Chapter 55 - 19: I Will Never Act Absurd Again

Chapter 55: Chapter 19: I Will Never Act Absurd Again

Jos was always an incredibly strict man. Regardless of who he was dealing with, his temper was never considered good. Even bringing up events from the distant past could cause his emotions to fluctuate wildly. However, when facing Wu Shi, he actually began to rein in this side of himself.

As a former F1 driver, Jos’s understanding of go-karting was undeniably profound. Therefore, during last year’s races, he had been constantly observing Wu Shi, only to discover that the kid’s racing style differed significantly from his own understanding. It was exactly these differences that meant even if Max pushed to the absolute limit, he would still fall considerably short of Wu Shi.

After realizing this, his approach to educating Max underwent a shift. If Max failed to meet his expectations, he would still treat his biological son with harsh severity. But if Max met his requirements, Jos would look for his own flaws and search for the possibilities demonstrated by Wu Shi, rather than simply berating Max.

"I’m certainly looking forward to racing against Max as well. There are very few people who can push me to show my full potential on the track," Wu Shi said.

"Haha, want to grab some pizza tonight?" Jos chuckled. Having quietly shifted his mindset, he now showed a softer side outside of racing.

"No problem," Wu Shi nodded.

Aunt Martina had some business to attend to today and had already rushed back to Maranello, while Sid was still on his way. As a result, Wu Shi was essentially alone here for the time being. Louise had originally wanted to stay behind to keep him company, but the CRG Team obviously wouldn’t allow a child unaffiliated with the team to stay.

Two months passed quickly. March arrived, marking the point when this year’s various competitions would generally begin. The first event on the calendar was the WSK Europa Series. The go-karting events hosted by WSK held prestige roughly equivalent to Europe’s intercontinental series or championships, garnering an exceptionally high level of attention.

Originally, Wu Shi’s age made it difficult for him to participate in the KF3 events. His birthday was on December 3rd, meaning in principle, he wouldn’t turn twelve until December of this year. The organizers deemed him too young, citing potential risks if he competed in the KF3 category. However, at that moment, the CRG Team principal and his manager, Sid, immediately stepped in to negotiate. They presented all his racing records since he started go-karting in 2007. From Hua Country’s CKC events and Italy’s ACI races to Belgium’s KF5 series and beyond, his long string of championship titles was more than enough to prove his skill level.

The organizing committee ultimately agreed to let him participate in the KF3 series, but on the condition that he pass a qualification verification. This was simply deliberately creating difficulties. There were absolutely no written regulations outlining this so-called "qualification verification"; it was purely a way to make things hard for him.

Fortunately, this supposed verification merely required him to successfully pass the round-robin stage in his first race and enter the pre-final. The racing format adopted by the WSK series was similar to CKC. First came the qualifying rounds, where the top 72 drivers were divided into four to six groups. Then came the group round-robins, ultimately selecting 32 to 34 drivers to enter the finals. In other words, Wu Shi had to reach the pre-final in his very first race to earn the right to compete in the rest of the series. This was completely redundant. His sole purpose for entering the competition was to win the championship. If he couldn’t even make it to the pre-final, he might as well just go practice in a lower category and forget about the whole thing.

The WSK Europa Series consisted of five races in total: three in Italy, one in Spain, and one in Belgium. It honestly felt like the latter two tracks were only added to prove this was an intercontinental series rather than a national one. The earliest race was scheduled to begin on March 4th at the La Conca International Karting Circuit in Muro Leccese, Italy.

Wu Shi arrived at the circuit wearing his CRG Team uniform. The suit was predominantly black, featuring silver decorative fabric on the shoulders and elbows.

"Wu Shi, you have so many sponsors on your suit." Verstappen looked down at his own uniform, which only had the three letters "CRG" right on the chest, leaving the rest of the fabric completely bare.

"Yeah, it’s actually mostly businesses over in Italy. You know Italy has a ton of famous go-karting brands. Some of the products they sell don’t overlap with the CRG Team, so they were permitted to print their logos on here," Wu Shi explained.

"Oh! That big red bird under the CRG logo looks really cool. Which brand is that?"

"This one?" Wu Shi pointed to the logo on his stomach and said, "This is an airline from my home country. They sponsored me quite a bit, so I can’t forget them."

"Wow! That’s awesome! A company in Holland sponsored me too, but I don’t know the specifics yet. My father told me just to focus on driving my kart well."

"Right, our main priority now is just to race our karts well. Let the adults worry about everything else." Wu Shi waved a hand dismissively. Sponsorship was an unavoidable issue for a driver throughout their entire career. During one’s youth, sponsorships provided the crucial driving force—or rather, the financial backing—to keep going. Once a driver displayed their talent, those sponsorships could then help propel them into better teams.

"I’m going to launch an attack on you this race and take the championship!" Verstappen was an absolute racing fanatic. When it came to driving, his fighting spirit never waned. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he could endure Jos’s incredibly harsh teaching style.

"Alright, I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line! Don’t forget, we’re in Italy—this is my home turf!" Wu Shi laughed heartily. However, his laughter abruptly ceased after just a couple of chuckles. Without him noticing, a microphone had suddenly been shoved next to him.

"Oh! Wu Shi, did I just hear you say that Italy is your home turf?" The reporter instantly pounced on the opportunity.

Wu Shi’s smile quickly stiffened. This was a somewhat sensitive question—while not overly serious, it could easily become so. He hated answering these kinds of questions, but it was best to address it as clearly as possible. Otherwise, if the reporter spun the story out of proportion, it would be even harder to explain later.

He thought for a moment before replying, "I am a Hua Country person, so Hua Country will always be my true home turf. But my go-karting skills have been honed here in Italy, and I expect to continue racing here until I advance to higher-level competitions. I suppose compared to drivers from other regions in Europe, Italy could also be considered my home turf."

"Oh, I see! Yes, Italy is very happy to welcome such a talented driver like yourself. You might not know this yet, but there are already fans holding up banners for you in the stands," the reporter said.

Wu Shi blinked. He honestly had no idea. How could he already have fans just from racing go-karts? Since he was in the pit lane preparing for the upcoming race, he couldn’t leave to check out the situation for himself. He could only reply, "Ah, I’m quite surprised by that, but I am extremely grateful to every fan who supports me."

The reporter lavished him with a few more compliments before moving on to interview the other drivers.

"It seems you’re quite popular with the Italian crowd," Verstappen said after finishing his interview.

"They probably consider me one of their own now. After all, I made a name for myself here, and everyone on my team is Italian."

Wu Shi didn’t mention his Italian stepmother, Martina. When he had just claimed Italy was his home turf, part of the reason was actually because of Aunt Martina. Since his father had already married her, he was technically half-Italian from a legal standpoint anyway.

Of course, while saying those words, his mind had actually wandered to Piastrini, the guy who claimed to have one-sixteenth Hua Country blood. He always used to find it incredibly amusing how that guy would claim everywhere he went was his home turf.

He just hoped he wouldn’t be publicly crucified by the media over a casual remark. Otherwise, he would have no choice but to cry and post a video declaring, "I’m never being ironic again."