F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 298 First Shot at Home
At 3:48 PM, the green light in the maintenance area came on.

Wu Shi did not appear immediately; he wiped his palms several times before putting on gloves.

His heart was pounding. Driving a true championship car in the paddock, did he have a chance to win a pole position in his hometown?

“Everything is normal, Wu Shi. Get ready. I will notify you immediately when it’s time to release the car,” Jonathan’s voice rang out.

“Yes, everything is as usual,” Wu Shi replied.

Half a minute later, Hamilton was instructed to go on the field first.

"Hamilton came out first; I saw a photo of him having dinner on the Bund yesterday."

"Yes, we were surrounded and chased by car enthusiasts."

Was Wu Shi also present at that time?

"Yeah, it seems so. They said Wu Shi took Hamilton out for hot pot, and it looks like they ordered extra spicy. I even have a few photos on my WeChat Moments."

"Huh? It's super spicy! Hahaha! Wu Shi, hahaha!"

Laughter suddenly erupted in the studio, but the words "underhanded tactics" couldn't be uttered.

While the group was chatting, Wu Shi was also allowed to proceed and drive onto the racetrack.

"Wow, they're both out so early. Are they about to have a showdown?" the soldier said happily.

"Hamilton is definitely a strong contender for pole position. How many pole positions has he taken here? Five?"

"Will his stomach hurt later?"

"Hahaha!"

A minute later, Hamilton completed his out-of-race lap, adjusted the car settings, quickly warmed up the tires with three quick strokes, and then began to accelerate and speed away.

As Hamilton charged down the straight, many fans cheered, and Union Jacks were waved everywhere.

Hamilton is still very popular in Shanghai and has a huge fan base.

The broadcast cameras then began to follow the fastest race car in the entire stadium as it began to speed away.

When the second timeout period began, Hamilton's car slid slightly.

"Oh!" the soldier exclaimed.

"This shouldn't have much of an impact, right?"

"Is there a 3.3% impact?"

"How can there be so many? There's only a little at most."

After discussing for a while, the two looked at Hamilton's scores in the first two timed segments.

"Hamilton has a great understanding of this track, and his first and second timeouts were very fast!"

Meanwhile, the first two drivers to take the field had already set their times.

Hulkenberg finished in 1 minute 34.864 seconds.

Kvyat's time was 1 minute 34.645 seconds.

Swish!
Hamilton then crossed the finish line in 1 minute 31.902 seconds, directly beating Hulkenberg by 1.678 seconds!
However, the commentators did not exclaim in surprise, because Wu Shi, who was speeding behind Hamilton, was about to cross the finish line in about half a minute.

"Wu Shi's second timing segment was slower, but his first timing segment was faster!"

"My God! Hamilton is already so fast, how fast will Wu Shi's progress be?!"

Everyone watched with great anticipation.

Swish!
Wu Shi crossed the finish line, and his final result was revealed.

1 minutes 31 seconds 777!

"Ooooooooo!!!"

A deafening roar of cheers erupted from the stands on the main straight, this time with a sea of ​​red flags waving in unison, overshadowing the Union Jack-waving fans.

"My God! It's 0.13 seconds faster!"

"Haha, you just said that Hamilton had some insights here, but it seems that Wu Shi has even more insights here."

"Hey! If that's the case, this is Wu Shi's hometown, so of course he would have more experience here!"

The two were overflowing with joy.

"It's truly rare to see so many spectators waving our national flags in the stands one day," the soldier suddenly remarked.

“Yes, before, it was all drivers from other countries; we never saw any of our own,” Fei Ge sighed slightly.

“P2, difference 0.13,” Bono told Hamilton in TR.

"Yeah, Turn 11, tail slide."

The old man's expression was hard to discern from under his helmet, but in the P-room, Toto looked unusually relaxed.

Ferrari's resurgence this year has put him under immense pressure, but both drivers are clearly capable of supporting him.

About two minutes later, Kimi's first lap time was also announced.

1 minutes 32 seconds 616.

"Kimi is way behind!"

"Logically, the track conditions for the later races should be better, and the speed should be faster."

"Vatel, Vatel is here!"

"Vettel was driving really aggressively in the last few corners! What will happen?!"

Swish!
1 minutes 32 seconds 086.

"Wow! A difference of 0.184!"

"Oh my, the difference in seconds is very small now, Watts has a chance."

"We'll go back and change the tires; the three of us will still have to fight over them."

All eight drivers on the track have already achieved results, while Perez and Stroll are still in the pit lane.

Wu Shi stayed in the car, looking at the data on the screen.

“We definitely need to run another lap,” Jonathan said.

"Yes, I know."

Wu Shi waited; with a difference of less than 0.13 seconds, the old man would do another lap no matter what.

After all, he had just slipped and made a mistake.

Vettel is unlikely to give up easily either; everyone will continue to fight for him.

He took a few deep breaths. To be honest, that last lap was already his limit.

However, the difference between top drivers and ordinary drivers lies in their unique understanding of the track, in addition to controlling the car.

Wu Shi continued to mentally review the situation at every point on the track.

He scrutinized every minute difference in every place, as if replaying a camera recording.

To achieve higher speeds, better and more precise wiring is essential.

Of course, the track conditions must be monitored constantly. If the weather is uncooperative, such as if the wind direction or speed affects the race cars, there is nothing that can be done.

He's not a god; we can only hope he'll be given the best possible track conditions later.

Hamilton left the field with 3 minutes and 26 seconds remaining in Q3.

Just 30 seconds later, Wu Shi was also released.

At this point, the track was still quite crowded.

Vettel was also waiting, and released the car at 2 minutes and 28 seconds.

Soon, Hamilton took the lead in completing the final flying lap, drawing everyone's attention.

This is a battle for pole position!
Hamilton maintained a very good pace, reaching a top speed of 328 kph before Turn 1!

After entering the corner, you will face corners 1-3, which are like snail shells spinning. These unconventional corners require drivers to have a very high level of judgment in judging the line.

Hamilton maintained a speed of around 100kph. When he came out of Turn 2, he gave it full throttle but fished out slightly, forcing him to make a slight steering maneuver to recover.

This level of fluctuation won't affect lap times much.

On the next two straights, he began adjusting the car settings before preparing to enter Turn 6.

Swish!
第一计时段成绩出来，24秒036，相较于他上一圈的24秒079提高了0.043。

However, the fastest time in the first timeout was not his, but Vettel's – 23.998 seconds.

However, it cannot be denied that Hamilton is faster!
Meanwhile, Wu Shi, who was behind him, also entered the racing circle.

Wu Shi attaches great importance to the Shanghai International Circuit, which is also the track he practices on the most in private.

Throughout the practice sessions, he was recreating the simulator experience in real life and has found a running style that works very well for him and W08.

His line was slightly different from Hamilton's, so although he applied more throttle when exiting Turn 2, he didn't experience a drift. He was initially slower in Turn 2, but with better acceleration out of the corner, these advantages will continue as he enters and exits Turn 3!
Swish!
23 seconds 996.

"Wu Shi's first timing segment was even faster!"

"What will Hamilton's second timeout be like? His ultimate understanding of the last race is in corners 7, 8, 9, and 10, where no one can beat him."

"Yes, it's coming soon."

"Wow, 51.115! Calculate the speed for the second time slot: 27.079 seconds, which is two-hundredths of a second faster than the previous lap's 27.099 seconds!"

"These two segments are already six percent faster than his previous ones."

Clearly, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Hamilton will surpass his own time again this lap.

And what about Wu Shi in the background?
Everyone was watching him intently.

"27.101!"

"Wu Shi was 0.022 seconds slower! But with both timing segments combined, Wu Shi is still faster."

"Yes, Wu Shi is currently at 51.097, and the difference between the two is only 0.018 seconds!"

"It all comes down to the last timing segment!"

As the results came out one by one, everyone's hearts were in their throats.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was still scribing the fastest record.

Under the wide-angle lens, the 44 Silver Arrows almost slid onto the grass as it exited the corner, creating a visually stunning sight.

At the final turn 16, Hamilton pushed even further, sending the entire car flying!

You should know that running like that here is very easy to lose control!
However, Hamilton managed to keep it under control.

Swish!
Crossing the finish line.

1 minutes 31 seconds 678!

"Wow! He's 0.224 seconds faster than himself! Almost 0.1 seconds faster than Wu Shi's fastest lap!"

"Don't rush! Don't rush, Wu Shi is behind us, he'll be here soon!"

Now the camera can focus entirely on Wu Shi.

The special edition red helmet was very eye-catching, and everyone was waiting for the final results.

"Wu Shi, he's coming. He's making the most of the track space. I can even see grass clippings outside the shoulder being lifted up by the airflow."

Will he surpass himself and his teammates to create a new record?!
"This is his home turf, everyone is expecting him to do this, everyone wants to see him."
“Cross the finish line!”

"The results are!"

"Wow! 1 minute 31.660 seconds! Wu Shi's third split is as fast as Lewis'!"

"He has outmaneuvered his teammate once again! He has an excellent chance of securing pole position at home!"

David was also excitedly providing commentary, and at the scene, even louder cheers burst into the broadcast camera's view.

The director immediately turned the camera on the main grandstand, where a sea of ​​red was seen waving national flags and a large headshot of Wu Shi.

As a commentator, David cannot draw conclusions before Vettel has finished running.

But most of the audience present probably realized that Vettel couldn't possibly overcome that nearly 0.4-second gap!

The camera quickly focused on Vettel.

No miracles, no surprises, Vettel crossed the finish line in 1 minute 31.864 seconds!

"Oh my god! Pole position! Wu Shi got pole position!!!"

"My God! He beat Hamilton again to take pole position!"

"This pole position is incredibly significant! This is the first time a Chinese driver has secured F1 pole position on a domestic circuit!"

In the studio, the commentators were already shouting, they were just too excited.

And what about the scene? Champagne had already started being opened.

“P1, great, P1, enjoy the cheers from the home crowd,” Jonathan said.

"Wuhu! YES! Whew, YES!"

Wu Shi vented his joy, but perhaps only he knew how those short minute and a half had passed.

He would wave as he passed by the stands, and although there were many foreigners, most of the fans were Chinese.

In fact, the sales of F1 tickets for the Shanghai station have been very hot in the past two years, which is inseparable from his influence.

When he parked his car in the starting area and went to weigh it, Vettel went to the number 59 Silver Arrow and looked around.

Especially the side compartments; you almost want to stick your head in to get a closer look.

Wu Shi finished weighing himself, and the press officer from Mercedes-Benz was already waiting for him.

The two discussed the final situation on the field before Wu Shi returned to the pit room to put away his helmet.

He also couldn't miss the press conference after the qualifying race.

Compared to the various questions from yesterday, people are now more concerned about why he is still faster than Hamilton.

However, how can I explain these things? You can't explain them clearly; you can only understand them by watching the video footage.

Finally, a reporter from CCTV asked with a smile: "Tomorrow you will have the opportunity to compete for the home championship. This is your best chance in three years. How do you feel now?"

"Well, I don't feel anything yet because the competition hasn't started, so I'm not very nervous. But I might get nervous when the competition starts tomorrow."

The reporter then nodded and said with a smile:

"Don't be nervous, we are all your strong support! Go for it, Wu Shi! We all believe in you!"

Wu Shi laughed along, scratched his head, and said, "Thank you! Thank you."

Now that you've said that, I'm nervous even though I wasn't.

Of course, these thoughts are kept to oneself and cannot be said in public.

The atmosphere at the press conference was quite good, probably because no one wanted to disrupt the atmosphere of a young world champion wanting to win on home soil.

After leaving the press conference, Verstappen emerged from the pit room.

"Did you take Lewis out for hot pot the night before last?" Verstappen asked as soon as he came up.

"Huh? Who said that?" Wu Shi was taken aback.

“Your commentary,” Verstappen said, pointing to the forwarded video on his phone.

"???"

“I read below that this is an underhanded tactic, and Lewis will have a stomachache tomorrow,” Verstappen continued.

“Slander! If I wanted him to have diarrhea, I would have treated him to a meal!” Wu Shi retorted.

“Oh? Why do you say that?” Vestapan asked curiously.

"I'll take you to try it after the match tomorrow?" Wu Shi smiled, wanting to see if his Dutch stomach could handle it.

“Of course, we can send more people over?” Vestager asked.

"Ugh, I don't want to make a big fuss!" Wu Shi said, both amused and exasperated.

“Alright, alright, since you’re all here in China, you should treat everyone to a meal,” Vestager said with a smile.

“OK, I’ll arrange this!” Wu Shi gestured.

This was originally planned, but we didn't get to know each other well in the first year, so we didn't host a dinner party.

The following year, Wu Shi wanted to organize a home-field dinner, but the race organizers invited the drivers to dinner instead.

There are no plans for this year's competition, so let him handle it.

He checked his phone; his dad had sent a text message saying he was coming to Shanghai tomorrow.

On the other side, the press officer took out a cloth bag and said, "This was prepared in advance for you."

"what?"

"Take a look for yourself, we customized it strictly according to the requirements."

The press officer winked.

That evening, the evening news broadcast the news that Wu Shi had secured pole position, a truly impressive achievement.

At the end of the news broadcast, the weather forecast for tomorrow was also released, indicating that there might be rain.

However, all the teams have already determined their tuning direction today, so whether it rains or not is something that was expected.

Wu Shi put on a jacket; it was still a bit chilly in early April in China.

It's going to rain tomorrow, and it'll probably be even colder.

(End of this chapter)