Chapter 175: First Encounter with the Power of the Curse
"The starts today were very clean across the field! Wu Shi defended the lead perfectly! Hamilton tried into Turn 1, but after realizing there was no space, he immediately backed out of the move."
In the Six Star Sports studio, Brother Bing's voice was full of excitement.
"It looks like after his teammate's bad luck in the last race, Hamilton has decided that forcing an overtake on Wu Shi right now just isn't worth it. He's probably waiting for DRS and planning to rely on straight-line performance for a clean pass," Brother Bing analyzed.
Brother Fei immediately added, "Or maybe Hamilton isn't in a rush because Rosberg is right behind him. He doesn't want to get into a fight with Wu Shi and then leave himself vulnerable."
Brother Bing paused, then laughed. "Haha, that's also possible. If Rosberg were ahead of him, Hamilton's attack probably wouldn't be this restrained."
Their speculation was actually very close to the truth.
Hamilton knew exactly what he needed to do.
Burning through his tires to force an overtake on Wu Shi wouldn't bring him much benefit. What he really needed to manage was the pressure from behind.
No one believed Williams had the long-term pace to challenge for the World Drivers' Championship, so Wu Shi's threat level in Hamilton's eyes was naturally limited.
And that was indeed the reality. Hamilton could comfortably keep the gap within one second. If Wu Shi picked up the pace, Hamilton could respond. If Wu Shi slowed slightly, then Vettel behind would immediately become a concern.
By Lap 3, Wu Shi was still maintaining a very stable rhythm.
At this moment, Räikkönen—who had completed nearly a full lap on a punctured tire—finally made it back to the pits for a tire change. As expected, he dropped to the very back of the field.
"What a pity for Kimi. Now he can probably only hope for a Safety Car," Brother Bing said.
"Yes, but the probability of a Safety Car in Malaysia…"
"Not high."
"Very low."
"Then he'll just have to wait for rain! Hahaha."
"Hehehe!"
The two commentators joked back and forth.
"Alright, Kimi is now running in P18."
"Then he'll be catching Alonso very soon."
"Hahaha."
Seeing two world champions fighting in the lower half of the pack was, indeed, quite entertaining.
As Lap 4 began, Wu Shi received a message from the pit wall: the gap to Hamilton was still under one second.
Once DRS was enabled, pressure would arrive immediately.
"Hey! Hey!"
Suddenly, Brother Bing shouted in surprise.
"What just happened?!"
On the broadcast, Sauber's Ericsson, car number 9, had spun at Turn 1 and slid straight into the gravel trap.
"What's going on?!"
"That's a very basic mistake!"
The studio erupted in disbelief, while on screen Ericsson's rear wheels were buried in gravel, the car stuck fast and going nowhere.
Jonathan's voice came through the radio:
Jonathan: "Ericsson is in the gravel at Turn 1, rear wheels spinning, unable to move. Safety Car deployed. Recovery vehicle on track. Be careful."
On the very lap that DRS was about to be activated, Wu Shi heard the most beautiful words of the entire race.
He laughed over the radio.
"See? This is why you need four-wheel drive for off-road."
When his radio message was broadcast, even the official F1 commentator David chuckled.
"You can tell Wu Shi has been under pressure, but his mindset looks very relaxed now."
With the Safety Car out, Wu Shi no longer had to face Hamilton's attacks for several laps.
But in the Williams garage, things were heating up.
Rodrigo stared intensely at the strategy screens. He had less than thirty seconds to decide whether to pit under the Safety Car.
From a pure numbers perspective, pitting now and committing to a three-stop strategy was clearly the fastest option.
But staying out and attempting a two-stop strategy was also tempting.
The Safety Car would likely last at least three laps, which meant this set of used medium tires—already run for three laps in Q2—could be stretched to around Lap 15.
But after about ten seconds of hesitation, Rodrigo made the call.
Williams' medium tires only had a competitive life of about fifteen laps. That meant a two-stop strategy would require running the final set of hard tires for roughly twenty-six laps—far from ideal.
More importantly, if Mercedes committed to three stops, they would always be attacking Wu Shi on fresher tires. That would make defending position significantly harder.
Rodrigo immediately relayed the decision to Jonathan.
"BOX, BOX."
"Copy."
Wu Shi had no objections. Under Safety Car conditions, a pit stop was effectively free time.
Because Wu Shi had built a decent gap to Massa, the team went for a double stack.
In the studio, the commentators couldn't help laughing.
"We just said Safety Cars are rare in Malaysia, and then one comes out immediately."
"This is definitely good news for Kimi!"
"What does this Safety Car mean for Wu Shi?"
"I think it's quite positive. A free pit stop. Williams had higher tire degradation than Mercedes and Ferrari in free practice."
"What compound will he switch to now?"
"If I remember correctly, he still has two new sets of mediums and two new sets of hards."
"Then there are many options. Medium–medium–hard, hard–hard–medium, or even hard–medium–medium all look viable," Brother Bing said.
"You're just doing permutations and combinations!"
"Hahaha!"
While the commentators joked, every team on the pit wall was calculating at full speed.
The medium compound degraded quickly, while the hard tire was clearly slower over a single lap.
In the end, Williams leaned toward caution and fitted hard tires first. If lap times proved acceptable, they would go with a medium–medium–hard strategy. If not, they would switch to medium–hard–hard.
Fortunately, Wu Shi had saved two new sets of both compounds for the race. Otherwise, his options would have been severely limited.
Massa's strategy was the opposite. He bolted on a fresh set of medium tires and stayed aggressive.
Wu Shi entered the pit box.
The car was lifted.
Tires off, tires on.
Jacks dropped.
2.98 seconds.
A solid stop.
As Wu Shi exited the pit lane, Jonathan spoke again.
"Vettel stayed out."
"What? He's really going for a two-stop?" Wu Shi asked.
"It looks that way," Jonathan replied.
At the same time, Vettel's radio was playing:
"Everything is looking good. Williams and Mercedes will be slowed by the cars that didn't pit. I can build a gap of about ten seconds, then box."
Jonathan listened, then turned to Rodrigo.
"Did we seriously consider this option?"
"Our medium tire degradation will be severe after fifteen laps, even for Wu Shi," Rodrigo replied.
Jonathan nodded. Strategy was always car-specific, especially when tire management was involved.
And the fact that Mercedes had chosen the same approach as Williams was enough to prove they hadn't made the wrong call.
Ferrari, who stayed out, would almost certainly lose time once they eventually pitted and would have to give up track position later in the race.
---
The so-called curse of Five Star Sports was truly on full display this weekend.
Just one lap earlier, the commentators had been sighing over Räikkönen's puncture, saying that without a Safety Car it would be almost impossible to recover—and that Safety Cars were extremely rare in Malaysia.
Then, on Lap 4, Ericsson went straight into the gravel trap at Turn 1.
How should one describe it?
This "curse"… really was a little mystical.