Chapter 78 Three-Game Winning Streak
Clap clap clap!
In the pit lane, everyone spontaneously applauded. With such a responsive start and Wu Shi's insane starting maneuver, they could basically gain an advantage at Turn 1.
As expected, Latifi's starting response was a bit late, but not slow either. However, in the continuous acceleration and gear changes, he was clearly not as good as Wu Shi.
Adding to the existing body length difference, he was able to attack when entering turn one, but it was still extremely difficult.
Wu Shi had already secured his position, and Latifi did not act rashly, intending to wait until later to make his move.
Rustle!
Bang! Bang!
Suddenly, a crash was heard from behind. Several race cars collided like bumper cars, scattering parts and fragments all over the ground.
The organizers acted almost without hesitation, immediately deploying yellow flags at the accident site.
Although Wu Shi and his companions were ahead of the accident site, it was still considered an accident zone, and they were not allowed to slow down even after seeing the yellow flag.
He glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and immediately said in TR, "Latifi didn't slow down immediately; he stole time."
"Received, we will verify." The engineer immediately had someone retrieve the video footage, and if it was true, they would report it to the competition organizers immediately.
Soon, the sign indicating the end of the yellow flag appeared ahead, and Wu Shi knew that Latifi had caught up by slowing down just now.
But with dynamic train departures, he's really not afraid of this guy.
As soon as the front detection point passed the sensor, Wu Shi accelerated instantly as if he had received a signal. This kind of predictive operation was carried out without any delay.
Latifi TR: "The investigation revealed that he accelerated the process ahead of schedule."
Train crew TR: "copy."
The two men and their respective crews reported each other.
Wu Shi has pulled ahead of Latifi thanks to his dynamic start advantage, but with Latifi's new tires, there's no guarantee he won't make a move.
"Latifi didn't slow down immediately after seeing the yellow flag. The race organizers are investigating, and he should be penalized," the engineer said in TR.
"COPY."
Then, before any penalty notice was issued, the safety car was deployed.
There was a lot of debris around the straight section, and it would take some time to clean it up.
After driving them around twice, the safety car simply led everyone back to the pit area and immediately raised the red flag.
"Is the accident serious? Is anyone injured?" Wu Shi asked in the TR after parking the car.
"Two vehicles lost power, the drivers are fine, but a crane will be needed. For safety reasons, all vehicles are being recalled," engineer TR said.
These words left Wu Shi somewhat bewildered. Obviously, the accident involving Anqi had not yet occurred, but even a small F3-level non-championship event knew what to pay attention to. Why did the Grand Prix not take it seriously?
His daze didn't last long, and the engineer said again, "Shall we get off and take a break? Clearing the track will take quite some time."
"OK."
As Wu Shi walked off the stage, he saw Latifi also coming down. The two glanced at each other but did not exchange a word.
Instead, Antonio, who was in third place, came over and said, "Want to come to my party after the race? I've invited quite a few drivers."
"Thank you, but I don't really like parties. I'm going to have a good rest."
"Yeah, okay." Antonio reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
Wu Shi wasn't a particularly sociable person, and he generally didn't like attending these kinds of gatherings. Besides, attending their party in America? He felt unsafe.
"He just invited me too," Verstappen said.
Aren't you going either?
"Oh, I don't like this kind of activity. I'd rather go home and play a couple of rounds of FIFA soccer."
"Haha, the Netherlands has lost a world-class striker," Wu Shi joked.
"Haha." Verstappen laughed along. Besides driving, his favorite sport was football. If he hadn't participated in motorsports, he might be racing on the football field.
It took more than twenty minutes to clear the debris from the track, and during that time, the race organizers also released their investigation results regarding Latifi and Wu Shi.
The conclusion is that Latifi clearly braked too late and used this action to gain an advantage of approximately 0.2 points, so the race organizers decided to impose a time penalty on him.
Wu Shi's vehicle accelerated just as it passed the test point, so there was no violation.
After this whole ordeal, Latifi's expression wasn't good. With the penalty time, he could no longer compete for first place, and now he had to think about holding onto second place.
However, the cars in this race were so uniform that the differences between them were almost negligible.
Even if Wu Shi was in the lead, he was only one second ahead of the second place throughout the entire race. How could Latifi possibly be five seconds ahead of the third place in second place?
"Another victory is in our hands," Verstappen said with a smile.
"If nothing unexpected happens, victory is mine." Wu Shi shook his head, speaking frankly.
"What about this afternoon?" Verstappen's eyes were full of fighting spirit.
"I was using the newest tires and only did one lap in qualifying."
"Ha, alright." Verstappen shrugged helplessly. It seemed that winning the third match would be a big challenge.
After the race restarted, dynamic starting was implemented, and Wu Shi naturally took the lead. Latifi had no intention of attacking at all; he only hoped that Wu Shi would drive better and better so that he could gain more time.
Whew!
Aside from the crash at the start, the second race ended uneventfully, which is often the case in motorsports.
After lunch, the drivers rested for a while before the third race began.
"Wu Shi's response time in the last game was 0.133, yours is 0.141," Joss said as he came over.
"I'm slower than him," Verstappen nodded.
"Yes, not only is the start response slower, but your start is also not as smooth as his."
"So, you think I'll lose?" Verstappen retorted.
"Yes."
Verstappen remained silent.
Sid was almost unable to bear watching, but he couldn't interrupt the father and son's conversation.
"I can't beat him now, but I will eventually. He just reached the top earlier than me. I will catch up." After saying that, Verstappen put on his helmet and headed to his race car.
As Joss said, Wu Shi's start was still quite smooth as long as there were no unexpected incidents at the start. In fact, because the indicator light turned off at a moderate level this time, his response was a few milliseconds faster than before.
"Young people react so quickly," Sid remarked, putting his hands behind his head.
In the following races, the front row became less exciting, as Wu Shi and Verstappen were both using the latest tires, and Dutch driver Denis van der Lahr, who was in third place, was also using the latest tires.
He seemed to have suddenly figured things out, and launched a fierce pursuit of Verstappen, making it impossible for Verstappen to keep an eye on Wu Shi at the same time.
After a fierce three-round fight, he actually took Verstappen's position.
Thirty minutes later, after the last lap, Wu Shi won all three races on the Sebring circuit.
The victory report was delivered to Montezemolo's desk immediately.