Chapter 28: F1 Shanghai Grand Prix

Chapter 28: Chapter 28: F1 Shanghai Grand Prix

Martina was already awake. Though the door was closed, she had still heard the entire conversation.

"Mmm, Mamu, what time is it?" Louise mumbled from the side, still half-asleep.

"It’s only six-thirty. You can sleep for another hour, you little sleepyhead," Martina said, stroking her daughter’s head.

"Haaah~" Louise yawned. Her fluffy ears twitched. She had heard Wu Shi’s voice too and mumbled drowsily, "Mamu, Wu Shi is completely fluent in English. I had no idea."

"Oh? How do you know that?"

Martina’s eyes lit up. ’When did this silly daughter of mine figure it out? She must have realized it last night when we were talking.’

"Well, he’s going to Europe in a few months, so I just wanted to ask him how his English was."

"What did he say?"

"He said he’s been studying, so I asked if he could understand me, and he said he could... Ah!"

The still-drowsy Louise suddenly buried her face in her pillow, her body trembling slightly and her toes curling in embarrassment.

"Haha, you didn’t say anything out of line thinking he couldn’t understand English, did you?" Martina asked.

"Of course not!" came Louise’s muffled voice.

Perhaps it was the morning embarrassment that woke her up, but her mind suddenly cleared. Hearing her Mamu mention "out of line words," she immediately made the connection to her first meeting with Wu Shi.

Back then, she had used English to provoke him, but Wu Shi had reacted as if he’d understood every word, showing considerable anger.

"Mamu! You knew all along that Wu Shi could speak English, didn’t you!?" Louise sat up, a strap of her top slipping off her shoulder.

"Mhm~" Martina nodded.

"Ahhh!! Why didn’t you tell me sooner! When did you find out, Mamu!?" Louise covered her face, which felt like it was about to steam from blushing so hard.

"Hmm, probably when we first met. He got very angry right after you spoke, so I figured he must have understood you." Seeing her daughter’s state, Martina couldn’t help but tease her:

"Those ’out of line words’ you said in English... they weren’t something like, ’I want to do *something something* with Wu Shi,’ were they?"

Just as a mother knows her daughter best, Martina seemed to have seen right through her daughter’s little secrets.

"Uwaah, stop! Stop it!" Louise flopped face-first onto her pillow with a THUD, kicking her feet against the mattress repeatedly.

"Oh my, it’s alright. Wu Shi definitely just thought of it as a child talking," Martina said with a laugh.

"How could he? He’s a kid too! Good thing I used Italian later on!" Louise whimpered.

"Italian? If his English is that good, he could probably understand some of that too," Martina said deliberately.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

The sudden scream made Wu Shi, who was in the living room, instinctively cover his ears.

"I think I heard Louise’s voice? Is she okay?" Wu Zhenlin’s voice came through the phone.

"I don’t know, but she’s in the same room as Aunt Martina, so it should be fine." Wu Shi glanced over, decided it wasn’t a problem, and then said:

"Dad, I want to go see the F1 Grand Prix in October!"

"Sure, where is it? I might not be able to get time off for a country that’s too far away, but I’m not comfortable with you going by yourself either."

"It’s in Shanghai! The F1 Shanghai Grand Prix!" Wu Shi said with a touch of excitement.

"Oh, is that so! No problem! I’ll take you to see it then."

"Thanks, Dad!!"

...

The school days were dull and repetitive, and coming home meant listening to Louise, who had been idle all day, chattering away.

Wu Shi had grown used to having the little girl living in his house. Amidst days of growing anticipation, October finally arrived.

Unfortunately, his father could only make it back on Saturday night, and Aunt Martina had gone to Shangjing for work.

This meant they couldn’t watch the practice and qualifying sessions for the F1 Shanghai Grand Prix, which made Wu Shi feel it was a bit of a shame.

He didn’t get cocky and buy a ticket to Shanghai by himself just because he knew a thing or two. After all, this was 2007!

Public safety was nowhere near as good as it would be twenty years later. It wasn’t impossible for two kids traveling alone to run into an accident and be done for.

On Saturday night, Wu Zhenlin rushed home. Seeing the two kids leaning against each other watching TV, he couldn’t help but smile despite his weary expression. "Son! Louise, sorry I’m late."

Wu Shi shook his head. "Come sit down, Dad. Get some rest first."

"No need. We have to catch a flight. Is everything packed? Let’s head out now," Wu Zhenlin said, also shaking his head.

"Yep, all ready."

They were only going for a day, so he didn’t have much to bring, but Louise had brought a backpack.

"Then let’s go!"

Neon lights flashed in the night as the car sped along. When they arrived at Bao’an Airport, a plane was just taking off, its roar tearing through the sky as it climbed into the dark expanse above.

By the time they arrived in Shanghai, it was nearly midnight.

"Looks like it’s going to rain." Wu Shi held out his hand as he stepped off the plane.

"Mhm, will the race still happen tomorrow?" Wu Zhenlin didn’t really follow these things.

"It will," Wu Shi nodded. ’F1 is still pretty savage at this point; they’d probably race even in a downpour.’

「The next day」

At Wu Shi’s urging, the group arrived at the grandstand bright and early.

"It’s so cold!" Louise shivered as a gust of wind hit her at the racetrack.

"Put on your jacket."

Wu Shi took a jacket out of the backpack. ’Anyone who’s been to a race knows that the tracks are open and windy. Add rain and cold temperatures, and getting hit by a gust of wind is no fun.’

The audience filed in one after another. Before long, the announcer began broadcasting the race schedule.

"The cars are coming out!!" Louise pointed at the track.

One by one, the F1 cars drove out of the pit lane to perform their sighting laps.

VROOOAR!

Even with just a light tap on the throttle, the 2.4L naturally-aspirated V8 engines roared like beasts, echoing throughout the racetrack.

"Whoa!" Louise shouted happily.

"Like listening to the music of the gods."

Wu Shi was also incredibly excited. After the great V8s had their swan song in 2013, they were replaced by 1.6L turbocharged V6s. He remembered many people at the time said the F1 engines had turned into whiny little things.

From a sensory perspective, there was some truth to that comparison.

After all, going from naturally aspirated to turbocharged, with a reduction in displacement, the roar of the engines was naturally not what it used to be.

F1 cars from different teams continued to drive out, and the cheers of the crowd brought the first wave of heat to the track.

After the sighting laps, the F1 cars lined up on the starting grid. Team personnel swarmed the cars, jacking them up and putting on tire warmers. Some teams even swapped to a new set of tires they had just brought out, deliberately covering the sidewalls.

Wu Shi was speechless. ’Pulling this kind of stunt on a rainy day? Who’s not going to guess what tires you’re using? If you’ve got the guts, try running without rain tires!’

A light drizzle fell, and the track stands became a sea of red, green, and yellow disposable ponchos.

On the starting grid, some crew members held umbrellas for the drivers, while others wiped down rearview mirrors or made other preparations at the drivers’ request.

In front of the twenty-two F1 cars was a Mercedes-Benz safety car.

A full twenty-eight or twenty-nine minutes passed before the one-minute signal for the formation lap lit up, and all personnel began to clear the starting grid.

As the tire warmers were pulled off, it became clear what kind of tires each car was using.

Yep, without a doubt, all of them were on rain tires.

VROOOOOM!

The formation lap began, and the rain started to fall more heavily.