The Australian Grand Prix was over. The person who drew the most attention during the race wasn’t the winner, Hamilton, but the second-place finisher, Wu Shi.
However, Wu Shi declined interviews from most of the media. With all the current media frenzy, he didn’t want to be in the public eye.
As for the major media outlets he had a good relationship with, they naturally wouldn’t press him, waiting for a more suitable time for an interview.
Of course, just as there were media outlets that supported him, there were also those that tried to smear him.
For example, a certain media outlet suggested Wu Shi’s car might have involved special modifications or cheating, and recommended the race officials conduct an investigation.
This accusation was absurd. After all, Wu Shi had no backing or connections in F1. Who would go to such lengths for him?
Instead of claiming Wu Shi’s car had issues, it was more telling to bring up the case of second-generation drivers like Sainz and Verstappen.
Wu Shi didn’t have much time to rest at home. After a meal with Martina and Louise, he rushed to the Williams factory to continue assisting with car development and complete his daily training.
After he stepped out of the limelight, the other teams began to stir things up.
McLaren believed the stability of the Honda engine was a serious concern. The situation was so dire that people were already making jokes about their performance. McLaren’s Racing Director, Briere, stated that with the Honda engine, "just finishing the race is a victory."
Button’s engine had an average power output of 64% for the entire race, which was enough to show just how unreliable the Honda engine was at the time.
Of course, things weren’t optimistic over at Red Bull either. Marco and Newey were criticizing the poor performance of the Renault Engine. The former champions had fallen from grace, a truly lamentable sight.
Red Bull Team Principal Horner even said very sternly:
"The engine problem is masking our true strength. Our advantages in corner entry and exit, and in tire preservation, are all being hidden. If you’re equipped with this engine, you simply can’t drive the car the way you want."
Then, on March 19th, four days after the race, news came from France: Bianchi was awake.
When the news broke, most of the drivers in the paddock went to visit him.
Wu Shi, Leclerc, and Verstappen arranged to go together.
Lying in the hospital bed, Bianchi looked haggard. His handsome face was devoid of vitality, but his eyes still lit up when he saw Wu Shi and the others arrive.
"I... I... I should have listened to you," Bianchi said, struggling.
Leclerc and Verstappen’s mouths hung open. Wu Shi’s prediction had been so uncanny that, at this moment, they didn’t know what to say.
"It’s okay. Now that you’re awake, everything will get better," Wu Shi comforted him.
"Thank you. I eased off the throttle back then. I didn’t hit my head," Bianchi said.
Wu Shi was a little surprised. ’Is this why the outcome is different from what happened in history?’
"I... at that moment... all I could think about was... what you said... I hesitated. Luckily... luckily..." Bianchi leaned back on the bed, dizzy and overwhelmed, and closed his eyes, saying no more.
A doctor also came over to remind them that the patient had just woken up and might not be in a stable condition, so they shouldn’t disturb him too much.
So, the group said their goodbyes and left the hospital. The moment they walked out the main entrance, Leclerc began desperately rubbing his eyes.
Wu Shi patted his shoulder. He remembered that in the future he knew, when Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix, the official commentator had made a tear-jerking remark that mentioned Bianchi.
"Without Bianchi, there would be no Leclerc today..."
Whether it was Bianchi sponsoring Leclerc when he was young, or the subsequent establishment of the Halo system that was spurred by the incident, both had helped Lock.
The former allowed Lock to continue participating in F1, while the latter had saved Lock’s life.
After returning to England from France, Wu Shi, along with Massa, began to participate in Williams’s ongoing development work.
Wu Shi’s performance gave the team an idea. They began to have him replicate his race data from Melbourne as much as possible in order to develop the simulator.
"The tire preservation data—that’s what I’m very confused about. Why was your tire degradation so slow in the later stages?" performance engineer Andrew Murdoch asked, a bit impatiently.
Wu Shi frowned. It was a difficult question to answer, but he still tried his best to describe the changes brought about by his unique state.
"The condition of the tire as it passes over every inch of track is different. The granularity of the surface, hard impurities, and rubber debris all affect tire degradation."
Wu Shi thought for a long time before giving an example that everyone could understand:
"How do we drive a race car in the rain? To be as fast as possible, we look for the dry line. If the whole track is wet, we look for the places with less water.
"The evenness of the road surface also varies, so the water level isn’t uniform. Finding the spot with the least amount of water means you can get more grip.
"The process of finding grip and the process of preserving tires are interconnected. When you’ve run a lap, you should already know the general track conditions, and then you adapt on the next lap."
The engineers looked at each other, bewildered. Even Massa shook his head and said, "Are you saying you make real-time adjustments for the real-time changes in track conditions?"
Wu Shi nodded.
"Alright, first, replicate your data for us. We’ll run the simulations after that," Rod Nelson said with a sigh of resignation.
And so, the development work continued.
"Your driving style is quite aggressive. That’s good," Jonathan said.
"Why?"
"Massa is the same. His raw speed is very fast. You two are the same type of driver."
Having two drivers with similar styles is an absolute boon for the team, as it makes car development much simpler.
Wu Shi had always preferred oversteer. For him, getting the car’s nose pointed in the right direction was more important than controlling the vehicle perfectly.
So his setup preferences had always leaned that way, and the team made adjustments according to his feedback.
Massa’s take on it was that he was highly adaptable to the car, so it wasn’t a big issue.
It was true that his competitive form had declined since his injury in 2009, which was why he was happy to contribute to Wu Shi’s race at Australia Station.
Of course, if possible, he would have preferred Wu Shi to take out Hamilton.
The relationship between the two drivers was harmonious, which made Claire very happy. However, she didn’t spend most of her time at the factory, but was out and about running the company.
Her primary goal was still to make the Williams Team’s financial reports look good.
Repetitive, tedious, yet challenging work—that was the reality of the weeks between F1 races.
On March 21st, the Williams Team’s race equipment was already being shipped to the next stop—the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
The main feature of this circuit is its two super-long straights. Top speed would be a huge factor here, making the car’s top-end performance extremely important.
Of course, for this track, the team was still primarily relying on Massa’s ideas. In everyone’s eyes, Wu Shi had never even driven this circuit before. What useful suggestions could he possibly offer?
As for his lap times in the simulator? Most of the old-school engineers didn’t really trust that stuff.