Chapter 57
After the melodious national anthem finished playing, Wu Shi turned around and glanced at the national flag; the little stars were pointing in the right direction.
He held the trophy up again and waved to the crowd.
"Whoa whoa whoa!!"
"Victory! Victory! Champion! Champion!"
The crowd cheered, celebrating his victory, including Aunt Martina and Louise.
As he stepped down from the podium after the awards ceremony, a reporter rushed up to him again and asked, "Excuse me, Wu Shi, I need to bother you for a moment. You displayed a dominant level of strength in the competition. Did you find the competition rather boring?"
"Well, rationally speaking, that's true. I get bored running alone, and nothing can stop me from winning except for mechanical failures. But emotionally, I enjoy driving go-karts, and I actually enjoy the process."
"I can understand the wonderful feeling of the tires rubbing against the ground when entering a corner, and I can feel the impact of the suspension when going over the curb. I am driving a go-kart, but it also feels like I am running on the track."
"Oh, very good. Your experience with go-karting is quite unique. No wonder you have such terrifying driving skills. Will you win every WSK KF3 championship next?" the reporter continued to ask.
"I will try my best." Wu Shi nodded.
Did you participate in the World and Europa Karting Championships this September?
"certainly."
"Wow, that's great news. So, are you confident of winning the championship? As far as we know, Alexander Albon Ansusinha will also be participating in this competition. He is older than you and has already achieved remarkable results in the United Kingdom."
"Alben? My answer is the same as before: I will try my best to win the championship. All the affirmative words before the end of the game are meaningless. I can only state one point: I will try my best to win the championship."
After answering the reporter's questions, Wu Shi went to the changing room alone. He thought of Albon, the driver who was also one of the victims of the Red Bull team.
'etc!'
He suddenly paused, wondering if his performance had caught Marco's eye and would lead him to replace Pan Zi and enter F1?
That's possible, but not very likely. Marko's impression of him is very similar to Raul from the Laya team before. Unless there's no other way, would he really choose a Chinese person?
"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Louise's voice suddenly rang out.
"Hey, I'm still changing clothes!" Wu Shi said speechlessly.
"Tch, it's not like I haven't seen it before." Louise shook her head, then reluctantly pulled out a necklace and said, "This is for you."
"Hey, why did you suddenly think of giving me a gift?"
"Congratulations on your first victory in an international competition!" Louise said with a smile.
Thank you.
"Mm." Louise nodded.
"What's wrong? You don't seem very happy. Did I run too fast?" Wu Shi joked.
"No, it's not your fault. I'll be starting middle school soon, and I probably won't be able to come watch your matches then." Louise lowered her head, looking sullen.
In fact, Louise sees him less and less these days. He often leaves school early to run races, and by the time Louise gets out of school, he has already gone to other provinces or even other countries.
"What's there to be discouraged about? Right now, you should focus on your studies, just like I'm focusing on my go-karting. The future is long, and there's plenty of time." Wu Shi put on his casual clothes.
"Yes!" Louise nodded.
Since the start of the WSK Europa Series in early March, Wu Shi's schedule has been very tight, as the tournament schedule is also very tight.
The La Conca race ended on March 7, followed by the Garda do Sul race in Lonato on March 25, and then the Suera race on April 15. This schedule is almost bi-weekly until the season ends in Sarno on June 6.
Just a week after the Laconca race, Wu Shi received a notification from the team that Albon would be participating in the Lonato race as a member of the I.DP team. Since reporters had mentioned Albon before, the team was naturally paying close attention to this driver.
"He was born in March 1996, two and a half years older than you. He has accumulated a wealth of karting experience and is a formidable opponent." Rosa pulled up Albon's race data from several races in the United Kingdom.
Wu Shi glanced at it a few times and saw no useful data other than various championships and simple lap times. It was unlikely that the website would publish data worth analyzing.
"Why didn't he run the first stop?" Wu Shi was more concerned about this than the data.
"I'm not sure, maybe they don't have time? After all, the WSK series mainly focuses on the European continent, while the United Kingdom plays more on its own." Rosa shook her head.
"I see."
Wu Shi was not worried about Albon's sudden entry. As long as he maintained an absolute lead from the start of practice, this kind of standard karting race would simply be a race of constantly setting lap records for him.
Besides, he has the backing of the CRG team located in Lonato, so he is very familiar with the South Garda circuit.
"Let's go down and practice a few laps first. Max is already running," Rosa said.
"good."
Wu Shi started the vehicle and it began to run.
He drove the race car back to the pit lane after a full forty laps.
"How's the data?"
"That's pretty good, the lap time is consistently around 43 seconds. Are the tires still working properly?" Rosa asked. She thought the data was a bit outrageous just by looking at it, so she decided to ask first.
"Yes, basically no problem. I'm an expert at preventing miscarriages," Wu Shi said with a smile. This was a skill that no one else could learn.
"Hey, Wu Shi." Max wiped his sweat and came over. He looked at the data on the computer and muttered, "I can only get around 44 seconds or so. I have no idea where the difference is."
"Why don't we ask our former F1 professional driver, Mr. Joss?" Wu Shi pointed to Joss, who was walking over.
"Kid, I suggest you stop talking so arrogantly before you can beat me!" Joss hardened his fist.
"Hehe~" Wu Shi scratched the back of his head.
"I feel that your current lead is based on a special car setup. Max is already pushing the limits, much faster than he was before," Joss said.
'Truly perceptive.'
Wu Shi remarked with admiration, "He truly deserves to be called a former F1 driver."
Without absolute car feel, he would have had a hard time achieving this lap time, let alone consistently for dozens of laps. Now that he has completely abandoned absolute car feel, he would probably have a 60/40 chance against Verstappen. His higher win rate is due to his greater experience.
So it's true that Verstappen's driving skills improved faster because he practiced driving with me.
In that case, wouldn't he be able to outrun Albon in the World and European Championships? Wouldn't that mean Albon, who could have won the championship, would miss out on a karting era honor?
Wait, that doesn't seem right either. Even without Verstappen winning, he would still win, and the championship that should have belonged to Albon would also disappear.
He suddenly felt a little embarrassed, as if he had taken something from someone else.
However, this feeling didn't last long, after all, he didn't know how many more honors he would steal from others in the future competitions.