F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

Chapter 138 Public Execution

The game entered into a long, drawn-out battle, and the pace of the front team gradually stabilized.

Verstappen's one-stop strategy worked. With his brand-new white tires that allowed him to stay on the track until the end of the race, he gradually chipped away at Rosiu's lead with a tiny advantage of a fraction of a second per lap.

Ferrari's aging yellow tires are gradually approaching the critical point of performance degradation.

The lap count and timing numbers on the broadcast screen flashed monotonously, and the commentator's voice carried a hint of fatigue often seen in long-distance commentary.

The asphalt surface of the Jeddah circuit was slowly melting the rubber on the surface of the yellow tires, and transparent plastic films torn from the goggles floated by in the turbulent airflow created by Roche's race car.

Another incident occurred on the track, suddenly erupting from the mid-range cars during the broadcast on the big screen.

Lap 26.

The Haas team's engineer pressed the intercom.

Hulkenberg, who is in P10, has not yet pitted. He can continue running on white tires at the start, but now he needs a window of time to pit and change tires.

Therefore, the Haas team issued a challenge to Magnussen, another driver who had also not pitted and was in P12, in F1.

The tactical instructions on the track were ugly, but completely in accordance with the rules.

"Slow down the pace. Press the car to the limit in the tight sections of the track, and don't let anyone overtake you. We need to create a pit stop window of about 20 seconds for Hulkenberg."

The commands coming from the TR communication channel were cold and direct, leaving no room for negotiation.

On the track, Magnussen's taillights began to deliberately slow down at every narrow corner where they should have been going full throttle out of the corner, and on the straights, they displayed the characteristics of Haas muscle cars, using super high top speeds to block any enemy that came at them.

Magnussen's car instantly transformed into a moving wall, and the two-meter-wide F1 car successfully blocked all overtaking routes for the cars behind.

A large number of unfortunate mid-table drivers were completely blocked behind by Magnussen, forming a continuous "DRS high-speed rail".

Starting from P12, five or six race cars were lined up one after the other. Due to the continuous low-speed following, the braking system lost sufficient cooling and was on the verge of overheating. The brake discs glowed a dangerous dark red due to the high temperature.

However, there is a rare beneficiary in this chaos.

Zhou Guanyu, who also did not enter the station during the yellow flag safety car period, is ranked P11 and is closely following Hulkenberg.

In the broadcast footage, Haas in the foreground and Magnussen in the background forcibly tore the midstream group apart.

Zhou Guanyu calmly controlled the energy recovery system on the steering wheel. With unparalleled patience and perseverance, he steadily followed the car despite the high-temperature exhaust fumes from the Ferrari's power unit, saving fuel and electricity.

With Magnussen forming a solid defensive wall and staying within Hulkenberg's 1-second DRS range, they gradually distanced themselves from the group behind them.

The repair area was filled with shouts and curses.

After more than ten laps of relentless defense, Magnussen managed to stretch the time difference between P12 and P10 ahead to a staggering 21 seconds!

Team leaders on the command consoles were slamming their listening headsets with exaggerated gestures, while countless team engineers, frustrated by the obstruction of their drivers, vented their anger on the race stewards' phone lines.

However, the race stewards reviewed this year's FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

The statement in Clause 33.4 of the Regulations, which prohibits "unnecessary slow driving, erratic driving, or driving in a manner that may constitute a danger," is found to be completely inapplicable to Magnussen.

This clause is vague and poorly defined.

The stewards could only conclude from the facts that Magnussen's driving did not constitute a violation, as no collision occurred.

Telemetry data shows that Magnussen's speed and route selection when defending were still within the normal range of track competition and within the boundaries allowed by the rules.

This blind spot in the rule has become an ugly yet indestructible get-out-of-jail-free card.

Many teams have stated that if such tactics were allowed, the Monaco Grand Prix would completely lose its entertainment value!

However, the game was already halfway through, and Magnussen, due to a previous crash and violation, had accumulated 20 seconds of penalty time, thus being out of the points zone.

He had never executed the team's tactical instructions as aggressively as he had in this race.

"As the saying goes, a dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water, and Magnussen has truly embodied that proverb to the fullest!"

The commentator, a soldier, spoke with a hint of teasing, instantly filling the studio with a cheerful atmosphere.

The race has reached lap 38.

Luo Xiu finally reached the precipice of yellow fetus.

The road feedback on the steering wheel became blurry, the rear wheels started to slip when exiting the corner at the limit, and the grip of the four yellow tires was visibly decreasing.

"Bo.Bo.!"

Luo Xiu decisively drove the race car back to the pit lane. The Ferrari tire changer, having learned his lesson after ruining the Leclerc, finally gave Luo Xiu a clean and efficient last set of brand-new yellow tires this time.

2.5 seconds.

At the same time that the front and rear jacks were lowered and retracted, the green light for exiting the station instantly turned on.

The red race car roared off.

Now, the roles of runner and chaser have been reversed once again.

Luo Xiu transformed into the pursuer, launching a final 10-lap all-out attack on Verstappen, who was using the old white tires.

Meanwhile, Haas's tactics were a resounding success.

"BoBo!" Haas and Sober issued the entry command almost simultaneously.

Hulkenberg secured a 23-second entry window, and Zhou Guanyu, who had been closely following, also entered the station.

This was a textbook example of a perfect wake-in-the-pit moment.

With just one normal tire change within 3 seconds, Zhou Guanyu will have an excellent attacking position after exiting the pits, allowing him to overtake Hulkenberg who is exiting the pits ahead of him and head straight for the top ten points zone!

Tenth, with only 1 point.

Even one point is something Sauber, a team that has been hovering on the edge of the points zone for years, desperately wants.

The instant he crossed the white line at the pit lane entrance, Zhou Guanyu precisely pressed the speed limit button in the pit area, firmly limiting the car's speed to 80 km/h.

Above the km/h threshold.

With practiced ease, he slid into the Sauber parking space and, precisely at the last centimeter of the braking reference point, slammed on the brakes. The race car stopped cleanly and precisely in front of the jack bracket in the hands of the chief mechanic, with millimeter-level accuracy.

At that moment, judging from the broadcast camera and the perspective of the Five Star Sports commentators, Hulkenberg's entry into the pit was not going smoothly.

The timer that popped up in the lower right corner of the screen showed that Haas was not changing tires very quickly.

"3.9 seconds! Hulkenberg changed the tire in 3.9 seconds! — Zhou Guanyu, Zhou Guanyu is about to score!"

In the studio, commentator Fei Ge's voice trembled with excitement.

Before entering the pit, Zhou Guanyu was only 0.8 seconds behind Hulkenberg. As long as the tire change speed was normal, he could easily overtake him in the pit lane!

The scene immediately switched to the Sauber P room.

Zhou Guanyu's green and black livery race car had come to a steady stop in Sauber's pit stop, with tire-changing technicians positioned around it like ejected mechanical arms, and the tire gun for the right front wheel already in place on the metal rim.

However----

"oops!"

Bingge, Feige, and Range exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

A disaster a hundred times worse than a Haas tire change struck suddenly.

What should have been a crisp, short click-clack sound turned into a chilling, continuous metallic scraping noise.

Sauber's tire-changing equipment and wheel nut manufacturing defects surfaced at the most critical juncture.

The pneumatic air gun spun wildly on the nut, producing a piercing scream from the intense friction.

No matter how hard the tire changer tried, no matter how much weight he put on the pneumatic tool, the nut on the right front tire remained firmly in place, as if it were welded to the axle!

The old tire could not be removed, and the new tire could not be installed.

The tire changer impatiently pulled out the air gun, then roughly shoved it back in, only to be met with an even more piercing metallic scraping sound.

The broadcast cameras relentlessly surveyed the chaotic Sauber P room from above.

The stopwatch on the broadcast screen was relentlessly ticking away, blatantly and publicly executing the Sauber team.

The official broadcast cameras still showed no intention of leaving Sauber.

5 seconds —

10 seconds —

20 seconds —

28 seconds —