F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 257 The Four-Crown King's Circle of Stars

With Q1 approaching, the commentators, reporters, and onlookers were all ready for a good show.

In the past, qualifying sessions either featured either one of the two Mercedes drivers performing well, or it was a matter of whether Wu Shi could squeeze between the two Mercedes drivers.

This kind of plot is actually no different from Mercedes leading the race alone.

After all, Wu Shi was unlikely to get pole position either.

The situation in the third training session revealed Mercedes' weakness at this station.

As for Williams, he also encountered some problems. Isn't that normal in their eyes?
Before each qualifying match, everyone goes through this process:
Williams is facing a major problem;

Williams engineers rushed to make adjustments;
Wu Shi finished in the top three in the qualifying rounds.

Everyone's already tired of it, and they're thinking that even without Mercedes this time, it can't be the same story again, right?

"Throughout practice, Mercedes faced the problem of unstable tire temperature control, which greatly affected their lap times."

Before Q1 even started, the commentators had already begun explaining what had happened in the practice match to unsuspecting viewers.

"Actually, I'm more concerned about whether Wu Shi of Williams can still achieve a good result given the strong performance of Ferrari and Red Bull."

After hearing the commentator's question, the guest thought for a moment and said:

"Judging from past experience, Wu Shi has been able to bring out the best performance of the vehicle, so he is very likely hiding his true strength."

"Similarly, Ferrari and Red Bull have never been that much faster than Mercedes, and I also think they haven't really shown their actual speed."

"Based on various telemetry data, we believe the fastest time is probably around 1 minute and 44 seconds."

After the guest finished speaking, the commentator uttered an exaggerated interjection.

"Wow! That's quite a hidden gem! During the third training session, even the fastest Vettel only managed a time of 1 minute 45.682 seconds."

"This isn't exactly hiding anything; fast teams will show results in practice sessions that other teams can't match, which we've often seen with Mercedes before," the guest added.

"Alright, Q1 has started, 18 minutes. Let's see how the drivers perform."

The first to emerge from the field were still those drivers who struggled to make it into Q2.

The Manor team has already brought in Alexander for this race.

As expected of a paid driver, his performance was far behind his teammate Stevens, finishing 0.5 seconds behind in a single lap.

Of course, not many people paid attention to the Manor Racing Team.

Wu Shi and Masa also made their appearance early.

One minute later, Hamilton and Kimi also arrived at the stadium.

Not long after, Wu Shi set a time of 1 minute and 47.3 seconds, briefly taking the top spot.

Massa, on the other hand, only managed a time of 1 minute 48.294 seconds, which was even slower than Verstappen's lap time.

Hamilton's first lap time also had many problems, only 1 minute 48.8 seconds.

Kimi quickly clocked a time of 1 minute 47.1 seconds, surpassing Wu Shi to take first place.

But Ricciardo then took the lead with a time of 1 minute 46.805 seconds.

Rosberg finished fourth with a time of 1 minute 47.7 seconds.

The initial timing showed that none of the drivers were pushing themselves to their full potential.

Soon, the second flying lap began.

Alonso and Button both performed well today, achieving times under 1 minute and 46 seconds early on.

However, this result does not necessarily guarantee a spot in Q2.

Vettel also began his sprint, and in 1 minute 46.017 seconds, he immediately took the lead.

Hamilton had already moved up to 14th in the standings.

In the final three minutes, Hamilton began to speed on supersoft tires.

With a time of 1 minute 45.765 seconds, they successfully won first place.

"Oh wow! Could it be that Mercedes-Benz was hiding its strength all along?"

The commentator feigned surprise upon seeing this.

The guest, however, offered a professional perspective: "A time of 1 minute and 45 seconds is far from reaching the top of Q3."

Sure enough, Kvyat quickly set a time of 1 minute 45.340 seconds, regaining first place.

"It seems Red Bull will be faster; there were already signs of that in practice," the commentator said.

"Oh, Wu Shi is ranked after Max? It seems Williams is in real trouble."

This time, the guests had no objections, not only because of Wu Shi's performance, but also because of Massa's performance.

He finished 15th with a time of 1 minute 46.879 seconds, which was extremely close!

We almost missed out on Q2!
Williams, as a team that can reach Q3, will absolutely not allow its drivers to fall behind with such a result in Q1.

For example, Hamilton's team would rather use more supersoft tires in order to set a good lap time.

It is clear that Massa's problems are more serious than Wu Shi's.

Based on Massa's experience, it can be inferred that Williams' car did indeed have a problem at this race.

Even David, who had always supported Wu Shi, was somewhat worried at this moment.

Once you enter qualifying, no more car adjustments are allowed. Does this mean Williams will be eliminated in Q2?

The drivers eliminated in Q1 were, in order: Button, Nasr, Ericsson, Stevens, and Alexander.

“We also need to produce results as soon as possible in Q2,” Jonathan told Wu Shi.

“Of course, but I may need to fly more than one lap; I still need to find some balance points,” Wu Shi said.

“Yes, we’ll arrange two speed laps,” Jonathan said.

The top ten finishers in qualifying will start the race using the tires that set the fastest lap in Q2.

This makes most drivers prefer to achieve a satisfactory result in just one flying lap.

While it's desirable to have such hopes, when a vehicle has significant stability issues, it's impossible for anyone to consistently achieve excellent results.

After all, everyone only has a rough estimate of how well they will perform in Q3. If they fail to meet the requirements due to slightly lowering the standards, the losses will be significant.

Williams once again arranged for two drivers to take to the field early, and Wu Shi set a time of 1 minute 45.633 seconds on his first flying lap.

In Wu Shi's view, this result was not very good, and he wanted to try again.

"Come back for now. We need to observe the results of the other drivers first," Jonathan instructed.

"Copy".

Wu Shi returned to the P room and sat in the car waiting.

Massa encountered traffic congestion due to his late start, which forced him to spend several extra laps preparing on the track.

After Hamilton came out, he immediately ran a time of 1 minute 45.650 seconds on supersoft tires, and then returned to the pit area.

Massa's time came later, 1 minute 45.7 seconds, and he returned to the pit area.

Wu Shi is currently in the lead, but it hasn't lasted long.

The two Red Bull drivers immediately set better times and successfully overtook Wu Shi.

科维亚特的成绩1分44秒979，里卡多成绩1分45秒291。

Red Bull drivers broke the 1 minute 44 second barrier so easily that everyone realized Red Bull's competitiveness.

Ferrari's performance was even more terrifying, with Vettel clocking a time of 1 minute 44.743 seconds on supersoft tires.

Kimi also ran a time of 1 minute 45.140 seconds.

Ferrari and Red Bull took the top four spots.

This used to be Mercedes' private territory.

With five minutes remaining in the match, players like Hulkenberg and Verstappen, whose performances had been mediocre, returned to the field.

Surprisingly, Hamilton and Rosberg also chose to return to the court.

They switched to soft tires, apparently to see if they could be better than supersoft tires.

Or perhaps they want to collect more cruise data in order to formulate strategies for the main race.

Finally, Verstappen achieved a very good result on the supersoft tires, finishing in sixth place with a time of 1 minute 45.635 seconds, just two-thousandths of a second behind Wu Shi.

He outpaced Hamilton by 0.015 seconds.

As Hamilton and Rosberg were preparing to set a new lap record, the Sainz car spun out and its left front wing collided with the guardrail.

Having triggered the yellow flag, he also had to withdraw from the competition.

Q2 ended with Bottas, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Perez, and Sainz being eliminated.

After Q2, it became clear that Mercedes was genuinely facing problems at this station.

Wu Shi and Massa waited quietly in the car for the Q3 to arrive.

“Massa said he felt terrible and his results probably wouldn’t be good,” Jonathan told Wu Shi.

"I'm not much better than him. On the track where mechanical grip is most needed, we couldn't even control the tire temperature properly."

When Q3 started, the intense 12-minute race was so intense that few drivers could stay still.

Ricardo was the first to come out, followed by Kimi and Hamilton.

Hamilton was unlucky; he ran into problems and was recalled after a short time.

They said the team's technicians had made some mistakes.

I don't know if the lug nuts weren't tightened properly, or if someone left a rag in the car.

Vettel easily clocked a time of 1 minute 44.305 seconds.

Wu Shi tried it once, and it only took him 1 minute 45.323 seconds.

That's a difference of a full second.

So when the race car returned to the pit lane, Jonathan immediately went up to Wu Shi and said:

"Has something happened?"

"The mechanical grip was affected, and the vehicle slipped too much, which delayed my exit from corners many times," Wu Shi said.

"Raise the front wheels by 3% to balance the brakes, and use the third brake migration setting."

After Jonathan emphasized this, he continued:
"If there's an abnormal temperature, I'll let you know. Hope that won't bother you?"

"No, please tell me as much as you can, and show me the brake shift settings."

Wu Shi said.

“Okay, it’s projected onto your screen now,” Jonathan said.

Wu Shi looked at the downward curve and roughly simulated the situation in his mind.

Jonathan and his team did optimize the data, but the migration was too slow. He will try to adjust it proactively later.

"Alright, there are less than three minutes left. Lewis just returned to the repair area due to a technical problem, but it seems his problem has been resolved."

"But this also means he will only have one lap. Will he still be able to put Silver Arrow in first place?"

"And then there's Wu Shi, who's one second behind Vettel and in fifth place."

"Oh, he's changed to new tires. Looks like he's getting ready to get into the final battle."

"Hey, Sebastian's going to run around again?"
"His time of 1 minute 44.305 seconds is probably unbeatable. It seems he wants to secure pole position more securely and is preparing to challenge himself again!"

As the drivers began their final battle, the track became crowded again.

Hamilton started racing much earlier; if he had been placed later, and someone else had an accident, his Q3 would have been unable to run.

In the end, I'll be at the bottom, tenth place.

He definitely can't accept it.

The broadcast was shown to Hamilton's in-car camera.

Compared to last year, Hamilton's direction has changed significantly.

For top F1 drivers, this is generally not due to a decline in skill, but rather because the car's stability is insufficient, forcing them to make frequent corrections.

Seeing Hamilton's struggle, one can imagine how many laps he had.

After completing the final lap, his time was a mere 1 minute and 45.3 seconds.

He was a full second slower than Vettel, who had lapped a full lap earlier! A full second!
Clearly, even in the race, Mercedes has no chance of competing with Ferrari.

Ricardo then began to speed away.

He pushed himself to the limit on this lap, but he was still unable to catch up with Vettel's previous incredible performance.

With a time of 1 minute 44.428 seconds, Ricardo is still in second place.

Next up is Kimi, driving the same car as Vettel. He actually has the ability to challenge for pole position.

But after completing one lap, his final time was 1 minute 44.667 seconds.

This world champion, who is eight years older than his teammate, has also seen a decline in form.

However, it's also possible that he hasn't been practicing seriously lately. After all, when it comes to talent, Kimi previously dominated the paddock.

Many people say that if Kimi could practice driving more diligently, he would achieve even better results.

Jonathan informed Wu Shi of the entire situation on the field.

Wu Shi is currently ranked sixth overall, behind Hamilton.

"Train traffic is good, get ready to go," Jonathan said to Wu Shi at the end.

As Wu Shi turned 22 and then 23, he rushed towards the starting straight.

His final racing lap has begun!

DRS activated on the straightaway, speeding at full speed.

Before entering Turn 1, brake hard.

The higher braking ratio of the front wheels accelerates their warm-up, but they can quickly overheat after warming up.

Furthermore, a significant amount of grip on the front wheels was wasted on braking, resulting in understeer.

Before turning, Wu Shi pressed "-1" three times while sliding the pulley with his right hand.

The braking load immediately shifts to the rear wheels.

When entering a curve, the steering feel of the front wheels returned to normal, which allowed Wu Shi to turn into the apex of the curve.

However, due to his head tilt, he still had to lean further to the right onto the shoulder.

This will affect speed, but it will allow for better cornering and improve cornering rhythm.

In turn 1, the left wheel hit the shoulder at the apex of the turn, and the whole car shook a few times.

Once you've passed the apex of the bend, you can immediately start accelerating.

The excellent steering of the front wheels, combined with the brake trim that has just been shifted back, allows the rear wheels to warm up, making the whole car very responsive when exiting corners.

Wu Shi made the most of the track; this acceleration alone could make up for many of the shortcomings when entering corners.

Immediately following the second right turn, Wu Shi's hands were very busy, as the front wheels needed to warm up.

Crack!
The entire vehicle veered to the right onto the curb, with the left wheel almost swinging off the white line. The vehicle was practically riding on the road as it sped along.

The tires could feel that the grip was very strange at this moment.

However, Wu Shi confirmed that the vehicle would not lose control while in the bend.

He boldly accelerated, but had to slow down as soon as he left the shoulder, preparing to enter Turn 3.

Because of steering and tire issues, it's impossible to fully control the apex of the corner here.

However, his extreme control over the race car allowed him to narrowly miss the guardrail on the right side when exiting a corner.

It could shake itself on the red and white shoulder of the road, but it didn't get on the guardrail at all.

Several close calls with the car were almost suffocating!

Turn 4 is a false turn. Just keep accelerating and move to the left side before Turn 5.

Because it's newly laid asphalt, it's still a bit slippery.

In order to better enter the right turn on turn 5.

Wu Shi placed the race car on the far left from the very beginning.

Brake balance and differential need to be adjusted almost simultaneously.

After the left wheel crosses the white line, it presses onto the asphalt outside the white line. The grip is slightly different from that on the inside of the track, but it does not affect the normal driving of the vehicle.

This leftward shift should continue until the shoulder appears.

At this point, his entire car had crossed the double yellow lines and was close to the guardrail.

This is a position that no other driver would ever drive into.

Wu Shi had previously experienced that this was a space that could be used.

He drove over the kerb on the far left and back onto the track, charging fiercely toward Turn 5.

Because of the ample space, he was finally able to maintain better speed in the corners.

As for exiting the corner, there's absolutely no need to worry about that.

Everything is going as predicted.

The car's left wheel will run onto the left kerb of the track and get very close to the left guardrail.

The howling wind swirled within, and the speeding F1 cars caused the guardrails and barbed wire to vibrate incessantly.

The camera footage also shook a few times.

"Wow, that's too extreme!"

"Hurry up, they've already crashed!"

The captivating visuals drew everyone's attention.

"Does this mean Wu Shi has a chance to challenge for pole position?"

"Let's look at the situation in the first timing segment first."

Williams' speed advantage can be utilized in the long straight DRS zone.

However, the trade-off is that tire temperature fluctuates.

The end of the straight section here is where the second timing point begins.

"Wow, Wu Shi's first timeout wasn't slower than Vettel's before!"
"Does Wu Shi really have the ability to adjust a Williams car by a full second?!"

the commentator exclaimed.

The following turns 7, 8, 9, and 10 together form a "W" shape.

To compensate for the lack of vehicles, Wu Shi had to use more track space to enter and exit Turn 7.

He didn't want to waste too much speed entering the corner, so he adjusted the braking ratio of the front wheels early on.

Heh!

It struggled to maintain traction with the front wheels, and the car shifted sideways, almost squeezing the tires into slight deformation.

But we finally made it through!

Before Turn 8, the track surface changes from light to dark, and the grip of the two different asphalt sections also differs.

Faced with this situation, Wu Shi had no choice but to make use of more space on the left side.

After crossing the shoulder, you need to be very careful, otherwise you will crash into the guardrail on the left.

Then there's Turn 9, and after you come out of there, you need to watch out for the guardrail on your right.

On these curves, Wu Shi practically threw the tires to the side of the guardrail.

Unfortunately, the director didn't lock onto Wu Shi's first-person perspective, missing these wonderful shots.

After Turn 9, there will be a long straight.

This is still where Williams shines.

Wu Shi could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But the challenge begins after the straightaway!
The sharp deceleration at the end kept Wu Shi busy again.

Williams made a difficult left turn into Turn 10, and slipped as he came out, clearly indicating that he was going too fast.

Actually, the track space on the right side here is very spacious.

But this doesn't mean we can let race cars take over the space on the right.

Because the track segment that follows is the one updated this year.

The vehicle had to turn left first, and then right to enter Turn 11.

If you take up too much space to the right, you will inevitably miss Turn 11.

It was precisely because this area was difficult to handle that Wu Shi failed to notice the slippage that had just occurred.

You can start accelerating immediately after Turn 11, but you need to slow down again before entering Turn 13 before the bridge ends.

The operation here is even more awkward.

After exiting Turn 13, you'll enter the second DRS section, where you'll head directly towards Turn 14 and enter the third timing section.

Every time Williams enters the zone, he urges the engine to roar wildly, as if trying to squeeze out every last bit of horsepower.

As he approached Turn 14, Wu Shi braked very late, feeling as if white smoke was about to rise from the tires, but no large plumes of smoke actually appeared.

Seeing this, Williams and the others clenched their fists.

Because in the first two timing segments, Wu Shi was at roughly the same level as Vettel during his first sprint.

If he completes this lap smoothly, Wu Shi will likely attempt to take pole position tonight.

At this moment, Vettel also began his final flying lap.

"Could it be that there's a chance?" David asked excitedly.

However, after Turn 14, there will be five right-angle turns, which will be a huge challenge for Williams.

Sure enough, Wu Shi slowed down considerably when he passed through this distance.

Then, even more shocking news came that Vettel was nearly 0.2 seconds faster in the first timeout!
Ten seconds later, Wu Shi crossed the finish line.

The time was 1 minute 44.613 seconds!

The last timing segment was almost 0.2 seconds slow.

Williams and his teammates breathed a sigh of relief; this result was already considered very good.

"Oh, what a pity, the third time slot is too slow!" David shook his head.

A minute later, Vettel crossed the finish line again.

1 minutes 43 seconds 885!

This immediately ignited all the commentators!
"My God! What kind of speed is that!"

"We should have realized it when we saw the first timing segment was two seconds fast!"

Countless people cheered, and the people in the Ferrari pit lane even jumped up to celebrate.

Unbelievable!

Vettel was 0.543 seconds faster than Ricciardo in second place on this lap!
He was 0.782 seconds faster than his teammate!
One lap at absolute speed.

When Wu Shi returned to the scene and heard what Jonathan had told him, he was also taken aback.

2015 will be Vettel's best year in the next few years.

This cycle is like the king is still invincible, yet it also seems like the king's time to fall is coming to an end.

It's a pity Ferrari didn't release any good cars this year. If they had 17 or 18 models, Vettel might have been able to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes.

Wu Shi was also very fortunate that this was Williams' best year in the next decade.

“P3, Lewis P6, Nico P7, everything is fine,” Jonathan said.

"Yes, everything is fine. As long as we surpass Lewis, everything will be fine."

Wu Shi responded in TR.

As for whether Vettel will also pose a threat to him?
These days, people are so indebted they don't care. They just go after whoever is closest!

In the street race, he's leading Hamilton and will most likely be able to stop the old man's pursuit.

If all goes well.

(End of this chapter)