F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 286 Leading Wu Shi Will Lead to Misfortune

Chapter 286 Leading Wu Shi Will Lead to Misfortune (Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader "Li Ge Xue Xin"!)
With Kimi's reminder, Wu Shi started rambling incoherently when faced with many difficult questions.

"I heard that your race car was faster last year because you used funds from this year's project. Will you still be able to remain competitive this year?"

Another reporter threw a difficult question at him, and Wu Shi immediately replied:
"Melbourne is a beautiful city, and I plan to visit during the winter. You know, driving here is a wonderful thing."

Kimi touched his forehead.

The host smiled and then said:
"The next question is for Lewis, Sky Sports asked, during the preseason testing we saw Ferrari and Force India both show exceptional speed."

Will you face even greater challenges this year?

Hamilton nodded and said, "YES."

"Of course, every season is challenging, and we give our all in every season."

This is the standard answer: Mercedes dominated the paddock for two years (they still won the Constructors' Championship with an overwhelming advantage in 2015), and Toto, for strategic reasons, never wanted Mercedes to look like they won too easily.

Everyone knows that winning too easily makes the game boring.

If a match becomes boring, the FIA will drastically cut it until it's completely ruined.

"They kept asking questions, and during the preseason testing, we saw that you and your teammates seemed to have some disagreements, and you seemed to be thinking about who should do more testing?"
"Or were they discussing who was faster? That was also the question asked of Rosberg."

The host repeated.

Now it was Old Man and Rosberg's turn to be in a difficult position, as neither of them liked this kind of question.

So no one spoke.

But at the pre-match press conference, he couldn't remain silent, so Hamilton finally said:
"I don't know, yeah, I don't know."

Fortunately, after a round of questions, the reporters calmed down, which relieved the other drivers.

Everyone reviewed last year, looked ahead to this year, and shared their thoughts on the rule changes this year.

The lively scene at the pre-match press conference also kicked off the 2016 season.

Australia, once again, welcomed its first match of 2016.

The FIA and F1 were eager to make this year exciting, but the practice sessions that followed immediately made everyone realize that this year might not be as exciting as last year.

When showcasing his lap speed in the third practice session, Hamilton clocked a time of 1 minute 25.624 seconds.

Last year's pole position time was only 1 minute 26.327 seconds, which shows that Mercedes has made a significant improvement.

As they said, Ferrari will be even closer to the world championship this year.

Vettel clocked a time of 1 minute 25.852 seconds.

The Toro Rosso, which also uses a Ferrari engine, has performed very well, but of course, Wu Shi is the one that everyone is most concerned about in the paddock right now.

As required by the team, Wu Shi did his best to complete one lap, achieving a time of 1 minute and 26.3 seconds, but only ranking fifth.

After Wu Shi returned to the repair area, Jennifer immediately came over and said:
"You need to be more confident later. No matter what level you think we are at, we still have some negotiations that require your results."

Wu Shi nodded and said a few words casually in front of the camera as requested.

Massa met with him and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Wu Shi shook his head slightly. He could push his speed in a single lap, but he was pessimistic about long distances.

Massa remained silent, indicating that he had done a good job managing expectations for this year.

"Don't be discouraged, you've already proven yourself in 2015."

"I'm not that easily discouraged."

Wu Shi smiled, knowing that Massa was giving him a warning that he would likely face very serious challenges this season.

When a vehicle's performance declines and it becomes impossible to achieve effective results, it can indeed make a driver lose confidence.

"I feel like the new ranking rules this afternoon are going to be a hassle," Wu Shi said.

"Yes, that rule is undoubtedly true." Massa didn't know what to say and could only shake his head.

The qualifying rounds began at 5:00 PM.

Due to the new regulations, as soon as Q1 started, all the race cars took to the track without hesitation.

"This is truly an unprecedented and unheard-of scene!"

"Under the new regulations, no one dares to waste time, and everyone is using ultrasoft tires."

"I think we should give F1 a round of applause."

Even now, both Bingge and Feige still think this ranking mode is quite good.

But all the drivers who took to the track knew that this was absolutely terrible.

The large number of race cars caused severe traffic congestion on the track, and the chaos during the warm-up laps prevented most drivers from speeding up.

Even Wu Shi had to lap the car for two before Jonathan reminded him that while it was okay to speed, he should be careful to avoid slower cars.

Because there is no guarantee that there will be no clean circles next, Wu Shi cannot leave any margin.

However, the poor traffic conditions forced him to change his route in some places, which directly affected his lap time.

The slower lap times were secondary; what nearly caused collisions several times was the cars in front failing to avoid the racing line in time, which made Wu Shi want to jump up.

Fortunately, after one lap, he set a time of 1 minute 25.497 seconds and took the lead.

"See, I told you so. Wu Shi's speed wasn't enough in the practice race, but that's only because it was practice. When it comes to the real race, he'll immediately show his speed," the soldier said after seeing this.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hamilton ran a time of 1 minute 25.351 seconds to take first place.

"The gap is still very small, and I think we might still have a chance in the main competition this year," Bing Ge said happily.

As seven minutes passed, the track became increasingly chaotic, with many drivers in the back row forced to perform laps without being prepared in order to avoid being eliminated.

This further exacerbated the congestion on the track.

Even many front-row drivers were affected because their first flying lap was hindered and they were not fast enough, so they had to join the crowded qualifying.

Fortunately, all the teams eventually returned to their designated positions.

The two cars that were eliminated were Manor, two Haas, two Sauber, and Red Bull's Kvyat—because of a problem with the vehicle.

The subsequent decrease in vehicles in Q2 did alleviate traffic congestion somewhat.

With the experience gained in Q1, each team can better calculate the appropriate time to enter the race.

Immediately afterwards, the two Mercedes drivers completed a time of 1 minute and 24 seconds in just one flying lap.

Hamilton still leads Rosberg by nearly 0.2 points.

Wu Shi also completed a lap, setting a time of 1 minute and 25.3 seconds before returning to the pit area.

This result was overtaken by Vettel in the final moments, dropping him to fourth place.

Massaka narrowly advanced to the next round in eighth place.

In Q3, the situation was better, but the result was not good.

With only eight cars on the track, each team can manage their time effectively, just like in qualifying.

This tacit understanding allowed everyone to unleash their full potential.

After the first lap, Wu Shi finished fifth with a time of 1 minute 25.1 seconds.

He didn't get a second chance to improve his lap time because after the cooldown lap, he was immediately eliminated.

The two Ferrari drivers ahead of him faced the same problem: they simply didn't have enough time to prepare for their second flying lap.

So with the last bit of time remaining, only Mercedes drivers were left vying for pole position.

Hamilton ultimately secured pole position with a time of 1 minute 23.837 seconds.

"What kind of lap time is that?!" The soldier jumped up immediately upon seeing the result.

"I think there's still a chance. Most drivers don't get the chance to set a second flying lap," Fei said.

Q3 was completely unwatchable by the end.

During the interviews, most drivers said the new qualifying format was very dangerous, especially when there were many cars on the Q1 and Q2 tracks.

During the interview with Wu Shi, the reporter pointed out another major drawback of this new ranking system.

"Wu Shi, we noticed that in Q3, you didn't seem to have much time to complete the second lap?"

Wu Shi nodded and said:

"Yes, if you appear late, you will face a serious time crisis, and you may not have another chance after you finish one lap."

"The solution to this problem is to go all out on the first flying lap, but you know that's impossible for drivers. We need better track conditions."

The reporter continued, "If you were given two laps to fly, do you think you would have a chance to improve your ranking? A fifth-place finish in qualifying isn't ideal for you."

“I think this is a rather complicated issue. If I have an extra lap, then the other drivers will also have an extra chance, and they might improve their times even more,” Wu Shi said with a smile.

"So that means your lap times will improve?" the reporter asked.

Wu Shi realized that the reporter was criticizing the problems caused by the new F1 qualifying system, so he just smiled and remained noncommittal.

The interviews following the qualifying matches immediately sparked widespread discontent and criticism.

The audience at the scene are the ones who can best understand the chaos.

In order to get a good flying lap, all the teams had to waste a lot of time on the track.

This made the early stages of the race extremely congested, yet there was nothing interesting to watch.

Because there were so many vehicles, the spectators didn't know who was lapping or where to look.

The most criticism also came from the qualifying Q3.

As the reporter who interviewed Wu Shi asked, this race is very unfair to the other drivers besides Mercedes.

Because he didn't have more time to do a second lap.

This resulted in nothing more than watching the Mercedes cars do laps in a boring way.

Furthermore, Wu Shi's smile during the interview made people think that he was speechless after being pranked.

Many F1 fans have been complaining on the official F1 page, and the controversy has inevitably spilled over to Mercedes.

Toto even had to speak out and say:

"First of all, we must apologize to the fans."

"The intention behind this change was good, but everything went wrong."

"We need to solve this problem immediately."

"What we saw was fast drivers like Wu Shi, Vettel and Raikkonen being eliminated with five minutes left in the race."

"This prevents them from fully realizing their potential."

"The most important thing now is to make changes quickly."

Rosberg, Vettel, and Hamilton all expressed their opinions, believing it to be a failed attempt.

Indeed, that's the case. The Melbourne circuit still has plenty of space, and it's easy to imagine what would happen if the race were moved to Monaco.

Faced with such a major public relations crisis, F1 immediately held a meeting on Sunday morning and decided to resume the previous qualifying format at the next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The already determined rankings for the Australian Grand Prix will not be changed.

"How's your overall impression? We need you to set the tone for us."

Before the Grand Prix began, Williams held a small internal meeting, mainly to assess Wu Shi's confidence in the car.

Wu Shi paused for a moment, then said:
"Long-distance tire wear is very unfriendly, and even though we've improved compared to last year, we haven't kept up with them." This caused a moment of silence. Judging from the fact that Mercedes can achieve last year's pole position results just by looking at practice sessions, standing still is the same as regressing, and slow progress is also the same as regressing!
Claire nodded and said, "Alright, let's start preparing for the match."

Without the inspiring words spoken before the battle, everyone immediately noticed the change in the team's atmosphere.

Massa glanced at Claire, then looked at Wu Shi beside him, as if he had something to say, but ultimately didn't.

The race was fast approaching, and everyone started on supersoft tires.

Returning to the track in a different capacity, Wu Shi had to admit that the feeling was different.

He was surprisingly calm; he felt that he had made progress in self-cultivation.

But when the light didn't come on for a long time while he was waiting, he couldn't stay calm. What kind of trouble was going on?

Jonathan said, "The Kvyat vehicle broke down and stopped on the straight."

Sure enough, not long after, the drivers received instructions to re-form the laps.

Hamilton and Vettel had both left, but Wu Shi noticed that Kimi beside him and Rosberg to his right remained motionless.

His heart skipped a beat, thinking that the two of them had malfunctioned.

As a result, Rosberg started slowly, while Kimi followed behind without moving, because he didn't care—why would the Iceman need to warm up his tires?

"Kvyat is withdrawing from the competition."

"It's not about the Renault engine, is it? Hahaha!"

"Renault must be dizzy by now, right?"

"You started criticizing him from the very first minute."

"I'm not trying to diss him, haha, I actually have a very good impression of Renault."

Bingfei and Bingfei started chatting and laughing.

Red Bull stopped in the road and Renault was indeed panicked; if there was a problem with their engine, they would suffer the consequences too!
After one lap, all the vehicles were in position, and the red light finally came on.

Wu Shi gradually became excited as the competition was about to begin.

The five red lights lit up one by one.

Lights out, start running.

Wu Shi only noticed that Vettel suddenly turned right, and instantly he knew that Hamilton had started slowly.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to turn left, and Hamilton would definitely block Vettel's movement to the right!
However, Vettel was too fast, and immediately came between the two Mercedes cars, and was still accelerating forward at a rapid pace.

Seeing that he could no longer stop Vettel, Hamilton noticed Wu Shi behind him and instantly moved to the left to block him.

Further ahead, Vettel had shifted the entire car to the right, using his faster start to take the lead over Rosberg!
Before Turn 1, Vettel completely blocked Rosberg's line, and Rosberg locked up with a heavy brake!
Entering the turn too late!
Meanwhile, Hamilton, who was behind him, also started entering the corner from the outside.

Rosberg noticed this and, who had been taking the corner from the inside, quickly squeezed towards the left outside line as he exited the corner.

The two Mercedes cars collided.

Hamilton had no driving line at all, so he had to drive on the shoulder.

At this moment, Kimi, who was behind, saw that the inside wire was open and immediately inserted it.

Wu Shi also keenly followed.

Both players used the space created by the Mercedes' mutual attacks to accelerate rapidly.

All four cars completed their exit maneuvers at roughly the same time, followed by the acceleration phase after exiting the corner!
Rosberg was still in the lead, but he couldn't accelerate quickly due to the aftereffects of squeezing Hamilton.

Kimi had good room for acceleration and quickly widened the gap.

Wu Shi, who was following behind Kimi, was now facing off against Hamilton, who was behind Rosberg.

Wu Shi was not worried at all; Hamilton, who was on the road shoulder, certainly couldn't outrun him!

Buzz!

With a quick acceleration, and without any hesitation, Wu Shi overtook Hamilton!

Hamilton's bad luck was not over yet; the debuff from the shoulder made him extremely slow!
Verstappen, who started sixth from behind, was already following behind.

Furthermore, because Verstappen enters and exits corners without any obstruction, he has far better acceleration potential than Verstappen.

Therefore, Verstappen also established a speed advantage on the subsequent large bend and straight.

Swish!

Hamilton dropped another spot.

After the first two bends, the front seats were finally separated.

Two Ferraris moved up to first and second place, while Rosberg struggled to hold onto third.

The two youngest drivers in the paddock are in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Hamilton has fallen to sixth place and is being besieged and pursued by Massa and Ricardo.

The scene was incredibly lively, and the chaotic situation kept the commentators talking until their mouths were practically smoking!

At the end of the first lap, Vettel was 1.5 seconds ahead of Kimi.

Rosberg was also 0.9 seconds ahead of Kimi.

Wu Shi was only 0.5 seconds behind.

Verstappen followed even more aggressively, trailing Wu Shi by less than 0.3 seconds!
On the second lap, Hamilton's position slipped further.

On the third lap, DRS was activated.

Hamilton quickly overtook Massa at Turns 4 and 5, returning to sixth place.

At this moment, he was facing Verstappen, who had pulled away by more than two seconds.

At the same time, Pan Zi drove his DRS and charged towards Wu Shi.

Wu Shi knew Pan Zi's driving style very well, so he didn't give him any leeway and blocked him however he wanted.

The two were so familiar with each other that they were constantly locked in a one-second battle.

After this DRS locomotive was formed, Hamilton was also blocked behind by Verstappen.

Hamilton was extremely anxious at this moment, because Vettel was running desperately in the clean air.

At this point, Vettel was more than 2 seconds ahead of his teammate Kimi, 3 seconds ahead of Rosberg, and 4.5 seconds ahead of Wu Shi.

If it gets blocked a few more times, the Ferrari will be completely out of reach!

No one expected this year to start like this!
Is Ferrari about to rise again?
The Toro Rosso, powered by a Ferrari engine, is also exceptionally fierce, which further proves this point!

Wu Shi's performance was still outstanding. Everyone said that Williams FW38 wouldn't be fast, but he was still able to seize key opportunities to get a position.

Rustle! Rustle!

One race car after another sped past.

Perhaps it had been too long since we'd seen two red Prancing Horses in the lead, as the director kept focusing the camera on them.

The crowd at Tiefo Temple was jubilant, as if it were Chinese New Year, and most of the commentators were passionately recounting this extraordinary moment.

The situation at the front remained deadlocked until lap 12, when Rosberg was the first to pit for soft tires, falling behind Hamilton.

Next up is Vettel, still on supersoft tires!
Verstappen also went into the pit area to change tires.

Kimi rose to first place, while Wu Shi came in second.

The differences in strategy immediately became apparent.

Vettel was still ahead of Rosberg after the turn, and even though Rosberg tried to threaten Vettel, he was pulled away by Vettel, who was on supersoft tires, after three corners.

Verstappen dropped to eighth place after coming out, behind Perez, with Ricardo threatening him from behind.

"BOX BOX".

Wu Shi was recalled to the station and, like Rosberg, was given the same strategy: soft tires were put on.

At the first entry window, a large number of vehicles entered the station, causing the rankings on the field to change constantly.

On lap 15, Vettel, on supersoft tires, had caught up with Hamilton, who had not yet pitted.

On lap 16, Vettel used DRS to close the gap and easily overtook Hamilton on the outside of Turn 2.

Hamilton then pitted at the end of the lap and switched to medium tires.

It's yet another different tire strategy.

The availability of three tire options certainly gives teams more flexibility in their choices, but it also means that each team needs to calculate more data.

At this point, Williams had to calculate the tactics of the three drivers with different tire strategies for this race.

At the end of lap 16, Vettel returned to the lead as Kimi and Hamilton pitted together.

Behind him were Rosberg, Kmi, Wu Shi, Ricardo, Verstappen, Sainz, and Hamilton.

After leaving the pits, the veteran was overtaken by Verstappen and Sainz, which was quite unfortunate.

But worse was yet to come.

On lap 17, Alonso tried to overtake at Turn 3, but instead crashed into Gutierrez!

The car rolled off the track and finally came to a stop at the end of the gravel area.

Such a serious accident immediately put the event on high alert, and the safety car arrived at the track without hesitation.

“Alonso was in a huge collision, thankfully he's alright.” Jonathan had barely finished saying that when he added:
"Okay, we need to consider whether to change the tires."

“Ricardo is behind me, right?” Wu Shi asked.

"Yes, we will face his attack."

Difficult strategic decisions lay ahead.

"I think it's best to follow the lead of the driver in front."

“Copy,” Jonathan said.

On lap 18, Bottas pitted for tires.

On lap 19, the race flag was raised, and all vehicles entered the pit lane.

Well, now we'll have to change the tires even if we don't want to.

But which tires should I get?
Vettel was still using supersoft tires, which were already in use.

Rosberg, Kimi, and Hamilton all switched to neutral tires.

Williams didn't hesitate and changed both drivers' tires to medium tires.

Twenty minutes later, the safety car led the entire field back to the track.