F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 302 Four Stations Percent
The post-race discussion in Bahrain seems significant, but it's not much in the history of F1.

This is especially true for the Mercedes team.

Last year's replacement of the vehicle group, the year before that the internal competition lost WDC, and the year before that the hybrid engine "mysteriously" became fast.

Which of these incidents, if brought up individually, wouldn't attract more attention than this minor scrape at the Bahrain station?
The only difference is that the protagonist this time is named Wu Shi.

Mercedes' PR team then stepped in, releasing an announcement that expanded upon and explained Wu Shi's simple statement.

Wu Shi's humble attitude earned him praise from some rational fans, while others said he was being hypocritical and ungrateful.

Regardless, for Wu Shi, this matter was indeed in the past.

Compared to these verbal battles, the more important thing now is the development of racing cars.

First, the day after the Grand Prix, the first tire test of the season will continue in Bahrain.

Pirelli needs the team to test the 2018 tires.

Hamilton doesn't usually participate in these kinds of events, but he did this time.

Wu Shi was also present.

Simultaneously with this test, Mercedes is conducting a diagnostic assessment of the car's development for this season.

Clearly, Mercedes' performance on heavy-duty fuel, supersoft, and ultrasoft tires in long-distance conditions after the Australian Grand Prix was somewhat disappointing.

Wu Shi also expressed his opinion, believing that Mercedes' cars had an almost all-around advantage except in the Australian Grand Prix, but in the later races they became advantages in only one aspect.

If a race car isn't good in every aspect, it's easy for competitors to seize on its weaknesses and relentlessly attack it.

The W08 is relatively more unfortunate, as its weakness lies in tire management—an extremely easy vulnerability to exploit.

Ferrari astutely grasped this problem, and in several consecutive strategic choices, they used the undercut to attack Mercedes.

Without Wu Shi, Mercedes might only have won one race in Australia, and wouldn't have won any more.

Therefore, this issue became the first problem that Mercedes needed to solve internally.

However, tire problems are often not caused by the tires themselves, but by a combination of factors such as suspension, aerodynamics, mechanical grip, downforce, and changes in the center of gravity.

Wu Shi kept running the simulator, providing continuous feedback based on the parameters given by the engineer.

This kind of work is not normally done by the starting driver, but he is happy to do it when he has free time.

Running a simulator is a rather boring thing, at least for both those who don't know how to run it and those who do.

People who can't run naturally won't be interested, while people who are good at running will find it incredibly boring to do the same thing over and over again.

However, Wu Shi's views changed. Previously, he believed that simulators could not reflect real situations and were meaningless training.

Verstappen gave him relevant guidance, showing him routes that are impossible to attempt in many matches but are possible in the simulator.

The data from this experiment is not 100% accurate, but it can provide some reference. In practice matches, these ideas that have already been prepared can be tested one by one.

It is precisely because of this practice race, which is prepared subjectively by the driver, that the driver is not entirely a puppet of the engineer during the practice race.

Verstappen also mentioned other benefits, such as familiarity with the track.

Running repeatedly will deepen your memory; muscle memory is far more reliable than quick reflexes.

Through repeated practice in the simulator, occasional mistakes will make you aware of the problem and help you find a solution.

In short, racing is a sport that requires a good feel for the car and a high level of skill.

Wu Shi was always one to extract the essence and discard the dross, so he accepted Pan Zi's methodology.

During his intense practice, he sometimes dreamed of spinning around on the track.

He feels that he now has a deeper understanding and more ideas about the racetrack.

His technical skills help him understand and implement his ideas, which makes his driving increasingly unpredictable.

The incomprehensible maneuvers of ordinary drivers are ridiculed as being out of their mind and having abnormal thought processes.

The incomprehensible maneuvers of top drivers are often described as inspired.

On the other hand, Hamilton participated in many activities outside the paddock after completing the tire tests.

This habit has persisted since he won his first world championship in 2008, and there's not much to say about it.

Toto is someone who respects the habits of drivers, at least for now.

As time went by, Bernie, who had made a name for himself in Bahrain, went to Russia.

He went to Bahrain at the invitation of the crown princes of the oil-rich kingdoms, while he went to Russia at the invitation of his friend who held great power in the Kremlin.

It's fair to say that Bernie Ecclestone has left too many of his mark on F1, and no one can immediately remove him from F1, not even the Liberty Media.

At the team level, Vijay Maria, a major investor in Force India, was arrested by British police on April 18.

The Indian business tycoon has been accused of financial fraud by Indian authorities due to various debts and related problems caused by business setbacks.

This issue had been brewing since 2011, but it fully erupted in 2013.

In March of last year, Vijay Maria went directly to the UK.

More than a year later, Britain finally responded and arrested him.

However, Vijay Maria was released on bail before even a week had passed.

Britain rejected India's extradition request, allowing Vijay Maria to continue living a carefree life abroad.

However, Vijay Maria's situation, as the main investor in the Force Sahara India F1 team, has already affected the team.

It's unclear how long this only Asian team in F1 can last.

Amidst the ongoing events, it was already late April when the Russian Grand Prix arrived.

Before the match even started, Mercedes received good news.

Ferrari will be replacing Vettel's and Kimi's turbochargers with a third set.

As is well known, F1 now only allows four engine replacements per season; replacing more than four will result in a retirement penalty.

When Wu Shi first heard the news, he had a sense of déjà vu.

He quickly realized that Ferrari had a penchant for doing this kind of thing ever since the 10s.

At the start of the season, they aggressively used the engine to show everyone, "Wow, Ferrari is back! Awesome!"
Then, after less than half a season, in order to avoid being punished, they had to change the power unit to a conservative one, which resulted in the unit becoming completely rotten.

Is 2017 going to follow the same script?
Wu Shi wasn't quite sure why Hamilton was struggling to keep up. After all, the old man was usually out of form in the first half of the season, and when he faced a Ferrari that had been buffed, he was bound to lose by a lot.

Unfortunately, he came to the Mercedes-Benz Arena this year.

Two years ago, they were able to win a comeback driving a Williams; this year, driving a Mercedes, there's no reason for them to lose the championship.

If they lose the championship, Wu Shi feels he can retire.

As he was crowned with one championship after another, Wu Shi's mindset was also subtly changing.

The genius's arrogant and sharp spirit far surpasses that of his previous life.

Upon arriving at the Sochi circuit, Hamilton reported a lack of grip in both practice sessions, while Wu Shi didn't feel it very noticeably.

Therefore, what the audience saw was that the old man frequently ran off the track during practice, and his condition was unusually strange.

Ferrari, on the other hand, worked well again after changing the turbocharger, with Vettel setting a new track record in practice.

Toto and Lauda looked unusually serious, so the internal meeting on Friday night was somewhat oppressive.

“Right-angle turns are difficult to handle, and our long wheelbase makes the car somewhat sluggish on these surfaces,” Wu Shi said.

Hamilton agreed, saying, "Insufficient steering and lack of grip."

The two men's remarks further annoyed Toto, as he hadn't had so many concerns last year.

However, it's always good to get feedback from the drivers; at least they know what needs to be improved.

During Saturday morning's third practice session, the two Ferraris still managed to take the lead.

In the final meeting before qualifying, Toto and the engineers wanted to get to the bottom of things.

Hamilton is unsure; he hasn't found his rhythm yet.

For a driver with such natural talent as him, lacking driving feel is equivalent to lacking skill.

Moreover, the Sochi circuit is not his forte.

Therefore, all eyes in the team turned to Wu Shi.

Wu Shi, wearing headphones, paused for a moment and said:
"I've just found a way to solve right-angle turns. As for whether it can be faster than a Ferrari, I can't guarantee it, but I think it will be faster."

"Okay! If you think it will be faster, then it will be faster."

Toto said this directly, then adjourned the meeting and prepared for the qualifying rounds!
Wu Shi's intuition was very accurate. After perfectly balancing the issues in several right-angle turns, Mercedes' speed was significantly improved.

He had a clear feeling about at least Q1 and Q2.

When Q3 arrived, Kimi seemed to descend from the heavens, setting a new time of 1 minute and 33 seconds on his first flying lap.

Considering the difference in condition between Wu Shi and Hamilton here, Wu Shi was left to leave the station later.

Hamilton's first lap was disastrous, and he ran too long again, setting a time of 1 minute 34.464 seconds!

He was a full 1.2 seconds slower than Kimi! Fortunately, Wu Shi then set a time of 1 minute 33.211 seconds, surpassing Kimi's.

This relieved Toto and Lauda.

However, when the second lap came, Vettel, who came out first, was in top form and set a lightning speed of 1 minute 33.194 seconds!

This made Mercedes breathe a sigh of relief again.

Fortunately, Kimi didn't break his own record, so Mercedes at least has a second place no matter what.

Hamilton's second flying lap was still fraught with problems, and his struggles at the right-angle corners were clearly visible.

He kept adjusting the steering wheel, seemingly unable to find the optimal rhythm for entering and exiting corners, thus losing a significant amount of time.

The time for one lap was 1 minute 23.233 seconds.

This speed drew considerable boos; he was 0.5 seconds behind his teammates. Was this still the same Hamilton?
The fans who usually referred to Hamilton as "Liu Yiquan" were now silent.

"Is this a problem with the car or with the people?" the soldier asked, puzzled.

"It's a human problem, Hamilton was in poor form all Friday and Saturday morning, so we kept seeing him making corrections and pushing the limits of the track," Fei said.

"Will Wu Shi have a chance?" The soldier saw the last Wu Shi speeding by.

"I think there will be improvement, but whether he can surpass Vettel remains to be seen."

Before Fei Ge could finish speaking, Bing Ge immediately shouted:
"0.1 faster! Even faster!"

This left Fei Ge speechless.

Given how much faster the first two time segments were, as long as the third time segment doesn't go off the rails, the outcome is practically guaranteed.

However, it is precisely in situations like these that drivers are more prone to making mistakes.

Toto and Lauda were both staring intently at the screen, their tension visibly growing.

Inside the race car, Wu Shi felt nothing like he did outside; he simply saw it as another normal pursuit of the limits.

Before even reaching the next bend, I already had all the information in my mind.

His mental processing power is so great that he can completely eliminate human factors!

Swish!
1 minutes 33 seconds 043!

"More, more, how much?"

"Wow, that's awesome!" The soldier stopped talking about the national treasure.

"Sebastian, P2, P2, Wu is at the finish line, 0.15 away."

"WHAT? 0.15?"

"Yes."

How much is Lewis?

"Lewis P4, the difference between him and you is 0.57."

"How did he get out of there? Am I racing against someone?" Vettel exclaimed in confusion in TR.

"Hahaha! Even Vettel is stunned by this result." The soldier laughed after hearing TR.

"It's really a pity for Ferrari. If it were someone else in Mercedes, Ferrari might have been able to start with two cars on the front row today," Fei Ge commented.

"When was the last time a Ferrari started with both cars on the front row?" the soldier asked.

"It should be 2008, right? Or was it 2007?"

"Anyway, it's been about ten years," the soldier said.

No one could have imagined that Ferrari hadn't had the chance to achieve these accomplishments for almost a decade.

"I can almost predict tomorrow's match," the soldier said with a smile.

"Haha, Wu Shi starts from the front row. Even if he's driving slowly, he can give the drivers behind him a headache, let alone driving a Mercedes," Fei Ge said.

"At this point, I have to tell the fans who have just started watching F1 this year that F1 races are not always so exciting."

"A season like 2015, where Wu Shi won the championship while driving slowly, is one of the very few in the entire history of F1," Bing Ge said solemnly.

"Yes, there are very few instances in F1 history where two or more teams or players are competing for the annual championship at the same time."

"Most of the time, what we see is this scenario: a high-performance race car paired with a top-notch driver, plus good teamwork, is enough to secure the championship."

Fei Ge also agrees with Bing Ge's statement. Why do people always say that F1 is not good to watch?

It's simply because the Mars rover could win if it had a better driver.

Not to mention, are there any really bad drivers in the paddock?

So basically, with a Mars rover, the suspense of the annual champion is very low.

This year, Mercedes still has an overall advantage, which would have allowed the Mercedes-Benz competition to continue into the second half of the season.

However, Wu Shi's consistent performance and superb driving skills almost killed the suspense at the beginning of the season.

As the two had predicted, the characteristics of the Sochi circuit actually alleviated Mercedes' tire management problems.

The safety car that was triggered on the first lap did not bring any changes.

Wu Shi completed the entire PTW race.

Many commentators and guests expressed despair after watching this dull match.

Ferrari is desperate when facing such an opponent.

Even Mercedes' other driver felt hopeless when facing such a driver.

In a post-Sochi interview, a reporter even directly asked Wu Shi if he was ready for his second world championship.

In an interview, Vettel shook his head again, saying that Wu Shi was difficult to beat and that he felt very disappointed, having been disappointed since the qualifying rounds.

Kimi, on the other hand, was much more optimistic since it was his retirement season anyway.

He believes that Wu Shi simply brought his bad habits from Williams to Mercedes.

When Wu Shi was with Williams, he never stood out in practice, but he always emerged as a surprise force in qualifying.

The speaker has no intention, the listener has the heart.

Why did Wu Shi not push himself to the limit to find his rhythm in practice matches, but dare to push himself directly in qualifying matches?

The answer to this question actually lies in all the practice match videos.

Wu Shi was used to testing his ideas in practice races, so he was confident as long as he had tested his ideas on a certain section of the track.

Those who can quickly find the answer to this question are people who are very familiar with Wu Shi.

For example, Jonathan and Pan Zi.

They can find the reason by watching Wu Shi's videos.

Jonathan would discuss these things with the performance engineers, so he would always meticulously review the recordings and data for matching.

As for Pan Zi, he simply wanted to get a feel for it, so he would learn anything that could make it faster.

Four stops, 100 points, just like Rosberg last year.

However, after Rosberg's four-game winning streak, he soon faced a fierce counterattack from Hamilton, who had regained his form.

So, will Hamilton be able to regain his speed at the next stop?
On the same day the Russian Grand Prix concluded, Sauber announced that it would begin a partnership with Honda in 2018.

This news shocked everyone, since Sauber has always used Ferrari power units.

Why are you suddenly considering Honda?
The intricate network of relationships within the hunting grounds quickly facilitated the flow of information.

Reporters received information that Honda's V6 engine would be provided to Sauber almost free of charge.

Oh, now everyone understands.

However, Sauber denies this.

The following day, Sauber revealed that they would be using McLaren's gearbox.

McLaren will replace its Cologne wind tunnel with a new Hinville wind tunnel, which means that McLaren's modern R&D capabilities have been enhanced.

McLaren also stated that it will bring in a young driver in 2018.

The current candidates are Nick De Vries, Lando Norris, and Shinji Matsushita.

Although three names were revealed, many people predicted the outcome since the British team used British players.

Meanwhile, some astute journalists noticed that this year's race might be boring, but the team seating issue would be quite interesting.

The older drivers are about to leave the paddock, and along with the generation of drivers like Wu Shi and Verstappen, they have already been tested in lower-level formulas and are eagerly hoping for an F1 seat.

Even though it's only the beginning of the season, the locks on the driver market have already loosened, and reporters are constantly digging for news.

Meanwhile, Wu Shi also encountered some good news: there was a 7-year-old child in China who was very fast at go-karting, and they wanted to send him to Europe.

(End of this chapter)