Chapter 85 2014 F3 Silverstone Station
The 2014 F3 season finally kicked off at Silverstone Circuit, with races taking place on April 18, 19 and 20.
On Friday the 18th, four events will be held: the first and second free practice sessions, and the first and second qualifying sessions.
Unlike the Florida Winter Series held in America by the LaFerrari, the starting grid positions for the first race are determined by the first qualifying session, while the starting grid positions for the second and third races are determined by the fastest and second fastest lap times in the second qualifying session.
Compared to the global racing series after 2019, F3 at this time was still a regional competition, and the viewing experience was not as good as it would be in later years. Therefore, it did not include more exciting races such as sprint races or reverse grid starts for the top ten.
Even so, a considerable number of people still came to watch the race, not only because they enjoyed the more dramatic F3 races, but also because F3 was linked to other races, and there were discounts on combined tickets.
A total of 11 teams and 26 people participated in this Silverstone race.
The chassis is the same as the Dallara F314, and there are three engine suppliers: Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and NBE from Japan.
Many familiar faces have signed up for the race, including Verstappen, Antonio, Latifi, and Ocon, not to mention old rivals from their karting days like Alexander and Giovanni.
The first practice session will begin at 9:00 AM and will last for 30 to 40 minutes.
The teams these days are quite honest and don't hide anything during practice sessions.
After all, there are quite a few rookies in this F3 competition, and the practice is a real test of their abilities. Even if some second- or third-year students are quite familiar with the track, they still need to perform well and achieve good results. Losing to the rookies would not look good.
Shortly after Wu Shi entered the track, Alan kept updating him on the track conditions via TR. While this was necessary during practice, it was also somewhat redundant and could affect the driver's focus.
Many drivers don't even pay attention to TR in the corners, and only ask the team to repeat it when they reach the straights.
Because of his high familiarity with the track, Wu Shi was able to listen to the TR (Traffic Track) at a glance, but that was all. He didn't spend the energy to reply, but continued to practice and improve his feel for the race car.
Swish! !
The first few drivers to go out set their times.
Alan TR reported: "Jack Dennis of the Carlin team set the fastest lap, 1:53.922."
Wu Shi TR: "Those who are slower than me don't need to report."
The TR went quiet as one car after another crossed the finish line, but the results were mediocre. Clearly, at the beginning, no one wanted to expose their true colors.
At the twentieth minute, a convoy entered the repair area and changed to another set of used tires①.
It was as if a switch had been flipped, and the fastest lap time finally changed.
Gustavo Menezes, also from Van Amersford, sprinted across the finish line, setting a new fastest lap time.
1:53.550.
Alan TR: "Gustavo set the fastest lap, but he was using a new set of tires."
As Wu Shi approached Turn 16, maintaining his turning speed, he pressed the TR button on the steering wheel and said, "COPY."
Subsequently, people kept setting the fastest lap time, but all hovered around 1 minute and 53 seconds, until the last ten minutes when Verstappen sprinted across the finish line like the wind.
1:52.396!
The fastest lap was a second faster, entering the 1 minute 52 second range. At this point, the strong teams such as Prema, Carlin, and Jagonya Ayam with Carlin could no longer sit idly by and immediately instructed their riders to go all out for a few more laps.
Rustling sound!
Two minutes later, Jordan King and Ed Jones of the Kalin team set times of 1:52.722 and 1:52.777 respectively, both slower than Verstappen.
"Wow! Max is still leading in speed. Two riders from the Kalin team tried to challenge Max, but both failed!" the commentator exclaimed.
"Max's fastest lap was on the old tires, while his teammate Gustavo only managed a time of 1:53.55 on the new tires."
"Right now we have absolutely no idea whether Max is going too fast or whether the vehicles provided by the Van Amersford team are too weak!"
"Oh! Now that you mention it, Max's other teammate answered us: Jules only managed a time of 1:53.762!"
"It seems Max is too fast!"
There is only one commentator for F3. His voice is sometimes roaring and sometimes calm. When he is excited, he will only describe the situation of the race. When he is calm, he will tell the story of the driver's history.
"This year, the Van Amersford team has four drivers participating in the competition, one of whom is a prodigy from China who has won almost all the championships in the karting field and is the absolute champion in both the KF and KZ fields!"
"Like Max, he skipped Formula Renault and jumped straight to F3, but can he recapture his dominance from his karting days? We'll have to wait and see!"
Ailan TR: "Wu, push around and see what's going on."
The live stream played this TR clip, and after listening to it, the commentator immediately exclaimed, "The team has given Wu the instruction to do a lap. We'll soon see if this Chinese driver has the talent for Formula One!"
Rustling sound!
Wu Shi's old tires were in very poor condition at this time. Because the racing team's strategy for the first free practice session was to test the tires' limits, he kept the car under steady control and did not try to set lap times.
He said in the TR: "Received, my tires are only enough for this lap, and I can't push them too hard."
Alan replied, "Understood. The practice match is about to end. Push and return directly to the repair area."
Therefore, Wu Shi focused his attention highly, and he had a very high level of awareness of the vehicle that he had already driven for nearly two hundred laps.
Swish!
Just like when he was driving a go-kart, when he started lapping, it meant pushing himself to the limit. However, this time he had to take care of the tires, so he had to ease up a lot of the time, otherwise he would lose all grip and spin like a top on the track.
"Wow! Wu's driving is incredibly smooth. It's clear that even when driving an F3 race car, his technique is remarkably skillful. He's incredibly adept at every turn!"
One of the commentators spoke with great passion, constantly describing Wu Shi's racing situation.
"The results for the first timeout are in! He broke his own record, but it's about the same as Max's! Now we can confirm that Van Amersford's vehicle performance seems decent, but it's hard to fully utilize it!"
"Oh! Meanwhile, Antonio Foco of the Prema team set a new fastest lap time of 1:52.323, which is 0.073 seconds faster than the maximum!"
Antonio had just crossed the finish line when Ocon followed closely behind!
"Ocon, also from the Prema team, was incredibly strong; he was only 51/1000th of a second slower than his teammate and 22/1000th of a second faster than Max!"
"It seems that the Prema team's car is still in the lead this year, but Antonio and Ocon are both experienced drivers with a lot of victories. With them driving this car, it will be very competitive!"
At this point, Wu Shi had reached the last few bends. He knew he was going too slow. There was nothing he could do; the tires were bad, and several times the lack of grip forced him to brake earlier and accelerate later, which must have cost him a lot of time.
Rustling sound!
"Wu is about to cross the finish line! Let's see what his final time will be!"
"Wow! 1:52.400! Four-thousandths of a second slower than my teammate Max! But this speed is already faster than Latifi, who is also from the Prema team!"
"At the same time, we should also note that Wu's tires were in very poor condition. It's amazing that he was able to achieve this result. We're really looking forward to his performance in the next practice session!"
After making a comment, the commentator, noticing that the time was almost up, summarized the practice match and said:
"We will have a ten-minute break. At 9:45, we will begin the second free practice match!"