F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 345 The Close Race for Points

Although Wu Shi won the French Grand Prix, public opinion surrounding him fluctuated repeatedly.

Many fans in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany have accused the FIA ​​of consistently favoring Mercedes, which is why Wu Shi has escaped punishment.

Wu Shi also received a lot of criticism, but he ignored it all, since his public relations team was in charge of his various public accounts anyway.

As for the FIA? They completely ignored the fans' angry outbursts.

After all, the rulings made on the spot were all within the established rules; they were not arbitrary.

F1 cannot exist without controversial events, so this incident will not have any impact; it's just an annual F1 occurrence.

It has to be said that the FIA ​​knows how to keep things interesting.

The FIA ​​not only ignored these angry fans, but also issued a new directive on its own.

From now on, if a mechanic completes an action (removing the tire, tightening bolts) within 0.15 seconds during a tire change, that action will be considered invalid.

This further enraged Red Bull and Verstappen fans, and even many media outlets criticized the FIA ​​for its bias.

Because Red Bull is the fastest at changing tires in the paddock! They can even change tires in under 2 seconds.

However, the FIA's explanation was also for safety reasons, believing that in many cases, drivers would drive off before the bolts were tightened during tire changes.

This will pose a huge hidden danger.

Horner naturally disagreed with the FIA's statement and directly criticized them:

"When you can't win, all you need to do is try to slow down your competitors!"
"F1 is about innovation and competition. A pit stop time of less than two seconds is an extraordinary thing that should be encouraged."

"I want to know where all this will end."

"We might soon be told which way to get to the garage, which chair to sit in, and so on."

Horner's anger was directed at both the FIA ​​and Mercedes.

A few weeks ago, Mercedes inquired with the FIA ​​about the possibility of using tire guns similar to those used by Red Bull.

This immediately alerted the FIA, which then introduced this regulation.

It has to be said that Mercedes is trying every possible way to help its drivers gain an advantage.

But this advantage doesn't seem to be able to stop Red Bull.

Wu Shi and his team are certainly grappling with these issues, but Toto is hesitant about this year's investment versus competing for next year's new regulations.

This created differing opinions within the Mercedes team, impacting the team's overall fighting ability.

And so, June 25th arrived quickly, and the Styrian Grand Prix became a new challenge for Mercedes.

Before the race, reporters wanted to ask Wu Shi for his opinion on winning the previous race by cutting corners, but Wu Shi declined to comment.

Verstappen, as he said, continued to complain about the FIA's unfairness, but said he accepted the result and only hoped that the FIA ​​would not discriminate.

Verstappen is one of the drivers who best exploits loopholes in the rules, so when the FIA ​​makes such a ruling, he will naturally follow suit.

The atmosphere within the Mercedes team remained subdued after Friday's two practice matches.

Because they are really slow here, they seem unable to compete with Red Bull, even though Wu Shi and Hamilton are desperately trying to adjust the car.

This pessimistic mood carried over into Saturday's qualifying session. Immediately after Verstappen easily secured pole position with a time of 1 minute 03.756 seconds, media outlets published articles stating:

"A dramatic comeback on the track! Mercedes is powerless against Red Bull!"

This article is very engaging and has been widely shared, especially by Dutch car enthusiasts.

With the Styrian Grand Prix partially open, fans from the Netherlands will flock to fill the available spots, and we can expect to see orange smoke billowing everywhere again.

Mercedes, just like last weekend, has developed a detailed strategy to counter Red Bull.

Although the strategies formulated several times were practically nonexistent, it did not prevent the strategy group from providing corresponding calculation results.

Wu Shi was pondering whether a second stop was necessary in a situation where one stop was required.
But in the main competition, he discovered that everything was fake.

Verstappen was fast in qualifying with the RB16B, and even faster in the race.

Since the start, Verstappen quickly pulled ahead, and even though Wu Shi tried his best to catch up, he was still 4 seconds behind by lap 20.

Mercedes cars suffer from severe understeer and are sometimes unusually sensitive at the rear, resulting in extremely poor balance.

On lap 29, Wu Shi had to pit for tires, and Verstappen, with a 5-second lead, had no chance of being undercut.

Next, Verstappen steadily pulled away from Wu Shi.

On lap 60, dark clouds drifted over the track. Everyone thought it was going to rain, but the heavens remained silent for a long time.

On lap 71, Verstappen crossed the finish line with an 8-second advantage.

He lingered at the finish line, even doing a burnout, seemingly in response to his fans.

The front row of the match was dull and boring, but it was enough to excite Verstappen's fans.

After the match, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz went on stage to present the trophies to Wistappen and Marko.

Wu Shi took second place, Hamilton took third place, and Verstappen still holds the record for the fastest lap.

Even with two spots on the podium, the Mercedes team didn't seem entirely satisfied.

In a subsequent interview, the reporter asked:
“Wu Shi, you guys have been struggling all weekend. Can you tell us what happened? In the end, you still lost a victory.”

Wu Shi nodded, recalled for a moment, and said:
“Our car has been struggling with rear downforce issues since the beginning of the season, and we’ve been working on that problem all along.”

"Red Bull may have had to deal with related issues at first, but they were clearly the first to resolve them successfully."

"So we can see that Red Bull's cars are very fast, not only in the low-to-medium speed corners where they excel, but also in high-speed corners and straights where they are faster than us."

"This makes it impossible for us to catch up with them. I fought hard against him at the French Grand Prix, but here he didn't give me any chance."

The reporter nodded and said:
"Yes, you lost to him by 8 percent in qualifying, and then you had no chance to fight back in the race."

"Some people may wonder, your first world championship was won by defeating a fast car with a slow car, so why can't you do it this year?"

Wu Shi was puzzled by this question: Can these be compared?
The technical rules differ from season to season, so it's like comparing apples and oranges.

He had to respond in official language:
"The competition is not over yet. I am still in the lead in points. We have many more Grand Prix races and many more opportunities."

"Yes!" the reporter replied, and continued to ask:
"The Grand Prix will still be held in Austria next week, do you think you can turn things around?"

Wu Shi pondered for a moment, then decided the probability was low, and said:
"That's a good question. All I can say is that we're still trying to find a solution. We're dancing in shackles, and there's nothing we can do about it since we're not dancing very well right now."

After he finished speaking, he left when he saw that the reporter had no further questions.

He walked through the garages until he finally returned to his own.

Since the match is still taking place here next week, it doesn't matter whether we pack up or not.

Hamilton, who rarely comes to visit, sat with him at the warehouse entrance and said:
"It seems our boss isn't planning to continue betting on this year; he's thinking about next year."

Wu Shi smacked his lips, and the FIA's slashing motion struck Mercedes' main artery.

At the beginning of the season, it was thought that the impact wouldn't last that long, but now it seems that might not be the case, as Mercedes still hasn't come up with a solution.

“I saw Russell talking to Toto a few days ago,” Hamilton added.

"Oh, isn't this just the right time for you to retire?" Wu Shi chuckled.

"You really don't miss me at all. I'm leaving if he signs Russell." Hamilton's words carried a hint of bitterness.

"Ah."

Wu Shi didn't know what to say; he had inevitably changed many things.

However, in reality, Hamilton was getting older and no longer met Mercedes' needs. Whether he was a seven-time world champion or a two-time world champion, after 2021, Toto wanted Hamilton to leave.

However, the seven-time champion was so famous that Toto couldn't bring himself to drive him away, otherwise he would be condemned.

The old man was also an expert in the politics of the paddock. He had a keen sense of smell and discerned Toto's thoughts, so he simply took the initiative to make a request.

Toto refused, and naturally left Mercedes.

Now, however, he has no one to rely on for his requests to Tototi, and naturally, he becomes depressed.

"The competitiveness of racing this year has declined even more severely than I imagined," Wu Shi said.

"Huh?" Hamilton asked in surprise.

“Yeah, that’s its limit, unless there are major changes,” Wu Shi said.

You still have a long way to go!

Hamilton smiled, stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and left.

During the week, Toto met with Wu Shi to discuss future contracts.

His initial five-year contract, from 2017 to 2021, will expire at the end of this year.

Because it was only an initial contact, Toto offered a salary of 5000 million euros, with an additional 4000 million euros if he won the world championship.

The treatment was quite good, but Wu Shi demanded that he be made the team's number 1 driver and that he receive the same treatment as Verstappen at Red Bull.

This led to a standstill in contract negotiations.

Why was Toto unwilling to promise these things in the contract?

Because he is the one leading the team, and cannot follow the drivers.

He believed that offering Wu Shi a 3+2 year contract was already very generous, but Wu Shi did not seem to care about the contract's duration.

Indeed, this is true. A young, top-tier driver like Wu Shi has no shortage of cars from large racing teams.

The two broke down in their initial contract negotiations and didn't discuss it further. Since it was a private meeting, they kept it very confidential.

The outside world only knows that the two will definitely discuss a contract, but they don't know what they will discuss. Besides, Mercedes is under tremendous pressure on the track right now.

On July 2nd, after a week's journey, the Grand Prix was still in the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Wu Shi saw Zhou Guanyu arrive the day before yesterday, and the two had time to take a walk together on the track today.

“We are not only in talks with Renault, but also with Ferrari. They are seriously considering next year’s plans,” Zhou Guanyu said.

“Well, it should be fine. If not, Williams will definitely have a spot,” Wu Shi said.

Russell will most likely come to Mercedes next year, so Williams will definitely have a vacancy.

However, Williams' performance was too mediocre, and Zhou Guanyu probably didn't want to go to Williams in his rookie season.

Most importantly, Zhou Guanyu is currently in Renault's driver lineup. If he can perform well, he might have a chance to join a major team.

Moreover, he came from Ferrari's youth academy and has various connections with Ferrari.

No ambitious driver would deny themselves before even entering F1, and Xiao Zhou certainly has his own thoughts now.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I have to decline your offer," Zhou Guanyu said shyly.

"Haha, what's there to apologize for? The team chooses the driver, and the driver chooses the team," Wu Shi laughed.

Williams' R&D capabilities are currently weak, primarily because the Chinese investment team hasn't found a balance between control and deregulation. Without properly managing internal relationships, the team's development will always face difficulties.

In recent years, the Wei team has attracted many young people from China to join, and it is the only team in the paddock with a large number of Chinese faces.

"Is the car that Yi Lian belongs to Brother Kaitou?" Wu Shi asked.

"Hmm, you just call him 'Brother Head'?" Zhou Guanyu was slightly surprised.

“Yeah, but I don’t always shout it like that.”

Wu Shi laughed and said that he had told Alonso about his nickname, but Alonso didn't really care.

Not long after, preparations for the first training session began, and Zhou Guanyu went to Alpin's P room.

Wu Shi returned to the Meiben warehouse and began preparing for the practice match.

Just like last week, Verstappen dominated here.

Zhou Guanyu has officially stepped onto the F1 track.

He sat in the car driven by the leader and brought the car back intact throughout the entire practice session without any spins or off-track errors.

This proves his adaptability and consistency, making him a viable option for many teams.

In the third training session on July 3, Wu Shi led Mercedes to briefly reach the top of the standings before being overtaken by Verstappen.

In the afternoon qualifying session, Verstappen once again secured pole position, a tenth faster than last weekend.

This is thanks to Pirelli offering a softer tire compound this weekend.

Wu Shi held onto second place with a time 0.03 seconds ahead of Norris.

Even though his time was only 0.018 seconds behind Verstappen's.

The old man, however, was in trouble, finishing more than 0.3 seconds slower than Wu Shi and only ranking fifth.

This is enough to show Mercedes' lack of competitiveness here.

In the main race the following day, Verstappen maintained his good start and did not give Wu Shi any opportunities.

Then he began to gradually pull away, but after more than 4 seconds he could no longer increase the distance.

Hamilton, who was behind, had moved up to fourth place, but he had spent a considerable amount of time dealing with Norris.

In just over ten laps, Norris Hamilton and his duo fell seven seconds behind Wu Shi.

It wasn't until lap 20 that the old man successfully overtook Norris.

The subsequent match caused a lot of chaos, but none of it had anything to do with Verstappen and Wu Shi in front of them.

With their strategies being used one-on-one, Wu Shi lost any possible opportunities.

At the finish line, Verstappen was still less than 5 seconds ahead of Wu Shi, but a full 40 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Although this was mainly because Norris later surpassed the old man.

At the end of the race, the Red Bull Ring was once again engulfed in orange smoke grenades.

Verstappen's Grand Slam victory drove all cycling fans wild.

Following two consecutive victories, Verstappen couldn't help but blurt out in an interview:
“I said last week that this car has never been better, but it’s even better today!”
"It was insane. He was like he was on the track, all the tires were going really fast, and I managed to maintain that speed throughout the race."

"I did it! The last lap, the sea of ​​orange along the track, it was just amazing!"

Although very happy, Verstappen cautiously added:
"Wu Shi still has a 4-point lead, and I don't think it's time to summarize anything."

“He’s different from all the other drivers. You think you can overtake him? That’s only because he’s lying low.”

After Pan Zi finished speaking, Wu Shi came over from behind, and after the two high-fived, he walked into the interview area.

It's still just a microphone hanging from a pole:

"Wu Shi, this week is exactly the same as last week. Do you have anything to say?"

"Yeah, that's all I can do. We can't keep up with Red Bull."

"Verstappen did very well. He didn't make any mistakes. He was like a precise machine repeating the same steps over and over again."

"Even the most patient hunter needs to wait for a weakness in his powerful prey before he can strike, and I obviously didn't get that opportunity."

Wu Shi smiled, suddenly understanding the feelings of the old man and the princess a few years ago.

"Haha, those are the words used to describe you before, like robotic driving, every lap without a single mistake or deviation. I never thought you'd use them to describe Max," the reporter said with a laugh.

"Of course, we grew up together, and I know how much effort he put into achieving this level of accomplishment."

"While I was eating, Max was running a simulator; while I was shopping, Max was also running a simulator; while I was running a simulator..."
"Yeah, he invited me to compete against him, hahaha," Wu Shi joked.

The reporters were amused, but still asked a crucial question:

"When you're competing for WDC with the other drivers, we often see collisions, but when you're with Max, you don't have those kinds of collisions. Is that because you have a good relationship off the track?"

Wu Shi adjusted his mask and said:

"NO."

"The causes of track accidents are varied and bizarre, but in fact I haven't encountered that many track accidents."

“I won’t let Max go first on the track, just as he would never let me go first.”

"We both know each other's personalities, so we both know that some methods will cause serious damage, and we may have subconsciously restrained some situations from happening."

"But I can't guarantee that we'll always be on good terms. You know, WDC is the ultimate goal for any driver."

"Moreover, it's Max. He's waited so many years. He needs a WDC. He'll fight for it even more urgently than I do."

After Wu Shi finished answering, the reporter gave him an "OK" sign.

These remarks spread quickly, and the fans on both sides almost started fighting.

Pan's fans believe that Wu Shi deliberately tried to provoke Pan Zi, since he won the race by cutting corners during the French Grand Prix.

Wu Shi's fans, however, believe that Pan's fans are being unreasonable, and that Wu Shi caused the curve by avoiding Pan Zi.

This conflict won't end anytime soon, and those who claim "Wu and Max are good friends and they wouldn't want their fans to fight" are being attacked by both sides.

The fact that Wu Shi and Verstappen did not make any statements to guide public opinion among fans is itself a form of buzz.

The two were even forced to participate in numerous FIA and F1 events, where their relationship was manipulated.

This is clearly all for the sake of generating F1's popularity.

No matter how turbulent the outside world was, Wu Shi and Verstappen both knew that the fight for the championship did not allow them to focus on such things.

Red Bull's two consecutive wins in Austria allowed Verstappen to rapidly close the gap with Wu Shi, and it now seems almost certain that he will be overtaken.

Mercedes attributes Red Bull's speed to its excellent aerodynamic design.

But last year, Red Bull finished second in the team competition, and its wind tunnel usage time wasn't much longer than Mercedes'.

Well, then it can only be brought by Newey, the core aerodynamic engineer of Red Bull.

Allison felt the strain; aerodynamic improvement is a difficult task because if the direction is wrong, all efforts will be in vain.

But who knows which direction is right?
When I have nothing to do, I can only watch Red Bull race cars.

Wu Shi increasingly felt that the role of drivers in major research and development was no longer significant.

He can offer suggestions, but whether the team can improve upon those suggestions is another matter entirely.

In this long and crucial struggle, all Wu Shi could do was focus on his own work.

Whether it was simulator testing or testing new development kits, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to it, putting all his time into it.

In addition, he kept running the Silverstone track on the simulator, even though he was already very familiar with the track.

2021 seemed to become exactly the same as 2015; he had no easy time at all.

But at that time, he was the one who overthrew the dynasty, and he was full of the heroic spirit of being willing to risk his life to pull the emperor off his horse.

But now, he is the bully, and he needs to protect his throne.

Attacking and defending a title require completely different mindsets!

(End of this chapter)