F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 128 Utilizing the Track to its Fullest Potential

Compared to his performance at the previous race, Gasly struggled greatly at his home track, both in terms of car handling and lap times.

Verstappen became increasingly adept at the car, and the new tuning scheme gradually took effect in his hands, but the huge gap that followed also made Gasly feel desperate.

This despair didn't even stem from Shu Long's consistent ability to outshine him; it was more about questioning his own capabilities.

Is the talent gap between people really that big?

Why is it that with the same car setup, some people can be fast enough to be in the top tier, while he can only hover around the edge of the points zone?

Adding to the pressure from the expectations and support of his home fans at the race, Gasly, the last GP2 champion of the year, even began to doubt whether he deserved an F1 seat.

Fortunately, unlike Shu Long who was the only son, much of the attention that was focused on Gasley was diverted to others.

Renault also had its home race this weekend, and another French GP2 champion, Grosjean, also had a rather poor performance in this round of races.

His teammate Magnussen at least made it to Q2, while Gross finished fourth from the bottom in Q1 and was eliminated.

I don't know how to evaluate it. Maybe the GP2 championship position is too hot to handle. Fortunately, by the time Shu Long won the championship, the race name had been changed to F2.
Compared to the F1 paddock's unlucky GP2 veterans, this race was a smooth ride for the F2 drivers on their home turf.

Huber stood on the highest podium at home, while Zhou Guanyu, also from Renault's youth academy, stood on the podium for the third time at this race, almost stealing the spotlight.

It's unclear whether Zhou Guanyu's earlier prediction about the questionable internal dealings within the Prema team came true.

Mick's teammate, Sean Glaer, was extremely ruthless towards Mick this weekend. In the very first lap of the race, they were fighting for position when a "mistake" resulted in Mick being dragged down with him.

It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. In order to make up for Mick's losses in these races, the team's resources will only be blatantly allocated.

This isn't good news for the other F2 drivers either, since if Mick really manages to put together an invincible rover, they'll just be left trailing behind.

Regardless, most drivers were secretly pleased that this pampered young master had suffered such a setback.

Shu Long sent Zhou Guanyu a congratulatory message on his phone and also began preparing for his main competition on Sunday.

Unlike the Canadian Grand Prix, this track has a larger paving scale, which allows for a greater starting advantage.

Similar to the Canadian Grand Prix, the Paul Ricard circuit in France, due to its unique track layout, makes overtaking both easy and difficult.

Overtaking is easier because the track is wide enough. As long as you are bold enough and have a good grasp of the car, the layout of the corners here can provide drivers with many overtaking opportunities, instead of only relying on the DRS on the long straights.

However, this is on the premise that your race car has a sufficiently large speed advantage over the car in front.

Also due to the layout of the curves, the polluted air on this track has a particularly severe impact on the cars behind, making it extremely difficult for them to follow.

Let alone establishing a significant advantage over the car in front, even whether the car can unleash its full potential, and to what extent, is an unknown quantity.

As one of the most suitable tracks for testing, the Paul Ricard Circuit is similar in characteristics to the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. Even though the team has made some upgrades to the car, Toro Rosso's car is still relatively weak here overall.

Let's not even talk about upgrading racing cars anymore; just mentioning it makes me feel suffocated.

He had put forward so many suggestions, but almost none of them were adopted in the end. Alben's upgrade plan was indeed not bad, but in Shulong's opinion, it was still too lukewarm.

The Red Bull car is a typical example of something that's good in every way: good feel, good balance, good handling, but it just has no speed!

Moreover, because the balance is so good, Shulong is unable to adopt overly aggressive tuning methods to further squeeze the potential of the race car.

Sometimes, changes to the tuning can disrupt the original balance of the race car. While Shulong can indeed make up for this missing balance by adjusting the driving style, it is somewhat counterproductive compared to the original version.

In layman's terms, the potential of the racing cars has already been fully exploited.

It's a shame that Verstappen, as the number one driver, could completely influence the team's development direction. As soon as Red Bull decided to lean towards Verstappen, Gasly visibly couldn't keep up.

Shu Long, the number one driver for Toro Rosso, is a complete joke. Apart from his significant points advantage, there's no other indication that he's a number one driver.

The black T-shaped structure on top of the race car is practically just for show; it doesn't benefit from any of the team's resources.

However, to some extent, Toro Rosso is better than Gasly in that they at least consider his feelings and no one else interferes with their car setup.

Shu Long initially found it strange that after every match, regardless of whether the result was good or bad, team leader Tost would always grab him and say a lot of nice things.

It's like coaxing a child; the main message is basically to encourage them to keep up the good work and perform well, and to keep a calm mindset.

Now that I think about it, it turns out they were already taking precautions back then?

Could I be the only one in this convoy who's been kept in the dark?!
Let's not dwell on those unpleasant things; let's talk about something even more upsetting.

Judging from the qualifying speed of Toro Rosso at this race, their overall competitiveness may not even be as good as it was in Spain.

Vettel missed qualifying due to a car malfunction. In reality, Ferrari's lead over Toro Rosso here was significant, and it's almost impossible for Vettel to hold onto that position in the race.

Even the team advised against any excessive fighting between Shulong and Vettel, suggesting that they should just let them go if necessary.

It wasn't that Hamelin was afraid Shulong would overshadow Alben by performing too well; on the contrary, Hamelin only advised Shulong out of good intentions because he noticed that Shulong was somewhat eager for quick success.

After all, Toro Rosso and Ferrari weren't even in the same competitive group in this race. A pointless fight would only disrupt their own race rhythm and offer no additional benefit. Besides Ferrari, Renault and Arroyo were also strong contenders, not to mention McLaren, who qualified ahead of Shu Long.

McLaren's upgrades had already shown initial results in the previous race, but at that time, their two drivers may not have adapted to the new car's characteristics yet, which meant that the car's performance potential was not fully realized.

However, based on the three practice sessions this weekend, plus the entire Canadian Grand Prix as a form of practice, McLaren may be Shulong's strongest direct competitor in this race.

Start the car when the lights are off.

After the track fraud in the previous race, the two McLarens in front of Shulong were paying at least 30% more attention to the Toro Rosso's movements behind them.

Especially Norris in front of him.

He felt extremely embarrassed after being scammed in Canada last time, and this time he was determined to get his revenge.

Unfortunately, the track conditions at the Paul Ricard circuit are completely different from those in Canada. Before McLaren could fully establish their combined defense, Shullon had already joined Sainz side-by-side, completely disrupting their formation.

Perhaps it was because Sainz focused too much attention on Shulong that his start was relatively slow. Even though Shulong had just a regular start like everyone else, it didn't prevent them from driving side by side.

I always felt that Sainz's mentality in the game was a bit strange. It seemed that he was more concerned about not letting others take advantage of him, so as to continue to maintain his current vested interests, rather than trying to gain a greater advantage.

In summary, they are too calculating.

However, Norris himself had a decent start, even managing to close in on Leclerc, who had been pushed back by Verstappen, before Turn 1.

Shu Long could only slow down his pace here. Being on the inside of the left turn of Turn 1, he could only try to push Norris outward with his front wheel as much as possible, attempting to reduce his entry angle into the right turn of Turn 2 that followed closely behind.

However, this move had little effect. Norris, who was on the outside, had a better exit speed than Shulong, and with the inside line of Turn 2, Shulong was unable to gain much advantage over him in the short term.

However, Shulong did not give Norris much time to catch his breath.

McLaren's speed advantage is very obvious at this race. If they can't take advantage of the relatively chaotic situation in the first lap, they may end up following Norris and getting slapped for the rest of the race.

The impact of the polluted air on the race cars can only be truly felt once the race begins.

Shu Long felt that the little Red Bull under his butt was unwilling to enter the corner. Even with a simple steering action, he had to make five or six small corrections to regain the grip of the front wheels.

However, it was precisely because of these conditions that a plan to overtake was quickly conceived in Shu Long's mind.

Here we should briefly mention another track feature of the Paul Ricard Circuit, namely their unique red and blue buffer zones.

These are not typical sand and gravel buffer zones; apart from their color, they are almost indistinguishable from ordinary asphalt.

It is indeed asphalt.

However, the blue buffer zone here contains tungsten metal, and its surface friction is much greater than that of the black asphalt track surface, while the red part has even greater friction.

However, the red buffer zone is usually located on the outside of the buffer zone, and it has little to do with Shu Long's idea of ​​overtaking this time. What he wants to use is the blue buffer zone strip on the inside, which is often closely connected to the track.

Higher friction means stronger track grip, but it also leads to more tire wear under heavy oil conditions.

However, almost all of the top ten cars in this race started on yellow tires, which are more durable than red tires. Shu Long also felt that it was absolutely worth it to trade a slight tire damage within his control for a positional advantage than to be slowly boiled like a frog in dirty air for a long time.

Before Turn 7, Shu Long, who seemed to be obediently following Norris, took a break and tightened the differential lock on the rear wheel a little with one hand.

Then, as he exited the corner, he deliberately widened his stride, sucking in Norris's slipstream while placing his outer tires in the blue strip-shaped buffer zone outside the track.

Better grip gave Shulong an earlier opportunity to go full throttle and accelerate out of corners, while also successfully swerving Norris, who was startled by the unusually fast approaching Toro Rosso from behind, to the outside.

However, Norris did not adjust the differential here. The surge in tire grip on the outer side caused the McLaren, which was already at its most sensitive point in terms of vehicle dynamics, to experience a certain degree of body steering deviation. At the same time, the car's traction was inevitably affected as well.

That's enough.

Even without relying on McLaren's slipstream advantage for an extended period, Shulong had already secured enough to bring the car's front end alongside the inside line before the braking zone at Turn 8.

Turns 8 and 9 are a series of S-shaped curves that start on the left and then turn right. Generally speaking, turning off the outside line is often a better overtaking line.

Just like Norris's defense against Shullon at Turns 1 and 2, Shullon actually has a greater advantage here with his outside shots, but he will also be blocked by Verstappen and Leclerc, who are also locked in a close battle.

But those who were enemies then can become friends now.

Because Shulong had already positioned the front wheels in the middle of Norris's car before Turn 8, he didn't need to deliberately brake late. He could simply follow the normal cornering rhythm to force Norris onto the outside line.

Shulong was already at a half-car disadvantage in terms of position, and with Norris taking the inside line at the next turn nine, it seemed like a completely failed overtaking attempt.

However, one thing should not be overlooked: there is a lot of dirty air produced by the cars in front on the normal driving lanes. Norris only dared to cautiously and tentatively accelerate in the continuous curves. If he were even slightly greedy, the rear of the car might swing out.

As he finished cutting the apex of Turn 9 and was about to go for the apex of the fake turn between Turn 9 and Turn 10, he discovered that a red and blue painted Toro, almost blending into the red and blue runway, had already taken up the spot.

No, on what basis?

(End of this chapter)