Chapter 154 - 76: Sorry, I Made Too Many Mistakes

Chapter 154: Chapter 76: Sorry, I Made Too Many Mistakes

Neither CCTV nor the local station Six-Star Sports had a tradition of broadcasting F1 practice sessions. At this time, even qualifying sessions often went unaired.

However, today, in an unprecedented move, both were broadcasting it.

CCTV’s "F1 Live Stream" program started right on time. Sang Tong was once again the host, and he got straight to the point in his opening:

"Welcome, everyone, to the ’F1 Live Stream’ program. Today, I’ll be bringing you live coverage of the first free practice session for the FIA Formula One 2014 Singapore Grand Prix."

"For this practice session, the Mercedes-Benz Team will be using a driver from our country, Wu Shi, to replace the German driver Rosberg in the number 6 W05 car..."

Compared to the serious tone of the CCTV broadcast, the atmosphere over at Six-Star Sports was much more cheerful.

Brother Bing and Brother Fei were in the Six-Star Studio early. As soon as the feed came through, Brother Bing couldn’t wait to speak:

"Welcome to Six-Star Sports’ broadcast of the 2014 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Practice 1. I’m sure you’re all wondering why we’re so excited to be broadcasting a free practice session today."

Brother Fei immediately chimed in, "Because today, a driver from our country, the 16-year-old Wu Shi, will be driving a Mercedes-Benz car for a practice test."

"If I remember correctly, this is the second driver from our country to appear during an F1 Grand Prix week," Brother Bing said.

"That’s right. After Ma Qingye signed with the HRT Team in 2012, he participated in a practice session at the Italy Station," Brother Fei confirmed with a nod.

They remembered what happened back then quite clearly. You could say Ma Qingye had already taken one step into F1, but the HRT Team couldn’t hold on and went bankrupt in 2013.

Before going bankrupt, the HRT Team even played a dirty trick on Ma Qingye. They claimed they would let him debut in the main race of the 2013 Shanghai Grand Prix. But as soon as Ma Qingye’s agent announced the news, HRT denied it.

Looking back, the HRT Team was probably just using that news to inflate their value for a potential sale.

"As long as Wu Shi doesn’t perform too poorly in this practice session, there’s a high probability he’ll become a full-time F1 driver next year. He could very well become our country’s first official F1 driver! And he’s so incredibly young!"

Brother Bing brought the topic back to Wu Shi, not wanting to get sidetracked by Ma Qingye’s story.

"Mm, even next year, he’ll only be 17. But in F1, age is calculated by completed years. So, until December of next year, Wu Shi’s official age will be listed as 16 years and so-many-so-many days."

"Tsk tsk, that’s insane! Truly, I can hardly imagine it. Has there ever been a driver this young in F1 history? And what’s more..." Brother Bing said, shaking his head in amazement.

"And what’s more, this young driver is one of our own Hua Country people," Brother Fei added.

...

The green light at the end of the pit lane came on, signaling that cars could now be released.

But the crew didn’t release the car immediately. They waited until the other cars had gone out before giving the signal.

THUMP!

The jacks were released, and the W05, its tires freshly mounted, dropped to the ground.

Standing to the side, Sid couldn’t help but clench his fists, terrified that Wu Shi might stall before even making it out of the pit lane.

ROAR!

Fortunately, after the W05’s engine roared to life, its power delivery was smooth, and the car slowly pulled out of its pit box.

At that moment, all the cameras in the pit lane focused on the W05, and the two commentators began introducing Wu Shi to the global audience watching the F1 broadcast.

"This is a driver from Hua Country, who will be taking Rosberg’s place for today’s Practice 1 session..."

The viewership for a Grand Prix’s first practice session was never high, but today’s was surprisingly so. According to data from the broadcast feed, there were a significant number of viewers, mainly from two regions: East Asia and, in Europe, Italy.

Wu Shi’s hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly it felt uncomfortable. He kept taking deep breaths to compose himself, telling himself, ’Don’t rush. Whatever you do, don’t rush!’

After driving out of the pit lane and deactivating the pit speed limiter, the W05’s engine let out a sudden roar.

Wu Shi felt the immense power within it, the G-force from the instant acceleration pressing him firmly into his seat.

The first lap was for warming up the tires. No one was pushing hard, and Wu Shi was no exception.

...

"Whoa! Wu Shi is out of the pits!" Brother Bing exclaimed.

"They’re really giving him a lot of screen time!" Brother Fei remarked.

"I hear Wu Shi is extremely popular in Italy. Many Italian fans consider him an honorary Italian," Brother Bing said.

"I’ve seen that mentioned in a lot of foreign media. He started racing karts in Italy when he was young and gradually built a name for himself. And I think the woman he boarded with is an employee at Ferrari."

"It’s hard to imagine a driver from Hua Country having that much influence in Europe."

...

After just one warm-up lap, Wu Shi’s nerves began to settle. His focus was now entirely on the car.

’An F1 car is countless times more complex than an F3 car,’ he figured. ’It would take a full pre-season test and several race weekends to get a complete feel for this machine.’

So he didn’t follow a conventional approach. The most important thing was definitely the tires—a driver’s skill is shown in their ability to judge the grip—followed by the gearbox.

Tony (TR): "Tire temps aren’t in the window. Continue warming for another lap."

Wu Shi (TR): "Copy."

He didn’t argue. At Mercedes, his words carried little weight. Anything he said would likely be met with negative feedback. He couldn’t even stubbornly do what he thought was right.

This was the plight of a driver with no results to his name. Even Vettel had faced this dilemma during his debut at BMW Sauber.

Following the team’s instructions, he began another warm-up lap. This time, he started probing for grip at the edges of the racing line.

To get a good time on a street circuit, it all comes down to who can get closer to the barriers.

Tony (TR): "Alonso is closing. Be aware and let him by."

Wu Shi glanced in his mirrors but saw nothing, so he replied, "I know."

Then, he started to accelerate.

This was now Turn 18 of the second lap, right at a corner.

Tony (TR): "Letting him by doesn’t mean accelerating."

Wu Shi (TR): "I’m watching my mirrors. If I see him, I’ll move over. I want to try a flying lap next. The tires are in the window."

The radio went silent for a moment before the voice returned: "Please ensure the car remains safe."

"Copy."

With that go-ahead, Wu Shi’s eyes immediately sharpened. After navigating the S-bends of Turns 18 through 21, he went full throttle.

Ahead, Turns 22 and 23 were both high-speed corners that could be taken quickly. Then came the start-finish Great Straight.

He looked at the road under the lights. ’First flying lap, begin!’

As if they knew Wu Shi was about to start a flying lap, the race directors cut to the camera on the number 6 silver car.

The car deftly navigated Turns 22 and 23, its smooth, effortless motion not at all what you’d expect from a rookie.

But he knew his own situation best. He’d had a few minor slips in the corners, and if he hadn’t corrected them quickly enough, it would have definitely been a problem.

Furthermore, the G-forces through these corners were immense. He clenched his jaw, fighting against the load.

Not long after the corners was the DRS detection point. He pressed the green button on his steering wheel, and the car entered its low-drag mode.

The flying lap officially began.

VROOM-CHUNK-VROOM-CHUNK-ROOOAR!

The gears climbed rapidly. By the time he reached the checkered line, he was already in sixth gear, doing 259 kilometers per hour.

Less than four seconds later, the car’s top speed increased further to 306 kilometers per hour.

Just as he hit top speed, Wu Shi immediately began trail-braking, turning the wheel to the left. ’This F1 steering wheel is incredibly heavy!’

Even though he was driving conservatively, the powerful G-forces still made his entire body tense up as the car bit into the apex.

Past the apex, he felt the grip return to the tires and immediately accelerated. The car drifted to the right, and in the blink of an eye, he went from the kerb on the left apex to the kerb on the right for the Turn 2 curve.

The car was almost entirely off the track, with only its left-rear tire on the white line.

WHOOSH!

He had barely accelerated for a second before he had to brake again for the left-hand Turn 3.

’On the exit of Turn 3, there’s a solid barrier on the right. If I can control the distance to the absolute limit here, I should be able to shave off a few more tenths of a second,’ Wu Shi noted mentally as he accelerated again.

But it seemed the grip was lower on the right side, between the white line and the barrier, compared to the center of the track. Or perhaps the white line itself was slick. The moment he accelerated, the rear wheels spun slightly.

Wu Shi reacted quickly. As soon as he felt the car become unstable, he instinctively eased off the throttle, and the car stabilized.

"That was close! He just had a slide!"

"If he’d crashed there, it would’ve been all over!"

In the Six-Star Studio, Brother Bing and Brother Fei both looked tense.

In the pit lane, Sid didn’t dare to breathe.

After Turn 3, the gentle curve of Turn 4 was another acceleration zone. He rode the left-side kerb and then immediately had to brake again for Turn 5.

’The exit of Turn 5 also has a solid barrier on the left. Just like the exit of Turn 3, the closer you can get, the higher your exit speed, and the more tenths of a second you can gain.’

The exit of this corner led onto a DRS zone that included the full-throttle Turn 6, requiring him to fight significant G-forces through the bend.

Here, the car would reach its highest top speed on the entire circuit.

Wu Shi glanced at the numbers on his steering wheel.

km/h.

He felt there was still more performance to be squeezed out, but there was no time to think. In an instant, he was less than 50 meters from the 50-meter board on the right side of the track. He had to brake immediately for Turn 7.

At that moment, his time for the first sector came in.

29.645.

Tony (TR): "Good pace. That’s the fastest first sector so far."

Wu Shi didn’t reply. ’Being the fastest on track right now only means no one else is pushing for a time yet.’

The second sector was the most complex part of the entire circuit. It was full of corners where a mistake on exit meant hitting the wall, and slowing down even a little would cost a huge amount of time.

A few times, the car swayed from side to side as he corrected his steering.

Having only driven the W05 for two laps, Wu Shi hadn’t fully adapted to the car’s power and traction. It was only natural that he had to constantly make corrections and adjustments.

Meanwhile, Tony was continuously instructing him to adjust the brake balance and gear ratios, sometimes even telling him to change modes.

He did everything he was told.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

He crossed the line for the second sector. The time came up: 41.754, still the fastest on track.

Tony reported the sector time as usual.

Wu Shi still didn’t reply and continued his flying lap. The entire third sector was filled with right-angle corners. After 2023, the four right-angle corners from 16 to 19 would be removed entirely.

Therefore, this was a very unfamiliar section for Wu Shi. He had already thought about how to handle it during his first two laps and was now putting his plan into action.

He could feel the car understeering a lot; it was very unstable through these corners. ’But this definitely isn’t the car’s fault!’

’How could the Mars rover have any problems?! It must be that I’m not strong enough yet!’

Wu Shi mentally noted the car’s behavior at these points as he finally made it through the sequence.

The final time came in.

1:51.625. The fastest lap on track so far.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

The sound of applause instantly broke out in the pit lane. The time was clearly far from the limit, but for a rookie, it was a very impressive performance, and everyone was pleased.

Even Toto, who stood with his arms crossed, gave a slight nod.

In the Williams Pit Room, Sir Williams had made a rare appearance. His daughter stood by his wheelchair as they watched the race together.

"Third lap, 1:51.625. How much more time can he find?"

Before anyone could answer that question, Wu Shi’s voice came over the team radio:

"Sorry, I made too many mistakes."

At the exact same moment, Alonso, in his red Ferrari, crossed the finish line. A time of 1:51.631 appeared on the data screens of every team.

Although everyone knew the two-time world champion certainly wasn’t pushing to the limit and was just testing the car, it still created a comical effect when paired with Wu Shi’s radio message.