F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 179 Home Field Feud
Verstappen pitted on lap 22, and after changing into white, he still had less than 50 laps left in the race. If we're being honest, it's entirely possible that he could finish the race with just one pit stop.

Currently, only Mick and Vettel are using white tires on the track. Mick's lap time is mostly around 1:22, which is not as good as his teammate Ma Zeping, who started on yellow tires and has been running ever since.

However, Ma Zeping's lap time was only around 1:21, so it's hard to say whether their slowness was due to a problem with the car or the tires.

Or he's just a complete novice, because this is too outrageous. His lap time is more than 5 seconds slower than the best players in the world. Even when Williams was at his lowest point a couple of years ago, he wasn't this bad.

只是维特尔的白胎长距离其实也说不上有多快，多数情况下都在1：16接近1：17，偶尔推上两圈也能开到1：15.2。

It can't compare to the current lap times of the yellow tires, and it's also true that Aston Martin's overall competitiveness this year isn't great.

Based solely on these two sets of data on the field, which are not very convincing, it is clearly not enough to support Red Bull's reason for letting Verstappen select the white tire.

Don't mention that white tire tests were conducted during practice races.

It has indeed been tested, and the data performed by the white tires is quite good; otherwise, most teams wouldn't have set the best race strategy as a red-white pit stop.

However, race cars can exhibit completely different performances under different conditions, such as with and without polluted air, and practice data can often only serve as a reference.

Harder tires do not necessarily mean more wear-resistant. If tire temperature is not properly managed during a race, overly hard tires are more prone to graininess than slightly softer tires.

So when Shu Long learned that Verstappen had chosen the white tire, he didn't feel anything particularly agitated.

Entering the pit a lap early already gave Shulong a significant advantage in seconds. If Verstappen continues to follow the same strategy, the best outcome will be simply maintaining his current position.

Therefore, if you want to achieve a surprising victory, you can only think of ways to do it strategically.

After coming out of the yellow tires, he pushed his lap time to 1:14.1 on lap 23. However, as he entered the dirty air zone of the cars that had not yet pitted, he reduced his lap time to 1:14.6 in order to manage tire consumption.

There are only 6 cars that have made a single stop so far, including Bottas, who are still sticking to their first stint. For many teams, completing the race with a single stop is still the best strategy.

However, this means that the tire wear of cars like Shu Long's, which entered the pits early, will be higher than initially expected due to the influence of a large amount of polluted air.

Verstappen's lap time on white tires is 1:15.3, faster than all other drivers currently using white tires, but still significantly slower than Shulung and Hamilton on yellow tires.

Starting from lap 27, cars that started on red tires began to pit one after another, and the first large-scale pit stop did not occur until lap 31.

但等到第42圈，束龙的黄胎即便在干净空气下随着油量的逐渐减轻也只能维持在1：14.2，而已经在他身后9秒的维斯塔潘却用着白胎将圈速推到1：13.8了。

Why aren't we going into the station yet?

"Max is 8.7 seconds behind you. The second timing segment is set to Mode 8. We need to keep going for another six laps."

"And what about Lewis?"

"He pitted on lap 39. Our only competitor this race is Max."

Mercedes' lap times declined significantly compared to Red Bull's. Except for a brief period between laps 25 and 29 when they were on par with the tire-saving Shulong, Mercedes quickly fell behind Shulong by about 0.6 laps after entering clean air.

After a quick mental calculation of the situation on the track, if Shulong could maintain his momentum for another six laps, he could loosen up his pace and push a little further, and the time difference between him and Verstappen should be kept below 7 seconds.

赞德沃特赛道的一次进站可以控制在18.5到19.3秒左右，哪怕换胎失误但只要在4秒内完成也就不到20秒的进站耗时，到时候束龙也只会落后维斯塔潘不到13秒而已。

After pitting, he only needs to continue for 24 more laps. He can easily keep going on the yellow tires, and even if Verstappen insists on finishing on the white tires, it won't pose much of a threat to him.

Moreover, with Hamilton's threat of a second stop and a yellow card, Verstappen's strategy might not necessarily stick to a single stop.

On lap 48, Shulong pitted for yellow.

Actually, this wasn't a brand new set of yellow tires. During the practice sessions, Shulong had opened two sets of yellow tires. One set was used for long-distance testing, and it was returned to Pirelli after the second practice session.

This set has been used in two qualifying simulations, and the total mileage before switching out was around 8 laps.

The initial goal was to compare the advantages of starting on red tires versus yellow tires. The conclusion was that red tires performed better, which is why all the teams capable of making it into Q3 did not use yellow tires for their flying laps in Q2.

The tires are in pretty good condition overall. After completing 27 laps with a brand new set of yellow tires, these tires, which look like they've been used for eight laps but are actually worn out about the same as they have been used for three or four laps, are more than enough.

However, Verstappen on the other side was not so free. His first substitution of white in the pit was not only to try to make up for the pit loss through strategic difference, but also because if he substituted yellow like Shu Long, he would soon fall into a complete tactical disadvantage.

Because he only kept a new yellow set for himself in the main competition.
Specifically, we need to start with the relationship between the number of tires remaining before the race.

Currently, Pirelli provides each car crew of all teams with 13 sets of dry tires per race week. Starting this year, the standard is two sets of white tires, three sets of yellow tires, and eight sets of red tires.

One set of red tires can only be used in Q3 and will be stored away for the main race, meaning that the team can only have 12 sets of tires at its disposal.

In fact, the difference in the focus of the race between Shulong and Verstappen was already evident from the pre-race tire allocation plan.

After three practice races, Shu Long returned six sets of tires to Pirelli: one set of old white tires, one set of old yellow tires, and four sets of old red tires. This means he only had four sets of new red tires left for himself in qualifying.

Because he was confident enough in the quality of his qualifying laps, he reserved one set for Q1, one set for Q2, and the remaining two sets for pole position in Q3.

Without the anxiety of whether they can advance to Q3, Shu Long is naturally more willing to leave some room for maneuver in the main tournament.

However, he was a bit unlucky in this game, with two Williams cars disrupting his game one after another, forcing Shulong to use up two new red sets in Q2, which made his Q3 a bit tight.

Verstappen is clearly an extreme adventurer. After confirming the advantage of the red-white pit stop in practice, he put all his eggs in one basket in qualifying, submitting one set of white, two sets of yellow, and three sets of red tires out of the six sets he submitted.

Especially at home, Max wants to play fast from start to finish, but when unexpected situations arise on the field, it's now Verstappen's turn to be a bit overwhelmed.

If he chooses the yellow tire for his first stop, then no matter how much tire wear occurs or the situation changes, he can only try to hold on until he can switch to the red tire for his second stop and finish the race.

It can't be said that Verstappen's idea was wrong. In the years when Red Bull was still chasing Mercedes, he was able to squeeze a few championships out of Mercedes by taking such extreme measures.

Both are manifestations of extreme self-confidence. If Shulong is confident enough to leave himself some leeway, then Verstappen is confident enough that he doesn't need to leave himself any leeway.

Verstappen's previous performance can be described as that of a lone knight charging into battle as a challenger, because he had nothing to lose, which is why he dared to take such a gamble.

He is a powerful individual with the potential to become a king, but he has not yet become a king.

The strong may win for a time, but a king must ensure that he can win indefinitely.

When he and Shu Long, as teammates, began to go head-to-head, Shu Long's strategy was clearly superior. On lap 60, Shu Long, who had made an extra pit stop, finally closed the gap to Verstappen once again after a relentless chase.

As a driver capable of competing for the world championship, one must be very well-rounded in terms of ability, and there must be no obvious weaknesses in either the limit of a single lap or the ability to maintain the tire over a long distance.

回到干净空气中成为领跑位的维斯塔潘，即便现在车上装载的仍是一套里程接近40圈的老爷爷级白胎，却依然能将轻油赛车的圈速维持在1：13.9到1：14.0之间。

The problem is that the average lap time of the Shulong yellow tire has already entered the range of 1:12 seconds.

The nearly one-second difference meant that the opponent had no chance to defend. Even though Verstappen tried to ignore the team's instructions and hold his position, Shulong, with his faster acceleration out of the corner, easily passed him on the starting straight of lap 61 using DRS.

With only eleven laps left in the race, the outcome was virtually certain unless a yellow or red flag appeared.

This doesn't mean the teams on the track have nothing to do. Watching the Shulong team, now back in clean air, start breaking the purple lap record lap after lap, Mercedes clearly had some other ideas.

After the rain-soaked main draw match in Belgium where points were discounted, Hamilton currently has 198 points, while Verstappen has 196 points.

Based on their current positions of P3 and P2 respectively, Verstappen will overtake Hamilton by exactly one point after this match.

Even one point is still a point! Especially in such a close race for the championship!
Hamilton's rookie season ended in a narrow defeat by just one point to Kimi, who had already announced his retirement the following year. Alonso, on the other hand, missed out on several world championships that should have been his by a mere 1, 3, and 4 point margins.

Therefore, Mercedes is determined to win the point for the fastest lap in this race!

The problem isn't ensuring that Verstappen, who is already 8 seconds ahead of Hamilton, won't get involved in the battle for this point, but rather figuring out how to persuade Bottas, who is currently only about 10 seconds behind Hamilton, to give way.

Third and fourth place may seem like just a difference of one place up or down, but in reality, it's a matter of qualifying for the podium.

In the past, we could at least use our seats to control Bottas, but now that Bottas has an escape route and is no longer willing to play with us, it's hard to say whether he will still dutifully fulfill his duties as the number 2 driver.

However, Mercedes, a team that also boasts seven consecutive championships and has produced two world champions, is not to be underestimated. So, on lap 67, they began calling Bottas to pit.

"Valtley, we need you to compete for the fastest lap points, it's very important for our team championship standings!"

"Who is behind me right now? How far away are they?"

“It’s Gasly, he’s 41 seconds behind you.”

"Fine! Copy!"

An extra point plus the fastest lap in the race would also earn Bottas an extra bonus, and the team championship would also enhance his resume. After thinking about it, there seemed to be no better choice, so Bottas naturally couldn't come up with a reason to refuse.

Everything seemed fine until now, and the car had just been fitted with tires and left the pits when the engineer suddenly told him not to attempt the fastest lap.

?

Having a good temper doesn't mean being stupid. If Bottas doesn't realize this soon and is being used as a tool again, then all those years in the paddock have been for nothing!
Recalling the grievances he had suffered at Mercedes over the years, Bottas was suddenly filled with malice. After a lap of warm-up and charging, he ignored the race engineer's advice and started pushing hard on the next lap.

After getting purple in two consecutive timed segments, Bottas heard that voice he least wanted to hear again in his headset.

“Valtterti, It's James”

A commoner gets angry, and then he gets angry for a moment.

Having been manipulated by the team for so many years, Bottas wasn't someone who could be easily made to act tough. After hesitating and weighing his options for a long time, he finally lifted off the throttle just before crossing the finish line.

With three timing segments in purple, purple, and yellow, Hamilton undoubtedly set the fastest lap record for the entire race, but he still left plenty of room for his next move.

"I was just joking around."

"I understand, it was indeed a very good lap."

They hit me with a stick and then gave me a sweet treat, but the treat was rather perfunctory, and the treat wasn't even that sweet.

Being this pathetic is a whole new level of cowardice. Even Bottas himself was laughing in exasperation under his helmet. The helplessness of a middle-aged man was vividly displayed in him.

He clearly intended to use this opportunity to show off against the team, but unexpectedly, he performed the job of a second driver even better than originally planned, proving himself to be a natural wingman.

Mercedes' original strategy was pretty much a done deal. Since they were determined to make way for Hamilton, they simply let Verstappen follow up, and whoever got the fastest lap time would have to rely on their own abilities.

However, Bottas has already secured the fastest lap, and if Verstappen pits but Hamilton doesn't, it would be like giving up a P2 position for nothing.

Unfortunately, Verstappen's white tires and extra-long stints didn't allow him enough window of opportunity.

By lap 70, Verstappen, who had just passed the pit lane entrance, didn't dare to pit and could only watch helplessly as Liu, the old man, happily pitted to change his red card.

Red Bull's move was a bit of a miscalculation; they can only hope to build up some power in the TR and perhaps even have a chance to pull off a comeback.

Although Hamilton had the strategic advantage, in order to block Verstappen's pit stop window, he only had one lap left to set the fastest lap. No one could guarantee that he wouldn't make a mistake on the last lap.
If Hamilton goes too far out of bounds, Bottas's 1:12.549 time doesn't seem like a hopeless gamble.

Ultimately, it was a bit of a stretch; Verstappen's 50 laps on white tires offered virtually no hope, only a time of 1:13.615.

Shu Long hadn't considered leaving himself an extra lap time, and despite his best efforts, he could only manage a time of 1:12.896. He barely managed to cross the finish line and compensate for his slight disappointment with the championship.

"A well-deserved champion! You are the man!"

"Yeah—thank you all for your support! It was a fantastic match, a really exciting contest! Just a little sad that I missed out on some prize money."

Even Horner couldn't stand it this time, and he entered the chat channel, laughing and cursing, "Bastard!"

A single championship not only comes with an extra $100,000 reward, but the points alone are worth millions. Why are you agonizing over that tiny bit of progress in the fastest lap?
Unfortunately, aside from the congratulations from the commentators and the team, the presence of Dutch fans made Shulong's championship win feel rather unreal.

Not only him, even Alonso was complaining when he was back in the ring.

"I bet Max won the championship? There's orange smoke everywhere, I can't see anything!"

"No, P1 is Shu."

"Wow~ I think I've found a reason to make him treat me to dinner."

(End of this chapter)