Chapter 164 - 85: Typhoon & Suzuka

Chapter 164: Chapter 85: Typhoon & Suzuka

Wu Shi’s October itinerary was mostly finalized. In early October, he would head to Neon. He wasn’t going to participate in the first practice session; he was just going to stand in the Williams Team’s pit garage. Even if the Williams Team hadn’t invited him, he would have gone anyway, and he brought Leclerc along for the ride.

At the time, Leclerc’s financial situation was not great, but it didn’t matter. Wu Shi was now worth tens of millions. Sid was even considering buying a house in Monaco so Wu Shi could reside there long-term to avoid taxes.

Besides that, the salary offered to him by the Williams Team wasn’t low either—an annual salary of 3 million euros. It was only 1 million euros less than his partner for next year, Massa. With this salary, he became tied for the ninth-highest-paid driver in the paddock. Alongside him, Lotus’s Grosjean and Maldonado, as well as Force India’s Perez, also earned 3 million euros a year.

Wu Shi was satisfied with this starting salary. It already surpassed that of many drivers, not to mention the additional bonuses stipulated in his contract. At McLaren, Magnussen’s annual salary was a mere 1 million euros, and Bottas, whom Wu Shi was replacing, also only earned 1 million euros. For example, Ricciardo was only making 750,000 euros a year at this time, not to mention the drivers further down the grid.

Although he was now considered a high-income earner, Wu Shi still booked economy class for his travels. His travel companions—Verstappen, Bianchi, and Leclerc—had no complaints either.

However, during a layover while waiting for their flight, Verstappen couldn’t help but complain, "We waste too much time just traveling for flights."

"When you’re rich, buy one yourself," Wu Shi promptly instilled the idea of buying a private jet into Verstappen.

"It’s too early to talk about that now." Verstappen rarely thought about such unrealistic things. His contract with Little Red Bull stipulated an annual salary of merely 277,500 euros. This also highlighted just how absurdly high Wu Shi’s salary was for a rookie driver. But who could blame him after his rise to fame in a single battle in Singapore?

Just after arriving in Japan, the group learned the news of the approaching typhoon, Ba Feng. Upon seeing this, Wu Shi immediately said, "The main race is expected to be severely affected by the typhoon. There will definitely be heavy rainstorms. Bianchi, you need to be careful."

Bianchi patted his shoulder and said, "Don’t worry. I’ll handle the Rain Battle just fine."

Wu Shi nodded, still adding, "In typhoon weather, we’re not just facing heavy rain, but also wind shear. The car will have to overcome a severe lack of grip while battling strong crosswinds. The vehicle will become highly unstable, even at relatively low speeds."

"Seems like you know a lot about this kind of environment, huh?" Bianchi smiled, not taking it to heart.

It was only because of his gentle personality; otherwise, any F1 driver facing a rookie—even one with immense potential—couldn’t help but mock such a lecturing tone of advice. As the old saying in Hua Country went, "I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice." Therefore, veterans in the field rarely listened humbly to the advice of juniors in their professional domain. At this moment, even Leclerc was somewhat puzzled. The old Wu Shi wasn’t this nagging. When faced with a peer idol versus his own godfather, he leaned toward his godfather without any hesitation.

"Wu Shi, just relax. Bianchi has been driving for almost a whole season. He understands these situations."

Wu Shi said helplessly, "My hometown is in a typhoon zone, so we encounter typhoons frequently. The feeling is completely different from a regular rainstorm."

"Rest assured, I’ll remember your reminder." Bianchi wrapped his arms around Wu Shi’s and Leclerc’s shoulders with a smile on his face.

...

Friday, October 3. At the Neon Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, the first practice session officially began at ten o’clock in the morning.

Wu Shi, wearing the Williams Team uniform and a headset, stood in the pit garage watching the race. The broadcast director gave him plenty of screen time. In addition, the director’s cameras also focused on Verstappen, tracking him almost the entire time during his testing.

Unlike Wu Shi’s desperate pushing at the Singapore Grand Prix, he was more focused on finding the car’s braking points, corner apex speeds, and power responses. To achieve this, he repeatedly adjusted his racing line when entering and exiting corners.

Many people nodded upon seeing this scene. Now this was exactly how a rookie was supposed to act when adapting to a car!

The weather conditions for the first practice session were decent, though the wind was a bit strong. Several drivers reported sudden wind shears around turns eight and nine. If the speed was too fast, it could easily cause the vehicle to lose control. This situation made the teams realize that under the influence of the typhoon, the track conditions were extremely complex. Engineers from all teams reminded their respective drivers to pay attention to safety to varying degrees.

With just over six minutes left in the session, Verstappen steered car number 38, left the racing line, and drove into the run-off area. Shortly after, the rear of the car started smoking and burst into intense flames. His practice session had to end early.

In this practice session, Verstappen’s best time was 1 minute and 38.157 seconds, ranking twelfth, about 0.44 seconds slower than his teammate, Kvyat.

After returning to the pit lane, Red Bull Second Team principal Graham Watson offered some encouragement. "Your performance today was very good. It’s just a pity that the car’s issues made this practice less than perfect."

Verstappen responded with his usual dry humor. "Yep, I think it was pretty good too. Everything went smoothly. I was also fully aware when the fire broke out."

In this practice session, the top two spots were unsurprisingly swept by the Mercedes-Benz drivers. Rosberg and Hamilton were half a second faster than Brother Tou in third place.

When the second practice session arrived at two o’clock in the afternoon, the gloomy sky rained for a while before coming to a halt. Seeing this, everyone expected rain the next day. Unexpectedly, the rain paused for qualifying, and the track dried up, allowing the drivers to proceed with their normal qualifying race. However, these favorable conditions did not last until Sunday’s main race.

At three o’clock in the afternoon on October 5, gale-force winds swept through, accompanied by a torrential downpour.

"Wu Shi, you look very worried?" Verstappen asked. He was more observant than Lock and had noticed Wu Shi’s unease. This condition had persisted since they arrived in Neon.

"Yeah. Under these weather conditions, the race should be canceled," Wu Shi said something rather unpleasant to hear.

In later years, many F1 races would be suspended with a red flag due to weather conditions, causing veteran fans to criticize F1 for becoming increasingly overly sensitive. In reality, only those who truly drove race cars on the track knew that driving an F1 car in severe weather was no different from dancing on the tip of a blade.

"You just reminded Bianchi to definitely pay attention to the red and yellow flags, and you even said to be especially careful at turn seven. This doesn’t sound like the guy who was biting tightly at my heels in the rain at Norisring," Verstappen said.

"Maybe people in different positions just feel differently. Before every one of your races, your mom goes to pray for you and lights a candle, while you on the track wouldn’t think about all that," Wu Shi said. He just hated his poor memory; he only remembered the corner where Bianchi had his accident, but completely forgot exactly when it would happen.