Chapter 100 - 30: Three Consecutive Wins

Chapter 100: Chapter 30: Three Consecutive Wins

Alan heard Wu Shi’s reply and frowned. The championship was indeed important, but if it came at the risk of retiring from the race, it would be better to stay on the track and secure the points. However, out of respect for the driver with two consecutive wins, he still went to check the data.

The current telemetry from the engine indicated that it was overheating. Furthermore, the flow rate in the fuel lines was too fast, resulting in incomplete combustion. If this continued, it would lead to carbon buildup, horsepower loss, and even engine seizure.

Wu Shi TR: "Don’t look at the detection data for the engine and fuel lines. Look at the intake, exhaust, horsepower..."

Hearing this TR, Alan was forced to double-check. Then, something strange happened. Logically, the issues shown in the engine data should have affected those areas, but as it turned out, the monitoring data for all those parts was completely normal!

Alan TR: "Maintain engine power. Go for another three laps."

If no problem could be found, they might as well keep running.

The crew members now began pulling data from the sensors across the car to compile and analyze, as the current situation was truly bizarre. Three minutes later, the data analyst told Alan, "I suspect the sensors for the engine and the fuel lines are broken."

Alan leaned on the table with one hand and pinched his chin with the other. A few seconds later, he shook his head and said, "How is he so sure there’s nothing wrong with the car?"

"Instinct?" someone said, half-doubting.

"I don’t know, but as long as the car is fine. He is maintaining his lead, and that’s enough," Alan nodded.

Wu Shi’s leading pace was always smooth and flawless. Over the next three laps, he steadily widened the gap to second place, and upon pulling more than a second ahead, maintained a steady cruising speed.

The competition in the pack behind him, however, was particularly fierce. Verstappen, in particular, already had a fire burning in his heart. He was incredibly aggressive, constantly embroiled in dogfights as he sought to improve his position. The commentators’ attention was also fixed entirely on him.

"Whoa! Max is following very closely. I feel like his driving style is particularly aggressive this race. He is right on Bromquist’s tail, looking to overtake!

"He’s closing in fast! Is he trying to pull out on the straight and dive down the inside? Bromquist isn’t defending!

"Oh! He doesn’t have enough distance; it was just a feint! It seems Bromquist didn’t fall for it.

"But Max hasn’t given up! He switches back to the outside, sticking close to Brom. Now he dives down the inside again! Brom still isn’t defending! Max is in! They are wheel-to-wheel through the corner!"

Relying on his superior cornering control, Verstappen stabilized his car and piled the pressure on Bromquist. This kind of wheel-to-wheel passion rarely lasted more than a second; aside from their premeditated ideas, the drivers’ maneuvers were mostly dictated by sheer instinct.

In a flash, Verstappen surprisingly seized the advantage on corner exit. Before entering the next turn, he quickly switched lanes and took the optimal line for corner entry.

"Max has successfully overtaken Brom! A brilliant pass!"

"We can see he has now moved up to fourth place, trailing O’connor by a mere 0.4 seconds. Moreover, Verstappen is faster than O’connor in the second sector. With ten laps left in the race, he is still closing the gap!"

Over the next two laps, Verstappen continued to pick up his pace, beating O’connor by more than 0.1 seconds in both the second and third sectors. With only eight laps remaining, he stayed glued to O’connor’s gearbox and launched an attack at Turn 13.

The two cars crisscrossed through the next few corners like they were dancing together. As they entered the final corner, Verstappen had already stuck his front wheels down the inside, aggressively squeezing O’connor.

O’connor refused to yield an inch, squeezing right back. Their front and rear wheels instantly made contact. As white smoke billowed up, Verstappen quickly pulled his car away to avoid taking them both out.

On the Great Straight that followed, he tried again. O’connor weaved to break the tow, and Verstappen mirrored him. Approaching Turn 15, he was still blocked behind. But O’connor’s momentum seemed to have waned; as they neared the corner, he took the middle line to defend, while Verstappen executed a flawless "slow in, fast out," aggressively diving in from the outside.

Their differing decisions on corner entry resulted in a time delta, allowing Verstappen to seize the lead position directly upon corner exit. Having secured this spot, he rapidly forced O’connor toward the left track edge, which further slowed O’connor down.

WHOOSH!

Finally, Verstappen completed the overtake, moving up to third place on the track. There were only five laps left in the race.

He was a full four seconds behind Focca ahead of him, a gap that was impossible to close. Meanwhile, Focca was a full two seconds behind Wu Shi, which was also an insurmountable gap.

Thus, a strange scene unfolded on the track: the gaps between the top three cars were large enough to fit two or three cars in between, while the midfield pack behind them was tightly bunched up, with intense dogfights breaking out frequently. The trailing pack at the very back was sparse and strung out.

Sean, currently in dead last, had already been lapped. The front wing of his car was loose, and he was barely keeping it on the track, making him far slower than everyone else. As for Goddard in second to last, Wu Shi could already see the rear of his car.

As the race entered the final three laps, aside from the five tightly packed cars in the midfield, the rest of the order had settled down.

Over five minutes later, Wu Shi rounded Turn 18 and saw the checkered flag and the finish line.

WHOOSH!

He dashed across, claiming victory in the third race!

"Whoa! Wu has clinched the championship once again, securing three consecutive wins at Silverstone! It’s unbelievable that, as the youngest driver on the grid, he has actually accomplished this feat!"

The race took a total of 34:10.233. During the final in-lap, Wu Shi breathed a soft sigh of relief. Driving at a leisurely pace, he turned into the pit lane. The cars behind him followed him in an orderly fashion. Many team members were already packing their gear.

After parking the car, Wu Shi climbed out. He turned around to see Louise standing nearby. Flipping up his visor, he stepped forward to hug her.

"Congratulations! A three-time champion!" Louise said happily.

"How about that? I kept my word, didn’t I?" Wu Shi replied.

"Yeah!" Louise nodded emphatically.

Afterward, Wu Shi went over to high-five and shake hands with his crew. Taking off his helmet, he put on the baseball cap Alan handed him. The front of the cap featured the Han Tai logo, while the side bore a "1st" emblem.

"Get ready to head to the podium," Alan patted his shoulder.

"This will be my third time going up there, hahaha," Wu Shi said happily.

"Exactly! And there will be at least eighteen more times after this!" Alan said, fired up.

Stepping onto the second-floor podium, Wu Shi looked down at the cheering crowd, his face plastered with a massive smile.

Then Focca came up. He walked over, held out his hand, and the two high-fived.

"You’re too good, whether it’s here or in Florida!" Focca sighed with emotion.

"Haha, I’m flattered. You’re very strong too. We crushed a bunch of veterans together, after all," Wu Shi laughed.

Verstappen finished in third. As he walked up, he adjusted his cap, struggling to suppress the grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. He looked at Wu Shi, who was already on the podium, and said, "See? I did it!"

"Of course you did. I heard from Alan that your overtakes were quite spectacular!"

With all three podium finishers on stage, a thunderous round of applause erupted from below. The race official then announced the next stage of the ceremony.

As his voice faded, the sound of an anthem began to play. Wu Shi took off his cap, and the other two followed suit. Behind them, three national flags slowly rose. The red flag took the center, flanked by a tricolor flag on each side.