Chapter 86 I think I don't need to push too hard
In the stands, Louise, wearing a baseball cap, lamented her disappointment and waved her fist at her best friend, saying, "What are the teams doing?! Why did they give us such terrible tires?!"
Ophelia Payne quickly pulled Louise back, saying, "Don't get too excited, this is a practice match! Not a qualifying match!"
"Alright, but if the team distributes the tires well, Wu Shi will definitely take first place!"
"Yes, yes, just sit still and watch. Nobody gets this excited watching a practice match. Be careful the cameramen don't see you and take pictures!" Ophelia said helplessly.
Upon hearing this, Louise immediately sat down obediently, pulled her hat down tightly, and muttered, "Please don't take pictures of me! If Mommy finds out, I'm dead!"
"Oh? Louise, so you snuck out?" said an older woman next to Ophelia.
"Sister Caroline! Shh!" Louise put her index finger to her lips.
"Hehe~ Don't worry, Ophelia told me that my agreement to bring you to watch the match means I won't tell anyone," Caroline laughed.
Ophelia was a well-behaved and cautious girl, so when Louise suggested coming to the United Kingdom to watch the game, she did not agree to let the two of them come, but instead invited her older sister instead.
It just so happens that her birthday is coming up soon, and her older sister Caroline hasn't decided what to give her yet, so she decided to bring them to watch the game together.
Ten minutes passed quickly as the group chatted, and the second practice match began.
"Wu, when should we change to the new tires?" Ailan asked, seeking confirmation.
"Let's use the used tires first, and then change to new tires at the end," Wu Shi said.
"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. Next, you can test the performance of this set of second-hand tires over ten laps."
"clear."
Wu Shi nodded; Ai Lan meant that he shouldn't push it directly.
Because in the second practice session, each team will push their drivers to the limit to simulate qualifying conditions, so the final fastest lap will not be too different from the qualifying time.
As all the cars entered the track, the commentator's mouth started moving again.
Compared to the previous practice session, many drivers started racing immediately after warming up their tires in this practice session.
Moreover, the results came out quite quickly. Mickey from the Fortec team immediately set a time of 1:52.754. In comparison, his time in the previous practice session was only 1:53.036.
After achieving a valid result, he tried a few more laps, but when he realized he couldn't go any faster, he started cruising.
"Wow! Ed's time is 1:52.04, that's a really nice lap!"
As Ed from the Kalin team accelerated, several riders from the Prema team also began to push harder. First was Latifi, who set a time of 1:52.259 before stopping and eventually returning to the pits.
Ocon and Antonio then stepped up their game, breaking their own records one after the other! Both times fell within the 51-second range.
"It's here! It's here! Someone has finally surpassed 1 minute and 52 seconds, reaching 51 seconds. It seems the final fastest lap will be around this level!"
"NO!"
The narrator was speaking when he suddenly shouted.
Just as Verstappen crossed the finish line, the cars from the R-R team and the Fortec team collided behind him.
The accident was so serious that the commentators forgot to announce that Verstappen had just set a new fastest lap record, surpassing Ocon by 82-thousandths of a second to take the lead.
Alan says in TR, "Come back."
"Understood." Wu Shi was a little disappointed. He had just changed to the newest tires, but the track conditions were not good after the tires were warmed up, so he didn't have time to speed up and could only manage one more lap.
As a result, another accident occurred on this round.
It took quite a while to clear the debris from the track, and by the time the race resumed, the practice session was almost over.
"We have just received confirmation that both drivers are safe and sound."
After the commentator finished speaking, applause immediately erupted from the stands.
After confirming everyone was safe, the commentator returned to the arena and said, "Currently, Max is in first place, followed by Ocon, Foco (Antonio), Jones, King, Blomqvist, Latifi, and Wu."
"Should we try one lap?" Wu Shi asked after re-entering the track.
"If you'd like," Alan replied.
After announcing the rankings, the commentator said:
"It's unbelievable that Max is leading two Prema cars in first place, while Wu from the same team is in eighth place, and the other two are even outside the top twenties. It seems that Max is very strong and continues his strong performance in the karting field!"
"We haven't had a good chance to see Wu, who previously had a dominant level of skill in the go-karting field, showcase himself. Oh no, we should have a chance to see him now! He's going to try his hand at speeding!"
As the commentator finished speaking, Wu Shi began lapping on the new tires that had already been used for four laps.
Because the previous four laps were almost entirely done with the tires warmed up, the wear and tear was minimal. When he started sprinting into turn one, he could clearly feel the amount of power he had left.
Wu Shi (TR): "I don't think I need to push too hard."
Upon receiving the TR, not only was Alan somewhat bewildered, but the rest of the team's crew members were also somewhat bewildered.
No one actually used all their strength to push, but the implication of you saying it so openly is too strange.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if you got a less-than-ideal result?
Or is this karting champion already making excuses for his inability to set impressive lap times?
When Wu Shi uttered these words, many strategists were scratching their heads, completely baffled as to what this guy was up to.
However, Alan understood and replied directly, "Received."
Many team leaders looked over, wondering what these two were talking about.
Upon hearing this, Wu Shi silently drove the vehicle. Since he didn't need to push too hard, he had even more control over the vehicle's dynamics.
Since he wasn't pushing his limits, he didn't even need to exert complete self-control.
Rustling sound!
At each bend, car number 32 moved like a dragon, weaving through the curves with unrestrained grace.
This was a flawless lap time. The camera next to the upper air intake bracket recorded the steering wheel, which was completely uncorrected. Every turn of the wheel seemed to be the perfect position.
Whoosh! Swish!
The race car roared across the finish line, and the results were announced.
1:51.333.
The commentator paused for a moment, then said, "Incredible! No, that's not right! This is perfectly normal speed for Wu Shi! It's not incredible at all!"
"It seems that Wu's talent in F3 is no less than it was in karting. Are we about to witness the birth of a driver who will also be dominant in the F3 class?"
The commentator showered him with praise, clearly very excited.
As a commentator for F3 for many years, his intuition is quite sharp. When Max set the fastest lap and pitted, the Prema team immediately launched a counterattack, but neither Ocon nor Antonio could overtake him.
This shows that the Prema team is not far from their lap record; if they go any faster, it will be no different from qualifying.