F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 127 The Team Selection Genius, Boss's Eye for Talent

The Canadian Grand Prix didn't seem to have many highlights, and in fact, it really didn't.

The competition and rivalry on the racetrack are practically nonexistent. Even though the drivers are sweating profusely trying to overtake one car, for the audience, an overtake that doesn't happen is just boring.

The process itself is not important, because the steering wheel was not in the hands of the audience. The fact is that apart from Albon's accident at the beginning and Vettel's slippage mistake at the end of the game, the whole game was almost unwatchable.

There's no intense wheel-to-wheel action; the defending car only needs to move slightly towards the center line to prevent the overtaking car from having enough angle to enter the corner.

Rather than expecting to see some exciting overtaking drama, it would be more entertaining to see a groundhog suddenly dart out onto the track during the race.

Don't worry, the entertainment value comes after the competition.

Vettel had just happily secured a pole-to-win victory, but before he could even spit out the champagne and before his car was even picking up tire poop on the track, the race officials issued a penalty for his near-miss on lap 48.

The reason given was a dangerous return to the track, which forced Hamilton off the track and resulted in a five-second penalty.

Hamilton ultimately won the race, while Vettel unfortunately dropped to P2.

In principle, there seems to be nothing wrong with it, but this method is somewhat psychologically challenging.

From Hamilton's perspective, he made a mistake and almost ruined the race for two cars, so some punishment was justified. However, because this ruling directly affected the final outcome of the race, he was in an awkward position standing on the highest podium.

Vettel said, "I didn't do it on purpose. I was lucky to be able to save the car from going out of control. I didn't care about any of this nonsense."

It's a matter where both sides have their own reasons, and the organizers could have conducted an investigation after the competition. This ruling not only raises controversy over the result but also shows a complete lack of emotional intelligence in the process.

Moreover, strictly speaking, the two cars did not even collide, which in many races might not even be considered a track accident.

Of course, the angry uncle with the tilted head was not convinced, so a world-famous scene appeared on the track - Vettel pushing the car.

Seemingly in protest against the race organizers' decision, Vettel not only failed to drive his car back to the designated parking space for P2, but instead stopped it at the entrance to the pit lane and then pushed it to a corner himself.

Then he went straight to the weigh-in area, finished quickly, and walked towards the Ferrari backstage lounge without looking back.

Judging from this attitude, it seems like he doesn't even want to go on the podium; his face is full of "I don't care!"

Shu Long was stunned when he saw this scene in the weighing area.

He drove incredibly fast on the encore lap, while Hamelin and Vettel were still circling around the track waving to the crowd. He parked his car back in the closed area, so Hamelin didn't have a chance to tell him what happened in the end.

This match was boring, but the heat really gave him a hard time. His weight also honestly reflected his losses in the match, as he was four kilograms lighter than before the match, and his cheeks were even slightly sunken.

I was originally planning to finish this quickly so I could go back and soak in ice water or take a shower.

There are still a lot of interviews to deal with, and the DTS crew and his personal documentary filming crew might also need to shoot some additional footage. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Now that Uncle Wai Tou has made such a fuss, his desire to watch the drama unfold has also increased.

In any case, the old man and Uncle Wai Tou had treated him fairly well, and he didn't want the two of them to have a major falling out over anything.

Although he couldn't really make any decisions himself, after a difficult internal struggle, Shu Long decided to stay nearby and see what happened next.

Then he saw the second world-famous painting—Vettel changing his ranking board.
Vettel was probably not going to accept this humiliating award, but somehow Ferrari persuaded him to go back.

As he passed the Champion parking space, he got angrier and angrier. First, he moved the P2 sign to the front of the old man's Mercedes, and then he moved the P1 sign to the front of his own empty parking space.

Well.
Nineteen-year-old Shu Long felt extremely embarrassed, having merely stood by and witnessed the scene, finding it both amusing and a bit unsettling.

Well, it feels a bit childish, but to put it nicely, you could call it genuine personality.

Based on Shu Long's impressions of Vettel from his several interactions with him, Uncle Wai Tou (Vettel's nickname) doesn't seem to be the kind of person who can't accept defeat. After all, he had been outmaneuvered by Shu Long in several previous races, and he acknowledged the mistakes after getting off the car and even seriously discussed the details of his driving at the time.

It can only be said that Vettel's behavior is understandable now, but Shu Long feels that he probably cannot emulate it.

Even if he himself faces the same situation in the future, he'll think about it later.

Then came the awards ceremony.

Feeling that the championship was not entirely honorable, the old man first pulled Vettel onto the championship platform. Uncle Tilted Head himself also felt embarrassed and soon obediently returned to his P2 platform, but one of his feet stubbornly remained on the upper level.

It's as if, logically, he felt he should stay down and not cause trouble, but deep down he still believed the championship should be his.

Shu Long covered his face with one hand the whole time, and only dared to watch the awards ceremony with one slightly squinted eye. He also thought that Vettel's personality was kind of cute.

But people with this kind of personality don't play too many tricks in life. After all, they show all their emotions on their faces. How much can they really hide in their hearts?
Especially since there is no direct conflict of interest between Shu Long and Viter, it seems that Uncle Wai Tou genuinely wants to help him.

It's worth noting that the first person to alert Shu Long to the problems within the Red Bull system wasn't Marko, nor was it Alonso, who later became Shu Long's agent, but rather Vettel, who had just been overtaken by Shu Long in the race.

Unfortunately, besides continuing to maintain a high-quality performance on the track, Shu Long doesn't have any other options.

A few days ago, when he was in Austria with Dr. Marco, they did have a conversation about this matter, and the old man did reveal some information to him about the interests between Alben and Tai Niu.

The outcome may not change, but it has given Shu Long a general idea of ​​his current situation.

No wonder team principal Tost was so eager to help the team with the development and upgrades of the car, but all the upgrades since the start of the season have been led by Alben, while Shulong's suggestions seem to have disappeared without a trace.

The team isn't united at all!
One piece of circumstantial evidence proves this point: the [Synergy Core], which was soaring in the first Red Bull run, has only increased by less than 5% in the second Red Bull run, even after so much time.
This 5% figure is probably the result of Shulong's gradual collaboration with his racing engineer, Hamelin, and the tire changers through numerous races during this period.

I feel so regretful. It's not that I regret joining the Red Bull system, but that I shouldn't have asked so many questions so early on. I should have listened to Uncle Wai Tou and Old Lai Tou's advice from the beginning.

Why bother finding out about all this messy stuff in the convoy? It just gets annoying!

The most obvious point is that Shu Long's communication with Alben decreased significantly during this competition week, and when he learned that Alben had withdrawn from the competition due to an accident, he was actually slightly relieved, just like Gasly.

To be honest, I feel a little ashamed, because Alben is indeed a very good person in life. He takes the initiative to consider others in many small details, and Shulong feels that he has indeed received a lot of care from him.

However, as a nineteen-year-old, please forgive him for having difficulty correcting his mindset in a short period of time.

Especially considering that his grades were significantly better than Alben's, it was as if someone who was studying hard in their senior year of high school and consistently ranked at the top of their class in every exam was playing on their phone all day, and when asked, it turned out that they had either received extra points or been admitted to a university without taking the entrance exam.

Even the person who sets the exam paper and the examiner are relatives of each other. How can you compete with that?

I'm really annoyed!
But what can we do?

Shu Long can only do as Dr. Marco told him: keep using his achievements to increase his leverage. This is not only a statement to the Red Bull Group management, but also a way to build up his "momentum" in the public eye.

Red Bull places great importance on brand image. When even Red Bull fans felt that not promoting Shu Long was a foolish and outrageous decision, even Thai Bull might have to consider the appeal that the name Shu Long could bring.

After all, the reason they chose to enter F1 was to advertise themselves, not to warn consumers to avoid pitfalls.

Besides Marko, Shu Long's only other reliable backer in the paddock, Alonso, is also busy these days, as he is preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and will officially compete on the 14th in Toyota's No. 8 car.

For this reason, Shu Long even asked for leave from the Toro Rosso team and asked Markoto for a Le Mans ticket.

Anyway, the team's upgrades don't listen to him now, so running this simulator is pointless. He might as well go out and relax a bit.

Besides cheering on Alonso, he also wanted to discuss the details of his future career plans and experience the completely different racing atmosphere compared to F1.

There's no need to worry about delaying Alonso or anything like that. After all, during the endurance race, the crew members take turns driving the car. At other times, they can be said to be extremely idle. They can eat and sleep as usual, and it's more important to conserve their energy than anything else.

Alonso does have some ideas, and he has also briefly revealed his plans to Shu Long.

The two teams currently in closest contact with Alonso are Renault and McLaren. He has already contacted McLaren, but he is currently unavailable for Renault.

Although his only back-to-back championships in his career were won with Renault, to be honest, Alonso wasn't optimistic about Renault, so he also asked Shu Long for his opinion.

Shu Long himself also indicated that he did not want to get involved in Renault's affairs for the time being.

However, he didn't think that far ahead. It's just that Renault's youth training program still has Zhou Guanyu and Ye Yifei. If he goes there, it can be said that he will completely block the future professional paths of these two.

Renault, as a disgrace to the factory team, not only has engines that are not as reliable as the newly introduced Honda, but they also have almost no say in customer teams.

If Zhou Guanyu and his colleagues want to be promoted, they have virtually no other options besides Renault itself.

However, Alonso's considerations were more direct.

Renault has a bad habit now: like Ferrari, they like to import ready-made, talented drivers. Even Ferrari promoted a newcomer like Leclerc this year, but Renault spent a lot of money to buy back an aging Ricciardo.

In terms of conditions, Shulong does meet their requirements for imported drivers, and it doesn't seem like a difficult decision to kick out Hulkenberg, who has no career track record, for his sake.

However, the Renault team is currently in disarray and the competitiveness of its cars is also worrying. As a factory team, it has no other better options for advancement. It would be really not worthwhile to completely break away from the Red Bull system for their sake.

This is a driver with the potential to compete for the world championship; stuffing Shulong in there would be a complete waste of time.

As for McLaren...
The current manager, Zach Brawn, seems to know Alonso quite well, and he is indeed quite willing to accept Shu Long as their driver for next season.

Although they have only just identified Norris as the player they need to focus on developing, Sainz is at best a transitional option. In Zak Brown's view, having two energetic young players competing against each other during the team's upward phase is not necessarily a bad thing.

Moreover, McLaren is indeed very interested in the ability to bind dragons.

However, also because the team is still in its growth phase, McLaren is probably not able to offer Shu Long a satisfactory annual salary right now.

Forget about annual salary, they might not even be willing to pay the exorbitant price required to buy out Shu Long from Red Bull. Even if Red Bull is stupid, they would never let a driver like Shu Long go for nothing. How could they give up without taking a big piece of flesh from their opponent?

Therefore, this matter is still pending. Shu Long himself is not very willing to go to Renault to develop. Alonso plans to start contacting people from Ferrari 24 hours after Le Mans.

Besides, to be honest, Alonso himself has been tormented by McLaren for so long, and even though McLaren is showing signs of improvement, he still has at least 70% doubts about McLaren and feels that the car might break down at any moment.

This is what you said!
Shu Long remembered Alonso's comments about McLaren, but after seeing McLaren's qualifying results at the Paul Ricard Circuit, he couldn't help but ponder the origin of the online comments in China that Alonso was a "team selection genius."

McLaren's two cars qualified in P5 and P6 respectively. Shu Long seemed determined to stick with this number, as he ultimately qualified in P7 once again.

It's worth noting that Little Red Bull introduced newly upgraded accessories for this stop, and Shu Long simply couldn't understand why Norris was 0.3 seconds faster than him.

Anyway, Alonso successfully defended his title in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the Toyota No. 8 car. Let's just say that Alonso's "team selection genius" debuff has temporarily disappeared. Now, Shulong is hoping that he can take advantage of this good fortune to bring him some good news.

The players listed from P1 to P4 are Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, and Verstappen.

Uncle Tilted Head was stuck in P8 by a mysterious force due to a problem with the oil pump, while Gasly slid down to P9 in his Red Bull, and his highlight from the previous game seemed to have disappeared.

Shulong's biggest competitor, Alben, also made it into the top ten in this qualifying round.

　There are currently 3,100 chapters to be updated. Let me see if I can keep up with the pace. I'll release one chapter first.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)