F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 164 Reborn from the Ashes, I Have Returned

If you ask which is more important, endurance racing or Formula 1...
Well, for Shulong, who has been preparing seriously for half a year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is no longer just a casual race; its importance is no less than that of an F1 race.

Fortunately, this year's Le Mans 24 Hours race is scheduled during the F1 season's summer break, so this sudden invitation to substitute race will not affect Shu Long's schedule. Therefore, he has no psychological burden about temporarily putting aside his work here.

Before heading to the Hungaroring circuit, Shu Long returned to Red Bull's headquarters, where Verstappen's physical condition was being assessed.

A 51G collision caused Max some vision problems, which were particularly severe for his dynamic vision. Especially when his body was subjected to the high lateral G-forces of a race car cornering, he experienced a noticeable tubular vision phenomenon, which reduced his field of vision significantly compared to before.

Simply put, it means that while driving, your vision will suddenly go black.

This is a very dangerous sign for a driver, but judging from Verstappen's own wishes, he doesn't seem to want to miss any races easily.

This year marks Red Bull's closest chance to win the championship since the Mercedes dynasty began, and it's also the year Verstappen has the best chance of contending for the annual championship.

Throughout the first half of the 2021 season, Verstappen and Hamilton practically dominated all the first and second place finishes, with Verstappen even leading Hamilton by a significant margin in points before Silverstone.

However, after withdrawing from the race due to this accident, Verstappen currently has a slight lead with 185 points over Hamilton's 177 points. If he withdraws from a race and Hamilton wins another title, then the initiative to continue competing for the championship will be completely out of his hands.

But now that Shulong has been called back, what kind of situation is it to not let him run away?
There is no doubt that there is a prevailing sentiment within Red Bull that they hope Shu Long can use this opportunity to boost his own performance and then return to the paddock in a justifiable manner.

Marco's idea is not to let Shu Long wait in Hungaroring first. If Max does show signs of difficulty adapting in practice, then it's not too late for Shu Long to come on later.

This is a world champion! Marco has staked so much on Verstappen over the years, and he certainly doesn't want to give up so easily.

As for the question of whether Verstappen or Shulong is equally important...
Anyway, it seems that the flesh on the palm of the hand is thicker now, isn't it?
But Horner seems to have a completely different idea.

In the past two years, Horner, as the de facto manager who needed to maintain the stability of a team, was at least on the surface a moderate who advocated against easily changing the driver lineup.

Internally, due to his actual business dealings with Thai beef, he also plays a game of Tai Chi, specifically responsible for muddying the waters.

On the one hand, he seems to be agreeing with Tai Niu's opinion, but he never makes any direct decisions himself. Instead, he tries to push the contradictions of the problem onto Marco.

But this time, it seemed that Tai Niu's idea was in some way the same as his, so Horner simply stopped pretending.

They said that since Shu Long already had a contract as a full-time driver for the Red Bull team, he would need to return to the team to race sooner or later, so why not take this opportunity to let Shu Long drive a race and see how he is doing?

If the dragon is in good condition, then returning to the paddock is a natural course of action.

If his performance in this match is subpar, then he can take another half-season to recover and play his second half of the season comfortably.

There was a reason why Mateschitz valued this good-for-nothing kid who had absolutely no senior management qualifications.

After Marco introduced Horner to Mateschitz, the head of the Orlando Bulls valued Horner's shrewdness and his unconventional approach to things, making him the perfect candidate to lead Red Bull in pioneering new territory during that chaotic era.

Aside from Marco, who was a longtime friend and thus allowed to do as he pleased, Mateschitz also gave Horner considerable power.

However, Horner's ambitions are not limited to just being a team principal. With Mateschitz's health deteriorating, he actually wants more.

This call not only clarified their position, but also, after some smooth talk, offered a solution that was acceptable to several stakeholders within the Red Bull team.

This even includes Perez and the Mexican telecommunications company behind him.

Last year, Perez was suddenly kicked out of Racing Point after six years of service. He was in a difficult situation where he desperately wanted to find a new team. Unfortunately, all the teams were already full of players, and Red Bull was the only one who could take him on.

Moreover, these conditions were all agreed upon when the contract was signed. Perez thought that if he could give it one last shot and at least have a good next club, he didn't hesitate for long before gritting his teeth and agreeing.

In fact, Perez's performance in the first half of the year was much better than that of Albon and Gasly.

Especially thanks to his outstanding ability to maintain his position, even though the gap between him and Verstappen in qualifying is still large, he can often secure a very good ranking in the race.

Red Bull isn't planning on a complete falling out yet, and has even suggested that results and performance should speak for themselves. We can only reluctantly accept this proposal.

Even though Shu Long's past record was quite impressive, he had been away from the competition for more than half a year, and with the impact of the accident, Perez didn't see it as entirely hopeless.

So the question is, if Red Bull can't replace Verstappen but still wants to ensure Shulong has a chance to compete, who else can they sacrifice?

The people in charge looked around and decided on you!

"I?"

Gasly on the other end of the phone was a little confused, wondering why this bean was so unlucky as to have landed right on his forehead.

It wasn't by chance, it was just that there was no other way.

Another Toro Rosso player, Yuki Tsunoda, is currently sponsored by Honda, Toro Rosso's engine supplier, while Perez's sponsorship from Mexican telecommunications company Telekom Mexico is also substantial.

Red Bull may currently value the Chinese market behind Shulong, which can bring in at least hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue every year, but as a businessman, it is better to lose as little as possible.

In comparison, Gasly, who doesn't have many sponsors and whose main interests are still tied to Red Bull, is easier to manage.

Gasly was naturally very unhappy to hear this news. In the first year of the budget cap, he finally got a car that he could handle and that was quite competitive. This was probably the happiest season Gasly had ever had since he entered F1.

Most importantly, this year a new teammate with relatively average stats joined the team. In ranked matches, he was 0.5 or 0.6 laps slower than Gasly on average. Compared to the previous two years, it was like heaven and earth. His hair had even grown back quite a bit.

Now that everything is going well, you suddenly tell him to take a break?
"Yes, we want to give Dragon a try in the last game before the summer break."

"Let who? Dragon?! He's fully recovered now?"

Although he was quite resentful, Gasly was still somewhat surprised that Shulong was able to return to the paddock so quickly, and he couldn't help but look forward to the scene of him and Max clashing like Mars in Red Bull.

Even though his mind had been cleansed by last year's Monza championship, Gasly still often felt a chill when he recalled his two former teammates.

No matter which one of them you've been teammates with, anyone would start to doubt their own speed and talent.

Alben and Gasly were fortunate enough to experience the company of these two heavyweight guests in their short careers without having their resolve shattered. They truly have had a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Gasly soon agreed. Besides the psychological factors mentioned above, it was also because Red Bull was offering too much, and even said they could give Gasly a bonus exactly the same as the points reward system in Shulong as compensation.

What are the bonus details for Shulong's points program? 1 point equals $40,000!

In other words, if Shulong returns and wins the championship this time, Gasly would practically get a million dollars for free, and he would even have to hope that Shulong's performance is even better.

Of course, this time the excuse was also very easy to find.

We are currently in a special period of the pandemic, and Red Bull only needs to issue a statement that Gasly's nucleic acid test result is positive, saying that he will unfortunately miss the next Grand Prix and that's it.

The key point is that it is quite credible and will hardly cause any waves in public opinion.

The matter was settled happily, and at the end of July, Shulong once again returned to the Hungaroring Toro Rosso pit camp in a manner that fans had been eagerly anticipating.

Shu Long declined all the cameras and microphones offered to him, wanting only to sit quietly in the long-missed F1 cockpit and experience the enveloping feeling that was completely different from that of a Hypercar.

It felt like coming home, and also like becoming part of the race.

Of course, he also saw Kakuta. Last year, due to the special circumstances in the paddock and Shulong's trip to Has, Shulong and he had indeed not seen each other for a long time.

Still so familiar, still so short
However, Kakuta's expression seemed somewhat uneasy.

At the Salzburg circuit in 19, Shu Long demonstrated to him that the difference between drivers is not just about the cars they drive.

In the past, Kakuta could defy everyone in the lower-level Formula classes. After all, the situation in Formula 2 for standard cars was chaotic, and good or bad results were sometimes really related to luck.

But after he moved up to F1, he realized that no one can drive in F1 without money; luck is the only factor.

The huge gap between Kakuta and Gasly after half a year of competition made Kakuta feel confused. What if it were Shulong, who scored 200 points in his rookie season driving a Toro?
Aizen from Bleach has a famous quote: "Longing is the emotion furthest from understanding."

Kakuta, a fellow veteran anime fan like Shulong, certainly knew this phrase, but only now did he seem to truly understand its meaning.

Including Kakuta himself, there have now been 21 Japanese drivers in F1, and these predecessors naturally became Kakuta's idols.

However, as a fellow Red Bull driver, Shu Long is currently the Asian driver who is closest to and has achieved the most success during Kakuta's era. Kakuta inevitably regarded Shu Long as an object of admiration and a rival to be challenged.

But when that person you admire is driving the same race car as you, and is in the same pit lane as you...
In one practice session, Shu Long set a lap time that ranked P5 in the entire track. At this point, apart from the seat being Shu Long's own, every other part of the car was completely in Gasly's style.

Of course, there's also that familiar voice from TR, which I haven't heard in over a year—my old friend Pierre Hamelin.

Since Shu Long left the team, Hamelin was assigned to Gasly's crew. This was not only a recognition of Hamelin's abilities, but also because it would be easier to communicate with two Frenchmen.

This time, the familiar old partner was back together. Hamelin naturally knew Shulong's usual driving habits very well. After adjusting in a practice session, Shulong pushed his lap time to P3 in the second practice session in the afternoon, with only two Mercedes cars ahead of him.

One reason for this is that Red Bull replaced its rear wing with a low-drag one. In the morning, their tail speed on the straight was about 10 km/h slower than Mercedes'. Now that the configuration has been changed, they have to match the corresponding tuning scheme.

Of course, the new budget cap rules, coupled with the fact that the top teams have been weakened by the rules for several rounds, are also one of the main reasons why Toro Rosso is not far behind them at present.

At least in Shu Long's hands, he felt that the gap between himself and the race cars in front was not that big.

排位赛角田P16Q1出局，最好成绩1：17.919，单圈比束龙足足慢了1.7秒。

In the end, he could only get off the race car with a blank look on his face. After weighing himself, he returned to the pit lane and stared blankly at the string of numbers on the data board belonging to Shulong, which was still updating, without even taking off his helmet.

然后他就看着束龙Q2以一套黄胎单圈再次提升0.3秒，刷出1：15.936的成绩，仅落后维斯塔潘的1：15.650排在Q2晋级。

Perez seemed completely distracted by the dragon, and his Q2 yellow tire performance was only 1:16.443.

In a daze, Lao Pei seemed to understand something. His current achievements might not be because he was more resilient to pressure than Gasley or Albon, but simply because Red Bull did not have a dragon this year.

In Q3 of qualifying, Shulong, who had switched back to red tires, improved his time by 0.2 seconds, finishing in P3 just a very narrow margin behind Bottas.
Mercedes pulled out all their cards in the final stages of Q3, improving their average performance by a mere second to secure a place in the top two.

This year, due to changes in some rules, Mercedes' low-slope floorboards experienced significant problems, causing the rear of the car to become very unstable at times.

However, at the previous British Grand Prix, Ferrari and Red Bull engineers observed an anomaly in Mercedes' engine power output. Mercedes seems to have found a way to squeeze out more power unit performance through mid-season development, which has greatly improved their performance during acceleration.

So regarding Mercedes' crotch-grabbing behavior, Shu Long said he was actually used to it. On the contrary, Verstappen's Q3 was 0.2 seconds slower than Q2, falling to P4 behind Shu Long, perhaps due to a problem with his eyes.

Kakuta, who was in the Little Red Bull P room, is now numb.

It's often said that in the world of racing, every second is a new world, and now the gap between him and Shu Long in qualifying times is equivalent to two "new worlds".

Perhaps Hinamori Momo felt the same way when Aizen stabbed her?
The distance between the two Little Red Bulls in the P room was less than six meters. When Kakuta realized that the distance between him and Shulong was so close that there was no room for any filter, how could his mind have any room for longing?

Perhaps all that remains on the palette of emotions is a chaotic mass of fear.

Although Kakuta is currently in a position at Toro Rosso thanks to Honda's sponsorship, Honda cannot guarantee his position in the long run.

Due to the pandemic last year, the FIA ​​froze the development process of all teams regarding the new engine regulations originally scheduled for 2025, which also prompted Honda to make the decision to withdraw from the ranks of F1 engine manufacturers in 2022.

Red Bull has officially taken over Honda's engine technology project and has begun building the future Red Bull Powertrain division center. It has also poached many employees from Mercedes-Benz's engine division.

However, once he loses the support from Honda, given Kakuda's current performance, it will be difficult for him to convince the Red Bull system of its stringent elimination criteria.

But looking at the current lap time rankings, the gap between them and Shulong is like an insurmountable chasm.
Can we really win?
Upon returning to the track, he was able to start in the grid reserved for the top three drivers. As soon as he got off the car, he was embraced by Hamilton and Bottas.

This is a congratulatory message for Shu Long's achievement, and also a blessing for his recovery and return.

The flame-shaped scar on his neck turned crimson from the surge in his heart rate, silently revealing just how hard-won this return was.

For car enthusiasts, the carefree man laughing in front of the camera at this moment is undoubtedly a legend who has risen from the ashes.

(End of this chapter)