F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

Chapter 139 The Moment of Closing the Net

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

5 seconds —

10 seconds —

20 seconds 28 seconds —

Every few seconds, a competitor's race car roared past on the main straight outside the pit lane.

Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo

Every time a race car roared past, it was like a loud slap across Sauber's pit hull.

After several slaps, 28.93 seconds had passed.

The right front wheel was finally installed after the mechanic, covered in sweat, changed three air guns.

Whether the tire will fall off after installation is no longer important.

From the moment car number 24 was lifted to the moment it landed, a full 28.93 seconds passed.

This is a humiliating tire change incident that will go down in history under the modern F1 racing tire change rules.

There was no room for argument; purely rudimentary industrial design and production errors completely destroyed Zhou Guanyu's 38 laps of perseverance.

When the jack was lowered, Zhou Guanyu, who had just left the station, fell directly into the quagmire of the slow trains. He not only squandered the nearly 20-second advantage that Magnussen had given him, but also completely missed out on points, finishing in P14.

A profound sense of powerlessness enveloped the broadcast hall of Five Star Dairy. After a few seconds of silence, the soldier finally couldn't help but swear.

"Sauber's tire changers are a complete bunch of useless idiots!!!"

"Um...soldier, shouldn't we be careful?"

"What are you paying attention to? Are you concerned that Sauber's tire changers are incompetent? Is there even a need to pay attention? That's already a done deal!"

"What I mean is—you just—just said Zhou Guanyu was going to get points—"

"Oh, that's true. Well, Luo Xiu is still on the field, so let's not talk about Luo Xiu anymore, let's talk about something else."

The camera cuts back to the front line.

In the Jeddah night sky, the wake of the No. 1 Red Bull race car ahead, carrying a violent, high-temperature cloud, once again enveloped the Ferrari.

On the anterior nasal wing of Li 55.

There are three laps left in the race.

With his brand-new yellow tires, Rosicky chased all the way up and has now reached second place overall, less than a second behind Verstappen.

DRS is available!

A crisp DRS notification sound rang in Luo Xiu's ears.

The battle for the F1 Saudi Grand Prix at Jeddah circuit reached its climax in the final twenty kilometers.

Verstappen knew better than anyone that his current aging white tires were no match for the Ferrari's new yellow tires, which had only been used for a few laps, in terms of grip.

For this seasoned world champion, there is only one art of defense left.

Take the widest route, block Luo Xiu's inside line at every bend, and slow down at the exit of every deceleration bend, in order to use the low downforce advantage on the main straight to throw Luo Xiu out of the DRS zone as soon as possible.

In fact, Verstappen's defensive strategy is exactly the same as Magnussen's, except that Verstappen is more experienced and more willing to exploit the boundaries of the rules.

Before entering the corner, Verstappen applied heavy brakes, wedging himself firmly on the inside defensive line. After entering the corner, he changed lanes once without any regard for the situation, attempting to disrupt Luo Xiu's cornering rhythm.

But Luo Xiu handled the situation very calmly.

Using its tire advantage, it skillfully evaded Verstappen's obstruction, constantly teetering on the edge of a collision.

At the same time, turn on the radio.

"He changed lanes in the braking zone; he was driving dangerously."

His tone was flat, without any emotional expression.

Luo Xiu was just like a broken record, repeating Verstappen's exact words from the TR during the position battle more than forty laps ago to the team.

Besides the close-quarters combat in low-speed corners, there's also the high-speed racing on straightaways.

Upon reaching high-speed curves and long straights, Verstappen recklessly switched to the highest power mode. MGU—

K desperately squeezes out the last bit of power from the battery, then quickly switches to charging mode before the next deceleration bend to maximize energy recovery!

He attempted to force a safe distance of more than one second using the speed difference before the long straight, even if he couldn't shake Luo Xiu off DRS.

It's impossible for him to overtake me on a straight road.

However, the depleted lateral support of the white tires caused Red Bull to lose too much confidence in corners.

Whenever Verstappen managed to pull ahead by more than a second at the end of the straight, Rosicky, with the excellent cornering traction of the yellow tires, would close the gap again at the next corner with less braking and higher cornering speed.

The third-to-last lap has just ended.

The timer on the broadcast screen immediately displayed a new set of purple data.

With the help of Verstappen's slipstream and DRS, Rochefoucauld easily set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:31.315!

"Take the opportunity to surpass him as soon as possible!"

Luo Xiu's track engineer sounded somewhat anxious in TR's voice.

Just now, at the end of several straight roads, Luo Xiu clearly had a perfect opportunity to steal the ball inside, but he didn't make any attacking moves.

Not only the Ferrari team, but even the hesitant commentators at Five Star Sports were in a state of great confusion.

"Rossi's current tire advantage is too great! He should totally seize the opportunity and take down Verstappen in one fell swoop!"

The soldier slammed his fist on the table again in frustration. "After we get past them, we should do what Magnussen did earlier and keep Red Bull right behind us in defense! Isn't that the safest approach?"

Is that the way to win?

Is it possible that Ferrari is experiencing another tire-wearing issue?

Fei frowned and offered another guess, "Could it be that Luo Xiu isn't overtaking because he's forcing himself? — Tsk — We all know this car has a very narrow window for tuning; are these yellow tires about to fail again?"

"Absolutely impossible."

Ran immediately interrupted this somewhat uninformed guess, "Luo Xiu just set the fastest lap of the entire race! His car is currently running at low throttle, and his yellow tires have only been used for ten laps without any lock-up. This is the peak performance time for those tires!"

"The car is fine, so why isn't he doing anything? What is he waiting for?"

The three commentators looked at each other, completely baffled.

They are clearly like the Ferrari team, still stuck in the logic that track position is the most important thing.

But Luo Xiu is not.

In his mental sanctuary, all the intersections of the routes for the final two laps had already been calculated several laps in advance.

All the deductions point to the same conclusion: you absolutely cannot overtake others too early!

If we start now, it will be difficult to create a time difference of more than 1 second in the last two laps, which would be tantamount to handing the DRS to Verstappen for free.

With the opponent well-rested, they will not only have DRS (Damage Reduction System) but also store more battery power. Given Red Bull's unparalleled speed, they will inevitably be defeated.

So Luo Xiu chose to lie low, like a seasoned hunter. For two whole laps, he took full advantage of Verstappen's DRS on the straights, but deliberately eased off the throttle before entering the corners.

This extremely counterintuitive operation not only perfectly preserved the tire's working temperature, but also maximized the utilization rate of kinetic energy recovery!

The battery gauge on the steering wheel was gradually filled until it reached 100%.

Looking ahead.

The telephoto lens in the broadcast captured a crucial detail.

Verstappen, who was in the lead, had his crash lights flashing on the taillights of his Red Bull car, which had once symbolized invincibility.

That means Red Bull's battery has run out and it is in the process of energy recovery.

The flashing red light resembled prey being shot by an arrow and continuously losing health, and Luo Xiu was the hunter wielding the spear.

The time to close the net has come.

The race has entered its final lap.

As the final decisive moment approached, everything around seemed to become eerily quiet.

The bright lights on both sides of the track swept across, and the night sky of Jeddah seemed to be filled only with the roar of these two track machines.

The hunter has finally revealed its fangs.

Only from the broadcast booths around the world, speaking different languages, came even more intense commentary than before.

From the first corner of T1 onwards, the broadcast cameras never left the two race cars.

T3 exiting the corner, Verstappen in front, Rosicky behind.

At the T4 entry point, Verstappen held the center line, with Rosicky behind him.

T13 exiting the corner, Verstappen in front, Rosicky behind.

Just when the whole world thought that Rosicky would stay behind Verstappen until the end of the match.

Luo Xiu finally moved.

At the end of lap 50, the last corner of the entire race, T27 hairpin spin.

The two race cars were head-to-head, cutting sharply into the apex of the corner.

The Red Bull car was the first to cross the white line containing the coil, and 0.2 seconds later, the Ferrari No. 55 car followed closely behind.

The third-to-last DRS detection line was successfully crossed.

After confirming that the tournament system had determined that he had secured the last DRS usage right, Luo Xiu could no longer hold back!

The extreme focus in the flow state slowed his breathing rate down countless times.

Exiting the corner, switch to Mode 1 full power mode, turn on the overtake button, adjust the differential ratio, control the steering angle, straighten the vehicle's posture, step on the full accelerator, and turn on DRS. Nearly ten rapid operations are completed in a single, seamless sequence within a fraction of a second!

With the battery fully discharged, 1000 horsepower at full power, the DRS rear wing deployed, and the terrifying cornering traction of the peak-performance yellow tires added on!

With its multiple ferocious performance enhancements, race car number 55, carrying the roar of tens of thousands of RPM accumulated over two laps, shattered the sound barrier in an instant.

The red Ferrari No. 55 exudes a thunderous aura, like a heavy metal cannonball.

On the final straight leading to the finish line, with a speed difference of 18 km/h over Red Bull, in just a breath...

Get away from the Red Bull race car!

Without giving Red Bull any chance to battle, Verstappen immediately cut into the paint to defend.

But unlike Magnussen's situation earlier, Ferrari's current matchup against Red Bull is akin to a game-changer.

At the same moment Verstappen cut into the paint, Rochet had already subtly changed direction and rushed towards the outside.

The moment the Red Bull car secured the inside line, Rosicky was already on the right, alongside Verstappen.

The next second, without needing to look in the rearview mirror, Luo Xiu gripped the steering wheel tightly and charged straight towards the fireworks that had already risen into the sky.

The black and white checkered flag fluttered up and down at the edge of the finish line.

Luo Xiu drove the number 55 Ferrari and crossed the finish line first!

Verstappen, who started in P1 and finished in P2, crossed the finish line 2 seconds later.

On the broadcast screen, a series of purple numbers appeared again.

1 minute 31.007 seconds, the fastest lap of the entire event.

The first F1 race, P1 finished.

Coming off the bench, his first F1 race, the fastest lap in the race, a two-stop strategy, and a last-minute victory against the three-time champions, securing his first F1 win.

In the online poll for the best driver, Luo Xiu won with 77% of the votes, becoming the best driver in Jeddah!

A new king, who strikes fear into the hearts of the entire hunting grounds, is born under the Jeddah night sky!