At the end of the eleventh lap, Rosberg pitted for a tire change.
Wu Shi stayed on the track. No one expected this guy to keep pushing on that dilapidated set of soft tires.
Jonathan didn’t directly agree. Instead, he said over the TR, "Follow the pit instructions we give you."
Just moments ago, Wu Shi and Rosberg’s pace had both dropped to the 1-minute 34-second mark. In contrast, Hamilton’s lap time on the tenth lap up ahead was 1:32.911, and fourth-place Massa’s was 1:33.879. Obviously, if Rosberg continued running, he would be at a massive disadvantage and might even end up besieged by the two Williams cars, so he pitted.
Wu Shi understood Jonathan’s meaning. His times in the upcoming first and second sectors would be terrible, so he definitely had to pit for a tire change; otherwise, he would just be losing time for nothing. He could clearly feel the texture on the tread of all four tires gradually expanding, with a large amount of degrading rubber constantly migrating outward.
Judging by the team’s data, it was best to pit right now; otherwise, the risk of a blowout would increase. But that was just the team’s data. Wu Shi had his own method of calculating the car’s parameters. In his prediction, if he pushed this set of tires for another two laps, they could still show a certain level of speed. The price, however, was a gradually rising chance of a blowout.
He thought, "I can control it..."
On the Great Straight, Wu Shi blinked twice, preemptively redirecting the sweat that was about to flow into the outer corners of his eyes. His eyes stung with a burning pain, but fortunately, he wouldn’t need to blink again because of this for the time being. Right before Turn 1, the No. 59 Williams was finally on the normal racing line. Wu Shi’s left foot had to control the brake with extreme precision to make the current tires behave, providing enough braking force without locking up.
SCREECH!
The car struggled slightly but managed to enter the corner.
The camera cut to Rosberg in the pits. The dramatic battle had forced Mercedes-Benz—the team known to be the easiest on their tires in the paddock—to pit on lap 11, even after spending three laps behind the safety car.
VROOM!
The No. 6 Mercedes-Benz stopped accurately in the pit box, and the front and rear jacks immediately hoisted the car up.
CLACK!
The synchronized sound of wheel guns rang out. Four mechanics removed the four soft tires, and right beside them, another four mechanics immediately slotted on the new medium tires.
CLUNK!
The wheel guns fired again, the tires were locked tight, and the car dropped back to the ground.
ROAR!
Rosberg took off. 3.11 seconds. A solid tire change.
Jonathan stared at the screen. From entering the pit lane to exiting, Rosberg’s total pit time was 22.177 seconds. As he exited, he saw Sauber driver Ericsson about to rush past the pit exit.
The Mercedes-Benz pit crew clenched their fists.
"Ah!"
Just a tiny bit short. Rosberg landed right behind Ericsson, and he attempted to rely on the inside line closer to Turn 1 to complete an overtake.
SWISH!
The medium tires hadn’t reached their working temperature at all, resulting in a slight fishtail. Rosberg had to apply significant opposite lock and lift off the throttle to stabilize the car. Fortunately, he didn’t spin like a top, otherwise, he would have lost even more time.
Meanwhile, Wu Shi, who hadn’t pitted, had just passed the first sector. His speed was 0.3 seconds faster than on lap 11, which meant his lap time while pushing might be even faster than Massa’s behind him!
Jonathan rubbed his cheeks. Was Wu Shi telling the truth earlier when he said his tires were in better shape than Rosberg’s?! He breathed a slight sigh of relief. It seemed this guy wasn’t just messing around; he occasionally spoke a few words of truth over the TR.
Soon after, his and the strategy team’s attention shifted to Rosberg’s out-lap. The lap time set by the Mercedes-Benz on medium tires would be highly scrutinized. The weather temperature was relatively low today. Although it extended the life of the soft tires, it also made it more difficult for the medium tires to warm up.
It wasn’t until after the first sector ended that Rosberg had the speed to overtake Ericsson.
Having gained a rough idea, Jonathan looked at Massa’s tire data again. At present, it seemed this set of soft tires could last until after lap 20 before degrading to the point of being unusable. In this case, most drivers would adopt a one-stop strategy. Then the question arose: how many laps could the medium tires hold up for?
"A two-stop?" he asked, discussing with the strategy engineers.
"If we want to fight for second place, it must be a two-stop," Barrella said.
"Yeah." Jonathan nodded. Next, they still needed to observe the performance of the medium tires.
On the track, the only drivers who started on medium tires were Verstappen, Perez, and Ericsson. However, Ericsson had pitted on the opening lap under the safety car to switch to soft tires. As for Verstappen and Perez, their lap times didn’t hold as much reference value.
Wu Shi realized that when he didn’t have to keep driving in dirty air, the stress on his tires dropped significantly. Because of this, he pushed a bit closer to the limit through the next few corners, but the slight slipping of the tires made him break into a cold sweat in the sweltering heat!
He thought, "It’s controllable..."
On lap 12, Wu Shi’s lap time recovered to 1:33.112, but Hamilton’s speed was now even faster, almost breaking into the 1-minute 31-second range. Just like that, the leading Hamilton had pulled a gap of a full five or six seconds. If he kept running like this, he would be able to pull out a pit stop window by lap 23 or 24.
Rosberg’s out-lap time also came out: 1:34.111.
Jonathan TR: "I can see the tires are looking quite bad."
Wu Shi TR: "Yes, but I can maintain this speed for at least two more laps. What do you think?"
Jonathan TR: "Wait for our instructions."
The moment this was said, Wu Shi realized he had the advantage in lap pace. He needed to keep squeezing the tires.
On lap 13, Rosberg had already overtaken Hulkenberg, moving up to tenth place. In front of him was Little Red Bull’s Verstappen. The performance of the Mercedes-Benz gave him a chance to overtake after just one combination corner.
After the straight, Rosberg made his move at Turn 9. He aimed for the inside line, and the Little Red Bull ahead made no defensive moves. He didn’t dive down the inside until the car ahead entered the braking zone. However, the Little Red Bull suddenly jerked to the right at this moment, unexpectedly making a drastic lane change directly in the braking zone. This scared Rosberg—who thought he was about to complete the overtake—into a cold sweat!
"F**k! F**k! What is he doing?! Dangerous driving! Is he trying to kill me?!"
Rosberg’s furious voice, mixed with static, rang out over the TR. White smoke billowed from his front tires as he narrowly avoided a collision.
In the Mercedes Pit Room, Toto’s expression was gloomy, and he subconsciously touched his headset.
In the Williams Pit Room, Jonathan pursed his lips. He wanted to laugh but felt it would look unseemly.
Because of this sudden encounter, Rosberg was instantly left with a three-tenths of a second gap. Fortunately, on the ensuing fast, sweeping corners, the powerful engine of the Mercedes-Benz propelled him to rapidly close in on Verstappen. This time, Rosberg didn’t rush to dive inside. Instead, he prepared to overtake the Little Red Bull—whose performance was far inferior to the Mercedes-Benz—by running side-by-side and relying purely on raw pace.
However, upon entering Turns 11 and 12, he realized he was wrong.
Verstappen was even more hot-tempered than Wu Shi. He actually just let his car drift toward him! He had a premonition: if he didn’t open up the distance, they were definitely going to crash!
Did this damn guy from Holland not have a single normal thought in his head?!
In a split second, Rosberg reacted, pulled back, and once again avoided a collision. After Turn 12 was a DRS zone; trailing behind wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Then, he saw the Little Red Bull tap the brakes right before the corner, instantly letting him pass by.
"..."