Chapter 70 Florida Winter Series
In December 2013, Wu Shi and Verstappen traveled to Oshersleben, Germany, to participate in testing of the Itali brand Darara F311 Formula 3 car with the Motopark Academy team.
Both drivers had very good lap times, faster than veteran drivers like Stan Shothlow and Matt Parry.
Wu Shi, in particular, demonstrated his ability after adapting to racing, which led Motopark Academy owner Timo Rumpfkeil to want to sign him as a reserve driver for GP2 racing.
Sid did not discuss this matter. GP2's reserve driver is indeed good, but Wu Shi does not need to be a reserve driver now. With his strength, he will soon be able to make a name for himself in Formula Renault, and then he will have more leverage in the discussion.
After testing in Germany, the two drivers traveled to Valencia, Spain for further testing, where they demonstrated a level of skill that still surpassed that of veteran drivers.
And so, in the last few days before the end of 2014, Joss and Sid brought good news together.
"I've arranged for you to participate in the Florida Winter Series," Joss said.
"An America competition?" Wu Shi had never heard of this competition.
"Yes, it's a single-seater series organized by the local LaFerrari Drivers' Academy, but it's not a championship. It's mainly to give you some experience in single-seater open-wheel racing," Joss said.
"They used a chassis that complies with F3 safety regulations and a 190-horsepower Fiat-FPT engine, which can indeed be used as a practice run before F3," Sid added.
"It won't interfere with the rest of the schedule for 2014, which includes a total of four tracks and twelve races, ending on February 18th."
Wu Shi initially scoffed at this competition, which he had never even heard of, even though it was organized by the LaFerrari Drivers Academy.
Speaking of LaFerrari's driver academy, it seems that Zhou Guanyu will be joining them this year as a trainee driver.
In fact, he and Guanyu often met during karting events in Europe in 2012 and 2013, especially in high-profile competitions like the European Championship and the World Championship.
"Many Formula 3 drivers will be participating, such as Dennis van der Lahr, Tatiana Calderon, Nicolas Latifi, and Rafael Masciello. They all performed well in F3, so you can compete against them in advance." Sid read from the information on his laptop.
Wu Shi automatically filtered out most of the names, only hearing "Latifi," and subconsciously wondered, "Director Latifi?" (in Chinese)
"What?"
Verstappen usually showed great curiosity about Wu Shi, who would sometimes suddenly utter a Chinese phrase.
"Director Latifi," Wu Shi said.
"Why do you say that about him?" Vestager continued to ask.
Wu Shi looked at Pan Zi. If the timeline hadn't changed, in 2021, this director would have become one of the driving forces behind the highly controversial battle for the World Championship title.
And you, Verstappen, are one of the main characters.
Of course, he could never say these things; he only fondly remembers that period of time.
"I think he has great potential to be a director. Maybe it's because his name makes me feel that he has the ability to write storylines."
"Okay, you're making it complicated." Verstappen shook his head; he was a direct person and didn't like this roundabout way of speaking.
Ultimately, the competition schedule for the two in early 2014 was decided upon.
Wu Shi obtained the list from Xi De, which included several F3 level drivers, as well as Kassilon, Vasily Romanov, and Lance Stroll, who had met in KF1 and KZ1 races.
However, in conclusion, they were all defeated opponents.
"I feel there's no suspense about participating in this match," Verstappen said.
"You can read minds?" Wu Shi asked rhetorically.
Verstappen laughed and said, "In the unified tournament, barring any unforeseen circumstances, who else but you can win the title?"
Three months of open-wheel racing testing had allowed Verstappen to understand Wu Shi's strength and level. He didn't know why this guy could perform so consistently after just getting into open-wheel racing.
Doesn't he have an adaptation period and a transition period?
Oh, no, according to his father Joss, this guy has an adaptation period and a transition period, but only for the first hundred or so laps.
What an incredible talent!
Many drivers can only familiarize themselves with the track after a hundred or so laps, but this guy has already pushed the speed to pole position level.
On January 19th, the group arrived in Florida. Wu Shi always wanted to see the creative tricks people do when he visited this land that was famous on the internet.
Unfortunately, it's clear that the people of Florida haven't woken up yet; while there are some funny antics, they're not many.
Before the race begins, the participants need to conduct a group test at Homestead Miami Circuit.
At first, Wu Shi thought this was the Miami International Circuit, but it wasn't. This was the very famous oval track, where the road slopes in the cornering area, allowing cars to take corners at full speed.
"Are we here to test the car's stability?" Verstappen asked.
Since it's a test, there's not much point in setting lap times on this kind of track, nor is there much point in testing the vehicle's cornering performance.
"Probably."
Wu Shi was also speechless; it really was just a shoddy competition.
I heard that the last two races will use the same track and its modified version.
"Shall we have a match?" Verstappen suddenly said.
"Here?"
After asking the question, Wu Shi immediately understood what Verstappen meant.
Don't be fooled by the fact that this track, which looks just like a playground, only requires you to step on the gas. In fact, if you add competitive elements, it can be quite an exciting race.
The NASCAR Cup series will hold a leg here, with swarms of RVs rushing forward. In addition to enjoying the sound of the engines, the audience is also looking forward to what will happen in this race with cars all around them.
At this point, simply pressing the accelerator won't be enough; you need to control the distance between vehicles because there are cars coming from any direction. You need to maintain the distance at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour.
We also need to find a way to get to the most suitable racing line—
The closer you get to the apex of a corner, the gentler the slope becomes, while the slope increases further out. This means that if you chase the apex, you will miss out on the anti-centrifugal force characteristics of a steep road.
In short, racing here is a high-octane collision at 300 km/h. A moment of distraction is enough to destroy a race car and trigger a series of collisions. In severe cases, it can even cause debris to explode in front of the audience, increasing their sense of participation.
"What? Afraid of a car accident?" Verstappen provoked.
"I'm actually a little scared. Is your family very rich?"
Wu Shi countered that anything could happen in a competition, and he was confident he wouldn't crash into anyone, but the price would be giving up victory, which was impossible.
Verstappen was silent for a moment, then said, "I believe we won't crash, but just in case, let's do a proper test."
Sigh, this is what happens when you're too poor.
Wu Shi looked at Stoltra, considering whether he should try to improve his relationship with the young master and get some sponsorship.
Before this guy entered F1, his dad spent money to book F1 tracks all over the world for him to train.
Wow, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars are just being thrown into it.
Forget about all the other people being paid drivers, see? This is the real paid driver.
Because many of the participants were promoted from karting, the organizers did not allow the engine restrictions to be lifted directly during the testing.
The test passed without incident, and soon, on January 25th, the first stop of the Florida Series took place at the Sebring Circuit.