Chapter 257: The Four-Time Champion's Stellar Lap
Q1 arrived, and the commentators, reporters, and spectators were all ready for a good show.
In previous qualifying sessions, it was either a solo performance by the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team drivers, or a watch to see if Wu Shi could insert himself between them.
This kind of plot was essentially no different from Mercedes leading the race alone.
After all, Wu Shi almost never got pole position.
The situation in the Third Practice Session, however, revealed Mercedes' weakness at this circuit.
As for Williams encountering some problems, wasn't that normal in their eyes?
Before every qualifying session, everyone went through the same routine:
Williams encounters major problems;
Williams engineers rush to tune;
Wu Shi achieves a top-three finish in qualifying.
Everyone was already tired of it, thinking that without Mercedes this time, it wouldn't still be the same plot, right?
"Throughout the practice sessions, Mercedes has been facing issues with unstable tyre temperatures, which has indeed greatly affected their lap times."
Before Q1 began, the commentator started explaining what happened in the practice sessions to uninformed viewers.
"Actually, I'm more concerned about whether Williams' Wu Shi can still achieve a good result with Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing being so strong?"
The guest, after hearing the commentator's question, thought for a moment and said:
"From past situations, Wu Shi is capable of extracting the best performance from his car; it's highly likely he's been sandbagging."
"Similarly, Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have never been this much faster than Mercedes, and I also believe they haven't truly shown their actual speed."
"Based on various telemetry data calculations, we believe the fastest time might be around the low 1 minute 44 seconds."
After the guest finished speaking, the commentator let out an exaggerated exclamation.
"Wow! Then he's been hiding it quite deeply! In the Third Practice Session, the fastest Vettel only managed a 1 minute 45.682 seconds lap."
"That's not exactly hiding; faster teams will show results that other teams can't match in the Third Practice Session, which we often saw with Mercedes before," the guest added.
"Alright, Q1 has started, 18 minutes. Let's see the performance of each Formula 1 driver."
The first F1 drivers to emerge on track were still those unlikely to make it into Q2.
Manor Marussia F1 Team had already put Alexander in the car for this race.
A pay driver is indeed a pay driver; his performance was hard to match that of his teammate Stevens, lagging by 0.5 seconds per lap.
Of course, not many people paid attention to Manor Marussia F1 Team.
Wu Shi and Massa also came out early.
One minute later, Hamilton and Räikkönen also arrived on the track.
Not long after, Wu Shi posted a 1 minute 47.3 seconds lap, briefly taking the top spot.
Massa, however, only managed a 1 minute 48.294 seconds lap, slower than Verstappen's lap time.
Hamilton's first lap also had quite a few issues, only clocking 1 minute 48.8 seconds.
Räikkönen quickly posted a 1 minute 47.1 seconds lap, surpassing Wu Shi to take first place.
But Ricciardo then snatched the lead with a 1 minute 46.805 seconds lap.
Rosberg flew to 1 minute 47.7 seconds, ranking fourth.
The initial timing showed that none of the F1 drivers were pushing to their full potential yet.
Soon, the second flying lap began.
Alonso and Button both performed well today, having already posted times within 1 minute 46 seconds early on.
However, this time might not be enough to get into Q2.
Vettel also started his sprint, 1 minute 46.017 seconds, immediately taking the lead.
At this point, Hamilton had dropped to 14th.
In the last three minutes, Hamilton started his flying lap on supersoft tyres.
He successfully claimed first place with a time of 1 minute 45.765 seconds.
"Oh ho! Does this mean Mercedes was hiding its strength before?"
The commentator feigned surprise upon seeing this.
The guest, however, professionally stated: "A 1 minute 45 seconds lap is far from reaching the front rows of Q3."
Indeed, Kvyat quickly posted a 1 minute 45.340 seconds lap, reclaiming first place.
"It seems Red Bull Racing will be faster, there were already signs in the practice sessions," the commentator said.
"Oh, Wu Shi is actually behind Max? It seems Williams is indeed in a bit of trouble."
This time, the guest had no differing opinion, not just because of Wu Shi's time, but also because of Massa's time.
He was only in 15th place with a 1 minute 46.879 seconds lap, which was extremely close!
He almost missed out on Q2!
As a team capable of entering Q3, Williams would never allow its F1 driver to be so far behind in Q1 with such a time.
Like Hamilton, the team would rather use more supersoft tyres to get a good lap time.
Clearly, Massa's problems were more severe than Wu Shi's.
And from Massa's performance, everyone could infer that Williams's car indeed had issues at this circuit.
David, who had always supported Wu Shi, was now somewhat worried.
Once qualifying begins, car adjustments are no longer allowed. Would Williams stop at Q2 this time?
The F1 drivers eliminated in Q1 were Button, Nasr, Ericsson, Stevens, and Alexander.
"We also need to get a good time quickly in Q2," Jonathan said to Wu Shi.
"Of course, but I might need more than one flying lap; I still need to find some balance points," Wu Shi replied.
"Okay, we will arrange two flying laps," Jonathan said.
The top ten qualifiers in the main race will start on the tyres used to set their fastest lap in Q2.
This makes most F1 drivers hope to achieve a satisfactory time with just one flying lap.
But hope is one thing; when there are major issues with the car's stability, no one can consistently achieve a sufficiently excellent time.
After all, everyone only has a rough estimate of the time needed to get into Q3, and if they underperform slightly and fail to qualify, the loss would be significant.
Williams once again arranged for both F1 drivers to come out early, and Wu Shi's first flying lap produced a time of 1 minute 45.633 seconds.
In Wu Shi's opinion, this time wasn't very good, and he wanted to do another flying lap.
"Return for now, we need to observe the times of the other F1 drivers first," Jonathan instructed.
"Copy."
Wu Shi returned to the pit lane, waiting in his car.
Massa, because he flew later, encountered traffic congestion, which forced him to prepare for a few more laps on the track.
After Hamilton came out, he immediately posted a 1 minute 45.650 seconds lap on supersoft tyres, and he also returned to the pit lane immediately.
Massa's time then appeared, a clean 1 minute 45.7 seconds, and he too returned to the pit lane.
Wu Shi was still in the lead at this point, but it didn't last long.
The two Red Bull Racing F1 drivers immediately posted better times, successfully surpassing Wu Shi.
Kvyat's time was 1 minute 44.979 seconds, and Ricciardo's time was 1 minute 45.291 seconds.
The Red Bull Racing F1 drivers breaking into the 1 minute 44 seconds so easily made everyone realise Red Bull's competitiveness.
Scuderia Ferrari was even more formidable, with Vettel posting a 1 minute 44.743 seconds lap on supersoft tyres.
Räikkönen also posted a 1 minute 45.140 seconds lap.
The top four spots were all taken by Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.
Historically, these were Mercedes' exclusive territory.
When there were 5 minutes left in the session, F1 drivers with average times like Hülkenberg and Verstappen came out again.
Unexpectedly, Hamilton and Rosberg also chose to go out again.
They switched to soft tyres, seemingly to see if soft tyres would be better than supersoft tyres.
Or perhaps they wanted to collect more cruising data for race strategy deployment.
Finally, Verstappen posted a rather good time on supersoft tyres, 1 minute 45.635 seconds, just two thousandths of a second behind Wu Shi, placing him sixth.
He edged out Hamilton by 0.015 seconds.
As Hamilton and Rosberg were preparing to set their laps, Sainz's car spun, and his left front wing collided with the barrier.
This triggered a yellow flag, and he also had to retire from the session.
Q2 stopped, and Bottas, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Pérez, and Sainz were eliminated.
After Q2, everyone realised that Mercedes was indeed facing problems at this circuit.
Wu Shi and Massa were quietly waiting in their cars for Q3 to arrive.
"Massa says he feels terrible, and his time probably won't be very good," Jonathan informed Wu Shi.
"I'm not much better than him; on a track where mechanical grip is most needed, we can't control our tyre temperatures properly."
When Q3 started, 12 minutes of intense racing, few F1 drivers could sit still.
Ricciardo was the first to go out, and Räikkönen and Hamilton also came out early.
Hamilton, however, had some bad luck; he encountered a problem shortly after starting and was called back.
They said the team's technical staff had made some mistakes.
It was unclear if a wheel nut wasn't tightened, or if someone had left a rag in the car.
Vettel easily posted a 1 minute 44.305 seconds lap.
Wu Shi tried once and only managed 1 minute 45.323 seconds.
This was a full second difference.
So when the car returned to the pit lane, Jonathan immediately approached Wu Shi and said:
"Did something happen?"
"Mechanical grip is affected, the car is sliding too much, and my exit out of corners is delayed many times," Wu Shi said.
"Brake bias front increased by 3%, use the third brake migration setting."
Jonathan emphasised, then continued:
"There's a temperature anomaly; I'll remind you. This won't bother you, will it?"
"No, tell me as much as you can, and show me the brake migration settings."
Wu Shi said.
"Okay, it's already projected onto your screen," Jonathan said.
Wu Shi looked at the descending curve, roughly simulating the situation in his mind.
Jonathan and his team did optimise the data, but the migration was too slow; he would still try to adjust it actively later.
"Alright, there are less than three minutes left. Lewis had to return to the pit lane earlier due to a technical issue, but it seems his problem is resolved now."
"But this also means he will only have one lap. Can he still put the Silver Arrow in first place?"
"And Wu Shi, he's 1 second behind Vettel, currently in fifth."
"Oh, he's put on new tyres, it seems he's ready to join the final battle."
"Hey, Sebastian is still going out?"
"His 1 minute 44.305 seconds time should be unassailable. It seems he wants to secure pole position more safely and challenge himself one more time!"
As the F1 drivers began their final battle, the track became crowded once again.
Hamilton started his flying lap earlier; if he had waited, any accident would have prevented him from running in Q3.
He would have ended up in tenth place, at the very back.
He certainly couldn't accept that.
The broadcast showed Hamilton's onboard camera.
Compared to last year, Hamilton was making noticeably more steering corrections.
For a top F1 driver, this usually isn't due to a decline in skill, but rather insufficient car stability, forcing them to make frequent adjustments.
Seeing Hamilton struggle, his lap time was predictable.
He finished the lap with a time of only 1 minute 45 seconds and 3 tenths.
That was a full second slower than Vettel's previous lap!
A whole second!
Clearly, even in the main race, Mercedes had no strength to compete with Scuderia Ferrari.
Next, Ricciardo began his flying lap.
He drove an extremely aggressive lap, yet he was still unable to catch up to Vettel's incredible previous time.
With 1 minute 44 seconds and 428 milliseconds, Ricciardo remained in second place.
Then came Räikkönen, driving the same car as Vettel, he actually had the potential to challenge for pole position.
However, after completing the lap, his time ultimately settled at 1 minute 44 seconds and 667 milliseconds.
This World Champion, eight years older than his teammate, was also showing a decline in form.
However, it's also possible that he hasn't been practicing seriously recently, as his talent was once renowned throughout the paddock.
Many people said that if Räikkönen could practice more seriously, he would achieve better results.
Jonathan informed Wu Shi of the situation on the track.
Currently, Wu Shi's time was behind Hamilton, placing him sixth overall.
"Track traffic is good, prepare to start your flying lap," Jonathan finally told Wu Shi.
As Wu Shi turned through Turn 22 and Turn 23, heading towards the start-finish straight, his final flying lap began!
DRS opened on the main straight, full throttle.
Before entering Turn 1, a hard brake.
The higher braking bias on the front wheels accelerated their heating, but they would quickly overheat after reaching temperature.
Furthermore, a large amount of front-wheel grip was wasted on braking, causing the car to understeer.
And just before turning, Wu Shi slid the scroll wheel with his right hand while pressing "-1" three times.
The brake balance immediately shifted to the rear wheels.
Upon entering the corner, some of the front wheels' steering feel returned, allowing Wu Shi to turn into the apex.
However, due to the understeer, he still had to push further onto the right-side kerb.
This would affect speed but allowed for better cornering, which was beneficial for the exit rhythm.
In Turn 1, the left wheel rode on the apex kerb, and the entire car vibrated a few times.
Once past the apex, he could immediately begin to accelerate.
The excellent front-wheel steering, coupled with the recently shifted brake balance that brought the rear wheel temperatures up, made the entire car feel very agile upon corner exit.
Wu Shi utilised the track to its absolute limit; this acceleration alone could compensate for many of the shortcomings during corner entry.
In the subsequent Turn 2 right-hander, Wu Shi's hands were very busy; the front tyres needed temperature.
Screech!
The entire car pressed onto the right-side kerb, the left wheels almost going beyond the white line; the car was practically riding the line at full speed.
The tyres could feel that the grip was very strange at this moment.
However, Wu Shi confirmed that the car would not lose control in the corner.
He accelerated boldly, but as soon as he left the kerb, he had to slow down, preparing to enter Turn 3.
Due to steering and tyre issues, it was impossible to fully hit the apex here.
However, his masterful control of the car's limits allowed him to brush past the right-side barrier upon corner exit.
He also bounced repeatedly on the red and white kerb, yet he didn't touch the barrier at all.
Several thrilling car controls left people almost breathless!
Turn 4 was a false corner; he just needed to keep accelerating through this section and move to the left side of the track before approaching Turn 5.
Because it was newly laid asphalt, it was still a bit slippery.
And to better enter Turn 5, a right-hander, Wu Shi positioned the car to the extreme left from the very beginning.
Brake balance and differential needed to be adjusted almost simultaneously.
The left wheel rolled over the white line and pressed onto the asphalt outside the white line; the grip had a slight difference compared to the inside of the track, but it did not affect the car's normal driving.
This leftward movement continued until the kerb appeared.
At this point, his entire car was already pressing on the double yellow line of the road and was close to the barrier again.
This was a position other F1 drivers would never enter.
But Wu Shi had felt it before and knew it was usable space.
He pressed over the kerb from the far left and returned to the track, fiercely attacking Turn 5.
Thanks to the ample space, he could finally maintain better speed through the corner.
As for the corner exit, there was no need to worry at all.
Everything was as predicted.
The car's left wheel would press onto the left-side kerb of the track, coming infinitely close to the left barrier.
The whistling wind swirled around it, and the speeding F1 car caused the barrier and wire mesh to vibrate continuously.
The camera footage also shook a few times.
"Hiss, that's too extreme!"
"It looks like he's already crashed!"
The exciting footage captured everyone's attention.
"Does this mean Wu Shi has a chance to challenge for pole position?"
"Let's look at the first sector's situation first."
In the long DRS zone, Williams's speed advantage could be exploited.
However, the cost was fluctuating tyre temperatures.
And the end of this straight was where the second timing sector began.
"Oh, oh, Wu Shi's first sector is not slower than Vettel's earlier time!
"Does Wu Shi really have the ability to make up a full second with a Williams?!"
The commentator exclaimed.
The subsequent Turns 7, 8, 9, and 10 together formed a "W" shape.
To compensate for the car's shortcomings, Wu Shi could only use more of the track space to enter and exit Turn 7.
He was reluctant to waste too much corner entry speed, so the front wheel's braking bias was adjusted rearward early on.
Screech!
Struggling against the front wheel's grip, the car slid sideways, almost causing the tyres to slightly deform under pressure.
But he finally made it through!
Before Turn 8, the track surface colour changed from light to dark, and the two different asphalt sections had varying grip levels.
Facing this situation, Wu Shi had to use more of the left-side space.
After pressing over the kerb, he needed to be extremely careful, otherwise, he would hit the left-side wall.
Then came Turn 9, and after exiting here, he had to be mindful of the right-side wall.
Through these corners, Wu Shi almost threw the tyres right up to the edge of the barrier.
Unfortunately, the director did not lock onto Wu Shi's first-person view, missing these spectacular shots.
After Turn 9, a long straight awaited.
This was still where Williams could perform.
Wu Shi could finally breathe a slight sigh of relief.
But after the straight came the challenge!
The severe braking at the end once again kept Wu Shi's hands busy.
The Williams struggled to turn left into Turn 10; there was still some sliding upon exit, clearly indicating he had carried too much speed.
In fact, the track space on the right here was very wide.
But this did not mean one could allow the car to occupy the right-side space.
Because immediately following was the updated track section for this year.
The car had to first turn left, then turn right to enter Turn 11.
If too much space was occupied to the right, it would inevitably lead to missing Turn 11.
It was precisely this difficult section that caused Wu Shi to miss noticing the earlier slide.
After passing Turn 11, he could immediately start accelerating, but before the bridge ended, he had to slow down again to enter Turn 13.
The operation here was even more awkward.
Exiting Turn 13 led to the second DRS zone, where he would directly charge towards Turn 14 and enter the third timing sector.
Whenever he entered the straight, the Williams engine roared furiously, as if trying to squeeze out every last bit of horsepower.
And approaching Turn 14, Wu Shi braked very late; it felt as if white smoke should be coming off the tyre surface, yet no large plumes of smoke appeared.
Seeing this, everyone at Williams clenched their fists.
Because in the first two timing sectors, Wu Shi was similar to Vettel's first flying lap.
If this lap was completed successfully, Wu Shi was very likely to challenge for pole position tonight.
At this moment, Vettel also began his final flying lap.
"Could there be a chance?" David said excitedly.
But after Turn 14, five right-angle corners awaited, which was a huge challenge for Williams.
Sure enough, by the time Wu Shi passed this section, he had already lost a significant amount of time.
Then, even more shocking news was that Vettel was almost 0.2 seconds faster again in the first timing sector!
Ten seconds later, Wu Shi crossed the line.
His time was set at 1 minute 44 seconds and 613 milliseconds!
He lost nearly 0.2 seconds in the final timing sector.
Everyone at Williams breathed a sigh of relief; this result was already very good.
"Oh, what a pity, the third sector was too slow!" David shook his head.
And a minute later, Vettel crossed the line again.
1 minute 43 seconds and 885 milliseconds!
This immediately ignited all the commentators!
"My goodness! What speed is that!"
"When we saw the first sector was two seconds faster, we should have realised it!"
Countless people cheered, and everyone in the Scuderia Ferrari garage literally jumped up to celebrate.
Unbelievable!
Vettel's lap was 0.543 seconds faster than Ricciardo, who was in second place!
It was 0.782 seconds faster than his teammate!
A lap of absolute speed.
When Wu Shi heard Jonathan's update during his in-lap, he was also stunned.
2015 would be Vettel's best year in the coming years.
This lap was like a king still invincible, yet also like a king's eventual curtain call.
Unfortunately, Scuderia Ferrari didn't have a good car this year; if they had the 2017 or 2018 car, Vettel might have been able to fight Mercedes.
And Wu Shi was also very fortunate that, in the next decade, this was Williams's best year.
"P3, Lewis P6, Nico P7, everything is good," Jonathan said.
"Yes, everything is good, as long as we overtake Lewis, everything will be good."
Wu Shi replied over the team radio.
As for whether Vettel would also threaten him?
Currently, he had too many debts to worry about; whoever was closer, he would deal with first!
In a street race, if he led Hamilton, he could likely stop the veteran's pursuit.
Provided everything went smoothly.