Chapter 112 - 40: Straightaway, Usher in Victory!

Chapter 112: Chapter 40: Straightaway, Usher in Victory!

Without a doubt, this exchange between Wu Shi and his pit crew captured everyone’s attention for a moment—whether they were watching on TV, sitting in the grandstands, or working in the pit garage. Soon enough, however, everyone’s focus returned to their respective areas of interest.

As the commentators had noted, it was an impossible task. Even if he managed to close the gap to Verstappen, that would only happen in the closing stages of the race. The current laps were simply for cruising, offering nothing worth watching. Others could afford to look away, but as Wu Shi’s race engineer, Alan kept his eyes glued to the telemetry screen.

After getting into clean air, the tire degradation of car No. 32 slowed down slightly. The engine load also decreased since it was no longer ingesting the hot, dirty exhaust from the car ahead.

Soon, Wu Shi crossed the finish line again. His lap time for lap thirteen flashed on the screen: 1:32.989!

This time instantly set a new fastest lap, drawing the commentators’ attention right back to him. But they only watched the screen without speaking, as a minor incident seemed to have occurred further back in the pack. An unidentified driver had run off the track, kicking up a cloud of smoke.

SWOOSH!

On lap fourteen, Wu Shi’s lap time appeared: 1:33.001.

Alan’s mouth parted slightly. What was the gap between these two laps? But still, it wasn’t too absurd.

On lap fifteen, the time read: 1:33.003.

Wait a minute! Alan started to feel that something was off. How could a driver control his lap times with such unwavering consistency?

Seeing Alan’s reaction, the team principal patted his shoulder and said, "Do you know what Jos showed me when he came to ask if Wu Shi could join the team?"

Alan took off his headset, turned to the principal, and shook his head.

The principal’s eyes lit up as he recalled the most impressive part of that spreadsheet. At the time, he had even wanted to ask if the data was pulled incorrectly.

"It was the lap time sheet from when he and Verstappen were testing the Renault Formula at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

"From the moment a new set of tires went on until they were taken off, spanning twenty laps in total, the variance between his laps was no more than ten milliseconds."

"That’s impossible! The difference between new and old tires couldn’t possibly be that small!" Alan retorted immediately.

"Of course. But what if he calculated it all right from the start?"

Alan fell silent. If one calculated the approximate lap pace following tire degradation right from the start, it was indeed possible to use it as a benchmark and drive around that delta.

"He’s not a machine. How could he control it with such precision?!" Alan remained incredulous.

"Well, here he goes again." The principal smiled knowingly, saying no more.

Lap sixteen: 1:32.999.

Lap seventeen: 1:32.996.

By this time, Wu Shi had already closed to within a second of Verstappen!

"Max, he’s catching up to you," Verstappen’s engineer said over the team radio.

Before answering, Verstappen instinctively checked his rearview mirrors. He saw car No. 32 creeping almost entirely into striking distance. His heart tightened as he demanded, "What’s his lap time?!"

"A 1:33."

"Give me the decimals!"

"It’s just 1:33, fluctuating by no more than ten thousandths of a second."

A brief silence fell over the radio.

On lap eighteen, Verstappen upped his pace to 1:33.202, setting his own fastest lap. However, at this point, Wu Shi was only 0.4 seconds behind him.

On lap nineteen, Verstappen’s driving became noticeably more aggressive, bringing his lap time straight down to 1:33.060! They were dead even on this lap.

But by lap twenty, Wu Shi shaved off 0.3 seconds outright, biting right onto Verstappen’s tail with a time of 1:32.735.

"Whoa! Whoa! Just as he said! Wu has caught up to Verstappen! He’s right behind him! But there are only two laps left—just two laps! Does he have a chance?!"

Seeing the two Van Amersfoort cars turn onto the starting Great Straight simultaneously and cross the starting grid nose-to-tail, the commentator roared with unbridled excitement.

The grandstands flanking the main straight erupted into deafening cheers! No one had anticipated such a thrilling climax in the final two laps.

While everyone else was pumped up and exhilarated, Wu Shi’s sharp gaze practically pierced through his visor. Overtaking a formidable driver in just two laps was an incredibly daunting task. To make matters worse, this formidable driver had the nickname "Tower Cannon," making it even harder!

Wu Shi was absolutely certain that Verstappen’s defense would be far more resolute than O’connor’s! After all, one’s teammate was their biggest rival. He hadn’t triggered O’connor’s "buff," but he had definitely triggered Verstappen’s!

Turn one, a near right-angle corner, was Wu Shi’s best corner. However, Verstappen had grown up with him and knew him inside out. Because of this, he didn’t bother defending the middle or the inside line at all; he was practically riding the outside line to block him.

Wu Shi had to admire the guy—that was exactly what he himself had been planning. Ever since his karting days, Wu Shi had relied on this unique cornering technique that only he could pull off to constantly squeeze time out of the corners.

But a single corner didn’t mean much. The two cars sped through the turn nose-to-tail and entered the second Great Straight, where Wu Shi used the slipstream to reduce drag and claw back the time lost in turn one.

As they entered the sequence of turns two, three, and four, Wu Shi aggressively squeezed down the inside line. Verstappen reacted sharply, immediately moving to block and nearly forcing him completely off the track.

Running wide out of turn two made it easy to cut directly across turn three. However, any track advantage gained by corner-cutting had to be given back. Therefore, rather than forcing the issue, Wu Shi backed off and conceded the position.