Chapter 163 - 84: Non-Stop News in the September Paddock

Chapter 163: Chapter 84: Non-Stop News in the September Paddock

The Singapore Grand Prix came to an end. Whether it was Hamilton overtaking his teammate Rosberg in total points—temporarily shifting the honor of this year’s defending champion once again—or Wu Shi missing out on a top-three qualifying spot by finishing just twenty-five thousandths of a second behind Ricciardo, it all made people realize just how much spectacle there was in the paddock this year.

Of course, Monday’s biggest news came from Ferrari. Montezemolo, who had been at the helm of Rafa since the 1990s, issued an official statement announcing his resignation as Ferrari chairman. In an instant, news media outlets scrambled to publish articles, lamenting the end of an era. With his resignation, the Agnelli family’s control over Ferrari through the Fiat Group became absolute. Fiat Group CEO Marchionne began to reshape the team according to his own vision.

One could say that the internal struggles at Ferrari in 2014 had only just come to a brief pause. However, over the next eight years, Ferrari would continue to face issues such as frequent upper-management turnovers and chaotic team administration. Endless internal friction turned the glory of this elite red team into a thing of the past. Countless followers of the Iron Buddha Temple had their dreams shattered, gradually taking on the appearance of clowns.

During these internal struggles, the previous draft agreement between Montezemolo and Wu Shi was also dragged into the spotlight. Opinions were divided, but the core consensus was that Montezemolo had made a massive mistake. Even Martina was affected by this power struggle. Truth be told, it was a good thing Wu Shi hadn’t joined Ferrari. Otherwise, one could easily suspect that the Circus might have outright terminated his contract—after all, they could have just paid off the breach of contract fees.

Speaking of penalty fees, on September 27th, Sid returned with the results of their negotiations with Mercedes-Benz. First, Wu Shi had failed to fulfill the conditions stipulated in their previous agreement, a result that was acknowledged as an objective fact. Second, Tony Ross was dismissed by Mercedes-Benz and held legally accountable for making unauthorized adjustments to the car without prior approval. Finally, according to the agreement, the dispute caused by Mercedes-Benz’s failure to properly manage their personnel meant that Mercedes-Benz was liable for breach of contract compensation.

Well, the compensation was twenty million US Dollars.

Since Wu Shi’s own penalty clause had been equally exorbitant at the time, the payout was bound to be substantial when all was said and done. It was, quite simply, an astronomical figure! Because of this, both Wu Shi and Sid kept their mouths firmly shut about the practice session, and reporters naturally couldn’t pry a single drop of information from either of them.

Around the same time they finalized negotiations with Mercedes-Benz, Wu Shi flew to the United Kingdom and signed a three-year contract with Williams. This outcome genuinely surprised Wu Shi’s entire team, as very few racing teams were willing to offer such a lengthy contract to a rookie. With his F1 contract secured, Wu Shi now faced his next major hurdle—the F1 Super License.

At this point in time, the Super License hadn’t yet implemented strict rules requiring drivers to be at least eighteen years old or to accumulate a specific number of points. Its issuance primarily depended on team recommendations, basic physical fitness tests, and on-track ability validations. The FIA would evaluate these factors before deciding whether to grant the Super License. To that end, both Mercedes-Benz and Williams jointly recommended Wu Shi to the FIA, tentatively scheduling his basic physical tests and track evaluations for December. In truth, even if Wu Shi didn’t have his Super License right away, he could still compete in 2015. The FIA’s regulations on the matter were incredibly vague during this era. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have even been able to participate in that practice session a few days ago.

When Wu Shi’s F1 contract with Williams was officially announced, it immediately sent another shockwave through the paddock. What was going on this September? Why were all these massive events clustered into this single month! Following the contract confirmation, CCTV’s Sang Tong reached out to Wu Shi again on September 28th for a brief interview, which was slated to be broadcast live on the news channel’s broadcast room.

It was just before 4:00 AM on September 29th. Wu Shi was sleeping soundly when his blanket was suddenly ripped away, and he was violently shaken awake. Struggling to open his eyes against the blinding glare of the lights, he saw Louise’s excited face. He took a deep breath and mumbled groggily, "My little princess, don’t you sleep?"

"Look! The news from Hua Country is reporting it!"

Saying that, she shoved her phone right in front of Wu Shi’s face. He kept his eyes closed, listening to the anchor’s professional broadcast tone echoing in his ears:

"On the 27th, the Williams Team officially announced that sixteen-year-old Hua Country driver Wu Shi has officially joined the team. He will compete as a full-time driver in the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship, making him Hua Country’s first official F1 driver and the youngest official driver in F1 history.

"He will make his debut at the season-opening Australia Station next season.

"In 2013, after winning the KZ European Karting Championship and the KZ World Karting Championship, Wu Shi announced his move to Holland’s Van Amersfoort Racing Team to compete in the European Formula 3 Championship, joining the 2014 Continental F3 season.

"As of today, Wu Shi has won 23 of the 27 races across 9 rounds in the current Continental F3 season, locking in the annual F3 championship.

"Since embarking on his professional racing career, Wu Shi has set multiple world records across various tiers of karting and F3 events, holding the titles of the youngest Continental Karting Championship KZ Class champion, the World Karting Championship KZ Class champion, and the youngest Continental F3 champion."

The anchor summarized Wu Shi’s achievements in a steady, measured voice, which only made Wu Shi feel even more drowsy. It wasn’t as if he had never been featured on CCTV before. Aside from the Prime Time Evening News, no other channel broadcast really excited him anymore. But to get on the main evening news, he’d probably have to win a World Championship first. The last athlete to be broadcast on that particular program who had left a deep impression on him was the flying hurdler, Liu Xiang.

"Louise... what’s so great about this? You’ve already watched the news segments from Italy once, and now you’re digging through the domestic channels. You can’t even understand what they’re saying. Let’s just go to sleep."

Without waiting for Louise to protest, he pulled her onto the bed and casually switched off the bedside lamp.

PANT PANT.

Yanked onto the bed, Louise’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson. Breathing heavily, she was far too flustered to sleep now.

As soon as September 29th passed, Red Bull Second Team held a press conference on September 30th. At the conference, Red Bull Second Team announced they had reached a partnership with Max Verstappen. The teenager, who had just turned seventeen today, would replace Vergne next year and partner with Kvyat to compete in the 2015 F1 season. They also announced that Verstappen would participate in Free Practice 1 at the Neon Grand Prix.

This series of back-to-back sensational headlines made it hard for anyone not to be surprised. Wu Shi, however, had long anticipated this. So, upon seeing the news, he immediately called Verstappen.

"Congratulations! What a coincidence. We’ll be competing against each other again next year."

"Hahaha! Thanks! Though I don’t have the confidence to compete against you next year." Verstappen humbly admitted defeat, a rare occurrence for him. He continued, "To prepare for this practice session, I’ve already logged quite a few miles driving the 2012 F1 car, but it still feels incredibly strenuous. I have absolutely no idea how you managed to drive so flawlessly right off the bat without ever having touched an F1 car before!

"The craziest part is that the race committee actually agreed to let someone with zero F1 driving experience get on the track!"

Wu Shi smiled upon hearing this. "You’ll have to ask Mercedes-Benz about that."

Deep down, he knew perfectly well that Mercedes-Benz had pulled a lot of strings and hustled hard for this to happen. Whether they did it for him or due to internal disagreements within the team, only those involved truly knew the answer.