Chapter 254: Engine Failure
After the Qualifying session, Wu Shi, guided by Gianfranco, said some diplomatic words during the interview.
However, everyone's focus at this time was still on Rosberg.
The German driver's setback was once again brought to the forefront.
This time, he not only lagged behind his teammate but also behind the other four drivers.
Facing sharp questions from reporters, Rosberg seemed to complain, saying he was using an "old" engine."
A reporter then asked Toto about the situation, and Toto stated that it was fair internally, but he did not deny that Rosberg's engine had some issues.
Wu Shi, with his good results, was naturally in a good mood.
Mainly, after seeing Hamilton's lap time, he had no more aspirations.
He knew that in the race, the only thing he had to do was wait for an opportunity.
If there was no opportunity, then he wouldn't worry about it; he would just have a good meal with Louise first—
The nutritious meals prepared by Ken Ruiz were not very tasty.
Louise, however, was not picky at all.
"Do you usually eat these?"
"Yes, for my health," Wu Shi nodded helplessly.
He was too young, so the pit crew was very strict about his diet.
Unlike Uncle Massa, who no longer needed a nutritionist.
"Oh, then after the race, can we go eat something good?"
Louise scooped a spoonful of the mushy main course.
"Sure! If it's not good, you don't have to eat it, and you don't have to train for these," Wu Shi said with a smile.
"I just want to experience your daily life," Louise shook her head and smiled.
Wu Shi didn't say much more; the two finished their meal simply and strolled around the Monza Circuit.
Unexpectedly, they kept encountering fans who came up for autographs.
"Your popularity in China is really high."
Louise smiled, took off her baseball cap, and said, "Will you sign it for me too?"
"Of course, no problem. Everyone else writes in cursive; I'll sign it in regular script for you," Wu Shi said.
Though he said regular script, what he actually signed in the end was still connected strokes.
After all, for someone who hasn't seriously practised calligraphy, writing in regular script would be truly uncomplimentary.
Connected strokes, on the other hand, whether you call it a casual style or not, at least look decent.
"Great!"
Louise held her hat, and even she could read the two characters "Wu Shi" on it.
"Hey! Is that Wu Shi? Oh! What a coincidence, could you sign an autograph for me? I've been watching your races since your karting days!"
At this moment, someone else shouted.
Wu Shi nodded, not refusing.
Then the person handed him a Scuderia Ferrari baseball cap.
"Are you sure on this?" Wu Shi asked.
"Of course!"
"Alright."
Wu Shi felt like he was "NTRing," but Scuderia Ferrari certainly wouldn't mind~
He strolled with Louise, but there wasn't much leisurely time.
Ultimately, it was race week, and everyone wandering nearby was a fan.
There was still a race tomorrow, so the two returned to the hotel early.
The next day, before the race, in addition to the drivers' parade, the opening ceremony was also quite grand.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi personally attended, circling the starting grid before the race began.
During the national anthem, Matteo Renzi listened alongside Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone.
Presumably, he was expressing goodwill to the media and the FIA to respond to the dispute between the Monza Circuit and the F1 president.
The political implications released were very clear: the Italian government did not want the Monza Circuit to withdraw from the F1 calendar.
As the Italian national anthem played, tricolour flags flew over the racetrack.
Wu Shi stood behind these important figures, listening to the Italian national anthem and watching the helicopters fly by.
Finally, these important figures, accompanied by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne (Scuderia Ferrari belonged to the Fiat Group at the time), went to the Scuderia Ferrari pit lane to watch the race.
Wu Shi returned to the pit lane, and Louise helped him zip up his racing suit.
"Go for it!"
"Mhm."
Wu Shi gave a thumbs up.
There were no incidents during the reconnaissance lap and the formation lap, which made Wu Shi a bit unaccustomed.
It was just that the Renault engine and Honda engine had been causing so much trouble recently, he always felt something should happen before the race.
After parking in the starting position, Wu Shi noticed Hamilton in front of him looking at him in the rearview mirror.
He gave a thumbs up towards him.
The broadcast camera captured this scene.
Brother Bing immediately laughed and couldn't help but tease:
"Wu Shi, is he encouraging Hamilton? Or putting pressure on Hamilton?"
"This is an international friendly gesture, so of course he's encouraging Hamilton," Brother Fei interjected.
At this moment, the last car was in position, and the safety car moved to the end.
The red lights above lit up one by one.
Five red lights went out!
The 2015 Italian Grand Prix officially began!
"Oh, Hamilton had a good start this time, and it looks like Wu Shi's start was even better, but there isn't a huge difference.
"Hey! What's up with Räikkönen?!"
The commentator had only spoken a few sentences when he saw a Scuderia Ferrari, starting from the second row, stopped motionless on the track.
It took about two full seconds before the Iceman's car started to move.
Indeed, without the guidance of an engineer at the start, everyone always encounters some unexpected issues.
Räikkönen was quickly overtaken by the cars behind him, immediately dropping to 14th place.
Perhaps learning from the last lesson, most drivers had decent starts.
1st and 2nd places were still occupied by Hamilton and Wu Shi.
Vettel was in third, followed by Massa, Pérez, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, Ericsson, and Button.
Before they even started to really race, Nasr's tyre began to leak.
Jonathan immediately checked Wu Shi's tyre pressure data, and everything was normal.
However, given that other cars had problems, he still specifically made tyre pressure a key focus.
Bottas encountered some issues at the start, driving directly into the grass, most likely leading to retirement.
On the second lap, Grosjean also stopped his car on the grass; his rear suspension was damaged in a collision with Nasr.
It turned out that Nasr's tyre leak was caused by a collision.
Since Rosberg was still stuck in the pack behind, and Hamilton's cruising lap time was very fast, he pulled away from Wu Shi by 1.9 seconds on just the third lap.
So Wu Shi immediately relaxed; he couldn't catch up to the front, and no one behind could catch up to him, so he just cruised!
And before cruising, he still pushed a little, pulling Vettel behind him more than 1 second away.
Vettel's desire to attack was very strong, and he also increased his speed considerably.
This forced him to maintain his speed.
Wu Shi estimated that Scuderia Ferrari was probably pressuring Vettel in the pit wall meeting.
After all, it was their home Grand Prix, and Scuderia Ferrari was very concerned about their reputation—they seemed to only care about that.
By the 5th lap, Wu Shi had been pulled 3 seconds behind, while the gap to Vettel remained stable at 1.5 seconds.
Massa behind had closed in on Vettel a bit, only 2.4 seconds behind.
Rosberg, true to his 'rocket car' reputation, cut through the field like butter, eventually overtaking Pérez and moving behind Massa.
The Williams Racing Team naturally issued instructions to Massa: when Rosberg caught up, he must defend aggressively against him.
However, there was no need to worry for now, as the gap between the two was still over three seconds.
Räikkönen, who had fallen behind, was also constantly overtaking; he needed to find a way to get back to the front to make up for his mistake at the start.
On lap 8, Hamilton consistently pulled away from Wu Shi by 0.5 seconds per lap.
Vettel, meanwhile, maintained a relatively static position with Wu Shi.
Massa behind had been pulled away some distance, but Rosberg was very strange, failing to catch up to Massa for a long time.
This seemed to indicate that Rosberg was not so adept at this circuit.
Otherwise, what he complained about earlier was true, and his engine had some issues.
As the race situation gradually stabilised, everyone realised that changes in the front positions would have to wait until the first pit stop.
Wu Shi was pulled far away by Hamilton, making it difficult for spectators to see a 'brave fighting the dragon' scenario.
And by lap 12, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team told Rosberg that he needed to pay more attention to his brakes because they were overheating.
This was a very strange occurrence; at the beginning of the season, Rosberg also experienced brake overheating.
Whether it was due to different car configurations or Rosberg's driving style that led to this result, people didn't know; only Mercedes knew.
By lap 14, Rosberg tried to attack Massa but was aggressively blocked by Massa.
Rosberg once again lost his chance to attack.
On lap 18, Hülkenberg switched to soft tyres.
On lap 19, Rosberg immediately pitted and switched to medium tyres, emerging in 9th place.
Rosberg's tyre change immediately drew attention from the front runners.
However, Williams's strategy group considered that Rosberg had been in the pack for a long time and had attacked Massa multiple times, which surely consumed more tyres.
Meanwhile, the few drivers cruising at the front were separated by several seconds.
Specifically, the gap between Hamilton and Wu Shi had now widened to a full 10 seconds.
The air in front of Wu Shi was very clean; he was essentially leading in second place.
Unaffected by dirty air, his tyre condition naturally remained excellent.
Massa, however, needed to consider this issue, and the strategy group quickly provided an answer: pit next lap.
However, Rosberg's out-lap speed was good, and by the time Massa came out after a 3.6-second tyre change, he had been directly undercut.
"Rosberg has now overtaken Massa."
Jonathan relayed this news to Wu Shi, the meaning clear: Massa might not be able to help him much in the rest of the race.
"Copy. What's our pit stop strategy?"
"We need to keep an eye on Lewis and Sebastian," Jonathan said.
After he finished speaking, it wasn't until lap 26 that Scuderia Ferrari made a move.
The Williams Racing pit crew immediately recalled Wu Shi after noticing Scuderia Ferrari preparing for a tyre change.
In fact, this set of old soft tyres had already run for over twenty laps, and it was long overdue for a change.
So Williams didn't care if Scuderia Ferrari was attempting pit stop deception; they immediately issued the command.
Wu Shi turned into the pit lane at the end of lap 26, with Vettel, 2.6 seconds behind him, following closely.
Clearly, Scuderia Ferrari wasn't playing a telecommunications scam; it was indeed time for Vettel to change tyres.
Jonathan knew this tyre change was crucial, so he stepped out of the P-room and watched the pit stop crew.
Claire was also a bit worried, but as the Deputy Team Principal, she didn't go out to watch them.
She was also afraid of putting too much pressure on them, which might lead to a pit stop error.
Louise was even less likely to be allowed to go out and watch, so she could only watch from the P-room.
Screech!
Wu Shi's stopping was always like this: extremely accurate and swift; he always managed to stop in the box at the last moment.
If one had studied Wu Shi's pit stops, they would find that he always saved more time compared to other drivers.
After all, different drivers have different levels of speed control from the pit lane entrance to the speed limit line.
Wu Shi always managed to push the limits to maintain speed over this distance, then immediately limit speed after entering the speed limit zone.
This itself is also a difference in driver ability.
Thump!
For the pit crew, who underwent tyre change training every day, changing tyres had become an instinct.
2.9 seconds!
Such training indeed had an effect; this tyre change was completed within three seconds.
After seeing this, Claire glanced at Massa's pit crew.
The mechanics, sitting under the TV with their helmets on, felt a slight chill down their spines.
Wu Shi drove out steadily, with no tail-whip, no dramatic movements.
Because even if Vettel, who came in later, had a tyre change time of only 2.4 seconds, it still couldn't pose a threat to Wu Shi.
The two of them emerged from the pit lane, their positions unchanged; they were still second and third, respectively.
In the previous twenty-odd laps, the three drivers had already opened up a sufficient gap.
This was also why they were able to make a set of soft tyres last for twenty-five or twenty-six laps before choosing to change them.
On lap 27, Hamilton also chose to pit.
Because the gap was large enough, there was no need to worry about Wu Shi's undercut.
If Wu Shi could catch up by 10 seconds in one lap, then the concern would probably be whether there was something wrong with the Williams car.
Hamilton remained steadily in 1st place, rendering all of Williams's previous strategies useless.
However, for Williams, securing Wu Shi's second place was also a pretty good result.
The race at the front then entered a dull period.
Rosberg was still relentlessly chasing Vettel.
However, he pitted earlier, and as his tyres wore down, it would probably be harder to catch and overtake Vettel.
By lap 38, Wu Shi encountered Nasr, who failed to yield to the blue flag.
This caused the gap between him and Vettel to momentarily narrow to just over a second.
After he finally passed Nasr, he complained on the radio about the driver's actions.
Jonathan didn't offer comfort; after waiting for half a minute, he finally said:
"He treated everyone equally; he also held up Sebastian for half a lap."
Brother Bing heard Williams's radio and laughed:
"I wonder what Nasr was doing? Did he want to experience blocking the front-row drivers?"
"Blocking two people in a row, he's probably going to face some penalties," Brother Fei also found it amusing.
By lap 45, Rosberg was still chasing Vettel, now just within the three-second range.
With the race ending on lap 53, it was highly unlikely he would catch up.
On lap 47, the gap between Vettel and Rosberg narrowed to less than two seconds.
At this moment, Bono suddenly told Hamilton to speed up.
"What does this team order mean? Hamilton is leading Wu Shi by at least 20-plus seconds, isn't he? Why is the team still telling him to speed up? To test the car's limits?"
Brother Bing heard this radio message and rattled off a string of questions.
This time, even Brother Fei didn't know what to say.
A lap later, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race with a 1 minute 26.672 seconds.
"Oh! It's for the fastest lap!" Brother Bing clapped his hands.
"I feel the objective is definitely not that simple; perhaps they are testing the improved engine."
"Testing in a Grand Prix? That's something else."
Nevertheless, as the race entered its final few laps, the positions at the front had completely lost any excitement.
Then, on lap 50, the broadcast camera suddenly focused on Rosberg.
Thick smoke was billowing from the rear of the Mercedes.
"Oh no! Rosberg's engine is broken!" Brother Bing exclaimed.
"You were right; they've got something going on," Brother Fei laughed.
"They wouldn't really be testing the engine, would they?"
Brother Bing was surprised, shaking his head repeatedly; it had just been a joke.
Sizzle!
However, the broadcast immediately showed Mercedes's radio message to Hamilton.
"Lewis, slow down, we need to protect the engine."
"Hahahahaha," Brother Fei chuckled.
Neither of them had expected Mercedes's engine to have stability issues in its first race after the update.
And before the stability issues emerged, Mercedes seemed very confident in their engine.
Rosberg retired from the race.
This essentially marked his withdrawal from this year's championship contention.
On lap 53, this somewhat dull race concluded.
Hamilton took his second consecutive victory, and Wu Shi his second consecutive runner-up finish.
The race seemed to be unfolding exactly as Mercedes had envisioned.
However, the story after the race was even more exciting than the Grand Prix itself.
Wu Shi had just parked his car when he saw a group of people in red clothes rushing about chaotically.
"Oh! The terrifying tifosi!" Wu Shi exclaimed.
Vettel, as a four-time World Champion, naturally drew attention.
Most importantly, Vettel was essentially Schumacher's spiritual successor at Scuderia Ferrari.
So these tifosi, replicating the commotion of 1996, swarmed onto the track to celebrate Vettel's podium finish.
"It is a bit terrifying," Hamilton said with a laugh from the side.
"Let's hide quickly."
After hugging his team members, Wu Shi turned and ran.
"I didn't expect Nico to retire in the end. I was startled when I heard from Bono that his engine had problems."
Hamilton walked with him towards the lounge.
"What a coincidence!" Wu Shi responded with a laugh, "When I heard that news, I immediately felt a strong sense of anticipation!"
"Hahahahaha, that's a bit of a shame then, I finished the race."
Hamilton patted Wu Shi's helmet, laughing heartily.
Seeing the interaction between the champion and runner-up in the camera, David felt a bit emotional:
"It's rare in F1 history to see drivers contending for the World Championship get along so harmoniously."
"Perhaps this is due to similarities between Lewis and Wu Shi; they are both 'outsiders' in F1 racing."
"The price they have to pay to survive in the paddock is far greater than that of normal drivers."
As a veteran of the paddock, David knew that Hamilton encountered many problems when he first joined.
He had poor relationships with almost everyone in the paddock, which was naturally influenced by his driving personality and his race.
Hamilton had revealed on more than one occasion that he was often bullied by other children, whether in lower-level karting events or Formula series.
At that time, Rosberg was his only friend, but unfortunately, now...
Hamilton and Wu Shi, both wearing white-based team uniforms, walked arm-in-arm down the corridor.
Click!
The reporter saw this scene and pressed the shutter.