F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 188 Reciprocity

With a dragon blocking their way ahead, Red Bull, after observing Hamilton's lap time after exiting the pits, devised an ultimate late pit stop strategy for Verstappen.

It wasn't until lap 34 that the Red Bull No. 1 car, which had already reduced its time to around 11 seconds, was called in to complete its first stop.

After exiting the pits, he dropped to P7, but it was clear that with only 19 laps left in the race, the white tires had no chance of competing with the yellow tires in terms of lap times.

But if that's all there is to it, then all the hard work Shu Long put in before the game would only result in Verstappen narrowing the gap in points.

Although Red Bull is already very satisfied with this, if they can't help Max quickly establish a lead in the championship race, then in the future, they will likely have to make off-field arrangements that could affect his game rhythm.

After lap 42, having already assessed the condition of his tires, Shu Long began to try to improve his fastest lap by using the slipstream from the lapped cars and his DRS.

Fortunately, Red Bull did not try to persuade Shulong to give the point to Verstappen, just as Mercedes had tried to stop Bottas.

It's not that the team is particularly conscientious; for points that won't affect the final standings, even if the team gives the bonus for that point to Shulong, normally they would try to get Verstappen to receive it.

The problem is that Verstappen himself is now stuck in traffic.

The fact that they were able to overtake others so easily at the start was not only due to technical reasons, but also because the Earth group was simply too slow.

But once Verstappen officially returned to the front row, it wasn't so easy for him to overtake those cars that were actually very competitive in terms of long-distance lap times.

And the one currently holding Verstappen back is his former Red Bull teammate, Ricardo.

On the other hand, Sainz struggled with his lap times. His early pit stop had left his white tires severely worn, and he was mercilessly overtaken by Hamilton on lap 37.

The good news is that Hamilton is now more than ten seconds behind Norris, and based on their current lap times and the remaining race distance, Mercedes' best result today is P3.

The bad news is that Hamilton now has a clean air window of more than ten seconds, so if Shu Long doesn't break that fastest lap record, Hamilton will ultimately be the one who benefits.

Don't forget that Shulong's white tires were almost five laps older than Hamilton's, and they had accompanied the old man through more than three laps of intense use. By the end of the race, when everyone's fuel levels were low, it was uncertain whether he could keep the fastest lap.

So Red Bull not only didn't ask Shulong to give up points, but instead encouraged him to seize the time while the tires were still good and improve his lap time.

However, things changed on lap 44.

After crossing the finish line, Shu Long successfully updated the current fastest lap time to 1:37.218. Just as he lowered his eyes slightly to check the data on the steering wheel, a drop of liquid that should never have appeared flew onto his goggles.

"It looks like it's starting to rain on the track. How many laps are left in the race?"

"Nine laps to go."

"What did the weather forecast say? Will I be able to finish the race on white tires?"

"Not very optimistic."

Shulong also felt that things were not very optimistic. At first, there were only a few drops of water that were quickly blown away by the airflow. After just one circle, the things in his vision began to be distorted due to refraction.

At times like this, the team definitely receives more information than the driver, but given Shulong's past performance in rain races, René still asked a question tentatively first.

"Box?"

"Yeah—Box!"

Shu Long's decisive action was somewhat unexpected. Generally, these drivers who excel in rain racing have a competitive spirit and will try to challenge themselves as long as they feel they can still run.

Mercedes also consulted Hamilton, and his response was that he could stay on the track and race.

Without much hesitation, the strategy team waved their hand and instructed the tire changers to quickly prepare two sets of tires, as they were going to bring two cars into the station!

Hmm. A very spacious double-car entry.

In fact, Verstappen's response was that dry tires are fine, but after passing Ricciardo, yellow tires are where they really shine. If you want to pit at this point, it feels like you'll lose money no matter how you look at it.

However, from the team's perspective, regardless of whether Shu Long's judgment is correct or not, Verstappen may suffer a small loss by pitting now, but if he makes a profit, it will definitely be a big profit!

The weather forecast indicates that this is not a rainfall event that will end in a short time; however, the amount of rainfall is difficult to assess.

The difference isn't actually that big; it just means entering the race two laps earlier if the rain is heavy, and two laps later if the rain is light. You'll have to enter eventually anyway.
Rain presents an opportunity for any team trying to climb the rankings.

Verstappen of Red Bull is like that, and so is Hamilton of Mercedes. Perhaps this will be a high-stakes gamble that will determine the outcome of the entire game.

The only variable on the field right now is that Shu Long, who has just switched to half-rain tires and is now in front of Hamilton again.
This time it really was just a coincidence.

Of course, dry tires can run, and even Mick and Ma Zeping are able to stay on the track. With a huge lead, Shulong has no reason to rush into any tactical changes.

Shu Long agreed to pit immediately because he found that the tires' grip was already at its limit in several corners.

If you don't believe me, look at Hamilton's lap time when he crossed the finish line just now; it was 1:42.685.

It sounds like it's quite a bit slower than Shulong's current fastest lap in the main race, right?
It is indeed quite different, but it shouldn't be this much different!

In the previous lap, eight cars managed to keep their lap times under 1 minute and 40 seconds. However, just one lap later, their lap times dropped by three to four seconds. But this doesn't necessarily mean that the teams that kept their tires dry made a mistake.

It's not true that wet tires will always be faster than dry tires when there's rain on the track.

Just like in Saturday's qualifying session, the dry tires struggled a bit on the track, but their lap times were more than two seconds faster than the seemingly stable wet tires.

While semi-weather tires have strong water drainage capabilities, their compound, which is even softer than the softest C5 red tire, means they are also particularly prone to overheating and wear.

If the wrong compound is chosen at the wrong time, it may only take one or two laps to completely ruin a brand new set of semi-weather tires.

Now, determining who is right and who is wrong may depend on this second clash between Shulong and Hamilton, and which side will prevail.

But did they actually clash?
Shu Long could swear on his chest, "Friction Control," that his decision to enter the station this time was not to cause Hamilton any trouble.

The straight after Turn 1 is still in the absolute advantage range for dry tires. When we saw Hamilton right in front of the exiting pit laner, the Mercedes pit lane almost popped champagne ahead of time.

Shu Long didn't deliberately rush to compete with Hamilton for position, but on the next super long high-speed corner, No. 3, Hamilton could only watch in despair as the yellow T-frame Red Bull No. 2 car next to him easily passed him from the outside with an arrogant line.

There is no such thing as a grueling battle; the moment the strategy is wrong, there is only slaughter on the track.

After Turn 7, Hamilton was no longer visible in the rearview mirror, as there was no valid lap time available for reference due to it being the exit lap.

Hamilton also opted to pit for the next lap, so we won't see his final lap time.

But at the very last moment before he turned into the pit lane, the timer for the previous lap had already jumped to 1:52, and even at this crucial moment, Mercedes gave the veteran a 3.6-second tire change.
The Red Bull mechanics who practiced their pit stops with the slack tires earlier did indeed give Verstappen the fastest tire change of the game, at 2.1 seconds.

However, given that a misjudgment resulted in a lap time of at least 12 seconds, the fact that he was only two seconds slower changing tires seemed insignificant, as Verstappen had already moved up to P3, and shortly after, he moved up to P2. It wasn't that Verstappen successfully overtook; the person in front of him simply went off the track and ended up stumbling and scrambling into the pits.

Hamilton wasn't the only one who lost the bet; Norris did too.

McLaren's current P2 position is incredibly tempting, especially considering they are 12 seconds ahead of Hamilton in P3, which is a very subtle gap.

With less than five laps left in the race, the lead was actually larger than expected.

If Hamilton chooses to pit, as long as the rain doesn't get too bad, a gap of more than 30 seconds doesn't seem like something that can be closed in just a few laps.

If Hamilton doesn't pit, and both players have dry tires, then there's naturally no need to worry.

At the same time, this lead wasn't big enough to give Mercedes a pit stop window, so McLaren wasn't willing to gamble on Hamilton not pitting.

As for how pitiful they are now.

Let's be optimistic, at least we're still in the points zone, right?

Mercedes' reaction wasn't actually slow; most teams didn't start asking their drivers for feedback until lap 48, so Mercedes' pitting on lap 47 was relatively quick.

There were even a few more stubborn cars at the entrance to the points zone, some of which only pitted after 50 laps because they simply couldn't keep up.

However, Red Bull's reaction was too quick, or rather, Shu Long's perception of changes in track conditions was too acute.

It's just a matter of going around once in the morning and once in the evening, yet it has resulted in two completely different outcomes.

Bring back one and two!

It was a truly miraculous result. When the two cars crossed the finish line together, the excitement of the Red Bull team was unmistakable, as if they had already secured the annual drivers' championship.

Starting from P20 at the end, who would have thought that they would eventually make it to P2 and cross the finish line?

The most optimistic estimate before the game was to keep Verstappen's deficit to within 7 points, but now they are leading by 4 points. It can be said that Shu Long, who scored a total of 26 points in this game, played more than 70% of the decisive role.

"Come here! You brat!"

Shu Long had just leaped into the jubilant wall of Red Bulls when Horna pulled him over and hugged him tightly, planting a kiss on the helmet's visor.

Uh ah~
The sudden appearance of the old chrysanthemum in front of him almost made Shu Long vomit up his dinner from the night before. He wished he could tear off the protective film and throw it away immediately. However, when he saw Marco clapping reservedly to the side, he suddenly changed his mind and hugged him very enthusiastically.

"Well done! You did an excellent job!"

"Want a kiss as a reward?"

"Huh? No, no, no! I have absolutely no intention of kissing Christian in any way!"

Ok.

It's a pity, I missed collecting one stamp.
By the way, if you signed your name and added a note like "A message of love from the team leader" next to the lip print, wouldn't that lip print be very popular among car enthusiasts?

Before Shu Long could have a chance to think further, and before he could escape from his teammates' clutches, another excited figure jumped into the crowd.

The more frustrated Verstappen was when the team forced him to switch to semi-wet tires, the more excited he is now with this P2 result.

Max hugged each of them without missing a single one, and soon his attention turned to Shulong. He turned around and gave him another bear hug.

Although the two never met on the track during the race, Verstappen could guess about 80% of what his teammates had done based on TR's few words.

It truly takes "any help except for letting the car pass" to the extreme.

"Consider this a debt I owe you. Don't treat me to dinner again. How about I take you to see a football match next time?"

"Okay?"

To be honest, Shu Long has limited interest in football. He can be considered the kind of fan who follows the trend, only joining in the fun during the World Cup which comes around every four years.

However, the football atmosphere in Europe is truly remarkable. Even though Shu Long doesn't have a particular favorite team, the celebratory atmosphere around him can keep him in a good mood for quite some time.

After finishing the interview and carrying his helmet, Shu Long was on his way to the waiting room to wait for the awards ceremony when he suddenly slapped his forehead and realized that he seemed to have forgotten something very important after the competition!

"More than football, I actually have one small request now."

Hamilton was sitting alone on the sofa, sighing silently, thinking that he might have to endure the double-teaming and pressure from the two Red Bulls in every game of the second half of the season, which was a bit unsettling.

Then, seeing Verstappen come in looking more dejected than if he hadn't won, I couldn't help but let out a rather infectious laugh.

"Why don't you smile?"

Verstappen did not answer, and after the match he did not return to his home in Monaco. Instead, he went with the team to the factory in Milton Keynes to quietly start playing.

The next race will be at Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey in two weeks. The upgrades implemented on the Shulong car this week will also be implemented on Verstappen's car. Shulong's previous suggestion cannot be taken lightly.

Verstappen's main objective was to get used to the car in advance through the simulator, while Shu Long didn't have many demanding tasks.

With the advent of the budget cap era, the upgrade direction of each team throughout the year is relatively uniform, because there is not much cost to be spent on trial and error.

Comparatively speaking, the driver simulator tasks for each team will be much lighter. Apart from the large amount of trial and error elimination that the team will do at the beginning of the season, their main task in the later stages is to help test the upgrade results of the R&D team and experiment with tuning schemes for new tracks.

So, aside from the first three days, while Verstappen was still struggling with the simulator, Shu Long was holed up in his apartment, being dragged along by Norris to stream Fall Guys for several days.
Upgrading the race car is a minor matter; Red Bull has another more noteworthy move this week.

That is to commemorate and thank Honda for its contributions to Red Bull's development over the years. Red Bull will launch the white bull livery originally designed for the Japanese Grand Prix at the next race.

It's worth noting that the last time Red Bull used the "White Bull" livery was in 2008 when David Coulthard used the "Wings of Life" livery in his retirement race at the Brazilian Grand Prix. It has to be said that this color scheme really looks good on Red Bull race cars.

Unfortunately, Suzuka Circuit cancelled the race mid-season due to the pandemic, so the team had to hold this commemorative event at Istanbul Park Circuit, which replaced the Japanese Grand Prix on the race calendar.

To this end, Shu Long and his team specially set aside a lot of time to film a commemorative video of the event. In one scene, he and Verstappen said "Thank you, Honda!" in Japanese.

In addition, there were reports before the match that gave Verstappen a slight sense of relief.

Mercedes' rocket engines have recently been plagued by reliability issues, and the difficulty in overtaking Martin in Sochi is likely related to this. Hamilton may need to replace the power unit with a fourth one for the Turkish Grand Prix.

It's not that it's beneficial for him to continue his title aspirations, but rather that during the pre-race tactical meeting, Horner suggested that Shulong consider whether to also change to the fourth power unit of the season at this race.

(End of this chapter)