F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 335 I Don't Like Rain
The third practice session began at 11 a.m. the following day, and each team changed to the softest tires to simulate qualifying.

Wu Shi also entered the track. After setting the fastest lap times in the first two timed segments, he was preparing to set a third fastest lap.

As a result, Coach La crashed into the guardrail, forcing the third training session to be interrupted.

Finally, he failed to complete his third timeout, leaving a time of 1 minute 15.421 seconds, ranking third.

In the afternoon, the qualifying rounds began quickly, but the director was still present.

The director this time is from Japan, and Yuki Tsunoda had an accident early on, which took up a lot of time in Q1.

This directly caused the entire track to become congested later on, blocking Wu Shi's first flying lap, resulting in a time of 1 minute and 15.5 seconds.

He had to take a second flying lap, but his luck was still bad. He was blocked by two slower cars at Turn 14, and his lap time was even slower.

Just when everyone thought Wu Shi was going to be eliminated in Q1 by an unexpected event, he crossed the finish line again before the clock stopped and began his final lap.

Because the track was finally empty at this point, and he only had one chance.

So he ran at his absolute limit in the first and second timed segments, getting purple rank one after another, until he deliberately slowed down in the third timed segment.

sieve!
After crossing the finish line, Wu Shi took the lead with a time of 1 minute 14.611 seconds, once again surpassing Hamilton in second place.

"Wu Shi should still have a lot of room for improvement," the soldier said.

"He must have used quite a lot of firepower in the third time slot," Haoran said.

Compared to the commentators and anchors, the team leaders clearly have a more insightful perspective.

Horner looked serious, his hands clasped together in fists, supporting his chin. It was unclear which data had triggered him.

As for Ferrari, needless to say, Sainz and Leclerc finished 6th and 7th respectively.

Sainz's reaction was still somewhat bad.

Surprisingly, McLaren's Norris finished third with a time of 1 minute 15.009 seconds.

Ricardo was ranked 13th and almost got eliminated in Q1.

At 2:25, Q2 starts.

Wu Shi did not go out early because he had a very deep understanding of the current performance of the W12.

With the change to medium tires, he can consistently clock a time of around 1 minute 14.6 seconds, provided the track conditions are good.

So Jonathan also arranged for him to wait while others did their first flying lap.

With 6 minutes remaining in Q2, most drivers had completed their first flying lap, and Wu Shi was the only one to enter the race.

Because the track was wide open, he didn't need to worry about being affected by any situation, so he drove very smoothly.

Swish!
One lap, 1 minute 14.639 seconds, still in first place.

Although this result is slower than Q1, it is still among the top in the neutral tire category.

“I think Wu Shi still has a lot of room for improvement here; his pole position is secure.”

Upon seeing the result, the soldier quickly said...

Norris also adopted the same tactics as Wu Shi, which may have stemmed from the confidence gained in Q1.

However, he certainly has the right to be confident. With a lap time of 1 minute 14.718 seconds, he ranks second overall and is guaranteed to finish in Q3.

Therefore, Norris returned to the pit lane to observe the other drivers.

Soon, the first batch of drivers who had achieved good results were back on the track, and many of them had switched to red tires.

Wu Shi sat in the carriage, watching everyone achieve great results, yet none of them could surpass him.

Perez clocked 1 minute 14.716 seconds, leading Norris by two-thousandths of a second to finish second overall.

Leclerc is in fourth place.

Pan Zi and the old man were in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

Clearly, just as the team had anticipated, Wu Shi's performance on the first medium tire was enough to get him into Q3, so there was no need to waste any more tires.

The players eliminated in Q2 were Sainz, Russell, Vettel, Latifi, and Alonso.

Surprisingly, Storol qualified for the next round in tenth place.

The decisive Q3 didn't keep us waiting long.

"You need to be careful on turns 6, 9, and 17, and don't veering too far off course," Jonathan told Wu Shi.

"Copy".

Wu Shi said, adjusting his gloves.

By this time, the team had already changed his tires to red ones.

On the field, Norris, Gasly, Ocon, and Ricardo had already started their laps.

Norris still ran at his absolute limit, setting a time of 1 minute 14.875 seconds in the first lap.

Wu Shi suddenly asked, "Should we go out now?"

"Yeah, it's ready."

Soon, the safety officer jogged back to the outside of the P room, checked the situation, and waved.

Wu Shi stepped on the gas and drove into the fast lane, heading towards the racetrack.

The Imola circuit has several special corners where four wheels are not considered to have crossed the line unless they go over the kerb, which can be used to your advantage.

Because the Imola circuit is narrow and has many combination corners, it requires handling complex combinations of corners. You can't just look at the speed of entering and exiting a corner; you have to look at the overall situation.

吴轼脑子里不断梳理着整条赛道的情况，刻意记下来了比较难以处理的2-4、11-13、14-15等组合弯。

All he had to do was align the car with the track as quickly as possible as he exited the corner, and then start accelerating.

Here, getting out quickly is extremely important, so in order to get out quickly, it is often necessary to use the shoulder.

By turn 17, after the warm-up lap, he was fully in form.

Buzz!

The race car sped toward Turn 18, entering very slowly but exiting very quickly, thus gaining speed extremely fast.

This means that on the starting straight, he will have the potential to reach even higher speeds and maintain those high speeds for an even longer period!
Buzz!
The race car cuts through the wind, speeding along the main straight.

The so-called Turn 1 is just a slightly winding road; the real place to brake is Turn 2.

Wu Shi's handling remained refined, with braking timing always perfectly timed to maximize the duration of high speed before slowing down to the entry speed for the turn in the shortest possible time.

After passing Turn 2, Turn 3 was right in front of him. At this moment, Wu Shi had already adjusted the car's posture and immediately stepped on the accelerator.

As you can see, he only used the brakes once here, and then it was all accelerator, so he lost focus for a moment and also made it through turn 4.

The broadcast cameras would naturally always focus on him.

"He was driving extremely hard! Look, his rear wheel almost hit the grass when he went out."

"It's very smooth, Wu Shi's consistent driving style, accurate input and very few corrections. Watching it from the first-person perspective is like appreciating art."

Both Bingge and Feige sighed with emotion.

"On social media, Wu Shi's pole position videos are often the most liked, and we used to compare him with Hamilton at every race."

"However, in the last race this year, they had three players: Wu Shi, Hamilton, and Verstappen. At that time, we could see that Wu Shi was simply cutting time in the corners."

"It was a very strange feeling. Hamilton was already very fast, running at his absolute limit, but Wu Shi was still able to be faster than him!"

Haoran said that he was probably the one among the three commentators who browsed various related videos the most.

"That's what a top driver is like! The driving skills of a top driver are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people," Bing Ge said. "I've also seen comparisons; Wu Shi usually accelerates earlier than Hamilton," Fei Ge added.

"Yes, everyone has always been very curious about how Wu Shi precisely controls the traction of the race car. Every time he goes all out on the throttle, it looks like he's about to slip," Haoran continued with a smile.

While the group was discussing, Wu Shi had already achieved two purple rank breakthroughs, which was almost certainly going to surpass Norris.

"Alright, let's see what Wu Shi's final score is!"

“Cross the finish line!”

"1 minute 14.211 seconds!" the soldier shouted.

"Wow, that's fast!" Fei said.

"Got into a 211 university again," Haoran said with a dry joke.

"Hahaha." The soldier immediately laughed and said:
"We prefer a 985 university to a 211 university, but the time required is 13 seconds."

"How could that be! Are you kidding me?" Fei Ge joked with a laugh.

However, it was absolutely right for the three of them to open the champagne beforehand.

Hamilton's first flying lap was 1 minute 14.411 seconds, exactly 0.2 seconds off.

Verstappen was 0.091 seconds slower.

"There's still one more lap to go, so we should restrain ourselves from opening the champagne too early," the soldier said, bringing the topic back to the present.

The second flying lap in Q3 often involves using the newest, softest tires and the lightest fuel load to push the driver to their limits.

However, sometimes, the outcome can be clearly seen on the first lap, barring a miracle.

After a few minutes of waiting, the drivers came out to take their second flying lap.

Wu Shi made his grand entrance last, establishing an absolute advantage that put pressure on the other drivers.

Neither Hamilton nor Verstappen are facing their own records, so even if they push their limits, they may not be able to reach pole position.

This is the psychological pressure they are currently facing.

Hamilton and Verstappen began to speed away, and the camera focused on the two.

"First time slot, paint green."

"Second time slot, failed!"

Okay, now that you've seen the two timing segments, you all have a better understanding.

"Wu Shi's speed will be even faster! He got purple again in the first time slot!" Haoran suddenly shouted.

Along with Haoran, the tournament director was also drawn in.

They completely ignored Hamilton, who was about to cross the finish line, and focused the camera directly on Wu Shi.

In fact, this approach is correct because Hamilton did not break his own fastest lap record.

Verstappen, on the other hand, was 0.004 seconds faster than himself, but it didn't matter.

Perez seized the opportunity to overtake Verstappen and move into third place, just 0.035 seconds behind Hamilton's first flying lap!
Hamilton, sitting in the driver's seat, breathed a sigh of relief after Bono told him the situation.

Because his mistake in the second timing segment was very obvious.

“Phew, yeah, P2,” Hamilton said in TR.

But soon, Bono spoke again: "Wu Shi, 1 minute 14.110 seconds."

Hamilton fell silent.

"Amazing! Wu Shi is 0.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton in pole position!" Haoran exclaimed excitedly.

"Haha, why is Wu Shi calling 110 again after just getting into a 211 university?" the soldier continued to joke.

"Actually, in the past few years, Wu Shi has almost never lost to Hamilton in pole position. His speed and consistency are excellent, but he has rarely achieved such a large lead," Fei Ge said.

"So, Wu Shi can almost be regarded as a benchmark. If Hamilton's speed is 0.3 or 0.5 slower than his, then it must be Hamilton's mistake," the soldier said.

“You’re right,” Fei Ge nodded.

"That's as if he could be faster than Wu Shi if he didn't make a mistake," Haoran said with a soft laugh.

Clearly, after witnessing Wu Shi's speed in this qualifying race, the group was quite relaxed and happy.

Bahrain station is just one station after all. Wu Shi from Imola station is back, with that feeling of being unmatched!
After Wu Shi cooled down for a lap and parked the race car, he didn't even strike a pose because there were no spectators.

The scene was so quiet it was like a simulator was playing, except for a group of reporters who rushed over and frantically took pictures of him.

Perez was the first to return. After Wu Shi finished weighing the food, he patted him on the shoulder and said:
Congratulations to the pole position winner.

"Thank you," Wu Shi replied.

On the other side, Hamilton returned quite late, seemingly contemplating life on the track.

However, after getting out of the car, his expression remained calm; you rarely see him looking angry.

Or rather, he knew perfectly well that his mistakes on the last flying lap, particularly in the two consecutive corners, had already dashed any chance of winning pole position.

The interviews began after the drivers were weighed and put on their masks.

"Wu Shi, you've secured pole position, and by a significant margin. It seems your advantage is enormous. We're actually quite used to your exceptional performances."

"Given the complex competitive landscape this year, what do you think tomorrow's match will be like?" the reporter asked.

“Thank you. Overtaking is very difficult at Imola. I think if we handle it properly, we can turn pole position into a victory.” Wu Shi nodded.

"According to the weather forecast, it might rain tomorrow. What changes do you think that will bring?" the reporter asked.

"To be honest, I don't like it raining when I'm in pole position, because I remember Hockenheim in 2019."

“Once it rains, there are too many unexpected things. Even if I don’t make any mistakes, I might still lose my leading position, which is not what I like,” Wu Shi said with a slight smile.

The reporter smiled, because Wu Shi's implication was that without a safety car, he would definitely win the championship.

Next, the reporter found Hamilton and asked:

"Lewis, this year is a new beginning, anything is possible now, but you seem to have made some mistakes today?"

Hamilton nodded, touched his nose, and said:
"Yes, I did very poorly in the second timeout, and I didn't handle several corners well."

"The car was a bit oversteer, which made the race very dangerous, and I was very surprised to get second place."

"I thought Red Bull would be faster than me."

The reporter picked up where Hamilton left off, saying:
"Max made a mistake at Tambrello (turn 4), so his speed didn't increase much."

Hamilton, hands on his hips, took a deep breath, acknowledged his good fortune, and said:

"Tomorrow will be very difficult. I often start behind Wu Shi and I have never seen him make a mistake, but no matter what, I will find a way."

The reporter smiled, nodded, said thank you, and then looked at Perez.

Perez joined Red Bull as driver number 2, but reporters certainly won't ask him whether he'll deliberately let Verstappen, who's in fourth place, pass tomorrow.

After offering some congratulations, the interview ended with a few routine questions.

On Saturday night, the wind picked up in Imola and the temperature dropped.

When everyone woke up on Sunday morning, a cold wind was blowing and the temperature had dropped to 12°C.

Overcast.

Judging from the sky, Wu Shi knew that rain was likely to come.

(End of this chapter)