Chapter 137 - 61: Familiarizing with the Track

Chapter 137: Chapter 61: Familiarizing with the Track

Other than that, the most important thing was to strengthen physical training. And in physical training, the most crucial part was neck training. F1 was different from F3. If a driver’s neck wasn’t strong enough, it would be impossible to withstand the terrifying G-force of an F1 car in the corners. The ultimate consequence would be an inability to concentrate on operating the car. Relying on this specially intensified training, by the time the Belgium Station kicked off, Wu Shi’s neck had grown significantly thicker, faintly threatening to surpass the width of his cheeks.

The schedule at the Spa Circuit was very straightforward. On Friday, June 20th, there were two free practice sessions in the morning and two qualifying sessions in the afternoon. On Saturday, June 21st, there was one race in the morning and another in the afternoon. On Sunday morning, June 22nd, the final race would take place. Running alongside this F3 Championship was the WTCC (FIA World Touring Car Championship) Belgium Station.

Wu Shi’s love for touring cars was nowhere near as deep as his passion for F1, but Verstappen was different—he even wanted to take one for a spin.

"In the future, I will definitely form a touring car team," Verstappen said as he set down the WTCC schedule.

"Sure. If I can’t race in F1, I’ll join your team. Just don’t look down on me when you’re the big boss." Wu Shi wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea of forming a team.

"Hahaha, then we might as well just be teammates and race together!" Verstappen was extremely excited. Clearly, he genuinely had this plan in mind.

The morning practice sessions passed quickly. To most drivers, the Spa Circuit was no stranger. After all, apart from drivers like Wu Shi and Verstappen who had skipped grades, the rest had all driven in the Renault Formula, which meant they had raced on this track before.

By the time the afternoon qualifying sessions approached, the sky had gradually darkened. The team principal quickly gathered everyone for a meeting.

"According to the weather forecast, the rain might start after three o’clock," the team principal announced.

"Hmm, I think the rain might affect the second qualifying session," Wu Shi said. The first qualifying session was scheduled for 2:10 PM, while the second would take place at 5:20 PM.

"Yes, but we can’t rule out a sudden change in weather. It might just pour down right now," the team principal added.

The four drivers of the team all understood what he meant. They needed to set their lap times as early as possible to avoid having their flying laps ruined by the weather.

After the meeting adjourned, Verstappen asked Wu Shi, "Where are you going to squeeze out time on this track?"

Before a race, Verstappen frequently asked Wu Shi this question. Wu Shi wasn’t stingy with his answers, either. His racing style was something others simply couldn’t imitate; trying to learn it would only end in a spin.

"I don’t have to lift off the throttle at the Elrogg Bend."

"???" Verstappen’s face was full of question marks. Puzzled, he asked, "Won’t you fly right off the track?!"

"I can manage not to fly off," Wu Shi smiled mysteriously.

When the qualifying session began, Verstappen was weighed down with thoughts. Seeing his demeanor, Wu Shi was a bit worried. Would this guy actually try it just because of his casual remark? He knew very well that with the downforce of an F3 car, taking that corner without lifting off the throttle would absolutely lead to an accident.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the first qualifying session officially began. Given the team’s warning about the unpredictable weather, Wu Shi stuck to his usual routine. After spending the first three laps warming up his tires and familiarizing himself with the track conditions, he immediately started setting hot laps.

In the onboard camera feed, Wu Shi sped down the starting straight. At the subsequent Turn 1, he dropped down to second gear for the entry, exited smoothly, and then slammed the throttle to the floor as he shifted up through the gears. On the following long downhill section, Car 32 showed absolutely no signs of braking.

"He needs to slow down a little here." Watching the onboard footage, Alan couldn’t help but clench his fists.

However, the real-time telemetry data showed no indication of Wu Shi lifting off the throttle whatsoever. Everyone instantly grew tense. An F1 car could take this corner flat out because it had massive downforce! With the meager downforce of an F3 car, what right did he have to take the corner at full speed?

But Wu Shi charged straight through just like that.

Alan didn’t care if it would disturb the driver. He directly spoke over the team radio, "You need to slow down, you need to slow down."

WHOOSH!

Wu Shi’s ears were filled with the roar of the engine. Even though the performance of an F3 car couldn’t compare to an F1 car, the G-force generated by this downhill section was still terrifying. His body experienced the strange sensation of weightlessness. Yet, his mind remained incredibly sharp, and he heard Alan’s voice.

As he approached Turn 2, bearing immense physical pressure, he said, "I know. The uphill section ahead is a blind corner. The racing line is all in my head. Don’t worry."

SWOOSH!

As Wu Shi’s strained voice transmitted back, Car 32 just reached the bottom of the corner. At this point, the car needed to make a sudden turn, followed by an extremely steep uphill section. Because the exit point was completely invisible from the apex, and it was impossible to see exactly where the car was heading, navigating this part relied entirely on memory.

But that wasn’t even the greatest challenge Wu Shi faced right now. He had to push the car’s grip to its absolute limit. The slightest miscalculation would cause the entire car to instantly lose control and crash off the track.

The tires seemed to groan desperately, but even under these extreme operating conditions, Car 32 shot through with a SWOOSH, steadily navigating Turn 2 before accurately slicing into Turn 3 upon exit. Just as Wu Shi himself had said, this corner was completely imprinted in his mind. He knew how to drive it even with his eyes closed, so that blind corner wasn’t an issue at all.

A moment after the car dashed past the Elrogg Bend, Alan’s voice rang out over the team radio:

"BZZ... BZZ... Yeah, I didn’t mean the blind corner. I meant, you need to slow down there."

In the pit lane, everyone else was just like Alan, who had fallen silent for a while before finally speaking up. They simply couldn’t believe how he had managed to pull that off.

However, the data engineer quickly spotted something and said, "His tire wear through that corner was massive. He nearly slipped out during it, which caused severe graining on the top layer of rubber."

The group exchanged bewildered glances. What kind of sheer nerve did it take to execute a maneuver like that in such a section! They all knew that one slight mistake would send the entire car flying off the track at top speed.

"Incredible." Alan didn’t know what else to say.

"Is this the first time he’s done something incredible?" the team principal retorted.

Relying solely on that single maneuver, Wu Shi’s lap time was already unbeatable. He clocked a time of 2:09.567 and directly wrapped up his session, returning to the pit lane. By the time the session ended, the fastest among the rest of the drivers, O’connor, only managed a 2:10.049.

Wu Shi didn’t care much about O’connor’s result. Instead, he slung an arm over Verstappen’s shoulder and teased, "Looks like you aren’t as familiar with this track as O’connor."

"..." Verstappen remained silent. After pursing his lips, he finally said, "Yeah, I’m not familiar enough yet. But I’ll show him what I’m made of during the main race."

"Then do your best!"

By a little past five in the afternoon, the sky grew increasingly gloomy. Sure enough, heavy rain began to pour just as the second qualifying session started. With that, Wu Shi didn’t dare drive his F3 flat out through Turns 2, 3, and 4 anymore. He was brave, not suicidal.

Ultimately, the results of the second qualifying session were heavily impacted by the rain, with lap times slowing down by a full fifteen seconds! Wu Shi still secured pole position. The runner-up this time wasn’t O’connor, nor was it Verstappen. Instead, it was their American teammate from the Van Amersfoort Racing Team, Gustavo.

"Looks like you aren’t as familiar with this track as Gustavo either," Wu Shi joked, finding Verstappen once again.

Verstappen pursed his lips, feeling his fists harden. After a long while, he repeated, "Yeah, I’m not familiar enough yet. But I’ll show him what I’m made of during the main race."

Did that sentence sound a bit familiar?

The next day, the sky cleared up. By the time the race began, the track conditions had improved to the point where wet tires were completely unnecessary. Wu Shi had started from pole position in all three races. With his car in perfect condition, he naturally maintained his pole-to-win streak with ease.

As for Verstappen, he surprisingly did exactly what he had said. He showed all the drivers who had started ahead of him what he was made of, securing three consecutive runner-up finishes!

Wu Shi couldn’t help but admire Verstappen’s tenacity. Even though his surge from sixth to second place in the third race was partly aided by the safety car, he had still relentlessly cut through the pack like a hot knife through butter, overtaking four competitors along the way.

"Looks like you’re familiar with this track now," Wu Shi said with a smile after watching the race replays.

"No, still not familiar enough. Not as familiar as you are," Verstappen shook his head.