Chapter 82 One Month Before the Competition
The so-called contract signed with Rafa was a complete surprise. After returning to Modena, Sid and Wu Shi almost forgot about it.
In the days that followed, Wu Shi made a few symbolic visits to the school, while Sid was busy running around looking for sponsors he could win over.
After February, the short break came to an end.
On March 1st, Wu Shi and Sid went to the Dutch Van Amersford team's base together to begin preparations for the F3 race in April.
Verstappen, the embodiment of the Autobots, has been practicing driving ever since he returned from America without taking a break. It has to be said that successful people always have to work hard.
"Hey, you're finally here." Verstappen walked over in his racing suit, covered in sweat, clearly having spent quite a long time battling it out on the test track.
"How have you been feeling lately?" Wu Shi asked, then moved closer and stealthily inquired, "This car isn't as broken as before, is it?"
"Slightly better, but don't get your hopes up too high." Verstappen wiped his sweat.
After patting him on the shoulder, Wu Shi went to the unfamiliar office, met with the team leader, changed into his racing suit, and joined his team.
Unlike go-karting, Formula One teams have expanded significantly. The mechanic team alone, responsible for changing tires, consists of six people. With the rest of the team, there are more than a dozen people in total, enough to form four combat teams in a three-by-three system.
Among all these people, the most important one is actually the engineer in charge of communication.
In subsequent training and competitions, Wu Shi's ideas on vehicle tuning depended entirely on communication with this engineer. If he couldn't explain it clearly, it could lead to the overall tuning of the race car failing to meet expectations.
The engineer's name was Alan Oliveira, a reliable man in his thirties whose experience was evident just by looking at his hairstyle.
"Hello Wu, we've heard about your outstanding performance at America and we're excited to be working with a driver like you in this year's F3 season." Alan extended his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I believe that with your help, I will achieve amazing results!" Wu Shi shook hands with him.
"Haha, if you put it that way, then we can't afford to be careless," Alan laughed.
The atmosphere in the crew was good; everyone was very friendly towards him, and some were even quite excited.
After all, Wu Shi is no longer the unknown kid he once was, but a renowned prodigy in the karting world, and he might just achieve various honors in F3 racing.
At that time, as members of his crew, they will be able to share the benefits of this honor—their salaries and performance bonuses will be maximized.
"It's hard to believe that you stepped onto the F3 track at the age of less than 16," said a mechanic who was only 1.65 meters tall, about the same height as Wu Shi now, as he prepared the race car.
"Now that you see it, it's hard to believe but you have to believe it," Wu Shi joked, then stepped into the race car.
Even though they had only been there for less than half an hour, they were already ready to start working.
It was indeed easier to get into the driver's seat without flip-flops; he slid in and sat down in his seat.
The seats are still custom-made and fit perfectly.
The engineer came over and pointed to the steering wheel, saying, "I need to explain the buttons on it to you first."
Wu Shi listened patiently to the end.
"It might be difficult to memorize it in one go, but we have a month to get used to it, so now, try driving your race car and start practicing."
After the engineer finished speaking, the crew members at the entrance of the P-room confirmed that it was safe and gave the signal to proceed.
As the clutch is released, the vehicle slowly slides out of the maintenance area. After passing the white line, it accelerates gradually, just like exiting a ramp onto a highway.
Even a world champion wouldn't be arrogant when encountering a brand new vehicle, and Wu Shi certainly wouldn't have such a conceited and haughty mentality.
Because there were other cars practicing on the track, he couldn't warm up his tires freely and could only do so by accelerating and decelerating outside the racing line.
In order to circumvent the FIA's private testing regulations, the vehicles currently being used for Wu Shi to familiarize himself with do not meet the F3 requirements. So, just as the engineer said, this period is for familiarizing himself with the operation.
Van Amersford's steering wheel button layout is completely different from that of the LaFerrari; for example, the knobs for adjusting brake ratio and engine power are different from the previous ones.
Because Wu Shi skipped Formula Renault and went straight to driving F3, the team staff never thought to inform him in advance whether the steering wheel buttons needed to be customized.
After driving just a few laps, Wu Shi said in the TR, "I think I should change the position of a few buttons on my steering wheel."
"No problem, you can write it down and we'll make adjustments, but it's best not to try too many changes, or we won't have enough time," the engineer replied.
Customizing a steering wheel is very time-consuming, and it also requires inspection by the FIA, making it quite troublesome.
"You only need to change it once." Wu Shi naturally had the keyboard layout he was already used to.
How does the track feel?
"I feel the car's performance is acceptable, but it's not an F3 race car used for competition, so there's no point in comparing it."
"Understood, we need you to provide some data for comparison," the engineer said.
"copy."
Wu Shi drove the vehicle in circles, and would always report the current situation when turning on different types of curves.
For example, if the center of gravity shifts abnormally, causing excessive pressure on one tire, or if the braking ratio is too high in a corner, it will lead to excessive tire wear, but it can buy more time. This may require adjusting the dampers on the front wheels.
Ultimately, vehicle tuning is also a part of racing.
"A remarkably keen sense of the car, and communication is quite easy," the engineer told his colleague.
"Indeed, there was almost no fluff, it was all feedback on the vehicle." The technician nodded.
What is the test date we applied for?
April 2nd.
"Then we need to prepare as soon as possible; there's only one day for private testing." The engineer was jotting down notes in his notebook when he suddenly laughed and said:
"Although the test only lasted one day, I feel that we were able to tune a pretty good vehicle."
"Yes, Schumacher has shown us just how important driver feedback is." The mechanic nodded.
At this point, everyone fell silent.
At the end of last year, unfortunate news came that Schumacher had suffered a skiing injury and fallen into a coma. On January 22 this year, the hospital announced that Schumacher was likely to become a permanent vegetative state.
This is undoubtedly tragic news for the racing world.
After completing forty laps of testing, Wu Shi parked the vehicle in the pit lane. After exchanging a few words with the engineer, he needed to change his clothes before continuing his training.
And so, March was drawing to a close amidst the daily practice of driving and physical exercise.
At the end of the month, Wu Shi and his crew arrived at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom, where the first F3 race of 2014 would be held.