F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 119 He's taken the podium now, it's time to suffer.

Compared to the somewhat disappointing home game last time, Shu Long seemed to feel less emotional this time.

It might be related to the fact that he secured the podium three laps in advance. Some of his excitement had already been secretly diverted at that moment, so when he actually crossed the finish line, he felt more relaxed and relieved.

Just like a top student who occasionally underperforms doesn't stop them from remaining at the top, Shu Long knows his place in the paddock. His current performance can't be called a breakthrough; it's more like going home.

Another fifteen points were added, but unfortunately the team's ranking remains behind Red Bull.

But why say it's a pity?
When Hamelin uttered those two words, everyone in the team who heard them couldn't help but laugh, as if he were about to turn the tables and become the master of the Red Bull system.

The last time something like this happened was around 07 or 08.

At the time, Horner, who was the team principal of Red Bull, made a rather foolish decision: to abandon Ferrari's engines and instead sign a contract with Renault's engines, which had just helped Alonso win two consecutive championships.

And guess what?

As soon as one of them left, the Ferrari's engine suddenly started working again, but then the Renault's engine suddenly broke down.

In those two years, the regulations for racing teams were not as comprehensive as they are now. The research and development of both the Red Bull and Red Bull teams were handled by Red Bull Technology, where Newey worked. This meant that apart from the power unit, the cars of the two teams were almost identical.

Back in 08, the two teams in the Red Bull system seemed to be in a similar situation to what they are today.

For a long time, Toro Rosso, which still used Ferrari engines, was outmatched by Red Bull. In fact, Toro Rosso won the only victory of the Red Bull system in the entire 08 season.

Despite being humiliated by two Red Bulls today, the driver who stood on the top podium in his Toro Rosso was none other than the slightly aged, hunched-over Uncle Vettel.

At Shu Long's age, he certainly doesn't have much experience, but his current podium really gives the older members of the team a strong sense of déjà vu.

Among them is Tost, who has been the team principal of Toro Rosso since 06.

He wanted to share the other people's achievements with Shulong in TR, but he choked up and couldn't continue after only getting started. As soon as he put down his headphones with red eyes, he was immediately pulled away and hugged by the other people in the crew.

Shu Long said it was really not easy for him to return to the podium after three races, but who knew that these veterans in the team had actually waited for a full ten years!

Honestly, Tost was even somewhat relieved that Thai Bull chose to enter the fray at this time. If it weren't for their intervention, Little Red Bull's time with the Dragon Binding Tech might have been just a fleeting moment.

Especially given Marco's terrible character, he won't even last until the end of this season. The major transfer between Shulong and Gasly might happen at the latest.

Even though Gasly's performance now fully justifies his role as the Red Bulls' shooting guard.
Shu Long didn't get a result report for this race from the team, but fortunately, it didn't stop him from taking a break during his return lap to look around at the broadcast screens on the side of the track while cleaning up his tires.

The top five are Bottas, Hamilton, Shulough himself, Verstappen, and Vettel, who are all pole to win.

The second time!
Following the last time in Shanghai, this is the second time that Uncle Tilty Head has been dragged from the podium to P5 by these two Red Bull pups!

Next up, P6, is Gasly, who plays a steady and reliable game.

The Red Bull's current racing characteristics are disadvantages compared to the front row contenders; its absolute speed on straightaways is not as good as Mercedes and Ferrari, and its stability in corners is not as good as Toro Rosso.

Oh, or rather, it's not as good as the little Red Bull driven by Shulong.

But at least their overall performance foundation is there, which is still a game-changer for the midfield teams in the back row in long distances. First, they used the yellow tires to create a safe pit stop window for themselves with the first super long stint, and then switched to the red tires to be unstoppable, defeating two key players, Perez and Albon.

These two are ranked P7 and P8 respectively. Apart from Gasly being a variable, they have generally maintained their starting positions.

Gasly had a chance to compete for the fastest lap, but after a series of battles with Albon and Perez, his new red gear had to prioritize finishing the race in the remaining laps, and he ultimately had to give up on competing with Leclerc for the point.

However, his performance in this race was indeed outstanding, with a jump of fourteen places and eight valuable points for the team, preventing Red Bull from being overtaken too badly by Toro Rosso.

With this record as a foundation, he naturally won the Best Driver award for this race with 19% of the vote – Drive of the Day.
Shu Long received 17% of the vote in this match. It's unclear whether this was due to the lingering excitement of his home game two weeks ago or because he had gained a considerable number of overseas fans.

As for Leclerc's game, to summarize it briefly, it was similar to McLaren's, highlighting a situation where he was neither here nor there.

In the final stages of the game, he was more than five seconds behind Albon, but nearly twenty seconds ahead of Ricardo, who had just scored after grazing the edge of the court.

Seeing that his red tires were already showing signs of wear and tear, he simply pitted and quickly changed into his old red tires to set the fastest lap.

Judging from the current situation, this race in Baku should be considered a major defeat for Ferrari.

First, Leclerc ruined the Q3, then Vettel missed out on the top three, and even Haas and Arroyo, those two little brothers, couldn't even field a single car in the points zone with their four cars.

You should know that what they have now is the super Ferrari engine that even Mercedes-Benz finds troublesome. Shu Long has just experienced how powerful this thing is!

If it weren't for Max acting as a shield, and his deliberate efforts to damage the tires of the car behind him in the preceding laps, Uncle Tilty's final burst of speed might have actually resulted in him killing two sheep in one fell swoop.

But upon closer examination, it seems not so incomprehensible. Raikkonen was penalized to start in the pit lane yesterday because, strategically, he started on red tires, and in the later stages of the race, he simply couldn't push the yellow tires.

It's normal for Giovinazzi, a 26-year-old newcomer to F1, to be a little hesitant in his first street race, so we'll hold off on punishing him for now.

But Haas
Magnussen made good use of his skillful maneuvering in the narrow sections, achieving commendable results.

As for Grosjean, considering that he managed to lose control and climb onto the wall here last year even with the safety car on his side, perhaps we shouldn't have such high expectations.

They returned to the parking space reserved for the top three drivers, just like last time, which was already packed with Mercedes team members.

Perhaps there are still some differences; at least Mercedes' team name has become longer. What was it called again?

Oh, it's the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team.

Moreover, Shu Long was even more alone this time than last time he took the stage. At least back then, he had Max, who was also from Red Bull, with him. Now, everyone was a member of Silver Arrows.

At the same time, he didn't seem as lonely as before.

After five matches, Shulong had already won the recognition of most people with his performance, and even the number of acquaintances he could talk to in the paddock seemed to be gradually increasing.

Take, for example, Bottas, who's beaming like a complete idiot, and Hamilton, who looks slightly dejected but still exudes composure. Just now, on the return lap, these two Mercedes cars waited briefly for Shu Long, and each of them gave him a thumbs-up across the track.

They then went to the Little Red Bull race car and helped to remove the headrests a little. Each of them grabbed one of the headrests with one hand and dragged him out.

I thought they were going to do something big, but in the end it was just a hug.
Okay.

The interview was the same as always. This time, Shu Long spoke less, mainly because he didn't want others to think he was too smug. After waiting a little while, he went backstage with the old man and Bottas to the podium.

There's a saying, isn't there? "Silence is golden." Right?
It's always best not to talk too much to outsiders, otherwise it's easy to be over-interpreted. It's more relatable to chat with the drivers than to talk to the host for a long time.

"I have to admit, your start is really frightening, and you are at least half responsible for losing this championship."

"What about the other half?"

"Of course it's me. Who told me not to get pole position?"

Bottas, on the other hand, became shy at this moment, sitting to the side and smiling demurely, as if he was also pretending to be an expert without saying a word.

However, when he saw the screen in the lounge showing the back-and-forth attack and defense between Shulong and Hamilton and Vettel at the start, Bottas, who was still cosplaying as the three admirals of the Navy, couldn't help but sit up straight, just like Hamilton next to him.

"Wow~ my god! So your priority was to block Seb? That was a crucial choice that determined the course of the game. That was really impressive!"

"I guess so, after all, you know their engines. And you're pretty awesome here too, such a big feint and you still can't be fooled."

"I'm only guessing here, but I feel it's unlikely you'd choose to force your way inside. And don't underestimate yourself. If I were your age, I wouldn't be this calm. I would definitely be thinking about getting my revenge!"

Upon hearing this, Bottas, who had been feeling somewhat heavy-hearted, finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

“Lewis, of course you can’t do it at his age. None of us in this room can do it except for ‘Shu’ himself.”

The old man was stunned for a moment, and soon he also let out a demonic laugh.

I almost forgot that Shu Long is only nineteen years old now, still a child in terms of age. In Japan, he can't even buy cigarettes or alcohol on his own.

When they first drove in F1, they were all around 22 or 23 years old.

But after the laughter subsided, a sense of oppression lingered deep inside, which even the consecutive first and second place finishes at four different races couldn't alleviate.

Especially Bottas.

I originally thought I had made a good start to the new season and that I might soon be able to turn the tables and completely get rid of my pathetic wingman status.

He doesn't need to be too greedy. He'd be content to have a world championship title at a championship-winning team like Mercedes.

However, it seems that if these formidable newcomers behind them can maintain this level of threat, the team might have to resort to unconditional strategic favoritism again for the sake of stability.

Bottas felt his performance in qualifying was perfect, but this part of the footage of him starting the race was a different story.
Honestly, if he were in that P2 position, he probably wouldn't have been able to withstand Shulong's terrifying, direct, and crucial start.

But Hamilton did it.

Even when he stood on the highest podium, Bottas's eyes were somewhat dazed, as if he felt that there were some flaws on the championship trophy in his hand.

It wasn't until Hamilton splashed his face with cold champagne that he seemed to recover a little.

On the podium, Mercedes' two drivers and team principal Toto engaged in a heated exchange of insults, while Shu Longle leisurely and smugly sprayed champagne bottles at the fans below.

The gritted teeth expression on his face was less a celebration of victory and more a simple expression of enjoying the water fight.

Moreover, the opponents were not only powerless to fight back, but those who were sprayed seemed to have won some big prize, smiling broadly.

See, they should thank us!
Happiness is fleeting, and Shu Long didn't have much time to linger in it after the competition.

He first returned to the Milton Keynes factory in the UK to complete the physical tests for the month, and then finally returned to the Toro Rosso factory in Faenza to begin his auxiliary work on the development and upgrading of the race car.

To his slight surprise, team leader Tost seemed a little conflicted about his positive work attitude, and just two days later, Shulong saw Alben again on the simulator in the factory.

You're the driver who came from China, right? You're so generous!

When Shu Long went to Milton Keynes, he was on the same plane as Alben. In his memory, Alben should have gone back to his home in England to rest after the trip. It turns out that this guy is also a restless person.

Shu Long had initially felt a little ashamed for making Alben work overtime for several weeks in a row, but now he didn't know what to say.

"Don't you really need to take a break? This is the first time I've ever seen someone so dedicated to working overtime!"

"There's nothing we can do about it, that's just Red Bull."

Alben seemed to emphasize the word "Red Bull" intentionally or unintentionally, but found that Shu Long just shrugged and didn't seem to care.

that's nice
Having ability and achievements often gives one the right to be fearless.

Without a doubt, the pressure that Taurean is putting on Albon is now much greater, no less than that on Marco.

Not only on Shulong's podium, but also on Gasly's incredible comeback from P20 to P6.

Let alone competing with Shulong for a top spot, if Alben can't deliver a convincing performance, even finding a reason to replace Gasly will be a bit difficult.

Otherwise, would anyone really think that Alben didn't want to rest?
He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow the day he got home, but as soon as he received a call from Tai Niu, he had no choice but to immediately buy a plane ticket to Italy.

The people on Tai Niu's side didn't pressure him too directly; they simply informed him that Shu Long had begun to resume simulator testing.

Is there really no pressure? It's more like a forced situation.

Otherwise, guess who is responsible for Alben's current unease?
(End of this chapter)