Chapter 177: Offense and Defense
Sainz's defense was suffocating.
By the start of Lap 8, Wu Shi had been held up so badly that the gap to Vettel had already stretched to nearly eight seconds.
However, everyone knew this was only the calm before the storm.
DRS would be enabled on Lap 9, and once that happened, the entire field would erupt into attack mode. For now, everyone was simply waiting.
As a result, there were almost no position changes throughout Lap 8.
When Vettel crossed the timing line, Lap 9 began—and DRS was officially activated.
Unfortunately, the two DRS detection points—one after Turn 14 and another after Turn 15—meant that the first half of the lap still offered no DRS advantage.
Wu Shi and Hamilton stayed disciplined, running clean racing lines and continuing to manage tire temperatures.
Approaching Turn 14, Jonathan reminded him:
Jonathan: "You're within DRS range. You'll have DRS."
"Copy."
The moment he crossed the detection line, Wu Shi opened the flap.
The engine note sharpened as the car punched through the humid air, rapidly closing on Sainz by the end of the straight.
But everyone was in a DRS train.
Toro Rosso had DRS from Grosjean ahead, so the speed difference was limited.
This wasn't a problem.
F1 overtakes are rarely decided in just one or two corners. What fans see on camera is usually the result of several laps of positioning and pressure.
Wu Shi was already thinking about the second detection point.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Back onto the main straight, DRS opened again.
Speed climbed past 330 km/h, sparks flashing from the rear as the car compressed over bumps.
This time, it was enough.
Just before the braking zone, Wu Shi darted to the inside, giving Sainz almost no time to react. His front wing was already ahead before the apex.
Now Sainz had to leave space.
He tried to squeeze the gap as much as possible to make the pass difficult, but Wu Shi committed fully, leaning the car into the corner.
As long as Sainz didn't turn any further in, there would be no contact.
That razor-thin spatial judgment—knowing exactly how much room both cars had—was what separated top drivers from the rest.
Through Turn 1 of Lap 10, Wu Shi completed the move.
He immediately moved back toward the middle of the track to cover the inside of Turn 2, preventing any counterattack.
But he was being overly cautious.
Sainz had no chance to strike back—because Hamilton had already launched an attack on him through Turn 2.
In the commentary booth, the voices were exploding:
"Beautiful move! Wu Shi dives to the inside with late braking, takes control of the corner, and completes the overtake cleanly! Sainz tries to respond—but Hamilton is right there!
"Oh! Sainz didn't spot the Mercedes behind him—he twitches the steering! The car snaps—ah, he catches it!
"Up ahead—Wu Shi is already attacking Grosjean into Turn 2?! Is there space?! Is there space?!
"He's on the outside—no, not enough speed yet—but Turn 3 is a right-hander, and Wu Shi will immediately be on the inside! He's clearly planned this as a combined move!
"Williams deploying energy—closing fast—yes! Front wing ahead! He's through! That's another overtake!"
In a single DRS sequence, the order was completely shaken.
Wu Shi climbed to P3, locking onto Hülkenberg in second.
Hamilton followed him through the chaos and moved up to P4.
Rosberg was still trapped behind Massa in P8.
Verstappen and Kvyat both cleared Pérez, each gaining a position.
After Turn 4, the front temporarily stabilized—but the midfield battle was still raging.
Rosberg knew he couldn't afford to wait.
He attacked Massa aggressively, willing to burn battery and sacrifice tire life just to break free.
Massa responded in kind—also sacrificing tires to protect Wu Shi's race.
At Turn 9, Massa gave up just half a car length.
That was all Rosberg needed.
He lunged through.
But at Turn 10, the racing line switched sides, and Massa fought back on the outside, regaining position into Turn 11 and covering the inside again.
Rosberg stayed glued to his gearbox.
He forced Massa toward the right, and at the left-hand Turn 12, finally seized the inside line and completed the overtake.
Once clear, Rosberg immediately opened a half-second gap, showing just how much pace he had lost in traffic.
Up front, Wu Shi had already crossed the detection point at Turn 14.
Low drag, sparks trailing, he attacked Hülkenberg into Turn 15 and completed the move.
Hamilton was right behind him.
Just as both cars were about to pass Hülkenberg, Wu Shi suddenly braked harder than usual.
Screech!
Hamilton reacted instantly—but because he couldn't judge Wu Shi's exact braking force, he had to brake even harder to avoid contact.
Hamilton's voice came over the radio, controlled but irritated:
Hamilton: "What is he doing? Is he trying to cause an accident, or does he not know the rules?"
But the moment Wu Shi braked, Hamilton already understood the tactic.
By backing out slightly, Wu Shi gave the position back to Hülkenberg.
Which meant—
After Turn 15, Wu Shi was again within DRS range.
This time, he needed only half the straight to complete the pass.
Behind him, the Mercedes was even more threatening—DRS open, its top speed was four to five kilometers per hour faster.
Fortunately, the straight wasn't long enough for Hamilton to complete the overtake there.
Otherwise, Wu Shi would have lost the position immediately.
Wu Shi (radio): "Engine output feels low. We're too slow on the straight."
Jonathan: "Temperatures are still rising. Watch the power limits."
That exchange was picked up by the world feed.
In the Six Star Sports studio, the commentators sighed.
"Mercedes is still just too fast."
"But Williams is also running Mercedes power units, right? Why is the speed gap this obvious?"
"I heard Hamilton skipped FP1 to save the engine. Maybe that's paying off now?"
"Haha, where did you hear that nonsense?"
While they joked, Lap 11 quickly reached Turn 14.
This time, Wu Shi did not have DRS.
Hamilton pulled alongside mercilessly on the long straight, and the performance gap became painfully clear—more obvious even than in Australia.
"Did he just drive past him like that?!"
"The difference in car performance is massive!"
Mercedes claimed the inside line.
Wu Shi immediately moved to the outside, entering Turn 15 with an extreme slow-in, fast-out approach.
He shifted the apex later, aiming the exit directly onto the main straight.
Hamilton exited first.
Wu Shi was still rotating the car.
But the moment the steering straightened—
Boom!
The engine roared.
The Williams snapped onto the Mercedes' slipstream.
The DRS on the main straight now belonged to Wu Shi.
Hamilton saw the white and blue nose of car 59 filling his mirrors and finally experienced what his teammate had felt in Australia.
Buzz—buzz—roar!
Two hundred meters before the braking zone, Wu Shi moved right, hinting at the inside.
Hamilton immediately defended, covering the line.
Wu Shi then drifted back to the center—seemingly abandoning the move.
They were almost nose to tail.
Wu Shi lifted slightly, controlling the gap.
Then—just before braking—
He snapped left and planted the throttle.
Roar!
With DRS and momentum, he drew fully alongside.
Both braked.
Both downshifted.
Wu Shi squeezed toward Hamilton.
Hamilton refused to yield and squeezed back, leaving barely a car's width.
Through Turn 1, the lines switched.
Mercedes became the outside car.
Williams hit the apex first.
Wu Shi reclaimed second place and edged away slightly—Hamilton had lost momentum by defending too aggressively.
The battle ended there.
Without DRS through Turn 3, Hamilton would pay too high a price to attack immediately again.
And Wu Shi's pace was strong enough that following him wasn't disastrous.
Both drivers settled—temporarily.
Jonathan: "Last lap you lost one point seven one seconds to Vettel. Gap is now ten point zero eight seconds."
At Mercedes:
Mercedes: "Pass Wu Shi as soon as possible. Gap to Ferrari is increasing."
Both teams knew the same truth.
Vettel was disappearing at the front, completely untroubled.
And there was no chance that Wu Shi and Hamilton would coexist peacefully for long.
The end of Lap 12—
with both DRS zones active—
was guaranteed to bring another round of combat.
Further back, Rosberg finally cleared Ricciardo.
But by then, his gap to Vettel had grown to 19.872 seconds—almost an entire pit-stop window.
The cost of fighting through the midfield had already been paid.