F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 256 Mercedes Encounters a Problem

Before the Grand Prix officially began, Marussia team received some good news.

Alexander Rossi from America raised a large sum of money to buy a seat.

For a bottom-tier team like Malucia, which is under immense financial pressure, accepting paying riders can greatly alleviate that pressure.

They did not refuse and decided to let Alexander replace Melchi in 5 games this year.

For Melchior, this news was neither good nor bad.

After all, sitting in a Marusian race car doesn't offer any chance of scoring points; it's just about finishing the race.

As for Renault, there is no new information available in the paddock.

Renault has made no comment on either his plan to acquire the Lotus team or the termination of his partnership with Red Bull.

Their lengthy exchanges and arguments with Red Bull even prompted the ever-smiling Ricardo to complain that it was like torture.

Clearly, Red Bull Racing has had enough of the Renault engine.

There is speculation that Red Bull Racing may partner with Ferrari after 2016.

Of course, these news reports come from various sources, and they are basically treated as rumors, with no verifiable information.

Red Bull itself stated that without a good engine supplier, they would withdraw from F1 in 2016.

There are various interpretations of this statement, but Wu Shi felt it was best to just take it with a grain of salt.

Rosberg will be replacing his engine with a fourth one at the Singapore Grand Prix because he damaged the engine at Monza.

He has reached the point where the power unit will be eliminated; any replacement of any part of the power unit will result in his being forced to retire.

With seven games remaining in the season, it's unrealistic to expect to complete them all with a single power unit.

This is another heavy blow for Rosberg.

Finally, Sobo will also be launching their new aerodynamic kit.

The main feature is the introduction of a short nose cone, which is somewhat similar to those of McLaren, Williams, and Red Bull.

Williams also announced that it will be bringing some upgrades to the aerodynamic kit.

It mainly includes the tail fin and side fins.

Wu Shi and Massa have been testing this new component for the past two weeks.

After comprehensive evaluation, Wu Shi believes that the system has made some progress.

He did gain more downforce, but not much more resistance.

This wonderful result was achieved by engineers racking their brains.

Wu Shi only offered some ideas.

His knowledge of aerodynamics was far from professional, but he remembered some future design ideas.

He described in part how the engineers produced these results after continuous design and calculations.

It has to be said that F1 is incredibly complex.

Even if you present the answer to some racing teams, you can't use it immediately if the two racing systems are significantly different.

Unless it's some kind of cutting-edge technology design that can be used right out of the box.

Pure aerodynamic optimization mainly relies on wind tunnel testing and manual calculations; it's a comprehensive project.

At the pre-race press conference, the top six drivers in the standings sat together.

Clearly, this interview focused more on the competition for points.

As the leader in the standings, Wu Shi was naturally the first to be interviewed.

The host looked at Wu Shi:
“We see that your points lead is no longer as significant.”

"If you still don't win the championship in Singapore, and Lewis does, then you will lose seven points, which will put your position in jeopardy."

"I heard you've made some improvements to the kit. Will this be a good help for you in the upcoming matches?"

Wu Shi, holding the microphone, looked at Hamilton and said:
"As I said before, when the Mercedes drivers stop making any mistakes and stop giving me any opportunities, it is actually very difficult for me to win a championship."

"And Lewis has proven that in recent games."

"So you can see that my lead is being constantly eroded, which puts a lot of pressure on us."

"Our entire team is trying to improve the car's performance so that I have enough speed to keep up with Mercedes' pursuit."

"We have been preparing for this improvement for a very long time, and I believe it has been effective in internal testing."

"But I don't think these advantages will help us completely defeat Mercedes."

"You know, nobody in the paddock dares to say that now."

Wu Shi said this with a smile.

The host listened and nodded, finally concluding:
"Yes, I also hope that you can achieve good results here."

“I still remember you driving Rosberg’s race car on the Singapore circuit in 2014.”

"That time you sped off, you achieved an amazing result."

“Even now, I still think what you did back then is unbelievable.”

The host's words resonated with the drivers in the audience.

It's unbelievable that someone would try to compete for a qualifying spot in a practice race with a car that hasn't been fully tuned.

However, in reality, it was because Mercedes was too strong last year.

The host then asked Hamilton:

"Lewis, you are steadily moving towards your third world championship. A great opportunity is right in front of you. What would you like to say to Wu Shi?"

Hamilton looked at Wu Shi with the microphone and smiled, then paused for a moment before deciding:

"I wanted to tell him that he is a very good driver, really very good."

"Although I achieved good results in my first F1 season, I was already in my 20s at the time, while this guy is still a minor."

"His future holds limitless possibilities."

"He can still run in the paddock for at least another 20 years, which is enough time for him to achieve a great deal."

"Finally, let me tell him, keep going!"

The host nodded and continued asking questions.

After the pre-match press conference, Hamilton's remarks were over-interpreted by some.

Some people believe that Hamilton was telling Wu Shi that he shouldn't compete this season.

Regardless of how others interpret it, Wu Shi knows that on the Singapore track, his chances of achieving excellent results are far greater than on high-speed tracks like Monza and Spa.

So the entire team was determined to seize this rare opportunity from the very beginning.

By the time Friday's practice match arrived, the smoke and dust from the fire had gradually dissipated.

In addition, the high-quality tall lights make the entire stadium very bright and clear.

The drivers' vision was largely unaffected.

The first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix officially began at 6:00 pm on Friday.

Because the track's curves have changed, everyone's practice sessions not only involve test driving but also finding the new driving routes.

Originally, in 2014, the Singapore circuit (red section) faced a "simple" right-hand turn after Turn 10.

But now, after the change, drivers need to pull the car to the left before turning right into the corner.

Furthermore, turning right into this kind of "protruding" bend is not so easy to maneuver.

After the changes, the smoothness of the entire track deteriorated.

In fact, the Singapore circuit has been tampering with this area all along.

The organizers want to optimize this overtaking area.

However, this change will increase the speed of the car going up Anderson Bridge after Turn 12.

However, this did not bring about more operational opportunities.

Wu Shi felt that the Singaporean organizers were probably more concerned about preventing any major accidents from happening here.

After all, there is a river below Bend 11.

Given the changes to the track, past experience cannot fully match the entire track, and everyone needs to try more new tuning methods.

Therefore, during the first practice session, almost all the teams were constantly coming in and out, continuously modifying the various parameter settings of their race cars.

For drivers, they need to figure out effective driving methods as quickly as possible during practice sessions.

If they don't figure it out, the tuning direction might be affected. And after the first training session began, misfortune continued to plague Red Bull.

Due to vehicle malfunction, Kvyat only completed 8 laps during the entire training session.

It is widely speculated that the problem is most likely caused by an engine issue.

Ultimately, throughout the entire practice test, both Mercedes cars still achieved the best results.

罗斯伯格以1分47秒995，领先汉密尔顿的1分48秒314。

However, the results of a single practice session are not very valuable for reference.

By the time the long-distance tests in the second practice session were conducted, the skill levels of each team would be clear.

Mercedes' two drivers encountered some problems.

Their tires have difficulty maintaining a stable operating temperature.

Of course, Williams isn't much better off, suffering from the same tire issues as Mercedes, as well as problems with cornering stability.

In street racing like Singapore, stability in corners is crucial.

After all, on other wide tracks, even if your car slips a little, it's not easy to have an accident.

In street racing like in Singapore, even the slightest slip could cause a vehicle to collide with the guardrail.

Especially when you're pushing your limits.

Even Wu Shi could not tolerate this situation and follow him into the ranking competition.

Therefore, while everyone else was doing long-distance tests of around 30 laps, Wu Shi only did 25 laps.

He returned to the maintenance area multiple times to adjust the front and rear wing endplates.

In addition, the operating temperature of the tires should not be ignored.

Pirelli provided red supersoft tires and yellow soft tires for this race.

After actual testing, the operating temperature window of the ultrasoft tire is very narrow, possibly only about two degrees.

Wu Shi's solution was to soften the suspension as much as possible, so that the tire temperature could be stabilized slightly.

It was because of his suggestion that he had to test it multiple times.

Massa was unable to find balance in the vehicle with this softer suspension.

So after the second practice session, Williams barely achieved any results.

On the contrary, Red Bull and Ferrari both showed good speed.

Kvyat topped the timesheets with a time of 1 minute 46.142 seconds, with Kimi trailing by 0.039 seconds.

Hamilton finished fifth with a time of 1 minute 46.479 seconds.

Rosberg ranked seventh, one place below Wu Shi.

Massa only managed a time of 1 minute 47.684 seconds throughout the entire test, a full second behind Wu Shi in the front row.

When the two practice matches on Friday ended, it was already close to midnight.

The reporters began interviewing the drivers.

I interviewed several drivers in a row, asking them what they thought of the newly changed track.

Both Hamilton and Patton thought the change was not good.

Wu Shi was also asked about it, and the reporter's point of entry was rather strange.

The reporter asked, "You set a fast enough lap time during the practice session for the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix."

"Will changing the track like this have any negative impact on you?"

Wu Shi scratched his head, thinking that the Singapore circuit would be best if it were changed to look like it would be after 2023.

After all, that's the version he's most familiar with.

If it's just a minor change like this, it won't make much difference to him.

“I feel they’re about the same, you know, even last year I didn’t run more than a few laps on this track.”

After answering, Wu Shi smiled at the reporter, indicating that the meeting was over.

He couldn't wait to get back to the team because there were still a lot of unresolved issues with vehicle tuning.

The third training session began at 6 p.m. the following day.

In this free practice session, everyone started testing their qualifying lap times.

Williams used different setups for the two drivers this time.

Wu Shi prefers to make the tire temperature more stable, so that it can be operated no matter what.

If the tires experience large temperature fluctuations due to a stiff suspension, then it's almost impossible to drive them.

With a softer suspension, the driving difficulty increases exponentially, which Massa considers extremely dangerous, and he also stated that it doesn't actually stabilize the temperature much.

Ferrari is incredibly fast; Vettel clocked a time of 1 minute 45.682 seconds on supersoft tires.

He became the only driver in the entire event to break the 1 minute and 45 second barrier.

Mercedes is facing a major problem!

The issue of stable tire temperature, which they couldn't resolve during the second training session, became a major obstacle for them.

Hamilton only managed a time of 1 minute 46.802 seconds.

This result is even worse than the best result achieved on soft tires during the second practice session.

Clearly, temperature control of ultrasoft tires is more difficult for them than that of soft tires.

After Wu Shi adopted the new adjustment, he found that the tire temperature was still fluctuating and was somewhat too low.

However, this was much better than the second practice session, as he finished 1 minute 46.2 seconds behind Kvyat in third place.

So after the third practice session, both Mercedes and Williams were in a real bind.

"The suspension stiffness still needs to be adjusted, the tires will have difficulty reaching operating temperature, and the grip and stability are too low," Wu Shi said.

The drawbacks of soft suspension are numerous, so it cannot be made softer.

“A suspension that’s too soft will make the car impossible to drive,” Massa said bluntly.

In the third training session, his time was 1 minute 47.733 seconds, ranking 14th overall.

"We predict that at least two stops will be needed at the Singapore Grand Prix."

Rodrigo paused, then said:

"In short, let's solve the tire problem first."

Everyone fell silent. The ranked match was about to start in less than an hour. What could they do in the meantime?

“We can only start from the front bend angle,” Wu Shi said.

Toe angle is the angle between the direction a race car is traveling and the direction the tires are pointing; it is an important parameter that affects the stability of a race car.

The toe-in of the front wheels is generally set outwards, which can improve steering agility in corners.

However, most teams will set a suitable value and not go too far outward.

That would cause excessive tire wear.

After all, the tires and the race car are not in a straight line, which will definitely accelerate tire wear.

However, this method of modification can also increase the temperature of the tires.

"Do you have enough time?"

"I have the parameters in mind."

Wu Shi remembers all the suspension parameters from the three practice sessions and their impact on the entire vehicle.

However, he did not have the corresponding data on the parameters of how the toe angle affects the tire.

Perhaps by adjusting both, a relatively stable temperature control can be achieved.

No matter how ugly a vehicle is, it must at least be able to drive fast!
While the other teams were preparing for their qualifying meetings, Williams was still setting up their cars.

The most important task for the entire team's engineers now is to calculate the temperature effect of different toe angles on the tires.

Wu Shi, on the other hand, fitted the system based on the temperature difference required for different suspension stiffness levels.

Because fitting the data requires optimizing the layout for the entire track, the amount of computation involved is enormous.

Wu Shi scratched his head along with the engineers.

Fortunately, they finished this setup before qualifying.

(End of this chapter)