F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 241 The entire wing of the nose fell off
By the time all the replays finished, the race had progressed to the fifth lap.

At this point, the director suddenly interrupted the broadcast with a short clip of Williams' team performance.

Jonathan: "How's the vehicle?"

Wu Shi: "The front wing endplate was hit by gravel, and the air intake... well, no major problems."

Wu Shi's explanation was unclear, and the others were unaware of the condition of the vehicle.

However, the telephoto lens quickly focused on number 59 Williams, and the front wing did indeed appear to be normal.

"If the vehicle drives into the gravel area like this, it will most likely be affected," the soldier said with some concern.

“I think so too, otherwise the team wouldn’t have asked Wu Shi.” Fei Ge nodded.

While the two were worried about Wu Shi, the traffic on the track had already stabilized.

Those that needed to be cleared have been cleared, and those that needed to be engaged have been closed in several times using DRS.

Once the sixth lap straight was over, Wu Shi was already close behind Massa.

It has the capability to surpass the difference in seconds.

Wu Shi TR: "I'm much faster than him, he should let me pass, I need to conserve as much tires as possible."

Williams received the radio call and fell into a brief silence.

The commentator also said:
"Wu Shi's request is quite reasonable, both in terms of the points standings and the speed advantage on the track."

"However, the team may be worried about the damage to Wu Shi's vehicle."

Everyone thought it was reasonable, and Jonathan briefly took off his headphones and looked at Claire behind him.

"Massa has a 5-second penalty due to the starting situation, so stopping Wu Shi would be pointless for him."

Jonathan said he knew that only Claire, the deputy team leader, could get the strategy team to issue this order.

Claire hesitated for a moment, then immediately spoke to the strategy team:

"Let Dave tell Massa to move aside; we need to make sure Wu Shi gets more points."

Jonathan was delighted. Excellent!

But when he turned back to look at the screen, his breath caught in his throat.

Wu Shi has already started attacking Massa!

This guy braked incredibly hard at Turn 1; it's hard to believe how he managed to stop at that speed.

However, the white smoke from the tires rubbing against the ground also indicated that his judgment was not entirely accurate.

Wu Shi then slipped in from the inside.

Massa left this opening not because he didn't block, but because the inside of the "U" bend was easily overtaken by the crossover.

As expected, Wu Shi, who was in the lead as he entered the corner, was immediately overtaken by Massa, who had the advantage as he exited the corner.

However, the next short stretch of road at full throttle has a DRS (Driving Responsibility System) zone.

Massa was already in the right lane after exiting the corner, while Turn 2 was a left-hand "U" turn.

After activating DRS, Wu Shi immediately leveled the car body with the Maserati.

Once the car body was level, he began his most proficient technique: squeezing.

The compression between tiny particles appears to cause no change.

But for the driver sitting in the car, it felt like a massive, sweeping collision, with an overwhelming force.

If you're not a top driver, you'll be forced into erratic maneuvers immediately when faced with this situation.

Especially since the braking zone is approaching very quickly, the braking point and the entry point into the corner are all issues that need to be addressed!
Wu Shi relentlessly pressed Massa towards the right sideline.

He knows Williams better than Massa does.

He lost a lot of position at Turn 3 on the starting lap because he was squeezed into the inside lane.

At this moment, Massa was pushed to the outside, but had the same effect.

The best route for Williams to take this corner is the center line.

This track angle is best suited to the performance release and stability of the FW37.

Swish!
In Turn 2, Wu Shi completed the control at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When exiting the corner, it even pulled away by a car length.

The next bend, number three, still had a lot of gravel he had kicked up on the road.

Swoosh!

Wu Shi overtook and moved into ninth place before the Williams team's TR was called out.

"Zizzizi~"

Massa TR: "What are you trying to say? Stop just pressing the mic and not saying anything! The static is unpleasant!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The director, who understood the importance of live streaming, released Massa's TR (transaction).

Williams' little theater performance brought a slight smile to everyone's face, and then the camera moved forward.

Vettel set the fastest lap again on lap 5, with a time of 1 minute 28.067 seconds.

This speed was clearly achieved while conserving tires.

At this point, Rosberg was 4.4 seconds behind Vettel.

Kimi was 1.19 seconds behind Rosberg.

Hamilton followed closely behind Kimi, 1.36 seconds behind.

This is currently the focus of everyone's attention.

Vettel's lead is unassailable, but the positions from 2nd to 4th are all subject to change.

Just like the little train that came on stage, the three of them were locked in a stalemate.

Hamilton was pleased to see Kimi attack Rosberg.

Rosberg prayed that Kimi wouldn't attack him.

Kimi held the initiative, but it was unclear what she was thinking, since the Ice Man wasn't one to readily express her intentions.

Following the top four was Hulkenberg, who also found a wallet.

However, the fact that he was able to find the wallet also proves his stability and ability in starting the car.

However, his position was somewhat dangerous at this moment, with Red Bull's Kvyat just one second behind him.

Fortunately, the race was always closely linked, with Ricciardo behind Kvyat, and the difference between them was only 0.4 seconds.

This is another trio in conflict.

Perez is in eighth place, with a time difference of 16.972 seconds from Vettel.

Wu Shi, who had just overtaken Massa to move into ninth place, was 18.312 seconds behind Vettel.

It is expected that after one more lap, they will be able to launch an attack on Perez using DRS.

At this point, Red Bull TR told Kvyat not to block each other.

Later, the Red Bull driver, who was a bit slow, actually let Ricciardo pass.

On lap 7, Wu Shi entered Perez's DRS zone, but he was not optimistic.

Because the yellow tires were worn out quite a bit, if he continued his aggressive attack, he would probably have to go to the pits very soon.

He immediately changed his strategy, no longer blindly driving, but instead preparing to slowly whittle down Perez's health using DRS.

He had been conservative enough, but when he faced Perez, he found it was still difficult to surpass him!

Damn it!
Master Pei, please don't use "Hamilton's Theory of Defense" on me!
Wu Shi internally complained, realizing the difficulty of overtaking on this track.

Massa will most likely let him go at Turn 2.

This left him with mixed feelings.

However, after three laps, he still managed to defeat Perez.

The performance gap between the vehicles still exists.

They rose to 8th place.

"Wu Shi is already in eighth place, but he's 27 seconds behind Vettel. Vettel is running very smoothly ahead of him," Bing Ge commented.

"If Wu Shi wants to catch up, he must surpass him as soon as possible."

"Yes, we can see that he was also very anxious, and he didn't choose the right time several times when he tried to overtake Perez."

"It's really urgent. With the slower cars blocking his way, he'll lose more than two seconds per lap."

On lap 12, Wu Shi had closed in on Kvyat and was ready to launch an attack at any moment.

"Watch your tires, are they overheating?" Jonathan's voice suddenly reminded him.

Wu Shi certainly knew that his four feet were very hot.

If you don't go beyond the vehicles blocking your way, the tires will cool down, but that doesn't meet his expectations.

In particular, he sensed that Kvyat wasn't particularly fast, and that his speed differed from that of Riccardo.

No wonder Kvyat, who was originally in the lead, was told by the team not to obstruct his teammate.

According to Jonathan, at this point, Kvyat was ahead of Hulkenberg, and Ricardo was second only to Hamilton, ranking fifth.

In other words, Ricardo got past Hulkenberg, while Kvyat was blocked.

Something is clearly wrong.

The two DRS sections at the Hungaroring circuit are quite unique; there is one testing point, but there are two DRS sections.

If the DRS on the long straight can pull away by relying on vehicle performance, then the DRS after Turn 1 can create distance.

However, the problem with long straight roads is that it is often difficult for vehicles to overtake completely.

Attacking from the inside at a "U" bend makes it easy for the opponent to overtake you on the crossover.

The DRS was too short to close the gap and launch another attack.

Once you leave these two sections of DRS, it becomes extremely difficult to overtake in the remaining areas.

This is why people always say this track resembles Monaco.

Like Perez, Wu Shi was dragged around for three full laps before finally managing to overtake Kvyat on the straight.

After getting past this one, you'll be facing Hulkenberg, with a difference of just over two seconds between you.

This is the consequence of being blocked by a slow train.

Wu Shi used those two seconds to dissipate heat.

In fact, he wasn't planning to continue the attack; he was pushing the tires to their limits and estimated that he would need to pit for a tire change in a lap or two.

But we can maintain this pace for a while longer.

Overtaking on the track wears out the tires too much, so he wants to overtake tactically.

After all, everyone will definitely switch to stiffer white tires, so the lap time shouldn't improve too quickly.

Wu Shi maintained his own rhythm.

"Kvyat has arrived at the station."

"Next lap," Jonathan said.

What lap are we on now?

Lap 13!

"What kind of tires did you put on?" Wu Shi asked.

“White tire, tire change time 2.6 seconds,” Jonathan said immediately.

"Do we need to go into the station?" Wu Shi asked.

“Your lap times are pretty good, you don’t need to do anything for now. I suggest you stay on the track,” Jonathan said.

"Copy".

The team's idea was probably similar to his, so Wu Shi had no more concerns and continued to slowly catch up.

Kvyatla kicked off the pit stop wave, with Massa, Verstappen, Button, Grosjean, and Nasr all pitting on lap 14.

On lap 15, Hulkenberg, Sainz, and Alonso all pitted.

The area in front of Wu Shi then opened up, which was probably another consideration for the caravan.

They predicted that Hulkenberg would also be among the first to arrive at the station.

“You have clean space now. Squeeze the tires. I’ll let you know before you need to go into the pit,” Jonathan said.

The drivers ahead of him at this moment were Vettel, Rosberg, Kimi, Hamilton, and Ricciardo.

Wu Shi has climbed back to 6th place from 10th.

On lap 16, Perez and Eriksen pitted.

"Wu Shi, how are the tires? The lap times on the white tires aren't any faster than yours," Jonathan's voice rang out. "Are the white tires really that bad?" Wu Shi asked.

"No, it's chaotic back there."

"Then you should tell me what I need to do now? How fast do I need to run? Or are we preparing to enter the station?"

“OK, now you need to keep improving your lap times until this tire wears out,” Jonathan said.

If other drivers heard this instruction, they might mistakenly think it meant "drivers should try to do as many laps as possible."

In Wu Shi's ears, this phrase meant exactly what it said: push with all your might, and if your lap time drops, immediately pit.

Wu Shi was still 3 seconds away from Ricardo, so there was plenty of space ahead of him.

He immediately improved his lap time, which was originally only 1 minute and 28 seconds, and started moving towards the top of the 1 minute and 28 second mark.

He even broke the 1 minute 27 second mark in two consecutive laps, quickly closing the 3-second gap with Ricciardo.

On lap 18, a small part on the right side of Kimi's nose wing fell off.

Although this small armrest also has a pneumatic design, it is clear that the time lost in replacing the nose cone cannot be compensated by this small part.

Kimi will most likely not change her nose cone when she enters the station.

On the same lap, Bottas and Perez had an accident while battling for position at Turn 1.

Perez was knocked into the buffer zone, and the side skirt was damaged.

When he returned to the track, he had fallen directly from the points zone to 15th place.

On lap 19, Wu Shi knew that the tires were almost worn out and on the verge of a precipitous decline.

Furthermore, Red Bull's pace in this race is quite fast, making it virtually impossible for the old yellow tires to beat their opponents on the track.

Without much hesitation, he pressed the stop button on the steering wheel.

The convoy began preparations immediately upon receiving the instructions.

A set of white tires was prepared.

Yellow, white, yellow – this is the strategy Williams has prepared.

Wu Shi arrived at the station earlier than the five cars in the first group, and he didn't need to use yellow tires to secure his position, so he didn't adopt the yellow-yellow-white strategy.

At the end of lap 19, Wu Shi turned into the maintenance area.

The pit stop time at the Hungaroring circuit is generally around 22.5 seconds.

Williams' mechanics team, after 21 days of training, showed little improvement in their tire-changing skills.

The tricks to this are not something that can be explained away by mere practice.

Click~
Tire change in 3.1 seconds.

"Williams really wants to win the championship, he needs to learn from the big teams when it comes to changing tires."

When the soldier saw this data, he couldn't help but comment.

In fact, this is another weakness of the Westbrook team.

Previously, the mechanic's speed was so fast that it could change tires in the 2s, but after that, no matter how he changed tires, it would take about 3 seconds.

Wu Shi's team was pretty good; Massa's team often changed tires in 3.5 seconds.

Correspondingly, whether it's Mercedes or Ferrari, the tire change time is generally around 2.5 seconds.

These fractions of a second can sometimes mean a life-or-death struggle on the track.

Wu Shi came out more than 6 seconds ahead of Hulkenberg.

He was 23 seconds behind Ricciardo and 47 seconds behind Vettel.

As soon as Wu Shi entered the pit lane, Mercedes and Ferrari track engineers simultaneously informed the driver of the news.

Clearly, Wu Shi is now a key focus for both teams in every race.

His every move and word will be closely watched.

Soon, at the end of lap 20, Hamilton pitted and changed to yellow tires.

4.1 seconds!
The soldier blinked twice but didn't say anything more.

Fei said, "There's a slight issue with the tire-changing speed, but it won't have a major impact."

Hamilton came out, still ahead of Wu Shi, with a 15-second difference between them.

In this situation, it has become difficult for Wu Shi to continue to catch up.

On lap 21, the front row started to flock into the pits.

Vettel, Rosberg, and Ricciardo all entered the pits.

Because Vettel was leading by such a large margin, there wasn't much to see in the pit lane.

His tire-changing speed was also more than 3 seconds, which made the soldier even more puzzled. How come the tire-changing speed took so long?
Fei Ge laughed and said:
"I think you should say a few more words, so that their tire-changing speed won't be faster than Wu Shi's, hahaha!"

Vettel naturally switched to yellow tires.

Rosberg changed the tire in 2.8 seconds, and Phineas's smile vanished.

The soldier commented: "This has returned to the level of a large convoy."

Rosberg naturally switched to yellow tires in order to hold onto second place.

Ricardo changed tires in 2.7 seconds, which was even faster, and he even changed into a white tire!

However, after he came out, he was 2 seconds behind Wu Shi.

"How dare Red Bull let Wu Shi run two laps outside?" the soldier exclaimed in amazement.

"Maybe Red Bull didn't realize Wu Shi was there; they were looking at the Mercedes and Ferrari," Fei Ge joked.

On lap 22, Kimi changed the tires, but as expected, he didn't change the front wing.

It took 3.2 seconds, and the tire they put on was also white!
"Hiss," the soldier rubbed his cheek. "Most of the large convoys stop more than 3 seconds away."

Is it because the Hungaroring circuit has some kind of debuff?

All those in the front row have now entered the station.

Vettel was 11 seconds ahead of Rosberg;
Leading Kimi by 13.7 seconds;
Leading Hamilton by 15.6 seconds;
Leading Wu Shi by 27 seconds;
Leading Ricciardo by 30 seconds;
Leading Hulkenberg by 36 seconds;
Leading Kvyat by 39 seconds;
Leading Verstappen by 44 seconds;
Leading Alonso by 48 seconds.

Verstappen and Alonso pitted on laps 14 and 15 respectively.

He was among the first drivers to pit, and thanks to his newer tires, he closed the gap considerably.

On lap 24, Grosjean was penalized 5 seconds after being reviewed by the race officials for an unsafe release during his pit stop.

Vettel quickly set a new fastest lap time of 1 minute 26.877 seconds.

Wu Shi's lap time doesn't reach that level; it's usually around 27 or 28 seconds.

Just as Jonathan said before, the initial lap speed of the new white tires is almost the same as that of the old yellow tires.

Dave TR: "You need to keep running like you did in Friday's practice."

Massa TR: "But this car is completely different from the one back then! I don't even know what I'm driving now."

Jonathan: "."

“Oh, it seems Williams’ vehicle really has a problem at this station. Is it due to a problem with the tuning, or is there something else?” David asked, somewhat surprised.

The outside world largely attributes Williams' diminished competitiveness at this race to Wu Shi's unfamiliarity with the track.

This is so strange, since everyone already thought that Wu Shi + Williams were equivalent to the first and second rows.

Such recognition can also be a source of pressure.

After all, regardless of the characteristics of different tracks, people just assume that you can rank among the top few.

By lap 25, blue flags could already be seen waving on the track.

However, in the blink of an eye, Massa dropped to 16, and it's unknown what happened to the car.

On lap 33, Kvyat opted for a second pit stop, changing tires in 2.3 seconds.

He made a stop on lap 13 and switched to white tires.

In other words, a set of white tires only ran 20 laps.

The new yellow tires obviously couldn't keep up with the 36 laps, so a three-stop was inevitable.

In fact, based on the tire deterioration of most drivers, the three-stop strategy is the strategy used by these drivers who change tires early.

This station is extremely reliant on aerodynamic components.

If the downforce generated by airflow is insufficient when cornering, the tires will rely too much on mechanical grip, inevitably leading to rapid tire wear.

This is related to racing, as well as the drivers' driving habits and techniques.

The Ricciardo's degradation rate is much slower than the Kvyat's; you can't say that one Red Bull has two different characteristics, can you?

On laps 34 and 35, Grosjean and Button also pitted.

Both of them were among those who had their tires replaced early.

On lap 36, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Sainz pitted.

On lap 37, Verstappen pitted.

Regardless of whether the tires were white or yellow, all the personnel who stopped at the station chose to enter the station.

After Alonso's old yellow tires were removed and inspected, it was found that they were leaking air.

Wu Shi and Williams' strategy team are once again in a state of hesitation.

He was actually around 40 laps in, which was good time to change tires, so he used the three-stop strategy.

Coricardo was following closely behind him, and changing tires directly would inevitably result in a loss of position.

Therefore, he decided to let this set of blank tires play its proper role.

To hold onto fifth place, they must intercept Ricardo.

On lap 41, Kimi suddenly said to the team, "It feels like the car is losing some horsepower and the speed is decreasing."

Shortly after saying this, Hamilton received an update from Bono:
"Lewis, Kimi up ahead has run into some trouble. His speed may drop. You need to be prepared."

"Copy".

The old man's reply was brief and powerful; he had been trapped for far too long.

If he can catch up to a position now, he will fall less behind his teammates in points and catch up with Wu Shi in points.

With both factors combined, he naturally couldn't wait to take Kimi's place.

This way, he would have the opportunity to battle with his teammates.

His strategy was exactly the same as Rosberg's at this race: stop with yellow, yellow and white.

"Kimi's vehicle had some issues during the third practice session, and it's unclear whether the current situation is the same as that one."

"Yes, Kimi thought there were some problems with the powertrain during qualifying, which led to his less-than-ideal qualifying performance."

"I just hope this isn't a big problem, otherwise we'll lose the podium we finally got."

The soldier shook his head and said, "It's too difficult. His speed has already slowed down considerably."

Sure enough, on lap 42, Alonso, who had been lapped, seized the opportunity to overtake Kimi.

"Kimi's speed has slowed down considerably! He's now 1 minute and 30 seconds, while Vettel is 27 minute and 7 seconds."

"Hamilton's lap time is also around 1 minute 27 seconds."

This means that Kimi loses at least two seconds of advantage per lap.

Hamilton was rapidly closing in from behind.

The broadcast camera was fixed on Kimi's perspective.

I floored the accelerator, but the engine couldn't keep up the speed. Where I could normally go 300kph, I only managed to go less than 280kph, and I could only watch helplessly as the McLaren in front of me pulled away.

Even the usually composed man was anything but composed in this situation; he kept communicating with the team to find out what the problem was.

Wu Shi continued his cruise, and it seems his ranking is about to move up another place.

Although it was unfair to Kimi, he was genuinely happy.

On lap 43, Wu Shi waited patiently. In a few more laps, Jonathan should inform him of Hamilton and Kimi's progress.

Suddenly, however, the entire stadium turned yellow and quickly transformed into virtual safety cars.

"Huckenberg has had a major accident at Turn 1! Virtual safety car, watch out for the virtual safety car."

"BOX! BOX! BOX!"

Jonathan spoke very quickly in his two sentences, and Wu Shi immediately realized that his opportunity had come.

The replay of Hulkenberg's accident has also been released, showing that the front wing fell off and the entire car then crushed the front wing.

After the front wheel failed, it crashed straight into the tire wall of the track.

A large amount of debris fell to the ground!

　The old man's "I'm useless" at dawn was a bit heartbreaking, giving off a feeling of a hero's decline. Or is Ferrari just the graveyard of WDC? But the old man is indeed getting old. If he were in a mid-table team like Alan Tam, with mid-table drivers, he probably wouldn't have made such a heartbreaking statement.

　　I'm going to watch the game now, hoping for a surprise!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)