F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 132 Find a new way
I just replaced the engine! And this is how you treat me?!

Sitting in the race car, Shu Long first tapped his helmet a few times in silence. Looking at the steering wheel in front of him, he felt a surge of anger and punched the screen in the center.

There was no mood to continue talking to the team in the TR. The tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff was taken off and thrown several meters away. The next thing to fly out of the car was the headrest.

The sponsorship fee resulted in a 1% loss, which would normally make Shu Long feel a little distressed, but today he just wanted to vent the pent-up anger in his heart.

Putting aside the quality issues with Honda engines, Gasly almost retired from the Baku race due to engine problems. After the problem was discovered, he was forced to use the first power unit, which had only been used a few times, for a while.

Such problems are not uncommon in F1 racing; Hamilton himself encountered several such unforeseen circumstances during his championship run.

However, Shu Long believes that such a failure could have been largely avoided by taking proactive measures.

Earlier in the race, he was driving a car that was two levels slower than the others. He had to try to keep up with the pace of the Ferrari in front of him while constantly being distracted by Hamilton's attacks from behind.

Therefore, he didn't have the time or the mood to argue with the team about other strategies. After all, according to Hamelin, after adjusting the car's settings, the pressure on him to follow and defend was indeed reduced a lot.

but!

Is it possible that this strategy of sacrificing the lifespan of the engine and tires, and going to any lengths to wear down a car that doesn't belong to the same competitive group, is without problems?

Possibly? Bullshit!

Shu Long couldn't figure out why the team was using such a self-destructive strategy. He was on his way back to the pit lane on the motorcycle that had come to pick him up when he passed a screen displaying the real-time rankings of the riders.
Verstappen had somehow moved from P10 to P4, and soon climbed over Bottas' head.

Sudden enlightenment?

No! He should have thought of this possibility before the match!

Because, apart from some cars whose overall competitiveness simply couldn't keep up, he generally had a smooth ride in this season's races, to the point that he sometimes overlooked the fact that Toro Rosso was ultimately an appendage of Red Bull.

Especially given the current situation at Red Bull where internal competition is rife, he believed that at least in this trial year for Honda with no hope of winning the championship, the drivers could basically compete freely.

At events like the Shanghai International Circuit and Baku, Shu Long was willing to fight Verstappen for a position on the track without any scruples, all for the sake of a podium finish. Who wouldn't be confused by that?

However, he overlooked the importance of Red Bull's home race for the team.

Toro Rosso would be lucky to even touch the podium in this race; their cars have a direct chance of winning. Even a primary school student would know how to choose between prioritizing the bigger win or the smaller one.

Does this bother Shulong? No, it doesn't!
That doesn't stop someone else from being even more unhappy than him!
Shu Long had just returned to the pit room when he saw Alonso, his face flushed as if he had just had a fight, impatiently wave his hand, turn around and leave through the back door, rushing hurriedly towards the Red Bull pit room.

Shu Long knew that Alonso was at the scene this week, since his racing competition had temporarily come to an end, and he would be focusing his main attention on Shu Long from now on.

As a result, in the first race he followed up, he saw his own driver being used as a wingman by the team. How could Alonso, who already had a fiery temper, tolerate this?
Don't give him that nonsense about strategic mistakes!
Alonso has been a driver for so many years, he has been tricked by strategy more than once, and he has also benefited from the dark team politics. He is a veteran who has seen a lot of these things and knows them very well!
Horner, as the team leader, is still sitting at the strategy table outside the P room, so Marco, who is idly sitting in the P room with his arms crossed, has once again become a shield for Alonso's anger.

It was indeed touching that someone in the hunting grounds was willing to stand up for him, but Shu Long didn't go over to get involved. Right now, he had the urge to yell at everyone around him, but he was also too tired to say another word.

He was too lazy to take off his helmet, and Hans didn't want to take it off either. He just stood there silently with his arms crossed by the workbench.

Because of Shu Long's withdrawal from the competition, Hamelin, who has now taken off his headphones and has nothing to do, decided to make a statement after a period of silence.

"Sorry, buddy."

"Ha~"

"Dragon, there are some things..."

"Save your breath, this isn't something you can decide by yourself."

Such a situation on the field is not something that Hamelin, a mere game engineer, could decide. The Red Bull system is not a monolithic entity anymore. Regardless of which camp they belong to, Shu Long can at least distinguish who is usually good to him.

His anger wasn't directed at just one or two people, neither Hamelin nor Tost.

Hamelin is essentially an engineer who is responsible for communicating with the drivers. He is more capable, but his rank is only half a level higher than other engineers. He is not a manager at all.

Tost does have some power, but frankly speaking, his power depends on Red Bull's approval.

Previously, Verstappen's father and Sainz's father could completely strip him of his power as team principal in the pit lane. Rather than saying he was the person in charge of the Toro Rosso team, it would be more accurate to say that he was just a slightly more senior employee responsible for handling miscellaneous matters.

Shulong's anger wasn't directed at Marco, although the old man was certainly involved in today's events.

It's not just about Red Bull; it's also about the reality of being powerless to change the status quo.

Having virtually no foothold in the paddock, and given his relatively smooth driving career, Shu Long has mostly kept his temper in check.

Generally speaking, as long as nothing crosses his bottom line, Shu Long is quite easy to talk to in daily life.

But how could someone who can win a championship while bleeding from a broken hand not have a temper at all?

The reason why Marco found Shulong so appealing back then, besides the talent he displayed, was that the wolf-like ferocity and shrewdness he displayed on the track, which directly resonated with the old man.

Without this temperament, Shu Long would be nothing more than the second Bottas, possessing talent but lacking the ruthlessness to compete for the championship.

Even if I get promoted to Red Bull, it'll just be another place to suffer, and my current situation won't be much different.

Not to mention that even getting into Red Bull is uncertain right now.

He originally thought he could convince everyone with his strength, but after what happened today, Shu Long feels that he may really need to seriously consider other options.

Alonso's visit to the paddock wasn't just about getting screen time or riding the wave of popularity; his main task now is to help Shulong connect with other teams.

As for why he specifically chose race week, besides the fact that the people he wanted to see would be more likely to be there, there was also the intention of using the media exposure within the paddock to generate public opinion. After all, their primary task right now is not to completely break ties with Red Bull, but to secure resources within Red Bull's ranks; other teams are ultimately just backup options.

Otherwise, if you just want to change jobs, wouldn't it be better to make contact privately?
Their goal was to use public opinion to put pressure on Red Bull and force them to make a choice, otherwise they would have plenty of other options to choose from.

That's what they say, but it's not that easy.

Tou Ge assured Shu Long that he would make contact with Ferrari soon, but Shu Long didn't actually have much hope for this.

Ferrari currently has four-time world champion Vettel as its number one driver, and Leclerc, who has just been established as the new crown prince after countless resources and financial efforts. Given Ferrari's track record, it is highly unlikely that they would abandon either of these two in order to secure a crown prince position.

Ferrari is not like McLaren. While McLaren prefers to have promising young players on its team, Ferrari values ​​seniority.

Even if it was Leclerc, who came from their own system, that was the only exception in many years. There was Leclerc's godfather, Bianchi, but unfortunately, the matter did not come to fruition because of the jealousy of the talented.

At other times, a world championship might just be the most basic requirement to join the Ferrari team.

Kimi was in such a slump for a while, but if he hadn't voluntarily given up on renewing his contract, Ferrari wouldn't have even been willing to let him go, and Leclerc would probably have had to hone his skills at Sauber for a few more years.

Besides, Vettel's form has only declined slightly, but he still retains the ability to compete with Hamilton for the title.

It's fair to say that as long as Vettel doesn't want to leave, Ferrari certainly won't let him go.

But you could say that Ferrari isn't at all envious of Shulong.
Watching Verstappen ultimately win the title at home, and Alben and Gasly both successfully climb into the points zone, Shu Long, feeling utterly disheartened, never expected that substantive contact would come so quickly.

A major event occurred after the Austrian leg of the race, attracting countless onlookers.

Haas's title sponsor, Rich Energy, first faced a lawsuit for trademark infringement, then lost the case and faced huge compensation and a deadline for rectification.

Then Haas team performed poorly in several races in a row. Magnussen, who carried the hopes of the whole team, suffered from excessive tire wear in the early stages of the race and eventually fell all the way from P10 to the back of the pack, shoulder to shoulder with Williams.

The final result was that this knock-off Red Bull, which had tricked Haas out of nearly half a season's title sponsorship for just a few million dollars, officially announced on social media before the British Grand Prix that it would terminate its sponsorship partnership with Haas.

Haas's team manager, Steiner, was probably mentally prepared for this, but he didn't expect the day to come so soon.

After suspecting that the other party might be involved in sponsorship fraud, Haas seemed to finally think of conducting a detailed investigation into the other party's business background. However, the investigation only made things worse, and his heart sank.

The company only had a few hundred pounds in its accounts, and its main product, an energy drink, had almost no sales channels. It looked exactly like a shell company that was trying to raise funds fraudulently.

Last year, the company had offered £100 million to buy the Force India team. In addition, when it partnered with Haas, it was very generous, not only promising at least $60 million in title sponsorship but also directly transferring six million to the team's account.

It's no wonder Haas lacked awareness; anyone in his position would be confused.

Not to mention that the sponsorship deal was guaranteed by a bank, and the team owner, Gene Haas, didn't think too much about it and happily agreed to the partnership.

However, to this day, Rich Energy's support for Haas is only six million dollars.

Following Magnussen's major crash in Canada, the team's financial situation is now extremely tight.

To reverse the current situation, there seems to be no better way than for the drivers and cars to produce results that can convince the new sponsors.
The next stop is Silverstone Circuit in the UK, a very classic and spacious high-speed track. Due to the balanced characteristics of its cars, Toro Rosso's competitiveness has actually rebounded somewhat here.

Although the gap with the top three teams has widened further, the advantage in the Earth Group cars is still quite obvious. Even though they switched back to the old engine in this race, they still managed to get a P7 in qualifying once again.

The final main competition was quite exciting.

Mercedes' two cars battled fiercely, Giovinazzi's yellow flag trapping Ferrari's circus act, and intense battles of overtaking and counter-overtaking were constantly taking place throughout the track.

However, the early matches in Shulong were relatively boring.

Sainz behind him couldn't catch him, and Gasly in front of him couldn't catch him either. Despite being in position 7 in the game, he seemed to be isolated.

It wasn't until lap 37 of the race that the monotonous solo cruise finally saw some excitement.

Verstappen first overtook Vettel on the track, but our "tilting uncle" (Vettel's nickname) was so eager to fight back that he braked hard and shoved his front wing under the Red Bull's chassis.

Verstappen nearly got stuck in the gravel, and although Vettel quickly returned to the track, his severely damaged front wing not only required an additional pit stop, but also incurred a ten-second penalty for this seemingly foolish mistake.

Having unwittingly sacrificed himself for Max's home championship in the previous race, Shu Long finally found a rare opportunity to vent his frustrations on the track.

Verstappen, who had struggled to recover from the gravel to get back into the race, fell right behind Shu Long. This time, ignoring what the team might think, he stubbornly kept up with Red Bull's number one car until lap 49, with the two of them racking up a lot of overtaking and being overtaken.

Thanks to Uncle Wai Tou's help in damaging the Red Bull race car, Verstappen's grip in high-speed corners was inevitably affected; otherwise, Shu Long might not have had such an opportunity.

Finally, the equally fast Sainz was rapidly closing in, and Shulong, whose battery was almost completely depleted, managed to let Verstappen pass by, bringing back another P6.

Gasly also finished ahead of Verstappen for the first time this season thanks to Shu Long's offensive and defensive play, bringing back a P4 result.

Haas, already under intense scrutiny, not only failed to work together to resolve the team's internal issues, but the two drivers also engaged in an unnecessary internal conflict on the track during this difficult time, directly leading to both cars suffering tire blowouts and retiring from the race.

A series of unpleasant events caused Steiner to completely lose his patience. After the race, he called both drivers into his office and slammed them for twenty minutes, even threatening to fire them both. Naturally, the meeting ended badly.

Although some of his remarks were made in anger, Steiner had to consider alternative approaches to try and resolve the team's current critical situation of being on the verge of collapse.

The English teacher who used Fxck as a comma first approached his manufacturer, Ferrari, to see if he could get any extra assistance from them, even if it meant sacrificing some team control like Sauber did. The priority right now is to save the team, isn't it?

It remains unknown what the two sides ultimately reached in their discussions.

However, just before the opening of the next race, the German Grand Prix, Haas team principal Steiner and Ferrari team principal Binotto, led by their own agent Alonso, sat down in front of Shu Long in a very unusual manner.

(End of this chapter)