F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 254 The Engine Broke
In the post-qualifying interview, Wu Shi, under Jennifer's guidance, said some platitudes.

At this point, people are still more focused on Rosberg.

The German driver's defeat has once again come to the forefront.

This time, he not only lagged behind his teammates, but also behind the other four drivers.

Faced with reporters' pointed questions, Rosberg seemed somewhat complaining, saying that he was using an "old" engine.

When a reporter asked Toto about the situation, Toto said that things were fair internally, but he did not deny that the Rosberg engine had encountered some problems.

Wu Shi, who had achieved good results, was naturally in a good mood.

The main reason was that after seeing Hamilton's lap time, he had given up hope.

He knew that all he had to do in the main competition was wait for his chance.

If there's no chance, then never mind, let's just have a good meal with Louise first.

Ken Ruiz's nutritious meals didn't taste good.

Louise, on the other hand, was not picky at all.

Do you usually eat these kinds of things?

"Yes, for the sake of your health." Wu Shi nodded helplessly.

He was too young, so the team managed his diet very strictly.

Unlike Uncle Massa, who no longer needs a nutritionist.

"Oh, then let's go get something nice to eat after the game, okay?"

Louise scooped up a spoonful of the paste-like staple food.

“Okay! If it doesn’t taste good, you don’t have to eat it, and you don’t have to train like this,” Wu Shi said with a smile.

“I just wanted to experience your daily life,” Louise said, shaking her head and smiling.

Wu Shi didn't say much. The two finished their meal quickly and strolled around the Monza circuit.

Unexpectedly, I still kept running into car enthusiasts who wanted my autograph.

"You're really popular in China."

Louise smiled and took off her baseball cap, saying, "Can you sign my autograph too?"

“Of course, no problem. Everyone else is writing in cursive script, but I’ll sign it in regular script for you,” said Wu Shi (Han Dynasty).

Although it was written in regular script, the final signature was actually in cursive.

After all, the way someone who hasn't formally practiced calligraphy writes regular script is really not flattering.

On the contrary, cursive script, whether you call it "street style" or not, at least looks good.

"Okay!"

Louise held her hat, on which even she could read the two characters "Wu Shi".

"Hey! Is this Wu Shi? Oh! What a coincidence! Could you sign this for me? I've been watching your races since your go-karting days!"

At that moment, someone else shouted.

Wu Shi nodded and did not refuse.

Then the man handed me a Ferrari baseball cap.

"Are you sure it's on here?" Wu Shi asked.

"Of course!"

"Ok."

Wu Shi feels like he's being NTR'd, but Ferrari certainly won't mind~
I strolled around with Louise, but we didn't have much free time.

Ultimately, it's race week, and the area is full of racing fans.

There's another match tomorrow, so the two returned to the hotel early.

The following day, before the race, in addition to the drivers' parade, the opening ceremony was also quite grand.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi personally took to the starting grid before the race began.

During the national anthem performance, Matteo Renzi listened along with Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone.

He was presumably expressing goodwill to the media and the FIA ​​in response to the dispute between Monza circuit and the F1 president.

The political implications of this are very clear: the Italian government does not want the Monza circuit to be removed from the F1 calendar.

As the Italian national anthem played, the tricolor flag flew over the racetrack.

Wu Shi stood behind these important figures, listening to the Italian national anthem and watching the helicopters fly by.

Finally, these VIPs, accompanied by Sergio Marchionne, Managing Director of Fiat (at this time Ferrari belonged to the Fiat Group), went to the Ferrari pit lane to watch the race.

Wu Shi returned to the pit area, and Louise helped him zip up his racing suit.

"come on!"

"Ah."

Wu Shi gave a thumbs up.

Nothing unexpected happened during the survey and warm-up runs, which made Wu Shi feel somewhat uneasy.

There's been so much hype surrounding Renault and Honda engines lately, I feel like something's going to happen before the race.

After parking at the starting position, Wu Shi noticed Hamilton looking at him in the rearview mirror.

He gave a thumbs-up in that direction.

The broadcast cameras captured this scene.

The soldier immediately laughed and couldn't help but tease him:
"Wu Shi, is he encouraging Hamilton or putting pressure on him?"

“That’s an international gesture of goodwill, of course it’s encouraging Hamilton,” Fei Ge chimed in.

At this point, the last car was in position, and the safety car moved to the very end.

One by one, the red lights above our heads lit up.

Five red lights went out!
The 2015 Italia Grand Prix has officially begun!
"Oh, Hamilton got off to a good start this time. It seems that Wu Shi got off to a better start, but there isn't much difference."

"Hey! What's going on with Kimi?!"

The commentator had barely finished speaking when a Ferrari, which was supposed to be starting from the second row, was seen parked motionless on the road.

It took about two seconds before Iceman's race car started moving forward.

Sure enough, without the guidance of an engineer when setting off, everyone would encounter some unexpected situations.

Kimi was quickly overtaken by the cars behind her and immediately dropped to 14th place.

Perhaps having learned from the previous experience, most drivers had a decent start.

Hamilton and Wu Shi still hold the top two spots.

Vettel is in third place, followed by Massa, Perez, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Elkeson, and Button.

Before it even started running, Nasr's tires started leaking air.

Upon seeing this, Jonathan immediately checked Wu Shi's tire pressure data, and everything was normal.

However, given that other vehicles had also experienced problems, he specifically focused on tire pressure issues.

Bottas encountered some problems at the start, crashing into the grass and likely having to withdraw from the match.

On the second lap, Grosjean also stopped his car on the grass, his rear suspension damaged in a collision with Nasr.

It turns out that Nasr's tire leak was caused by a collision.

Because Rosberg was still stuck in the back of the pack, while Hamilton's cruising lap times were very fast, he pulled ahead of Wu Shi by 1.9 seconds on just the third lap.

So Wu Shi immediately relaxed. He couldn't catch up with the one in front, and he couldn't catch up with the one behind, so he could just cruise!

Before cruising, he exerted a little effort, pulling Vettel behind him a second behind.

Vettel has a very strong attacking desire and has also increased his speed considerably.

This forced him to maintain his speed.

Wu Shi guessed that Ferrari probably put pressure on Vettel during the team meeting.

After all, it's their home turf, and Ferrari cares a lot about their reputation—it seems like that's the only thing they care about.

By the fifth lap, Wu Shi had already pulled ahead by 3 seconds, while the gap between him and Vettel remained stable at 1.5 seconds.

Massa, however, closed the gap on Vettel, trailing by only 2.4 seconds.

Rosberg lived up to the rover's name, cutting through everything in its path and eventually overtaking Perez to catch up with Massa.

Williams immediately gave Massa instructions: Rosberg should catch up and defend him aggressively.

But there's no need to worry now, because there's still a full three seconds between the two.

Kimi, who had fallen behind, continued to overtake, and he needed to find a way to get back to the front to make up for his mistake at the start.

On lap 8, Hamilton maintained a steady lead over Wu Shi, 0.5 seconds per lap.

Vettel and Wu Shi remained relatively still.

Massa, who was behind, had fallen some distance behind, but Rosberg was very strange as he had not caught up with Massa for a long time.

This seems to suggest that Rosberg isn't that good at this track.

Or perhaps his previous complaints were true, and there was a problem with his engine.

As the game gradually stabilized, everyone realized that the changes in the front row positions would have to wait until the first stop.

Wu Shi was kept far behind Hamilton, making it difficult for the audience to see a hero fighting the dragon.

On lap 12, the Mercedes team told Rosberg that he needed to pay more attention to his brakes because they were overheating.

This is very strange, as Rosberg also experienced brake overheating at the beginning of the season.

Whether the difference in configuration between the two race cars or Rosberg's driving style led to this result, no one knows; only Mercedes knows for sure.

On lap 14, Rosberg tried to attack Massa, but Massa shut him down hard.

Rosberg missed another opportunity to attack.

On lap 18, Hulkenberg switched to soft tires.

On lap 19, Rosberg pitted for medium tires and came out in 9th place.

Rosberg's tire change immediately drew attention from those in the front row.

However, Williams' strategy team considered that Rosberg had been in the car for a long time and had attacked Massa many times, which would have worn out his tires more.

The drivers cruising in the front row were spaced several seconds apart. In particular, Hamilton was now a full 10 seconds ahead of Wu Shi.

The air ahead of Wu Shi is very clean, so he is basically in second place and leading the race.

Unaffected by polluted air, his tires naturally remained in excellent condition.

Massa did need to consider this issue, and the strategy team quickly provided an answer: pit stop in the next lap.

Rosberg's lap time was good, and by the time Massa changed tires in 3.6 seconds, he was directly undercut.

"Rosberg has now surpassed Massa."

Jonathan told Wu Shi this news, making it clear that Massa might not be able to help him much in the upcoming matches.

"Copy, what is our inbound strategy?"

“We need to keep an eye on Lewis and Sebastian,” Jonathan said.

After that, Ferrari didn't make a move until lap 26.

The Williams crew noticed that Wu Shi was preparing to change tires and immediately recalled him.

In fact, these old soft tires have already been used for more than twenty laps and should have been replaced long ago.

So Williams ignored whether Ferrari was committing pit stop fraud and gave the order directly.

Wu Shi entered the pit lane at the end of lap 26, closely followed by Vettel, who was 2.6 seconds behind him.

Clearly, Ferrari wasn't involved in telecom fraud, and Vettel did indeed need a tire change.

Jonathan knew this tire change was crucial, so he came out of the pit shed and looked at the tire-changing team.

Claire was also a little worried, but as the deputy leader, she didn't go out to check on the group.

She was also afraid of putting too much pressure on these people, which might lead to a mistake in changing the tire.

Louise was even less likely to be allowed to go out and watch; she could only watch from inside the P-room.

Heh!

Wu Shi's parking skills were always like this: very accurate and quick. He could always stop at the last moment in the parking space.

If you have studied Wu Shi's pit stops, you will find that he always saves more time compared to other riders.

After all, different drivers have different speed levels when controlling the distance from the pit lane entrance to the speed limit line.

Wu Shi was always able to make the most of this distance to maintain speed, and then immediately reduce speed after entering the speed-limited zone.

This is also a difference in driver ability.

Phew!

For the crew who practice changing tires every day, it has become an instinct.

2.9 seconds!
This training was indeed effective; this time, the tire change was completed in under three seconds.

After Claire saw this, she glanced at Massa's crew.

The mechanics, wearing helmets and sitting under the television, felt a slight chill run down their spines.

Wu Shi drove the car out steadily, without any fishtailing or any exciting maneuvers.

Even though Vettel came in later and changed tires in just 2.4 seconds, he still couldn't pose a threat to Wu Shi.

The two men emerged from the repair area, their positions unchanged; they remained in second and third place respectively.

In the first twenty-odd laps, the three drivers had already created enough distance between them.

This is why they were able to maintain a set of soft tires for 25 or 26 laps before choosing to change them.

On lap 27, Hamilton also chose to pit.

Because the distance is sufficient, there is no need to worry about Wu Shi's undercut.

If Wu Shi can catch up by 10 seconds in one lap, then we should probably consider whether there is a problem with Williams' car.

Hamilton firmly held onto number 1, rendering all of Williams' previous strategies futile.

However, for Williams, maintaining Wu Shi's second place is a pretty good result.

The match in the front row then entered a boring phase.

Rosberg continues to pursue Vettel relentlessly.

However, he changed his tires earlier, and with the wear and tear on his tires, it will probably be harder for him to catch up with and overtake Vettel.

On lap 38, Wu Shi encountered Nasr, who refused to give way to the blue flag.

This caused the time difference between him and Vettel to narrow to just over a second at one point.

After passing Nasr, he complained about the driver's actions on the TR.

Jonathan didn't try to comfort him; after waiting half a minute, he said:

"He treated everyone equally, even blocking Sebastian halfway around as well."

Upon hearing Williams' TR, the soldier laughed:
"What is Nasr doing? Does he want to experience what it's like to block the drivers in front?"

"He blocked two people in a row, he's probably going to get some punishment." Fei Ge also found it amusing.

By lap 45, Rosberg was still chasing Vettel and had just entered the three-second zone.

The race will end in lap 53, and it's highly unlikely that they will be able to catch up.

By lap 47, Vettel and Rosberg had narrowed the gap to less than two seconds.

At that moment, Bono suddenly told Hamilton to speed up.

"What does this team instruction mean? Hamilton is at least 20 seconds ahead of Wu Shi right now, so why is the team telling him to speed up? Are they testing the car's limits?"

Upon hearing this TR, the soldier immediately bombarded the reporter with a series of questions.

Even Fei Ge was speechless this time.

After one lap, Hamilton set a new fastest lap time of 1 minute 26.672 seconds.

"Oh! It's for the fastest lap!" the soldier clapped his hands and said.

"I feel that their purpose is definitely not that simple. Perhaps they are testing the improved engine."

"Testing it in the main competition? That's impressive."

Regardless, with the race reaching its final few laps, the front row positions have become completely uninteresting.

On lap 50, the broadcast camera suddenly focused on Rosberg.

Thick smoke billowed from the rear of the Mercedes.

"Oh no! Rosberg's engine is broken!" the soldier exclaimed.

“You’re right, they’ve got something,” Fei Ge laughed.

"Could they actually be testing the engine?"

The soldier was surprised and shook his head repeatedly, saying it was just a joke.

Zizi!

However, the broadcast then immediately showed Mercedes' TR to Hamilton.

"Lewis, slow down, we need to protect the engine."

"Hahahaha." Fei Ge laughed.

Neither of them expected that Mercedes' engine would experience stability issues in the very first game after the update.

Moreover, before the stability issues arose, Mercedes seemed to have great confidence in their engines.

Rosberg withdrew from the competition.

This basically means he's out of the title race this year.

On lap 53, the somewhat dull race came to an end.

Hamilton won two consecutive championships, while Wu Shi won two consecutive runner-up titles.

The match seemed to be going as Mercedes had anticipated.

The story after the competition ended was even more exciting than the competition itself.

Wu Shi had just parked his car when he saw a group of people dressed in red rushing around.

"Oh! The terrifying Tifosi!" Wu Shi exclaimed.

Vettel, as a four-time champion, naturally attracts attention.

Most importantly, Vettel is essentially Schumacher's spiritual successor at Ferrari.

So these tifosi fans replicated the riots of 1996, flooding the track to celebrate Vettel's podium finish.

“It is somewhat terrifying,” Hamilton chuckled from the side.

"Let's hide quickly."

After Wu Shi and the convoy members hugged each other, he turned and left.

"I was shocked when I heard from Bono that Nico retired from the race in the end.

Hamilton walked with him toward the lounge.

"What a coincidence!" Wu Shi replied with a smile, "When I heard this news, I immediately felt a great sense of anticipation!"

"Hahahaha, that's a bit of a pity, I finished the race."

Hamilton patted Wu Shi's helmet and laughed heartily.

Seeing the interaction between the champion and runner-up on camera, David was somewhat moved:
"It is rare in the history of F1 to see drivers vying for the world championship so harmoniously."

"Perhaps this is because Lewis and Wu Shi are similar; they are both 'outliers' in F1 racing."

"They have to pay a much higher price to survive in the paddock than normal drivers."

As a veteran of the paddock, David knew that Hamilton encountered many problems when he first joined the paddock.

He had a poor relationship with almost everyone in the paddock, which was naturally influenced by his driving personality as well as his race.

Hamilton has revealed more than once that he was often bullied by other kids in lower-level karting and Formula racing.

Back then, Rosberg was his only friend, but unfortunately, he isn't now.
Hamilton and Wu Shi, both wearing white team uniforms, walked into the corridor arm in arm.

Click!

The reporter saw this scene and pressed the shutter.

(End of this chapter)