F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 333 Changes
Wu Shi sat down in his seat and looked at Toto.

Toto was much more serious than usual; he seemed to be thinking about something.

However, in the end, he still pulled up a chart first.

At a glance, everyone present would understand that this is a comparison between the lap time curve and the tire wear curve.

On one side is Wu Shi's, and on the other side is Hamilton's.

"In the final stage, we need to run about 28 laps, which is equivalent to half a race. Can you tell me why we didn't run at the required constant lap pace?"

Toto asked, looking at Hamilton.

Hamilton kept his head down, not intending to speak, but the oppressive atmosphere made him shift his position and say:

“I think I’m behind Verstappen, and I need to speed things up and undercut him.”

He finished speaking, pursed his lips, indicating that the reason was that simple.

"What if we don't speed things up?" Wu Shi asked.

“You know, there are always unexpected things that can happen, and I have to play it safe,” Hamilton replied directly.

Seeing that the two seemed about to start arguing, Toto spoke up:
“In the past few years, I have emphasized every year that all the honors come from the team as a whole, and I think you should understand this.”

Neither of them spoke anymore.

Toto continued, "Let's review the game first."

The charts kept changing, and several predictions showed that, barring that accelerated catch-up, Wu Shi and Hamilton would most likely be able to bring back the first two.

This happy ending was not achieved due to excessive tire wear.

Furthermore, the race win should have belonged to Mercedes if Hamilton had been more focused on wearing down Verstappen's tires when defending him earlier.

After analyzing the entire situation, Toto looked directly at Hamilton and said, "I need an answer."

"I may have made some mistakes at that time, but I will follow all the team's instructions."

Hamilton said directly, and no one expected him to say it so casually.

Toto looked at Wu Shi, who nodded and said:
"I have always followed the team's instructions and carried out the team's plans."

"Okay, I hope everyone remembers what they said. There are some things I won't repeat myself." After saying that, Toto adjourned the meeting.

Wu Shi then followed Toto to his office, sat down, and said directly:

“We need penalties. I don’t think any promises will do any good. He also promised not to run over Nico’s car in 2016.”

Toto turned around and looked at Wu Shi.

This is no longer the naive boy he was five years ago, so Toto looked at him for a long time before saying:
What do you think the punishment should be?

When Toto threw the question back at him, Wu Shi lowered his head, and after a moment raised it and said:
"Although we worked hard to solve many problems during the winter testing, the performance of our race car is not much different from that of Red Bull."

"Red Bull has two drivers, and Perez will unconditionally carry out all the team's instructions."

“We are different. Not only will we have one driver in front, but we will also have another driver to make the race more difficult for the leader.”

Toto sat down in his seat, scrutinized Wu Shi for a while, and then said:

"As I said at the meeting, any honor comes from the team, not from the individual."

Wu Shi knew that Toto was criticizing him for only thinking of himself, so he sat down directly in front of Toto and said:

"So the team members need to work closely together to ultimately achieve victory, right?"

Toto smiled slightly and said, "I understand what you mean, and I will consider your suggestion."

Okay, thanks.

Wu Shi left his office, and the corridor was bustling with motorcade staff. Toto stared at the closed door, remaining silent for a long time.

As a mature manager, he will keep all important matters under control, and controlling the drivers is one of them.

But what happened at today's Grand Prix has forced him to consider whether or not to choose a lead driver and a support driver.

After all, this will be more conducive to the stability of the team and enable better teamwork.

However, having one main car and one auxiliary car presents another problem: when the car's performance is insufficient, the team's points ranking can easily fall behind.

Wu Shi and Hamilton are both in the team, and even if the two compete against each other this year, the team championship will most likely go to Mercedes.

After all, Perez doesn't seem like the type of player who can score points against Wu Shi and Hamilton.

For teams other than Red Bull, the team championship is more important, as it directly affects their season revenue sharing.

As for Red Bull, their brand image is about pushing personal limits, and the heroism of drivers winning championships is more suitable for marketing and promotion.

He pondered for a long time, but his thoughts drifted to the internal affairs of the team.

Wu Shi's four world championships at the Mercedes-Benz Arena have greatly increased his influence within the club. If he were to publicly challenge them, they would likely have to make a choice.

This is not a good thing for him, as everything in the team must be subject to his arrangements.

Toto leaned back in his chair, his indifferent expression making him even more enigmatic.

After leaving the office, Wu Shi felt incredibly relaxed. Whether or not to confront a problem directly is itself a matter of attitude.

In the past few years, I lacked the necessary qualifications and the gap between us was obvious. Some of the issues were not really problems, and there was no point in deliberately bringing them up.

However, since the winter testing began this year, Mercedes' performance has been far from overwhelming its competitors. If this internal competition continues, it's possible that it will end up like McLaren in 2007.

At this moment, he thought of Pan Zi. Having a father who was foul-mouthed and had a bad personality in F1 could actually be an advantage at times.

Whether he was teammates with Sainz or Ricardo, Joss played a significant role.

In short, one plays the good cop and the other the bad cop, and they both achieve their own goals.

The back-and-forth overtaking between the three drivers at the Bahrain Grand Prix was truly a treat for racing fans.

Many people have realized that Mercedes can no longer dominate the game like they did in previous years, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

Everyone is already looking forward to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on April 18th.

This Grand Prix was added to the calendar during the pandemic last year and is held at the Imola circuit in Italie.

This year it should no longer exist, but the absence of the Shanghai station and the bankruptcy of the Vietnam Grand Prix due to financial problems have kept it on the calendar.

However, Italy is still taking strong measures to control the epidemic and will continue to use the closed-door competition format of last year, meaning that no spectators will be present.

The three weeks between the two Grand Prix races provided an excellent opportunity for teams to strengthen their squads.

Many teams continue to seek breakthroughs in customizable components, with the most important being the issues surrounding the underbody and diffuser.

This year, the size of these two parts has been reduced, resulting in lower downforce on the rear wheels.

Mercedes was greatly troubled by this.

Engineers found a solution: to compensate for the lack of downforce by installing a flat "Z" base plate.

Mercedes also introduced a new diffuser with a horizontal modification to the second vertical deflector to create vortices that guide airflow.

On April 9, Mercedes-Benz underwent internal personnel changes, with Allison being promoted from Technical Director to Chief Technology Officer.

Mike Elliott succeeded him in his position.

(End of this chapter)