilton, sandwiched between the two cars, couldn't pick up speed and went even slower.

Wu Shi seized the opportunity, entered the corner on the outside, and slightly overtook Hamilton, who was blocked.

At this point, the situation in the front row was not completely settled after the end of Turn 1, and the situation remained chaotic in the midst of the battle!

Wu Shi accelerated along Vettel's path.

Rosberg, who was completely forced to the inside line during the hairpin bend, was at a significant disadvantage.

Hamilton, who had no driving space, fared even worse and could only follow Rosberg, making a U-turn from the inside.

Once they entered the straightaway, Vettel, in his superior position, had the best opportunity to accelerate.

In the blink of an eye, the red prancing horse's speed had increased to a level that other vehicles could hardly match.

Vettel kicked him away.

Wu Shi, who also had space, had to react a beat slower because he was following the car.

Therefore, by the time they accelerated, they had already missed their opportunity. Rosberg's acceleration was much more rapid; he pushed the tires to their limits and started accelerating much earlier.

The Mercedes engine roared, and its speed increased rapidly.

Wu Shi was one front wing space behind him when he came out of the corner, and by the time he got to the straight, he was a whole car length behind.

He also gave it his all in accelerating his sprint.

The full-throttle section, which wasn't short, seemed to have no timing at all for these drivers; Turn 2 was right in front of them in the blink of an eye.

Vettel, who was at least a car length ahead, immediately changed lanes from left to right.

He has enough space and time to perform optimal driving both inside and outside the vehicle.

Wu Shi's right side was constrained by Rosberg, and Hamilton, who was right behind Rosberg.

He could only stay on the left side of the track and enter the corner from the inside.

If you go into a U-turn inside, you'll inevitably suffer, just like Rosberg did.

Most importantly, this is Williams' weakest and most unreliable U-turn.

Wu Shi, in order to maintain his lead, greedily increased his speed at the bottom. But where is Hengrolin? Can you just greedily increase your speed whenever you want?

In his haste, Wu Shi made a wrong judgment, which put him in an embarrassing situation.

Heh!

He and two other Mercedes-Benzes experienced tire lock-up one after the other, it seems that everyone was fighting for their lives!

However, he was squeezed into a very awkward line, coupled with the off-center nature of the Williams' vehicle.

He didn't have time to utilize the ideal braking effect of quick and precise tapping of the brakes, so he had to brake hard, lock the tires, and decelerate drastically to achieve a suitable speed for entering the corner.

As he entered the bend, he no longer had the energy to care about anything else.

The excessively high entry speed into the corner puts a lot of pressure on the race car, but the brakes cannot be locked in place, otherwise the car will inevitably understeer.

Under all the restrictions and pressure, Wu Shi's decision not to send Vettel and Rosberg off the track was already a contribution he made to the race.

Tsk tsk tsk! ! !

The rubber rubbed violently against the ground, and the ear-piercing sound started from Wu Shi and spread all the way to Kimi, Ricardo, and Kvyat behind him.

Amidst billowing white smoke, F1 cars sped past.

With Vettel shifting towards the outside, Wu Shi finally had more space to release the vehicle.

But Rosberg floored the accelerator, causing a slight fishtail and the car jerked forward.

When it came time to get out of the corner, Vettel once again surged ahead early.

Wu Shi was blocked by Rosberg's left turn.

Williams was really difficult to control in the corner, and he was already behind Rosberg when he came out of the corner.

Hamilton also squeezed in at the opportune moment.

Swish!

On the short straight, Mercedes accelerated, and Rosberg pulled away.

Hamilton then arrived and took his place, continuing to keep Wu Shi sidelined.

As the right turn approached on the 3rd, Hamilton, like Rosberg, squeezed to the left to gain speed for entering the corner.

While cursing under his breath, Wu Shi slightly moved aside to create space, since he was now behind the front of the car.

With the limited space available for passing other cars, he felt he could at least maintain his competition with Hamilton.

However, after reaching turn 3, the old man's car continued to drift to the left, but the drift was so slight that his hand movements were almost invisible.

Wu Shi now has two choices: either crash into them and get points deducted from his driver's license, or give up slightly and leave himself a chance to fight again.

He immediately chose the latter, because any points were important to him!

But his mistake lay in this choice; he misjudged the situation.

In the blink of an eye, who can process such a complex situation?

He came here from Turn 1, but he didn't have a single spare moment!

When Williams landed on the white line on the left, he realized something was wrong.

Whoosh!

The drastic change in grip caused the entire car to sway, and to remain on the track, it would be impossible to stay in space.

Left with no other choice, Wu Shi could only grit his teeth and reduce the turning radius, screeching as he rushed into the gravel buffer zone.

Cough cough thump thump thump!
The flying stones hitting the race car made Wu Shi feel like he was being stoned.

He tried to control the torque output to avoid getting stuck.

Good luck!

The race car drove out of the buffer zone and onto the track.

Several people have already passed by on the road.

"He changed lanes in the braking zone! How could he do that?! He knows how dangerous that is! F**k! Holy shit!"

Wu Shi angrily cursed in TR.

They underestimated the old man's cunning methods and fell into his trap without realizing it.

After a round of fighting, the situation at the front row changed dramatically.

Vettel came in first place, just like Wu Shi in the previous game, and seized his opportunity.

The entire tifosi crowd was cheering!

Rosberg defended his second place.

Kimi also seized the opportunity when Hamilton squeezed Wu Shi, and moved into the inside of Turn 3 to take third place.

Hamilton finished fourth, a significant loss.

Koviat came in fifth.

Hulkenberg came in sixth.

Ricardo slipped to seventh.

Perez is eighth.

Massa is ninth.

When Wu Shi came out, he was already the tenth.

Verstappen was also affected; he started ninth but ended up thirteenth.

This chaotic brawl at Turn 1 tore the ranking results to shreds.

The process was so complex that the following laps were spent replaying the opening video.

Several cornering perspectives, helicopter perspective, and first-person perspectives of the front-row drivers.
Only by combining all the footage can the audience clearly see what actually happened when the match started.

"What's wrong with Hamilton and Rosberg? They were slow to start at the last station, and they're slow to start at this station too! Look, they're obviously much slower!"

"I saw the helicopter's view of the departure and said..."

“Yes, Vettel immediately went around to the left, and Kimi went to the right, but unfortunately the distance wasn’t enough.” Fei Ge nodded.

"Turn 1, it's completely locked up here!"

"Wu Shi was still in third place at this time, and Kimi had already caught up behind him."

"Look! Williams is incredibly slow when cornering. If Kimi hadn't been blocked, he probably would have overtaken him too."

"Hamilton is also faster on the outside than Williams, and he almost caught up when he came out of the corner."

"Wu Shi's advantage has completely disappeared before Turn 3."

"His driving line was terrible; he was stuck on the left."

"Didn't you notice that everyone in front of him was prioritizing stopping him?" Fei asked.

"Of course, he's leading the standings, who else would everyone be watching if not him?"

The soldier hit the nail on the head.

This is the biggest problem when trying to win a championship while driving a non-Mars rover.

You're not a Mars rover; if you can't create enough distance, everyone will be targeting you.

Especially now that the other three drivers in the top four are not far behind.

　There will be another chapter later, to make up for yesterday's.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)