F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 117 A Storm Rises on the Field, A Storm Unfolds Off the Field

Shu Long noticed Vettel's arrival at the pit stop immediately, but whether or not to follow him remains a question.

His tires are in good condition now, at least for a set that has already run more than ten laps, but the grip performance has begun to decline.

Fortunately, Shulong stayed close to Mercedes for over ten laps, which helped him manage his battery well and resulted in a good actual pace over the long distance.

Most importantly, he didn't have much trouble keeping up with Mercedes at least in heavy oil conditions at this race.

This reminded him of the Brazil leg of last year, when he was also able to keep up with Bottas without any difficulty.

However, last time Toro Rosso's tire management mainly relied on the high downpressure characteristic, while this time Shulong's control over tire wear mainly benefited from his control of tire friction in low-speed corners and his gentle cornering maneuvers.

However, just like last time, keeping up is possible, but surpassing it is a pipe dream.

Let alone Shulong, even Hamilton in front of him would find it difficult to overturn his teammate Bottas.

Most of the corners at the Baku circuit don't offer overtaking opportunities, allowing drivers to confidently store up battery power, since no matter how slow they go, there's no room for other cars to overtake them.

In addition, the two DRS ends are both right-angle bends. To overtake on the straight, you need a speed advantage that can crush the car in front. Otherwise, you can easily defend by simply holding the center line in the braking zone.

Bottas's wheel-to-wheel ratio has always been his weakness, but even so, he can easily block Hamilton's attack routes.

It cannot be ruled out that after drawing with his teammate in qualifying, Bottas has the idea of ​​turning things around and taking control of Mercedes this year, and he has no intention of giving way to the number one car behind him.

Perhaps it was thanks to the relatively restrained rivalry between the two that Shu Long was able to keep up with their pace over long distances so easily.

But for the same reason, Shulong now has to be wary of the possibility of being undercut by Vettel.

"What's Seb's position after leaving the pit? What's his pace?"

"He came out of the pits 2 seconds behind Grosjean. Based on his current lap times, he has about five to six laps to go, but his yellow tire lap times are currently 1.3 seconds behind yours."

"So what's the gap between us and Pierre now?"

"There are about 18 seconds left. If you pit now, you'll likely be stuck at the back. If you think your tires are in good condition, I wouldn't recommend doing it. It's best to create a clean window while we still have a lap time advantage over the yellow tires."

The track temperature in Baku is very low right now; it's even lower at this stage of the race than it was at the start of the last race.

In other words, the yellow tires may need at least two to three more laps to reach operating temperature during long-distance racing. This means that in the six laps Vettel ran, less than three laps of clean air posed a real threat to the dragon.

Of course, street circuits accumulate heat more easily than regular paved tracks. As the race progresses, the temperature will soon reach the optimal level for yellow tires, resulting in better lap times and tire protection compared to now.

However, that's something for later in the race, but there's no doubt that in the later stages, the Shulong with its updated yellow tires will have a greater advantage than Ferrari.

The key question now is how long the red tires on Shulong's car, which have already covered more than sixteen laps including Q2 qualifying and the pre-race warm-up laps, can maintain this lap time.

"Maybe one or two more laps. Right now, in the dirty air of Mercedes, I'm already understeer a bit when I'm entering the corners."

"I suggest you try braking a little earlier before turns 4, 7, and 15. Our pace is good enough, so we don't need to push too hard now. Try to extend the tire life by one or two more laps."

"But the two Mercedes seem to be fighting. I suspect they might pit within a lap or two. Should we follow them?"

"Copy, we'll tell you the answer in a bit."

“Okay, but you better hurry. I can already see Leclerc in the rearview mirror, and he’s going really fast now! Couldn’t Albon stop him earlier?”

"Unstoppable, clearly Leclerc is very fast."

Shu Long clicked his tongue in annoyance, but there was nothing he could do but focus on finishing his current task.

This is yet another variable.

Although Leclerc crashed in Q2 and missed Q3 yesterday, his first lap time was more than enough to qualify for Q3. It's just that his car wasn't repaired in Q3 and he couldn't run, so he didn't get a time.

Leclerc should have started on the red tires from Q2, but he used two new red tires in Q1 during qualifying yesterday, and only started using one red tire in Q2.

Ferrari successfully obtained permission from the race organizers to allow Leclerc to start today on a new set of medium tires in P10, citing safety concerns related to the Q2's red tires caused by a crash.

To be honest, Shu Long felt it was quite unfair. Now that the race had reached the twelfth lap, the yellow-tire Ferrari was already more than a second faster than Shu Long's old red cars!

It's unclear how this application was approved. The race organizers couldn't possibly approve Leclerc starting on the remaining new red tires from Q3. Out of a principle of relative fairness, they allowed him to start on the yellow tires, which didn't offer as much grip in the early stages.

But the problem is, didn't Q1 still have two sets of old red gear that had been used once during a flight? How could they be so blatantly ignored?
Leclerc, now in his prime, is pushing hard and has even caught Verstappen's DRS!
Of course, Leclerc's ability to catch up so quickly was partly due to the early pit stops of many cars in the middle of the top ten, but it is also an undeniable fact that Albon, who started at P7, and Perez, who started at P6, were completely outmatched today.

But to be honest, it's unfair.
Judging from the starting tires chosen by most teams, the best strategy for today's race is to stop on red and yellow tires, as yellow tires can maximize their advantages in the second half of the race when the fuel is light.

Baku's streets are inherently slippery, and using heavy oil in the early stages will cause the yellow tires to have a shorter lifespan than expected. Later on, the red tires may not be able to last as long a distance.

Haas ran a bit erratically at this stop, so let's leave them out of the discussion.

Gasly, who also started on yellow tires from the pit lane, is focusing on maintaining his tires in the early stages because his main goal is to squeeze into the points zone and minimize losses. As a result, his lap times are now only on par with Shulong and others.

Therefore, for Leclerc, starting on yellow tires may not have given him much of an advantage in the final result.

But the situation is different for Vettel and Shulöf. One desperately needs a spoiler, while the other doesn't want any more variables in the race. Of course, there might also be team instructions involved. Not to mention Shulöf, Red Bull might also instruct Gasly to adopt a more conservative approach just for Verstappen's pit stop window.

The same applies to Leclerc. Who knows how Ferrari's pre-race tactical meetings went? What if they had a contingency plan in place for Vettel's inability to hold the line at the start?
Otherwise, there's no reason for Leclerc to push so hard like this!

Anyway, the cars ahead of him will definitely pit earlier than him, so you can imagine that he will lead for at least twenty laps in clean air. Is he just trying to win a point by wearing out so many tires in advance?

Considering that Ferrari team principal Binotto mentioned in a preseason interview that the team's resources would temporarily favor Vettel in the early stages of the new season, Shu Long believes that Leclerc's motives are not so simple.

After all, Leclerc messed up his qualifying session first, so the team would definitely prioritize keeping Vettel on the podium.

Last time, Uncle Tilty's podium was ruined by two Red Bulls. If it's like this again this time, where will Ferrari put its face?

Fortunately, Shu Long's estimate was correct. Mercedes also noticed the threat from Leclerc behind them, and the team instructed the two drivers to maintain their current positions and increase their pace slightly.

On lap fourteen, Bottas was the first to pit.

In fact, Hamilton was also within the safe pit stop window. The average pit stop time at Baku circuit was less than 20 seconds. Even Shulong was already on the edge of the safe pit stop window. Hamilton, who was 0.7 seconds ahead of Shulong, must also have the conditions to pit.

However, it seems that Mercedes is still somewhat conscientious. At the beginning of the season, they did not rush to put the honest Bottas into a wingman role, nor did they call Hamilton in to give him an undercut opportunity.

There were only two laps left to pit, and if they delayed any longer, Gasly's lap time might catch up, but Shu Long did not choose to follow Bottas on this lap.

Now, if he follows him in, he won't be able to catch Bottas's DRS after leaving the station, and he'll also be exposed to dirty air. Hamilton, who might just throw him out of the DRS zone after pushing him around in clean air, could easily do the same.

However, when Bono informed Hamilton on the next lap that it was time to pit, Shu Long knew he had to pit without the team reminding him.

Just on the previous lap, Leclerc, using DRS, overtook Verstappen just before Turn 1. Who's next? Need we even guess?
That's fucking outrageous!
It's worth noting that Shulong had been consciously helping Max to hold back the DRS, and the Ferrari engine was truly incredibly powerful when it got going.

Of course, Lock & Lock's current tires do have a significant advantage over the red tires, and they can indeed stop well after reaching top speed.

Fortunately, he thought quickly at the start of the match and dragged Panzi into the fray as well. Otherwise, even if everyone was on the same tactical rhythm, Shulong might have had a hard time stopping Uncle Waitou's counterattack on his own.

The tire change was quick. After all, he had already worked with the team for five races and had the [Core of Synergy] skill with an unlock rate of 60% or higher. Shulong's tire change took only 2.2 seconds, and his overall pit stop time was 19.621 seconds.

Hamilton and Verstappen also entered the station at the same time. After exiting the station, the three of them caught Bottas's slipstream and maintained their formation once again.

Meanwhile, Vettel had just shaken off Gasly's entanglement two seconds earlier.

This time it was clearly an order from Red Bull's team, or a hint from Marko himself to the engineers.

In fact, it would be beneficial for Marko whether either Shu Long or Verstappen stood on the podium; these two could be said to be his favorites right now.

Verstappen's appearance on the podium is naturally a cause for celebration, since the Red Bull team is the cornerstone of Red Bull's F1 project, but Shu Long's appearance on the podium is not necessarily a bad thing either.

However, considering that Gasly and Vettel ultimately have different strategies, it is not in the team's interest to keep fighting Vettel here. Seeing that Verstappen had also successfully entered the pit window, the team did not put up any more resistance and let Vettel pass.

This time, it was Horner who gave the instruction; he needed to ensure that Gasley himself could produce convincing results to stabilize the current situation.

What appeared to be a routine execution of team tactical instructions was actually the result of an undercurrent of tension, with the two current leaders of Red Bull Racing engaging in a power struggle.

Unfortunately, Horner's words weren't wrong at all, so Marco, though annoyed, could only keep quiet for the moment.

The Thai team is making more and more moves, and Albon's performance is barely convincing. Marko, who is nominally just a team advisor and does not have any actual team authority, has been quite passive recently.

Ultimately, Marco's influence within the Red Bull team is entirely based on "face-saving." He used to have the support of Mateschitz, the leader of the Red Bulls, but now that Mateschitz is no longer fit, he can only rely on Max and Shulong.

At least Marco himself is now eager for Shu Long to achieve more decisive results so that he can find an excuse to promote Shu Long to Red Bull and settle the matter.

Gasly could have been a similar character, after all, he was the final champion of GP2, but unfortunately, the Dragon appeared later, and Gasly himself didn't live up to expectations.

Without the absolute power that comes with strength, Gasly will inevitably lose to Albon, who now has the direct support of the Thai national team. No one understands this better than Marco.

Old Man Ma now only hopes that his old friend Mateschitz can hold on for another two years, otherwise his role as the team's advisor might really just be that of an advisor in the future.

There are already some signs of this now. In the past, a simple large-scale relocation wouldn't have required so much effort.

Based on Gasly's basic mistake of forgetting to weigh himself and having to start from the pit lane, he might as well not drive his Red Bull at the next stop. Not to mention that his points have been pulled several times higher by Shulong, who drives a small Red Bull.

Almost ten times!
Okay, it's not that exaggerated, it's actually only a little over three times, but that's about the extent in Marco's mind.

To be honest, this is already a huge gap; they should have reached the kill line long ago!

Unfortunately, Horner, who had already secretly shaken hands with Tatum, has been going against him lately. Not only has he been working within the team to give Gasly a chance, but he has also been constantly speaking well of Gasly in front of the media, making Gasly lose face more than once.

They're still spouting that hypocritical nonsense about "Gasley being a driver with great potential, and the team having an obligation to give him opportunities to improve."

Does it even matter who has more potential? Why didn't you step forward to jump in when those unlucky guys were replaced a few years ago?

In the past, Horner, as a team leader, would usually say some nice things to ease the tension, since this kind of face-saving project was, after all, his job.

But everyone knows that most of those words are just correct nonsense. No matter how much nice words you say, you still have to kick someone if they deserve it. This time, he really went to great lengths to keep him.

The most obvious thing is that when Marco had Gasley's engineer give the order, this guy actually went to check Horner's expression first!
(End of this chapter)