Chapter 49 - 13: Which One of You Is His Coach?

Chapter 49: Chapter 13: Which One of You Is His Coach?

Verstappen’s racing talent was beyond question. In all the competitions before he entered F1, he basically held a commanding lead. He could maintain this advantage even when his car’s performance wasn’t exceptional.

It was because of this outstanding performance that he caught Marco’s eye and was promoted directly to F1, skipping GP2 and F2.

Seemingly noticing everyone’s gazes, Jos Verstappen and Little Verstappen both turned to look over.

"Should we go say hello?" Sid asked, thinking it would be a good idea to get acquainted with a former F1 driver.

"No need," Wu Shi said, shaking his head. There would be plenty of opportunities later.

However, Jos brought Little Verstappen over. He walked past the other adults and spoke directly to Wu Shi. "Wu Shi, your championship victory in Italy last year was very impressive."

"Thank you," Wu Shi nodded.

"You need to beat him," Jos said, patting Little Verstappen’s shoulder.

"Yes, I will," Little Verstappen said. With his thick lips and chubby cheeks, he looked as if he were pouting when he spoke.

"He won’t be able to beat me."

Wu Shi was informing Jos Verstappen. It wasn’t arrogance; the current Verstappen was simply far from his future potential, whereas Wu Shi was already performing at that level.

"We’ll see about that. See you on the track." After saying his piece, Jos Verstappen took Little Verstappen back to work on his kart’s setup.

Pre-race preparations were always the most hectic time. A vehicle might seem perfectly fine on any other day, but you always felt like something could go wrong during a race. So, the mechanics were extremely thorough with their checks.

"How did the practice sessions feel?" Seth asked.

"It felt good, but I’m not fully adapted to the kart yet," Wu Shi replied. Coming to Belgium had been a last-minute change of plans by Sid, so he hadn’t had much time to practice with this kart or learn the track.

"Right. Just focus on adapting for now," Sid said. "As you advance in your career, you’ll constantly need to adapt to new cars. A driver’s ability to adapt quickly is a key part of their skill set."

As a member of a major karting team, he had helped arrange the transition from karting to junior formula series for more than one driver. He knew exactly what skills the junior formula teams valued most.

"I know," Wu Shi said with a nod.

Over the next two days, the track hosted a series of practice sessions, qualifying heats, and warm-ups. None of these could fully reveal a driver’s true strength—that would have to wait for the final qualifying session before the main race.

Before getting into his kart, Verstappen glanced at Wu Shi. He had heard about his rival’s accolades from his father, but that meant little to him.

Since he started competing in karts in 2005, he had already won the VAS Championship, the Rotax Max Kart Challenge, the Belgian and Dutch Minimax Championships, the Belgian Cadet Championship, and more.

For him, winning was the norm.

The karts let out a high-pitched BUZZ as they drove onto the track.

The Marionburg circuit was 1,366 meters long. The fastest lap time in the KF5 class was typically around 57 or 58 seconds, a good deal faster than the one-minute-plus laps of the Mini class. And faster almost always meant harder to control.

Wu Shi sat in his kart. The KF5 was certainly faster than the Mini, but for him, the jump wasn’t massive. He had no trouble adapting to the handling.

The only unfortunate thing was that he hadn’t had this kart for long and hadn’t yet fully integrated it into his perception. This meant he couldn’t pull off his truly superhuman, limit-breaking driving.

VROOOM!

The warm-up lap ended, and the drivers began attempting their flying laps.

After a few simple weaves to warm his tires, Wu Shi began his own flying lap.

WHOOSH!

Because his perception of the kart was still incomplete, he didn’t attempt any risky, limit-pushing maneuvers, relying only on his inherent skill.

He deftly guided the kart through Turn 1, then immediately pulled it to the outside edge of the track to set up for Turn 2.

’It was actually pretty nice, driving without fully perceiving the kart. It felt more like... well, driving.’

Wu Shi was near the back of the pack, so his flying lap time would be one of the last to post.

The times appeared on the timing screen one by one. At the very top was Verstappen: 57.686.

Jos Verstappen nodded in satisfaction. Breaking the 58-second barrier was a major hurdle, and Verstappen had smashed it by more than three-tenths of a second. It was an outstanding time.

"Little Verstappen is seriously fast," Seth remarked. "The next fastest driver is a full five-tenths behind him." In racing, a thousandth of a second can be the difference between winning and losing. A gap of several tenths is enormous.

"Wu Shi shouldn’t be far off," Sid said.

"I think Wu Shi will be much faster. His performance is on another level entirely," the team mechanic said.

Their discussion wasn’t loud, but Jos, who was standing nearby, overheard them. He turned his gaze to Wu Shi out on the track. With his experienced eye, he could tell the kid’s driving was incredibly fluid.

’I wonder who his coach is. His driving skill is superb,’ he thought to himself.

The next few dozen seconds passed in a flash.

WHOOSH!

57.681.

Wu Shi’s time appeared.

"Five-thousandths of a second faster!" Jos’s arms, which had been crossed over his chest, tensed. His gaze sharpened as he mentally compared Wu Shi’s and Little Verstappen’s racing lines.

"I feel like Wu Shi was holding back," the team mechanic continued. Unlike Sid and Seth, he had been completely won over by Wu Shi’s dominant championship victory across all seven races in Italy. Seeing him ahead by such a tiny margin, he shook his head in disappointment.

"..." Sid and Seth glanced at each other. They had to admit, for a moment there, they had felt the same way.

But thinking about it rationally, considering Little Verstappen’s lead over the rest of the field, it was clear that these two were simply in a league of their own.

That being said, Jos really did have a remarkably talented son.

"What did you say?!" Just as they were thinking about Jos, the stocky man from Holland strode over and confronted the mechanic.

The mechanic was no pushover. He stood his ground against the former F1 driver and said bluntly, "I think Wu Shi was slow. Otherwise, he’d be ahead of second place by at least three-tenths of a second."

"Fine. Then why do you think he should be faster than Max?" Jos demanded.

"Uh, I can’t explain exactly why, but he just should be," the mechanic said with a shrug. He just fixed the karts; how was he supposed to know why Wu Shi was so much faster than everyone else before?

He did, however, often hear the coaches marveling at how Wu Shi’s racing lines were always different from the others, and how his understanding of the track was always unique and a step ahead.

Hearing this, Jos turned to Sid and Seth. "Which one of you is his coach?" he asked.