Chapter 109 - 38: What Do You Think of Him?

Chapter 109: Chapter 38: What Do You Think of Him?

Dust and shredded grass kicked up into the air. Just as he was about to merge onto the track, he glanced at the five cars beside him and had a really bad feeling.

He thought, "It’s a tiny corner, why the hell are five cars lining up side-by-side?!"

He hurriedly turned the steering wheel even wider, completely abandoning any intention of entering the track. Sure enough, just as they exited the corner, those cars inevitably caused a pile-up. The unluckiest car lost control entirely and slid onto the grass, while another spun 360 degrees on the spot, putting on a full display of itself.

The affected cars all started crowding toward the outside of the track, trying to avoid the crash. Wu Shi, having anticipated this scene, didn’t hesitate to accelerate, crushing his way across the grass and straight onto the asphalt.

Although he avoided the wreck, the cars with better track positions had long since run ahead of him. After all that back and forth, he was still in eighth place!

He wasn’t affected by these events. He kept driving and steadily approached the hairpin turn, the slowest corner on the entire circuit. Once there, as all the cars slowed down, the track became crowded once again.

Wu Shi carefully decelerated, hitting the innermost apex. However, due to the blockage on the outside, he couldn’t quickly move to the exterior line, so he didn’t overtake anyone. To secure a faster exit speed, he continuously squeezed outward until he forced his opponent onto the curb. Only after his car’s nose had fully turned did he stop pushing.

Right at that moment, the five cars from fourth down to his eighth place were clumped together. Everyone had just exited the slow corner and was stuck in second gear, looking exactly like a rolling start formation.

Wu Shi was the first to feel his grip return. He steadied the steering wheel with his left hand, while his right hand quickly twisted the dial in the center, switching the engine power to qualifying mode. Then, he slammed the gas pedal and cranked up the revs.

VROOM VROOM!

The car’s burst of acceleration responded with immense agility. After a flawless rev-match, the staggering power was delivered straight to the tires. The friction between the rubber and the asphalt generated a reactive force that propelled the race car fiercely forward!

VROOM ROAR!

Relying on his god-like gear shifting and the far more aggressive engine power, Wu Shi quickly seized the initiative, pulling right up alongside the fourth-place car.

Alan TR: "Do not adjust the engine power on your own, it will bring serious hidden dangers!"

Why could the qualifying power of so many cars only be used during qualifying? That was naturally because, in qualifying, a hot lap was followed by a cool-down lap. After a few laps, they would drive straight into the pit lane for maintenance. If those subsequent conditions weren’t met and the engine was pushed this brutally, an engine blowout was just waiting to happen!

Wu Shi knew his limits as well. He understood that the opportunity just now was rare, which was why he pulled such a maneuver. Having secured his advantage, he had already dialed the engine power back down.

The camera mounted on his T-cam captured this entire sequence of operations perfectly.

After issuing his warning, Alan couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. "In such a complex situation just now, he actually still had the mental bandwidth to adjust the engine power."

Adjusting the car’s settings while driving wasn’t a huge challenge. The hard part was that he was able to think of and execute the adjustment on his own, without any team instructions and completely outside of standard operational procedures. This proved that his recent move was a purely improvisational reaction.

Such sharp situational awareness and precise execution didn’t look like the work of an F3 rookie at all. Then again, did anything about Wu Shi’s performance these past few days resemble a rookie?

On the track, Wu Shi, running side-by-side with the fourth-place driver, was alone on the right side of the pack. Since the next corner was a right-hander, he had inherently claimed the inside line. Therefore, he executed a late braking maneuver without hesitation. This completely blocked the fourth-place driver’s entry path, forcing him to brake late and reduce his speed as well.

SCREECH!!!

White smoke billowed from Wu Shi’s tires. Just like before, the tires hovered right on the very edge of locking up without actually doing so. By the time he brought his speed down enough to enter the corner, the sixth and seventh-place cars were surprisingly all sticking to the racing line, completely devoid of any intention to attack the two of them.

Truth be told, this was F3 at this point in time—the skill levels were extremely uneven. He could guarantee that if Verstappen were in sixth place, he absolutely would have shoved his way onto the inside line by now.

After all, to disrupt the fourth-place driver’s cornering, Wu Shi had pushed outward with considerable force. This meant his inside line through the turn was only one car width tighter than the outside line. By the time the nose of his car carved into the corner, he had already completed his steering.

VROOM VROOM!!!

The race car engine roared.

"Whoa! Unbelievable! Wu has moved up to fourth place! He used the sequence of two corners to overtake four opponents directly!"

The commentator kept shouting about how unbelievable it all was, completely forgetting how to actually cast the ongoing situation.

"YEAH!!!"

In Italy, Louise, who was sitting in front of the TV, jumped straight out of her seat and turned to her friend. "Did you see that?! Did you see that?! I told you he would be able to overtake them!"

"Yes, yes, yes, Wu Shi is the best," Ophelia yawned, having been dragged along to watch the race.

She wondered why this racing stuff was even worth watching. Wasn’t it just a bunch of cars going VROOM VROOM in circles? When Wu Shi overtook a car, wasn’t it simply because the others were slow and he just passed them? Where was the difficulty in that? Ophelia couldn’t understand it, but that didn’t stop her from letting Louise enjoy her excitement.

At the same time, the broadcast footage was being watched by two men dressed in button-up shirts and suits. One of them wore a red cap, his aged, wrinkled skin seeming to conceal the hideous traces of burn scars. The other man stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his robust muscles straining the seams of his jacket.

"What do you think of him?" Toto asked.

"You know what? He’s achieved so much since his debut, I find it absolutely unbelievable..." The old man’s breathing was a bit strained. He waited for a moment before continuing, "If this report hadn’t been placed in front of us, I’m afraid we would have missed out on an exceptional driver."

"He’s only racing in F3."

"But he is already unmatched."

"Then let’s go make contact with him," Toto nodded.

Having reached fourth place on the track, Wu Shi finally caught sight of clean track. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good part was that he no longer had to take risks in the crowded pack, and the chance of retiring from the race was now exceptionally low. The bad part was that he was already nearly a full second behind third place! Not to mention that Verstappen, in first place, had long since vanished from sight.

For the time being, he had to slowly close the gap he had lost.

As the first lap ended, three cars opted to enter the pit lane. Their front wings were damaged, and they had to pit for replacements. Of course, normally they wouldn’t even bother replacing them; they would just choose to retire directly.

Going into the second lap, just as he had driven past three-quarters of the track, he suddenly saw yellow flags waving on the sidelines. The safety car was deployed.

He didn’t know what had happened. It wasn’t until he circled back to the starting straight that he saw two massive pieces of a front wing abandoned on the outside curb of Turn 2. The safety car slowly led the pack past the area as Matthew immediately went up and picked up the debris.

The third lap was completed behind the safety car.

Alan TR: "You’ve closed the gap."

Wu Shi TR: "Yes, very good luck."

Originally, he was one second behind third place, and an astonishing four seconds behind the race leader, Verstappen. But as a result of the pack bunching up, everyone’s gaps were instantly compressed to under a second.

Before the race restarted, Verstappen in first place suddenly slowed down, weaving his car left and right. Because of his deceleration, the cars behind him were also completely bunched up. And right at that moment, he suddenly accelerated, blazing past the penultimate corner.

O’connor in second place failed to react in time and was left behind. Furthermore, because the safety car had just exited, the yellow flags were still in effect, meaning overtaking was prohibited. This directly disrupted the drivers behind him.

If they had been on a public road, Wu Shi might have felt some road rage and silently cursed the car ahead as a dumbass. But this was a race, and anger would only compromise his driving.

His eyes weren’t on the third-place driver, Rosenqvist (not Bromquist), nor on the second-place driver, O’connor. Instead, they were fixated on the race leader, Verstappen. The guy had already turned the corner. Fortunately, the yellow flags hadn’t disappeared, allowing O’connor to quickly catch up.

But by the next corner, the yellow flags vanished. Verstappen accelerated directly, continuing to widen the gap between him and O’connor.

Once O’connor processed the situation, he quickly closed in. Overtaking was still not allowed, but the speed limits had been lifted. This put Wu Shi, running in fourth, at a serious disadvantage. This continued all the way to the final corner. As long as they made it past this turn and crossed the checkered line on the starting straight, overtaking would be permitted.

Green flags waved ahead. Wu Shi was already prepared.