F1: In Ferrari, Schumacher at the start.

Melbourne, Australia.

In March, it was early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, but the sun in Albert Park was still so bright it was almost blinding.

Compared to the endless rain in Britain, the air here has a lazy and warm feel to it.

Lin Feng, dragging a suitcase with the Williams Racing logo and wearing black sunglasses, slowly swiped his card and walked into the F1 paddock.

As soon as he stepped into the Williams motorcade's reception area, Chloe, the team's public relations manager, came up to him, panting and carrying a cardboard box, in high heels.

"God, Lin, you're finally here! Quickly take this thing away. The security personnel checked it three times and insisted that it contained some kind of mysterious red chemical weapon!" Chloe shoved the heavy cardboard box into Lin Feng's arms without any regard for appearances, shaking her aching arms.

Lin Feng was suddenly pulled down by the weight of the box. Looking down, he saw the logo of a well-known domestic courier company printed on the box.

He knows what's inside without even opening it.

"Sorry Chloe, this is my spiritual sustenance. Without it, I might faint in the cockpit from malnutrition this weekend."

Lin Feng held the suitcase in one hand, took out his phone with the other, and took a very perfunctory selfie with the suitcase and the Williams blue and white reception area background behind him.

Then open Douyin (TikTok) and skillfully edit the text:

Arrived safely in Melbourne. Thanks to the kind netizens and generous sponsors for their generosity. Although this box of supplies severely damaged my aerodynamic shape, I've decided to use it as ballast. See you this weekend!

Click to send, and it flows smoothly.

Since his last video criticizing British food went viral, Lin Feng has become quite adept at sharing this kind of everyday content.

Zhou Kai told him that his account now has over three million active followers, making him a top influencer in the Chinese F1 community. Brands, seeing this incredible conversion rate, are lining up with their checkbooks, waiting for him to return to China.

Lin Feng carried the box toward the lounge. As soon as he pushed open the glass door, he bumped into a curly-haired young man carrying a strange cup.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! It's my fault!"

The young man, speaking English with a heavy Spanish accent, frantically tried to protect the wooden round cup with a metal straw in his hand, the green, pasty liquid inside almost spilling onto Lin Feng's brand-new team uniform.

Lin Feng steadied himself and looked at the Latin American young man in front of him, who was wearing a Williams uniform and had a bright smile on his face.

"Franco?" Lin Feng raised an eyebrow.

"Hey! It's me! Franco Clapinto!" The young man, recognizing the man before him, excitedly freed one hand to wipe it haphazardly on his clothes, then grabbed Lin Feng's hand and shook it vigorously. "My God, Lin! We met in F2! I've watched the video of you single-handedly defending Verstappen in Jeddah at least twenty times! That was insane, bro!"

Looking at the enthusiastic young Argentinian man in front of him, who was as warm as a golden retriever, Lin Feng couldn't help but smile.

Franco Clapinto is the current official reserve driver for the Williams team.

"Where's Logan? Didn't he come with the convoy yesterday?" Lin Feng asked casually as he placed the heavy cardboard box on the table.

When asked about his former driver, Franco shrugged: "Logan went to race in the WEC. James helped him get a job with the Ford team. Logan was quite happy when he left. He said that the cars in endurance racing are heavier and have more downforce, so he no longer has to worry about accidentally spinning out of a corner if he just steps on the accelerator."

Lin Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Although Sargent's performance in F1 was abysmal, he was actually quite popular, and running endurance races might actually be a better fit for him.

"What are you drinking? It looks like a cup of crushed herbs." Lin Feng pointed to the wooden cup in Franco's hand.

"Mate! The soul drink of Argentina!" Franco immediately handed over the cup like a treasure. "It's invigorating, all-natural, and much more effective than Red Bull. Messi drinks this every day. Want a sip? I just wiped the straw."

Lin Feng looked at the cup of paste-like substance that resembled a green belt, shook his head decisively, then turned around and took out a red-capped glass jar from the cardboard box he had brought, slamming it grandly on the table.

"No need, brother. Try this instead, it's a mysterious power from the East."

Franco leaned closer curiously, looking at the serious-looking Chinese woman's portrait printed on the glass jar: "What's this? Jam?"

"If you spread Lao Gan Ma chili sauce on bread or mix it into bland spaghetti, it can improve your lap time by 0.5 seconds," Lin Feng said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.

Just as the two were having a friendly cross-cultural exchange over a bottle of chili sauce and a cup of mate tea, the long-lost system suddenly rang in Lin Feng's mind.

[Ding! Host detected to have arrived at the competition venue.]

[Weekend Task Released: Albert Park's Debut]

[Mission Objective 1: In tomorrow's qualifying session, drive the FW46 car into Q3 (top ten)!]

[Mission Objective 2: Finish in the points bracket during Sunday's main race!]

[Task Reward: 2000 System Points, [Random Mercedes Power Unit Blueprint Fragment] x1.]

[Failure penalty: 500 points will be deducted.]

Lin Feng whistled in his heart.

Driving this Williams, currently second to last in the paddock, into the Q3?

The tasks assigned by the system this time were as simple, brutal, and ruthless as ever. If it were the previous system, let alone Q3, we would be lucky to avoid being eliminated in Q1.

But now...

"Come on, Franco. Take me to the garage to see my new toy." Lin Feng patted the Argentinian lad on the shoulder.

The two men crossed the paddock and arrived at the pit garage of the Williams team.

The garage was a hive of activity, with mechanics performing final assembly and electronic system self-checks before the race car hit the ground. The piercing sound of pneumatic wrenches mingled with the engineers shouting out data.

Paul, Lin Feng's competition engineer, was standing in front of the control panel, staring at the dense telemetry data on the screen. When he saw Lin Feng walk in, he immediately waved.

"Good afternoon, Lin. The car has been retuned according to the setup you provided in the simulator." Paul's expression was still somewhat worried. "The front suspension geometry has been slightly adjusted, the anti-roll bar has been softened, and the front wing camber angle has been increased. But the weather station said there might be gusts of wind in Melbourne these days, and I'm worried that this setup will make the car less stable in high-speed corners."

"How can you drive fast if you're not a bit crazy?" Lin Feng said with a smile as he walked to car number 28.

The mechanics had just fastened the carbon fiber engine cover when the entire race car exuded a sharp, ready-to-go aura.

"Can I come in and sit for a bit? To get a feel for the sitting posture?" Lin Feng asked.

"Of course, the battery has been disconnected, so you can perform the usual pedal and steering wheel tests." Paul nodded.

Lin Feng, supporting himself with one hand on the Halo protective ring, nimbly slid into the narrow cockpit, skillfully connected the radio communication cable, and the mechanic handed him the steering wheel, which clicked onto the steering column.

"Radio test. Paul, can you hear me?"

"Very clear, Lin."

"Please turn on the power. I'll test the pedal travel and the feedback from the paddle shifters."

As Paul pressed a few buttons on the console, the LCD screen on the steering wheel lit up instantly, and rows of colorful LED tachometer lights flashed.

Lin Feng closed his eyes and gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands.

[Legendary Chassis Tuning Mastery] is passively triggered at this moment.

He felt connected to the machine at that moment, able to sense the height of the chassis, the tightness of the suspension, and even imagine the force of the brake calipers engaging the carbon fiber brake discs through the brake pedal.

The chassis feedback was perfect, exactly as he had set in the simulator; it was soft at the beginning and very resilient at the end, which greatly alleviated the problem of understeer when cornering.

but……

Lin Feng suddenly frowned. He lightly tapped the accelerator pedal a few times with his toes, then quickly pulled the downshift paddles on the back of the steering wheel with his left hand.

There's an inexplicable sense of unease about it.

"Paul," Lin Feng opened his eyes, staring at the gear selector on the steering wheel screen, "Isn't there something wrong with our electronic brake-by-wire system, and the energy recovery system in the MGU-K when downshifting and rev-matching?"

Paul, who was standing next to him, was stunned for a moment. He quickly looked down at the computer screen and typed a few words rapidly on the keyboard.

"Something's wrong? No, Lin, the system self-check is all green lights, and the MGU-K's torque output curve perfectly matches the benchmark data provided by Mercedes' engine department." Paul looked up, puzzled. "You haven't even started the engine, how can you think there's something wrong with the MGU-K?"

Lin Feng did not answer immediately.

He then applied the brakes several times in succession, while simultaneously downshifting.

With his top-notch chassis perception, he always felt that in the fraction of a second of downshifting during heavy braking, there was an extremely faint lag coming from the rear of the chassis.

It's as if the engine's braking force and the brake disc's braking force are not perfectly synchronized, causing the rear wheels to experience an unnecessary dragging sensation for a moment.

However, since he has not yet acquired any skills related to the [Power Unit], his senses are very vague and he cannot provide precise data to pinpoint the problem like he would when tuning a chassis.

"Maybe it's just my imagination," Lin Feng muttered to himself.

"It's nothing, Paul. Maybe I'm being too sensitive. The pedal damping in the simulator is slightly different from that in the real car." Lin Feng released the pedal and spoke into the radio, "For tomorrow's practice session, we'll run a long distance on medium tires to test this new suspension. As for the braking and downshifting issues, I'll get a feel for it on the track tomorrow and then give you feedback."

"No problem, Lin, you're in charge." Paul breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, this old-school British engineer was under immense pressure facing this genius who could overturn the car's tuning and start over at the drop of a hat.

Lin Feng climbed out of the cockpit and patted the vehicle.

At that moment, Alexander Albon strolled over from the garage next door, wearing the same team uniform and holding a track briefing.

"Hey Lin. How's it going? Is this car more difficult to handle than you thought?" Alben greeted him with a smile.

"It's alright, Alex. At least the steering wheel is round and there are four wheels." Lin Feng shrugged.

Albon chuckled: "Good attitude. I heard from Paul that you used an extremely aggressive setup. Good luck, and if you drift at Turn 11 tomorrow, I'll be laughing at you on the radio."

"If you can see me in your rearview mirror, feel free to laugh," Lin Feng retorted without any politeness.

The two looked at each other, smiled, and gave each other a high five.

The atmosphere was very harmonious.

As evening fell, the setting sun bathed the Melbourne paddock in a brilliant golden-red hue.

Lin Feng sat on the terrace outside the team's rest room, enjoying the sea breeze. In front of him was a plate of boiled chicken breast and whole wheat bread, carefully prepared by the team's nutritionist.

Under the astonished gaze of several staff members in the convoy, Lin Feng calmly unscrewed the cap of the Lao Gan Ma chili sauce bottle, scooped out a full spoonful of chili oil, and spread it evenly on the dry bread.

Clapinto, sipping his mate tea, said, "Lin, are you sure this diet won't upset your stomach during tomorrow's game?"

"You don't understand, Franco." Lin Feng took a bite of bread smeared with chili oil and sighed contentedly. "This is a mysterious power from the East. After this meal, I'll be even more awesome tomorrow."

He picked up his phone, took a picture of the plate, and uploaded it to social media again.

The copy is only a few simple words:

See you tomorrow morning on FP1.