Chapter 268: Another Safety Car
"Why is he so much slower?!" The commentator was a bit confused.
"Backmarkers. While Hamilton's pace is good, he's being severely held up by backmarkers," another commentator said.
The broadcast camera switched back and forth, making some people dizzy, but it still clearly showed the situation on the track.
"After Wu Shi came out, it seems his position only dropped to second. No, Daniel Ricciardo is also pitting."
"Hmm, many drivers pitted on Lap 18. Lewis Hamilton made everyone decide to use dry tyres."
"Hamilton lost out."
The two immediately realised this.
After all, after Wu Shi came out, the road ahead was clear, with no obstructions, which meant he wouldn't be delayed like Hamilton.
On Lap 20, Wu Shi indeed set an astonishing pace of 1 minute 49.654 seconds.
This was completely the overwhelming advantage of dry tyres!
Although Hamilton was also very fast, he spun due to his battle with Daniil Kvyat, only managing a time of 1 minute 50.1 seconds.
The gap between the two continued to widen.
And when the cars ahead all pitted, Hamilton found himself not only behind Kvyat and Ricciardo but also behind Nico Rosberg.
At this point, Wu Shi led Ricciardo by 5.9 seconds, Rosberg by 6.1 seconds, Kvyat by 9.7 seconds, and Hamilton by 10.4 seconds.
However, back on dry ground, Mercedes' pace immediately started to significantly exceed Red Bull's.
So, on Lap 22, both Mercedes cars launched an attack on Red Bull.
Rosberg easily overtook Ricciardo at Turn 12, and a few seconds later, Hamilton completed his overtake on Kvyat at the same spot.
Mercedes found its speed on dry ground, and Ferrari did the same, with Sebastian Vettel rapidly closing in on Kvyat.
The two battled fiercely, but when Kvyat inadvertently ran over some wet patches, he slowed down instantly and was immediately overtaken by Vettel.
Overtakes in wet races often look so unpretentious; whoever can control their car wins—although it was already considered a dry race at this point.
"Very good, keep up the pace, you are still leading," Jonathan said.
On Lap 24, Wu Shi, in clean air, was still pushing his limits.
He set a fastest lap of 1 minute 43.953 seconds, but this fastest lap didn't last long, as everyone else on the track was also constantly setting their fastest laps.
In the same lap, Rosberg clocked 1 minute 43.534 seconds, and Hamilton 1 minute 44.815 seconds.
Hamilton, facing obstructions, was still being slowed down.
Williams Racing saw the speed difference between Wu Shi and Rosberg.
At this rate, Rosberg would catch up to Wu Shi's time difference in about ten laps.
Then, with the help of DRS, he would overtake Wu Shi.
This obvious danger, Williams Racing not only didn't warn Wu Shi about but instead told him:
"Your lap times are very good, keep it up. We want you to maintain this pace."
The team radio made the commentators pause, but David Croft quickly realised:
"This is probably a strategic deployment by Williams Racing, but what exactly is it?"
David paused, then immediately said:
"We see that Lewis's lap times are very slow; he's almost hovering between 1 minute 44 seconds and 1 minute 45 seconds. This could be because he's driving slowly, or it could be because he's conserving his tyres!"
"Williams Racing has keenly noticed Hamilton's strategy!"
"Now, for both Hamilton and Wu Shi, their only opponent is each other."
"In other words, Williams Racing doesn't care if Rosberg wins the race, as long as Wu Shi finishes ahead of Hamilton!"
This commentary enlightened the audience, as it would indeed be difficult for Wu Shi to truly block both Mercedes cars.
But they quickly had new doubts.
If Rosberg overtook and got ahead, would he block Wu Shi's car?
Wouldn't it be better if the two drivers cooperated?
And David quickly provided the answer:
"Williams Racing's decision is very bold; they don't believe Rosberg will help Lewis, and in fact, that's true."
"At Turn 1, Lewis overtook Rosberg in such a dismissive manner, Rosberg's anger had already built up inside him."
"On Lap 17, Rosberg chased Hamilton without any hesitation, just to beat Hamilton on the track."
"Clearly, even when strong team orders are given, Rosberg can still choose not to execute them perfectly."
"He can tell the team: 'Blocking Wu Shi from winning the championship is already helping Lewis, and if Lewis finishes behind Wu Shi, that's entirely Lewis's own business.'"
"Oh! Things are getting more and more exciting!"
In a flash, on Lap 26, the gap between Wu Shi and Rosberg was less than 4 seconds.
Behind them, Hamilton, although not pushing at full power, was beating the engine-lacking Red Bull like a primary school student.
Hamilton opened DRS on the semi-straight, devouring Ricciardo, whose top speed was only 303 kph, with his own 330 kph.
While they were battling, Kimi Räikkönen was watching from the side; it wasn't that he couldn't block them, but because he was a lapped car.
Kimi's pace had been very slow before, and severe brake overheating forced him to conserve.
Soon, Ferrari couldn't remotely solve the brake overheating problem, and continuing to race was pointless, so Kimi was retired.
And in the same lap Kimi retired, Marcus Ericsson's car stopped on the main straight.
"NO POWER," Ericsson said on the team radio.
Jonathan immediately frowned.
Ericsson's parking spot was right on the straight after Turn 1.
This was very dangerous!
It would most likely trigger a yellow flag or a safety car.
Indeed, a yellow flag appeared in the second timing sector.
But just five seconds later, race control announced that a safety car would be deployed!
Jonathan clenched his fist, almost slamming it on the table.
Claire Williams, who was watching from behind, also covered her mouth, her face grim.
"The advantage, the advantage is going to be gone."
Both commentators knew that this safety car would greatly harm Wu Shi!
The hard-earned advantage, was it just going to be given back like this?!
Immediately, on Lap 28, Vettel, Sergio Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg, Jenson Button, Felipe Nasr, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Fernando Alonso all rushed into the Pit Lane.
Wu Shi followed behind the safety car, and Rosberg quickly caught up.
The four-second gap vanished because of the safety car.
Even worse, his more than ten-second gap with Hamilton was now less than two seconds.
The safety car announced it would leave on Lap 32.
So, in the last few corners, Wu Shi aggressively pushed his car, pressing it until he himself felt his tyres had no temperature, then suddenly accelerated away.
Whoosh!
Turning past Turn 20 and entering the main straight, the race officially restarted.
"Nico, let Lewis pass, he needs to overtake Wu Shi," the Mercedes team radio suddenly sounded.
"Is he faster than me?"
"Yes."
Rosberg didn't speak. The race had just restarted, and you're saying Hamilton is faster than him?
This was absolutely F***ed!
Wu Shi drove straight down the main straight, feeling the pressure from behind.
At Turn 1, he almost reached the crest of the hill before hitting the brakes—
The steep incline here could support very late braking, but the driver had to manage it well, otherwise, it would create an opening.
And Wu Shi, completely undefended, knew that his initial acceleration away from Rosberg would prevent the other party from launching an immediate attack.
Swoosh!
When turning, due to the gravitational pull of the downhill, the front of the car was very easy to swing out.
Whoosh! Roar!
The engine revved to full power, instantly rushing forward onto the main straight.
Rosberg followed closely behind, but showed no intention of letting Hamilton pass.
Even when Hamilton tried to overtake by slipstreaming, Rosberg moved to the centerline to defend.
The broadcast camera perfectly cut to Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal, who remained expressionless.
At the same time, the competition in the rear after the restart was also extremely fierce.
Kvyat overshot his late braking at Turn 1, and the car understeered for a considerable distance before regaining steering ability.
Vettel directly overtook him and caught up to Ricciardo at Turn 12.
On Lap 34, Jonathan pressed the team radio and said:
"Rosberg 45.312, Lewis 45.938. You are faster than both of them, keep it up."
Wu Shi automatically filtered out this message. The dryness of the ground at this time had a duality.
Dry tyres still faced slippery conditions when passing through certain areas.
Many drivers would reduce their entry speed into these corners for more stable passage.
However, on the straights, the racing line was completely dry, but outside the racing line, it was still a mess.
Standing water and rubber marbles occupied these barren areas.
Once a wheel rolled into them, a spin was almost inevitable.
So the track was still very difficult to drive at this time.
Wu Shi gained a 1.5-second advantage by suppressing the first lap after the start.
These advantages were constantly being eroded.
The safety car not only allowed Mercedes to close in on Wu Shi but also bunched up the other drivers.
Thus, the battles on the track were very lively.
Vettel completed his overtake on Ricciardo on the outside of Turn 2.
Max Verstappen easily completed his overtake on Kvyat at Turn 1.
Kvyat immediately complained that Verstappen had charged into the corner like a torpedo.
But Verstappen controlled the car; this was just extreme utilisation of the brakes, not a reckless torpedo move.
On Lap 35, Wu Shi's lap time further improved to a normal 1 minute 43 seconds, plus or minus a few thousandths of a second.
However, both Mercedes drivers were running in the 1 minute 42 seconds range.
Hamilton was faster, 42.725 seconds, closing the gap to Rosberg by 0.239 seconds.
But Rosberg, like Wu Shi, used his starting advantage on the first lap to pull away from Hamilton by 1.3 seconds.
On Lap 35, Verstappen's target became Ricciardo, and he was rapidly closing in on the Red Bull Racing driver.
The junior team taking on the senior team, a regular feature.
This lap, Wu Shi's gap was reduced by Rosberg by 0.004 seconds.
And by Hamilton by 0.241 seconds.
Clearly, Hamilton was faster than Rosberg.
This was also normal; before the safety car, Hamilton was driving almost a second slower per lap than the other two, so his tyres were naturally better preserved.
On Lap 36, the minuscule gaps between the top three drivers made them look like a small train, nose to tail.
At this point, Wu Shi led Rosberg by 1.3 seconds and Hamilton by 2.2 seconds.
Further back were Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg.
Hülkenberg had also, without realising it, climbed to 7th position and launched an attack on Ricciardo, whose pace had clearly dropped.
Using DRS between Turns 11 and 12, Hülkenberg rapidly approached Ricciardo.
The Mercedes engine once again proved its dominance on the cold, high-speed track.
However, Hülkenberg was too eager; after cutting to the inside, the car clearly swayed when turning.
The drastic change in grip prevented the entire car from braking and turning simultaneously.
He consequently squeezed towards Ricciardo.
Ricciardo thought this was an aggressive manoeuvre, so he didn't yield, and as a result, his sidepod immediately made contact with Hülkenberg's front wing.
It was then that Ricciardo realised this guy truly couldn't control his car!
The two cars crowded out of Turn 12.
It was fortunate that America had large spaces, and the track's run-off areas were big enough for planes to land, otherwise, both would have hit the wall.
Hülkenberg suffered heavy losses due to his recklessness, while Ricciardo returned to the track, stuck in front of his teammate.
Hülkenberg returned to the track, but after driving only a short while, he found his front suspension severely damaged and the car no longer drivable.
He parked the car on the grass, and the third timing sector immediately went yellow.
At the same time, race control gave Carlos Sainz Jr. a 5-second penalty for speeding in the Pit Lane.
On Lap 37, affected by the sector yellow flag, everyone's lap times decreased.
And Hülkenberg's car was still on the grass.
"Safety car," Jonathan said on the team radio.
"BOX BOX BOX." Mercedes called Rosberg in.
Wu Shi did not follow him in, because from the very beginning, he was only focused on Hamilton.
"Rosberg was called in. It seems Mercedes doesn't want to see the two of them fighting anymore," the commentator analysed with a smile.
"I think Rosberg's tyres are pretty much done," another commentator had a different thought.
But no matter what, the safety car appeared again, and behind Wu Shi was his old rival—Hamilton.
However, this safety car didn't last long, ending on Lap 39.
Wu Shi still held off Hamilton, while Hamilton demonstratively weaved left and right behind him to warm his tyres.
Vroom!
Wu Shi, without a second thought, floored the accelerator, catching Hamilton, who had just straightened his car, off guard.
The leader in a rolling start always has such an advantage; they can always pull off something spectacular.
On Lap 40, Wu Shi clocked 1 minute 43.4 seconds, Hamilton 1 minute 43.95 seconds, with a gap of 1.3 seconds between them.
On Lap 41, Wu Shi returned to around 1 minute 43 seconds, plus or minus a few thousandths of a second, while Hamilton clocked 1 minute 42.96 seconds, slightly recovering 0.1 seconds.
On Lap 42, Wu Shi was still around 1 minute 43 seconds, plus or minus a few thousandths of a second, while Hamilton clocked 1 minute 42.579 seconds, directly recovering 0.4 seconds and entering the 1-second zone.
At the same time, Rosberg, with new tyres, overtook Vettel at Turn 12 and returned to third place.
"Two safety cars, they've practically ruined Wu Shi's race!"
Seeing Wu Shi being caught up to again, and knowing he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, the commentator couldn't help but sigh with regret.
However, that's how racing is; accidents always happen.
"What a shame. At this rate, Wu Shi will be overtaken again, and then he'll have no chance," another commentator also shook his head.
"Such a hard-won opportunity. If he won the race, he might actually become the World Champion this year! Our own World Champion!"
The more the commentator thought about it, the more he felt upset.
On Lap 43, Wu Shi was again caught up by 0.2 seconds. Hamilton had two more DRS zones, and he was already struggling to resist the pursuit.
But just then, Daniil Kvyat, before entering Turn 20, ran over the kerb on the right.
The slippery kerb and the adjacent grass instantly destroyed the car's balance completely.
The entire car spun rapidly, crossing the entire track, and "bang" it crashed into the barrier at the Pit Lane entrance.
The safety car came out again.