Chapter 170 - 91: Q1 Building Momentum

Chapter 170: Chapter 91: Q1 Building Momentum

After the winter testing, both Wu Shi and Massa believed that the car shouldn’t lose a massive amount of speed just for the sake of balance. Therefore, the FW37 had, to some extent, clawed back some top speed.

The price for doing so was a reduction in the rear wheel grip, making the car extremely prone to oversteer upon corner entry.

As a result, when Wu Shi set a good time in Sector 2, he gave the advantage right back in Sector 3 due to a few slow corners. By the time he crossed the finish line, he only managed a time of 1:30.366.

Surprisingly, Kimi didn’t fare much better, finishing with a 1:30.188. It was unclear whether the soft tyres were unsuitable for the track today, if Kimi had made a mistake, or if Wofa was simply doomed.

This caused some hesitation among the midfield teams who wanted to switch to soft tyres to fight for a spot in Q2. As for the backmarker teams, they never even considered the possibility of reaching Q2. They had either used up their tyre allocation during the practice sessions or were saving them for the main race—using them in qualifying was absolutely out of the question.

After a brief wait, Massa’s time also came out: 1:30.246.

The pit crew immediately began analyzing the data of both drivers, using Ferrari’s times as a reference.

Jonathan exchanged information with Massa’s race engineer, Dave. They noticed that both drivers were losing time in Sectors 1 and 3, but were much faster in Sector 2.

Having reached a conclusion, Jonathan immediately spoke over the TR, "The medium tyres are a bit difficult to get into the operating window. You need to run a few more laps. Wait for the hot lap instruction, and pay attention to your handling in Sectors 1 and 3."

"Copy that."

Wu Shi began cruising around the track.

Each qualifying session usually had two optimal windows for setting a fast lap: the lap right after the initial warm-up lap, and the final lap crossing the line with just two or three minutes left on the clock—essentially, the very beginning and the very end of the session.

While he was cruising, Vettel drove his Ferrari across the finish line.

1:29.307.

After topping the timing sheets, Vettel did a cool-down lap and returned to the garage.

This time was enough to safely enter Q2, so there was no need for him to run again. Furthermore, he had only used this set of medium tyres for three laps.

It had to be said—as expected of Vettel, driving so fast, precise, and ruthlessly.

With Vettel setting the example, the other teams also began to compete. However, none of their first hot laps produced outstanding times; they mostly hovered around the 1:30 mark.

Wu Shi over TR: "Has everyone else finished their runs?"

Jonathan over TR: "Yes, everyone has completed their first hot lap. Currently, your time puts you within the top 15."

Wu Shi over TR: "OK, do the conditions permit? I’m preparing to go for another hot lap."

Jonathan over TR: "Of course. You may proceed."

Wu Shi had absolutely no desire to waste his tyres cruising for a few more laps, even though there was a high probability that this set wouldn’t be used in the main race.

As he approached Turn 16 once again, he mentally reviewed the details of the entire circuit. He already had a solution for the shortcomings of his first hot lap.

VROOM! WHOOSH!

The number 59 Williams zoomed across the checkered line. The top speed was 1 km/h faster than his first hot lap—better than nothing, but enough to indicate that the tyre and track conditions seemed to have improved.

In fact, the tyre grip had indeed improved. The time it took for the medium tyres to reach their working temperature was much longer than during the practice sessions, which made him take mental note.

Relying on the stronger grip, the rear wheel slipping was reduced, meaning he didn’t need to make corrections in many of the corners. Because of this, Wu Shi’s lap was exceptionally smooth.

SWISH!

The car crossed the line, and the time appeared.

1:29.141!

He instantly knocked Vettel’s 1:29.307 off the top spot.

Jonathan over TR: "Good job."

Faint applause could be heard in the background behind Jonathan’s voice on the TR.

"Yes, I think this time is enough," Wu Shi said.

When commentator David saw this time, the smile on his face grew wider. He said,

"An absolutely fantastic performance. Wu Shi brought his time down to 1:29.141 on just his second hot lap.

"However, we can see that Rosberg is already on a hot lap. His first two sector times have just set the overall fastest sectors, already a tenth of a second quicker than Wu Shi."

The camera followed the number 6 Silver Arrow. After a few quick cuts, he was already at the final sequence of corners.

WHOOSH!

The Silver Arrow flashed across the finish line, predictably pulling out an even better time.

1:28.906.

One had to admit, Mercedes-Benz lived up to its name. With just a casual sprint on the medium tyres, they effortlessly broke into the 1:28s.

However, this time had nothing to do with Wu Shi anymore. As soon as he returned to the pit lane, the pit crew rushed over to attach the cooling fans to the air ducts and placed a screen summarizing the track information in front of him.

Wu Shi flipped up his visor and observed the current situation on the track.

Massa, Hamilton, and Perez were on their second hot laps, while the other drivers were still waiting for track conditions to improve further.

Kimi had already completed his second hot lap before him, clocking in at only 1:29.754. This left people somewhat puzzled, as Vettel was a full four-tenths faster.

Such a massive gap between two teammates always reflected underlying issues.

Most notably, Kimi had run on soft tyres. A sudden thought popped into Wu Shi’s mind—could it be that Ferrari’s soft tyres just weren’t up to par?

While his thoughts were wandering, Hamilton crossed the finish line, improving his time to 1:28.586, beating his teammate Rosberg by 0.320 seconds.

"Tsk, tsk, the fight between those two is getting more and more intense," Wu Shi commented. Hamilton’s previous time was already in the 1:29s, which was a guaranteed entry into Q3. There was absolutely no need for him to set another lap, but Hamilton stubbornly refused to hold back—he just had to one-up Rosberg.

Jonathan didn’t care about such gossip. As a race engineer, he had to focus on a massive amount of data. He asked seriously, "What do you estimate is your ultimate pace on the White Tyres?"

"Breaking into the 1:28s will absolutely be no problem."

"And cruising?"

"Probably about two point one or two seconds slower," Wu Shi replied.

Jonathan nodded and began comparing this with the machine-predicted data. Tonight, he would definitely show the comparison data to Wu Shi and analyze where the gaps in the predictions lay.

Wu Shi also knew that Jonathan was strictly business once he got into work mode, so he stopped talking about matters unrelated to their own race, even though doing so could help him relax.

A minute after Hamilton finished his lap, Massa crossed the line with a time of 1:29.246.

The two Williams cars were ranked third and fourth, hot on the heels of the Mercedes-Benz duo. This sight almost made one hallucinate that it was still 2014.

David even let out a sigh of nostalgia about it during his commentary.

As the time for this qualifying session neared its end, everyone’s latest hot lap times began popping up one after another.

"Oh! The times for the two McLarens have locked in at 1:31.422 and 1:32.037. It seems they still haven’t solved their compatibility issues with the Honda engine.

"Let’s look at the situation over at Red Bull. Kvyat stopped running after setting a 1:30.402 on his second lap. As it stands, this time is basically right on the cut-off line. Their decision-making is incredibly bold.

"Mexican driver Perez has also crossed the finish line. He drove Force India into a 1:29.990, though his teammate Hulkenberg is slightly faster.

"The two rookies from Little Red Bull are still trying. It seems they’re using this opportunity to familiarize themselves with the track. This reminds me of Wu Shi, who returned to the garage on his sixth lap. Doesn’t he need to familiarize himself with the circuit? This is his very first time driving on this track!"

Because Wu Shi’s performances were sometimes too heaven-defying, the commentators couldn’t help but bring him up constantly. However, this was indeed his advantage. Everyone else assumed he had never driven on these tracks before, but he knew very well that compared to some F3 tracks, he was far more familiar with the F1 circuits!

"Max Verstappen has set a time of 1:29.248! He’s brought the Scuderia Toro Rosso Team (Red Bull Second Team) up to the front of the pack! You have to marvel at how terrifying the young drivers are these days!

"Sainz’s time is also out: 1:29.597. Oh, slightly slower than his teammate.

"Ricciardo has crossed the line too! Let’s see... the time for the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Team is...

"1:29.788.

"Wow. Although this is only Q1, seeing the two Little Red Bull cars ranked ahead of the Big Red Bull still makes me feel like I’ve traveled back in time to when Vettel was at the Red Bull Second Team."

With Ricciardo crossing the line, Q1 officially concluded.

Three drivers—Ericsson, Button, and Magnus—were eliminated. Adding the two drivers from the Manor Team who didn’t participate, Stevens and Merry, a total of five drivers were knocked out.

The moment Q2 began, Wu Shi saw his pit crew hastily bolting on the soft tyres.

"The weather isn’t looking good. The clouds are getting thicker," Jonathan said.

"Understood."

Wu Shi glanced at the weather radar displayed on the screen hanging in front of him. He didn’t think it would rain, but there was no way to be certain, so he planned to put in a good time on his very first lap.

"What’s the predicted cut-off time?" Wu Shi asked.

"Around 1:28.6," Jonathan replied.

Due to the baffling new restrictions on TR communications, many pieces of data could now only be shared before the car hit the track.

"Alright, I’ll head out first."