F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 157 Haas's All-in Wisdom

After the two matches, numerous reports pointed to Vettel indeed reaching a contract with Aston Martin.

Although Perez and the team have a three-year multi-year contract, Racing Point holds a clause to terminate the contract early. The only problem they face is losing a large amount of sponsorship from Mexican telecommunications companies.

But as an ultimate tycoon who can buy F1 teams and acquire Aston Martin shares at will, Lawrence Stroll can confidently say that he doesn't care about such paltry sums.

For Stroevan Strømsgodset, signing a four-time champion like Vettel, who could also become a free brand ambassador, would undoubtedly be an even more appealing addition to the table.

Of course, Racing Point hasn't had an easy time lately either. Renault suspects that their front and rear brake ventilation ducts are from Mercedes' design, which is not allowed under F1 technical regulations, and has officially filed a complaint with the FIA.

Actually, it's hard to tell exactly where Renault copied them, but Match Point is unusually fast this year, and their appearance is at least 80% similar to last year's Mercedes.

If this is confirmed, it will not only be a match point, but Mercedes could also face considerable trouble.

Therefore, the other teams in the paddock were happy to see this happen. The alliance that had united to angrily criticize Ferrari at the beginning of the year was broken on the spot, and they all turned their attention to Mercedes and Racing Point.

What goes around comes around, and this time it's Horner's turn to stir up trouble in the paddock every day.

However, Racing Point seems to have made quite thorough preparations. The FIA's technical director for single-seater racing led a team to conduct a special inspection and stated that they have not yet found any clear signs of violations by Racing Point.

Regarding the similarity between the two teams' cars, Racing Point explained that it was the result of "reverse engineering" based on aerodynamic concepts.

Mercedes didn't seem to take it too seriously. Unlike last year, they announced Bottas' one-year contract extension early on.

Probably annoyed by Red Bull and Horner, Toto's explanation was that Bottas had a good start and the team needed stability during this special period.

But to be honest, this seems more like a signal to Red Bull, roughly meaning that we are not interested in Shulong for the time being, so please stop bothering us.

Otherwise, Bottas had a very good start last year, winning several strong shots and titles. Why did he drag it out until almost the end of the year before finally giving Bottas a one-year contract?

Of course, things still had to be done. Once the news of the contract renewal came out, although Horner would still agree with Renault's team leader during meetings, he did quiet down a lot in front of the media.

For Shu Long, this signal naturally means that his path to the Mercedes-Benz Arena next year has been completely blocked.

However, Red Bull's team manager, Horner, who had given him a very bad impression last year, suddenly began to increase the frequency of his private communications with Shu Long.

It happened about once or twice a week. They didn't say anything of great value, just praised and encouraged Shu Long's performance in the race, and then casually mentioned the current situation of the Red Bull team.

It wasn't very frequent, after all, the only opportunities for Shulong to communicate with Horner alone were when they were face-to-face in the paddock and factory, and almost none of them were through their phones.

It wasn't particularly offensive, and Horner didn't say anything about keeping it a secret from Marco, which left Shu Long completely confused.

Even Williams has officially announced that they will continue to have Russell and Latifi's driver lineup next year. So, should they give us a definite answer on whether they will sign or not?
Marco is currently working on drafting a contract for Shu Long to review. If Shu Long finds it satisfactory, they will sign it accordingly.

Drivers' base salaries are currently capped at $750 million due to the binding obligations of youth training contracts, but the bonus for each point has increased to $4, in addition to extra performance bonuses such as pole position, points, podium finishes, and fastest laps.
In addition to these, there will be an additional sponsor image usage fee after joining Red Bull.

Just like this year, although Shu Long came to Haas, he is still tied to Red Bull due to contractual and commercial interests, and his income also includes an endorsement income from the Alpha Tauri clothing brand.

$60 a year isn't a lot, but the only condition is that Shu Long should wear the so-called "calfskin" clothing as everyday wear whenever possible, unless he is required to wear the Haas team uniform.

Shu Long felt these conditions were still within an acceptable range, but the specifics still needed to be discussed with Alonso and his own agency; in any case, it was impossible to finalize anything in a short time.

The key issue now isn't the actual compensation; it's when the contract will be finalized. All the hype and promises are useless if it's not signed.

The salary for a year or two is not important at all. It's not that he doesn't like money, but Shu Long's primary goal has always been to win the championship, not to take advantage of the contract to make a few more bucks in the paddock and leave.

Once he achieves results, he won't have to ask the team for any benefits he wants; Shulong can ask for them himself.

Because it was a back-to-back race week, after the two Red Bull Ring races ended, Shu Long, who had spent two days chatting with Red Bull, had to quickly join the team to prepare for the next race.

The Hungaroring Grand Prix in Hungary.

According to the weather forecast, this is another week of competition with rain throughout.

The rain hadn't started yet when we practiced, and everyone wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to test their lap times.

The conclusion is that Mercedes' gap in performance is huge, with Racing Point, now jokingly referred to as the "Pink Mercedes," close behind. Ferrari's situation seems to have improved slightly, ranking P6 and P7. Shu Long also pushed his lap time to 1:17.406, just a little short of knocking out Leclerc.

This time, Shu Long has learned his lesson. Since the schedule may change at any time due to rain, he should try to achieve a relatively acceptable result in each practice match.

On the other hand, Red Bull encountered some problems. Perhaps they were not very satisfied with their first wave of upgrades after the long offseason, because in this training session they switched back to the nose cones they had tested before the season.

As a result, Verstappen was 0.03 seconds slower than Shulong in the P9, while Albon couldn't even beat Magnussen.

It started raining during the second practice session, and the session was interrupted several times by yellow flags due to the heavy rain. Several riders didn't manage to get any valid results. Shu Long was ranked P2, but it didn't seem like his results were of any value.

The third training session on the third day was postponed for a while, and by the time it started, the ground was almost completely dry.

Leclerc lapped to a magical position, P4, while Vettel was consistently out of form, finishing 0.6 seconds behind his teammate and only in P9, while Shulong, with three new red sets, was still in P8.

The overall situation doesn't seem to be that different, except that Red Bull seems to have switched back to the new nose cone, with Verstappen moved to P6 and Albon still outside the top ten.

It was originally expected that there would be rain during the qualifying stage, but it only rained for a short time at noon and then stopped. The little water on the ground was washed away by the F3 and F2 races, so it was basically as if there was nothing there.

In the qualifying session on dry tires, Magnussen once again failed to advance to Q2 after being placed P16, while Shulong not only advanced smoothly but also took down Gasly, whose car had a PU issue, on the last lap in Q2 thanks to his better adaptability to the cold track grip, thus advancing to Q3.

However, Haas was completely uncompetitive in Q3. He drove three red cars and improved his time by about 0.5, but he was still about 0.1 behind McLaren ahead of him and could only finish in P10.

However, ever since Albon was elbowed off the podium by Hamilton, he seems to have completely lost his spirit. Not to mention quickly closing the gap with Verstappen, his qualifying lap time is almost a second behind Max's, and he can't even beat Williams' Russell.

Russell was probably one of the people in the paddock who had the best relationship with Alben. After qualifying, he even spoke up for Alben.

He said, "Red Bull is making Albon look like an idiot right now, but I'm pretty sure Albon isn't. Hopefully, Red Bull can fix this."

Um.
Shu Long was right next to Russell during the post-match ranking interview, but he felt that Russell's comments at that time were a bit hard to judge.

He never spoke up for Alben when he was still lingering at the back of the team, but now that he's finally stepped up, he's started giving orders to other teams.

What does it feel like?

It turns out that there are often top students in school classes who openly say they never study, but in reality, they are studying hard at several tutoring classes.

Then every time I did well on a test, I would secretly brag to my friend next to me, saying things like, "Wow, I didn't study much and I still got such a good score. You're smarter than me, so if you work hard, you can definitely do better than me."

I don't know what George is thinking, and whether it's appropriate or not is another matter, but Shu Long always felt that what he said was a bit tactless.

Verstappen arrived late and was still fuming after only managing a P7 in qualifying. He was then quickly picked up by a reporter who had just finished interviewing Russell.

Naturally, the reporter who was eager to dig up some big news was immediately shut down by Max and Russell together.

However, Verstappen's antics only fueled Shu Long's curiosity about Red Bull's current car. He felt the Red Bull Ring had almost challenged Mercedes in the last two races, but in this race, even Max seemed a bit unaccustomed to the car, and Albon appeared quite bewildered throughout.

On the second day of the main competition, the rain that Shulong had been longing for finally gave him some face.

It means exactly what it says, only giving "a little" face.

It rained almost all morning on the track, but then, just as the race was about to start, the rain stopped!

Based on this situation, it is estimated that we will still need to start with wet tires, but we should be able to switch to dry tires after a few laps.

However, before the race, Shu Long stood by the track to observe the road conditions during the F2 race, but soon changed his mind.

After lunch, Shu Long specifically pulled Magnussen aside to discuss things with the crew. His first question was, "Kevin, how confident are you in yourself?"

This sudden question left Lao Ma completely bewildered, but he didn't dwell on it and quickly replied, "Maybe 90%?"

Shu Long then followed up with another question: "And what about me?"

Magnussen was amused by Shulong, feeling as if he were facing his own little daughter asking for praise.
"You might not believe it if I told you, but I think I believe you a little more than I believe myself."

It sounds like a joke, but isn't that exactly what Magnussen is thinking right now?

Actually, even before the Hungarian game was over, Magnussen knew in his heart that he definitely couldn't beat this young man. Just based on the 15 points he scored on the podium in the first game, he felt that he probably wouldn't be able to catch up for the entire season.

There are conditions required for internal strife. Right now, I can't catch up with the other party no matter what I do, so I don't have the conditions to fight!
A driver like Shu Long definitely won't stay with Haas. On the contrary, if Magnussen can be more obedient now, the team might be able to see his value.

Of course, what Shu Long wanted to say was not just to get Magnussen to be his wingman; on the contrary, he wanted to share the spoils with his teammates.

so.
"Great! Let's start with yellow tires today!"

"what?!"

All teams will start today using green semi-wet tires without exception. Haas is going against the grain at this time, and if they don't score any points by then, they'll probably get criticized.
After a disastrous season last year, does Haas still have any fans who are angry at his poor performance?

There is some impact, after all, Shu Long's joining has indeed brought a lot of attention to Haas. However, these people will probably only focus on Shu Long's performance. Magnussen feels no pressure to go all in.

Followed!

So a very comical scene unfolded on the track: after each team removed the thermal blankets from their racing tires, everyone was dumbfounded by the shiny, oily tires on the two Haas cars.

Starting on wet surfaces without red tires? Do you think you're starting too high?

However, the tire strategies that Shulong himself spearheaded at last year's German Grand Prix did make everyone wary, and before the warm-up lap, they all reminded their drivers to pay close attention to the track conditions.

It's not that they don't want to join now, but unless there's a weather situation like a sudden rain, the starting tires need to be declared in advance.

Haas dared to start on yellow tires without even checking the conditions on the track; they were really taking a gamble.
Of the ten teams currently in the paddock, perhaps only Haas dares to take such a gamble.

With their competitiveness at the bottom of the paddock, Steiner has to rely heavily on gambling to get points. Moreover, the fact that Shulong has already earned 19 points in two games this season is indeed a source of confidence for Steiner.

The track was actually quite wet, and when cars with semi-wet tires accelerated and sped by, they still created a spectacular spray of water.

In fact, Magnussen was also sweating profusely in the car. He didn't dare to make any big movements when warming up the tires, for fear that he might accidentally lurch himself against the wall like Grosjean did in 18.

If Shu Long hadn't also been wearing yellow tires on his own vehicle, Magnussen would have suspected he'd been set up.

The five red lights went out.

Yellow tires are difficult to warm up on wet surfaces with just a warm-up bead, and their lack of semi-wet tire drainage makes them very slippery. As soon as I started driving, Magnussen's tire temperature dropped from P13 all the way to P17.
Shulong's reaction speed was still swift, but the upper limit of grip was limited. Even with a fast reaction speed, it could only barely make up for the disadvantage of its tires, let alone launch an attack on the two McLarens in front.

Forget about attacking, Shulong actually lost a position after Turn 3, and Gasly overtook him.

However, this situation was quickly reversed.

Only three laps into the race, many drivers began reporting to their teams that their tires were too hot, and the road conditions had actually deteriorated to the point where dry tires could be used.

As a result, all the drivers pitted, leaving only the two Haas cars to remain on the track, instantly giving them a huge 15-second lead over Mercedes.

Of course, Magnussen's advantage was slightly smaller, as Hamilton was ahead of him after leaving the station.

However, Shu Long did not wait for his teammates. He only hoped that Lao Ma could use the cars in front to pull him out of the DRS and seize the time to close the gap with him.

By lap seventeen, Hamilton had overtaken Shulong by nearly a second per lap and regained the lead.

On the next lap, Verstappen, who had somehow caught up with the others, also successfully passed Shulong.

As for Bottas, the second driver for the Mercedes Galaxy, he has already pulled off a major stunt just after renewing his contract with the team.

First, he jumped the gun at the start, then paused and fell to sixth place. Then he incurred a penalty time and is now waiting in the pit area for processing. He has now fallen to the back of the pack.

On lap 19, Shu Long finally spotted his teammate Magnussen in his rearview mirror and slowed down a bit to help the car behind him tow the DRS.

It's not that he's really that dedicated.

However, Magnussen is right behind the young master's match point. This pink Mercedes is not your average speed. If he lets his teammate get overtaken, he won't fare well either.

Thanks to Stroll following behind, the two cars maintained their defensive formation until lap 34 when Race Point broke through their formation, and then they pitted to change white and prepare to run to the end.

In the second stint, Shu Long and his teammates once again formed a defensive wall, and although they still couldn't withstand the surging momentum of Albon and Bottas, they still managed to hold off Match Point and McLaren.

However, as the race progressed, the intense defense inevitably caused the car's rear suspension system to overheat, and Haas's higher tire consumption compared to other teams gradually became apparent.

So the team urged Shulong to resume his normal pace as soon as possible, and Magnussen offered to help his teammate delay the attack speed of the cars behind him as much as possible.

As a result, in the end, only Perez was left out of the race and finished with a P6 finish.

Although Magnussen's ranking dropped all the way down, he was still in P9 when he crossed the finish line. However, he was penalized with a 10-second penalty and two points deducted from his super license due to several illegal defensive plays.

Fortunately, he was still in P10 after the penalty time, which finally broke his points drought this year.

Although the final result wasn't as dazzling as the podium finish in the first race, the two Haas players were in much better spirits after getting off the bus than they were in during the opening race.

The feeling of getting points by chance is ultimately quite different from getting points through teamwork.

However, things won't be so comfortable at the next British Grand Prix.

Even though they pulled each other out in qualifying, they could only finish in Q2. In the race, only Shulong managed to squeeze into P10, which meant he didn't break his own record of scoring points upon finishing the race.

(End of this chapter)