Chapter 166: YES! Twenty-Three More Laps!
Rosberg felt tormented.
When the Mercedes team switched him to medium tires, it felt as though they had already given up a key option.
Mercedes was undoubtedly faster than Williams. In high-speed corners, low-speed corners—everywhere—the silver cars held a clear advantage.
But that comparison only held true under the same tire conditions.
Right now, Wu Shi's Williams, running on soft tires, was consistently circulating at around 1 minute 32 seconds per lap.
That pace was nearly a full second slower than Hamilton on fresh softs, but still almost half a second quicker than Rosberg on mediums.
If the gap was only half a second per lap, then over the remaining thirty-four laps the difference would amount to just seventeen seconds—nowhere near enough to open a pit-stop window.
And that was before considering one crucial factor.
Rosberg's medium tires had already completed thirteen laps.
Their performance still looked acceptable for now—but what about after another twenty laps?
Just as the Mercedes strategy team hesitated, Jonathan from Williams spoke on the radio:
Jonathan (via TR): "The tires look good. You can push harder."
Wu Shi: "Copy."
Wu Shi did the math in his head.
It was lap twenty-five. This set of soft tires had already run eleven laps and still felt excellent.
Just by observing Hamilton, he knew that under ideal conditions, soft tires could last at least twenty-five laps. After all, Hamilton's set had already been heavily worn once during Q2.
Even if the Williams was harsher on its tires, twenty laps would still be manageable.
That meant the next pit stop would come around lap thirty-five, followed by a final stint on new medium tires all the way to the finish.
Seen this way, Jonathan's instruction made perfect sense.
The tire life was far exceeding expectations, and Wu Shi needed to stretch the gap to Rosberg as much as possible.
Even if he couldn't fully open a pit window, he could still attack later on fresh rubber.
New white tires versus old white tires—just the thought sounded like a story waiting to be told.
"Oh! Wu Shi's lap times look very strong. Rosberg still can't close the gap on those white tires," Brother Bing commented.
"Yes, today's lower temperatures seem perfect for tire management," Brother Fei added. "So… does this mean Wu Shi can lock in second place?"
"That depends on Mercedes' next move," Brother Bing replied seriously. "If Rosberg stops again, he might still catch him."
"Hahaha!" Brother Fei suddenly burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Brother Bing asked with a grin.
"It just feels surreal," Brother Fei said. "Mercedes actually has to worry about chasing a Williams—and that Williams is driven by a Chinese F1 driver."
"Absolutely," Brother Bing agreed enthusiastically. "Even if Wu Shi retired right now, he'd already be the hottest prospect on the grid."
"He's averaging about 0.6 seconds per lap faster than Massa, and that's no small feat. Massa isn't a pay driver, after all."
Brother Fei shook his head.
"Years of watching F1 have completely warped my worldview. I honestly don't understand how he preserves his tires and maintains this pace."
Just then, Mercedes' radio message appeared on the broadcast feed.
Mercedes (via TR): "Your pace isn't enough."
Hamilton (via TR): "Yeah, the tires are degrading very quickly now."
The simultaneous interpreter relayed the exchange immediately.
Brother Bing glanced at the timing screen and exclaimed, "Wu Shi just did a 1:32.135! Hamilton dropped to 1:33.011!"
"It looks like Hamilton's coming in," Brother Fei said.
Moments later, Mercedes called Hamilton into the pit lane.
This stop had little to do with anyone else on track. Hamilton had already built a lead of more than thirty seconds during the opening stint.
"Mercedes' car is still unbelievably quick this year," Brother Bing said.
"But based on Australia alone, it's hard to tell whether it's Hamilton who's fast—or the Mercedes itself," Brother Fei joked.
"Hahaha, don't be too harsh on Rosberg. He fought Hamilton all the way to the final race last year," Brother Bing replied.
"If Hamilton messes up the pit stop, does Wu Shi have a chance?" Brother Fei joked, half-dreaming.
"That's impossible," Brother Bing said, eyes fixed on the pit-lane camera. "The gap's just too big."
This time, even Six-Star Dairy seemed short on milk—there was no instant delivery. Hamilton's stop was slightly slow at 3.3 seconds, but it made no real difference.
While the domestic commentary focused on strategy, the official broadcast latched onto history.
David's voice rose with excitement:
"Hamilton has pitted! And this stop has indirectly created a new—almost unbreakable—Formula 1 record!"
"This record doesn't belong to Hamilton… it belongs to Wu Shi, China's Formula 1 driver!"
"At 16 years and 102 days old, Wu Shi has led a Grand Prix! He is now the youngest race leader in F1 history!"
Out on track, Wu Shi barely cared.
By the time he crossed the start-finish line, Hamilton was already exiting the pit lane on the opposite side of the circuit.
There was still a seven-second gap between them.
On lap twenty-six, Hamilton's new medium tires weren't fully up to temperature, and his lap time was only 1:33.751.
But on lap twenty-seven, his pace suddenly jumped—1:32.123.
Wu Shi's soft tires were entering the latter half of their peak performance window and would begin degrading soon.
Jonathan (via TR): "Looks like they're going for a one-stop."
Wu Shi glanced at his mirrors.
Car No. 6—the Mercedes—was far behind now, nearly five seconds back. Rosberg clearly hadn't been pushing; he was conserving his tires.
Wu Shi (via TR): "If he's saving, I can't save."
He reached for the engine mode selector on the steering wheel and dialed it up slightly.
Today's fight had already shown him exactly how far Mercedes was ahead of Williams.
This situation only existed because Rosberg had made two mistakes.
The first was overworking his tires during their battle—caused by his impatience.
If Rosberg had chosen to slowly wear Wu Shi down instead of forcing the issue, the Williams tires would have degraded far faster, and Wu Shi would have had no choice but to yield.
But Rosberg had wanted to pass quickly to fight Hamilton for the lead. Without hindsight, no one could have predicted Wu Shi's defensive strength.
The second mistake was the team's tire decision—a chain reaction from the first.
Even on new mediums, Rosberg could have chased effectively, but he lost precious time when he got stuck behind Pan Zi for nearly a lap and a half.
Even a "Martian car" could stumble in a race this complex.
Wu Shi continued lapping in the 1:32.1 range, accelerating tire wear but also stretching the gap.
Jonathan stopped watching Wu Shi and focused entirely on Rosberg.
If this trend continued, by lap thirty-five the gap would be seven to eight seconds.
Wu Shi would rejoin on fresh mediums ahead of Vettel—and then unleash everything he had in pursuit of Rosberg.
On lap thirty-three, Rosberg was still driving conservatively. The gap had grown to 7.361 seconds.
When Wu Shi pushed again, his pace shocked even Mercedes' strategy team.
It looked as though he was driving another Mercedes altogether.
That same lap, Verstappen's engine let out a plume of smoke. The Toro Rosso rolled to a stop on the grass, triggering a brief red flag.
The camera cut to Jos Verstappen in the Toro Rosso garage, the former F1 driver wearing a deeply disappointed expression.
On lap thirty-four, the gap stretched to 7.935 seconds.
Jonathan (via TR): "Push as hard as you can."
Wu Shi: "Understood."
Williams' radio had barely gone quiet when Mercedes' crackled to life.
Mercedes (via TR): "Push a little."
Rosberg (via TR): "How many laps left?"
Mercedes (via TR): "Twenty-three laps."
Rosberg shouted back:
"YES! Twenty-three more laps!"
The lap counter was right there on his steering wheel—of course he knew how many laps remained.
What he was really asking was this:
With twenty-three laps still to go, how could the team dare tell him to push on these worn-out tires?
If he had switched to softs, would he really be in such a passive position now?!