F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 165 The Grand Return of the Missile Launch Base

"The recovery looks pretty good?"

"Of course, I'm going all out now."

"God, if Nicky were still here, she'd love you to death. I hope you come back. Good luck tomorrow!"

"Let's hope so. He's always been very friendly to us, hasn't he?"

After everyone finished their interviews, Hamilton sighed and helped Shu Long straighten his hat brim. He tilted his head to look at the scars remaining on Shu Long's neck, then smacked his lips and pinched Shu Long's shoulder twice before turning to leave.

Strictly speaking, Hamilton and Red Bull have had considerable conflict in the past two weeks. Under Horner's deliberate instigation of a media war, Verstappen's fans have been relentlessly pursuing and intercepting the veteran.

Horner didn't expect that his actions would backfire on his own drivers. Both were subjected to intense questioning during Thursday's media day, and the tension between Mercedes and Red Bull continued to escalate.

This is understandable, since under the budget cap, the cost of vehicle damage will reduce R&D funding.

Verstappen's 51G crash last week wiped out nearly a million dollars of Red Bull's budget limit and left him seriously injured. As team principal, Horner naturally wants to maximize the benefits for his team.

Because last week's collision was ruled a normal track incident, the British race organizers did not impose any further penalties on Hamilton, which can be said to have indirectly or directly led to Hamilton overtaking Verstappen in the points standings this year.

Shu Long also watched the replay of the accident. Judging from Hamilton's actions, he did not intentionally do anything malicious. It is indeed reasonable to judge it as a normal track accident.

However, as a driver, Shu Long actually had a clearer sense of the speed and dynamics of the car at that time, namely that Hamilton should indeed have intended to push the Red Bull racing line outwards.

These are all normal fighting techniques on the track. If these are considered problematic, then modern motorsport is far too civilized. As for whether this collision was intentional,
From Albon to Verstappen, as other teams have gradually caught up with Mercedes' progress in the past two years, this golden left front elbow strike has actually happened more than once whenever someone actually threatens Hamilton's championship position.

Although Hamilton often incurs penalties for this, from the perspective of competing for the championship, sometimes you really have to learn to be ruthless.

On the track, it's a real battle, but off the track it's a completely different story.

Verstappen himself didn't really intend to dwell on the Silverstone incident. To become a champion, one needs not only to be ruthless but also to be prepared for what one might face at any time.

After all, it's a battle at speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour. If you don't win, the only outcome is defeat.

No one can win forever.

Having already been through a fire, Shu Long takes it all in stride. It's said that every F1 driver feels invincible before experiencing their first major crash, and now that Shu Long has crashed, he seems to feel even more invincible.
He responded to Hamilton's kindness and exchanged a few pleasantries with Bottas, who was standing next to him.

The reporter in charge of the interview this year kept asking Shu Long a lot of questions, but he brushed them off with a few words.

It's just a ranked P3, nothing's settled yet, and there's not much to get particularly excited about.

However, on the second day of the main competition, when Shu Long got up and drew back the curtains, he saw that the sky outside was covered with dark clouds, and he knew that the afternoon would probably not be peaceful.

Sure enough, when Shu Long arrived at Toro Rosso's pit garage to prepare for today's tactical meeting, the weather forecast from the pit wall indicated that it might rain at 14:30 pm, and the FIA ​​also informed all teams that the race might be a rainy one.

When Tost read the news in the P room, almost everyone held their breath, as if they could vaguely smell the scent of victory beckoning to them.

One was the German Grand Prix, which he completed with Toro Rosso, and the other was the Turkish Grand Prix, where Toro Rosso watched Shu Long perform brilliantly at Haas next door. These two rain races have proven that Shu Long can challenge anyone on the track in such weather conditions.

Or rather, Shulong is able to withstand challenges from anyone on the track, no matter who they are.

The raindrops arrived as expected during the drivers' parade.

Yes, as pandemic control measures are gradually relaxed, this dry interactive segment has returned to the scene with car enthusiasts.

However, the car enthusiasts who came to the scene this year seemed to be particularly enthusiastic about Shulong. Even the increasingly heavy rain seemed unable to dampen the lively atmosphere. Even the host who kept asking him questions seemed less annoying.

People always seem to be eager to witness the rise of legends. At this moment, Shulong has undoubtedly shown the potential to become a legend in the eyes of many people. Now all we need to do is look forward to "when" and "how long".

Of course, these are only a few ingredients in the flavor of the hunting grounds.

Shu Long's efforts to return to this land are not merely for a few shouts. After last year's accident, he sold his soul to the devil who controls speed and passion, and now it's time to collect interest from the devil.

Based on the data analysis of the previous practice sessions, yellow and white tires are undoubtedly the fastest tire strategy for the Hungarian Grand Prix. This is also why Shu Long used yellow tires to improve his Q2 score yesterday.

Although starting in the rain negated the tire advantage that had been painstakingly built up in yesterday's qualifying, starting with semi-wet tires would have been just as good, and Shulong actually felt that it would have given him an even greater advantage.

Even the heavens are moved to tears by the prelude to this new chapter; we must win this match today no matter what!
"OK, redo check."

"Checkcheckcheck"

"Haha~ Welcome back, buddy. You know what I wanted to say to you?"

"You roughly know?"

"Oh, I don't think you know. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. This is your first game back. Just make sure you get back safely."

Shu Long was like a primary school student who had been called for dinner by his mother for a long time without moving, reluctantly responding with a hum.

"Fine, I can't control you anymore. The match starts in one minute, get ready."

Shu Long lowered his goggles and watched the crew members around him begin to evacuate. Thinking of his parents and Gan Mengning, who might still be watching his race live on the other side of the camera, he jokingly made a V-sign with his thumb and forefinger under his chin in front of the camera on the HALO pillar.

Let's not be so serious, let's relax a bit.

Many of the employees at Toro Rosso, who had worked with him before, still vividly remember watching as Shulong, after avoiding Kvyat, crashed into the guardrail and burst into flames.

Not to mention those who are connected to the dragon's bones and blood.

After the accident in Bahrain last year, seeing Shu Long still stubbornly insisting on sitting in the cockpit of the race car, the people who were most uneasy and fearful were probably the people who silently supported him behind the scenes.

But
I'm sorry, please forgive me for being selfish; and thank you for your understanding and support along the way.

"The mobile medical unit is ready. We are pleased that Shulong continues to show a reassuring optimism today, after giving us a surprise with the P3 yesterday."

"The five red lights have started to light up one by one. I wonder if he can continue to surprise us today?"

"Lights out, start running! We can see that Shulong's reaction is still quite quick, and the wet ground does not affect his control of traction at all!"

"Wow, Shulong's start is really fast. Is he trying to overtake Hamilton before Turn 1?"

"It seems so! But...Bottas?!"

Everyone was quite cautious at the start of the race in the wetlands, and almost everyone except Shulong was relatively slow.

However, Bottas's mistake was simply too glaring. His erratic start not only allowed Shu Long to pass him instantly, but even Verstappen and Perez behind Shu Long, as well as the two McLarens behind him, began to take turns harassing Bottas. Just as Shu Long, relying on his faster acceleration, merged into the inside, trying to imitate Liu Laohan's move at Silverstone to squeeze him out, Bottas behind him began to show off his skills.

Losing five positions at the start is no small mistake, and Bottas's eagerness to make up for his error is understandable. However, he seems to have overlooked the fact that the grip in the rain, coupled with the effects of dirty air, is insufficient to support most of his maneuvers.

In the braking zone before Turn 1, Bottas first slammed his way into Norris's chassis, then pushed Norris and knocked Verstappen, who was just entering the corner, flying. After getting past McLaren, he then executed a dragon tail sweep and took away Perez behind him.

Kakuta, who was standing nearby, was so scared that he rushed off the track to avoid an accident, and luckily he was not taken away with him.

Yesterday's qualifying rounds had already shattered his confidence once, and if he still can't finish the race today, his mentality might really be in trouble.

Putting aside Bottas's clean sweep, the young man who had already driven from match point to Aston Martin was also busy.

There are always some little geniuses who think they're different in the rain, with a sudden flash of inspiration: "Hey! I have an idea!", only to find that they're actually just a basket.

Indeed, Stroll has performed very well in several rainy matches in the past, but these experiences seem to have given him some illusions.

Seeing that Leclerc had left a wide-open space inside, Stroll swerved right in and then started braking.
The rear of the race car naturally began to go out of control. The young master just slid sideways across the grass at the apex of the corner, and after cutting the corner, he flew up and rode on the side of Leclerc's car, and then took Ricciardo, who had just narrowly escaped, with him.

"Wow~"

Shu Long naturally noticed the shower of flowers behind him and couldn't help but exclaim in his TR, then silently added in his mind, "Brilliant!"

However, he didn't pay much attention to the chaotic situation behind him. Instead, he took advantage of the brief gap before the yellow flag appeared to overtake Hamilton and take the lead.

Such an accident will almost certainly result in a yellow flag. After the yellow flag, the timing of the start is entirely in the hands of the leading car. It's fair to say that the leading car has a completely different level of control over the race outcome compared to the cars behind.

The safety car was quickly deployed. On the second lap, Shu Long noticed that Leclerc was still there, sitting on top of the car with his head tilted to the side, holding his helmet and seemingly lost in thought.

"What's he doing there? Is he alright?"

"I don't know, she looks like she's crying."

"Huh?! Really? No way~"

No one will cry in a Ferrari, except...
Whether Leclerc actually cried or not is unclear, but the Ferrari prince's emo didn't last long, and he was soon taken away by Matthew, who came to clean up the car.

There were too many pieces of racing car debris on the track, and five more cars lying dead needed to be cleared away, so the yellow flag quickly turned into a red flag.

One car was damaged and seven were injured, but Verstappen, who seemed to have been hit the hardest by the lightning strike, was relatively less injured.

Although the right-side windbreak panel was completely destroyed, and the side box vertical section panel and the right-side bottom plate were also damaged in several places, after the Red Bull technicians used super glue to repair it several times, it seemed that they still wanted to continue competing.

Of the other cars, only Ricciardo's front wing was missing and the problem wasn't too serious; the other five all retired from the race. It was fortunate that Shulong escaped quickly, otherwise he might have been one of those who suffered earlier.

The red flag remained in place for a full twenty minutes. By the time the race organizers announced that the race would be restarted, not only had the rain stopped, but the sun had even come out on the track.

However, the road surface still looked a bit wet, and it was unclear what the actual grip of the track was like. Just to be on the safe side, the team had Shulong install a new set of semi-wet tires.

In fact, given this trend, there shouldn't be any problem with directly installing yellow tires.

However, the team's strategy group seemed to be scared by the previous series of collisions. They preferred to play it safe and didn't want Shulong to take any extra risks. After all, everyone was using semi-wet tires, and they would all pit together, so there was no loss.

However, the fact is that during the warm-up lap before the race restarted, not only Shu Long, but almost all the drivers reported that the track was ready for dry tires.

Some areas were indeed still a bit wet, for example, the asphalt on the starting straight was noticeably darker than other areas, but given the conditions of most track surfaces, the semi-wet tires would definitely overheat after only a few laps.

But now there's a question: should we change it or not?
If Hamilton chooses not to pit, then pitting now would be tantamount to giving back the front-row lead he just secured.

However, Shulong ultimately chose to enter the station, since entering the station is practically free now. If they waited until the tires were worn out before entering, they might lose more than just a seat.

So, just before entering the starting straight, the leading Shu Long and a whole line of cars behind him were thrown into the pit lane.

He discovered that the person following him was not Hamilton, but O'Connor, who had been promoted from P9 to P3 due to the chain of accidents.

"What's going on? Didn't Lewis come in?"

"Yep, he's in the starting grid."

It's unclear whether Mercedes misjudged the current situation regarding dry and wet tires, or simply wanted to try and regain the lead for free.

In short, on the track just a wall away from Shulong, the old man drove his Mercedes, all alone, to the starting grid of P2, quietly watching the five red lights in front of him light up one by one.

Formula One World Championship

In fact, given the circumstances, the outcome of this match was almost predetermined.

There was only one lane for vehicles to start from the maintenance area, and Aokang was simply unable to keep up with Shulong's starting pace. As soon as they entered the second turn, Shulong pulled ahead by more than a second.

Hamilton could have started faster than Shulong on the starting straight, but he regretted it after just one lap. He grumbled as he entered the pits to change to yellow, ending up at the back of the pack in P14.

The front row rider, without any hindrance, sped forward in the clean air, and by the time the first Stint pitted on lap 37, he had already pulled ahead of Ocon by 7 seconds.

Bottas's clean sweep eliminated almost all of Shulong's potential competitors. Verstappen, driving a half-crippled Red Bull, was lapped more than ten times by Haas's Mick and has only now managed to squeeze into the points zone.

Currently, apart from Lewis Hamilton, who is the only remaining player on the track who might pose a threat to Shulong, the others are barely good enough to watch the show.

However, Hamilton's speed in closing the gap was truly frightening. With a three-stop move involving yellow, white, and yellow, he overtook the back of the pack all the way to P5. Even Hamelin couldn't help but remind Shulong to slightly increase his pace in long distances.

Then, not long after, they notified Shulong that everything was fine and that he could simply save the tire status and bring it back safely.

"what happened?"

"It's Alonso, he's left Hamilton seven laps behind."

The widebody Alonso made full use of the characteristics of the Hungaroring circuit, and with his "Hamilton Defense Theory", he managed to keep the seven-time champion down until the fourth lap before the end, while Shu Long had already secured a 15-second lead over Ocon for a long time.

"Crossing the finish line without a doubt!"

"Shu! Long! After a twelve-year hiatus from the paddock, he has given us a truly unique performance!"

"Unbelievable, but this should have been his long ago—the championship!"

(End of this chapter)