F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 270 A Driver's Duty
Like that massive hurricane, the U.S. Grand Prix became a hot topic of conversation throughout the paddock.

When Wu Shi won again, people suddenly began to doubt that the world driver's championship had fallen to Mercedes.

With 25 points, this comeback was not something Hamilton could accomplish alone.

If Wu Shi can still aim for second place, then even if Hamilton wins all his victories, it will be of no use.

This is also why most media outlets say they cannot predict the world champion.

After all, it doesn't seem too difficult for Wu Shi to get second place.

In previous races, Wu Shi was almost always on the podium, and whenever a driver ahead of him made a mistake, he would seize the opportunity to climb to a higher position.

After the match, Wu Shi was forced to engage in some interviews.

In fact, there are a few media outlets that are impossible to refuse, such as state media and Italian media.

The state media expressed the idea of ​​making a documentary, but this was not something that Wu Shi could just agree to; it also involved the FIA, F1, Williams, and various other parties.

However, they came to Wu Shi to ask for his opinion, and Wu Shi naturally nodded in agreement. CCTV said that the rest would be left to them to negotiate.

Williams had some reservations about the invitation from CCTV and replied that he needed to consider more issues.

The FIA ​​and F1 are different; they are slow to process requests and you need to wait for a response, which will likely take some time.

On the other hand, Hamilton and Rosberg were also constantly harassed by the media.

Because Hamilton didn't throw the hat back after catching it thrown by Rosberg, the focus of attention was on Rosberg's failure to yield on the track.

Rosberg had to respond multiple times, stating:

"I'm not the number 2 driver, and it would be absurd to let the car pass when you have a speed advantage."

Hamilton also stated, "I am confident that I can win the world championship on my own merits. It is his business if he does not act in the interests of the team."

This statement is somewhat unrealistic.

However, the two are now like oil and water, with extremely large conflicts, and exchanging harsh words is the most common form of confrontation.

The day after the Grand Prix, Toto stated in a media interview:

“Nico’s behavior disappointed me. I have always believed that the birth of a world champion is never a matter of one person, but a matter of a team. He was detached from the team, which is a pity.”

Nikki Lauda also criticized Rosberg: "That's a pretty selfish choice, it shouldn't be like that."

It was inevitable that the two would criticize Rosberg. Now is the time to fight for the championship, and his actions disregard the team's interests!
On Wednesday, Rosberg said in an interview:

"The team has already spoken to me about this, and I have nothing more to say to you. I just want to say that I will fulfill my responsibilities as a driver."

These words didn't reveal much, and no one knew how things would develop after the match.

However, Toto later stated to the media:

"Our goal for the next match is to bring home the first two spots."

Meanwhile, Williams held a press conference, indicating that he would bring some upgrades to the next stop.

Williams did not release specific details, only indicating that the optimizations were in tire management, power unit tuning, and ERS.

This is actually the result of Claire's decision to add more budget.

The improvement of aerodynamics is limited by the time constraints of wind and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations, making research and development very difficult.

After all, Williams doesn't have a human-shaped wind tunnel.

During the week, at a meeting of the F1 strategy group, both the FIA ​​and FOM proposed setting maximum prices for engines and gearboxes for customer teams.

This proposal was naturally welcomed by most teams, as no one wanted to be exploited by engine suppliers.

However, Ferrari exercised its veto power, killing the proposal at the outset, with team principal Maurizio Arrivabene stating that he refused to sell the engine at a loss.

Ferrari has just gone public on the New York Stock Exchange. If the profit margins of engine and transmission suppliers are cut at this time, it will definitely affect the stock price.

Therefore, it is quite normal for the Ferrari team principal to react so strongly.

Toto also expressed off-stage that Mercedes was unwilling to do so, which can be seen as agreeing with Ferrari's veto.

The other teams were very cautious, and no one brought up the matter again, not even mentioning Ferrari's veto power.

The hidden implications behind this are certainly more than just a few words in the news.

Following Lotus's financial crisis, Power of India also encountered a financial crisis.

Their finances have been impacted by the sentencing of their director, Subrata Roy, who is expected to go to jail in the coming days.

Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya was forced to demand a $1000 million pre-arranged payment from FOM to secure Force India's participation in the 2016 season.

However, it's worth noting that Power India filed a complaint against FOM during the last race week.

This time, they've shot themselves in the foot.

However, Bernie still agreed to it.

After receiving the promise, Maya immediately announced his intention to sell the team to Aston Martin.

Aston Martin has indeed been considering a return to Formula 1, but whether this is just hype remains to be seen.

The Manor team remains in turmoil, with the team principal being asked to resign and the team's investors raising renewed questions about the team's profitability.

Whether this team can survive until next year is a big question.

The Mexican Grand Prix has returned to the calendar after a 23-year hiatus.

The Rodriguez Brothers circuit has been refurbished, and needless to say, the newly laid asphalt will be extremely slippery.

In addition, the drivers' unfamiliarity with the track could lead to numerous accidents.

However, Wu Shi is very familiar with this place. He may be the only F1 driver who knew how to drive this track before the race.

The main difference between the Rodriguez Brothers Circuit in 2015 and later models is that numbers 13-15 still exist.

"Do you think we need more downforce?" Rhodes asked.

“Of course, below an altitude of 2200 meters, if we don’t increase the downforce, we’ll be in big trouble,” Wu Shi said.

The engineers were already aware of the impact of altitude and made corresponding adjustments.

However, Wu Shi's emphasis on it led them to decide to make revisions.

However, after several modifications, the data in the simulator became increasingly worse.

“That’s normal. If you need higher downforce, your top speed will naturally decrease,” Rhodes said, leaning on the table.

The track features a long straight of 1.2 kilometers, but the next turn, Turn 1, is almost a right angle, which will severely test the car's braking ability and stability in the corner.

"Should we make the forewing angle slightly larger?"

"You only need grip on the front wheels?"

“Theoretically, that’s possible,” Wu Shi nodded.

The engineers racked their brains again and began making adjustments.

Amidst the intensive preparations, October 30th arrived.

During the practice session, Williams unveiled its new car, and many Mercedes engineers took the opportunity to look at it from all angles, but they couldn't find any changes.

The next training session was again affected by heavy rain, and everyone used semi-rain tires for testing.

It wasn't until the second practice session in the afternoon that we had the opportunity to test the dry tires.

However, people are more careful about grip in the rain and drive more conservatively, but once the environment is dry, they tend to let loose.

Verstappen, who set the fastest lap in practice, spun out and crashed into the guardrail at Turn 16 just 5 minutes into his run, ending his shift early.

Sainz, Perez, and Bottas were also constantly slipping.

Even Hamilton lost control and spun out at Turn 4.

It wasn't until the third practice session that everyone's performance improved.

Rosberg and Hamilton remain neck and neck, with Rosberg holding up his assistant.

Wu Shi was unable to achieve a sufficiently fast lap time due to downforce issues, placing him fourth.

This brings us back to the classic trade-off faced by weaker F1 cars: speed or stability?

In the end, Wu Shi made a compromise, prioritizing speed over stability.

After all, speed is speed, and consistent slowness is meaningless in a race. This is also a challenge for him; a car without stability might perform well in qualifying, but it will become very vulnerable in the race.

The three practice sessions have shown that the track's grip is currently very poor, which further exacerbates the shortcomings of the speed-oriented setup.

However, Williams' advantage still lies in its excellent speed when lightly loaded with fuel.

When the qualifying rounds came, the final car was placed under Wu Shi's seat.

Massa opted for a more conservative tuning approach.

"There is a 30% chance of rain."

Before Q1 set off, Jonathan said to Wu Shi.

This statement emphasizes the importance of setting lap times as quickly as possible to prepare for unexpected situations.

Therefore, Wu Shi did not intend to make too many attempts and directly pushed the limits.

In Q1, he topped the list with a time of 1 minute 20.321 seconds.

However, Hamilton and Rosberg were not going to give him any more chances and both ran under 1 minute 19.9 seconds.

Among so many people, only they ran under 1 minute and 19 seconds. The difference of 0.4 seconds made Wu Shi realize that he was indeed a bit slow.

However, the softest tires were not used for this lap.

After their first extreme flying lap, Rosberg and Hamilton continued to run a few more laps, still wanting to familiarize themselves with the track.

In Q2, Hamilton took the lead and ran a time of 1 minute 19.829 seconds, once again taking first place.

This time, Rosberg only managed a time of 1 minute 20.045 seconds.

During the encore, he said in the TR (presumably a voiceover): "Lack of power."

No one knows what went wrong with Mercedes-Benz, but Wu Shi was certainly happy.

Hamilton, who took first place in the first flying lap, still chose to do a second flying lap.

This is actually the choice of most drivers in Q2. After all, it's a new track, and flying a couple more laps will definitely make Q3 more comfortable.

Wu Shi still opted for a four-lap pace to complete Q2, meaning his starting tires would need to be replaced three to four times by the time of the race.

Towards the end of Q2, it actually started to drizzle in some parts of the track, turning the 30% chance of rain into 100%.

Williams and his team were overjoyed; in their eyes, Wu Shi was the god of rain battles.

The current situation means that Wu Shi can once again leverage his strengths.

However, this was premature celebration, because due to the issue of readjusting the race car, Wu Shi is now the one who fears this semi-wet road surface.

Fortunately, the drizzle was light and did not significantly alter the ground's grip.

With the debuffs at their maximum, Wu Shi managed to fly out of the first extreme lap, finishing in 1 minute 19.937 seconds.

Before the applause from Williams and his team had even subsided, Hamilton and Rosberg both clocked a time of 1 minute 19.8 seconds, which put Mercedes back in pole position.

Wu Shi felt he had almost pushed himself to the limit, and all he could do was prepare for the second lap.

With five minutes remaining, the fully equipped drivers once again left the pits.

Vettel set the first lap time, 1 minute 19.850 seconds.

This is the four-time champion who grew up from a child prodigy, pushing himself to the limit after only one lap in Q2.

Anyone can't help but marvel at the power of Vettel at his peak.

Rosberg then took first place with a time of 1 minute 19.480 seconds.

Wu Shi was still racing and had no idea how strong his opponents were. After crossing the finish line, his time improved by less than 0.1 seconds.

He narrowly defeated Vettel in 1 minute 19.848 seconds.

With the championship hanging in the balance, Hamilton, fueled by immense power, pushed W06 to its absolute limit and crossed the finish line in 1 minute 19.210 seconds!

Now, Wu Shi and Vettel could only sigh in despair.

Even Rosberg, who was also driving a W06, couldn't match it.

Toto nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the result.

They did all they could. They couldn't expect Ferrari and Red Bull to do better and inexplicably block Wu Shi from behind, could they?
In fact, this race was quite disadvantageous for Mercedes.

The downside is that Mercedes engines are too well-suited to the thin air at high altitudes.

Although Toto didn't fully understand the parameters of the other engines, he was still confident that only their engine could guarantee long-term stability and speed in the race.

Unfortunately, their opponent at the time, Williams, also used this highly adaptable and stable engine.

To be honest, if there really was a button to reduce power, Toto would love to press it.

In the post-qualifying interviews, the reporter asked Hamilton again:

Are you ready to reclaim the championship?

“Of course, our car is excellent, and I have no reason to make the same mistake as last time.” Hamilton nodded.

The reporter then asked Rosberg, "Nico, what is your mission in this match? Is it still to win?"

"I will fulfill my responsibilities as a driver," Rosberg replied.

This statement is ambiguous and leaves one confused.

A driver's duty can be either to fight with all their might to win, or to sacrifice their own interests for the greater good of the team.

Nobody knows what Rosberg was thinking.

When the reporter pointed the microphone at Wu Shi, Wu Shi thought for a moment and said:

"I only need two runner-up finishes and one random podium finish to maintain my lead in points. If you ask me what my goal is, this is my minimum goal."

"Do you think you can catch up with them in the main race?" the reporter continued.

"I don't know, because at least I'm slower than them in qualifying, but there are many factors that affect the race, and these are not things that can be predicted right now."

Wu Shi replied.

It can be said that in the penultimate race, both championship contenders and one supporting championship contender were under extreme pressure.

Wu Shi knows his own situation well; getting third place is the limit for this car.

Getting second or first place usually means that something went wrong at Mercedes.

But the day before the Grand Prix, he slept soundly, seemingly without any pressure.

The tension returned to him when the Grand Prix arrived the next day.

The tension was met with a frenzied cheer from the Mexican crowd, a cheer for their country's F1 drivers, but one that resonated with every driver.

"That's absolutely insane."

Wu Shi and Verstappen stood together, somewhat moved.

“Yes! Only Checo can get so many people cheering for him,” Verstappen said.

“The Dutch fans are no slouch either,” Wu Shi laughed, noting that the sea of ​​orange smoke is a headache for every F1 administrator.

"If that's the case, your home turf also has enthusiastic fans. Do you remember the solo parade the organizers prepared for you?" Verstappen said.

"Of course I remember." Wu Shi rubbed his fingers.

"You should respond to them, but you should also respond to your own heart."

“Of course, brother, I’m now even closer to the highest honor than Lewis,” Wu Shi said with a smile.

When Perez waved his hands, the broadcast camera zoomed directly in on Perez's face.

"Ooh ooh ooh!!!"

The crowd erupted in another burst of enthusiastic cheers.

As long as Perez remains in the paddock, he will be endlessly welcomed by his country's fans.

Therefore, he can say things in the future that Wu Shi would never dare to say:
"I have not returned alone; with me come the voice of a nation and the strength of a continent."

(End of this chapter)