F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 313 Four Branch Stations, Four Crowns

The first victory did not give the 2018 season a good start.

After the match in Melbourne, various data analyses have been released.

Vettel was able to hold off Wu Shi for so long not only because overtaking has become more difficult this year, but also because Ferraris are quite fast on the straights.

In fact, everyone could see it on the straight where Wu Shi overtook Vettel.

The Mercedes No. 59, equipped with DRS, was only half a car length behind the Ferrari on the straight.

Some experts even believe that Ferrari's engine may be more powerful than Mercedes', with about 10 more horsepower.

Furthermore, Ferrari's aerodynamic design is superior, balancing downforce settings in both straightaways and corners.

These unfavorable circumstances have indeed presented Mercedes' R&D team with enormous challenges and unspeakable difficulties.

Ferrari continued its relentless pursuit, soon announcing a special button for Ferrari that would provide a high-power shift mode for the SF71H.

Wofa wasn't just bragging. By the second race of the season in Bahrain, the two Mercedes cars had only managed a slight advantage in FP1 before suffering a complete defeat.

In qualifying, Wu Shi was 0.2 seconds faster than Hamilton, but still failed to secure pole position and finished second.

Vettel secured his first pole position of the year with a time of 1 minute 27.958 seconds.

Kimi finished third with a time of 1 minute 28.101 seconds.

Hamilton finished fourth with a time of 1 minute 28.220 seconds.

This result did not satisfy Mercedes, but Hamilton was somewhat indifferent because replacing the gearbox would result in a five-place penalty.

Each gearbox must be used continuously for six races; replacing it before meeting this requirement will result in a five-place penalty.

In the race, Ferrari's momentum remained strong, with Vettel getting off to a perfect start and using his tire management advantage to steadily pull ahead.

Wu Shi could only follow the Ferrari as it sped along, looking for an opportunity.

Hamilton started from 9th place, but was caught up by Panzi, who was in 15th place, on the first lap.

The two men collided during their struggle, and Verstappen suffered a tire blowout on his left rear tire, forcing him to pit for a change.

The old man's race car appeared to be undamaged.

The battle between the two had just ended when the virtual safety car was deployed because Hartley spun out at Turn 4 and collided with Perez, causing Perez to retire from the race.

As soon as Panzi got off the train, he realized he was at the back of the line. Oh well, all that effort at the start was for nothing.

Hamilton, on the other hand, remained in his position, with Alonso ahead of him, and facing numerous challenges in getting past him.

The virtual safety car lasted for three laps, and the situation did not improve after the race resumed.

Wu Shi found that the turbulence was still severe here, and he could only keep the distance between him and Vettel at about 2 seconds and keep looking for opportunities.

After what happened last year and in the first leg, Vettel was surprisingly stable and did not reveal any flaws.

The match continued in this dull and uninteresting stalemate until the very end.

Vettel ascended the highest podium, sending his fans into a frenzy, while Totto looked grim.

Wu Shi could only say that although the second Stint would be faster after using soft tires, Vettel didn't give him many opportunities.

However, the most concerning moment of the match was when Kimi knocked the mechanic holding the jack away.

This happened during Friday's practice session, when the green indicator light was broken. This time, the LED indicator light turned green for no reason.

The unreliability of electronic devices has led people to want to reinstate the "lollipop man" holding a no-entry sign.

Mercedes and Ferrari each won a race, but Hamilton finished third in both, so he still leads Ferrari in the team standings.

Hamilton had a rough time in the first two rounds, especially in Bahrain.

When he was interviewed, he took a deep breath, clearly wanting to criticize Verstappen's aggressive overtaking style.

W09 failed to demonstrate the dominance it should have, while Ferrari had an excellent start.

This has led many to speculate that the world championship title may change hands this year.

The third leg of the Grand Prix has returned to Shanghai.

As in previous years, Wu Shi received an extremely warm welcome ceremony at his home venue.

In order to continuously increase its appeal, the free media has also made special arrangements.

They plan to hold the first "F1 Festival" at Shanghai Station because they are very envious of China's huge market.

The so-called "F1 Festival" is also an attempt to make the Grand Prix more than just a race, but to include concerts, attractions, meet-and-greets with fans and drivers, and other activities.

The concert is scheduled to be held at the Jing'an Kerry Centre on Saturday, and F1 mascot Axel has been designed to attract children.

The F1 esports that was mentioned last year was also showcased at the Shanghai station, with a dedicated esports area set up outside the track where interested fans could experience simulators.

In short, the strategy of free media is to transform it into entertainment!
This move attracted a lot of attention from racing fans, and F1's current boss, Chase Carey, was very satisfied with it.

In order to maintain and expand the popularity, he also presided over the cooperation with CCTV and Tencent to fully promote F1.

Now, when you open QQ, you can see big posters of Wu Shi and W09, while WeChat's ads aren't as blatant as QQ's.

The combined traffic from these two major social media platforms is staggering.

Wu Shi felt that his domestic fame was probably approaching that of famous athletes like Yao Ming and Liu Xiang.

Such a grand F1 Grand Prix can be seen as another commercial attempt by Liberty Media since taking over F1.

However, for the drivers, these activities only added to their burden.

At least Wu Shi, as the main driver for the Shanghai station, faced this problem.

He participated in all the scheduled activities. The hectic schedule meant that one second he was chatting with fans, and the next he was in his car preparing for qualifying.

But that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that Mercedes' competitiveness in Shanghai has declined drastically this year.

In Q3, Wu Shi risked a crash to drive a full lap around the Starry Sky in order to secure pole position, setting a time of 1 minute 31.185 seconds!
That's more than 0.4 seconds faster than Hamilton's 1 minute 31.625 seconds!

However, this result only ranked third.

是的，维特尔以1分31秒095排在了第一，Kimi以1分31秒182排在了第二。

The two Ferraris' boost speed in high-power mode during qualifying was terrifying!
Wu Shi almost burned himself out to achieve this result, and he was somewhat incredulous when he heard Jonathan mention P3.

“You’ve done your best, it’s not your fault,” Jonathan comforted him in TR.

Wu Shi could only accept this result. In fact, everyone, like Jonathan, knew that it was due to the difference in racing performance and did not blame him.

He was 0.4 seconds faster than Hamilton, which is enough to prove how terrifying his lap was.

On the second day of the race, the temperature rose slightly, and the stands at the Shanghai International Circuit were packed with people. Fans who missed the national anthem being played on their home track last year were all there this year.

With the entire arena placing such a heavy burden of expectations on him, Wu Shi also felt suffocated.

Unlike the Chinese national football team, if someone yells at him, "Damn it, give me my money back!" he feels he would be absolutely devastated.

Before the match, he took deep breaths and talked to Jonathan to relieve his stress.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"—this is exactly the kind of situation described.

He has unknowingly become the subject of too many people's expectations, and he cannot ignore them; he is also a human being.

Soon, the main competition began.

When the five red lights went out, he forgot to breathe, only staring at the two Ferraris in front of him.

Vettel was a bit slow to get going, while Kimi had a fantastic start and threatened Vettel's position.

Immediately, Vettel pushed Kimi to the right, trying to hold onto his position.

Wu Shi seized the opportunity and immediately moved to the left, successfully overtaking Kimi at Turn 1, but Vettel was still blocking his way.

However, they then faced the same problem as the Bahrain Grand Prix: they couldn't enter the DRS zone, leaving Ferrari with a lot of leeway!
On lap 18, Hamilton, who had moved up to 4th place, received his pit stop instructions.

On lap 19, Wu Shi also received the order to enter the pit.

In a 56-lap race, stopping in the pits to finish the race now presents considerable challenges.

However, the team's data certainly supports all of this.

Wu Shi, on the other hand, was able to finish the race with a margin of safety that was better than the team's data.

*Whoosh!* *Sizzle!*
Wu Shi drove into the safe zone, and after the crew quickly changed the tires, he started the car while the tires were on fire.

"Wow! 1.9 seconds! That must be the fastest tire change ever!" the soldier exclaimed.

After coming out, Wu Shi fell behind Kimi.

"Vettel needs to pit, push, push!"

Jonathan shouted, knowing that the godlike tire change he had just made was about to get a chance!
"Copy!"

Wu Shi replied that the race car's driving line was becoming increasingly tricky, and the tires were about to endure a torment they shouldn't have to bear.

On the other side, Vettel was indeed recalled to the pits, at which point he was leading Wu Shi by a full 24 seconds.

The loss from changing tires in the pit stop is only 22 to 23 seconds.

Vettel knew what problems he was facing, so he brought the car to a stop in time after entering the pit.

Heh!

The same process was repeated: a soft tire was installed, and the timeline jumped.

3 seconds.

"Watter is too slow! Wu Shi has arrived!" the soldier shouted.

In the stands, many spectators stood up, watching nervously as the race cars sped along the straightaway.

Wu Shi stared intently at the front of the track. Just as he was about to reach the exit, he caught a glimpse of a red prancing horse flashing past on his right.

That's too much!

Cheers instantly drowned out the entire straight, and the mechanics in the Mercedes pit garage also pumped their fists.

"That's absolutely gorgeous!" the soldier exclaimed.

On the track, Wu Shi immediately braked and entered the corner!
The red Prancing Horse came out and went straight into the corner; the tires, which hadn't reached operating temperature, were simply unable to launch an attack.

"Damn it, why am I so much slower?!"

Vettel immediately questioned loudly in the TR.

"Find a way to surpass him; your goal is to take him down," Ferrari TR said.

Vettel was about to curse. How was he supposed to overtake in this race? How was he supposed to?!
Kimi was 16 seconds ahead and there was no way he could slow down to block Wu Shi.

Sure enough, following behind Wu Shi, Vettel had no chance.

The No. 59 Silver Arrow is extremely stable when it speeds along the track, with only slight differences in its line on each lap.

In the Mercedes-Benz Arena, when Toto saw Wu Shi's data curves, he sometimes wanted to exclaim, "This is simply the most perfect art!"

“Vettel can’t do anything about Wu Shi, just like Wu Shi couldn’t do anything about him before,” the soldier said.

"Yeah, with performance levels that are pretty similar this year, it's really too difficult to overtake," Fei Ge said.

Starting in Australia, Ferrari and Mercedes have faced the same situation: whoever is behind them is the one consuming the exhaust fumes.

On lap 26, Kimi pitted and came out in sixth place, behind Ricciardo.

Wu Shi took the lead, and cheers erupted again from the crowd.

"Car fans are getting more and more enthusiastic every year."

The soldier smiled and said after hearing the cheers coming from the broadcast camera.

The director also noticed the situation in the audience and turned the camera over there.

Many fans had the national flag printed directly on their faces, waving various cheering flags and phrases.

"It's good that the game went on like this until the end, hahaha."

“If we keep doing this, we’ll get bored,” Fei Ge laughed.

"But Wu Shi, who's leading the pack, is anything but boring, hahaha!" the soldier said.

The two chatted casually about the track and occasionally mentioned Liberty Media's new approach to F1 operations this year. Suddenly, yellow flags were waved on the track.

"what's the situation?!"

"It's two Red Bulls! Gasly and Hartley!"

zizi.

Renault driver Sainz's TR started playing:

"I saw a lot of debris on the track, and the safety car needs to be deployed to clear it."

Wu Shi and Vettel had just passed Turn 16.

Verstappen and Hamilton then arrived at Turn 16.

Verstappen suddenly changed direction and entered the pit lane entrance at Turn 16.

Hamilton watched as Pan Zi went in, and then he moved to third place.

At that moment, the safety car was pushed out.

Ricardo, who was in fifth place, opted to pit.

The group of people behind them all started to enter the station.

There weren't many debris items on the track, and the race restarted on lap 35.

Wu Shi continued to lead, followed by Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Kimi, and Ricciardo.

With the new soft tires, Ricciardo was very fast and overtook Kimi shortly after the start.

Two laps later, Verstappen overtook Hamilton at Turn 7, but was forced out by the veteran.

Pan Zi now has plenty of opportunities, so he naturally doesn't want to be too reckless and can only rush off the track to avoid a collision.

Ricardo, however, seized the opportunity to turn and overtake Verstappen.

On lap 40, Ricciardo was within one second of Hamilton and activated DRS to begin the chase.

After just one lap, Ricardo overtook Hamilton.

"S***T! ****! Why didn't we change the tires just now?!" Hamilton angrily cursed in the TR.

“We’ve just passed the repair area,” Bono replied.

Hamilton fell silent. Perhaps the only good news for him was that Wu Shi might also be dethroned, thus preventing the gap from widening further.

On lap 41, Ricciardo was chasing Wu Shi and Vettel, and Hamilton complained again about the lack of speed.

On lap 42, Verstappen attacked Hamilton from the inside at Turn 6 and successfully made it past.

Immediately, he began to chase Ricardo—no, he was chasing Vettel.

Just now on the starting straight, Ricciardo activated DRS and ruthlessly overtook Vettel.

"Both Red Bulls had brand new soft tires, and they were performing incredibly well." The soldier became nervous.

On lap 43, Ricciardo was chasing Wu Shi in the front row.

Verstappen then attempted to overtake Vettel at the 12th hairpin turn.

Vettel continued to adopt a tough defensive stance.

Verstappen had to brake, but once he applied too much force, the tires locked up, and the left front wheel slid and crashed into Vettel.

Heh!

Both race cars were circling on the track, but fortunately, they were not damaged.

But Hamilton and Kimi both went over at this time.

Verstappen quickly rallied and swung back onto the track.

Vettel suffered a huge loss, only managing to regain control of his car after Hulkenberg overtook him.

The unexpected incident left many people in the Ferrari pit lane in shock and disbelief.

Verstappen's actions will undoubtedly further reinforce the public's impression of his recklessness.

In fact, the most crucial struggle is still at the forefront.

Wu Shi's tires were well protected during the lead, but even the best medium tires can't compare to the new soft tires!

He maintained his lead until lap 50, when Ricciardo closed the gap.

When facing Wu Shi, Ricciardo appeared extremely cautious, and his initial attempt at Turn 6 was thwarted by Wu Shi's lane change.

On lap 52, he seized another opportunity, taking advantage of the superior performance of his tires, and recklessly braked late again before turn 6.

Wu Shi left the inside very narrow; he couldn't believe Ricardo would dare to squeeze in.

However, when the Red Bull actually charged in, he could only manage to navigate the corner with difficulty.

Throughout the entire Grand Turn 7, the excellent grip provided by the new soft tires allowed Ricciardo to completely outmaneuver Wu Shi on the outside.

"Oh dear!" the soldier sighed.

"The difference between new and old tires is 12 laps, there's no way to prevent it," Fei Ge said helplessly.

Wu Shi watched Ricardo drive away, his heart clenching.

He pressed the TR key, but only heard a busy tone; he didn't say anything.

However, the director still aired this segment where no one was said.

"What is this for?"

"Perhaps Wu Shi was speechless," the soldier chuckled.

The final few laps of the race, unsurprisingly, saw no unexpected changes.

Ricardo drove his Red Bull across the finish line first, with the checkered flag waving.

He seems to be moving toward the goal he set at the opening ceremony.

Three teams shared the stage win across the three races.

Nobody expected the 2018 season to turn out like this.

Wu Shi parked his car behind sign number 2, clearly somewhat unhappy.

The safety car ruined the race, which was incredibly frustrating.

In the post-match interview, Wu Shi could only say to the camera:
"I'm sorry to have disappointed the fans. After taking the lead through a tactical overtake, we had a chance to bring the championship back."

"But the safety car came out at just the right time. Vettel and I had just passed the entrance to the pit area, and we missed the opportunity to change the tire."

"That's the nature of competition, full of surprises and variables. I'm not the most unlucky one among the variables, but I'm always affected."

“I have enjoyed the benefits of change before; everything is fair.”

Vettel was also frustrated, but Verstappen immediately ran over to apologize to him after the match, and he did not criticize Verstappen again in the interview.

The only happy person in this match was Ricardo; he was as excited as a child.

"I was smiling, and I couldn't express my joy in words. Then, on the podium, I almost burst into tears." He couldn't contain his joy during the interview.

Although this was not Ricciardo's first Grand Prix victory, it was another time he won a Grand Prix from the back of the grid.

Yes, until now, Ricciardo has never experienced starting from pole position and winning a race.

Wu Shi was already feeling down about the home defeat, but he didn't expect a bunch of trolls to suddenly appear online.

He glanced at them a few times and decided to ignore them.

He suddenly realized that not all Chinese people liked him, and quite a few seemed to hate him intensely.

Overwhelmed by conflicting emotions, all he wanted was to keep winning the championship and put immense pressure on these people!

At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that followed, thanks to Mercedes' efforts, the W09 finally made some further progress.

Wu Shi secured pole position with a lap time 0.098 seconds faster than Vettel.

In the Baku Street Race, everyone can predict what pole position means.

However, the main competition was once again plagued by unexpected events.

A large-scale collision occurred immediately after the train departed, triggering the safety car.

On lap 40, Ricciardo and Verstappen collided while battling for position, triggering the safety car again.

The race did not resume until lap 48.

Wu Shi's start went smoothly, but who knew that the Baku circuit wasn't cleared properly at all! He ran over some debris and got a flat tire!

Hamilton, Kimi, and Perez sped past us!

"F**K!!! Holy crap! Did no one see such a huge piece of debris?!"

Wu Shi couldn't help but blurt out his words on TR.

Because the car restarted, the time difference between the cars in front and behind was very small, and after the tire blowout, the car's ranking dropped directly to the back.

I thought that in 2018, the W09, which, although not a monopoly, was still a contender for the championship, would be able to win the title as steadily as last year, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this.

Ultimately, in the fourth race of the season, Hamilton stood on the podium, while Wu Shi failed to score a single point.

Hamilton seemed rather relaxed and remarked during the interview:

"Wu Shi was really unlucky; I didn't see any debris on the track either."

Vettel was also one of the victims of the restart, but he remained optimistic, because you can't survive at Ferrari if you're not optimistic.

However, the most attention-grabbing issue is Red Bull's withdrawal from the market.

But this is nothing out of the ordinary in Red Bull's history, and everyone is "happy to see" it.

What kind of Red Bull would it be if it didn't have internal conflicts?
So far, the four Grand Prix races have been won by four different drivers, making the race for the points incredibly close.

Wu Shi, who was originally in the lead, fell behind because Azerbaijan did not contribute a single penny.

It's no wonder that Wu Shi was furious after his visit to Azerbaijan.

However, he calmed down after venting his anger, and the most important thing was to continue preparing for the next match.

Because overtaking in four consecutive races has become extremely rare, the FIA ​​has disregarded the objections of most teams and begun to revise the technical standards for 2019.

Its main purpose is to simplify the aerodynamics of racing cars and make them less sensitive to airflow.

The first thing to be cut is the forewing; the complex canards will be completely disabled, and the tail fin will be enlarged to improve the effectiveness of DRS.

These changes in technical standards will have a real impact on the team's R&D plans for next year.

And when the fifth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix, arrived, another matter caused quite a stir.

During winter testing at the Barcelona circuit, Pirelli tires were prone to overheating and bubbling.

The impact wasn't very noticeable in the previous four races, but Mercedes was the one most significantly affected.

But now that they're back in Spain, Pirelli has modified the tire settings to prevent this extremely dangerous phenomenon.

All tires were thinned by 0.4 millimeters.

After trying out these tires, Wu Shi discovered that perhaps because of the harder compound and thinner tires, which perfectly suited the characteristics of Mercedes vehicles, the W09 performed exceptionally well on the Barcelona circuit.

This is also the origin of the controversy.

Ferrari and Red Bull both accused Pirelli of favoring Mercedes.

But what's done is done.

In Saturday's qualifying session, Wu Shi easily secured pole position, leading with a time of 1 minute 16.006 seconds.

Hamilton followed closely behind.

This season, Mercedes has finally secured a two-car front row start again, following their success in the opening race.

(End of this chapter)