F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 137 The Second Director, Full of Twists and Turns

Hamelin's adjustment regarding tire settings is mainly because there are slight differences in sidewall thickness, contact area, and tire pressure between rain tires, semi-rain tires, and dry tires. They need to change the sensor mode in a timely manner to accurately obtain real-time tire data.

The entry into the station was a normal one, and the tire change was neither fast nor slow. However, due to the safety release, the entry time was delayed to nearly four seconds. After exiting the station, Shulong still fell to fourth place.

It's still acceptable, since the yellow flag hasn't ended yet. As long as you're not overtaken by the people behind you while changing tires, it won't have too much of an impact.

Most riders took advantage of the yellow flag to pit and switch to semi-wet tires, while a few stubborn riders persisted in sticking with their choice of wet tires.

Take Magnussen, for example, who is currently stuck before Bottas.

Today he started from a relatively late position, starting at thirteenth, but now, taking advantage of everyone else pitting to change tires, he has jumped to second place.

It's hard to say whether the other side's choice was right or wrong. Although everyone has switched to semi-wet tires, the water situation on the track is still quite serious.

In some places, semi-wet tires may be faster, but in areas with severe water accumulation, such as the end of Turn 6, full-wet tires are obviously more advantageous.

Moreover, from the start of the race to the yellow flag, the race only lasted a little over one lap. The rest of the time, the race was slowly following the safety car. The rain tires were actually in very good condition at the start.

The complexity of rain racing lies in the fact that slower cars can defend against faster cars more easily by taking advantage of the terrain, while stronger drivers also have more opportunities to attack faster cars from slower ones.

Therefore, sometimes it might be a better choice to take a leading position in rainy conditions rather than pursuing a faster lap time.

Although Magnussen's current results aren't great, he's still a talented driver who made his debut on the podium and even got a P2. He believes he's no less capable than Shu Long, who's currently a hot driver in the paddock. He also wants to take advantage of the rainy weather to challenge Mercedes in his base model Ferrari.

Most importantly, today's weather is rather unpredictable, which provides ample opportunity for Magnussen's high-stakes gamble.

The current situation is that although the water on the track has been drained by these large vacuum pumps with a speed of over 300 kilometers per hour, the weather forecast indicates that the rain on the track may intensify again within ten minutes.

If Magnussen can manage the tire temperature and hold his position during this period, then he will have made a huge profit from those eleven free jumps!

However, rain racing also has another characteristic that must be mentioned: the condition of the track is different from time to time.

Because the accident site was not far from the pit lane and there was a safety lane next to it after the crash, the race organizers quickly cleaned up the accident scene, and the race resumed with the green flag on the fifth lap.

Because Hamilton controlled the restart, Magnussen, who was following behind, was caught off guard and was quickly pulled far ahead.

Fortunately, the traction performance of the wet tires is still better than that of the semi-wet tires, so Bottas didn't steal the position from the start.

However, once the car picked up speed, Magnussen, whose tires overheated rapidly under Bottas's relentless pressure, couldn't even make it past Turn 2. Bottas easily cut inside and passed him in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, unlike dry tires which typically operate at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius, blue all-weather tires only operate at around 40 degrees Celsius.

With the safety car in place for the first two laps, they probably didn't feel anything, but now that the race has resumed, their true colors have been revealed.

In this way, if Magnussen doesn't want his rain tires to wear out quickly within a few laps, he not only needs to slow down his throttle, but he also has to sacrifice his racing line to find more water on the track to cool down his tires.

These race cars, which had lost all fighting spirit, naturally couldn't effectively stop Shulong.

On the same lap, at Turn 5, Shu Long simply ran along the regular racing line that already had obvious ruts, and with almost no effort, he easily flipped over it, just like a Lanqi car that had been lapped.

This is the consequence of choosing the wrong strategy in the rain. Magnussen's Waterloo is far from over. From lap five to lap nine, in just four laps, he was pushed from P2 to P12, and finally had to pit for half-rain tires, falling directly to the back of the pack.

Fortunately, the team didn't act unilaterally at the crucial moment. If Toro Rosso had insisted on keeping Shu Long on the track to maintain the lead, he would probably be in a terrible predicament now.

However, don't get too excited yet, as tire problems exist for all other drivers as well.

It was actually drizzling on the track the whole time, but the pitiful amount of rainfall was not enough to keep up with the water displacement of the race cars, and the surface of the track was drying up rapidly as the race progressed.

Whether it's the first, second, or third time slot, each slot has a clear racing line that's almost ready for dry tires.

The same problems that Magnussen rain tires just faced are now appearing in semi-weather tires. The optimal operating temperature range for semi-weather tires is around 60℃, which is not much better than that of blue full-weather tires.

However, semi-weather tires have a harder tread and fewer tread patterns, resulting in a larger contact area with the ground. Therefore, they are not as quick as full-weather tires, which would force them to stop at the station.

However, because of these dry sections of the road, Shulong not only had to risk slipping and start using the relatively more water-filled shoulders to cool his tires, but also failed to pose a substantial threat to Bottas's position until lap 12 in order to control tire wear.

At this point, he was about two seconds behind Bottas, and Verstappen was about three seconds behind him. Everyone had to slow down their pace to deal with the same problem.

It's impossible not to feel anxious.

Shu Long's overtaking maneuver during the yellow flag phase has been investigated by the race organizers. Although he returned the position in time, the fact that he overtook during the yellow flag phase is undeniable. Who knows if he will be penalized with at least 5 seconds for this?

Moreover, he had just learned from TR that Leclerc, who started in P10, had caught up to fifth, Vettel, who started at the back of the pack, had caught up to eighth, and even Albon had risen seven places from P17 to P10.

What's going on? Everyone's fighting this rain so fiercely?!
Does that mean I'm a complete waste, since I only rose two positions?
Fortunately, on lap 13, the race organizers finally issued a penalty for Shulong's illegal yellow flag overtake.

Considering that Huang Qi's incident happened suddenly and the visibility was extremely poor due to the rain, and that Shulong also obediently returned the position, he was not penalized with a time penalty this time.

However, a warning will be recorded, and there will be a reprimand in the dark room after the game, which is unavoidable.

At the same time, the large screen in the broadcast also showed the in-vehicle replay of Shu Long's overtaking maneuver in the yellow flag.

"Oh dear! I can't see anything at all!"

"Indeed, but judging from the steering wheel movement, it doesn't seem to be the overtaking section, does it? It looks like it should still be at Turn 5?"

There are still some differences between the DRS area at Turn 5 and the long straight after Turn 6.

Although the camera on the vehicle showed a completely white field in front of him, Fei Ge's years of experience as a commentator and a hardcore simulator enthusiast allowed him to quickly identify the timing of the replay clipping.
"But looking back, it doesn't seem to be Bottas's problem after all. Look at all those counter-attacks on Shulong's steering wheel! The grip in the waterlogged area on the inside of Turn 5 is really bad!"

"Well, I guess even Bottas himself didn't expect Shulong to overtake him here. I have to say, these young people are really bold."

"Yeah, I realized my mistake later. Look at Bottas's actions at Turn 6, they were completely off. Oh, look! Right here!"

The section after Turn 6 was already severely flooded due to the terrain, and it was also the slowest place on the track in terms of average speed, so the cars were not as efficient at draining water here as they were in other places.

Bottas, who was determined to hold his position even at the cost of going out of bounds, drove straight through the water on the outside of the track, creating a spray that made it impossible for the cars behind him to see anything except the red position lights at the rear of the Mercedes. It was only after Shulong, relying on his keener sense of grip, squeezed the traction to its limit and successfully pulled away that he caught a glimpse of the flashing yellow light on the side of the road.

It's clear from this that the organizers have already considered the difficulty of racing in the rain and have given a lenient penalty. After all, judging from the sequence of events, Shu Long did indeed insist on completing the overtaking maneuver after seeing the yellow flag.

Of course, it's always a good thing to avoid being punished.

Shu Long finally felt relieved, but he couldn't help feeling anxious about the upcoming matches.

"Do we have the opportunity to switch to dry tires? Many parts of the track are already almost completely dry."

"No, no! That won't do! The track will start raining again in about five to ten minutes. Your priority right now is to protect your tires as much as possible!"

Shu Long clicked his tongue in displeasure. In fact, he knew in his heart that the conditions for having a dry fetus were probably not yet in place.

It's true that some sections of the track have been thoroughly wrecked, but there are also sections like Turn 6, Turn 8, and Turn 13 where the track conditions are still very poor.

Last year at the German Grand Prix, Vettel's mistake on a dry tire at Turn 13 in the rain, costing him the championship, is still fresh in everyone's memory.

The race has reached the most awkward point for semi-wet tires. The rest of the race will be a test of the driver's patience, their sensitivity to track conditions and timely feedback, and of course, the team's decisive judgment.

If the rain doesn't intensify further, then whoever gets the initial dry tire push time first could become the deciding factor in the race's outcome.

If the rain intensifies, having a set of better-condition semi-rain tires becomes equally crucial.

Regardless of which possibility is true, all Shulong needs to do right now is wait.

However, he didn't have to wait long. Soon, a second variable that could affect the course of the race appeared on the track—the unlucky Ricciardo's Renault engine exploded again!

Then came another yellow flag, but because Ricciardo had moved the car to a relatively safe location, no safety car was deployed this time; only a virtual safety car was used.

This time, Huangqi Shulong was discovered very promptly, and immediately confirmed with the team again whether or not they needed to pit for dry tires.

However, for a group of Italians who are slow and indecisive, making a decision in a short time in an emergency might be too much to ask of them. They simply told Shulong to wait and then nothing more was said.

As he got closer and closer to the entrance of the maintenance area, Shu Long couldn't help but feel increasingly anxious.

"Are you going to change it or not? Hurry up!"

The user you are calling is not answering.
"Hello?"

"No, no! We hold our position!"

Upon hearing the noise, Shu Long instinctively tried to turn into the pit lane, but quickly straightened his direction. However, he couldn't help but greet the team warmly with his microphone off. Just that slight delay meant that Verstappen, who was on a speed limit, was almost within 1.2 seconds behind.

"Can you guys be quicker next time?! Do you have to wait until Mercedes is definitely out before you can make a decision?"

"Calm down, calm down! The virtual safety car is about to end. If you had entered the pit just now, you would have lost a lot of positions, and it's raining in the maintenance area, so dry tires aren't a good option."

Shu Long was unaware of this. At the entrance to the maintenance area, there was indeed a considerable amount of raindrops falling, but he felt nothing at all on the starting straight, which was just a wall away.

The tiny drizzle couldn't even penetrate the "wind barrier" created by the racing car's aerodynamic components, and the helmet's visor remained almost completely dry.

However, if there are clear signs of rain on the track, then keeping the semi-wet tires and continuing the race is perfectly fine.

The race had just resumed with green flags when the organizers suddenly announced that all teams could now activate DRS.
"Are you kidding me?!"

Shulong had just been informed by the team to continue using semi-wet tires and was still in a race rhythm of maintaining tire speed and slowing down, when he was caught off guard by DRS?

For a moment, Shu Long couldn't tell whether he had been played by the race organizers or tricked by the team. Isn't it usually true that DRS can only be activated if the track conditions are already sufficient for dry tires?!
Either the race organizers have gone mad, or the teams have gone mad!
One of these two has to go crazy, otherwise it's Shulong who's going to go crazy!

Especially when he glanced at his rearview mirror and saw Verstappen, who was aggressively chasing after him with a spoiler, his eyes started twitching uncontrollably.

Ignoring what Hamelin was muttering in the TR, Shu Long pinched the discharge button, waving it towards the outer edge of the track while using one hand to turn the engine power to STRAT 5.

After opening up a sufficiently wide entry angle, Shu Long glanced at Verstappen's movements in the rearview mirror, then gripped the steering wheel again with his right hand, controlling the car to take the apex of Turn 5 to the left, and incidentally thwarted the Red Bull's attempt to turn around behind him.

But this is only temporary. It's a rare opportunity to overtake, and anyone with a brain would know that Verstappen would not give it up so easily.

Based on Shu Long's understanding of Max, there's a high chance this guy will be racing his brakes at Turn 6 again!

The reason Shulong came to take the apex of Turn 5 was to firmly defend its advantageous line on the outside of Turn 6, denying the opponent any opportunity to cut inside from the outside.

However, with the added factor of DRS, the offensive and defensive dynamics are definitely different from the previous battle with Bottas. The drier road conditions and lower drag make it almost impossible for Shulong to stop this time before the corner.

So his thumb wasn't idle either; the roller adjusted the balance of the front and rear brakes two degrees backward, while also giving himself a little more differential speed when entering the corner.

The inside area is still wet, come on if you dare!
Verstappen really had guts, and he actually managed to stop himself!
Fortunately, Shu Long had anticipated this. The reason he suddenly became unusually busy adjusting so many car settings was because even though he had already gained an advantageous position to enter the corner, he was not prepared to follow the normal racing line.

The rearward braking ratio gives him a relatively stable rear end and reduces the time it takes to regain front wheel grip in wet track conditions, while the greater cornering differential allows him to turn the car to a sufficient angle faster than his opponents on longer cornering paths.

Instead of trying to gain a better exit speed, Shulong simply followed the Red Bull closely into the corner, sticking to it for a moment and then pulling away.

The effect was remarkable; Verstappen couldn't turn, and a failed weight transfer in the corner caused the car to spin out on the spot.

The rear wheel of the car blocking the way was slapped by Verstappen's rear end, causing it to slip slightly and forcefully straighten its front end, narrowly escaping the pursuit.

After escaping danger, Shu Long didn't even have time to celebrate. The first thing he did was open TR and give Little Red Bull's strategy team a good greeting.

What's going on here?

It's not that the team's decision-making was really that bad, but after a series of questionable moves, Shu Long felt like he was about to burst out of his cramped cockpit if he didn't vent his frustration.

(End of this chapter)