F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 122 The Fall of a Legend
It's rare for Alonso to attend the game as his agent, especially since it was Alonso's home turf. Such a result is undoubtedly unacceptable for Shulong.

The recent rumors that the Circuit de Catalunya will not renew its contract and will instead add the Dutch Grand Prix and the Vietnam Grand Prix to the calendar have made Shu Long feel even more ashamed.

Fortunately, Tou Ge himself didn't seem to care too much about it. In his opinion, Shu Long's ability to consistently reach P7 was already a very good result, and he didn't make any mistakes in the entire competition.

Regardless, having endured years of torment at McLaren, Alan Tam is no longer the young man who drove a slow car and constantly challenged for the annual championship. He naturally knows how helpless a driver can feel when the car lacks competitiveness.

If the car is a little slower, you can still try to catch up with skill and luck; but if the car is too slow, then there's really no way to turn the tide.

The only point worth considering is Shu Long's strategic choices during the competition.

If we had chosen the standard red-yellow-red two-stop rule, I don't know if we could have achieved a slightly better result.

There's also the choice of tires before the race. What would happen if you kept an extra set of white tires, like Albon did, and then stopped after a run?

Of course, these are just speculations, and most of them are decisions made by the team, and have no direct connection with Shu Long's own performance.

Anyone can be a wise man in hindsight, but when you're in the thick of it, most people are probably not even as good as a cobbler.

Red Bull's performance in this race was overwhelmingly superior to Toro Rosso's in every aspect, especially in long distances. Logically, these two teams shouldn't have had any interaction in the main race.

However, Shu Long managed to drag the game out until the penultimate lap before finally deciding the winner against Gasly, thanks to his defense and timely strategic adjustments.

At least in Alonso's view, Shulong's mental fortitude and technical ability in the match were absolutely outstanding, which was worth the effort he had to put in to take care of this matter while participating in a whole host of other series of events.

However, negotiations with Marco can only be temporarily suspended for now.

According to Marco himself, who confided in Alonso, he had proposed promoting Shulong to replace Gasly at least three times, but each time the proposal was thwarted by the management's evasive tactics.

Call these guys smart or spineless, that's just how things are now.

Since being diagnosed with cancer, Mateschitz is likely to pass away within the next few years. Meanwhile, the Taurean national team has expressed a willingness to take over, leaving it uncertain who will be on the Taurean side in the future.

Of course, there are also old-timers like Marco who are unwilling to let the Thai bulls penetrate too deeply, but there are also a large number of opportunists who are ready to surrender at any time in exchange for greater benefits, as well as a considerable number of neutral observers.

In short, Old Man Ma himself is currently not in control of his own destiny. He has had to keep quiet and protect himself most of the time recently. He can only say that he will try his best to help Shu Long if there is an opportunity.

Of course, there's also the fact that Alonso couldn't spare the time; after the Spanish Grand Prix, he had to immediately return to participate in this year's Indy 500.

Less than a month later, Alonso had to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so his schedule was packed. When he told Shu Long that he was busy, he wasn't just making excuses.

However, Red Bull has yet to reach a conclusion, and of course, he cannot let Shu Long just sit here and be dragged out like this.

There are many drivers in F1 history who are clearly talented, but whose peak performance was dragged away or even lost their seats due to internal political struggles within their teams. Alonso himself has seen countless examples of this.

If Red Bull remains indecisive after a while, then he will need to start trying to contact other racing teams for Shu Long.

The reason we can't rush to turn against them now is because, for Shu Long at present, the Red Bull system is the closest place to him and also the place with the most hope and foundation for winning the championship. It's hard to say whether leaving it easily would bring more gains or losses.

However, Alonso's connections are also impressive. He has a system with similar championship potential and foundation, and he can at least contact McLaren, Renault, and Ferrari.

Apart from Mercedes, which he doesn't have much influence with, the other three clubs can almost be considered his favorite teams.

After all, he's been running around the paddock for so many years; his career is longer than Mercedes' history. He's had plenty of experience in the paddock, so it's not impossible for him to give it a try.

In other words, Red Bull refused, otherwise Marco or Horner should have been the ones to contact Mercedes.

In any case, Mercedes' current team manager and owner, Toto, has a long history with Red Bull.

In the 2006 Dubai 24 Hours endurance race, Toto himself won the championship as a Red Bull sponsored driver driving a BMW E46 GTR. It just goes to show how amazing the world is.

Alonso left, and aside from telling Shulong not to feel too much pressure, he didn't say much else.

It seems that most people associated with Shulong have reached a consensus that they should try their best not to burden him with too heavy a burden. Even Marco has tacitly maintained relative silence.

Of course, this person's psychological journey may be more complicated. He also worried that if he could not fulfill some of his promises in the end, it would cause Shulong to become disloyal to him.

This is his trump card that he painstakingly signed and cultivated. If someone tricks him out of it with just a lollipop, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
And what about Shulong?

Aside from feeling a bit down, life goes on as usual.

They stayed at the Circuit de Catalunya for two days to test Pirelli's new tire specifications.

The lineup will be tested the following day, with Shu Long driving a Red Bull race car.

It's said that this was arranged by Marko's side, and it's unclear whether it was the old man's statement to the Tayniu team. In any case, it's perfectly legitimate for Shu Long, who is also a reserve driver for the Red Bull team, to come and test the tires.

Maybe it doesn't matter much?
After all, the other driver of the Red Bull race car is Red Bull's current junior reserve driver, Dan Ticktum, who is basically the kind of pure consumable with no competitiveness for a seat, whose main job is to be squeezed out by the simulator.

This tire test brought together many young reserve drivers, many of whom are still competing in F2.

For example, the driver of the Mercedes the next day was Ma Zeping, the notorious F2 rookie.

Not only are his driving skills mediocre, but he also has a terrible temper, and there are frequent rumors of him fighting, committing domestic violence, or even sexual harassment both on and off the field.

However, this guy has a good father; Ma Zeping's financial resources are probably on par with those of Stroll.

Other examples include Eloute driving an Alfa Romeo, Latifi driving a Williams, and so on.

The Toro Rosso cars were tested by Albon and reserve driver Kvyat. As for Verstappen and Gasly, they were also busy, arriving early at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands to prepare for the WTRC Dutch round on the 16th, also known as the World Touring Car Championship.

Currently, there are also Chinese participants in this competition, with a total of four Link 03 TCRs competing, and their competitiveness in this competition is also dominant.

I wonder when domestic car manufacturers will get interested in F1. If there were a factory team in the paddock, Chinese drivers wouldn't have to struggle as much as they do now.

Speaking of Verstappen and Gasly's schedule, it's not that they're going to make a splash by crossing over into the limelight. It's just that this track will be hosting one of the F1 races starting next year, and the two of them are here specifically to drive the hardworking RB7 to perform and warm up for next year's Dutch Grand Prix.

They're all like oxen and horses, just busy with different things.

However, Shulong has nothing to complain about. Test activities like this, where there is no need to pursue results or competitive pressure, and where you can simply feel the tire performance, are rare.

The Spanish Grand Prix was frustrating for everyone, so driving a Red Bull race car for a few laps can help relieve the stress. At least this is much more fun than simulators, right?

Let's see what's so special about this guy.

Due to tire specifications, lap times are not very reliable, and overall speeds are two to three seconds slower than in this year's qualifying. However, certain characteristics of the cars are already quite evident.

Compared to the version that Shu Long tested on the Milton Keynes simulator two months ago, the current Red Bull car is almost a perfect all-rounder, except for its slightly inferior engine power.

However, this guy is a bit too balanced right now. Balance means a lack of distinctive features, which means mediocrity.

If you want to compete head-on with Ferrari and Mercedes with the current conditions, you have to try to go to extremes in some aspects. Shu Long always felt that this car still has a lot of potential to be explored.

However, unless he gets to drive a Red Bull someday, the specifics of how to operate it are none of his business.

Last time, his careless words caused him to lose his front-row seat. Now, no matter what Verstappen's engineer GP asks him, he just says it's not bad. The kid has learned to play dumb now.

After the tire testing was completed, the team, whose schedule had been compressed by two days, rushed to disassemble the race car and send it to Monaco. Shu Long and Albon also got a few days off from the R&D department due to their tight schedules.

Monaco is a great place, a paradise for the rich, where almost every inch of land reeks of money.

The team covered their travel expenses for the extra few days, and the young master Stroll also extended an invitation for them to visit his family's super luxury yacht during the period before the race.

Old Stroll was quite welcoming, and he would be hosting many business gatherings on the yacht during this period, which they could attend if they wished.

Let's forget about this one.

Shu Long felt a headache coming on whenever he heard about these kinds of social obligations. And it wasn't just him; the young master was also extremely annoyed by them.

I was just thinking of grabbing a few friends to kill some time, but now look what's happened. I don't know how tough these next few days will be.
The Monaco Grand Prix is ​​one of the few places in the European region where you can't stay in a motorhome. Land here is extremely valuable and there's simply no room for the teams' luxurious motorhomes. So, Shu Long and his team have had to stay in a fixed hotel for the past few days.

He did get a few games from Gan Mengning that seemed pretty good and worth trying, and he downloaded them, but he hasn't been in the mood to play them at all these past few days. He just wants to stay in his room and not go anywhere.

The main reason was that he saw the news online about Alonso and Marco's contact.

Although the mainstream opinion is that it's just normal contact between TouGe as his manager and the team, considering the unusual signs a few days ago, even the most oblivious person should have realized what's going on.

[Relaxing] allowed Shu Long to be in a lazy state most of the time. Often he just didn't want to think about those messy things, but that didn't mean he was really a stupid person.

From the vague things Vettel told him after the Bahrain war, to Dr. Marko's unusual change in attitude, and then to Alonso's deliberate or unintentional probing of him a few days ago.

All signs seem to indicate that his promotion to Red Bull may not be as easy as it appears.

He had originally intended to contact Alonso to ask about the specific progress, but on the 18th, he saw that Alonso had been involved in a serious crash during the second day of Indy 500 practice.

The orange McLaren race car first scraped the outer guardrail, then slid at high speed toward the inner guardrail, collided with its rear, and then skidded across the grass before crashing into the outer guardrail again.

Just from hearing about the crash, you can tell that the damage to the race car must have been quite severe. Fortunately, Alonso himself was unharmed.

Then why even ask?

Shu Long was even a little uneasy, fearing that his own issues might have distracted Alonso during the race, leading to the crash.

Before he could even worry about this for two days, another piece of bad news arrived, quickly silencing the entire hunting ground.

It's a pity that Lance's troubles will be resolved in this way. Old Stroll also wisely canceled most of the business event appointments and instead turned them into a commemorative ceremony.

Niki Lauda, ​​a Ferrari legend, three-time F1 world champion, and advisor to the Mercedes team, passed away on the evening of the 21st due to illness.

This news came like a thunderbolt, and the moment Shu Long saw the news, he felt a tightness in his chest.

This was the first time he had experienced the death of someone close to him.

Even setting aside all those titles, Niki Lauda's story of rising from the ashes remains the most valuable source of inspiration for Shu Long since he got into racing. Nothing can inspire racers who are already teetering on the edge of life and death more than this story.

There's something many people might not know: Shu Long has always kept Mr. Lauda's contact information on his phone. This racing legend had even extended an offer to Shu Long on behalf of Mercedes' youth training program.

However, due to various considerations at the time, Shu Long ultimately declined Lauda's invitation, but since then he has occasionally received praise from the old gentleman for his outstanding performance in the competition.

Marco actually knew about this as well. He was sitting right next to Lauda when she called Shulong. These two Austrians had fought over all sorts of things their whole lives, but they never raised any objections to this matter.

He wasn't even worried that Lauda would try to poach him.

It's clear that even in Marco's eyes, who is known for his unyielding nature, Niki Lauda is a person worthy of respect.

All aspects!
(End of this chapter)