F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 148 Three battles in one chapter, who still says I'm slow?
After the Belgian Grand Prix, Shu Long bid farewell to his parents and girlfriend and immediately headed to Monza, Italy.

Despite losing several of his most steadfast supporters in the hunting grounds, Shu Long felt not disappointed, but rather relaxed as if a burden had been lifted.

Putting everything else aside, during the time after the competition when they went back to the hotel for dinner and to get together, Shu Long was nagged by his mother and Gan Mengning for no less than twenty minutes.

The main competition has its own rhythm.

Shu Long believes he drove very gently in the race. Apart from a few slightly rough moves when blocking Albon, he was just cruising around in a boring way and there was no question of him going all out.

However, according to Zhang Xin and Gan Mengning, he still seemed to drive very frighteningly.

It's probably because they chose a spectator spot before the El Rog corner for the main race.

The sight of a race car speeding up a winding S-curve at over 300 kilometers per hour was indeed visually striking. Coupled with the fact that a driver had lost control and died on this same curve just the day before, every time Shu Long passed in front of them, it seemed as if her heart skipped a beat.

It's understandable, but if someone in the paddock is constantly putting extra pressure on themselves, then there's basically no point in running the race.

This wasn't a burden they wanted to place on Shulong. They verbally acknowledged that they didn't want to add to his burdens, saying they would support him in pursuing his dreams as long as he didn't risk trying things outside his control.

However, Shu Long felt that he would find it difficult to deliberately ignore the fear in their eyes as they spoke.

Perhaps once he gets on the track, he will subconsciously put everything behind him, but after the race, when he lies in bed, he will inevitably feel some guilt towards his family.

Shu Long had never understood why Senna would abandon his happy family for racing, but after this transformative experience, he thinks he understands now.

This may be why Senna is revered as a racing legend. All the choices he made, even at the cost of his own happiness and life, were for the pursuit of pure speed.

Perhaps, Shu Long has already touched the edge of such a state of mind.

The emotion called "love" is sometimes too heavy, and the cramped cockpit simply cannot bear it.

But when he asked himself honestly, Shu Long felt he couldn't make the same choice as Sena.

It's like he can enjoy driving as a pastime, but not as much as Verstappen.

A person's life goals and expectations may be admirable and admirable if they are too singular, but they are also pathetic.

The cheat code on him doesn't seem to be there to help him achieve great success in racing; it just allows him to be a little greedy while focusing on racing.

I have to be all!

Of course, Verstappen doesn't actually consider driving his only pastime.

According to Shu Long, Max privately enjoys not only simulators but also football and football-related games.

His empty heart needs the warmth of family to fill the void, but in the final stretch of the season, Shu Long has a heavy burden to carry. Perhaps the temporary departure of his family will make things a little easier for him.

With back-to-back race weeks, teams naturally can't offer any decent upgrades.

In fact, the team doesn't have much room for upgrading Shulong and Gasly anymore. In the first half of the season, Toro Rosso had too much upgrade budget invested in Albon, and now that Albon is gone, they naturally won't give any resources or preferential treatment to the two discarded players in the team.

In the remaining eight Grand Prix races, aside from some minor upgrades, the teams will probably only be able to give Shulong and Gasly one or two major modification opportunities.

One test is expected around the time of the Russian Grand Prix, and if the results are satisfactory and the development goes smoothly, there will be another test before the US Grand Prix.

If the first upgrade is only so-so, the team may abandon the second upgrade after evaluation, strategically giving up the season, and instead focus on patching up the current state of the car, as long as they can keep an eye on McLaren behind them and maintain fourth place in the team standings.

Tost gave his answer based on the team's operations, but that was clearly not the answer Shulong and Gasly wanted to hear.

Therefore, the two will have a heavy workload during this period. They must do their best to ensure that the next upgrade of the car is effective so that they will be competitive enough to carry out their "revenge" against Red Bull.

However, Monza, the next stop, is a typical ultra-high-speed track with very few corners and is also a typical disadvantage track for Red Bull cars. It has been confirmed that the team will strategically abandon this round.

It's true that we have no choice but to give up.

After three practice races, Toro Rosso's performance was very poor, while Red Bull's performance was equally bad, with neither side able to pick up speed.

The result is the same old story: plans can't keep up with changes.

There was a funny incident during qualifying; Verstappen's engine broke down on the first lap of Q1.

Subsequent investigation revealed that he had driven onto the curb, causing the wheels to spin excessively, which in turn caused the engine speed to spike and triggered Honda's engine protection mode. The FIA ​​system intervened and reduced engine power.

In other words, it's a certainty that Verstappen, whose engine isn't broken but who hasn't achieved a valid time, will start in last place at P20 tomorrow.

This plot sounds so familiar.
Shu Long and Gasly exchanged a glance, then simultaneously turned their gaze to Alben, who stood alone on the list.

Dude, you're going to get really into trouble this week!
The Monza circuit places high demands on the power performance of the cars, but Toro Rosso has an advantage that sets them apart from other teams: the two drivers on the team who are not in direct competition are not only both exceptionally capable, but also have a very harmonious relationship.

In other circuits, everyone tries to avoid other cars and find clean air during qualifying, but Monza is different. Not only do every team adopt the lowest drag setup, but everyone in qualifying wants to run in the exhaust of the car in front of them the whole time.

Whether or not a car helps create a slipstream can affect a lap time by approximately 0.9 seconds.

Ugh!
Both players from Toro Rosso were willing to sacrifice one of their laps to create a slipstream for their teammates.

Throughout Q1, everyone went their own way. Little Red Bull seemed to be completely useless in this race, with Shulong P12 and Gasly P15.

Not only could they not outrun those Ferrari cars, they couldn't even beat Renault.

In contrast, Albon performed consistently and surprisingly finished in P6, successfully advancing to the next round, second only to Mercedes, FAW, and Renault's Ricciardo.

However, in Q2, Shu Long helped Gasly pull up to P6 with one lap, and then when the track conditions were better for the second flight lap, Gasly helped Shu Long pull up to P5. Albon caught a Ferrari's slipstream and cut between the two Toro Rossos.

Q3 followed a similar process. Shulong first towed Gasly to a brief P1, then both cars were charged together, and then they went into the station together to change into a new set of red gear, seamlessly connecting with Gasly to tow Shulong for the next lap.

As for why they didn't wait for the track conditions to improve before pushing...
That's because some signs were already quite obvious in Q2. The slipstream at Monza significantly improved lap times, and nobody wanted to be the lead car to help the cars behind them with the slipstream.

Even though the race organizers had clearly stated that deliberately slowing down and blocking other cars would be penalized, these drivers were still very courteous to each other on the track, all hoping that others would go first.

So if they really wait until everyone leaves together before the clock stops to get the results, either Shulong will be ruined by others, or their trailing cars will be hitchhiked by others.

Neither of these scenarios is what Little Red Bull wants to see.

After the first round of advancement, Shu Long was ranked P5, Gasly was ranked P6, ahead of him were Leclerc at P1, Hamilton and Bottas at 2 and 3 respectively, and Vettel at P4.

In this round, both Albon and Kimi went off the track and failed to achieve a valid result.

Kimi even went so far as to confront the police, confirming that the gearbox needed to be replaced and that he would be penalized five places down the line tomorrow.

Shu Long was glad they made a wise choice, because a dramatic turn of events was about to occur.

On the last flight lap, everyone went back onto the track. Shu Long and Gasly naturally followed suit to join in the fun, hoping to improve their times if they had the chance.

But as previously demonstrated, no one wanted to be the lead car pulling the wake, and almost everyone was slowing down and holding back.

Toro Rosso's current position is quite comfortable, so they're not in a hurry. They're happily watching from the pack, everyone else pretending to be unhurried despite being clearly anxious. In the end, no one manages to make that final flying lap. Originally predicted to be third from the bottom in pre-race statistics, Toro Rosso somehow managed to coast to the front of the grid.

The same thing happened on the second day of the main race. Shulong and Gasly, who were in positions P5 and P6 respectively, did basically nothing, but they actually moved up a position when they crossed the finish line.

Albon took down two Renaults, but in the last dozen or so laps, despite being 0.4 seconds faster per lap, he was blocked by two Toro Rosso cars ahead of him, and had no choice but to finish P6 at the finish line.

The three men, driving three Red Bulls, came back and finished the race in 4, 5, and 6, with the script almost exactly the same as the previous race.

Verstappen, who started from the back of the pack, encountered trouble at the very beginning of the match.

Having always been at the front of the line, he seemed a little out of place in the chaotic situation at the back, and his bad luck struck as soon as the lights went out.

First, he was pushed onto the grass by Giovinazzi and had to navigate around the cones in the escape lane to get out of trouble. Then, on the first lap, he had to pit to change tires and replace the damaged front wing.

Despite such a disastrous start, he managed to catch up to P8 and make up for his losses to the greatest extent possible.

But for Alben, this was an opportunity bestowed upon him by heaven.

Despite being outscored by the Toro Rosso in two consecutive games after the move, he also finished leading his teammates in both games, breaking Gasly's record from the first half of the season with the Toro Rosso.

At least for Thai beef, this result is undoubtedly very satisfactory.

They even had a different kind of expectation: if Albon could get the same support from them at Red Bull, could he try to compete for the number one driver position?
It can only be said that human desires are endless. When a small goal is achieved, most people's reaction is not satisfaction, but rather a natural pursuit of the next goal.

Another noteworthy point is that Leclerc withstood the onslaught from both Mercedes teams at home, once again bringing home a pole-to-win victory.
With this victory, Leclerc's points total for the season officially surpassed that of his four-time champion teammate Vettel, solidifying his status as Ferrari's true prince.

And the guy with the crooked head, who has disappointed Ferrari many times, has once again disappointed Ferrari, unsurprisingly. Otherwise, how do you think he got this free ranking with three Red Bulls?

The gist of it was that Vettel made a mistake, spun out onto the grass, and then, in a dangerous maneuver, returned to the track and bumped into the young man behind him.

The young master was angrily cursing Vettel for doing something only a fool would do, but the next moment he himself replicated Vettel's actions, eager to personally demonstrate what a real fool should be like.

As expected, Vettel had to make an extra pit stop to replace the front wing, and both players received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty.

Given this fluctuating situation, it's no wonder that even Ferrari, which has always adhered to the principle of not importing anything but champions, is thinking of finding a way out in advance.

The next stop, the Singapore Grand Prix, was two weeks later. As soon as Monza ended, Gasly and Shu Long rushed back to Italy to start working overtime.

The Russian Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix at the Sochi International Circuit are back-to-back, meaning they need at least a week to finalize the details of the next upgrade so that the teams can complete the production of the new upgrade components by the end of September.

Considering the track layouts for the upcoming Grand Prix and the team's current upgrade budget, the two agreed not to focus on the high drag of the large winglets, but instead to emphasize the car's aerodynamic efficiency in low-speed corners while maintaining high downforce.

As for the chassis and suspension, the current Red Bull system, while not outstanding, is balanced enough. Rashly changing and upgrading it would not only be too costly, but also carry unknown risks, making it a losing proposition.

However, regarding the training plan, Gasly indicated that he could accept a more radical approach than the current one, as Alben's style was indeed a bit too conservative.

Having spent half a season training hard at Red Bull, Gasly's experience of returning to Toro Rosso is probably like struggling to reach Master rank on the Korean server with a 120ms ping.

I thought my skill level was just so-so, but after returning to the Chinese server, I found that I could dominate in the King of Glory rank. It was a complete transformation.

The Singapore round wasn't upgraded, but just hearing the name of the track—Marina Bay Street—tells you it's another place where you can defy the odds.

The track has a total of 23 corners. Although the top speed can exceed 340 km/h, the average speed per lap is less than 170 km/h.

In other words, in addition to testing the performance of the car's power unit, it is also crucial for the driver to ensure a precise racing line under extreme conditions in complex and narrow corners.

Because qualifying at Marina Bay requires ensuring clean air as much as possible, towing tactics are not convenient to execute here, so Shulong and Gasly basically had to run their own races.

As a result, Gasly accidentally brushed against the wall during Q2, which prevented him from setting a time on the second flight loop, and he was eventually eliminated in P12.

Shulong narrowly advanced to P10 due to continuous obstruction in the flight path.

But on the last lap of Q3, he seized the opportunity to perform a perfect edge-skimming maneuver, a time of 1:37.217, successfully overtaking Albon's 1:37.411, and directly securing himself a starting position at P6.

If he hadn't been unable to accelerate on the high-speed straights, he might have been able to beat Bottas, who was underperforming and 0.8 seconds slower than his teammate Hamilton.

On the second day of the race, Verstappen used an undercut from P5 to reach the podium, while Vettel overtook Leclerc, who had taken pole position the previous day, to reclaim the top spot on the podium, which somewhat salvaged his reputation.

This is what makes Vettel the biggest headache for Ferrari right now—he's unpredictable and unpredictable.

Just when you think he's done for, he proves himself right again, showing you that experience truly matters.

But if you have too high expectations of him, he can suddenly give you a huge mess.

It's a bit of a waste to spend so much money to renew the contract, but I'm also reluctant to let him go.
Shulong and Alben finished the race from their original positions. The two fought almost from start to finish, but before they knew it, Gasly, who had fought his way up from P12, caught up with them.

Since the summer break, the focus of gossip in the paddock has shifted away from Hamilton and the Mercedes team, who are poised to secure another championship, and also from VfL's struggles.

Everyone is paying attention to this farce within Red Bull, which seems to be more entertaining than any melodramatic family drama.

Fight! I love seeing rivers of blood!
However, at the next race, the Russian Grand Prix, it was expected that the newly upgraded Toro Rosso would have a fierce battle with the Red Bull, but in the end, the Toro Rosso's engine exploded and he retired from the race.

Actually, there were already signs of this during the qualifying matches.

The series of Grand Prix races were all high-speed tracks that put immense pressure on the engines. Honda's engines, in their efforts to catch up with Mercedes and Ferrari, were pushed to their limits and were completely exhausted.

Gasly and Albon's power units broke down in Q1, and both needed to replace their internal combustion engines, which meant they were destined to start at the back of the pack.

Although Shulong hasn't changed his gear since Austria, it's probably because it's an earlier version and more durable. It actually helped him get a P6 in Q3 without any problems.

On the other hand, although Verstappen also got a P4, his power unit had a failure in the previous race, so Red Bull replaced his internal combustion engine this time as a precaution, and he will be penalized five places.

In this way, Shulong naturally moved up to P5.

To replace or not to replace, that is the question.

The starting position for P5 was too tempting, and since there were no signs of malfunctions in Shulong throughout the entire journey, I decided to go all in and just switch at the next stop if necessary.

As a result, this greed led to problems.

As always, Shulong got off to a magical start, easily overtaking Bottas, who seemed to be in a slump recently due to the lack of a contract renewal.

Or perhaps it's because of Bottas's continued slump that he hasn't been able to get a contract renewal, which has led to speculation that Shu Long might move to Mercedes next year as rumored.

Having probably anticipated such consequences, Bottas's fighting spirit soared after being overtaken by Shulong.

It's not easy to stop a Mercedes in Sochi. On the second stint after changing tires, Shulong's car was dealing with Bottas's DRS when smoke billowed from the rear for the second time this season.

The outcome was disappointing, but the upgrade was ideal. At least judging from the overall speed performance of Toro Rosso, Shu Long and Gasly's hard work was not in vain.

(End of this chapter)