F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

The intense pain became the best sensory signal.

Just as the tires were about to lock up, Luo Xiu's right foot acted like a highly precise ABS system, releasing the braking force with extreme finesse and gradual precision.

The front wheels of the race car emitted a pleasant tire squeal as they were on the verge of locking up, successfully preserving the last bit of steering force and never locking up.

The front of the car precisely cut into the apex of T1.

This is a textbook example of a late-braking overtaking maneuver.

But this is not the end.

Due to the small entry angle, Luo Xiu's speed in the corner was forced to drop to an extremely low point, nearly 10 kilometers per hour less than normal.

The car was almost stopped in the middle of the bend, waiting for the front of the car to point towards the exit.

On the outside, Botoleto, if he can control his car, will have a more perfect entry angle and higher cornering speed.

As long as Botoleto controls the car on the outside and adjusts the angle of entry into the corner, he can easily overtake him with his higher exit speed in the next T2 left corner, performing a textbook example of a cross-line maneuver.

As long as Botoletto can stop himself.

At the apex of Monza T1, Rosiu and Botoletto, positioned at P1 and P2 respectively, met head-on.

Two F3 cars engaged in a millisecond-level late-braking battle at this narrow funnel opening.

Luo Xiu's control over the brake pedal can be described as an art.

The No. 12 car was stuck on the inside line. Despite the violent forward shift of its center of gravity, it neither pushed the front nor locked up, but firmly gripped the ground.

However, the cost was also obvious. In order to control the car, his entry angle into the corner was drastically reduced, and his speed at the apex of the corner also dropped to an absolute disadvantage.

Botoleto, positioned on the outside, also missed his usual braking point.

With a sudden, hard brake after a delay of several tens of meters, his front wheels were just one step away from locking up.

"We can't get through this!"

Botoletto glanced out of the corner of his eye at the red and white race car on the inside, which was aggressively refusing to give way, and he truly felt that he had been driven into a desperate situation by Luo Xiu's late braking.

Luo Xiu blocked the cornering line!

At the current speed, forcing a turn will almost certainly result in a collision with Luo Xiu, with a high probability of serious damage to the car and a low probability of both retiring from the race.

However, Botoleto is currently leading the drivers' championship standings, and if he can secure a top-three finish in this race, he will clinch the overall championship one race early.

Unlike Luo Xiu, he has no worries about rankings; now he hates any risk that might lead to withdrawal from the competition.

Boto Leto instinctively retained a little more pressure as he gradually released the braking force during the traction braking phase.

His plan was shrewd: to decelerate in a shorter distance, allowing for a better entry angle and an earlier throttle input, so he could execute a beautiful crossover at the next T2 left turn.

However, the rules of physics are unreasonable and merciless under extreme conditions.

For an F3 car that has rapidly decelerated and lost downforce, this extra bit of braking pressure becomes the final straw that breaks the tire's grip limit.

Sizzle—!!!

Accompanied by a distinct tire squeal, a plume of blue smoke rose from beneath the left front wheel of the red and blue race car on the outer track.

That's a typical phenomenon where a rubber tire instantly vaporizes on rough asphalt, leaving a flat scar.

Botoleto's tires are locked!

His left front wheel stopped rolling for a split second, and the tire scraped against the ground like an eraser.

This means the tires lose lateral steering force and can only slide the car forward in a straight line.

The red and blue race car, which was originally preparing to draw a perfect cross, was turned into an out-of-control brick by the huge inertia and plunged straight toward the edge of the track.

However, the Brazilians reacted extremely quickly, abandoning the futile braking action the moment the car was locked, and decisively choosing to let the car rush towards the escape route ahead.

boom!boom!

The foam speed bumps in the escape route were mercilessly knocked away, but fortunately the tires were saved and no larger dents were caused.

However, when Botoletto stumbled around the buffer zone and drove back onto the track, the tire advantage he had gained from the new tires at the start had vanished due to the tire lock-up he had just experienced.

From the moment the two cars rushed into Terminal 1 until Botoletto stumbled around the buffer zone and returned to the track, less than ten seconds had passed.

In less than ten seconds, the landscape of the track had already changed.

Because of the few seconds of delay in the escape route, a dark blue race car that was originally in P3 seized the opportunity and sped past the side of Botoletto's return track with a huge speed difference.

Luo Xiu held his position firmly at P1, having already passed the T3 high-speed bend, and sped towards the T4 uphill straight.

Stealing chickens will not lose rice.

But there was no time for Botoletto to complain; he gritted his teeth and quickly put his earlier mistake behind him.

The high risks on the field can indeed bring rich rewards, but in most cases the results are not pleasant.

Having dropped to third place, the Brazilian was no longer in a hurry to succeed. He adjusted his pace, quietly biting the tail of the car in P2 ahead, choosing to lie low and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

Thus, the close-quarters battle between Rosi and Botoletto finally came to an end.

All of this happened in just over ten seconds.

The radio for car number 12 crackled to life, and track engineer Marco spoke in a voice that was a mixture of disbelief and feigned composure.

"1.2 seconds behind the car behind, well done, the road ahead is clear, keep pushing forward."

After passing through Chicane in T4 and T5, Luo Xiu finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

On the next long straight stretch of road, Luo Xiu glanced at the rearview mirror.

The red and blue race car has dropped to third place.

There were no more obstructions or threats at the end of his vision, only a clean track free from turbulence, where he could completely control the pace.

If we disregard the initial close-quarters combat, Luo Xiu's self-assessment of his pace from the exit of T2 to the present is that it can be described as perfect.

But for midfielders, Monza's T1 is always a nightmare.

You can dodge the first day of the month, but you can't dodge the fifteenth; what's coming will come eventually.

On the second lap of the race, the midfield group, which started from the back of the grid, had a classic chain-reaction collision at T1.

Carbon fiber fragments flew around like black snowflakes.

The waving of the double yellow flags means that all race cars must immediately slow down significantly and overtaking is prohibited.

Various race cars were tangled together, completely blocking the already narrow T1 lane.

Matthew reported from the sidelines that there was a lot of debris on the track that needed to be cleared, and the race organizers decided to deploy the safety car.

"Safety car. Safety car. Delta Positive." (Safety car deployed, maintaining positive Delta.)

All teams issued the same TR instruction to their drivers.

Ben Melander drove a green Aston Martin Vantage, serving as the safety car for this race, with its orange roof lights flashing as it entered the track.

The yellow "SC" safety car logo and a speed limit indicator triangle immediately lit up on all drivers' steering wheel screens.

The triangle icon comes in two colors.

Green indicates that the driver's current speed is within the speed limit set by the race organizers, which signifies safety and compliance.

Red indicates that the driver's current speed is faster than the speed limit set by the race organizers. This is considered a violation, and if the driver does not slow down within a certain time, they will receive a race ticket, usually resulting in a time penalty.