F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 339 Not in pole position but leading the race from the start

The fourth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Portuguese Grand Prix, are back-to-back races.

After finishing the interview, Wu Shi returned to the team to shower and change clothes, and then began packing his things with his assistant, preparing to head to Spain.

Although this year's winter testing isn't in Barcelona, ​​all the established teams are very familiar with the area.

However, Toto repeatedly emphasized before the race that Mercedes was not as good as Red Bull on this track.

Because the RB16B has excellent stability here.

However, people have never had much faith in Mercedes' promises.

Wu Shi and Hamilton also frankly admitted at the pre-match press conference that Mercedes faces a problem of insufficient downforce here.

However, media outlets soon emphasized that Mercedes has already made up for the lack of downforce here.

These public opinions aren't a big problem right now, because the Mercedes team is facing much bigger trouble—

My job was poached!

Red Bull is building its own engine division, so it's digging right into Mercedes with its hoes.

Ben Hodgkinson, former head of mechanicals at Mercedes, went to Red Bull to become the powertrain technical director.

Steve Bravett, former head of manufacturing at Mercedes, will lead the new powertrain division.

In addition to these people, several electronics engineers, engine engineers, and engine manufacturing personnel also left Mercedes-Benz.

Toto was clearly annoyed by these things, but under the budget cap, top teams inevitably face the problem of having their players poached.

After all, the three people eligible for exemption from salary and compensation have already been given to the drivers and top engineers.

The remaining engineers then had a greater desire to switch jobs.

Although annoyed, Toto still demonstrated his composure, responding to media speculation by saying:
"Of the 100 engineers Red Bull contacted, only 15 spoke with them."

It means that nobody is optimistic about Red Bull developing its own engines; despite contacting so many companies, very few are willing to go.

The Ben and Niu families were embroiled in a fierce dispute both inside and outside the racecourse.

McLaren, on the other hand, faces a much simpler situation.

They just want to maintain their third place in the overall team standings.

Thanks to Norris's strong performance, they have so far been ahead of Ferrari.

However, to maintain their advantage, they can only continue to bring upgrades to solidify their position.

What the outside world is more concerned about is Norris's teammate Ricciardo, who has recently been considered a strong driver in the paddock but has not been performing well and has been overshadowed by the second-year driver Norris.

Ricardo flashed his signature big teeth in front of the camera, seemingly smiling, but no one knew the pressure he was under inside.

"I think I still lack confidence, especially when entering curves at high speed."

“I haven’t developed a good feel for the car yet, and I’m always worried that the McLaren will slip.”

“Lando has the same concerns, but he’s gotten used to it because he’s been driving this car for a year,” Ricardo told reporters.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidel did not put any pressure on Ricciardo, but simply told the outside world that he believed Ricciardo could quickly return to his best level.

As for Ferrari, it's almost impossible to find him now.

Clearly, their racing competitiveness is worrying this year.

Binotto looked worried because the results at Ferrari had gotten worse year after year since he took over!
He was sixth last year, and if it weren't for the pandemic and the engine being cut as excuses, he would hardly have been able to report to his superiors.

This year, however, he is under even more pressure.

The teams arrived at the Spanish Grand Prix with a variety of feelings.

During the pre-race press conference, Wu Shi, at the team's request, raised questions about the Red Bull rear wing's flexibility in an interview.

This is believed to be the reason why Red Bull has such a fast top speed now.

The FIA ​​immediately verified the information and announced that it would soon strengthen its control over these winglets to prevent any violations.

However, it will take time to verify and set more stringent rules, so Red Bull's car will remain unchanged and continue to participate in the Spanish Grand Prix.

In the three practice matches, Mercedes and Red Bull were evenly matched, making this look like another very suspenseful game.

However, after the qualifying rounds, everyone's opinions changed.

Norris took first place in Q1, while Mercedes and Red Bull were left watching from the sidelines.

Q2, Mercedes-Benz began to emerge, with Wu Shi taking the lead.

Without any external interference, he can consistently maintain this level of performance.

Q3, as usual, proceeded without any surprises, and all drivers participated in a perfectly normal qualifying session.

吴轼驾驶着W12成功拿到了杆位，成绩1分16秒613，领先汉密尔顿0.1秒，领先维斯塔潘0.15秒。

Clearly, such a close lap makes everyone inevitably believe that WDC, which seems to be contested, has actually already belonged to someone else.

And that's exactly what happened during the main competition.

Wu Shi had an excellent start and immediately took the lead.

On the contrary, Hamilton was overtaken by Verstappen at the start of the race.

On lap seven, the Kakuta car lost power, briefly triggering the safety car.

This brought the time difference between the top three drivers to a point where they were threatening each other.

However, after the race restarted, Wu Shi took advantage of his lead at the start and opened up a 1-second gap in the first lap.

He disdained to give Verstappen DRS, and then let Verstappen block the old man.

In fact, he did the right thing.

Because Red Bull seemed really fast, even without DRS, it fiercely resisted the old man's attack.

However, Verstappen was the first to pit at the end of lap 23.

Wu Shi then entered the pits after two more laps, and came out still ahead of Verstappen.

Hamilton took two more laps before pitting, and when he came out, he was still behind Verstappen.

The situation seemed to be deadlocked, but Mercedes' strategy team was quite active, recalling Hamilton before the tires had even fulfilled their mission!
This caught Red Bull completely off guard.

But Red Bull couldn't follow up with the strategy because the old man's lap time was excellent.

Most importantly, Red Bull felt this strategy was familiar, but still didn't believe Hamilton could execute a two-times-one-times strategy.

They are also considering whether Hamilton's pit stop was a ploy to lure Verstappen back, thus ensuring Wu Shi's championship victory.

Complex thinking caused them to miss the opportunity to enter the station, or rather, Red Bull decided not to enter the station after considering various factors.

However, Hamilton's lap times were very fast, and on lap 55, he caught up with Verstappen.

Five laps later, Hamilton, relying on his DRS (Driving Speed ​​Regulator) to wear down Verstappen, successfully overtook him.

Verstappen had no choice but to pit for a tire change, hoping to set a new fastest lap time to mitigate the damage.

On lap 66, the race ended, with Wu Shi crossing the finish line first.

He once again achieved a PTW without any major incidents.

Of course, if he hadn't still had a 6-second lead when Hamilton moved up to second place, he probably would have been thrashed by Hamilton.

Clearly, without any interference from others, Wu Shi perfectly achieved the predicted optimal finishing time.

This strategy is reminiscent of the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Mercedes also used the same tactic to defeat Verstappen.

After the race, Horner emphasized, "Mercedes was just too fast! The only thing we could do was keep Max on the track!"

Verstappen also said: "Too slow, that's my summary of the game."

“I did everything I could to protect my tires, but it wasn’t enough; the Mercedes was obviously faster.”

But as Rosberg commented at the previous event, Red Bull and Mercedes were evenly matched, which was a strategic mistake.

Red Bull didn't think that changing tires halfway through the race would allow them to catch up with Wu Shi, so they opted for a conservative approach.

As for Hamilton, changing tires wouldn't affect his position for Mercedes, so he did so.

If we catch up with Verstappen, it will be our chance to surpass him!

If Hamilton hadn't been caught, there would have been no loss for him.

The leader naturally has an advantage on the track, but also inevitably bears greater strategic risks.

Therefore, Rosberg commented again after the Spanish Grand Prix:

"Red Bull just doesn't want to admit that they've been defeated by Mercedes' tactics again."

"In fact, stopping does make you faster, as you can see from Wu Shi ahead. However, his tire management skills have always been a mystery, so we cannot use him as a comparison."

Spain's swift victory led the media to exclaim, "The Great Demon King Wu Shi is back!"

"The game is over!"

"F1 has lost all suspense, as long as Wu Shi stays in the paddock!"

These comments were naturally started by the local British media.

However, what they said does make some sense, because Wu Shi's strength and stability, combined with a good car, left others with very few opportunities.

Unlike Hamilton and Verstappen, who are now evenly matched, making the game more interesting to watch!

Wu Shi could only remain silent in the face of these voices.

He found himself suffering the same treatment as Hamilton in his previous life.

He even suspected that Hamilton's defeat to Massi in the restarted game in Abu Dhabi that year was influenced by this kind of public opinion.

After all, it gets boring when it's the same person or team winning every year in a top-level competition!
Changing the world champion always generates the most buzz.

Car enthusiasts who joined a few years ago may already be feeling bored.

For them, the Grand Prix is ​​about qualifying, where Wu Shi wins the pole position, and in the main race, Wu Shi is guaranteed to win the championship.

Although there were a few unpredictable moments, it didn't affect most car enthusiasts' conclusion that Wu Shi had been the champion for the past few years.

In reality, teams, drivers, and race organizers all know that the most crucial factors for victory lie outside the track, but these are things that the audience cannot see.

No one saw Wu Shi spending more than ten hours a day on the simulator, nor did anyone see the Mercedes engineers working day and night.

Everyone thought the race was won simply because the driver was driving fast.

They also believed that replacing anyone else with them wouldn't change the outcome.

But these are just opinions.

Wu Shi sighed. These opinions were beyond his ability to respond to. The old man had already responded, but it had no effect.

As for the management of him and Hamilton within the team, it seems to have been deliberately ignored as he began to steadily lead in the points standings.

However, when Toto was asked this question by reporters, his answer was:
"I can't let one world champion be another world champion's wingman, after all, they are both still in their prime."

Hamilton praised the public statement, while Wu Shi remained silent.

He actually wanted to reply with, "It's not that I don't want to, but that I'm incapable of doing so."

You want Hamilton to block the car for Wu Shi? Don't even think about it!

Anyway, the contract was signed here this year, and there are no such problematic clauses in it. Let's see if the old man will pay any attention to you.

Contract threats next year?
Having been relegated to the number 2 driver position, is there any need for Hamilton to remain at Mercedes? This is a management dilemma, and Toto understands this, so there is no reason to publicly rank Wu Shi and Hamilton.

Wu Shi understood this principle, or rather, most people in the caravan understood this principle, so naturally everyone understood what was being done.

Meanwhile, the issue of Wu Shi pointing out Red Bull's illegal design during the Spanish Grand Prix has also been resolved by the FIA.

Flexible winglets, or variable winglets, have always operated on the fringes of regulations.

The FIA ​​will now rigorously test the deformation of the winglets during racing.

However, all of this won't be implemented so quickly.

After all, some winglets are extremely stable on the horizontal plane; if you apply a horizontal load to them, they won't budge.

It seems to comply with the regulations, but once the car is in motion, the effect is different.

The airflow is not completely horizontal and downward, but rather swirling, so the originally stationary wingplate moves under the influence of the airflow.

In short, variable airfoil is a technology that sounds simple but is actually very complex.

To circumvent the relevant regulations, the team's design was far more complex than what people saw.

The FIA ​​ultimately decided to make the supplementary regulations take effect in mid-June.

Therefore, the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix and the subsequent Azerbaijan Grand Prix will not be affected in any way.

Toto and Andreas were naturally dissatisfied and demanded that the design be banned immediately!

Toto even threatened Red Bull, saying he would sue them at the Baku race.

Horner was delighted, saying, "I'm so glad I've finally gotten to make Toto feel the pain."

This is clearly a declaration of war against Mercedes!

Toto immediately responded: "Mercedes' lead will not be taken by Red Bull."

As the two continued their battles, Wednesday, May 19th, arrived.

This year will be the last year that Monaco follows its tradition of holding practice matches on Thursdays – Fridays are religious days for Monaco, and they are generally not used for work.

When visiting Monaco, going to Lock & Lock is a must-do activity.

After all, Wu Shi and Lock & Lock had always had a special relationship, even though he didn't go there to play, but rather to freeload a meal.

When Thursday, May 20th arrived, Wu Shi sent Louise a text message.

Luckily, Louise has been studying Chinese quite a bit lately, so she understood the pun and returned a beautiful smile.

At the pre-match press conference, Lock & Lock unsurprisingly sat in the center position.

Everyone is very concerned about whether this local driver can bring home a victory.

Leclerc's replies always sounded like those of a professional public relations player, speaking in a measured and formal manner, as if he were reading a prepared statement from a press officer.

When the microphone was handed to Hamilton, he began to express himself in accordance with the wishes of some fans.

"The competition here has turned into a parade."

"This is the best place we can race, the most beautiful place, but it's never been exciting for racing fans."

"This is a long-distance race, a single-stage event. We have nowhere to overtake, so we must change the format of this Grand Prix."

In response to Hamilton's criticism of Monaco as boring and difficult to overtake, the reporters countered with:
Can you win the championship here?

These words left the old man stunned, and he instead said:
"That depends on the qualifying results. As we all know, pole position often means victory."

The reporter did not continue to ask the old man if he could get pole position.

Instead, he looked at Wu Shi and asked, "Can you consistently secure pole position here?"

"This is not a good question to answer. The W12 will be quite challenging at the Monaco circuit. We will have to overcome many problems to achieve a result," Wu Shi said.

Mercedes will not abandon its long wheelbase design, which is more suitable for other tracks, just for a street race, so Monaco has always been a headache for Mercedes.

"Thank you for your answer, but I look forward to seeing how you do! We believe you can do it!" the reporter said happily.

Wu Shi smiled and nodded in response. This was probably something his fans were used to seeing in the paddock.

After the press conference, which was scheduled to be held at a different time, the practice match at 11 a.m. began quickly.

What will Monaco's practice match test?

This is undoubtedly a major challenge, because the track is really unfriendly.

Wu Shi and the old man both had a hard time running, and their speed was not fast in the three practice races.

Ferrari, on the other hand, seems to have rediscovered its speed here, achieving quite impressive results.

Mercedes insiders predict that Ferrari has a chance to challenge Red Bull's pole position.

By Saturday's qualifying session, this prediction had been largely confirmed.

Q3时，吴轼拼了老命跑出1分10秒495的成绩，结果发现竟然比乐扣的1分10秒346慢了不少。

On the second lap, he was ready to give it his all. He had already planned it out in his mind, hoping to get a chance to touch Lock & Lock's backside.

But only in the second timing segment did Jonathan's voice come through:
"The end, Red Flag!"

Wu Shi naturally saw what was happening on both sides of the track and asked helplessly, "Who had an accident?"

“Charles Leclerc, accident at Turn 15, watch out,” Jonathan said.

Everyone was forced to give up the last lap.

The first reaction of the six-star trio upon seeing this situation was:
"Whether it was intentional or not, he's saved his pole position!"

However, this has always been the case in Monaco, due to the complexity of the track, resulting in a very high accident rate during qualifying.

Moreover, the space is too narrow. If a car has a problem, the race organizers will immediately raise the red flag, otherwise the consequences of a collision would be unimaginable.

Wu Shi brought the car back and noticed the empty space after the number 1 sign, wondering where Lock & Lock had gone.

Then he met Lock & Lock during the interview.

At this moment, the guy looked very serious, not because he was unhappy about getting pole position, but because he was worried that the collision might damage the gearbox.

It's unlikely that the gearbox can be fully repaired in one night, which will definitely affect tomorrow's race.

After Lock & Lock left, Wu Shi stepped forward to give an interview.

He smiled and congratulated Lock on taking pole position, and expressed his hope that Lock's car would be fine, and that he was also happy that Leclerc would win in his hometown tomorrow.

After all, they weren't in the championship contention group, and Wu Shi, Pan Zi, and the old man were all very magnanimous.

If any one of these three had secured pole position, none of their interviews would have been this cheerful.

Verstappen finished third; he had a chance for his second flying lap, but like Wu Shi, it was cut short.

The worst off was Hamilton, who only managed a time of 1 minute 11.095 seconds on his first flying lap.

During the second lap, the second timing segment was also slow, and as a result, Lock & Lock ended the timer early.

The old man will start in 7th place.

As Wu Shi walked back, he saw the slow-motion video on the screen, which happened to be the part where Lock & Lock made a mistake.

His right front wheel scraped against the guardrail, causing the suspension to break immediately, thus ending all suspense surrounding the Q3.

“They’re too close,” Verstappen remarked.

“Yes, the suspension broke. I remember I had the same problem in 2015, it was the rear wheel, at the TABAC bend.” Wu Shi nodded.

“Haha, that year was truly amazing,” Verstappen laughed.

The two watched the replay of Lock & Lock's incident for a while. As expected of "Extreme Guy," he sometimes goes too far.

That evening, Wu Shi received a call from Jonathan at his hotel.

"According to our sources, Ferrari has repaired the SF21. They inspected the gearbox and found it to be intact."

“Oh, then we’ll just have to see if there’s another opportunity tomorrow,” Wu Shi said.

"Well, let's talk about it tomorrow. Get some rest," Jonathan said.

On Sunday, May 23, the sun was high in the sky, and Leclerc's banners hung on the balconies of the buildings on both sides.

It looks like today will be a joyful day.

Wu Shi was in a relaxed mood because the most difficult part of Monaco was over.

As long as you don't make a stupid mistake in the main race, how could you possibly be overtaken?
Impossible. Last year, the old man's old tires withstood Verstappen for dozens of laps without any problems.

The atmosphere in the team was relaxed because everyone knew how the race would go and there were no surprises or unexpected events.

Wu Shi chatted with the mechanics for a while before getting into the car.

Mercedes did eventually come up with some strategies for today's game.

The core idea is to have Wu Shi closely follow Leclerc and see if they can seize an opportunity to tactically overtake him.

Hamilton's situation is more complicated. He started in 7th place, and whether he can overtake others depends entirely on whether his strategy works.

However, he will most likely be trapped by the traffic jam, and then he will have no chance.

Soon, the maintenance area's access streetlights were on, and the survey began.

Wu Shi drove onto the track; the situation here was so familiar that there was nothing to say.

After one lap, he stopped in front of the starting grid, and the mechanic pushed the car to the second starting grid.

He had just gotten off the bus when he discovered that there were no buses in the first departure slot.

He felt a surge of surprise and delight.

"Where is Charles?" Wu Shi asked.

“Just now, it seems there was a problem with his left rear wheel. He’s back in the repair shop for inspection,” Jonathan said.

Wu Shi nodded.

The survey circle is for drivers to inspect their cars and test the track.

If it's not a major problem, the mechanics will fix the race car, and Lock & Lock will do another lap to check it out and start from pole position again.

However, car number 16 still hadn't arrived at the track by the time the Monaco national anthem was played before the race.

"Charles' race car has a driveshaft malfunction and he cannot participate in the race," Jonathan informed Wu Shi of the final situation.

Lock & Lock stood in the center, listening to the national anthem.

The sunny and cheerful boys all turned into gloomy teenagers.

After the national anthem was played, Prince Albert II came to comfort his young but unfortunate subjects.

When Wu Shi returned to his car after the pre-race activities, he was somewhat incredulous, thinking how lucky he was.

Verstappen was somewhat annoyed, because this meant they were now 7 points behind!

The competition has entered its final preparation stage.

Because of Leclerc's retirement, Mercedes immediately recalculated the track conditions, and Jonathan informed Wu Shi of the results.

Everything is ready; we're just waiting for the competition to begin.

(End of this chapter)