Chapter 266: Hurricane
Daniil Kvyat received a fair amount of welcome at home, but it wasn't as lively as imagined.
After a series of tedious procedures, the formation lap officially began at 2 PM.
After cruising around the entire lap, Lewis Hamilton almost came to a complete stop before the final Turn 18.
It wasn't that he wanted to cause trouble; it was because Nico Rosberg was barely moving forward.
This caused a significant delay, and it wasn't until both Manor drivers had reached the back of the pack that Rosberg finally sped up.
No one knew what games the two were playing, only that as a result, everyone's tyres had cooled down.
For the last stretch, Hamilton didn't suddenly accelerate and then brake sharply to increase tyre and brake temperature; he just slowly crept forward as if driving in a residential area.
Rosberg naturally couldn't slow down the pack any further.
Even Wu Shi couldn't hold back and slow down the cars.
All cars reached their grid positions at a steady speed.
The top 13 drivers all started on supersoft tyres.
The five red lights illuminated and then extinguished, and the race began.
The pace of the front three was surprisingly consistent; even Rosberg, who usually made mistakes at the start, was perfect today.
The camera lingered on the front three cars for only a moment before focusing on the competition at the back.
Kimi Räikkönen shot up at the start, overtaking his teammate.
However, further back, Nico Hülkenberg spun out of control in Turn 2, Max Verstappen narrowly avoided him, but Marcus Ericsson couldn't.
With a bang, they collided, immediately triggering a yellow flag, and moments later, the safety car was deployed.
No one expected the safety car to come out so early.
It wasn't until Lap 4 that the race restarted, and the front positions remained unchanged.
Hamilton wanted to pull away quickly, but Rosberg was close behind, only 0.3 seconds apart, which was a very dangerous gap.
However, an incident occurred even earlier than an overtake; on Lap 7, Rosberg's car suddenly slowed down.
"Throttle, there's a problem with the throttle."
Rosberg reported the situation over the crackling team radio.
Mercedes even had him try to change settings, but this was essentially a futile effort.
Finally, after just seven laps – with the safety car out for three of those – Rosberg retired due to a mechanical failure.
Wu Shi moved into second place, just over 2 seconds behind Hamilton.
"The speed difference between the two this race isn't as significant as before," David Croft commented.
"But overtaking in dirty air is still difficult, especially with Williams Racing's more challenging tyre management."
Not long after they finished speaking, on Lap 12, Romain Grosjean crashed into the barrier with a "bang," triggering another safety car!
However, because it was only Lap 12 and everyone's basic strategy was a one-stop, no one in the front chose to change tyres.
The safety car withdrew on Lap 15, and after the race restarted, Wu Shi and Hamilton's speeds were slightly different –
This didn't allow Wu Shi to catch Hamilton; instead, it slightly exacerbated his tyre wear.
So, after Lap 25, Wu Shi was still trailing by over 3 seconds.
Rodrigo wasn't worried about the one-stop strategy.
He believed that as soon as Wu Shi pitted, Hamilton wouldn't dare to stay out on the track for too long.
Sure enough, when the one-stop window arrived on Lap 30, Wu Shi pitted.
And Mercedes, without any hesitation, also called Hamilton in, pitting on the next lap.
No incidents occurred during this time, and Hamilton emerged still about 1 second ahead of Wu Shi.
Entering cruise mode, Hamilton drove steadily, making no rookie mistakes, so Wu Shi naturally found it difficult to find an opportunity to attack.
After reappearing, both drivers' lap times generally remained around 1 minute 41 seconds.
By Lap 40-something, Hamilton set the fastest lap, 1 minute 40.573 seconds.
This lap time was much faster than Wu Shi's, and Rodrigo knew that Hamilton was making a statement.
'The statement is effective.'
He sighed inwardly; the tyre wear difference existed, leading to a lower theoretical probability of overtaking on track as the race progressed.
There was nothing to be done. When the drivers' tyre management couldn't create a gap, it came down to the car's performance.
"Mercedes and Hamilton have both become much more composed compared to before the summer break; they are no longer taking any risks and are minimizing the occurrence of rookie mistakes as much as possible."
By the final lap of the race, the outcome was largely decided, David concluded.
Hamilton once again crossed the chequered flag first, then swayed his car left and right, showing his excitement at winning.
When Wu Shi crossed the line, his mindset had already calmed down.
The 15th Russian Grand Prix concluded, and Hamilton once again closed the gap by 7 points.
Wu Shi's lead in points was reduced to 15 points.
As the United States Grand Prix approached on October 25th, Sky Sports released a prediction report on the race results.
Several veteran commentators offered their opinions.
Most believed that with Hamilton maintaining stability, it would be difficult for Wu Shi to avoid being overtaken.
However, some also believed that maintaining a perfect record or being flawless in the remaining races was a very high-pressure situation, making unexpected events very likely.
It was also mentioned that during the Russian Grand Prix, Williams Racing's speed seemed to have increased, and Williams Racing was still continuing to improve the FW37, meaning Mercedes would face an even greater challenge.
While the media discussed passionately, Williams Racing internally had to remain calm and collected.
In the Russian Grand Prix, Wu Shi was at one point very close to Hamilton.
But when Mercedes began to treat Williams Racing as a serious competitor, Williams Racing immediately found that analysing Mercedes' data became difficult.
Just like the deliberate concealment of data during practice sessions, in the main race, the leading team also has the right to reserve some of its capabilities.
Therefore, Williams Racing couldn't determine the reason Mercedes was caught up to in the previous Grand Prix.
However, regardless of Mercedes, Williams Racing's optimisation had to continue.
After what happened at Suzuka Circuit, where a pole position start was overturned, Williams Racing's internal strategy direction was changed.
After all, if even a track like Suzuka Circuit, which is very difficult to overtake on, couldn't convert pole position into a win,
that was enough to prove that the team's development direction must be towards race balance.
And the most crucial development for the main race still had to be aerodynamic packages.
In fact, Williams Racing had been making constant adjustments and repairs.
Every feedback from Wu Shi would bring some changes, but not many of these changes actually made the car better.
Amidst the tension, the Grand Prix on October 25th was fast approaching.
Pirelli had already confirmed before the Grand Prix that its continued partnership with F1 would last until 2019.
Meanwhile, news about the acquisition of F1 brought new developments:
It was said that F1 was considering selling shares to a Chinese investment fund for negotiations and appointing Niki Lauda to replace Bernie Ecclestone as the head of FOM.
At the same time, Renault's acquisition of Lotus was still ongoing.
Red Bull still hadn't found a suitable engine supplier.
Ferrari used its last "tokens" to upgrade its engine.
Honda's engine was also constantly improving, though Fernando Alonso felt that this progress was hardly noticeable.
Before the 16th Grand Prix arrived, a huge variable emerged—
The super-strong tropical storm in North America, Patricia, evolved into the strongest hurricane in just 24 hours.
Even though it hadn't fully made landfall, it was already causing torrential rain in Texas.
Friday morning's Free Practice session was held on a wet track, and in the afternoon, torrential rain directly flooded the track, making any track testing impossible.
Saturday morning's conditions were slightly better, but by the end of the Third Free Practice session, heavy rain and strong winds had completely submerged the entire track—with standing water reaching 10 centimetres.
In such conditions, let alone driving an F1 car, any car would be useless; perhaps driving a boat would be better.
Race control had no choice but to use pumps to drain the water.
In the Pit Lane, most drivers were idle.
Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat danced in the standing water, while Jos Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Sr. competed to see who could fit into their sons' suits.
In short, under these circumstances, Saturday's qualifying session would undoubtedly be cancelled.
"The weather will be better tomorrow, but the situation is still uncertain," Jonathan told Wu Shi.
"Hmm, a wet race might even be better."
Wu Shi said.
His biggest advantage in wet races was his accurate grasp of grip, something no other driver, regardless of who they were, could achieve to his extent.
After all, the grip on a wet track changes every lap, and such subtle differences are very difficult to judge.
But he could precisely control it even as grip changed, thereby gaining more advantages.
And advantages, sometimes, can accumulate.
Saturday's qualifying session was indeed cancelled; no form of racing could take place in such weather.
Qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning at 9 AM.
However, the next day, the rain was still falling, making the track grip exceptionally complex.
Yet, qualifying couldn't be skipped, so race control opened the green light in the Pit Lane.
Not long into the first qualifying session, Carlos Sainz Jr. triggered a red flag.
The session took a full ten minutes to resume.
For most drivers, the situation was very chaotic.
Wu Shi, of course, had already darted out as soon as the Pit Lane green light opened; his results, while not overwhelmingly leading, guaranteed him a spot in Q2.
Facing special conditions like rain, Williams Racing's strategy was very simple: first aim for a basic ranking, then find ways to pursue a higher one.
So, when Q2 started, Wu Shi was still the first out, setting a time of 1 minute 56.598 seconds on intermediate tyres.
This time was too fast compared to the general 1 minute 59 seconds on track, so Wu Shi immediately returned to the pits.
After most drivers experienced slides, some finally started to clock 1 minute 57 second times.
Fernando Alonso's first flying lap was 1 minute 57.555 seconds, a time that would certainly get him into Q3, but Alonso didn't want to lose to Wu Shi in any aspect.
So he continued to push, as intermediate tyres could be used freely, but his second lap, 1 minute 56.929 seconds, was still nearly 0.4 seconds behind Wu Shi.
He prepared to recharge and then go for another flying lap, but then the rain intensified.
This rain directly interrupted Q2.
And the rain continued to fall heavier and heavier, with no signs of stopping.
The Mercedes and Williams Racing teams waited quietly; some had already realised that Q3 might not be able to proceed.
Sure enough, an hour later, according to the relevant rules, race control cancelled Q3, and the starting grid was determined by the Q2 times.
"Excellent!"
Jonathan's face lit up with joy as he handed Wu Shi the final starting grid results:
"Lewis, he's starting behind Rosberg, which is good news for you."
The two Ferraris, due to grid penalties, moved to sixth and ninth.
So, the fourth and fifth positions were taken by the two Red Bulls.
Wu Shi nodded, but still said, "Rosberg will offer almost no obstruction to Lewis."
"Better than nothing," Jonathan smiled.
In fact, Rosberg's form this year was indeed terribly poor.
He had squandered opportunities countless times with starting errors.
No one knew what caused this situation, as most people were too far removed from the drivers to understand Rosberg's current mental state.
And even more people couldn't connect a driver's mindset with their performance; they would scoff when professional drivers made rookie mistakes, believing they could do just as well themselves.
But under high-pressure conditions and with information overload, people are very prone to making mistakes.
Otherwise, why would acting calmly be considered such an excellent ability?
By the time of the main race in the afternoon, the rain had finally stopped affecting the track.
In fact, the heavy rain had subsided not long after qualifying ended.
By the time the main race was about to begin, the rain had even slowly stopped.
However, a very large area of the track remained wet and slippery, and no one knew when the heavy rain would return.
So no one dared to risk a dry tyre start and gamble on the weather.
Before getting into the car, Wu Shi looked towards Hamilton behind him.
The World Champion was already seated in his cockpit, putting on his gloves.
He then turned to look at Rosberg on the other side, who was communicating with his Race Engineer.
Subsequently, Wu Shi settled into his cockpit, and Jonathan, crouching down, spoke beside him:
"Do you remember the key to this race?"
Wu Shi nodded and said, "I know, I remember all the buttons, and I'll press them when I feel it's appropriate."
The formation lap began, and one F1 car after another started, kicking up standing water and creating plumes of spray that obscured vision.
On intermediate tyres, the formation lap was more like the formation lap in karting, primarily used to complete the car's start check and confirm positions.
Wu Shi didn't delay, parking his car in the first starting slot on the right side of the track.
As the tyres made contact with the wet ground, he felt a slight chill.
Car after car took their grid positions, and the roaring engine sounds grew louder and sharper.
With all cars in place, the five red lights above them illuminated one after another.
Wu Shi stared intently, his hands involuntarily gripping tighter and tighter.
Suddenly, the red lights extinguished.
Roar!
Wu Shi reacted instantly, releasing the clutch, and the engine unleashed its maximum torque in the optimal RPM range.
However, the grip of intermediate tyres was much lower than dry tyres, making throttle control crucially important.
Wu Shi's entire focus was on the balance of rear-wheel grip and torque.
From a high-angle view, Wu Shi's start immediately put him a class above Rosberg.
Before entering Turn 1, he encountered no obstruction whatsoever and could enter the corner calmly—this was the first time all season!
Rosberg's start was slightly slower again.
This brief lag allowed Hamilton, who had moved to the inside line, to catch up.
By Turn 1, the two Mercedes cars were side-by-side.
Hamilton allowed his entire car to press against Rosberg, squeezing him with an incredibly aggressive manoeuvre.
Rosberg actually yielded, running completely off the track.
By the time he drove back onto the track, the two Red Bulls behind him had already caught up!
"This must trigger an investigation! How can he drive like that!"
The commentator immediately jumped up upon seeing it.
"Generally, the FIA doesn't usually penalise such internal team actions," another commentator said.
"Rosberg is too weak! Don't give up the position! Let's see if Hamilton dares to crash into him!" The first commentator continued to express his dissatisfaction.
No sooner had he spoken than the first timing sector went yellow, indicating a chaotic accident at the back of the pack.