F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 338 It's rare to see a different ending theme song.

"Hahaha, Toto's going to be so angry this year." The soldier couldn't help but laugh when he saw it.

"To be fair, we can't blame Wu Shi for this, can we? If Hamilton wants to hold back, he should be prepared to be overtaken." Haoran strongly supported Wu Shi.

"Is there really traffic congestion?" Fei asked.

“This must be a traffic jam for me! Otherwise, how could Wu Shi catch up?” the soldier said.

Everyone's stance is definitely on Wu Shi's side, but stance cannot change the situation on the track.

After Verstappen passed, Hamilton continued in second place.

Wu Shi commented on TR: "Doesn't he need to return the position?"

Jonathan didn't speak because he was communicating with the sports director.

The sports director said they were communicating with the event organizers.

“No! Lewis gained unfairly and must return the position! You can’t wait until the tournament judges make their decision before speaking!” Jonathan said.

However, the sports director did not reply to him, but Toto told Jonathan in an internal call:

"We will abide by the tournament organizers' decisions."

Jonathan looked at Toto in disbelief, and then said:

"So what is Ron talking to Massey about? Is he not going to penalize Lewis?"

“Jonathan! We will abide by the tournament's ruling,” Toto said again, but his voice was now a few decibels louder.

The internal conversations at Mercedes are confidential and will not be broadcast live.

But anyone who watches the race knows there's a question of whether there's a profit margin beyond the track.

"So Hamilton is going to hand over the position?" the soldier asked.

"We'll have to see the replay," Fei said.

The replay came right away, and at Turn 1, Wu Shi was indeed significantly ahead.

"Wu Shi braked first," Haoran said.

Because in slow motion, Wu Shi's lead gradually disappeared before the two turned the corner.

The two then began to brake and turn, but because they missed the braking point, they could only make it through turn 1 by veering off the track.

During this process, due to the camera angle, people couldn't see the situation clearly.

However, after a long wait, the race organizers did not even mention investigating what happened at Turn 1 between 59 and 44.

"It seems the organizers don't think there's a problem," the soldier said.

"I feel the main reason is that both of them went off the white line, so the race organizers ruled that both of them benefited from leaving the track," Haoran said.

"That's hard to say," Fei Ge said calmly.

"Let's continue watching the race. These are issues that the teams should be considering. Based on past internal team conflicts, as long as the two drivers don't affect the others, the race organizers rarely make any substantial rulings," Bing Ge said.

“Hmm, it seems Wu Shi is falling behind Hamilton now,” Haoran said.

Wu Shi broke away from Hamilton's DRS zone after three more laps, after all, he had been following him for the previous three laps and his tires were already warm.

Hamilton was in the lead because his tires were well protected, so he was still chasing Verstappen.

Even so, it still took Hamilton four laps to successfully overtake Verstappen using DRS.

"Mercedes-Benz cars still have a certain advantage on this track," Bing Ge commented.

However, Hamilton did not create much of a gap after overtaking Verstappen.

However, after following for three laps, Verstappen gradually slipped out of Hamilton's DRS zone due to tire issues and other factors.

The difference in seconds between the two gradually stabilized at around 2 seconds, which was a balance point.

So the three in the front row, after their struggle, returned to their original state.

"It's all been a waste of time again."

The soldier shook his head helplessly as he saw the three men's positions were set.

“Verstappen has caused a lot of trouble this year,” Fei Ge said.

"Isn't this the same thing Wu Shi did in 2015?" Haoran said with a smile.

"So who do you think will win?" the soldier asked.

"It's hard to say. This is only the third race, and Hamilton is the biggest loser. Mercedes will definitely have to prioritize protecting Wu Shi in the later stages," Haoran said.

"Not necessarily." Fei shook his head again.

Once the front row stabilized, the broadcast cameras focused more on the mid-range drivers.

Because it was the last year of the major rule changes, apart from Haas, the skill levels of the teams were not significantly different.

Therefore, as long as the midstream groups do not form a DRS (Digital Relationship Support) train, the competition between them will still be very exciting.

On lap 23, the pit stop window opened for the first time.

Norris, O'Connor, and Vettel all went to the pits to change tires.

Except for Norris, who used medium tires, everyone else used hard tires.

"Norris is gambling with the safety car, isn't he?" Haoran said after seeing this.

However, Portimão Circuit only hosted the F1 Grand Prix for the first time last year, and judging from the situation, there are not many safety cars.

"When are you going to change the tires on these four in front?" the soldier asked.

"I don't think they'll move that quickly. Both teams have already opened safe pit lane windows. They need to observe their opponents' movements before making a move," Fei said.

Sure enough, ten laps had passed since the first drivers entered the pits, and the four in the front row remained completely still.

In fact, both Mercedes and Red Bull's medium tires wanted to run more than 30 laps, so they naturally reached a stalemate.

In addition, the other teams were simply not fast enough to keep up with them, so they were happy to continue to wear each other down on the track.

Suddenly, on lap 35, among the top four riders, Wu Shi took the lead and pitted without being recalled by the team!
Horner frowned slightly, turned around by the control wall, and looked in the direction from which Wu Shi had come.

"Mercedes-Benz has taken the initiative; they're definitely trying to undercut us!" Haoran exclaimed excitedly.

Wu Shi and Verstappen were very close, and those watching the game naturally knew why he entered the pit at that moment.

Furthermore, the lack of TR communication suggests that Wu Shi likely came in on his own initiative.

Wu Shi entered the maintenance area very quickly, only slowing down to the speed limit when he reached the white line marked by the maintenance area sign.

"He seems to do this every time. Doesn't he ever accidentally speed?" Fei asked.

"Wu Shi must have trained specifically. We used to talk about Ricardo's golden left foot, but his braking skills are definitely not as good as Wu Shi's."

"Because someone has calculated that, excluding tire changing time, Wu Shi's time spent on the same repair area passage is often the shortest in the hunting grounds."

"This shows that when entering the maintenance area, his braking and deceleration were maximized."

"His acceleration and traction control are also very good when leaving the maintenance area, but his main advantage is in deceleration when entering the station," Haoran said.

After Wu Shi turned into the parking area and parked the car, the crew changed his tires to white ones.

Buzz!
3.3 seconds.

"Too slow! Can it still be undercut?!" the soldier sighed regretfully.

Wu Shi drove into the fast lane and, after passing the checkpoint, immediately accelerated onto the track.

"That depends on whether Wu Shi can fly a beautiful circle," Fei Ge said.

"Push, push, we need to create some time, then pit on this lap!" GP's TR was released.

"Oh, Red Bull told Verstappen to push forward because they were worried about Wu Shi's undercut," Haoran translated.

Back on the track, Wu Shi's heart slowly sank into the car.

The white tires were significantly affected by the temperature, making it difficult for them to warm up quickly.

So he struggled a lot on the first few turns, but those were the only turns he could manage.

He's about to start speeding away!

The racing mode is already in overtaking mode, and this lap will determine whether he can tactically overtake Verstappen!

Buzz! ! !

The race car sped along and soon arrived at Turn 15.

He then rushed onto the main straightaway and began to accelerate.

On the other side, Verstappen drove into the pit lane and was also fitted with white tires, but they were a set of old white tires!

"Red Bull's initial strategy didn't seem to be a one-stop approach, so they didn't prepare a blank tire," Haoran said.

"Wow! It's 3.3 seconds too!"

The camera followed Wu Shi's race car on the straightaway, then switched to a fixed camera focusing on the main straightaway before Turn 1.

Wu Shi sped over, while the Red Bull inside was still moving slowly at a limited speed on the fast lane of the maintenance area.

Before Verstappen had even crossed the white line by the time he reached the edge of the fenced area, Wu Shi had already sped past.

"pass!"

"That overtaking tactic was brilliant!" Haoran exclaimed.

"Hey, do you think we could undercut Hamilton too?" the soldier suddenly thought.

“No, Hamilton’s yellow tires protected him well. His lap times weren’t slow; he had a time of 1 minute 21.932 seconds on the last lap.” Haoran shook his head.

Sure enough, the old man was 4.7 seconds ahead of Wu Shi before entering the pit, and it was clear that two laps would not be enough to erase that lead.

Moreover, Hamilton's tire change took only 2.3 seconds, which further bought him time.

By lap 39, all three passengers in the front row had changed their tires.

Perez, who hasn't entered the pits yet, is leading the race.

Hamilton trailed by 12.1 seconds.

Wu Shi was 14.3 seconds behind him.

Verstappen trailed him by 16.4 seconds.

"Does Wu Shi have any hope of catching up with Hamilton?" The soldier seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

“It’s a bit difficult. Hamilton is also very fast now, and the time difference between his starting lap and Wu Shi’s hasn’t narrowed,” Haoran said.

On lap 41, Hamilton's clean lap after warming up the tires resulted in a lap time of 1 minute 20.933 seconds.

Wu Shi had previously maintained a time of 1 minute 20.698 seconds for two laps, but he couldn't do that now, so the two immediately maintained their current speed.

"If the white tires are going to finish the remaining twenty-odd laps, they should just drive it however they want."

Fei Ge saw the Mercedes and Mercedes still accelerating their fighting spirit.

At this moment, the two of them were approaching Perez at a rate that was eroding one second per lap.

On lap 44, the two were less than 6 seconds behind Perez.

"Hey! You think Red Bull is planning to have Perez block Hamilton and Wu Shi, and then have Verstappen follow up?" Bing Ge seemed to have seen something. "No way, what are you talking about? How many laps has Perez's tires done on?" Fei Ge shook his head.

"It's unlikely. Perez used this yellow tire for four laps in Q2, and he's already completed nearly 50 laps of the race. He has absolutely no defensive capabilities!"

Haoran also doesn't think Red Bull would do that.

However, on lap 48, Hamilton closed to just over a second behind Perez.

On lap 49, the veteran used DRS to overtake, and Perez had no chance to stop him.

On lap 50, Wu Shi, who was 2 seconds behind Hamilton, also overtook him.

Perez, having completed his mission, pitted on lap 51.

"Look, it didn't work at all; he didn't stop anyone," Fei said.

"Red Bull is thinking that if they can stop these two, Verstappen will still have a chance," the soldier said.

"I've noticed that Mercedes is definitely faster here. Verstappen is already almost 6 seconds behind the two players, and he simply can't catch up," Haoran said, looking at the race data chart.

"Could it be because they used old white tires?" the soldier asked.

“Verstappen’s white tires only lasted three laps at most, there couldn’t be that much difference,” Haoran shook his head.

Wu Shi discovered that the second difference between him and Hamilton was completely locked; when he sped up, Hamilton would sped up in sync.

This is completely different from qualifying, where even if he can squeeze out a fraction of a second more per lap, it comes at the cost of tires.

Hamilton could do the same, since cruising lap times are far from the lap limit for any driver.

With no difference in tires or performance, no one could make any further moves.

On lap 63, Verstappen pitted for red tires in an attempt to set a new fastest lap time.

On lap 64, Wu Shi was also recalled to have his tires changed to red tires.

On lap 65, Verstappen set a time of 1 minute 19.865 seconds.

On lap 66, Hamilton crossed the finish line under the checkered flag, securing his first Grand Prix victory of the season!
27 seconds later, Wu Shi crossed the finish line, successfully setting a new fastest lap time of 1 minute 19.633 seconds and taking home a valuable point.

After bringing the Mercedes 1 and 2 back, Toto still smiled. Even though he was wearing a mask, you could still see how excited he was under the camera.

Verstappen finished third, but his fastest time was disqualified because he exceeded the track limits.

However, even if it hadn't been canceled, he wouldn't have gotten that 1 point.

Perez finished the race in fourth place, having completed a less than impressive race, having dropped two places from the start.

Norris finished fifth, becoming McLaren's true hope, while his teammate Ricciardo finished ninth.

Leclerc failed to finish fourth, only managing sixth, clearly indicating that Ferrari has fallen behind the two German teams.

Ocon and Alonso finished 7th and 8th respectively, while Alpin brought home points with both cars, which is like a holiday for them.

The last point was won by Gasly of Toro Rosso.

In the other Ferrari, Sainz could only finish 11th.

Two Mercedes-Benz cars and a Red Bull were parked at the front.

The three winners got out of the car and greeted each other politely.

Then, in the lounge, they saw the replay.

“I thought this place would be returned to its original location,” Verstappen suddenly said after seeing it.

“We were both out of track limits, so there was no point in talking about leading on the way into the corner, and I took the lead just before the last corner,” Hamilton said.

Wu Shi took a sip of water, nodded, and said, "The rules do not specify how to punish this situation."

Compared to the opening race, all three have clearly found a way to get along in the new season, suppressing their fiery personalities as race car drivers.

Indeed, this is true. When grumbling after a match won't affect the outcome, constantly blaming this or that only makes you unhappy.

Wu Shi took it all in stride. Hamilton was determined to give him a good fight this year, while Toto didn't seem to be making any bigger moves. So let them fight it out.

Verstappen is definitely going to cause trouble this year, so let him cause trouble. He can disrupt the top three teams, and that's fine with me.

God Bless the Queen plays, and the ending theme song is unusually changed.

After the awards ceremony, the three of them stepped down from the stage and went to the interview area.

Verstappen was the first to be interviewed. A reporter hoisted a microphone over and asked:

"Hey Max, this weekend hasn't been very lucky for you. You had your results canceled twice for going off the track."

“You started in third place and finished in third place. We saw that you were in the lead at one point.”

Verstappen habitually adjusted his mask before speaking:
"Yes, I didn't know the track boundary control was so strict, so I don't really understand why my results were canceled."

"But Wu Shi and I had the same experience, and I think that's what the competition was thinking."

"As for the competition, it was actually really tough for us."

"I noticed Wu Shi's presence when the train departed, but I couldn't deal with him because he was on the outermost line than me, yet he was moving faster."

"Few people can compete with Wu Shi at the start of the race, that's something we all know."

Verstappen smiled slightly, adjusted his mask, and then continued in his hoarse voice:

"Later, I seized the opportunity while the two Mercedes drivers were battling and overtook them, but at that time my tires weren't in very good condition."

"Because I had been following Wu Shi for a long time, I couldn't shake off Lewis for a long time after I finally got there, and eventually lost my position."

"Well, actually we considered pitting for a tire change on lap 36, and this decision was very difficult for us."

"Because Lewis and Wu Shi's tires both look well-protected."

"So we were worried that Wu Shi would overcut us, but he chose another tactic, disrupted our plans, and he succeeded."

"It's incredible, but that's Wu Shi for you. When you're going to compete with him, you have to be prepared for that."

Verstappen spoke at length, and the reporter had no further questions to ask, so he simply said thank you.

After Pan Zi left, Wu Shi came up.

"Well, Wu Shi, this should be good news for you, because you finished the race two places higher and have officially surpassed Verstappen in the standings," the reporter said.

"Yes, my weekend wasn't very smooth because of the strong winds, and one of my lap times was invalidated."

"On the second lap, the track conditions were very poor, so I was unable to get a good position."

"Fortunately, I made up for the losses in the race, and I am very satisfied with finishing second."

Wu Shi nodded and said.

"Well, on lap 35, your decision to pit and tactically overtake Max was undoubtedly correct. Was that your own judgment at the time?" the reporter asked again.

"Yes, actually I've been waiting for Max to get on the train first."

"After I dropped from second to third place, my tires were worn out the most, and in order to finish the race, I had to start conserving tires."

"I actually did better than I thought, which means that even if Max pits before me, I still have a chance to tactically overtake him."

"At that time, our time difference was maintained at around two seconds, and I thought I could do it."

"However, Max didn't move, and the tires started to become less supportive of my idea, so I notified the team that I was going to pit."

The reporter standing by the fence nodded and said:
"You gave us a wonderful game, thank you."

Finally, Hamilton arrived at the interview area.

"Lewis, congratulations! After Imola's mistake, you quickly regained your form and successfully won today's victory."

"But we saw very tough competition during the match."

After listening to the reporter finish speaking, Hamilton thought for a moment and said:

"Yes, today's competition was very tough, and I was even surprised to get pole position on Saturday."

"So on Sunday, I told myself that I had to stay ahead."

“Once Wu Shi regained the lead, I would have had no chance, but luckily I did.”

"And in the first period, I successfully protected the tires, which is a very difficult thing to do."

"During the second period, I maintained my distance from Wu Shi, which was also a difficult task."

At this point, Hamilton seemed to let out a long sigh, showing obvious signs of fatigue:
"But in the end I did it. I gradually understand how Wu Shi did all this. I am very happy to have won here."

The reporter looked at Hamilton with some surprise, but did not ask further questions. Instead, he said:

"Finally, congratulations on your victory! Thank you for your answer!"

After the three interviews concluded, the two Sky Sports commentators began a discussion.

One of them was an old acquaintance, Nico Rosberg.

"Nico, how would you rate today's match?"

"Well, I think Red Bull still had the performance advantage of the car throughout the weekend, but Verstappen just didn't capitalize on it."

Rosberg's first sentence was surprising, but he still proceeded to state his analysis:
"Red Bull's car is very sensitive to airflow, which is why Verstappen lost pole position in qualifying."

"Let me give you an example. If Wu Shi were to sit in a Red Bull car, do you think pole position would still go to Lewis?"

"Oh! Don't make that assumption, Wu Shi's results were also cancelled in Q3," the commentator laughed.

"Haha, but what we can see is that whoever maintains the lead here will definitely have a first-mover advantage."

"So Verstappen's failure in qualifying means he'll have to consider more factors on Sunday."

Rosberg shared his professional perspective.

The commentator then asked, "What do you think will be the outcome of this year's match between Wu Shi and Lewis?"

“Hmm,” Rosberg thought for a moment and said:
"Wu Shi is still in very good form. I don't think Lewis will be able to compete against him. However, for a driver, the opinions of outsiders are the least useful."

"Wu Shi's driving style is sharp in qualifying and steady in the race, so he rarely misses opportunities."

"The opening game was due to Lewis's pressure, and today's game was due to his rare loss on Saturday."

"But some things must be admitted, Lewis seems to be in better form than in 2016, and I've heard that he's put a lot of effort into racing."

"Perhaps this is why he has been in consistently good form this year."

The commentator nodded and concluded:
"This year, three drivers will compete in the WDC."

"We don't know if five-time world champion Wu Shi can successfully defend his title."

"We don't know if Lewis can win his third world championship."

"We don't even know if Max will be able to take the world championship throne."

"But that's precisely why the match looks more interesting. We hope this kind of competition continues, and we also hope that Perez can participate in it."

Rosberg nodded and said:

"Yes, this year's competition will definitely be very exciting. Wu Shi will not be able to sit back and relax. Verstappen has joined the ranks of contenders for the title, and Hamilton is in excellent form."

"I think we'll see a continued competition between the three of them, and none of them will concede to the others. This will be the most exciting competition since 2016!"

Rosberg also mentioned 2016, saying he really can't forget that year!

(End of this chapter)