Chapter 52 Just drive by feel
If he hadn't had high expectations for the French Cadet series before, after seeing Verstappen, Wu Shi suddenly remembered that Lock & Lock had been running this race here this year.
This question didn't bother Wu Shi for long, because after arriving at his first stop in France, he met this handsome young driver in the pit lane.
"What? Is it your intuition that tells you he's strong again?" Sid raised an eyebrow. This kid is too strange.
"Yeah, pretty strong." Wu Shi nodded with a smile.
Does he have a racing team now?
Seth asked, having already set his sights on recruiting this handsome young man. Previously, with a former F1 driver standing next to Verstappen, he dared not harbor any ulterior motives. Now, seeing that Locke was not surrounded by any big shots, he began to have such thoughts.
"How would I know? But did you see that fat uncle? He looked like he was an F3 driver before," Wu Shi said.
"You know that too?" Seth clicked his tongue in amazement.
"I've watched their matches," Wu Shi casually made up.
What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Sid and Seth exchanged another glance, and then Sid spoke up: "You didn't learn your skills by watching videos of these veteran drivers, did you?"
"Huh? How is that possible?" Wu Shi was both amused and exasperated. Most of the racing records on the internet were fragmented and had no reference value whatsoever.
The two adults laughed heartily, realizing they had indeed been overthinking things.
"Aren't you going up to say hello?" Seth asked.
"Team leader, if you want to go, then go." Wu Shi shook his head. They would get to know each other sooner or later, so there was no need to make arrangements beforehand.
The cadet series is essentially a French karting student competition, primarily aimed at young drivers, so the karting cars used are similar to the Italie 60mini.
La Hague in April is still a bit chilly, and the Cotentin Mountains are shrouded in mist, making it highly likely that the next two days of matches will be rainy.
"I wish it would rain," Seth said suddenly as he looked at the sky.
"What do you mean?" Sid asked, puzzled.
"In that case, Wu Shi will leave the French in the dust and show them how our Italian genius driver conquers them!" Seth's words were so poetic that anyone who didn't know better would think he was about to revive Rome.
"No matter what, you shouldn't hope for rain; rainy days are always dangerous for drivers," Sid corrected him.
Wu Shi nodded. What he said made sense. After all, the car he used in this race had not yet achieved absolute perception—there were simply too many cars, and not enough time to complete this task.
The Hague karting track is shaped like a hook, and its overall difficulty is not too high, which means that the gap between drivers will not be too large.
Wu Shi knew this during practice, but there was no need to worry too much. The inability to widen the gap was only for drivers with similar skill levels. With his current ability, he was more than capable of leaving these "youngsters" behind.
This is also why Wu Shi wants to advance quickly. His skills are not up to par for his age group. At this age, he can only dominate weaker opponents.
Even when facing future top drivers, he can still consistently beat them.
Rustling sound!
After one lap, his time of just over 1 minute and 2 seconds firmly placed him at the top of the leaderboard.
"Who is that driver? I've never seen him before!"
"From Italie? He's not in Italie, what's he doing here?"
"I remember he was in the trainee group, right? Aren't trainee group members usually around 04 in score?"
Discussions quickly broke out in the paddock, and many team officers began contacting the race organizers to find out what was going on.
"Back then in Italy, if Raul hadn't ignored my advice, sigh." Sid sighed as he looked around.
"Hehe, he's old, his vision and courage are not as good as mine."
Seth laughed. Now, thanks to Wu Shi, the team is rising rapidly in China. Many parents have said that if their children can receive the same education as Wu Shi, they are willing to pay 1.5 times the amount.
The same kind of upbringing as Wu Shi? Seth was dumbfounded when he heard the parents' request. Did they mean to let them raise their children freely?
Of course, Seth couldn't do it that way. He agreed to the parents' requests in the contract and got more tuition fees. The solution was to have Wu Shi share some experience—for a fee.
Wu Shi won the qualifying race without any trouble, and by the time he returned to the pit area, someone had already come looking for him.
He didn't care much, introduced him to Sid, and then went to rest on his own.
In the subsequent main tournament, Wu Shi maintained his level of performance and won the PTW title.
Lock & Lock's performance at this station was not ideal, finishing fourth.
After the competition, Wu Shi stood on the podium and saw Lock & Lock looking at him with bright eyes, seemingly lost in thought.
Wu Shi still felt grateful to his former teammate. After several team instructions, Lock would switch positions, provided that he was much faster than Lock.
Similarly, when Lock & Lock is faster, Wu Shi will not stubbornly stick to his position, but will switch positions according to the team's instructions.
If he had joined Red Bull, things would never have been this harmonious; on the track, he and Pan Zi would have fought tooth and nail.
After the race in The Hague ended, Wu Shi needed to rush back to Italie for the KF5 race. Back in Sarno, which was also considered his home ground, he drove his fully-equipped vehicle and broke the previous record by more than a second.
This drew increasing attention from major media outlets, resulting in a flurry of reports and interviews.
Some asked him if he had special car-tuning skills, some asked him if he knew kung fu so he could drive the car faster, and others asked him if he knew qigong.
In short, none of the media outlets that interviewed him for the first time believed that this was a lap time that a normal person could achieve.
Wu Shi doesn't like giving interviews, but there's nothing he can do about it; it's part of a driver's job, and some of the major media outlets were even specially arranged by Sid.
In May, he went to Belgium to participate in the second race. With a better understanding of the vehicle, he was able to steadily pull away from Panzi.
He easily won the second race, and as he walked off the podium with the trophy and Verstappen, Joss came over.
This time, instead of pressuring Pan Zi, he asked Wu Shi, "Wu Shi, how did you manage to do Turn 3 and Turn 6?"
Wu Shi blinked. "Uncle, are you really going to ask someone else's secret so bluntly?"
So he simply said, "Just drive by feel."
Clearly, Joss did not agree with this answer. He turned to Verstappen and said sternly, "I've already filmed these corners. After the track is cleared, I'll stand in that spot on the track, and then you can start training!"
"Okay." Verstappen nodded, showing no sign of dissatisfaction.
"."
Okay, this is a father and son who are like gods. They just said that Joss had no pressure from Max, but they turned around and started to put pressure on him. They can't afford to mess with them.