Chapter 89 - 19: I Don’t Think I Need to Push Too Hard

Chapter 89: Chapter 19: I Don’t Think I Need to Push Too Hard

In the stands, Louise, wearing a baseball cap, thought, ’What a shame.’ She shook her fist at her best friend and exclaimed, "What is the team doing?! Why did they give him such bad tires!"

Ophelia Payne quickly grabbed Louise and said, "Don’t get so worked up. This is a practice session! Not qualifying!"

"Fine, but if the team had assigned the tires properly, Wu Shi definitely would have taken first place!"

"Alright, alright. Just sit down and watch. No one else gets this worked up over a practice session. Be careful, or the cameras will catch you!" Ophelia said with a sigh.

Hearing this, Louise immediately sat down obediently, pulled her cap down low, and muttered, "They can’t film me! If Mamu finds out, I’m dead meat!"

"Oh? So you snuck out to be here, Louise?" said a young woman next to Ophelia.

"Caroline! Shh!" Louise put a finger to her lips.

"Heh, don’t worry. Ophelia told me. Since I agreed to bring you to the race, I’m not going to snitch," Caroline said with a smile.

Ophelia was a cautious and well-behaved girl, so when Louise suggested coming to the United Kingdom for the race, she didn’t agree to them going just as a pair. Instead, she asked her older sister to come along.

Coincidentally, it was almost Ophelia’s birthday, and her older sister Caroline hadn’t figured out what to get her yet, so she decided to take them to the race as a gift.

While the three of them were chatting, ten minutes flew by, and the second practice session began.

"Wu, when should we switch to the new tires?" Alan asked, seeking his input.

"Let’s use the used tires first and switch to the new ones at the end," Wu Shi said.

"Right, my thoughts exactly. Go for a ten-lap run and test the performance of this used set."

"Understood."

Wu Shi nodded. Alan’s instruction meant he shouldn’t push the car to its limit right away.

This was because in the second practice session, every team would have their drivers push to the limit, simulating qualifying conditions. The final fastest laps wouldn’t be too far off from the actual qualifying results.

As all the cars drove onto the track, the commentator started talking again.

Unlike the previous practice session, many drivers in this one began pushing hard immediately after warming up their tires.

And the lap times came in quickly. Mickey from the Fortec Team immediately posted a 1:52.754. For comparison, his best time in the last practice session was only a 1:53.036.

Once he set a solid time, he tried a few more laps. When he found he couldn’t go any faster, he started to cruise.

"Oh! Ed’s time is a 1:52.04! That’s a beautiful lap!"

Following the push from Carlin Team’s Ed, the Prema Team drivers also began their charge. Latifi was first, but after posting a 1:52.259, he stalled out and hastily returned to the pits.

Then O’connor and Antonio made their push, setting new fastest times one right after the other! Both of them broke into the 51-second range.

"There it is! There it is! We finally have someone breaking the 1:52 barrier and getting into the 51s! It looks like the final fastest lap will be around this level!"

"NO!"

The commentator shouted, cutting himself off mid-sentence.

Just as Verstappen crossed the finish line, the Double R Racing Team car and the Fortec Team car behind him collided.

The crash was so severe that the commentator forgot to announce that Verstappen had just set a new fastest lap, beating O’connor by 82 thousandths of a second to take first place.

Alan said over the TR, "Come back in."

"Understood." Wu Shi felt a pang of regret. He had just switched to the newest tires, but after warming them up, the track conditions were poor, and he hadn’t had a chance to push. He could only manage one more slow lap.

And as it turned out, this lap was interrupted by an accident.

Clearing the debris from the track took a long time. By the time the session resumed, the practice was almost over.

"We’ve just received confirmation that both drivers are safe and unharmed."

After the commentator’s announcement, applause broke out in the stands.

With the safety update delivered, the commentator returned his attention to the race. "Currently, Max is in first, followed by O’connor, Focca (Antonio), Jones, King, Bromquist, Latifi, Wu..."

"Should I attempt a flying lap?" Wu Shi asked after re-entering the track.

"If you’d like," Alan replied.

After running through the standings, the commentator added:

"It’s hard to believe. Max is in first, ahead of the two Prema cars, while his teammate Wu is in eighth. Their other two teammates are outside the top twenty! From the looks of it, Max is incredibly strong, continuing the powerful performance he showed in karting!"

"We haven’t had a good chance to see Wu, who was a dominant force in the world of karting, show what he can do. Oh, no, wait, I think we’re about to! He’s going for a flying lap!"

Just as the commentator finished speaking, Wu Shi began his hot lap on new tires that had already run four laps.

The previous four laps had been run at a warm-up pace, so wear and tear was minimal. As he charged into Turn 1, he could clearly feel how much life the tires still had left.

Wu Shi’s TR: "I don’t think I need to push too hard."

After that TR, Alan wasn’t the only one left baffled; crew members from the other teams were just as confused.

Sure, no one was really pushing to their absolute limit, but to come out and say it so brazenly? That was just strange.

If he ended up setting a less-than-stellar time, wouldn’t that be hilarious?

Or was it that this karting champion was already making excuses for being unable to set a good lap time?

This statement, coming from Wu Shi, had many strategists scratching their heads, completely clueless as to what this guy was up to.

Alan, however, seemed to understand. He replied directly, "Roger."

Many team principals looked over. What kind of code were those two speaking?

After hearing the confirmation, Wu Shi drove on in silence. Since he didn’t have to push too hard, controlling the car’s dynamics became even more effortless for him.

In fact, since he wasn’t pushing to the limit, he didn’t even have to enter his state of absolute control.

WHOOSH!

Through every corner, Car #32 was like a phantom dragon, weaving through the turns with unbridled ease.

It was a flawless lap. The onboard T-cam recorded a steering wheel that never made a single correction. Every input seemed to hit the perfect angle.

VROOOM! WHOOSH!

The car roared across the finish line, and the time appeared.

1:51.333.

The commentator was silent for a moment. "Unbelievable! No, wait! For Wu Shi, this is just another day at the office! This isn’t unbelievable at all!

"It seems Wu’s talent in F3 is no less than it was in his karting days. Are we about to witness the birth of a driver who will be just as dominant in the F3 Level?"

The commentator’s words were full of lavish praise; clearly, he was very excited.

As a veteran F3 commentator, his intuition was quite sharp. When Max set the fastest lap and pitted, the Prema Team immediately launched a counterattack, but neither O’connor nor Antonio could beat his time.

This showed that the Prema Team was already running close to their ultimate lap time. If they went any faster, it would be no different from a qualifying run.