F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 172 Whose Special Adjustment Was It?

That evening, Shulong boarded a plane bound for Spa.

The next day is media day, and I wonder how exciting the scene will be.

Although many people guessed that Shulong would eventually replace Perez this year, based on Red Bull's official announcement of Shulong's contract last year, after he appeared in Hungaroring and Le Mans and won the championships one after another.

However, Perez's overall performance in the first half of the year can be said to be more satisfactory than any of his predecessors, the number 2 driver. In addition, his own large number of sponsors should not be underestimated. In fact, the mainstream opinion is that Shu Long may finish the second half of this year's season at Toro Rosso.

But this is Red Bull after all, and changing seats is a very common thing for them.

Currently, Red Bull is trailing in both the driver's championship and the team's championship points. It seems unlikely that Perez can turn the tide in the second half of the season on his own. In fact, both the Thai and Austrian teams are hoping to bring Shulong up to stir things up.

The plane landed in just over an hour, and as soon as Shulong got off, he was besieged by the media who had been staking out the airport.

Although the decision to replace him was made hastily and has not yet been officially announced, nothing can be kept secret for long by those with keen senses in the paddock, especially since someone had previously discovered that Perez's flight to Belgium actually came from Italy.

However, Red Bull was prepared. The press officer was the first to rush forward and slip Shu Long a note with a very classic reply script written on it.

Refusal and silence are both skills. The role of the press officer is to ensure that the driver maintains a good public image and does not appear too aloof, while at the same time not leaking team information.

In summary, Shu Long was made to express that he himself was unaware of the situation, and that everyone would probably know by tomorrow's media day. Then, surrounded by a large security team, Shu Long got into the car arranged by Red Bull and was taken directly to Motohome in Weichang.

Often, everyone knows the answer, but it's just that some things are inappropriate to say when they come from the driver's mouth.

The next morning, Red Bull held a press conference to explain their reasons for choosing to replace drivers during the season.

Horner blocked about 80% of the questions. Back when he had just started building the Red Bull team from scratch, he didn't mind making some controversial statements to relieve the pressure on the drivers. Now he is even more adept at dealing with these questions.

Of course, the reporters in the paddock were almost all insatiable wolves. They would never stop talking unless the main person in question came out. At the right time, Horner also selected one or two less aggressive questions and gave the opportunity to speak to Shu Long, who was staring blankly at him and had already left for a while.

"Shu, how do you plan to ensure that you don't end up like your predecessors? As far as we know, Red Bull's second position is extremely tough for every driver."

Well, this is already one of the less offensive questions out there, so you can imagine what kind of messy bombardment Horner endured this morning.

In contrast, Toro Rosso's manager, Tost, had almost no say in the matter, and during that period, all the pressure from the media had to be borne by Shu Long alone.

so.
“I think when every driver has a car that can compete for the championship, their goal will only be one from beginning to end. As for me, I am confident that I am no less than anyone else, but of course I am not so arrogant as to think that anyone is worse than me.”

"So, are you saying you're confident you can beat Max, or are you unsure about your performance at Red Bull? After all, Perez and Gasly are both drivers who can win in the Earth Group, just like you, but they also went through very difficult periods at Red Bull."

"What I mean is that everyone just keeps repeating the same things in front of the camera. Since you all know you won't get the answers from me, why don't you just judge for yourselves based on the track performance?"

After saying this, Shu Long picked up his sunglasses from the table in front of him, put them on his nose, and leaned back in his chair, determined to remain silent and pretend to be an expert.

Horner was then put under considerable scrutiny, with the main focus being on how he would balance the competitive dynamics within the team during this crucial period of the title race.

This may also be an important reference for measuring the attitude of the higher-ups towards Shulong, so someone pretended to be indifferent, but in fact had already been listening intently.

Horner's answer was quite interesting. He said, "We now have the fastest car in the paddock, and also the two fastest drivers in the paddock. I think we'll know what to do. The one who should be having a headache is Toto."

The response was quite cunning, while simultaneously shifting the focus of the discussion to Mercedes. The media, sensing the tension, acted like hyenas smelling blood, knowing that reporters looking for news were already plotting how to torment the Mercedes team manager.

Shortly afterward, the press conference ended in an uproar.

“Your performance was more composed than I expected; I was worried that you would be provoked by them.”

"Yeah, otherwise how do you think I got through 19?"

Horner squinted and frowned, smiling for a while. Instead of responding to the awkward remark that Shu Long had thrown at him, he took the initiative to bring up another, even more uncomfortable topic.

"So you don't have any other concerns about the questions those reporters just asked?"

"If I really have concerns, who do you think I can talk to? For example, Dr. Marco?"

Faced with Shu Long's somewhat probing question, Horner did not react in any particular way, but instead continued speaking without changing his expression.

"Ah, we've actually discussed that too. The consensus is that it won't hinder your free competition within the team. The only thing we need to be careful about is making sure to keep things within bounds, because internal strife leading to both cars withdrawing from the race is absolutely the last thing we can accept right now!"

"I think my vehicle damage report is still quite convincing so far."

Of course it's very convincing.

Currently, all accident-related vehicle damage in Shulong has occurred at Haas. One reason is that at the beginning of the season, the front wing was slightly damaged by a toothed curb on the Red Bull Ring due to driving too aggressively. Strictly speaking, this cannot be considered vehicle damage.

Another incident, which was not due to Shu Long's own personal reasons, was simply an undeserved misfortune. Gasly, who flew up, slapped a large hole in the side of the car.

In addition, there was the suspension failure in Bahrain, but that can't be attributed to Shulong's own problem either.

Given Haas's competitive situation last year, Shu Long's ability to consistently rise from the back and score points has already demonstrated his precise control over the balance in close combat.

Horner's deliberate statement was perhaps just a way of expressing his stance to Shu Long. After Tai Niu officially entered the game, his relationship with Marco was not actually that distant at the moment.

Shu Long did manage to grasp some of Horner's meaning, after all, Marco's words to him yesterday seemed to have hinted at the same idea.

The politics of the Bull Demon's caravan.
In the afternoon, Max and I first attended the regular fan interaction program for the media day. Afterwards, we arranged to complete the track walk that we had missed because of the press conference in the morning, to see what changes had been made to the track this year, and to chat with each other.

Before this, Verstappen was actually one of the few people in the paddock who disliked driving on the track the least. He seemed to prefer staying in his motohome and driving simulators.

However, after officially starting his battle with Hamilton for the championship this year, he gradually began to participate in this seemingly insignificant event. Of course, there are only a few details worth noting on a track, so the two spent most of their time chatting, and Max seemed to be particularly interested in endurance racing.

"So that's really fun, right? I actually formed an online iracing team and plan to race Le Mans online with them after the season ends, but it seems like driving a real car is still more fun."

"It's a completely different kind of fun from F1. You have enough time to fully enjoy the unique pleasure of driving. Of course, the key is that unique atmosphere, which is really addictive!"

Of course, the most interesting thing about Le Mans is the unpredictability of the race. Even if a car is not as strong as other teams, it still has a chance to win the championship.

Of course, conversely, teams that initially had a significant advantage may also lose a victory that was almost within their grasp due to various unforeseen circumstances.

For example, Shu Long initially thought Ye Yifei in the LMP2 group had just failed to achieve good results. However, when he checked the news after the race, he found out that they had actually broken down on the last lap while leading the LMP2 group.

However, this is actually quite common in motorsports, and it doesn't seem to deter Max's strong interest in Le Mans.

"I definitely want to experience Jesus sometime! So, would you be interested in joining our racing team at the end of the year?"

"Next time? Please~ you and your friends should have agreed not to make me feel guilty for taking someone else's seat even when I'm outside the paddock!"

Verstappen, who had almost never felt seat anxiety, seemed to realize the problem only now. He made a few embarrassed faces and then turned to discuss it with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambias.

Shu Long himself wasn't idle either; he and Simon Reni, who was temporarily acting as his competition engineer, also needed to take this opportunity to work together.

Before returning to the team, the team had consulted with Shulong about their needs for a race engineer.

Red Bull's game engineer turnover at the shooting guard position is quite high. For example, Ricardo, Gasly, Albon, and Perez have all taken turns working with several different game engineers.

Shu Long said that if possible, Hamelin would be the best, since the two had worked together for a long time and it would be easier for them to communicate.

However, Hamelin is currently Gasley's race engineer, and rashly transferring him over might not be a good thing for either Gasley or Shu Long.

After all, there was no problem of adjustment between Shu Long and Hamelin, but Hamelin, who had suddenly arrived in a new environment, needed time to adjust to the Red Bull team. Hamelin also subtly expressed to Shu Long that he was not suitable at the moment.

Red Bull put their heads together and brought out Simon Rennie again. The two had worked together when Shu Long replaced Riccardo at the first practice session in Japan, so their abilities and familiarity with each other were relatively compatible.

René's technical skills are certainly trustworthy; after all, he was the race engineer for Red Bull's first car. He immediately went over the points that Spa-Francorchamps needed to pay extra attention to this year and explained the key points to consider.

Overall, there aren't many changes. The main change is that the FIA ​​has imposed stricter requirements on the track boundaries at the apex of Turn 4, the exit of Turn 9, and the exit of Turn 19. If a player goes completely beyond the red and yellow shoulders, their lap time will be disqualified.

In addition, the organizers have set extra requirements for tire pressure at Spa this year: the minimum tire pressure for front dry tires must not be lower than 24.0 psi, and the minimum tire pressure for rear dry tires must not be lower than 22.0 psi.

The tightening of these requirements also means that drivers need to make certain adjustments to their racing lines.

However, the latter two points may not have a significant impact on this weekend.

According to the weather forecast, the game weekend will be under continuous rainfall from Friday to Sunday.

Perhaps it is related to the current climate cycle in Europe. Since Shulong officially returned to motorsport, he has faced rain in three consecutive races.

The rain battles at Spa are quite different from other places, especially at El Rog Bend, where once it rains, it's almost like a small waterfall. The feeling of rushing up here at around 300 km/h is really quite thrilling.

As expected, it started raining before the first training session on Friday morning, but the rain basically stopped by the time the session began. Except for the first ten minutes when everyone used semi-wet tires, they used dry tires for the rest of the session.

Shulong and Verstappen had different tasks during the test. Considering that it was his first time officially driving the new Red Bull car, the entire training session was basically used to familiarize him with some of the car's new features and new program settings.

The main issue is about the operating procedures.

Last year, after the FIA ​​issued a technical directive in Monza requiring the use of the same engine mode for qualifying and the race, the so-called "one-size-fits-all" approach was refined in terms of implementation details.

The STRAT knob, which originally controlled engine power modes, has been changed from allowing adjustment of engine output power to fine-tuning the car's battery strategy while locking the engine power.

It can now be understood that STRAT is in charge of a hybrid electric output strategy; while SOC is the opposite, which is the charging efficiency, with the higher the number, the higher the charging efficiency.

As for other things like throttle mapping, since they are locked and cannot be adjusted, it actually makes things much simpler for Shu Long, who doesn't like to rely too much on driver assistance features in racing cars. Once a basic benchmark is established, it can be left alone without being touched.

Another change Red Bull made this year that Shu Long really liked was that they put the water bottle in the front nose cone. This way, even in the latter half of the race, there's no need to worry about the energy drink in the bottle being heated by the engine and turning into a hot, strange-tasting sugary drink.

However, it was still a brand new race car. Until the first practice session when the clock stopped, Shu Long only had time to set a P8 lap time on the yellow tires. The rest of the time was spent adjusting the overall setup of the car to better suit his own habits from Perez's style.

While strong adaptability is desirable, why not make racing cars easier to drive and allow them to reach a higher potential?

Previously, she was limited by the overall performance of the race car, but now that she can finally drive a real Mars rover, she would feel bad for not giving Shulong a good beating after all the suffering she endured in Haas last year.

However, the training session had barely ended when it seemed that some people were already drawing conclusions about Shulong.

Gasly of Toro Rosso set the third-fastest lap time in practice, and even Perez, who was demoted to Toro Rosso, set the fifth-fastest lap time. In contrast, Shu Long, who was promoted to Red Bull, only managed the eighth-fastest lap time. Is that acceptable?

Many people believe that Shu Long will likely follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, while others think that Shu Long's victory in the Hungaroring was due to luck and a good Toro Rosso car, and that the value of the win is far less than that of Perez's Sakiz Grand Prix victory. They believe that Shu Long should regret going to Red Bull to drive a Panzi custom-tuned car now.

As a result, at the very beginning of the second practice session, Shu Long, who had already completed the initial adjustments to the car and started to explore its limits, pushed the lap time to 1:44.315. On the other hand, Verstappen crashed into the wall and broke the rear suspension when he tried to break Shu Long's lap time, and finally only managed to keep the time at 1:44.472.

What do you say now?
Is it specially prepared or not?

However, compared to the internal competition within Red Bull, as Horner said at a previous press conference, Toto, sitting in the Mercedes-Benz pit room on camera, looked extremely worried.

(End of this chapter)