Chapter 79 - 11: 3 Consecutive Wins

Chapter 79: Chapter 11: 3 Consecutive Wins

CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Everyone in the pit garage spontaneously burst into applause. This launch reaction time, combined with Wu Shi’s absurdly perfect starting maneuvers, virtually guaranteed him the advantage at Turn 1.

As expected, Latifi’s race start reaction was slightly delayed. While not entirely slow, his successive acceleration and gear shifts were noticeably inferior to Wu Shi’s.

Coupled with the existing one-car-length gap between them, any attempt Latifi made to attack entering Turn 1 remained extremely forced and unnatural.

Wu Shi had already secured his racing line early on. Latifi did not act recklessly, deciding to bide his time and make his move later in the race.

SCREECH!

CRASH! BANG!

Suddenly, the sound of a collision echoed from behind. Several race cars smashed into one another like bumper cars, scattering shattered parts and debris all over the track.

The race stewards barely hesitated, immediately deploying yellow flags in the accident sector.

Although Wu Shi and the frontrunners were ahead of the wreck, they were still within the incident sector. Upon seeing the yellow flags, they had no choice but to decelerate.

Catching a glimpse in his peripheral vision, Wu Shi immediately spoke over the team radio. "Latifi didn’t slow down right away. He gained an illegal time advantage."

"Copy that. We will verify," his engineer replied, immediately having the staff pull up the video feed. If true, they would report it to the stewards at once.

Soon, the green flag indicating the end of the yellow-flag zone appeared ahead. Wu Shi knew that Latifi had already closed the gap by braking late just moments before.

However, when it came to a rolling start, he really wasn’t afraid of the guy.

The moment the front detection point crossed the sensor, Wu Shi accelerated instantly as if receiving a direct signal. His perfectly anticipated maneuver wasted not a single fraction of a second.

Over Latifi’s team radio: "Investigate him. He accelerated early."

The pit crew replied: "Copy."

Both drivers had reported the other to their respective teams.

Relying on his rolling start advantage, Wu Shi pulled away from Latifi again. Still, Latifi had fresher tires and could strike at any moment.

"Latifi didn’t immediately slow down when he saw the yellow flag earlier. The stewards are already investigating it, and he’ll likely receive a time penalty," Wu Shi’s engineer informed him over the radio.

"Copy."

Yet, before any official news of a penalty arrived, the safety car was deployed.

The debris scattered across the straight was too extensive and would take some time to clear.

After leading the pack for two laps, the safety car simply guided everyone back into the pit lane. The session was red-flagged.

"Was the accident severe? Is anyone hurt?" Wu Shi asked over the radio after parking his car.

"Two cars lost power. The drivers are fine, but cranes are needed for recovery. They recalled all vehicles to ensure safety," the engineer replied.

These words left Wu Shi in a slight daze. Obviously, Bi Anqi’s accident had not yet occurred. But if even a minor non-championship F3 Level event knew to take such safety precautions, why didn’t the Grand Prix take them seriously?

His daze did not last long before the engineer spoke again. "Do you want to get out and rest for a bit? Clearing the track is going to take a while."

"All right."

Wu Shi stepped out of the car, just in time to see Latifi getting out as well. The two exchanged a glance but did not speak.

Instead, third-place Antonio walked over. "Do you want to come to my party after the race? I’ve invited quite a few drivers."

"Thanks, but I’m not really into parties. I’m planning to get some good rest."

"Yeah, all right." Antonio reached out and gave him a high-five.

Wu Shi had never been a particularly social person and generally avoided such gatherings. Besides, going to one of their parties here in America? He felt it was unsafe.

"He just invited me too," Verstappen said.

"You’re not going either?"

"Oh, I don’t like these kinds of events. I’d much rather go home and play a few matches of FIFA."

"Haha, Holland has lost a world-class striker," Wu Shi teased.

"Haha." Verstappen laughed along. Aside from driving, his favorite thing was football. If he hadn’t gotten involved in motorsports, he might just be sprinting around a football pitch like a Mercedes-Benz.

It took a full twenty minutes to clear the debris from the track. During this time, the stewards’ investigation into Latifi and Wu Shi concluded.

The verdict stated that Latifi had obviously braked late, utilizing this action to gain a roughly two-tenths-of-a-second advantage. Therefore, the stewards decided to issue him a time penalty.

Meanwhile, Wu Shi’s car had perfectly crossed the detection point at the exact moment he accelerated, meaning no infraction had occurred.

After this entire ordeal, Latifi’s expression was grim. Burdened with a time penalty, he could no longer fight for first place; his only concern now was defending his second-place position.

However, the high degree of standardization among the cars in this race meant the gaps between drivers were nearly impossible to widen.

Even with Wu Shi leading the pack, he had only managed to pull a one-second gap on second place over the entire race. How could Latifi possibly open up a five-second gap from third place while running in second?

"Another victory in the bag," Verstappen smiled.

"Even without any accidents, the victory would still be mine." Wu Shi shook his head, speaking with absolute bluntness.

"What about this afternoon?" Verstappen’s eyes brimmed with fighting spirit.

"I’m using the freshest tires. They’ve only done one qualifying lap."

"Hah, all right." Verstappen shrugged helplessly. It seemed that claiming victory in the third race was going to be a monumental task as well.

After the race restarted with a rolling start, Wu Shi naturally took the lead. Latifi had absolutely no desire to attack; he only hoped Wu Shi would pull the pack along at a faster pace, allowing him to squeeze out as much time as possible.

VROOM!

Aside from the crash at the start, the second race concluded without much excitement. In truth, that was simply the nature of motorsports most of the time.

After eating lunch and resting for a while, the drivers lined up for the start of the third race.

"Wu Shi’s reaction time in the last race was 0.133. Yours was 0.141," Jos walked over and said.

"I was slower than him." Verstappen nodded.

"Yes. Not only was your reaction off the line slower, but your launch wasn’t as smooth as his either."

"So, you think I’m going to lose?" Verstappen countered.

"Yes."

Verstappen fell silent.

Sid could hardly bear to watch from the sidelines, but it was a father-son conversation, and it wasn’t his place to interrupt.

"I can’t beat him now, but sooner or later, I will. He just reached the peak earlier than I did. I’ll catch up to him." After saying this, Verstappen put on his helmet and headed toward his race car.

Just as Jos had predicted, in the absence of any starting incidents, Wu Shi’s launch remained exceptionally smooth. In fact, because the lights-out timing this round was perfectly average, his reaction was a few milliseconds faster than before.

"Young people really do have fast reflexes," Sid sighed with emotion, placing his hands behind his head.

The remainder of the race offered little suspense at the very front of the grid. Both Wu Shi and Verstappen were running on the freshest tires. However, the third-place Holland driver, Dennis van der Laar, was also utilizing fresh rubber.

Perhaps something had clicked for him, but he launched a ferocious pursuit against Verstappen, making it entirely impossible for Verstappen to focus on catching Wu Shi.

Finally, after a three-lap dogfight, he shockingly snatched Verstappen’s position away.

Thirty minutes later, as the final lap concluded, Wu Shi secured victory across all three races at the Sebring Raceway.

This victory report was immediately delivered straight to Montezemolo’s desk.