F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 133 It's not a dream of owning a Ferrari, it just happens to be one.
This meeting was not made public because it was a serious business meeting, not just a statement regarding Red Bull.

The main issue is that Red Bull's internal decision is still pending. The previous sporadic contacts only brought Red Bull a sense of crisis. If today's situation is confirmed, it may actually accelerate Shu Long's exit from the game.

Moreover, neither Haas nor Ferrari wanted their two drivers to know that they had made contact with the other driver.
The reason for this meeting was that, in addition to Haas's urgent need to find a way to break the deadlock, Ferrari also had the initiative to contact Shulong.

For no other reason than that Vettel's contract expires at the end of 2020, Ferrari must consider a candidate for the team's second driver in the future.

Of course, if Vettel still wants to prioritize renewing his contract with the team, Ferrari will definitely give him priority. However, Vettel's recent slump has made Luis Camilleri, who previously spearheaded the contract renewal, hesitate.

It's clear that Vettel still has potential, but his biggest problem right now is inconsistency. He has made several very basic mistakes on the track in a short period of time.

Ferrari fans may be one of the most fervent groups in the world, or even one of the most fearsome.

Unlike most people who become fans of the driver first and then the team, Ferrari is likely one of the few teams whose fans are even more fervent than their drivers, thanks to its long and illustrious racing history.

Regardless of who's in the car, supporting Ferrari seems to have become a kind of genetic symbol within the paddock.

The most obvious example is that a few years ago, when Vettel was still able to carry Ferrari, fans almost unanimously supported him.

Ferrari's repeated failures to compete with Hamilton for the championship in recent years, coupled with its visibly poor performance this year, have led many Ferrari fans to voice very unfriendly, even malicious, opinions about the company.

Fortunately, Vettel doesn't pay attention to social media at all, and he even uses an old-fashioned feature phone. So this situation hasn't affected the stability of the team yet.

If Vettel cannot regain his form soon, Ferrari will have to start looking for a replacement as soon as possible.

But now there's a rather awkward situation.

That means that, given Ferrari's past habit of importing world champions, there are no other champions available for them to choose from in the paddock.

The main reason is that Hamilton has monopolized the world championship title for a long time. Unless they have the ability to poach Hamilton from Mercedes, but that is obviously impossible.

You mean Kimi?

They're getting on in years, and they just happily went to Arou to retire this year. There's no way they'd want to come back.

Besides Hamilton, the most recent world champion was Rosberg, who retired honorably right after winning the world championship, clearly showing that he had lost his fighting spirit.

There's no other way; we'll just have to choose from the existing, skilled drivers.

If there is no world champion, then priority should be given to those who have won individual races.

Verstappen?

Red Bull's current mainstay is about as difficult to poach as Hamilton.

Ricardo?
Red Bull's former mainstay, but its continued poor performance this year has forced Ferrari to reconsider this option.

Bottas seems like a good fit; this obedient wingman is perfect for assisting Leclerc.

But the only reason he wanted to leave Mercedes was probably because he didn't want to be a wingman anymore. What kind of nonsense is it to move him to Ferrari to continue being a wingman?

It would be better to stay at Mercedes. At least their cars are awesome, and you could get a few more points if you stayed there.

After eliminating Ferrari's reliance on conventional thinking path one by one, it seems that only the Shulong is the most suitable choice in the paddock at present.

Younger than Leclerc, he has already reached the podium twice and has never suffered any damage to his car due to mistakes. Driving a second-tier Earth car, he consistently scores points in every race.

The main reason we didn't think to make contact beforehand was that Shu Long's youth training status made it difficult to handle in terms of the contract.

For a driver like Shu Long, who is already a publicly known gold card holder, Red Bull would never be foolish enough to release him unless you take a lot of damage from him.

Shulong signed an agreement with Red Bull in 15.

At the time, no one expected Ricardo to leave so quickly, and Sainz and Verstappen were both players with connections, so even within Red Bull's system, they couldn't free up that many positions all at once.

In addition, the super license rules were changed to eighteen years old because of Verstappen, so in order to keep Shulong, Marco directly offered a five-year contract.

The contract took effect in 2016, meaning Shulong will not be able to regain his free agent status until 2021.

This is unprecedented for Red Bull's youth training program. Otherwise, according to their usual style, such youth training contracts are usually signed for one year at a time, and they can be kicked out at any time if their performance does not meet the standards.

Who could have imagined all this back then? Shu Long and his team thought they had gotten a great deal. This contract meant that Shu Long would not need to incur any additional expenses for participating in any competitions or training over the next five years.

Who would have thought that Shu Long would become an official F1 driver so soon after turning 18, and that his performance throughout the season would be so outstanding and consistent?

After all, even in 2021, Shu Long will only be 21 years old. At that age, being able to drive in F1 is considered a very smooth career path for a talented driver. Most people at that age are still struggling in lower-level formula racing.

No one expected that the contract that was once the cornerstone of Shu Long's professional career would now become a stumbling block in his search for other paths.

It's okay, Ferrari isn't in a hurry to get him right now. They need to be sure Vettel has left before they can discuss what to do next. But there are some things that can definitely be prepared for earlier.

With Alonso's outburst at the Red Bull pit lane in the last race already widely known, it's clear that a rift may have developed between the driver and the team. Now is the perfect opportunity to try and establish contact with Shulong.

Then, coincidentally, Haas came knocking on their door again at this time.

The goal is simple: Haas is running out of money and wants to see if they can establish a deeper "cooperation" with Ferrari in other ways so that they can get a cheaper transaction price and some technical assistance from Ferrari.

Haas and Ferrari originally had a purely manufacturer-customer relationship, simply a cash-on-delivery transaction.

It's more like the early collaboration between Red Bull and Renault than Sauber and Ferrari's subservient second team in recent years.

However, unlike Red Bull, which focuses on attracting talent and emphasizing research and development, Haas buys most of its cars directly from the Ferrari factory, except for some parts that are explicitly required to be developed by the team itself.

In a sense, it can be understood as a carpooling service in the F1 world.

Ferrari has had a strong foundation in recent years, and Haas also stumbled upon a stroke of luck, managing to build a rocket by sheer chance. Last year, they even managed to finish fifth in the team standings.

However, this year's major changes to the front and rear wings and tires have immediately exposed Haas's lack of R&D capabilities, which has been largely relying on its old practices.

They knew there were problems with the race car, but because a large part of it was purchased directly, even the team's engineers couldn't pinpoint exactly what the problem was.

As a last resort, Steiner shamelessly came to beg for help. To put it bluntly—I'm here to be your lapdog, and I'm even better at it than Arro, so please give me a couple of bones!
Ferrari thought, "Okay!"
I can definitely help you with this, and I can even sell you the items at a lower price, but you have to come with me to do something first.

And that's how we ended up meeting today.

Haas's task was simple: see if he could win Shu Long's heart with his body. Ferrari was currently lacking a driver who could help them with extra testing.

Furthermore, letting Shulong get used to driving a Ferrari engine first will make things easier if we really need to move to a different location in the future.

In that case, with all that back and forth, wouldn't Haas get the technical assistance he wanted from Ferrari just as easily?

The process may indeed be in a gray area on the edge of the rules, but as long as you and I don't say anything, the FIA ​​actually has no say in it and can't do anything about it.
This is truly a case of someone offering a pillow when you're sleepy. Last year, Haas actually had the idea of ​​digging into Shulong, but he wasn't that determined. He just wanted to try it out since it didn't cost him anything and he wanted to ask around.

However, this year we've encountered various problems, and the two elderly men in the team with extremely high vehicle damage rates are really struggling to afford the maintenance.

Putting aside other capabilities, Shulong is undoubtedly top-notch in terms of car maintenance; even driving slowly would be enough to entice Steiner.

The only question now is, why should Shulong go to Has?
It's true that Haas finished fifth in the team standings last year, and it's also true that Toro Rosso finished second to last in the team standings last year.

However, thanks to Toro Rosso's phenomenal points tally in Shulong this year, they have gloriously secured fourth place among the teams, and are even several points ahead of fifth-placed McLaren.

On the other hand, what about Haas?
The team scored single digits, all of which were by Magnussen; he could only really beat Williams.

Racing, in the end, is a sport where the car accounts for 70% and the driver 30%.

Toro Rosso is at least doing somewhat well now. It would be funny if they went to Haas and got thoroughly humiliated, losing all their ambition and prestige.
However, it must be said that the conditions offered by the other party were indeed very attractive.

First of all, Haas's race cars are equipped with Ferrari engines that even Mercedes covets, and Shulong has experienced the power of these engines more than once.

In fact, Haas cars have a pretty high ceiling right now, as evidenced by the fact that Magnussen and Grosjean can often squeeze into Q3 with both cars.

Secondly, because Haas's current R&D capabilities are limited, they are willing to concentrate all their R&D resources around Shulong as long as he is willing to come.

Shu Long was already somewhat tempted after saying this, especially after being forcibly ignored by Little Red Bull's R&D for half a season.

Of course, the last point, which is also the one that Alonso, as the agent, values ​​the most, is that Shulong can take this opportunity to connect with the three enduring giants in the paddock.

Every era has its own "Big Three" racing teams, but Ferrari is unique in that it can be considered one of the "Big Three" in any era.

Even if they don't finish in the top three in the final team rankings, fans will likely assume they are one of the "Big Three".

Shu Long didn't have any obsession with Ferrari; it just so happened that it was a Ferrari.

However, these seemingly promising visions are contingent on several conditions: firstly, Shulong must be unable to win this round of internal struggle within Red Bull; and secondly, Marco's side must be willing to lend him out.

This one can't be rushed.

In terms of sequence, they need to wait for the current internal power struggle at Red Bull to end, then see if Shu Long still has room for development within Red Bull, and only then will Steiner and Marco negotiate.

Because the initial plan was only to loan out drivers, Ferrari could not intervene during this period.

If it's simply a matter of borrowing Has for a temporary emergency, then even if we only consider letting Shulong go out to avoid the political storm, Marco might be more accommodating.

However, if this also involves Ferrari, one of Red Bull's most direct competitors...
Then don’t even think about it!
Bao would never agree to that!
Therefore, their immediate priority is to prepare well for the German Grand Prix, which will be held at the Hockenheim circuit in a few days.

One thing that concerns Shu Long is that, according to the weather forecast, he is likely to face his first rainy race in his career at the German Grand Prix.

It can be said that the result of this competition could very well be a turning point in his career, perhaps an opportunity, or perhaps the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Don't be fooled by the fact that everyone seems to be having a pleasant chat right now; the brutality of this side quest isn't necessarily much better than Red Bull's.

Ultimately, whether or not they want you is up to the team. If you don't perform as expected in the later races, Ferrari can easily change their mind.

Fortunately, the previously deadlocked situation has finally made some progress, and Shu Long, having a way out, is much more relaxed.

"You seem to be in a good mood? Did something good happen recently?"

"Oh, I guess so?"

Shu Long usually only reports good news to his family and never bad news. Since Brother Tou helped him handle things in the paddock, he hasn't even told his family about the internal power struggles within Red Bull.

However, as one of Shu Long's closest people, Gan Mengning noticed the most obvious difference in Shu Long's demeanor as soon as they connected.

Although she was smiling on camera, you could feel a lingering melancholy through the screen. Adding to the woes, the Austrian team withdrew from the race in a very frustrating way, and Gan Mengning didn't know how to comfort her childhood sweetheart for a long time.

But today is different; the beauty mark at the corner of his eye softened Shu Long's expression considerably.

"Actually, you've already done a great job. I don't know if you've noticed the recent comments about you in China, but everyone is very supportive of you!"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. Wait! I was just saying, you don't really not know, do you?"

It's not just that he doesn't know; rather, Shu Long himself seems to avoid this issue.

There's a saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." By not facing other people's expectations, you naturally don't have to bear unnecessary pressure. Of course, sometimes you also miss out on some kind encouragement from strangers.

"I've already edited the VLOG from the day of the Shanghai International Circuit. It was released on your birthday. Check it out when you have time. There are a lot of messages from your fans that they want to say to you. I've sent them all to you."

"Post it on my birthday? Aren't you afraid of getting dumped?"

"No~ Many people even praised me for being thoughtful, saying that it was a birthday gift from the car fans."

"Now that you mention it, I'm almost embarrassed to look."

"Pay attention! I'm checking your homework tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)