F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 141 Do your best
On September 8, the day after the Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes held a press conference announcing that it had signed Wu Shi as a member of Mercedes' driver development program.

It was also announced that Wu Shi will drive Nico Rosberg's vehicle for Practice 1 on Friday, September 19.

This news caused a huge uproar in the racing world.

Many questions have arisen regarding Wu Shi's age and nationality, with his age being the main point of attack.

Strictly speaking, this cannot be considered a point of attack, because Wu Shi is indeed too young; no one in history has ever been able to drive an F1 car at that age.

Fortunately, there is no points system in the current regulations for super licenses; as long as you are good enough, you can get on the racetrack.

Even if Wu Shi doesn't run the remaining races, he will still be the annual champion of the European F3 Championship, and a terrifying one who is hundreds of points ahead of the second place!
The news quickly reached China, and the official media reacted swiftly, immediately contacting Wu Zhenlin and indicating that they would travel to Singapore to film him.

Online media outlets, like Big Eye Media, are also planning trips to the Singapore Grand Prix.

This news is absolutely explosive!
It's unimaginable for a Chinese F1 driver, especially now that the F1 system is becoming more and more sophisticated and the requirements for drivers in all aspects are getting higher and higher.

Social media was naturally abuzz with the video edited by AC Station UP Ningjing de Xiatian, which went viral and was shared hundreds and thousands of times by car enthusiasts on platforms including Tianyan, Tianya Forum, Tieba, and others.

Not to mention that on September 9th, when several official sports media outlets reported on the matter on new media platforms, they also cited the video, which immediately brought Wu Shi into the public eye.

That's just how the sports environment is in China. The 110-meter hurdles isn't a popular sport, but because of Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler, it instantly became known throughout the country and became a sport that everyone pays close attention to.

At this moment, Wu Shi's situation was very similar to Liu Xiang's, all because of the extremely strong strength he displayed.

Six Star Sports even published a lengthy article stating that if Wu Shi successfully joins the Mercedes team, he could become the first F1 world champion in Chinese history!

Of course, Six Star Sports also analyzed the information revealed at the Mercedes press conference and believed that Wu Shi's chances of joining Mercedes were not high. After all, someone who has never driven an F1 car before could not possibly achieve a top-three qualifying result on his first try.

To those in the know, this is nothing short of a fantasy.

However, those in the know are mostly celebrating at this moment. Being given a special opportunity by Mercedes to test drive in the practice session is already a huge success and honor.

Besides, how old is Wu Shi? He hasn't even reached his peak yet!
For everyone, Wu Shi's future is what's truly worth looking forward to and what's truly exciting!

While some were happy and others were sad, and while car enthusiasts across China were celebrating, the content creator "Peaceful Summer" remained silent and did not express any opinion.

A recent comment appeared in the comments section of that viral video:
"Case solved! My brother is Itariruko, and he said that the foreign media has found out that the foreign girl next to Wu Shi in the Mercedes-Benz Arena's P-room was named Louise, and the UP's profile picture happens to be the heroine of Zero no Tsukaima, also named Louise!"

This comment received a flood of likes and upvotes.

Meanwhile, the real UP, Ningjing de Xiatian, was sitting in a room with all the curtains drawn, where there was no light except for the computer screen, looking at this comment.

After a long silence, Ning Jingxia slammed her fist on the table and could only type in the comments: "No, the uploader is Chinese."

After leaving the comment, she immediately changed her profile picture.

"Louise, you're famous now." Wu Shi said to Louise, who was leaning against him, as he lay half-reclined on the sofa after finishing his workout.

"What?" Louise was engrossed in watching TV.

"Didn't you check your phone?"

"not yet."

Louise shook her head, picked up her phone, and scrolled through Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Her face instantly turned red. "No! They...how could they be like this?"

"What? How come it's like this?" Wu Shi smiled as he looked at Louise, whose head was practically steaming.

"Hey! Stop looking!" Louise realized what was happening, pounced on him, and tried to snatch the phone.

"Ouch!" Wu Shi felt a slight elbow to his chest. Luckily, Louise was delicate and soft, otherwise he probably wouldn't have recovered.

He let his phone be snatched away, saying helplessly, "But I've already finished watching it!"

"Waaah!" Louise buried her head in her chest and let out unintelligible sobs.

For Wu Shi, the time to rest was actually getting less and less.

On Tuesday, he left Italie for the Netherlands. Louise, who was still on summer vacation, was naturally reluctant to see Wu Shi leave, but there was nothing she could do about it.

The main reason for going to the Netherlands was that Van Amersford had a simulator, which allowed them to familiarize themselves with the Singapore circuit beforehand.

Wu Shi really wanted to go to Hamilton's home in Monaco, where the simulator could provide him with tremendous help.

Unfortunately, he's too conspicuous. He'll definitely be photographed if he goes to Monaco. If it's discovered that he's using the simulator that Mercedes provided to Hamilton, it might cause unnecessary trouble.

Even if he fulfills the terms of the agreement, Mercedes can still void it according to the terms.

Some things are fine as long as you don't weigh them, but once you do, you're doomed.

Wu Shi had run the Singapore circuit many times in his previous life, but the circuit has changed too frequently, and its current appearance is probably not the one he is familiar with now.

Besides, after so many years, his memory of this track is also very vague.

He only stayed in the Netherlands for a week and a half before packing his bags and heading to Singapore with Sid.

The two arrived in Singapore on Thursday, September 18.

"Don't be nervous, just run well."

Sid is also paying attention to the recent online opinions, which are mixed. People with poor mental states may not be able to hold back when they see those harsh words from netizens.

"Yes, I'll do my best. By the way, the two Mercedes drivers have been quite kind to me," Wu Shi said.

"Oh? How so?" Sid asked curiously.

"After the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton invited me to his home to drive a simulator so I could get familiar with driving beforehand; after Monza, Rosberg also added me in his contacts and taught me how to drive an F1 car."

Wu Shi couldn't help but laugh. This was just too damn weird!

You should know that he might be replacing these two people, and yet they treated him like this.

Sid frowned, but quickly figured it out and said, "They all thought it was a teammate who was replaced?"

Wu Shi nodded and said, "To be precise, Hamilton thought I would replace Rosberg, while Rosberg thought I would replace Hamilton, but more likely he thought I couldn't reach an agreement and would end up going to Williams."

"Hmm, that's a good analysis." Sid said, then realized he shouldn't have said that and quickly tried to add something.

Wu Shi spoke first, saying, "I know that everyone is pessimistic, which is normal. After all, all I can say is that I will do my best."

As he spoke, he touched his neck. The physical requirements for F1 racing are far higher than those for F3. Other drivers can naturally transition to F1 after training in F2 or GP2.

And he has only been driving F3 cars for about half a year!
“You need to keep a positive attitude. I also need to remind you that the people in the Mercedes team don’t seem as nice as they appear. They might not want you to squeeze out any of them,” Sid cautioned.

Wu Shi nodded. Regardless of his Chinese identity or his young age, he was not welcome in the hunting grounds. He would be mindful of the situation.

(End of this chapter)