Rosberg felt tormented. When the team changed him onto medium tyres, it seemed they had handed over the initiative.
Mercedes-Benz was indeed faster than Williams. Whether in high-speed or low-speed corners, it boasted superior performance. However, that comparison only held true when they were on the same tyres.
Currently, driving ahead, Wu Shi kept his Williams’s lap times steadily around the mid-1 minute 32 seconds mark. This lap time was nearly a second slower than Hamilton on his soft tyres, yet almost half a second faster than Rosberg on his medium tyres.
If the gap only widened by half a second per lap, over the remaining thirty-four laps, it would only amount to 17 seconds—nowhere near enough for a pit stop window. But one couldn’t ignore that Rosberg’s medium tyres had already run for 13 laps. Their performance seemed acceptable for now, but what about twenty laps later?
While the Mercedes Team found themselves in a dilemma, Jonathan from the Williams Team spoke to Wu Shi on the TR. "The tyres look to be in good condition. You can push a bit harder!"
"Copy."
Wu Shi did some quick mental calculations. It was the twenty-fifth lap, and this set of tyres had already run for 11 laps, yet their condition remained excellent.
In fact, one only had to look at Hamilton, who was still racing ahead, to know that under ideal conditions, running at least twenty-five laps on soft tyres was not a problem. After all, Hamilton’s current set of soft tyres had suffered severe wear during Q2. Even if the Williams car consumed tyres faster, lasting twenty laps would be more than enough.
This meant his next pit stop would be around the thirty-fifth lap. At that point, he would switch to his final set of new medium tyres and run them to the end of the race. With this in mind, Jonathan’s instructions made perfect sense. Since the tyres’ lifespan had far exceeded expectations, Wu Shi needed to pull as far ahead of Rosberg as possible. Even if he couldn’t open up enough of a gap for a free pit stop, he could still rely on his fresh tyres to chase him down later.
New White Tyres against old White Tyres—it promised to be quite a dramatic showdown.
"Whoa! Wu Shi’s lap times are looking quite impressive! Rosberg still can’t catch him on those White Tyres," Brother Bing commented.
"Indeed! It seems today’s lower temperatures are very friendly to the tyres. With this, can Wu Shi secure his second-place position?" Brother Fei said.
"That depends on the Mercedes Team’s strategy later. If Rosberg also goes for a two-stop strategy, he might just catch up," Brother Bing analyzed seriously.
"Hahaha!" Brother Fei let out a wicked laugh.
"What is it?" Brother Bing chuckled and asked.
"It just feels so surreal. To think the Mercedes Team has to figure out how to catch up to a Williams, and this Williams is even driven by one of the Hua Country People," Brother Fei said.
"Yeah! It really makes you sigh with emotion. Even if Wu Shi retired from the race right now, he’d still become a highly sought-after prize for every team on the grid!" Brother Bing sighed.
"He’s about six-tenths of a second faster than Massa on average. That’s incredibly rare between teammates, especially since Massa is no pay driver," Brother Fei noted, feeling that the mindset he had formed over his many years of watching F1 had been shattered. "I have no idea how he manages to preserve his tyres while maintaining such speed."
As Brother Bing was about to speak, the Mercedes-Benz TR appeared on the broadcast screen.
Mercedes Team TR: "Your pace is dropping."
Hamilton TR: "Yes, the tyres are degrading very quickly now."
The simultaneous interpreter immediately translated it.
Brother Bing immediately looked at the timing screens and exclaimed in surprise, "Wu Shi clocked a 1:32.135 this lap! Hamilton’s lap time has dropped to a 1:33.011."
"It looks like Hamilton is coming into the pits." As soon as Brother Fei’s words fell, the Mercedes Team called Hamilton in for a pit stop.
Of course, this pit stop had nothing to do with the other drivers on the track. Hamilton had already built up a massive gap of over thirty seconds in the early stages of the race.
"Mercedes-Benz’s car is still incredibly fast this year."
"But just looking at the situation at the Australia Station, it’s hard to tell whether it’s Hamilton who is fast, or if Mercedes-Benz is fast," Brother Fei said with a smile.
"Hahaha, you don’t have to do Rosberg dirty like that! Last year, he fought Hamilton all the way to the final race," Brother Bing laughed loudly.
"If Hamilton suffers a botched pit stop, does Wu Shi have a chance to overtake him?" Brother Fei began to fantasize.
"That’s impossible. The gap between them is simply too large," Brother Bing said, looking at the broadcast feed of the pit lane.
This time, the notorious caster curse didn’t seem to possess enough juice, and no instant jinx occurred. Hamilton’s tyre change was a bit slow at 3.3 seconds, but that slight delay wasn’t enough to change anything.
Unlike the domestic commentators who sounded like a comedy duo, the official commentators were more focused on a truly momentous occasion.
David announced in an impassioned voice, "Hamilton is in the pits! This pit stop of his has indirectly created a new, virtually unbreakable record in F1!
"Of course, this record does not belong to Hamilton, but rather to the driver from Hua Country, Wu Shi!
"At 16 years and 102 days old, Wu Shi has taken the lead in the race! He is now the youngest race leader in F1 history!"
On the track, Wu Shi didn’t care at all about this brief stint in the lead. By the time he completed his lap and arrived at the start-finish straight, Hamilton was already at the pit lane exit. At this moment, there was still a full seven-second gap between the two of them.
On lap twenty-six, the new White Tyres hadn’t gotten up to speed yet, and Hamilton’s lap time was only 1:33.751. But going into lap twenty-seven, Hamilton’s speed surged by a whole magnitude, clocking in at 1:32.123.
Wu Shi’s soft tyres were currently at the very end of their peak performance window. It was expected that they would begin to degrade in just a few more laps.
Jonathan TR: "It looks like they are going for a one-stop."
Upon hearing this, Wu Shi glanced in his rearview mirror. The No. 6 Mercedes-Benz had fallen quite far behind, estimated at nearly five seconds back. Obviously, Rosberg hadn’t been pushing during these past few laps; he was preserving his tyres.
Wu Shi TR: "If he’s going to save his tyres, then I can’t afford to save mine."
After speaking, he looked at the dial on his steering wheel that adjusted the engine power. He decided to unleash a little more performance.
Through today’s battle, he now knew exactly how much of a lead Mercedes-Benz had over Williams. The only reason he was in his current position was purely due to Rosberg making two mistakes.
The first mistake was that Rosberg had worn down his tyres too heavily while dogfighting with him, a direct result of his overeagerness. If Rosberg hadn’t been so anxious to overtake and had instead bided his time, the Williams’s tyre degradation rate would have far exceeded that of the Mercedes-Benz. When that happened, Wu Shi would have had no choice but to concede the position.
Of course, Rosberg was undoubtedly thinking about getting past Wu Shi as quickly as possible to fight his teammate for first and second place. Without the benefit of hindsight, no one could have known that Wu Shi could defend so fiercely.
The second mistake was his team’s pit stop, which was a chain reaction caused by the first mistake. Even on new White Tyres, he could have still tried to chase him down. However, he ended up getting held up by Verstappen for a lap and a half.
So, even a Mars car could stumble in the face of an incredibly complex race.
Next, Wu Shi’s lap times continued to hover around 1:32.1. Consequently, his tyre degradation accelerated.
Jonathan no longer focused on Wu Shi; instead, he kept his eyes glued to Rosberg, waiting for the Mercedes Team’s reaction.
If the gap continued to widen like this, by the time they pitted on lap thirty-five, the distance would stretch to nearly seven or eight seconds. By then, when Wu Shi came out on fresh White Tyres, he would slot in right in front of Vettel, and he would definitely launch an all-out pursuit of Rosberg.
On lap thirty-three, Rosberg was still driving conservatively to save his tyres. By this point, the gap between him and Wu Shi had already grown to 7.361 seconds.
The improvement in Wu Shi’s lap times after he sped up again took the Mercedes Team’s strategy group completely by surprise! Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he was driving a second Mercedes-Benz!
On that same lap, Verstappen’s engine started smoking. He parked his Little Red Bull on the grass, triggering a brief red flag.
The camera cut to Old Verstappen in the Little Red Bull Pit Room. The former F1 driver’s face was filled with disappointment.
On lap thirty-four, the gap widened to 7.935 seconds.
"Push as much as you can," Jonathan said over the TR.
"Understood."
Just as the internal radio communication within the Williams Team ended, the radio over at Mercedes-Benz crackled to life again.
Mercedes Team TR: "Push a little bit."
Rosberg TR: "How many laps are left?"
Mercedes Team TR: "Twenty-three laps."
Rosberg roared over the TR, "YES! There are still twenty-three laps left!"
The remaining lap count was displayed right on his steering wheel. How could he possibly not know how many laps were left?
He was questioning the team—with twenty-three laps still to go, how could they dare ask him to push on this set of old tyres?!
If he had pitted and switched to soft tyres, would he have ended up in such a passive position?!