Chapter 83 - 15: One Month Before the Competition

Chapter 83: Chapter 15: One Month Before the Competition

The so-called contract signed with Rafa was an entirely unexpected bonus. Upon returning to Modena, Sid and Wu Shi almost completely forgot about the matter.

Over the following days, Wu Shi made a few token visits to school, while Sid ran around everywhere, searching for sponsors to bring on board.

Once February passed, their brief rest period came to an end.

On March 1st, Wu Shi and Sid traveled together to the Van Amersfoort Racing Team’s headquarters in Holland. It was now time to start preparing for the F3 races in April.

Verstappen, the literal embodiment of an Autobot, had been practicing non-stop since returning from America without taking a single break. It had to be said—successful people never lacked hard work.

"Hey, you’re finally here." Verstappen walked over in his racing suit. He was drenched in sweat, having clearly spent quite a long time battling it out on the test track.

"How have things been lately?" Wu Shi asked. He leaned in closer and whispered, "The car isn’t as trash as before, is it?"

"A little better, but don’t get your hopes up," Verstappen said, wiping his sweat.

Wu Shi patted his shoulder, then headed into an unfamiliar office to meet with the team principal. Afterward, he changed into his racing suit and joined his designated crew.

Unlike karting, a Formula team’s crew was massively expanded. The mechanic group responsible for tire changes alone consisted of six people. Adding the rest of the staff, there were over a dozen people in total—enough to form four three-man combat squads.

Among all these people, the most important role actually belonged to the communications engineer.

In future training sessions and races, any tuning ideas Wu Shi had for the car would rely entirely on his communication with this engineer. If the engineer couldn’t understand him clearly, it could easily result in the car’s overall setup failing to meet expectations.

The engineer was named Alan Oliveira, a man around thirty years old. Just by looking at his hairstyle, one could tell he was a highly experienced and reliable figure.

"Hello, Wu. We’ve already heard about your outstanding performance in America. I’m very glad to be working with a driver like you for this year’s F3 championship," Alan said, extending his hand.

"I’m also glad to meet you all. I believe that with everyone’s help, I’ll be able to achieve amazing results!" Wu Shi shook his hand.

"Haha, since you put it that way, we definitely can’t afford to be careless," Alan chuckled.

The atmosphere within the crew was quite good. Everyone treated him with great friendliness, and some were even visibly excited.

After all, Wu Shi was no longer that obscure little rookie from the past, but a renowned prodigy in the karting world. There was a good chance he would clinch various honors in the F3 races.

When that time came, as members of his crew, they would share in the benefits brought by those honors—their performance bonuses would be absolutely maxed out.

"It’s hard to believe you’ve stepped onto the F3 track before even turning sixteen," a mechanic said while prepping the car. He was about 1.65 meters tall, roughly the same height as Wu Shi currently was.

"Well, you’re seeing it now, so you’ll have to believe it, however hard it may be," Wu Shi joked, then swung his legs into the car.

Even though he had reported in less than half an hour ago, the work was already about to begin.

Without the "flip-flop" Halo device above the cockpit, getting into a Formula car was indeed much more convenient. He slid his legs in and settled into his seat.

The seat was custom-made and fit him perfectly.

Alan came over and pointed at the steering wheel. "I need to explain the buttons on this to you first."

Wu Shi listened patiently.

"It might be hard to remember everything after just one rundown, but we still have a month to get familiar with it. So for now, try driving your car and start practicing," Alan said.

After the engineer finished speaking, the crew members at the pit garage entrance confirmed it was safe and gave the signal for release.

Releasing the clutch, the car slowly glided out of the pit lane. After crossing the white line, it gradually accelerated, much like a regular car merging onto a highway from an on-ramp.

When getting behind the wheel of a brand-new vehicle, not even a world champion would act overconfident. Wu Shi was even less prone to such an arrogant mentality.

Since there were other cars practicing on the track, he couldn’t recklessly warm up his tires. Instead, he had to repeatedly accelerate and decelerate outside the racing line to generate tire temperature.

To bypass the FIA’s private testing regulations, the car currently being used for Wu Shi to familiarize himself did not comply with F3 specifications. Because of this, it was truly just as the engineer had said—this period was purely for familiarizing himself with the controls.

The steering wheel button layout at the Van Amersfoort Racing Team was entirely different from the one provided by Rafa. Dials for adjusting the brake bias, engine power, and other settings were all different from before.

Because Wu Shi had skipped Renault Formula to drive F3 directly, the team staff hadn’t even thought to notify him in advance to see if he needed a customized button layout on the steering wheel.

After just a few laps, Wu Shi spoke over the team radio. "It’d be best to change the positions of a few buttons on my steering wheel."

"No problem. You can note them down, and we’ll make the adjustments," Alan replied. "But it’s best not to attempt too many changes, or we won’t have enough time."

Customizing a steering wheel was highly labor-intensive, and the fact that it had to be submitted to the FIA for inspection made it incredibly troublesome.

"It only needs to be changed once." Wu Shi naturally had a button layout he was already accustomed to.

"How does the track feel?" Alan asked.

"The car’s performance feels decent, but this isn’t the actual F3 car for the races, so there’s no real value in comparing it," Wu Shi replied.

"Understood. We need you to feed back some data so we can use it for comparison," the engineer stated.

"Copy that."

Wu Shi drove the car lap after lap, consistently reporting the current situation as he cornered through various types of turns.

He mentioned details like an abnormal shift in the center of gravity putting too much pressure on one side’s tires, or how too much brake bias in a specific corner would cause excessive tire wear but save more time—which might require adjusting the front dampers to balance out.

At the end of the day, tuning the car was an integral part of racing.

"A remarkably sharp feel for the car, and communicating with him is quite effortless," Alan remarked to a colleague beside him.

"Indeed. There’s practically no nonsense—just pure feedback on the vehicle," a mechanic nodded.

"What date is the test day we applied for?" Alan asked.

"April 2nd."

"Then we need to prepare as soon as possible. There’s only one private test day." The engineer jotted down some notes in his notebook. After writing a few lines, he suddenly smiled and said, "Even though the test is only one day, I feel like we can develop a remarkably well-tuned car."

"Yes. The King of Racing, Schumacher, has already shown us just how important a driver’s feedback is," the mechanic nodded.

At the mention of this, everyone fell into a brief silence.

At the end of last year, unfortunate news had spread: Schumacher had suffered a severe head injury while skiing and fallen into a coma. On January 22nd of this year, the hospital publicly announced that he would very likely remain in a permanent vegetative state.

For the racing world, this was undoubtedly tragic news.

After completing forty test laps, Wu Shi brought the car into the pit lane. Following a brief exchange with the engineer, he went to change his clothes and proceed with the rest of his training.

Just like that, amidst day after day of driving practice and physical conditioning, March neared its end.

At the end of the month, Wu Shi and the crew arrived at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom. The first race of the 2014 F3 championship would be held right here.