Chapter 131: A Series of Accidents
The incident at Turn 2 immediately brought out the Safety Car. The drivers forced to retire exited the circuit through the emergency access behind the barriers.
Wu Shi returned to the pit lane, irritation still lingering. If he had turned in earlier and avoided the congestion, he might have escaped the chaos.
But on a race track, nothing is ever predictable. Even the most experienced drivers cannot foresee every possible scenario.
Wu Shi spent the rest of the morning in the garage. The damaged car was recovered by the marshals and returned to the team. After inspection, the engineers concluded that the repairs were manageable.
That was largely because Turn 2 was a tight hairpin. Cars were heavily decelerated on entry, so despite the collision, the damage had not affected any critical structural components.
Verstappen's start was far from ideal as well. He was boxed in at Turn 2 and dropped to fourth position.
On lap four, the race went green again. Engines roared as the field charged down the main straight.
After blasting through the start-finish straight and the flat-out kink of Turn 1, Verstappen attacked without hesitation at Turn 2.
His move to the inside was aggressive enough to disrupt all three cars ahead.
Rosenqvist, directly in front of him, was forced to take evasive action. Ocon was even more decisive, attempting to outbrake Rosenqvist outright.
Everything unfolded simultaneously. Four cars converged into the corner, locked together in complete disorder. The pack only untangled once Rosenqvist finally emerged from the hairpin.
Ocon followed closely, while Verstappen somehow came out of the chaos in third place.
Rosenqvist had lost momentum, but his troubles were not over. His sudden line change caught the drivers behind by surprise, triggering a direct collision.
Bang!
Crack!
His car came to a halt. The impact was not severe, but when he tried to pull away, he realized another car's front wing had lodged itself into the sidepod.
He was stuck.
Rosenqvist waved frantically, signaling the marshals to assist.
However, the nearest marshal didn't notice at first. Rosenqvist pounded the cockpit sides repeatedly until the movement finally caught attention.
Two marshals rushed over and attempted to separate the cars, but after nearly a minute of effort, nothing moved.
"Hey! Push it away! I'm stuck!"
Rosenqvist lifted his visor, waving his arms and shouting as if sheer volume might help.
It didn't.
After another thirty seconds, his gestures slowed. Accepting the inevitable, he removed the steering wheel, climbed out of the cockpit, and his race came to an end.
The Safety Car was deployed again, neutralizing the race through the entire ninth lap.
Racing resumed on lap ten with another rolling restart.
Once again, Verstappen's strength on restarts was evident. He almost closed onto Ocon immediately.
But the straight was short. Before Turn 2, the leading trio were already locked in combat.
Ocon defended the inside line, clipping the painted kerb aggressively.
The car launched slightly into the air. Thanks to the shorter distance through the corner, he was able to realign the car earlier for corner exit.
However, the tall kerbs severely compromised traction. Rosenqvist carried more speed around the outside and powered past on corner exit.
The attempt backfired. Not only did Ocon fail to overtake, he nearly lost another position.
Fortunately for him, Verstappen was briefly blocked and unable to mount a clean attack.
All three cars survived Turn 2.
"These battles are brutal," Wu Shi commented.
"You say that like you're gentle," Alan shot back.
"I'm not that bad," Wu Shi laughed.
The next two laps settled slightly. Ocon's understanding of the circuit became increasingly clear as he closed the gap to Rosenqvist.
The attack came again at Turn 2.
This time, Ocon avoided the kerbs. He braked later and threw the nose in decisively, forcing Rosenqvist wide.
Rosenqvist attempted to defend around the outside, but his line was marginally too wide, costing him momentum.
Swish!
Ocon got on the throttle earlier, carried superior exit speed onto the straight, drew alongside, and completed the pass.
At that moment, the performance advantage of the Prema car was undeniable. Rosenqvist's machine simply could not respond.
Just as Rosenqvist exhaled in relief, a chill ran down his spine. In the mirrors, he saw the unmistakable number 30 on the nose cone behind him.
Damn it. That lunatic.
Preparing to defend through Turns 4 and 5, he suddenly noticed a marshal waving furiously behind the barrier.
Yellow flags.
Another accident at Turn 2.
This time, Giovinazzi had collided with Jordan King.
The broadcast camera cut to the scene. Giovinazzi climbed out, walked to the side of the track, sat down, and clutched his chest.
A marshal immediately approached and tapped his helmet. "Are you okay?"
"My chest hurts a bit," Giovinazzi replied.
Seeing no serious injury, the marshal moved on to assist with recovery.
Giovinazzi remained seated, occasionally bowing his head, sometimes holding his chest. It was unclear whether the pain came from the impact—or from the disappointment of retirement.
"This corner is cursed," Wu Shi muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"Everyone wants to overtake there," Alan replied.
The circuit layout left few opportunities. Turn 2 was the only realistic passing zone.
On lap nineteen, the race restarted once more.
Verstappen immediately attacked Ocon at Turn 2.
This time, no one else was close enough to interfere.
Verstappen's move was clean but assertive. He forced Ocon to defend the inside, then instantly switched lines and slipped through the opening.
Slow in. Fast out.
Ocon's compromised exit allowed Verstappen to draw fully alongside on corner exit.
As Wu Shi leaned forward to see how Verstappen would handle the next sequence, his phone suddenly vibrated.
Buzz.
When gratitude and resentment are evenly divided, how can one possibly carry both?
He glanced at the screen—Louise.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I saw the crash. Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.
"It's nothing. Just a small hit. Don't worry about it—focus on studying." Wu Shi knew she had been sneaking a look at the race again.
"It was during break! I just opened Twitter," Louise protested.
Wu Shi smiled. "After this race, we'll finally have some free time. We'll go out and relax a bit."
"Yeah! ヾ(▽)ノ"
"But study hard," he added. "If you're serious about Germany, you need to be prepared."
"Hey! I know~ It's not like I have to go to Germany," Louise muttered.
While talking to her, Wu Shi caught Verstappen's decisive overtake out of the corner. He didn't cheer like the others—his attention was on the voice in his ear—but a faint smile still appeared at the corner of his mouth.