F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 342 One tire blowout, one presses "Brake Magic," then I'm the only one who can win.

Although Leclerc secured pole position in qualifying, Mercedes and Red Bull are not worried about the Ferrari driver who joined the front row.

After practice and qualifying, each team has a very good understanding of their competitors' lap times.

Ferrari's long-distance performance is very average and poses no threat.

At the pre-race meeting, Wu Shi's task was simple: overtake Leclerc as quickly as possible and then pull away.

Hamilton's task was similar.

This was just the first key point of the race; Red Bull's speed over long distances was no slower than Mercedes', and even had a slight advantage.

This means that choosing the right tactics for entering the station presents a huge challenge.

Both players were wearing red tires that had been used for four laps in a Q2, which showed slightly more wear and tear compared to Red Bull tires.

“We need to be concerned about Perez. According to calculations, if he enters the pit prematurely to perform an undercut, it could potentially cause us losses,” the strategy director said.

Theoretically, a new white tire can achieve a time of 1 minute and 46 seconds after its initial lap.

However, it would be somewhat difficult for the old red tires to reach this level.

Back and forth, Perez's undercut will become extremely severe.

Because it's very easy to overtake in Baku, the only better overtaking spots here compared to Monaco are the two DRS zones.

Elsewhere, the curves are no easier to overtake than those in Monaco.

Once Perez takes the lead, he loses a fraction of a second on every corner, and Wu Shi and Hamilton are doomed.

“We expect to pit on lap 15, but we can’t pit on lap 15,” the strategy director continued.

His idea was simple: pretend to pit after 15 laps, but actually find an opportunity to pit to avoid being undercut by Perez.

“We expect a window after lap 10, so both of you need to be aware of TR, we might suddenly recall you.” – Strategy Master.

Wu Shi nodded. Since the entry to the station was random, he still asked a question:
"Won't they get overcut? Red Bull's tires are much better than ours, so they can do that."

“Of course there is this risk, but as long as the entry into the station goes smoothly, there will be no such risk,” the strategy director continued.

The meeting continued for a while, mainly with the strategy director explaining the various branch strategies.

This was mainly to explain to the track engineers, so as to ensure that there would be no misunderstandings in the command during the race.

At 6 p.m. on June 6, the temperature was still very high, and the surface of the track was scorching hot.

Without exception, all the drivers in the front row were using the Q2 red tires (C5), which are Pirelli's softest tires this year.

However, Kimi, Russell, and Latifi used yellow tires (C4).

Storol even used white tires (C3).

In this match, everyone racked their brains to come up with strategies.

After the scouting lap and the warm-up lap, the race is about to begin.

Wu Shi's car was angled towards the Leclerc, so when the five red lights went out, he naturally cut in.

But Leclerc got off to a good start and didn't give him a chance.

When he got to Turn 1, he couldn't risk a crash, especially with Hamilton right behind him.

He remained patient, staying close behind Leclerc for 0.5 seconds.

This distance looks like it could be crossed at any moment.

Finally, on the first lap, Wu Shi arrived at Turn 16. As soon as he passed the corner, he caught the Leclerc's slipstream.

His speed surpassed Locke's by 20kph before the DRS white line arrived, meaning he didn't need the DRS at all to deal with Leclerc.

Lecter moved to the center line to defend, but with such a large speed difference, this kind of defense was meaningless.

Wu Shi casually found an opening and overtook it, then merged into the lane in front of Lock & Lock.

Thanks to the slingshot effect he just experienced, his car speed was still quite good.

Leclerc, having caught Wu Shi's tailwind, tried to overtake him.

Before turn 1, Wu Shi took the center line, and Lock & Lock couldn't overtake him, so they could only obediently follow behind him.

"Wow, that's fast! They overtook me right after the first lap."

"Ferrari's speed is really not good, the engine is too weak."

"So Leclerc's pole position conversion rate has decreased again," Haoran said with a smile.

"Haha, that's your focus." The soldier laughed, then continued his analysis:

"Hamilton also needs to get past Leclerc as soon as possible, otherwise Wu Shi will have a chance to widen the speed gap."

"I think it's highly likely. Wu Shi's speed is very fast and stable when he's in the lead," Haoran said.

On the second lap, when he reached Turn 15 again, Wu Shi suddenly cut inside the shoulder of Turn 15.

zizi~
“Yes, there’s something on the road,” Wu Shi said in TR.

Leclerc followed Wu Shi as they cut through the bend.

Hamilton, who was preparing to overtake, did not notice the branch, and by the time he wanted to avoid it, it was too late.

He could only run over it, and luckily nothing serious happened.

Verstappen, who was behind, was even more astute. He didn't see the tree branch, but when he saw the two drivers ahead of him cut the corner, he cut the corner as well.

However, the old man still managed to catch Lock & Lock's tail current, and then the same scenario as Wu Shi unfolded.

"Leclerc isn't slow, but the two Mercedes players seized the opportunity here too well," the soldier said.

“Red Bull will be coming up soon after DRS is activated,” Fei Ge said.

On lap 3, Aokang retired from the race due to a turbocharger malfunction, slowly returning to the pits.

On lap 4, DRS was activated.

At this point, Wu Shi was in the lead, Hamilton was 0.9 seconds slower, Leclerc was 1.5 seconds slower, Verstappen was 2.4 seconds slower, and Perez was 3.6 seconds slower.

However, because the front-row drivers all received DRS (Driving Speed ​​Reduction), Red Bull was unable to overtake Ferrari and remained blocked.

"Is Hamilton deliberately using DRS to block Verstappen for Leclerc?" the soldier suddenly asked after seeing this.

"Impossible. What's the benefit of doing that? If we can't create enough distance, the last-entry strategy is still very dangerous," Fei Ge immediately denied.

On lap 5, Wu Shi pulled Hamilton out of the DRS zone, clearly showing that the Mercedes car's losses from the turbulence in the corners could not be offset by the benefits of the DRS on the straights.

On lap 6, Hamilton also left Leclerc out of the DRS zone.

The two Mercedes are now speeding along, trying to keep as much distance as possible.

At that moment, Hamilton suddenly said, "My forewing is unbalanced."

"Could it be that the front wing was damaged?" Haoran said.

"I don't know, but seeing that Wu Shi didn't create any significant distance, I still tend to think Hamilton is lying, haha," the soldier said.

"Then who is he trying to fool?" Fei asked back.

"They might be trying to trick Red Bull, or Wu Shi, because there's a problem with the forewing, and that would delay our entry into the station?" the soldier boldly hypothesized.

On the track, the first five cars remained close behind, and they sped past one after another in the shots of each bend.

The sound of engines echoed through the city of Baku.

At the beginning of lap 7, Verstappen easily overtook Leclerc, who was without DRS.

On lap 9, Leclerc opted to pit for hard tires, while Kakuta, Latifi, and Mazzeping also changed tires.

"Is it stopping this early?"

"It's not early. Russell went in to change to white tires on the first lap."

"This is also a strategy, to avoid the chaos ahead and run our own race."

"I only have one question right now: can the tires hold up?" the soldier asked.

"We can handle it, there's no problem," Fei said.

Wu Shi noticed that the tires were worn out very badly, which was a problem with the Mercedes-Benz.

But now is not the time to enter the station.

However, on lap 11, Hamilton pitted before him.

"Hamilton went in first! What's Mercedes up to?" The soldier immediately jumped up and down.

"No way!" Fei Ge was also puzzled.

"Probably not. Mercedes wouldn't be stupid enough to let Hamilton undercut Wu Shi; they'd be condemned to death for that," Haoran said.

"If it wasn't for a tactical overtaking maneuver, then Hamilton's tires must have given out. Could it be related to him hitting a tree branch?" the soldier said.

Hamilton drove into the pits, and the four white tires were easily put on, but the car didn't move after the change.

"What's going on?!" the soldier raised his voice again.

sieve!
A small Red Bull drove past the Mercedes pit garage before Hamilton was released.

It turned out that the old man's tire change was delayed because of the need for safe release.

"4.6 seconds, that's it, Red Bull must have made a move!" The soldier reacted quickly.

“I think Wu Shi definitely needs to get to the station immediately; we can’t delay,” Fei Ge said.

There is no doubt that both Wu Shi and Verstappen were recalled on lap 12.

Wu Shi pushed very hard on this lap, so he was relaxed when he entered the repair area.

Heh!

A tire change takes 2.6 seconds, neither fast nor slow.

Verstappen changed tires even faster, in just 1.9 seconds.

However, these are not problems when faced with absolute second differences.

The two returned to the track, with Wu Shi leading Hamilton by 4 seconds and Verstappen by 2 seconds.

"It's over." The soldier shook his head.

“At least Wu Shi is still ahead,” Fei Ge said.

"Will Perez come to stop Wu Shi?" Haoran asked.

Because Perez had not yet entered the pit at this point, it seemed he could block Wu Shi.

"No, that would be too much of a sacrifice."

As expected, Perez pushed very fast for the next two laps before pitting on lap 14.

"Perez won't be out before Hamilton, will he?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, Perez must have gone there!" the soldier continued to deny.

However, when Perez came out, he barely managed to suppress Hamilton.

"oops!"

Hamilton thus fell to fourth place after a series of maneuvers.

The old man immediately questioned in TR, "Why are we so far behind when we enter a new station?"
The camera then shifts to Wu Shi in the foreground, with Verstappen chasing closely behind him.

The previous two-second difference was reduced to 1.3 seconds.

Wu Shi knew about the wake effect, so he could only accelerate as much as possible in the bend.

But he knew that this set of tires was going to run to the end, so he had to leave some leeway, which annoyed him greatly.

"Are his tires in such good condition?" Wu Shi said in TR.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the old man, whose speed had been slowed down by Perez, was also complaining in TR:
"I felt he was much slower than me, and his rear wheels had excellent grip!"

The fact that both Mercedes drivers spoke at the same time only highlighted how Mercedes had lost its usual composure under pressure from Red Bull.

On lap 26, Verstappen entered Wu Shi's DRS zone.

Red Bull is very fast, but it's still a bit short on this lap.

Wu Shi stood at the center line and turned into Turn 1, with Verstappen already clearly visible in the rearview mirror.

In the DRS zone after Turn 2, Verstappen tried to turn again, but Wu Shi immediately directed the car to push towards the inside line.

The space left was very narrow, so Verstappen suddenly pulled away to the outside.

However, the straight section was not long, and by the time Verstappen did so, there was no longer a chance to overtake.

Wu Shi successfully held onto his position.

On the subsequent curves, he stayed as close to the edge as possible.

Since he doesn't have to worry about overtaking, all he has to do is sprint as fast as possible.

Verstappen was caught in a wake disturbance and there was no way to get close immediately.

When they returned to the starting point of the Nevchilar Boulevard after Turn 16, Verstappen used the wake to quickly close the distance.

Wu Shi unleashed his power.

Both vehicles left sparks on the open road before entering the DRS zone.

Once the DRS line was crossed, Red Bull immediately increased its speed, and Wu Shi could clearly feel the presence behind him.

All he can do right now is hold the center line and then suddenly turn around to block when Verstappen chooses the direction of his dribble!
Verstappen immediately changed lanes to avoid a rear-end collision, but Wu Shi moved back to the center line!

"This is drawing a dragon!"

"We can't stop it, but we can't let it go like this!" Fei said.

When they reached Turn 1 again, Wu Shi slowed down considerably, allowing Verstappen to follow his pace and slow down before accelerating out of the turn.

He didn't dare to do that before Turn 2 because Verstappen had DRS, and he had to get past it as fast as possible!

Susu!

When the race car turned left, the center of gravity shifted to the right, and the huge G-force pulled on his neck.

Then the race car scraped past the right-side railing, kicking up a bit of dust.

“Be careful not to change lanes too often; you are under investigation,” Jonathan said.

Wu Shi didn't have time to pay attention to that, because Verstappen caught up with him again before Turn 3.

Fortunately, there wasn't enough space to overtake later.

To maintain his advantage on the straights, Wu Shi had to go as fast as possible on these corners. Just as he passed Turn 15, Jonathan said, "Don't change lanes again."

These words instantly made Wu Shi realize that there was no way to stop them on the track.

So on lap 29, on the Nevchilar Boulevard, Wu Shi was being chased by Verstappen's wake and DRS.

Verstappen's speed was already fast enough to pull away as soon as he entered the DRS zone.

Without any hesitation, he changed lanes immediately.

Wu Shi's car slowed down by 8 kph here, but it did not induce Verstappen to brake.

This detail is unknown to everyone except the team that is looking at the data.

Jonathan gestured with his lip, a small gesture that could potentially trigger a violent rear-end collision.

However, if Verstappen instinctively brakes to slow down, it will directly cause DRS to turn off, thus losing the opportunity to overtake Wu Shi.

Unfortunately, Verstappen withdrew very early and was completely unaffected.

Since nothing happened on the track, no penalty was imposed.

Verstappen surpassed Wu Shi and took first place.

Wu Shi took a DRS after Turn 2, but it didn't have much effect.

Because Red Bull has excellent rear wheel grip, its cornering speed far exceeds that of Mercedes.

On lap 30, just as Verstappen was about to pull Wu Shi out of the DRS zone, the double yellow flags suddenly flashed!
As the camera panned, it became clear that Storol's left rear wheel had suddenly blown off on the straightaway.

At the time, Martin was traveling at over 300 kph, and Storr was completely unable to control the car, crashing headfirst into the inner wall.

The unexpected tire blowout prompted many teams to pay attention to their drivers' conditions, and some teams began to report the situation to the race authorities, demanding an explanation from Pirelli's technical staff.

On lap 31, the safety car entered the track, and thankfully Stroll was not injured.

Meanwhile, the investigation results regarding Wu Shi have also been released, and the organizers will not continue the investigation.

This shows that Mercedes' sporting director has put in a lot of effort, after all, Wu Shi was still some distance from the braking zone when he changed lanes—and that distance is worth mentioning.

A lot of debris was scattered on the ground, and it will take some effort to clean it up.

None of the front row drivers pitted.

Because Wu Shi was only one second behind Verstappen, if Verstappen went into the pit, he would be asking for trouble.

Perez was only 5 seconds behind Wu Shi, while Hamilton was 8 seconds behind him.

If Wu Shi enters the station, he will fall behind the two of them, which is unacceptable.

There are Gasly and Leclerc 14 seconds behind Hamilton, so it's impossible for Hamilton to pit, otherwise he might lose his position.

In this way, the front-row drivers are constantly being pushed back by the safety car.

But the drivers behind them made their move.

Alonso, Bottas, and Mick have all pitted for soft tires; they're definitely going to keep going until the very end.

Russell also switched to hard tires, presumably frightened by Stroll's tire blowout, but his car seemed to have some problems.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a tire blowout," the soldier said.

"Is Storol still a blank slate?" Fei asked.

"Yes, it's a white embryo."

"Are white tires really that unreliable? No wonder nobody uses medium tires," the soldier said.

"Well, the compound for this white tire is C3, which is actually quite soft, but normally it shouldn't cause a blowout," Haoran added.

On lap 36, the race finally restarted.

Verstappen used his lead in the race to pull Wu Shi away.

Wu Shi could only follow behind him, and his attempts to overtake him several times with the help of DRS were all in vain.

Because Red Bull has such a significant advantage in slow corners, Verstappen is able to easily accumulate advantages.

This is completely different from Wu Shi, who couldn't create enough distance on slow turns when he was in the lead.

The performance differences between the W12 and RB16B are quite obvious here.

Soon, the race reached lap 43.

Verstappen maintained his lead, while Wu Shi remained close behind Red Bull, trailing by only 1.3 seconds and seemingly still looking for an opportunity to overtake.

Verstappen was being chased so fast that he couldn't slow down and could only keep running faster.

At this point, Perez was 5 seconds behind Verstappen, and Hamilton was 1.2 seconds behind Perez.

Both Mercedes cars were completely blocked by Red Bull, but Red Bull couldn't shake them off either.

On lap 44, Verstappen set the fastest lap time of 1 minute 44.481 seconds.

On lap 46, Wu Shi and Hamilton, due to wear and tear on their front tires, were finally unable to threaten Red Bull ahead.

However, not long after Wu Shi followed Verstappen onto the starting straight,

Suddenly Verstappen spun wildly ahead and crashed violently into the side of the track.

"Safety car! Safety car!" Wu Shi shouted.

Ferrari TR: "Go go, the race continues."

"Huh? Safety car, safety car!" Leclerc shouted.

Clearly, neither Wu Shi nor Lock & Lock could understand why the tournament organizers were reacting so slowly!

Fortunately, the race was not delayed for long despite the serious accident, and a safety car was called in.

After Verstappen got out of the car, he went to the blown-out left rear tire and kicked it hard.

"Verstappen also had a blowout in his left rear tire," the soldier said.

"Left rear tire? Why the left rear tire?" Haoran asked, puzzled.

At this point, Jonathan said, "P1, be careful to protect the tires."

"Copy".

Wu Shi replied that the rear tire still had less than 20% of its capacity remaining. The wear on the left rear tire was indeed severe, but how could it be an inner wall problem?
At this point, Red Bull Sporting Director Jonathan Whitley contacted Massey directly and told him that Verstappen's tire blowout occurred without any warning or collision.

Therefore, it is recommended to immediately issue a red flag and then have all drivers change their tires.

Massi quickly agreed, because before Verstappen, Storol had also experienced the same problem, with his left rear tire inexplicably bursting.

On lap 48, led by the safety car, all cars returned to the fast lane in the pit lane.

The entire Grand Prix was interrupted for half an hour, during which all the cars had their tires changed.

Wu Shi got out of the carriage and started walking around. Jonathan said to him:
"Your bad luck is over."

"Yes." Wu Shi smiled slightly.

Verstappen withdrew from the match, and if he wins this game, he will regain the lead in points.

On the other side, Hamilton was straightening his clothes, his face expressionless, but you could tell he was very nervous.

If he wins the championship, he will surpass Verstappen and narrow the gap with Wu Shi in points to 4 points! (If Wu Shi finishes in second place)
How tempting it is to restart the game!

After the track is cleared, the race will resume, with the safety car leading the way on lap 49, and the starting grid will be set for lap 50.

In other words, the next event will be an ultimate, invincible sprint qualifying race with only 2 laps!
Wu Shi leads, followed by Perez, Hamilton, Vettel, Gasly, Leclerc, Tsunoda, and Norris.

With the safety car leading the way, all the race cars were desperately wearing down their tires!

Wu Shi was no exception; the battle for Turn 1 was crucial, not only because the tires needed to be warm enough to provide grip.

To further enhance braking friction, the brakes need to be warmed up. Mercedes-Benz has specially prepared a button for this purpose. When Wu Shi presses it, the parameters are automatically adjusted to the tire warming mode.

All the drivers on the track were eager to try and ready to compete.

As the F1 cars returned to their starting grids, the cameras at the back of the straight were focused on the drivers.

Wu Shi's car, located on the right side of the track, was emitting a lot of heat, as was Hamilton's car behind him.

Clearly, both tires and brakes were very hot, well within their optimal operating range.

The five red lights came on again, and the light boards on both sides of the track were all green.

Wu Shi held his breath and focused intently, quickly checking the racing car settings one last time, finding no errors.

His heart was pounding wildly, as if a hammer was pounding on his chest, influenced by his emotions.

beep!

beep!

beep!

One red light after another was lit.

All red lights are on!

Snapped!
Almost instantly, the red light went out.

Wu Shi started moving subconsciously.

hum! ! !
The engine roared, and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

He was a bit slow, but Perez was even slower!

Without hesitation, he cut to the left lane to block Perez.

But Hamilton, who was behind him, got off to a smooth start and immediately caught up.

So Wu Shi turned the steering wheel back and squeezed to the right.

But Hamilton had already brought up the forewing.

Buzzing sounds!

The race car's speed continued to increase, and the gears were continuously shifted up.

Before Turn 1, Hamilton was already alongside Wu Shi!

Wu Shi didn't brake, and neither did Hamilton.

Yeah!

The braking point is too far!
Wu Shi slammed on the brakes, and a lot of white smoke began to billow from the tires. He then veered sharply inward.

The understeer caused the car to stop moving, so he immediately released the brakes, then immediately applied them again as soon as he shifted the steering wheel.

In a short back-and-forth, the race car finally managed to turn into the lane.

Perez had already taken advantage of this opening to throw his car into Turn 1.

Wu Shi noticed Perez, but his own problems had not been completely resolved.

Turn in there!

Heh!

As the car entered the bend, it inevitably scraped against the right-side guardrail, sending up a few more wisps of smoke.

Wu Shi breathed a sigh of relief, but then tensed up again.

accelerate!accelerate!
He saw Perez's Red Bull and wished he could crank the engine himself to get the revs up faster!

Buzz! ! !

Ultimately, his gear shift was faster, and the Mercedes No. 59 entered Turn 2 less than half a body length faster than the Red Bull No. 11.

Once this bend is over, Wu Shi's lead in the first lap will be unshakeable!

Huh? Wait, where's Hamilton on the right?
At that moment, a 10-second-long "Ahhh!!!" sound rang out from the Six Star Studio.

Because Hamilton drove straight into the escape zone at Turn 1 at the start!
His front tires had worn large scuff marks, and getting out of the escape zone was even more time-consuming and exhausting!

"Sorry, guys."

Hamilton said in TR.

At this point, Wu Shi, who was in the lead, had only gone through 6 turns, giving Perez a lead of nearly 0.7 seconds!
He was incredibly fast, almost like he was in a qualifying race.

Susu!

He quickly passed Turn 15, brushed past the guardrail, and sped toward Turn 16.

When they reached the main straight section, he and Perez were now almost a second apart.

All the shots were focused on Wu Shi because he was moving so fast!
The screen kept flashing, and the Mercedes No. 59 seemed like a leaping elf shuttling through the track.

Lap 51, the last lap!
Wu Shi was even faster.

Swish!
Just 1 minute 44.401 seconds later, he crossed the finish line again!

"Oh ho! Bad luck won't always stick with you."

Wu Shi said in TR.

“Yes, we won! Congratulations!” Jonathan said.

"Well done, Wu Shi!" Toto shouted excitedly in TR.

Mercedes halted their decline and fought back tenaciously against Red Bull's pursuit!

"Unbelievable! This is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix! This is Baku!"

The soldier remarked that he thought there would be no surprises in this match, but the surprises were truly unexpected.

“Wu Shi also had some bad luck here,” Haoran said.

“I feel Pirelli is going to take the blame for Verstappen’s accident,” Fei said.

"Haven't we already taken the blame? Verstappen's kick wiped out Pirelli's entire Dutch market, hahaha!" Bing Ge joked.

"Wu Shi is leading the standings again now. There's been so much going on lately," Haoran said.

"Yes, but the situation is still not optimistic. Mercedes' speed is still very poor. If they want to maintain their lead in points, they will have to continue to fight hard," the soldier concluded.

On the podium, Wu Shi, Perez, and Vettel celebrated together.

The familiar national anthem resounded in Baku, and everyone felt as if they had returned to a few years ago.

Jonathan accepted the team trophy on behalf of the Mercedes team.

After this battle, Mercedes and Wu Shi have regained the lead!
(End of this chapter)