F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 118 I Planted a Big Flag (5K)

Regardless of Red Bull's management's considerations, Shu Long certainly benefited greatly from the order to block Gasly just now.

It wasn't until lap 20 that Vettel regained control of their train, while Hamelin, in the TR, had Shulong try to slow down and create some distance between them and Mercedes.

At first glance, this request seems unreasonable. Since we can now defend with peace of mind thanks to Mercedes' momentum, why give the car behind us a chance to overtake with DRS?

However, this is actually because the strategy team observed that Shulong's tire temperature rise curve was abnormal. If corresponding preventative measures were not taken early in the race, they might face the dilemma of whether to make a second stop later in the race.

With a full thirty-one laps remaining in the race, the long, close following not only makes the tires prone to overheating, but the low-drag setup and Baku's low-friction track itself are also not as easy to maintain tire condition as last year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

It's not just Shu Long doing this; Hamilton in front of him, as well as Verstappen and Vettel behind him, are all consciously increasing the distance between themselves and the car in front.

At this moment, the front row of cars was truly harmonious, with almost no one showing any obvious intention to attack.

Otherwise, why do the race cars at the front usually get very little screen time?

Compared to the high frequency of offense and defense in the back row, the cars in the front row are mostly boring throughout the race, especially in street races where overtaking is difficult and the only test is tire durability.

In F1 races, there are many compromises to be made, as it concerns who gets the podium, and no team can afford to be careless.

Now, they're not competing on who runs faster, but rather on their ability to interpret the race, and even more importantly, their ability to maintain their position. In this situation, having to make one more pit stop than your opponents is practically tantamount to voluntarily giving up the race.

Even for Vettel, who can make Ferrari's engine explode at any time, the same applies. He doesn't dare to be as reckless as Leclerc just now. The key moment that will really determine the outcome of the race is probably in the last eight to ten laps.

Before that...
On lap 26, Vettel quietly unleashed some engine power, narrowing the gap between himself and Verstappen to 0.9 seconds in less than a lap.

While trying to prevent a miscarriage, Ferrari's goal for this race is at least a podium finish, and putting all their eggs in one basket for the last ten laps is clearly not a wise strategy.

Before that, it would be ideal to steal Verstappen's position first, which would make it much easier to gradually erode the Dragon's advantage.

And guess what he discovered? The lead car, Shu Long, realized Ferrari's intention even earlier than Verstappen, and immediately slowed down his lap time, willing to sacrifice his advantage of more than a second to let Verstappen get the DRS before the starting straight.

Where did this little fox come from?! Who the hell taught it to behave like this?!

As a result, Vettel's plan to steal the chicken had to be put on hold for the time being. With Verstappen also having DRS, the price to pay for taking him down would be too high.

From acceleration to the heavy braking at the end of the straight, these two steps alone could potentially shorten the tire life by more than one lap compared to the other two race cars.
There was nothing he could do; he couldn't block Shulong when the train was starting.
Since he had already handed over the initiative in the game, Vettel could only suppress his restless desire, no matter how unwilling he was. He could only accept the situation for the time being and slowly widened the gap between himself and Verstappen to about two seconds.

However, Uncle Tilted Head was soon relieved to have been rational and restrained.

After all the cars in the front row had made their first stop on lap 15, Leclerc was actually leading in clean air, but because he pushed too hard in the heavy fuel phase earlier, his lap time had already dropped significantly by around lap 22.

By lap 32, Leclerc hadn't even pitted, and Bottas, who was initially a dozen seconds behind, had officially overtaken him.

On the subsequent 33rd and 34th laps, Leclerc, who was struggling even more, was overtaken by Hamilton and Shulong.

It's fair to say that Leclerc's race is almost ruined. Ferrari had predicted his first stint would last at least 42 laps, but it's already like this after only 30-something laps. The new red tires won't be able to handle it.

However, there was no other way. Between continuing to fight and waiting to be overtaken by Verstappen on lap 35, and pitting now to cut their losses, Ferrari had no choice but to choose the latter.

A second stop is definitely necessary now, but at least they can maintain their position in the points zone before losing more points, and then see if they can use the advantage of the two sets of red tires to earn the points for the fastest lap.

In contrast, consider Gasley.

Although the overall pace was a bit slow at the beginning of the race, judging from his current lap times, his first pit window will be at least 40 laps.

He's currently in P6, but considering the actual pit stop time, he might drop to P8. However, the lightly oiled red tires at the end of the race still have a significant impact on the old yellow tires, and Albon and Perez, who are ahead of him, might not be able to withstand it.

At that point, this time from the pit lane to P6 finish will undoubtedly solidify Gasly's current position.

Although it may only be temporary.
The difference between the two undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for Shu Long and his team: before the moment of truth arrives to determine the winner, it's best for no one to be reckless. The most important thing is to use the yellow tires that have already run twenty laps to complete the remaining sixteen laps.

Vettel, in particular, needs to be extra careful to protect his tires, since his yellow tires have covered three more laps than both of the Red Bulls.

However, for Shulong at this point in the race, it's not a matter of "sixteen laps to go," but rather "only sixteen laps left."

Simply changing one word can clearly show who currently holds the initiative in the game.

Hamilton is now three seconds ahead of him, which shows that he has taken good care of his tires during this period, since his most realistic goal right now is just to reach P3.

Verstappen and Vettel, who are in P4 and P5 respectively, are also aiming for P3. Compared to Shu Long, they are not as relaxed. In order to ensure that they do not suddenly fall out of the rhythm of the race, they can only compress the distance between themselves and the car in front of them.

At this moment, they no longer have an advantage over Shulong in terms of tire consumption, but Shulong wants more than just that; he needs to have an even greater advantage.

As a result, the commentators noticed a very ominous situation.

"Shulong's lap times seem to have dropped quite a bit! In the last few laps, he's been averaging 0.4 seconds slower than Hamilton per lap, and he's almost falling out of the five-second range!"

"Could it be that the tires are worn out too much? After all, we followed the cars for so long, and now many of the cars behind us have dropped their lap times quite a bit."

"It's not just a serious drop, I saw Albon and Perez almost drift out of the corner just now."

No sooner had Fei Ge finished speaking than Norris, who was attempting to attack his teammate Sainz, demonstrated what F1 drifting was all about.

After one lap, I felt I couldn't go on any longer, so I had no choice but to give up fighting for a spot and switch to the old red car at the station.

The two McLarens at this stop were in a slightly awkward position, especially Norris.

Yesterday's qualifying performance was actually not bad, but unfortunately he was eliminated in Q2 with a P11 finish. As a result, Arro's Raikkonen was disqualified after the post-race car inspection found that the front wing deformation exceeded the standard value. Today, Norris actually replaced him and started in P10.

As a result, now that I'm around, besides the Sainz, the two McLarens are just standing in the middle of nowhere.

Ricciardo is currently in P10 and is still seven or eight seconds ahead of Sainz. Since he can't score any points anyway, he might as well make his run a little more comfortable.

Ultimately, he still lacks experience. There is no doubt that Norris has shown a much higher potential in speed than Beens, but he still has a lot to learn in terms of long-distance endurance, which is why he lost his position.

But such a problem shouldn't have occurred with Shulong in the first place, which is why it's the most puzzling thing for the commentators.

The P3 Red Bull is currently in a very stable and well-defined posture, and doesn't look like it has excessively worn tires at all.

Sure enough, when Shu Long reduced the gap between himself and Verstappen to about 0.9 seconds, he quickly pulled Verstappen into the DRS and restored his previous lap time.

"Oh~ I think I know what he's going to do." "He's going to do that? I think I guessed it too. Who would have thought such a cute little kid would play so dirty!"

"Hey hey hey! I wouldn't call it dirty, it's more like making good use of the track's characteristics and strategies, but it definitely has a touch of cunning, haha~"

What on earth is going on?

Gan Mengning, who was sweating with tension because Shu Long lost lap time at a crucial moment in the battle for the table, was now completely confused. He didn't see Shu Long make any overly aggressive defensive moves that grazed the edge of the table, so how did that become dirty?

However, the commentators quickly explained the cause and effect of the matter, one sentence at a time.

As for why it's only a general overview, it's because they only have a superficial understanding of the specific chemical and engineering principles, but they can at least explain the general reasons in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

Besides using the heat emitted by the race car to affect the tire temperature of the car behind, providing more wake turbulence to reduce the drag and downforce of the car behind can also increase tire damage to the car behind.

This applies not only to curves, but also to acceleration on straightaways and braking at the end of straightaways.

Verstappen had no other choice at that moment.

He either had to insist on leaving the DRS zone of the car in front to save the tire, but that would make it much harder to defend against Vettel, who was already right behind him. He had already experienced the ferocity of the Ferrari engine with Leclerc at the beginning of the race.

Then go for it!

Anyway, Shulong doesn't have a DRS provided by Mercedes right now, so if they dare to play like this, they should be prepared to lose the podium!
But
After five laps, Verstappen looked at the gap between himself and Shulong, which was hovering between 0.7 and 0.9, and fell into deep thought.

This time, Red Bull and Toro Rosso are not like they were in Brazil. Red Bull's car has almost no advantage over Toro Rosso's car. Their only advantage might be in the high-speed corners at the end of the second timeout and in the third timeout.

However, Red Bull's chassis, which has design flaws, is at a significant disadvantage in low-speed corners. In addition, it is also affected by the low-drag tuning and the dirty air from the car in front. It can be said that if it weren't for the fact that the suspension sometimes slows down, it might not be so difficult to throw Verstappen off the track again.

In fact, by the middle of the match, Verstappen had already realized the role he had to play in this game, which was to target Vettel's taunting minion.

From that brief clash at the start, or even from yesterday's qualifying results, the overall situation of the game was basically set.

But if we could turn back time, and you asked if Verstappen would still choose to follow Shu Long and get past Vettel in the early stages, the answer would probably be yes.

P5 is worth 10 points, and P4 is worth 12 points. Even a fool would know which to choose.

Thinking of this, Max, who was initially a little impatient, calmed down, but Vettel behind him became increasingly anxious.

How could you resist going over the bar?!

Use your signature move, the ultimate late brake! If you don't force the dragon in front to make a mistake, neither of us will have a chance!
Didn't they get completely destroyed by the train formation?
Unlike Verstappen, who secured a promotion, Vettel genuinely lost two positions in this match, and not just any positions, but those on the podium!
It's not fair to blame the four-time champion, Uncle Tilty-Head, for losing his composure; it's just that his current situation is different, so his mindset will naturally be different as well.

Finally, on lap 48, Vettel, taking advantage of the fact that his tires were not completely worn out, went all out on the starting straight.

Even if we don't talk about taking back the podium, at least we should try to win back P4, right?
I have to say, Ferrari's engine is really powerful now, it actually allowed him to finish alongside Verstappen!

"Wow! We see Ferrari, which has been accumulating strength, finally making its move. Can it redeem itself?"

"Vettel is pulling inside, they're going to have to brake late! And Verstappen certainly won't be afraid of that!"

"From this perspective, even Shulong's position is threatened! Will he take any countermeasures? Or not?"

Shu Long, of course, did not make any response. Vettel's top speed did indeed surprise him a little. He was not only one wheel ahead of Verstappen, but he could even squeeze into Shu Long's own line if he braked late.

However, having been closely observing the rearview mirror, he made a judgment almost instantly: Vettel would definitely not be able to stop at Turn 1!
Sure enough, in the next second.

The old, yellow tire bearing the Ferrari's markings in the rearview mirror froze for a moment in Shu Long's view, followed by a plume of white smoke rising from the tire's underside.

Finished!

Upon seeing this, Gan Mengning almost lost her train of thought. At this moment, Shu Long had already begun to enter the bend, and if things continued like this, the inevitable outcome would be that the Ferrari, unable to stop, would smash a huge hole in the side of the car.

Putting aside the podium, it's important to understand that a side impact on a car is extremely dangerous for a driver!

However, Shulong, who had anticipated this, was not unprepared. He not only slowed down his traction tracking and brake release speed in advance, but also straightened the steering wheel and abandoned his entry into the corner at the last stage.

So a very comical scene unfolded on the track: the three cars, racing to brake late, almost simultaneously crashed into the runoff area after Turn 1.

The scene highlights a close call: Vettel and Verstappen, one on the left and one on the right, barely grazed past the stationary Toro Rosso.

It's really thanks to the spacious run-off area behind Turn 1 that there was nowhere to hide.

Ultimately, they overestimated the condition of their tires and may have been a little too impulsive, for which they paid the price.

Shu Long barely hesitated, shifting down a gear from the already downshifted third to the next, performing a reverse "donut" motion to smoothly exit the turn, and returning to the race in less than five seconds.

Uncle Tilted Head was also drawing a donut in the buffer zone, but he stuck it too deep. By the time he turned around and came out, Verstappen, who was already on the outside, had disappeared.

Fortunately, Gasly in P6 was still more than ten seconds ahead, otherwise Vettel's risky attempt would have resulted in a much greater loss.

Shu Long, who was nearly hit, had no objection to this and was even a little moved. The suspense that might have lasted until the last lap was directly secured by Uncle Wai Tou's antics.

And finally.
"Checkered flag! You know what I'm talking about, buddy, the podium!"

"Yeah—Yesyesyes! Three stops later, that's really something!"

Compared to Shu Long, who merely vented his emotions, Hamelin's feelings were much deeper, and even his voice in TR was slightly choked up.

"I know, I know! It might sound strange for a team like ours to say it like this, but yes, I think this is just the beginning!"

"Uh Uh! No flag!"

"Okay, okay, but you seem much happier than last time?"

"Dude, I think you're talking a bit too much."

Of course I'm happier than last time!

Last time, I won the podium by losing, but this time, I earned it myself!
(End of this chapter)