Chapter 88 He won't be a second faster again, will he?
Wu Shi didn't get a break all noon because so many people came looking for him that his phone was ringing off the hook.
"Wu, are you serious?!" Leclerc's voice came from behind him as he was still racing go-karts.
"I won't say anything out of line," Wu Shi replied.
"Although you are someone I admire, it's truly beyond my imagination that you were able to discuss seats with an F1 team back in the F3 era!"
Faced with Leclerc, who showed some fanboy tendencies, Wu Shi could only chat with him slowly. By the time he hung up the phone, there was still an hour left before the qualifying match.
He had to go to the conference room to discuss the next strategy with the team.
There's really nothing to discuss here. Although the team has four drivers, Wu Shi and Verstappen are the only ones who can score points. The other two are now suspected of just filling in the numbers.
"Jules, Gustavo, you two need to go out first and check the track conditions," the team leader said bluntly.
"Okay." Jules nodded, obeying the team's orders unconditionally.
Gustavo shrugged in agreement, but he hadn't expected these two rookies, who were only driving F3 for the first time, to be so impressive.
The strategy for qualifying mainly considers tire usage, fuel level, and timing of releasing the car.
The FIA is providing three sets of new tires for qualifying and the race, and, as with the Florida Winter Series, how these three sets of new tires are allocated is very important.
As for the fuel strategy, it goes without saying that light fuel can make you run faster, but it will reduce the chances of trying out different fuels, while heavy fuel will slow you down, which is also a losing proposition.
The latter mainly relies on adaptability.
After discussing the strategy, it's almost time to head to the track.
During qualifying, drivers will drive their cars to the weigh-in machine to complete the weight calibration.
Wu Shi was confident in himself, so he adopted a light fuel strategy. Since the interval between the two qualifying races in the afternoon was more than fifteen minutes, he could refuel during the break.
This way, you don't need to carry fuel for two qualifying races.
The team first released two players, and the data they provided was displayed on the computer screen. After analyzing the data and considering the track conditions, the engineers hesitated slightly before releasing Wu Shi and Verstappen.
At this point, Jules and Gustavo had already run three laps, but their lap times were still struggling to break the 1 minute 52 second barrier.
At this point, the conditions on the track were not ideal, so Wu Shi and Verstappen continued to cruise and warm up the tires, preparing to take off once there was enough space.
When Jules reached lap seven, he finally set a time of 1:53.001, but he was just a little short. He told the team that he wanted to stay on the track.
After four laps, Wu Shi felt the tires were fully warm, so he asked Ai Lan, "Can we try flying now?"
"You need to run one more lap, and keep the time under two minutes. You'll then have a good window of opportunity."
"receive."
Wu Shi did as instructed, and he noticed that many drivers had entered the track and were constantly cruising, which was undoubtedly waiting for the track to become empty, but how could that be possible?
Instead of just waiting, we might as well all start running and farming.
As the fifth lap was about to end, he said in the TR: "PUSH".
This TR was selected and played, and the commentator, getting excited, said:
"Wu Shi was the first to take off! In his previous races, we always saw him take off at the very end. We didn't expect him to change his strategy in his first F3 race!"
As the commentator spoke, Wu Shi had already rushed into the starting straight and headed straight for Turn 1.
Alan TR: "Engine power 6."
Wu Shi (TR): "I know everything."
In qualifying, the engine will naturally have to go all out, but there won't be many opportunities to go all out because there is only one engine for the entire race. If you switch to a new engine, you will be penalized at least ten places in the next three races.
This is a very severe punishment.
Therefore, learning how to protect the engine is also a must for drivers.
One lap is enough.
As car number 32 approached Turn 1, its braking point was delayed again, unlike any other corner it had taken before. This subtle difference was only noticeable to some spectators sitting in the stands at Turn 1.
Even the commentator wasn't clear on the situation, only sensing that the car's posture seemed somewhat different, so he said...
"During the practice session this morning, Wu said he didn't think he needed to push too hard. Let's see what kind of lap time he can achieve when he unleashes his true potential!"
"He entered turn one incredibly fast, like a raptor swooping down on the ground! Whoa! And then turn two... what?! He's three kilometers per hour faster than before! Is this... is it because of the engine power adjustment?!"
The commentator looked at the track while keeping an eye on the data panel.
Meanwhile, in Wu Shi's pit lane, Ai Lan clenched his fists. The racing car's data was not quite normal; the tires were heating up very quickly, which meant that the wear and tear was very high, but it was still within a controllable range.
"Look, look! Wu Shi is trending on social media!" Louise exclaimed excitedly.
Ophelia was speechless. She wanted to say something to her sister, but then she saw Caroline staring intently at the track. The speeding race car seemed to have a magical power, firmly attracting everyone's attention.
Upon reaching turn three, Wu Shi did not brake at the last second, because the section between turn three and turn four would be the slowest, and it was better to get out of there as soon as possible.
As he rounded turn three, he quickly aligned the front of the car with the apex of turn four.
Buzz! Roar!
The engine roared, and the gears clicked as it shifted up.
The race car sped towards the center of the straight at Turn 4 and Turn 5, which was closer to Turn 5. Here, the race car suddenly downshifted to slow down.
The vehicle, which was extremely oversteerable, was brought to the apex of Turn 5 by Wu Shi's precise steering.
This approach is equivalent to completely ignoring Turn 5!
But if someone else were to do it, it would definitely result in a significant loss of speed, because no one could have steadily turned the car around from the position Wu Shi had just been in.
Even Wu Shi achieved this only when he was completely unleashed, extremely focused, and had his control pushed to the limit.
The reason for this risky maneuver was simply to ensure that the race car's entry and exit times for Turns 4 and 5 were the same as normal.
So what do you get in return for doing this?
Of course, this is so that we can keep accelerating from this point onwards.
A longer acceleration distance means a higher top speed, and a longer straight-line distance means that you can maintain a higher speed to travel a longer distance.
This will buy us more time!
Buzzing and hissing!
The engine roared to life, propelling the vehicle rapidly toward the apex of Turn 5.
Click click click!
After going over the curb, the rear wheel slipped slightly, but it regained traction completely with a slight increase in throttle!
Whoosh!
The car had already reached top speed less than halfway down the straight, which would give it a 1.2 point advantage!
Whoosh! Crack crack crack~!
Before turn six, downshift to slow down, then accelerate.
"In the first timeout, he was already 0.3 points faster than his own fastest lap."
"He won't be a second faster again, will he?"
"F3, pole position with a one-second lead? Are you kidding me?!"
Inside the convoy, the crew members dared not speak.
The commentator glanced at the data and immediately noticed it, shouting, "Wu's running style is vastly different from before! He, he's faster in the first timing segment! And much faster!"
"Do you all remember? His fastest lap before was 1:51.333, which was close to pole position. And now! He's still sprinting! Is he going to etch his record onto this track forever?!"