F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 139 The Directors' Meeting is Today
Because of Shulong's pursuit in the previous laps, Verstappen, who was already behind Shulong, dropped to about five seconds behind Shulong this time after his pit exit.

If the rain continues to intensify on the track, then the five-second advantage that Shulong gained by switching to dry tires in advance will essentially be firmly secured.

However, if the track conditions do not deteriorate further, then Red Bull's decision to use yellow tires, which seemed like a show of defiance, can be considered a stroke of genius.

The wear and tear on tires is not actually that great when the track is half dry and half wet.

Although it is easier for slippage and wheel spin to occur, the tire damage caused by slippage is actually not high because the coefficient of friction is not that high.

In addition, the speed will be much slower than on dry ground. Even if there are still nearly forty laps left in the race, yellow tires are very likely to go all the way, while red tires simply do not have that ability.

Even if the rain intensifies further, Red Bull, which hasn't actually lost much ground, is still not at a loss.

Judging from this round of strategic competition alone, Red Bull's strategy team still has a more comprehensive overall perspective than Shu Long's impulsive ideas.

Unfortunately, theory is one thing, but the difficulty of warming up yellow tires in the initial stages on a semi-dry track is not so easy to overcome.

After leaving the pits, Verstappen, under the team's instructions to push hard, spun his car in place at Turns 14 and 15, and then, relying on his amazing car sense, demonstrated what it means to "spin without crashing".

He was indeed quite handsome, but in doing so, he reduced the gap between himself and Shu Long to eight seconds.

Seeing that Red Bull would have little chance of posing a real threat to Shulong unless something major happened, the five stars had a moment to spare and generously praised Verstappen a few times.

It's only human nature to say that Leclerc, who almost threatened Shulong with a differentiation strategy, was subjected to a lot of kicking him while he was down after his mistakes in the replays.

Now that Red Bull is out of the running, Shulong's next direct competitor will naturally be Bottas.

Mercedes' pit stop instructions were a lap later than Red Bull's, and to avoid being overtaken by Leclerc, Bottas was the first car to pit, and the team also gave him a set of yellow tires.

Verstappen's lap times in the first two timeouts weren't actually that slow, which should have been somewhat misleading for Mercedes.

As soon as Bottas tightened his tires, Verstappen spun out on the track, giving them no chance to back down.

In the end, all they could do was quietly change Hamilton's tires to red tires while giving instructions to Bottas, the team's designated wingman, to block Shulong's speed on the track as much as possible.

Bottas remained silent upon hearing this, only cursing "Fxck" to himself a dozen times. Feeling the grip of the yellow tires on the track like ice skating, and then looking at the aggressively charging Shulong in the rearview mirror, he felt a headache coming on.

This won't stop me from eating!
Bottas was two seconds ahead of Shulong after exiting the pits, but by the time he had just passed Turn 3, the gap had been reduced to less than a second.

Just when it seemed the next DRS zone was about to be lost, an unexpected yellow flag and a virtual safety car once again saved the Mercedes number two driver's life.

Don't think that being a wingman is so easy. Not only do you not get much of the team's resources, but you can only sign a one-year contract.

Despite the fact that the team owner is also his agent and has made many promises to him in private, Bottas knows some things very well. If his performance fails to satisfy the team, he will be packing his bags and leaving in no time.

Behind them is Ocon, who is always ready to take over, and below him is Russell, who is just the number two driver and is not really that indispensable in the team.

The year started off well, but as Ferrari and Red Bull's upgrades gradually took effect, Bottas seemed to be losing momentum.

He originally had high hopes at the start of the season, thinking he could compete with Lao Liu for the World Championship, but now it seems he can only continue to shine as a wingman to secure his contract.

If a player is overtaken twice in a row by a rookie in a single game, it almost certainly confirms that he is not even capable of playing the role of a wingman, making it even more difficult for him to renew his contract at the end of the year.

Regardless of who triggered the yellow flag, Bottas just wants to give him a big kiss after the game!
As Norris unbuckled his seatbelt at the edge of the track, he suddenly felt a chill and for a moment didn't want to leave his cockpit. It seemed that only this cramped little space could give him a sliver of warmth and security.

Yes, this season has seen countless instances of his car's Renault engine break down again.

It can only be said that Alonso made some valid points.

Stay away from McLaren, or you'll be unlucky; and with Renault, which has been on a downward spiral since Alonso left, it's double the misfortune.

But no matter how unfortunate Norris is right now, all Shulong wants to do is kick him in the butt a couple more times!

I was about to use DRS to get an ultrasound! Then suddenly a yellow flag came and interrupted me. It was even more frustrating than being forced to stop halfway through masturbation!

Hamilton breathed a slight sigh of relief, while Leclerc, who had gotten his way to P2 for free, was all smiles.

Mercedes is definitely going to pit, and the semi-wet tires they've had for over twenty laps are actually quite old, but Ferrari's semi-wet tires are still very young.

They were initially debating whether to keep the green tires and run a few more laps, but now that virtual safety cars are available, when else would they go if not now?

Without needing to confirm anything with the team, Shu Long simply went through the current position on the field in his mind and knew that he had inexplicably suffered a setback before the pit stop and had dropped directly to P4.

But does this mean his red tire strategy was wrong?

Judging from what just happened, as long as there hadn't been this unexpected yellow flag disrupting things, given the current state of the battle, Shulong could have easily gotten past Bottas and reached Phase 2!
Before Shu Long could even feel frustrated about it, the race had just resumed and the green flag had barely completed one lap when the yellow flag reappeared on the track.

"Hehe~ What on earth is going on with this Bull Demon King match today?"

When people are speechless to the extreme, they can actually burst out laughing. So when Shulong passed by the 16th bend and saw the yellow T-shaped Ferrari stuck in the gravel area by the roadside, he quickly closed the TR that he had just opened and chuckled.

Having just gotten a P2 Leclerc for free, it seems he's about to pay the price for all that good luck.

"Yellow flag for the entire section, please be aware, yellow flag for the entire section, it's time to deploy a safety vehicle!"

“Copy, I’ve seen what happened, but why do I still see a Mercedes driving into the pit lane? Didn’t Hamilton pull into the pits just now?”

"He's already been there. The tires he chose are red. Let me confirm!"

In fact, Shu Long had already guessed what had happened, but when he heard Hamelin's somewhat amused reply in the TR shortly afterward, he couldn't help but excitedly clap his hands a few times in the car.

"So you're actually in P2 now, buddy!"

"I knew it! Haha—you know what's going to happen on the track today, right?"

"I dare not think about it, nor dare I say it! I'll focus on doing what I'm doing now!" "Right, right, we can't make promises we can't keep."

Almost simultaneously, the old man using red tires also experienced hydroplaning at roughly the same spot and went off the track.

However, he was slightly luckier, and he had more experience in using the accelerator to save the car during a loss of control than Leclerc. He didn't get stuck in the gravel and couldn't move, but he still managed to knock off half of his front wing.

The pit lane was right next to him, so he simply crossed the track and walked on the grass to get in.

This was a completely unplanned and rushed pit stop. The Mercedes tire changers were not prepared at all. They hadn't chosen the right tires, and they hadn't even brought the front wing that needed replacing. The entire pit area was in complete chaos.

Hamilton's disastrous pit stop this time ended with a semi-wet tire, leaving him with little to worry about. A whole bunch of drivers who had just switched to dry tires and hadn't even run two laps were also taking the opportunity of the yellow flag to switch back to semi-wet tires.

Shulong was naturally among them.

He was delayed by Norris's virtual safety car, and the rain on the track came faster and heavier than he had expected. At this point, it was really unnecessary to continue stubbornly using dry tires on the track.

In fact, during the third lap of the chase, Shulong's lap time not only failed to improve but actually dropped a bit. This meant that the teams that pitted later would need to carefully consider their choice of dry tires.

Unfortunately, both Ferrari and Mercedes were completely thrown off balance by Shu Long's close pursuit over those few laps.
Leclerc and Hamilton fell for this trick, and on top of that, they entered the pits too late, and their tires just wouldn't warm up, making them unusable.

But it's too late to undo the mistake now!
"Hamilton will be in P6 after exiting the pits, right behind Albon. We'll have him do everything he can to stop him once the game restarts!"

"Only dropped to P6?"

"It only dropped to P6."

Because of the large number of cars pitting for tire changes, Hamilton did not lose too many positions. What is worth noting now is that he is behind Albon. In other words, Albon, who started from P17, has now unknowingly moved up to P5.

Gee.
"Remember to say thank you for me."

“I will. You can focus on your opponent right now. Hamilton has a dangerous five-second penalty on his back, so you don’t need to worry about him for the time being.”

Even without Hamelin's reminder, Shulong knew what he had to do.

After all, Alben is now his most direct competitor, and whether he can be relied upon is another matter. Human nature is the most vulnerable thing when it comes to self-interest.

However, Shu Long was determined to get the Mercedes-Benz No. 2 in front of him!
The parade under the yellow flag lasted for five laps, and the safety car's lights were only turned off towards the end of the thirty-third lap.

This signal indicates that the safety car is about to return to base, and the race will soon return to green flag status, potentially restarting at any time under Bottas's leadership.

Bottas ahead started to consciously slow down, but Shulong was not at all still, occasionally stepping on the gas to get ahead, as if to say, "If you don't move, I'm really going to overtake you."

Bottas chuckled to himself as he saw this in his rearview mirror.

As expected of a young person, they can't handle any stimulation. Isn't this just revealing their weakness?
He's not afraid of what others might think; he's afraid that they'll simply remain unchanged in the face of change.

Shu Long's starting reaction time is already well-known in the racing community. As a 30-year-old veteran, he dares not gamble with the younger drivers behind him on reaction speed.

Experienced drivers, in such situations, often try to catch the crucial timing when the engine speed of the car behind them drops!

Just as Shu Long was once again trying to provoke him, and then being forced by the rules to obediently return to his own position, Bottas suddenly began to accelerate in the 14th turn.

The original intention was to catch Shulong off guard, but who could have imagined that Shulong, which was still slowing down and retreating, would start so quickly?
Shu Long's previous provocative actions were not because he was bored, but because he was constantly testing the most suitable starting gear and engine speed under the current grip conditions.

As for Bottas's petty tricks...
It's somewhat useful, but not very useful.

With complete concentration, Shulong could clearly capture even the gradual change of the track indicator lights, let alone the obvious pre-start yaw on a slippery track.

The ultimate perception of grip and friction allows the Shulong to have about a quarter less tire spin during the start-up phase compared to the Bottas. The traction advantage it exhibits at that moment is more than enough to make up for the slight rhythm loss caused by the feint.

Turns 14 and 15 are a series of consecutive S-shaped curves that start to turn left and then right.

Bottas was initially a little smug when he didn't see Toro Rosso in his left rearview mirror, but as he turned to enter Turn 15, he discovered that Shulong had somehow managed to cut inside the right lane through the crossroads!

Leaving aside the incredibly frustrating and disorienting start-up, has this kid gone mad?!

Due to the unique nature of the continuous curves, there is actually no apex at Turn 15. In other words, Shulong, who seems to have the advantage on the inside, is now completely on the dirty side of the track with severe water accumulation!
Bottas neglected to block the inside lane because, based on his physical understanding of the car's grip, he subconsciously ruled out the possibility of overtaking from there.

The inside lane was indeed very slippery, so Shulong could only maintain a semi-parallel position with difficulty and did not rush to overtake.

However, turns 15, 16, and 17 are three consecutive right turns, which will turn the inside line, which was originally on the dirty side of the track, back into a clean racing line.

Bottas, who was never able to regain his positional advantage, was thus naturally pushed into the waterlogged area outside Turn 17 by Shu Long.

With the lessons of Hamilton and Leclerc flashing through his mind, Bottas, who had originally planned to fight to the bitter end, ultimately gave in and eased off the accelerator, letting Shulong pass obediently.

This simple act of leaving it there caused a huge problem!
Verstappen, who had been waiting for an opportunity behind him, was not going to let it go. With such a large opening in front of him, if he didn't seize the chance, he could really bury himself!
Next was Hulkenberg, who witnessed firsthand how two people had benefited from the situation.

After nearly a decade of competition, at this moment he seemed to see the podium beckoning to him!

Some people say that there is no such thing as unappreciated talent in this world; all those who claim to be unappreciated are actually just making excuses for their own lack of ability.

But Hulkenberg always felt that he was the one whose talents were not recognized.

Judging from his record in lower-level formula racing, Hulkenberg, who won consecutive championships in F3 and GP2, can be considered a genius driver of the same level as Hamilton and Shul. As a fellow German, he was even once regarded as the successor to Schumacher.

Despite such a resume and talent, he has never been able to stand on the podium, and every time he participates in a Grand Prix, he breaks this record.
Sometimes, just thinking about it makes Hulkenberg laugh in exasperation.

Such an achievement can be considered a milestone in the entire history of motorsport, but there are some achievements he would rather not have, which would be a disgrace to a driver!
And now, such an opportunity is right in front of us.

Hulkenberg felt he was determined to break this curse in his career, even if it cost him his life!
(End of this chapter)