F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 174 True. A Massive Slaughter
"The track is terrible, and the tires are already running low on water displacement."

"Is it possible to perform a flight circle?"

"I can barely keep up, but I expect there will be a lot of drama in this qualifying session, and there's a high chance of a red flag."

"But there's no news from the race organizers yet. If possible, we'll prioritize protecting the race car."

“Copy.”

While the five stars were debating the pole position situation, Shu Long was communicating with his race engineer, Reni, about the track conditions, while warming up his tires about half a lap behind Norris.

Protecting the race car is a high priority because once you're in Q3, even if you're slow, you'll still be in the top ten.

If a team crashes and retires from the race without achieving a good time, they will almost certainly violate the rule that cars cannot be adjusted after qualifying in order to make repairs, and will inevitably be penalized with a starting position penalty, which would be a huge loss.

So even though Norris is currently ranked P10, depending on the maintenance, adjustments, and parts replacements, he could be relegated to 15th or lower starting tomorrow.

It can run now, but no one can guarantee what lap time it will achieve.

The limits of racing are very vague, and the dynamic fluctuations are huge, which means that drivers either have to play it safe and hold back, or they have to keep correcting and making corrections, or even make mistakes and crash.

Of course, Shulong has an advantage over others in this regard. Most riders judge the grip in the rain based on their experience.

Because this person possesses the complementary attributes of "friction control" and "photographic memory," he has a real-time updated and detailed data table in his mind regarding the grip limit of a racing car.

But at this moment, no matter how sensitive you are to grip, it won't help.

The rain is really heavy right now, and the visibility is almost zero. The water droplets that keep spreading and rolling on the surface of the goggles turn everything into distorted patches of light. If it weren't for the fact that F1 drivers are very familiar with the track layout, it would be impossible to race at all.

Moreover, the water accumulation on the track surface is extremely difficult to manage. The complex conditions with varying depths make it hard for even Shulong to avoid hydroplaning, making it difficult to achieve a truly "effective lap time".

Of course, speed is always a relative concept. As long as you are a little faster than your competitors, it doesn't really matter how slow your actual lap time is.

Using wet tires for qualifying in the rain is different from using semi-wet tires. No matter what you do, the track surface conditions will only get worse, so it's better to set a lap time at the beginning of the race before the water gets too bad.

So Shulong Q3 came out of the pit very early, in third place overall, and now he is waiting for Vettel ahead of him to create enough distance.

It's not just about lap times and visibility, but also about overall safety.

Given the current track conditions, it's impossible to predict when someone ahead might make a mistake, and if the car behind follows too closely, it could easily lead to a secondary accident due to the inability to react in time.

Just before the race, everyone had placed flowers for Huber on the side of the track near El Rog Bend, and I believe no one wanted to see a similar tragedy happen again.

"Norris has officially started his flight circle, and Vettel is 20 seconds behind him preparing, so he can slow down the pace a little."

What comes after me?

“Russell was 13 seconds behind you, and he was waiting too.”

After mentally estimating the approximate distance between the front and rear vehicles, Shu Long glanced at the tire temperature data displayed on the steering wheel panel and then did not continue with the tire warming process.

A short while later, René's voice came through the TR again:
"Vettel, accelerate! Get ready, your tire temperature is a little low. No waiting! Red flag!"

Actually, without Reni's notification, Shulong saw the traffic lights on the side of the track flashing red almost simultaneously, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Based on the time difference information just reported by René, Shulong roughly located all the drivers with information on the track in his mental track model.

"Is that Lando?"

"That's right, at Elrog Bend, a very serious collision."

Unsurprisingly.

The Erling Corner, which can be taken without hesitation on dry ground, presents a challenge for F1 cars not in terms of safely navigating it, but in ensuring they maintain the correct line at top speed when all they can see is the sky.

This is a very high-speed blind corner. The extreme elevation difference will give the driver a very strong sensory experience, while the unknown situation ahead will instill an indescribable fear in the driver's mind.

When the road surface becomes extremely slippery, in addition to having the courage to overcome instinctive hesitation and fear, one must also learn how to make the right choices.

It's not about being a coward and slowly gliding through the corners, but about ensuring the car stays within a controllable limit by precisely adjusting the throttle opening in the corners.

Luck may often be a reward bestowed by the gods upon the brave, but you cannot expect the gods to always be watching over you. Once all that remains in your heart is courage, and you no longer know reverence...
Perhaps surviving is already the greatest fortune?

"How is he? He should be alright, right?"

"I'm not sure. Vettel is nearby checking the situation. He seems alright; Norris has already removed the steering wheel and jumped out himself. Remember to pull into the pit!"

René didn't forget to emphasize in the TR that he was afraid Shu Long might also drive over to join the fun while Hongqi was in power.

Besides Renee, several other five-star members also breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

They were just discussing Norris's extreme line control in the rain, which resembled e-sports racing. They had also seen a similar driving style in the dry practice session in Shulong on Friday, and they were saying that today's young drivers are indeed very different from the older generation of drivers.

Just as Fei Ge exclaimed, "Norris is in really good form; he's going to dominate today," an orange McLaren race car, driving a Noxus Q, appeared from behind the trees in the aerial footage.
Why use "slaughtering all sides" when there are no other adjectives to choose?

Did you write an application for Darius?

Fortunately, Norris was the first to create the flying circle. Just think about all the buffs they gave to the dragon in the beginning. If that curse had ended up affecting their own people, the consequences would have been chilling.

After this incident, they seemed to have made up their minds not to speak recklessly again until the competition was over.

The red flag lasted for a long time, more than fifty minutes, almost an hour. Besides waiting for the rain to subside, Norris's mess on the track was also difficult to clean up.

Norris not only left a lot of carbon fiber debris on the track, but also leaked racing fluid all over the place. The mechanics had to spread sand on it to absorb the fluid, and then clean the sand off again, repeating the same process several times.

It's tedious, but necessary.

"Okay, after a long period of cleaning and repair, the rain has gradually stopped, and we have finally received the notification that the maintenance area access will be reopened."

"I believe Norris's accident has served as a wake-up call for everyone. There are 8 minutes and 52 seconds left in Q3. We can see that Shulong is already waiting in the first position, but why is he still wearing half-rain tires?"

"Verstappen is coming out of the pit lane too, he's also on half-weather tires! Red Bull dual tires? Isn't that a bit too risky?!"

"But I believe the team and drivers have their own considerations, and they must have plenty of confidence in themselves."

Before Fei Ge could finish speaking, the other two, who had just witnessed his jinxing power, quickly coughed a few times to interrupt him.

"In short, every driver must pay attention to safety!"

In fact, it wasn't just Red Bull; every other race car opted for the semi-wet tire configuration.

The situation at this point was similar to that before Q1, perhaps slightly wetter, but the track surface temperature had actually risen. Driving on semi-wet tires might be a bit riskier, but lap times would undoubtedly be significantly better than on full-wet tires.

Regardless of Norris's accident, no driver who has reached the highest stage of Formula 1 racing would completely sacrifice speed for safety.

In the blink of an eye, Shu Long's first flight circle had officially started. The five-star studio dared not make any comments anymore, but watching as Hamilton turned each of Shu Long's three purple shards into green ones, they couldn't help but sigh in unison.

"The problem is with the racing line! Every lap now is definitely faster than the last lap."

"Oh? Look, Verstappen has taken Hamilton's purple again. And his training style is actually more advantageous in the second stage. He should be able to get purple in the second stage as well, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

Then Verstappen racked up two green stats.
Overall, his lap time is 0.052 seconds faster than Shulong's, currently placing him in P2 overall, while Shulong is in P3.
The soldier who couldn't help but blurt out just now got glared at by the other two. In short, when Shulong starts doing lap times later, you absolutely must hold back!

After completing the first flight lap, most people did not choose to pit, but stayed on the track to recharge and prepare for the next flight lap.

The current situation is that Hamilton and the two Red Bulls are battling for the top three spots, with very close second differences between them. Bottas, who is further down the pack, is more than a second slower.

While track conditions may evolve, a driver's ability in the rain is indeed a very important indicator.

However, before the first charging round was over, Shu Long glanced at the remaining time in Q3 and asked the team for another pit stop.

"To be honest, I don't recommend you enter the station now. Entering now might mean you miss the final lap."

"Don't worry, I know it."

That same phrase again. René took a deep breath and, still rubbing his forehead, directed the crew to prepare the new tire.

"OK, Boxbox!"

There's a reason why no one is pitting, especially on a track like Spa, where each lap is very long. A single flight lap takes about 2 minutes, and a warm-up lap takes about 2 minutes and 15 seconds to 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

Taking into account factors such as waiting for the window, the ten minutes in Q3 is actually just enough time to complete about two sets of flight laps.

With the red flag from Norris just now interrupting the race, Q3 only had about nine minutes left, which, with one stop and an extra tire warm-up, makes it questionable whether it can even cross the line before the clock stops.

Fortunately, Shu Long had an advantage that no one else had: he was the first to perform the flying circle in this section.

"There are 2 minutes and 06 seconds left in the race. You need to run this warm-up lap really, really fast, buddy!"

"Copy!"

Everyone knows that under these conditions, the later someone sets a lap time, the more advantageous they are. However, Shulong, who waited until everyone had completed their rounds before leaving the pits in Q1, was the first to go up in Q3 this round, and even Verstappen's No. 1 crew had no objections.

Why not volunteer to be the second car and go onto the track first to drain the water?

But from the very beginning, Shulong was aiming for this very moment!
"What the heck?! Russell got two purple stats! He was almost a second faster than Hamilton in the first two moments!"

"Oh no, Hamilton is also updating his lap times. His second lap is a little behind Russell's."

"Hiss—but he turned green in the first section! That shouldn't be the case, right? Aren't the track conditions constantly improving?"

Thankfully, Hamilton's second play removed Russell's purple shards, otherwise some people might have gone to a temple to have their fortunes told after get off work today.

Not long after, Hamilton's second-tier purple item was snatched away by Verstappen before he could even enjoy it.

However, even Verstappen, who started his second flight lap last among the three, still had a green time in his first timeout, which means that Russell's first timeout still holds the current fastest lap time.

"Oh my god, no way? Russell is going for pole position!"

Perhaps even the most jinxed predictions have a cooldown; this time, at least it didn't come true.
2：00.086，即便汉密尔顿也将自己的最好成绩提升了1.4秒，这位明年已经预订了梅赛德斯另一个席位的年轻车手依旧以0.013的微弱优势拿下了目前P1的位置。

That's Williams!
Anyone in this situation would find it hard to accept such a reality.
However, Williams seems to have found a sweet spot in the tuning that is quite suitable for rainy conditions this weekend. From being completely at the bottom at the beginning to suddenly almost getting into the Q3 along with Latifi, even Williams himself probably did not expect the current situation.

With less than 10 seconds remaining until Q3's clock stopped, it was impossible for Hamilton to get a third push lap, except for drivers who hadn't yet updated their second-round times.

"Verstappen! How's the situation on Verstappen's side?"

“Oh, no problem, no problem. His first two runs combined are much faster than Russell's, so he should be able to get pole position.”

There's definitely no problem.

With three green, purple, and green sections, Verstappen's low-resistance setup indeed gave him a significant speed advantage in the second timing section, ruthlessly extinguishing Williams' dream of winning the pistol in the ground-based group with a time of 1:59.765.

"Uh, the question is, what about Shulong?"

"Oh yeah, how did he end up in P6?! Did he make a mistake just now?"

"No, no, I don't remember his score being updated yet. I think I just heard TR say he was entering the station. Could it be that he didn't make it across the line in time?"

It seems quite possible.
A glance at the glaring red 0:00 on the Q3 timer board sent a chill down the spines of both the commentator and the viewers.

Especially with Gasly and Ricardo updating their scores to P6 and P4 respectively, Shulong was pushed all the way down to P8, only slightly faster than Okang and Norris, who was sidelined with a Q3 injury.

That's it. Red Bull's first game back was a complete defeat by his teammates, losing by a margin of 7 places. They're probably going to get a lot of flak for this.

"Wait a minute, something's not right! There's no checkered flag next to Shu Long's name yet!"

It has to be the young Ran who has sharp eyes. When the three real-time lap times belonging to Ocon, Gasly, and Ricciardo at the bottom of the screen were moved aside, a small black frame with a purple "8 Shu 69" and a half-weather tire logo was finally raised.

In an extremely tight timeframe, Shulong barely grazed the stop mark of the Q3's timer.

No one dared to be as arrogant as him. If he had been half a second slower, he would have had to start from P8 tomorrow. However, thanks to this heart-pounding performance, Shulong was now in a very favorable position to advance.

The broadcast provided an unusual camera angle, which came from a miniature camera inside the helmet. Except for being slightly to the left, it was the best shot available to capture the driver's first-person perspective.

At that moment, Shulong was coming out of Turn 6 and connecting to Turn 7. The commentators held their breath and stopped talking. Then they watched as Shulong slightly touched the apex of Turn 7 and spun out onto the outer shoulder.

"Oh my god"

"Shh!!!" x2
This is a wetland! How can you eat like that on the roadside?!

From Turn 6 to Turn 14, the entire course consists of a series of intense, high-speed curves. Although the first-person perspective footage is of average quality, it is incredibly immersive. Listening to the faint breathing sounds of Shu Long, everyone even forgot that they needed to breathe too.

Two purple tiers!
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, no one would have believed that this was a track for rainy roads. After several mistakes, Hamilton had only dared to keep his distance from the shoulder.

Unfortunately, the battery was slightly depleted earlier in order to save time, which resulted in a slight lack of power in the high-acceleration corners of the third time slot. However, the player still managed to reach P1 with a time of 1:59.633.
"Guess where you are, buddy?"

"I bet Max's going to treat us."

(End of this chapter)