F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 109 Finally, we got a meal!

The interviews on stage may end, but those behind the scenes still can't escape.

Not only that, the Netflix crew, the CCTV documentary filming team, and a whole host of other media outlets and independent media outlets surrounded him with a mountain of cameras.

Hamilton was absolutely right when he complained. He didn't receive such a grand welcome when he returned to the backstage area of ​​the podium. It really didn't feel like he was winning his 1000th Grand Prix.
Surrounded by everyone, Shu Long met his parents, who had been deliberately arranged to wait for him, in the convoy's pit garage.

Grandpa wasn't in the crowd. It seems that after experiencing such a scene in yesterday's qualifying rounds, the old man doesn't want to suffer like this again.

Shu Long's mother was already in the zone, but Shu Xiong was visibly uncomfortable being held up like this, and it was only at this moment that people could see a bit of father-son resemblance between them.

The father and son looked exactly alike in front of the camera, their awkward expressions creating a strangely comical contrast, much like the expression of a giant who was neither a clam nor a pearl.

The deliberate creation of this warm and tender setting makes it obvious to anyone with a brain what kind of touching scene of couples embracing and weeping is intended to be shown.

But to be honest, Shu Long really can't cry right now; in fact, he feels a little like laughing.
He feels like a student who has just walked out of the college entrance examination hall. Overall, he performed normally and there is nothing to regret or be upset about. All he feels is the relief of finally being able to put down his burden.

He wasn't thinking about his bright future; he just wanted to go home and play a couple of games with Teng Weifeng and the others, or go home and play a couple of games with Gan Mengning.

Thinking back on it carefully, the whole weekend was actually quite magical.

Having met a whole bunch of incredible celebrities and accumulated a ton of incredible contact information on his phone, this was the first time since becoming an F1 driver that Shu Long had truly felt like he was something special.

Of course, some of them are truly remarkable. If it weren't for the assistants introducing them, Shu Long might have mistaken them for ordinary passersby dressed in fancy clothes.

Actually, there's nothing strange about this change in mindset, since the circles people come into contact with are different.

For Shu Long, many of the big stars he met this time were once figures who were high above him and could only be seen from behind a screen.

On the other hand, isn't he the same to everyone else?
Having grown up in the racing world since 15, many star drivers who seem unattainable to outsiders are, in Shu Long's eyes, just ordinary people who might be taking a dump in the next stall.

Of course, there's nothing to be proud of, but Shu Long seems quite open-minded about it.

It wasn't until he squatted down in the ice bucket that the convoy had prepared for him that the outside noise finally quietly faded away!
"I said, are you going to film this too? Can't you leave the children some privacy?"

Shu Long's tone was not as formal as during the interview, because there were quite a few acquaintances among the people taking photos. Of course, if they weren't familiar with each other, the convoy wouldn't have been allowed to enter.

Besides the DTS crew who were already familiar with Shu Long, there were also team reporters who usually worked with the team and were mainly responsible for shooting promotional materials for Toro Rosso during race week.

Several photographers gave Shulong an "OK" sign, but instead of leaving, they moved closer and raised their cameras to try and take pictures of the scene inside the barrel.

"Sigh~ There's nothing there?"

"Of course there's nothing there! What exactly do you want to see?!"

Shu Long's dead fish eyes, which had been squinting ever since these people came in, widened in anger. Are all these people in the media so shameless?
What's so surprising? Don't act like you're just realizing this for the first time!

Not only are they thick, they can even get thicker!

"Let's move back a bit, the audience will definitely love this."

"."

What should have been a five-minute ice bath turned into a ten-minute ordeal for Shulong. Finally, realizing he couldn't outlast these bastards, he gave up and stood up from the tub.

There was really nothing extraordinary about it. Anyway, he was still wearing that fireproof lining that looked like thermal underwear, but he had taken off his shirt because he didn't want the hassle.

This should be the first time he's shown skin in front of the camera. I wonder if Gan Mengning will be unhappy when she sees it later.

The photographers who captured the footage were overjoyed. Once the show airs, they'll definitely get a lot of views just by using her figure as a promotional gimmick.

Two days later, Red Bull's official media posted this short clip as a post-game bonus on Twitter and YouTube.

As for whether Gan Mengning was actually unhappy, Shu Long himself couldn't quite tell. He only happened to discover that while she was on the toilet, she was engrossed in reading the comments section of the video, chuckling like a pervert while resting her chin on her hand.

The next stop is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is the weekend after next. Before next Wednesday, the team thoughtfully granted Shulong another long holiday.

Although it's called a holiday, we can't really relax at all.

Little Red Bull immediately assigned him a big task—signing autographs! One thousand copies!

It mainly consists of photos, hats, and T-shirts, which are used as limited-edition home track souvenirs. Some are given away as fan perks, while others are sold as a source of extra income for the team.

I spent the whole morning writing, and I don't even know if I'll get a share of the reward money.
With the end of the competition, a multitude of commercial events, both large and small, that had previously been unavailable now awaited Shu Long's attention.

The fourth place finish at home has led many domestic investors to recognize the inherent commercial value of an F1 driver. Companies that had previously tried to reach out to him but failed are now actively seeking him out. However, after much discussion, very few are willing to expand their cooperation to team sponsorship, with most stopping at sponsoring Shu Long personally.

There is a fundamental difference between the two.

Sponsoring the driver basically only increases Shu Long's personal income. If the procedures are all in China, there are many tax avoidance options, and the loss rate when reconciling accounts will be much smaller.

This is practically a money-giving scheme. In the past few days, we have signed contracts with four companies one after another. Considering the need to avoid potential business conflicts with Red Bull, most of the companies we chose are technology-related.

The nature of such companies is such that being associated with F1 racing, which is at the forefront of the automotive industry, is valuable in itself. They don't even need much endorsement; they just need a place for their logo on the edge of a helmet.

Sponsorships that involve commercial conflicts can only be regretfully abandoned, such as those for Geely and other domestic car companies.

The teams in the Red Bull system are already deeply tied to Honda, so this is the kind of situation where Honda might not care, but if they do, it could lead to a major lawsuit.

There's also the issue of team sponsorship, but that's a completely different matter.

Putting aside the high sponsorship fees demanded by the team itself, after several layers of taxes from domestic to international levels, providing the same level of support would require a higher price than that paid by European and American capital.

This deterred a large number of potential sponsors; ordinary capital wasn't even qualified to participate, while those who could afford it had to weigh the potential gains against the risks.

Ultimately, the buzz generated by Shulong this time is explosive, and whether it can translate into long-term economic benefits is uncertain. Many companies may need further observation and consideration. As for other capital entities with the resources and larger scale to participate...
It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but companies that are interested in F1 and have the ability to participate in the sport would have already entered the fray even without the opportunity presented by Shulong.

Like Anmuxi, who failed to reach an agreement last year, after hitting a wall in Shulong due to Red Bull issues, they turned around and approached Aro, who had just signed Kimi Räikkönen.

In their view, Aro, with his old man Lai Tou, already has enough attention, and the smaller team has lower requirements for sponsorship, making it one of the most cost-effective ways to build brand awareness.

Furthermore, due to the dragon's presence, the F1 racing series has recently seen an explosive increase in popularity.

So as long as the Chinese characters are printed in the paddock, it doesn't really matter which team it's in, since it will be seen by the spectators who follow the race anyway.

Tmall is also a major player with the capital to enter the competition, but it has a long-standing sponsorship agreement with Renault and is not interested in Shulong. Rather, it is more about cooperation between Renault and Renault in the domestic sales market.

There's also the possibility of a partnership, but their partner is the prestigious Ferrari, and it's not possible that they switched sides simply because of Shu Long.

Weichai also collaborates with Ferrari, meaning Shulong has no chance to partner with them.

To take a closer look, even the Red Bull Racing team itself has sponsors from China.

Let me briefly mention Hisense, which just ended its sponsorship relationship last year.

Many people should have a sense of the size of this company, but even a group of this caliber is unwilling to play around for long, so it's easy to imagine what the others are like.

Hisense selectively sponsored only three matches each year: Italy, the United States, and Abu Dhabi. The partnership lasted for three years, but the cost exceeded seven million US dollars.

So what were the results?
Anyway, at this price, Red Bull can only print their logo in a completely inconspicuous corner. Not to mention most ordinary car fans who don't really care about the details of car body advertising, even those hardcore veteran enthusiasts would probably have a hard time finding it even if they deliberately used a magnifying glass.

Another heavyweight sponsor was Lai Lai International, the kind of super sponsor that could print Chinese characters directly on the nose of a race car and even get Horner to hold a separate press conference for it.

But they weren't there for Shulong.

First of all, it's a Macau-based company; its side business is running hotels, but its main business is "online gaming."

By connecting these keywords, it's clear what kind of projects they mainly operate, which essentially contradicts Shulong's impeccable background.

Not to mention that it's inappropriate for Shulong to be their spokesperson from a social and moral standpoint, this advertisement on Shulong has little value and might even backfire due to public opinion.

After all that talk about what won't work, is there no sponsorship that's suitable for the physical condition of our Chinese race car drivers?
Yes brothers, yes!
ByteDance, the company behind Douyin, contacted Fuyun Tengxiao, the domestic agency now in charge of Shulong's management, on the same day after the competition, and scheduled a meeting for Wednesday.

The company's name is taken from Shu Long's own name, implying that a bound dragon will eventually soar into the sky.

Douyin is a potential big spender, and even though Shu Long has been so busy with social engagements these past few days that he has to force himself to stay alert and deal with it properly.

TikTok on foreign websites has been making waves recently, but their current audience is mainly teenagers with little spending power. Simply put, their market positioning is not high-end enough; they have popularity but can't generate big revenue.

Now they hope to use platforms like F1 to expand their content audience to include more experienced and established players with a certain economic foundation, as these are the main groups that can generate revenue for the platform.

Overall, this deal represents the strongest willingness and determination to cooperate.

However, they are currently in a strategic investment period of rapid market expansion, and their other expenses are also considerable, with annual losses possibly reaching tens of billions of US dollars. At this juncture, they are unlikely to make any significant investments in Shulong.

The current idea is to test the waters with a $500 million annual team sponsorship and a $150 million personal sponsorship from Shu Long at Little Red Bull. If the later performance evaluation is good, then it is very likely that the support will be increased.

It's a cause for celebration, really. After so much hard work and trepidation, Shu Long can finally stand up straight and say that he is now a "sponsored driver" with financial backing!

Don't feel ashamed.

In the highly commercialized and extremely competitive world of F1, unless a team has already proven itself to be the absolute backbone of its team with a championship, the stability of that position depends on how firmly the "sponsorship" is attached.

The specific details of the cooperation still need to be negotiated between ByteDance and Little Red Bull, which is beyond Shulong's control and may even have some impact on Shulong's side.

For example, ByteDance could have offered Shu Long an even higher personal sponsorship, on the condition that he sign an exclusive contract with Douyin and cooperate with some promotional commercial activities.

However, this clause is inconsistent with Red Bull's future promotional plans in China. Since Red Bull cannot be tied to a single platform, it had to settle for the current situation.

Aside from business-related social engagements, there were mostly face-to-face chats and interviews of varying sizes.

Most of the official media outlets were dealt with last week. This round mainly involves self-media, and the main basis for judgment is that the people responsible for the dialogue are mostly hot and beautiful young women.

Being in charge of the dialogue is only one aspect. Regardless of what they are saying, all of these people are wearing short skirts or hot pants, and their awkward sitting postures are constantly emphasizing the presence of their long legs. It's unclear whether they are doing this for Shu Long or for the audience.

Not to mention he has a jealous cat at home, Shulong doesn't even dare to look at the camera sideways. If it gets posted online, how can he face anyone?

So when the familiar Wang Jie appeared in front of Shu Long again, the person who was always on edge, afraid that something might be wrong, really breathed a sigh of relief.

This time he also brought a guest who looked somewhat familiar at first glance.

"Long time no see! It's finally our turn! Do you still recognize him?"

"We should know each other. How did you manage to get him here? Is it Karsa, Brother Ka?"

The person immediately looked utterly bewildered, clearly not the first time they'd been mistaken for someone else.

Wang Jieke himself was also stunned for a moment, but his mind worked really fast, and the joke came right off the bat.

"What is this? The leap is too big! Is it a dream collaboration between the world of football, e-sports, and racing?"

The tall, bespectacled boy quickly realized that this was also great material!

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Tim from Filmstorm, and I'm here specifically at Son Heung-min's invitation, haha~"

(End of this chapter)