F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 291 2016 Season (Part 2)

The rain finally stopped after soaking the track completely in the morning.

But the weather didn't cooperate, and the rain started falling intermittently again around noon.

What is foreseeable is that the rain will not stop by the time the main competition starts at 2 p.m.

Wu Shi and Verstappen had lunch together, and both seemed very relaxed.

“Toto just called Joss,” Panzi suddenly said.

"Hmm? What, you want to poach me?" Wu Shi asked.

"No, they told me not to be too aggressive in the match later, so as not to affect the title race between the two players ahead of me," Verstappen said.

"You're really meddling in other people's business."

Wu Shi shook his head. Even though he had a decent relationship with Toto, he still gave a very honest assessment.

“Of course, I think so too,” Verstappen muttered, then looked at Wu Shi and said:

"You haven't discussed next year's contracts with Mercedes and Ferrari yet?"

Wu Shi continued to shake his head and said, "Not yet."

“You’re really patient. Do you want to stay with Williams for the full term? You have the right to demand a good car right now,” Verstappen said bluntly.

"I see."

Verstappen said no more, but laughed and joked about Toto's phone call to his father.

On the track, this guy won't give in to anyone, so Toto's call was not only a waste of time, but might even have the opposite effect.

At 2 p.m., the rain did not stop, and the 22 race cars on the track were unusually equipped with blue tires – full-weather tires.

This tire is often jokingly referred to as something unnecessary, much like Ferrari's strategy team.

But today, the organizers clearly didn't want to disappoint the Brazilian people, and allowed the drivers to start the race on full wet tires.

The current F1 still possesses considerable courage, unlike later generations where they would clamor to cancel if the rain got a little heavy.

However, everything has two sides, and starting the game in heavy rain is extremely dangerous.

This is not only because visibility and grip are very poor in the rain, but also because it was sunny during yesterday's qualifying session.

All the teams were using cars tuned for dry conditions, and the suspension was completely unsuitable for today's situation.

Sure enough, shortly after the warm-up lap began, Grosjean slid and crashed into the wall on the track, severely damaging his car and forcing him to retire from the race.

The Brazilian spectators who braved the rain to watch the game didn't seem to mind, but the people at the tournament were already sweating profusely.

With rain this heavy, can the competition really start?

Bianchi's accident remains a shock. If another major accident were to occur, would F1 still be able to continue?

Ten minutes later, the track was cleared, and the safety car led the entire race to the start.

The organizers plan to first drain some of the water from the track by having the cars cruise around, in order to ensure safety after the start of the race.

Even with the safety car in place, when the F1 cars are running, the entire track is filled with water spray, making visibility extremely poor.

Furthermore, the safety car was moving too slowly, allowing the drivers' tires to cool down completely.

This causes the tire pressure to drop, the tire to deflate further, the drainage capacity of the grooves to weaken, and the grip to be affected.

The drivers were aware of this problem, so they drove very conservatively.

However, Verstappen, who was fourth in the lead, was darting left and right on the track, occasionally coming to a position just one front wing behind Kimi, looking impatient to start the race.

Similarly, in seventh place, Wu Shi's actions were the same as Verstappen's, running around the track.

"These two drivers sometimes have such similar driving styles," David commented.

With the safety car leading the way without any major incidents, Verstappen and Wu Shi's dragon-drawing skills were perhaps the only highlight of the race.

On the third lap, Ricciardo and Sainz requested the start of the race via radio.

Magnussen supports them.

However, the event is still not allowed to start.

By lap six, more and more drivers felt it was time to start the race.

On lap seven, safety car driver Uncle Melander finally received instructions to start the race on the next lap.

Finally, on lap 8, the green flag was waved, and the race restarted!
Hamilton cut back the line before Turn 12 and then accelerated sharply to pull away.

Rosberg didn't blindly follow; he only needed to make sure he got second place, so there was no need for him to risk getting too close to Hamilton.

Only after Hamilton had run off in a misty spray did he speed up to catch up.

After turn 12, the next three turns are very small and can be taken at full throttle on dry surfaces.

Hamilton took the lead and sped onto the starting straight.

The camera at Turn 1 could only see the water mist kicked up by the race cars turning into a white fog as they sped towards the goal.

Only when the water mist gradually subsided near the braking point could the race car be clearly seen.

Because Rosberg maintained a safe following distance, he didn't reach Turn 1 until Hamilton had fully exited the corner.

With the drivers behind him some time away, he easily entered the corner without any hindrance.

However, the calm currently belongs only to the top two drivers.

On the straight, when Kimi braked from the outside, Verstappen behind him still kicked up a cloud of water.

With a late brake at the limit, Red Bull overtook the opponent at the corner entrance.

In the subsequent corner, Verstappen's speed seemed unaffected by the rain, and he exited the corner quite quickly, leaving Kimi behind.

Verstappen secured his third place.

But the director quickly pulled up a replay, which wasn't of Verstappen overtaking, but of Wu Shi further back, who hadn't been captured by the helicopter camera.

After the start of the race, Wu Shi picked up speed at turns 13, 14, and 15 and came right up to Ricciardo's side.

This made Ricardo feel extremely pressured; he had never seen anyone drive like that in the rain!

When the race officially restarted, Wu Shi immediately exerted his strength and sped off before Ricardo dared to accelerate at full speed.

On the straight road, amidst a splash of water, Wu Shi had somehow already tied with Ricardo.

At Turn 1, he didn't even brake at the last second before overtaking Ricciardo from the inside.

Swish!
Amidst the misty rain, the white Williams sped off, accelerating away at the exit of the bend.

In the footage, Wu Shi appears as relaxed as if he were driving on dry ground.

“Very good, Vettel is ahead of you,” Jonathan said.

Upon hearing this, the soldier immediately provided the commentary:
"Vettel is probably not easy to deal with; his ability to fight in the rain is also quite remarkable."

At the end of lap eight, Magnussen immediately pitted and changed to green semi-wet tires.

No one expected him to do this right at the start of the race.

Is it that Magnussen and Renault were bold?
Or is it that since we start from the back, it doesn't matter anymore?

But on lap ten, after observing Magnussen's not-slow lap times, Alonso, Bottas, Massa, Kvyat, and Eriksen all pitted.

From the team's perspective, if the lap times are the same on semi-wet tires and full-wet tires, it means that the track conditions will continue to improve.

However, none of the front-row drivers chose to change tires.

Vettel was even distracted while talking to the team and ran over the white line on the left side of Turn 13, causing him to spin and allowing the red Prancing Horse to get some fresh grass in the rain.

Wu Shi, who was behind him, picked up the wallet without hesitation.

"Not bad in the rain." Fei Ge nodded, suppressing a laugh.

"Hahaha." The soldier laughed awkwardly.

This is another example of words becoming law.

Although Vettel managed to salvage the car, the deficit was already a foregone conclusion, and there was no need to discuss whether to switch to semi-wet tires anymore. Now, in order to make up for lost time, he had no choice but to switch them.

However, after Vettel entered the pits, his left rear wheel got stuck for a long time and couldn't be put back on.

A classic Ferrari maneuver.
On the field, with Vettel no longer blocking him, Wu Shi quickly approached Kimi.

The gap of more than two seconds was reduced to 1.4 seconds by the 12th lap.

After one more lap, Wu Shi will be able to directly attack Ferrari.

On lap 13, Eriksen spun out, went straight up the wall, and crashed into the pit lane entrance, immediately triggering a yellow flag.

Verstappen sped into the pit lane before the red light came on and successfully changed to a semi-wet tire.

"No need to enter the station."

Wu Shi responded to Jonathan that the difference between full-weather tires and partial-weather tires is not that significant.

But Ricardo, who was further back, chose to enter the station, only to find that the red light had come on as soon as he did.

On lap 14, the safety car was activated again, and Uncle Melander returned to the track.

At this point, Hamilton was in the lead, Rosberg was second, Kimi was third, Wu Shi was fourth, Verstappen was fifth, and Hulkenberg was sixth.

On lap 17, the wreckage of the race car was cleared, but the conditions on the track were even worse.

Kvyat and Bottas both pitted again to switch back to full wet tires.

On lap 20, even though the track conditions had not improved, the safety car was still removed, as no one wanted to see the safety car finish the race.

When the race resumed, on the straight, Wu Shi once again bravely accelerated to get closer to Kimi.

However, just as he had gone halfway, Kimi suddenly slipped and veered to the right at a speed of 250 kph.

Swish!
Wu Shi narrowly escaped being affected.

Verstappen, who was arriving from behind, almost collided head-on with Kimi, who was stopped on the track, in the rain and fog.

Verstappen himself was thankful for slipping while accelerating from a standstill, which allowed him to slow down a bit after regaining control of the car; otherwise, he might have crashed head-on.

Even though Verstappen avoided it, Hulkenberg behind him still collided with Kimi's fallen front wing.

Debris splashed in the rain.

In the repair area, Uncle Melander hadn't even picked up his thermos before he had to go back to work.

Because of the accident that occurred on the main straight, it would be extremely dangerous to start the crane, so all vehicles moved to the fast lane of the pit lane to rest.

Wu Shi parked his car behind Rosberg, and Verstappen followed behind him.

After Kimi crashed, Vettel couldn't help but shout in the radio that the current track conditions were completely unsuitable for racing.

Indeed, this was the case; even Kimi, a recognized expert in rain racing, slipped on the straight, which was simply unbelievable.

Of course, some commentators believe that Wu Shi was pushing him too hard.

Wu Shi got out of the car, unsure whether the competition would continue.

"Change to full-weather tires?" Jonathan asked.

“Yes, even with full wet tires, it’s still a struggle. Our race car is struggling much more than the others,” Wu Shi said.

“Understood, safety is the top priority.” Jonathan nodded.

Meanwhile, the race organizers announced that Ricciardo was penalized with a 5-second time penalty for entering the pit lane when it was prohibited.

After waiting in the pit lane for a while, the Williams team received news that the race would continue.

“We need to get in the car first,” Jonathan said.

"What preparations are needed?" Wu Shi asked.

“There’s too much fuel, and it’s being used up just to keep the engine running. There are also some settings that need to be adjusted, and quite a few teams are debating this,” Jonathan said.

Twenty minutes later, at 4:07, the organizers announced their decision to restart the competition.

At 4:21, the race restarted, led by the safety car.

All riders were equipped with blue full-weather tires.

However, the track conditions remained very poor.

On lap 28, Hamilton indicated that the track was ready to be reopened, and his tone was quite impatient.

It's like driving on the far left of a highway and being blocked by a car traveling at 80 km/h.

But on lap 29, the race flag was raised again, and the crowd erupted in boos.

What should have been a great F1 race has turned into a spectator endurance race, and these spectators are waiting in the rain!

At 4:37, the convoy returned to the maintenance area.

The match resumed at 5 p.m. sharp.

The safety car will still be needed, but after careful consideration, the race organizers decided to restart the race on lap 32.

Wu Shi and Verstappen were both using this time to drive off the track, outside the racing lines, to get information about the track's grip.

At Turn 10, Wu Shi was even seen coming to Rosberg's side from the outside, while Verstappen came to Wu Shi's side from an even further outside.

This really made Rosberg break out in a cold sweat. He could accept third place, but he absolutely could not accept fourth place!

Even if he finishes fourth in this race, as long as he gets second in the next race, he will still be one point ahead of Hamilton.

But he didn't want to carry the variables to the next stop.

On lap 32, the race finally restarted.

This time, Rosberg was pressured from behind and didn't dare to relax, so he maintained a very close following distance from the old man.

As the old man stepped on the gas, the drivers behind him sped up one after another.

On the straightaway, Williams had a clear advantage, but Wu Shi still wanted to drive in from the inside.

But Rosberg firmly opposed it.

Rainy weather is different from sunny weather. Rosberg's defensive maneuvers immediately exposed his weakness at Turn 2, causing him to drift slightly as he exited the corner.

But Rosberg also displayed extraordinary ruthlessness in his pursuit of the world championship.

He completely disregarded Wu Shi's position behind him and relentlessly pressed towards the inside, leaving absolutely no space. But then, an astonishing scene unfolded.

Wu Shi and Verstappen were linked up one after the other, accelerating wildly on the outside of Turn 3.

Their cars seemed unaffected by the rain, and they were even faster than Rosberg on the inside!

As they exited the corner, a Williams and a Red Bull both roared to life.

Roar!
Wu Shi's acceleration was the fastest in the entire field; he was able to keep the tires in the position just before they lost grip.

Verstappen was slightly slower, but still much faster than Rosberg.

"Oh! Wu Shi and Verstappen have overtaken Rosberg! The two of them together overtook Rosberg on the outside of Curva do Sol!"

The commentator was also stunned by this scene.

The outer track we just saw was one that no other race car had ever driven on!

Nobody knows why these two people dared to walk on that path.

On the straights, Williams still had enough speed, and in the corners, as long as he found the spot with the strongest grip, Wu Shi was still able to keep up with the pace.

Verstappen looked at the rear of the white race car in front of him and thought of that distant rainy day after Wu Shi won the Silverstone three-peat in F3.

The scene shows the two driving the Silvia S14 and having a blast on a completely wet track.

His earliest memory is from the go-karting era, when he had to watch Wu Shi drive from behind every time it rained.

At that time, the routes that Wu Shi had taken could still serve as a reference for him.

But now, the two vehicles are completely different in nature, so he can no longer refer to Wu Shi's route.

But now, he no longer needs to refer to it!

Buzzing sound!
Two race cars sped recklessly across the rain-soaked ground, leaving long trails of spray.

Sensing Verstappen's change of direction behind him, Wu Shi immediately realized that Verstappen wanted to attack.

Williams' mechanical grip is nowhere near as good as Red Bull's, which naturally makes cornering more difficult.

But this disadvantage is not important to him.

Swish!
Wu Shi's driving became increasingly extreme and erratic; he clearly remembered every possible surface he could drive over.

Hamilton, who was ahead, was unable to widen the gap for the time being.

On lap 37, Wu Shi even closed the gap to 0.7 seconds behind Hamilton!
At this moment, Hamilton's TR started playing at an inopportune time.

"Lewis, Wu Shi is 0.7 seconds behind you, push!"

Hamilton immediately yelled in the radio, "Don't interfere with my driving! Don't interfere with me! ****!"

After being reassigned to a different car crew, Bono was no longer his track engineer, and he became even more ruthless and unrestrained.

This track engineer is practically trying to ruin his race!

Rainy day, push?

Hamilton felt as if he had returned to last year, when as long as Wu Shi caught up with him, the white-clad Williams was like a white ghost!
His breathing became heavier, and his initial excitement at Wu Shi and Verstappen both surpassing Rosberg turned cold again.

Rosberg had one chance to finish fourth, but he had no chance at all; he had to win every single title to have even a sliver of a chance to win the world championship!
Swish!
laugh!
On lap 38, Verstappen skidded after turning 15, almost repeating Eriksson's accident!

But with an almost instinctive reaction, he made the car drift and head towards the straight, and then at the most crucial moment, he released the brakes and stepped on the gas!
Swish!
With the torque output from the rear wheels, the car managed to regain grip for a brief moment and return to the track!

Verstappen saved the car!

“Max made a mistake. He got caught up with Rosberg and couldn’t catch up to you,” Jonathan said.

Verstappen faced Rosberg's attack once again.

However, at Turn 3, Verstappen used the same tactic again, taking the outside line to widen the gap between himself and Rosberg!
Despite his mistake, he still managed to hold onto his second-place position.

Rosberg can't catch up at all!
Further ahead, another Mercedes driver was also suffering.

Hamilton was under immense pressure from Wu Shi.

But on lap 40, the track dried out, and Ricciardo pitted for semi-wet tires.

Shortly after, he set a new fastest lap, which meant the track conditions were even better!

The lap time on semi-wet tires will be much faster than on full-wet tires!
On lap 44, Verstappen pitted for tires without hesitation.

"Shall we go into the station?" Jonathan asked.

"No, the track is not fully restored!"

Wu Shi immediately said that the raindrops hitting the car made him more aware than anyone else of the real-time changes in the rain's intensity.

Sure enough, on lap 45, Button, wearing half-weather tires, said in the TR that the drifting was too severe and the half-weather tires could not drain the water completely, so he needed full-weather tires.

On lap 46, Wu Shi briefly took the lead at turn 3, but was then pulled away by Mercedes, who had better grip on the way out of the corner.

This thrilling scene left Hamilton sweating, but everyone else was filled with anticipation.

Rosberg was looking forward to it, and the people at Mercedes seemed to share a similar expectation.

Needless to say, Williams and the Brazilian audience, Massa's teammates, also loved him because of him!
On lap 47, the rain intensified, and Wu Shi once again closed in on Hamilton, but his cornering performance was still a bit lacking; otherwise, he could have overtaken him!

Wu Shi was not discouraged. He believed that as long as he kept pressing and threatening, he would always be able to seize the opportunity!

When you can't overtake the car in front, you should use this method to attack its mentality, causing it to break down step by step, and finally give up its position after making a mistake!

Wu Shi stared intently at the Mercedes-Benz Arena; he hadn't won a single race this year!
But at this moment, Masa, who was performing his last dance in his hometown, ended up dancing on the wall.

The safety car came out again, Hamilton breathed a sigh of relief, and Wu Shi sighed.

Massa emerged from the wrecked race car, his eyes filled with a sense of desolation and confusion, yet he had no choice but to drape the national flag, which had been prepared beforehand, over his shoulders.

He returned to the pit lane to say goodbye to the Ferrari crew—he was one of the few drivers who went to Ferrari as a junior driver and almost helped Ferrari win the championship.

The camera focused on Massa.

Meanwhile, the rain in Brazil was getting heavier and heavier.

On the track, the semi-weather tires became ineffective, and it was necessary to switch back to full-weather tires.

Verstappen was unable to remain on the track on lap 54 and had to pit for blue tires.

The race restarted on lap 56.

Wu Shi wanted to seize the opportunity to attack the old man. He rushed through the rain and fog, relying entirely on his knowledge of the track to get close to the old man.

At Turn 1, he braked too late and was about to hit Hamilton's rear.

This allowed him to quickly make up for the initial gap.

He then turned into Turn 2, and because the line didn't need to be close to the inside line at all, he sprinted forward carelessly, like he was driving a go-kart.

Getting closer and closer, the front wing is nearing the rear wheel, and the front wheel is approaching the sidepod.
Swish!
As the car exited the corner, Mercedes' enhanced grip and power delivery rendered Wu Shi's attempt to close the gap futile once again.

The old man also made full use of his driving skills in the rain.

"Oh! Wu Shi has missed his chance again, but he will still catch up with Lewis and will challenge him again!"

As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the camera panned from front to back to Verstappen.

After switching to full wet tires, Verstappen started in 14th place.

However, his speed was astonishing, climbing rapidly at a rate of eliminating one person per lap.

The players blocking his way—Gutierrez, Bottas, Ricardo, Kvyat, Ocon, Nasr, and Hulkenberg—all looked like clueless novices.

Verstappen drove F1 like a go-kart in the rain in Brazil, as if every road was a wide track and every corner was a place to overtake.

Susu!

Four-time champion Vettel was no match for him either, and was easily overtaken on lap 66.

Following closely behind were Sainz and Perez, who were even less of a challenge.

On lap 69, Verstappen returned to fifth place.

Ahead of him was Rosberg, who was 10 seconds ahead. He had no chance left, but these last 16 laps would be enough.

Swish!
Verstappen chased for 16 laps, while Hamilton also completed 16 laps without making a single mistake under extremely high pressure.

He crossed the finish line and cheered excitedly in the TR.

This victory seems more worthy of celebration than any of his previous wins.

"Today we witnessed the brilliant performances of two of the strongest new generation, one is Wu Shi, and the other is Max Verstappen!"

The commentary, combined with the cheers of the audience, made the Brazilian Grand Prix a relatively successful event.

Although the spectators were soaked in the rain all afternoon, it was all worth it to see the drivers compete so fiercely in the rain.

In particular, Verstappen overtook his way from 14th to 4th in just 13 laps, which is truly unbelievable.

After this game, Hamilton narrowed the gap to 11 points, closing the gap with Rosberg to 10 points.

This is still a disheartening number, and it's almost certain that Rosberg will secure the final victory.

In the post-match interviews, Wu Shi and Verstappen received significant attention.

However, the reporter's question quickly went astray for Wu Shi.

"Wu Shi, congratulations on reaching the podium. You had a chance to win, which would have made Rosberg a more decisive step toward becoming a world champion. Is that why you didn't surpass Hamilton?"

“On the track, I will only resolve all issues fairly. Your question is undoubtedly questioning my professionalism as a driver,” Wu Shi replied, frowning.

The difficulty of this question lies in the fact that you can't remain silent; if you don't speak up, conspiracy theories will spring up.

And that's how the Grand Prix came to Abu Dhabi.

This is the longest season in F1 history.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have shared almost all the wins this year, and the two are now only 11 points apart.

At first glance, Rosberg could easily win his first world championship.

Even if Hamilton wins, he would only need to be satisfied with finishing second or third.

Therefore, his fate was in his own hands.

In reality, Hamilton was more at peace, perhaps because he had nothing to lose.

Rosberg is worried that reliability issues could ruin the entire season, just like what he experienced in Abu Dhabi in 2014.

Furthermore, if he can win the championship, he needs to win it.

Many people now believe that Hamilton's engine failure in Malaysia gifted Rosberg a world championship.

If he wins the race here, then this argument becomes irrelevant.

Hamilton and Rosberg no longer speak to each other and never mention each other in the media.

When Wu Shi met Rosberg again, he felt that the German was in a very bad mental state.

Before this year's F1 Grand Prix came to a close, GP2 and GP3 had already concluded.

Gasly won the championship in GP2.

In GP3, Leclerc won the championship, while Albon finished third, 25 points behind.

As expected, Mercedes led the qualifying race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

During the pre-race event, Button and Massa, two drivers who are about to retire, hugged and kissed in front of the cameras, which seemed to signify the gradual end of that era.

Of course, Hamilton, a contemporary of his, remains strong and still has the opportunity to win the world championship again.

At the start of the race, Mercedes seemed to have resolved their starting issues and maintained their position.

But after stopping, Verstappen cut between the two Mercedes.

Rosberg then spotted another driver who gave him a headache.

Compared to Wu Shi, he was actually more afraid of Verstappen.

Because Wu Shi always had a backup plan for any attempt he made, and he wanted to avoid any collisions.

However, Rosberg believes that Vettel's description of Kvyat as a "torpedo" is also very fitting for the Red Bull driver who succeeded Kvyat.

However, during his competition with Wu Shi, he had already figured out how to deal with such a gifted driver.

By leveraging the advantages of racing, as long as we persevere, we will eventually find an opportunity.

Sure enough, he eventually overtook Verstappen and was able to chase Hamilton.

However, just as Rosberg was about to catch up with Hamilton, Hamilton suddenly slowed down.

Toto immediately sent someone to tell Hamilton to speed up and pull away.

Hamilton firmly refused, which greatly angered Toto.

With Hamilton pulling away, Vettel, who had overtaken Verstappen, has caught up.

Even at the end, Vettel was about to surpass Rosberg.

Ultimately, however, the fellow countryman was willing to help him, and Vettel did not launch a fierce attack on Rosberg.

The final Grand Prix of 2016 ended with Mercedes taking home one or two spots.

Rosberg, on the other hand, won the 2016 world championship with a 4-point advantage.

This time, the donut was drawn by Rosberg on the Abu Dhabi Straight.

On the podium, Hamilton surprisingly displayed his "generosity," praising Rosberg for running exceptionally well.

The two of them hugged each other, a rare occurrence for them.

The season ended amidst cheers and sighs.

Throughout the year, Mercedes achieved 19 victories and 20 pole positions, which is simply unbelievable.

Under Mercedes' dominance, even the outstanding performances of Wu Shi and Verstappen are not enough to make the team attractive.

The end of one year's competition marks the beginning of another.

Five days after winning the world championship title, Nico Rosberg suddenly announced his retirement.

(End of this chapter)