F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 194 Kimi is a contagious disease

"That's utterly awful! What on earth is he thinking?"

"I don't understand either! Wouldn't it be more profitable for him to first oust Hamilton and then let Shu Long take the spot, guaranteeing him at least ten more points?"

"Putting all that aside, Shu Long helped him so many times as a teammate before, isn't it a bit strange for him to be focusing on his teammate now?"

The three brothers on the rooftop had righteous indignation written all over their faces, denouncing the incomprehensible scene that had just unfolded.

Now look what's happened. What was originally a great opportunity to extend their lead in the championship race to 22 points has been ruined by Verstappen's questionable actions, and they might even be caught up by ten points.

The key issue is that he also offended his teammates. Did he think that two against one wasn't exciting enough and insisted on playing one against two?

Oh wait, when Bottas comes up, it might still be a one-against-three situation.

genius!

Not to mention these three, even the commentators from both China and the English-language commentary team found it very difficult to understand. It seemed like Verstappen had completely lost his mind and didn't understand who he was competing against for the championship.

Even if you were to ask Verstappen now what he was thinking back then, he probably wouldn't be able to give a very specific answer.

It was probably at the moment when the five red lights went out that Verstappen subconsciously felt that the threat posed by Shulong was far greater than that of Mercedes beside him.

But you can't value your teammates while simultaneously underestimating the seven-time champions' abilities; trying to have it all will only result in getting nothing in the end.

The drivers on the track can still focus on their driving and not let their minds wander. Red Bull's management and strategy team is the one with the biggest headache, because their job is to help the drivers figure out the situation on the track. Now, their headaches are compounded.

Given the current situation, it's clearly impossible to expect Shulong to cooperate with the team's tactics. If Hamilton wins the championship, the point difference will narrow to 2 points again, which is obviously unacceptable to the team.

The most urgent task now is to get Shu Long to take down Hamilton, which will narrow the gap to 3 points. Then we can see if we can find a way to get Verstappen into a better position.

For example—undercut?

Before the strategy team could make a decision, the enthusiastic fans in the main grandstand started shouting in unison, reminding the three people on the rooftop across the street that the main event was about to begin.

The race had progressed to lap 5. Shu Long, who had been maintaining a restrained approach, finally caught Hamilton's slight understeer at Turn 20 and quickly closed in. On the main straight, Shu Long activated the first DRS of the race, pulling towards the inside and braking late.

Hamilton is clearly much more clear-headed than Verstappen, knowing that the costs of a head-on confrontation between the two are completely unequal.

After seeing Shulong's actions in his rearview mirror, Hamilton did not choose to block the line directly. Instead, he moved to the outside and braked earlier, allowing Shulong to pass and then cut inside the corner at a higher speed, preparing to try and cross the line out of the corner.

The rapid downshifting sound was like a giant iron hammer being swung around, each strike making one's heart tremble.

The tension, with nowhere to go, made Lao Li unconsciously bite his tongue, wishing he could make a "click-click" sound with the camera in his hand.

"We absolutely have to beat them!"

The viewing angle from this spot isn't as good as the rooftop of the Paddock Club at the Shanghai International Circuit, but at least you can get a relatively clear view of the entire main straight all the way to Turn 2.

The fight, especially at Turn 1, practically took place right under the noses of the rooftop trio.

Shulong's control over the timing and force of late braking is extremely precise.

It's not about throwing yourself in front of your opponent for a desperate late brake, but about maintaining just the right speed in the corner, staying close to the apex, and perfectly avoiding the bumps in the corner.

After exiting the corner, he made full use of every inch of track space left by the removal of the sausage shoulder, maximizing the offset of the impact of his insufficient entry angle on his acceleration point when exiting the corner.

Combined with the shorter driving distance on the inside and the advantage of appearing earlier, he smoothly completed this clean and decisive overtaking maneuver.

“Awesome!!!”

“Wu——!”

Old Li and his companions immediately forgot their earlier displeasure with Verstappen. If he hadn't acted so recklessly, Shu Long might not have had such an easy time taking the lead in P1.

When they examine the chaos at the start of the game from the perspective of the victors, Verstappen's choices seem less incomprehensible and less unacceptable.

After you fought hard in 11 races throughout the first half of the season and won a total of 5 Grand Prix races, another person returned and won 4 of them in 6 races, and even stood on the top podium in one of them while driving an Earth Group car.

So, I ask you this:

Would you be scared to have someone like this as your teammate? Hmm?
Those who have vested interests tend to be more forgiving. After putting themselves in his shoes, the guys actually found Verstappen pitiful to the point of being somewhat endearing.

Shu Long, who had successfully overtaken the car, breathed a sigh of relief inside.

In this way, he was temporarily free from the troubles of DRS. At least for a long time to come, he could ignore all sorts of messy things like team instructions and focus on maintaining his tire protection rhythm in clean air.

Pre-race analysis of the fastest tire strategy for the main race reveals that the Austin COTA circuit, with a lap length of 5.513 kilometers and a total of 56 laps, is essentially a track with extremely high tire wear.

Pirelli's official tire compounds, from hardest to softest, are C2, C3, and C4, which are considered mid-range and are generally suitable for many other similar European tracks.

However, the dramatic terrain undulations and severe bumps greatly affected the tire's durability in this area.

Therefore, taking the lead does not equate to an early victory; tire management during the race may be the key factor influencing the final result.

Of course, it is undeniable that being in the lead position in clean air always has some advantages.

Looking at Hamilton's movements in the rearview mirror, Shu Long noticed that Hamilton didn't seem to be chasing him. Instead, he was fighting Verstappen behind him and fell out of DRS's attack range after two laps.

“Very good. Now we just need to maintain our lead. If we can extend the first stint to more than 18 laps, it will be very helpful for the later stages of the race.”

"Thank you! I'm glad you didn't ask me to do something I don't want to do right now!"

"You're welcome. It's just that this is the most correct judgment at present. Also, I suggest adjusting the settings to STRAT8 so we can save more race car states."

“Copy.”

Following René's instructions, Shulong adjusted the car's settings and, slightly relaxed, pressed the water button on the steering wheel to moisten his dry, slightly stinging lips.

Since the basic attributes corresponding to the reaction were maxed out by the Dragon Binding Technique, his reliance on [Energy Special] has plummeted.

Those who play games a lot know about the concept of "attribute dilution". The bonuses brought by "Energy Special" are now of little help to the Dragon's starting phase. In this way, the Dragon doesn't need to force itself to drink water before each start.

Shu Long used to dislike drinking water during the main race because the water bottle placed behind him would be constantly exposed to the heat of the engine, and it would even be a bit too hot to drink after the race was halfway through.

The driver was already unbearably hot in the cockpit, so drinking hot water at this time would just be asking for trouble.
However, Red Bull has improved its hydration system this year, placing the water bottles in the front nose cone to ensure that drivers have access to cool energy drinks throughout the race.

Now, Shulong is more willing to shift the activation time of the original [Energy Special Adjustment] from before the game to during the game. Although the effect on strengthening physical attributes is not obvious, the energizing effect of this stuff is still very strong.

Especially now, in this leading stage, the boredom can really make people sleepy.

After pressing the drinking button, Shulong, who was sucking on the water pipe, did not feel the coolness he had been looking forward to for a long time. Finally, he stubbornly sucked hard twice.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Did you guys forget something before the match?"

"what happened?"

"My water dispenser button isn't working. Did you forget to refill my water tank? Do we really need such extreme lightweighting now?"

René didn't know how to reply for a moment, so he turned to look at Horner beside him, who in turn turned to look at Whitley beside him.

The team leader is responsible for the overall management of the team, but the details of execution and operation are handled by someone else, namely Whitley, who is the sporting director of the event.

Whitley was responsible for tasks such as managing the race team, coordinating pit stop personnel for tire changes, supervising car preparation, and ensuring smooth logistics. He was also in charge of checking and replenishing the water system before the race.

Previously, the team rarely made mistakes in these areas; otherwise, Red Bull, which has always valued ability, would not have put Whitley in this position.

This time was no exception; Whitley oversaw every step of the pre-match preparations on-site, and all aspects were verified using corresponding forms.

Unfortunately, space in F1 racing cars is extremely valuable, so no one would think of installing a monitoring sensor specifically for the drinking water system. They couldn't figure out what the problem was.

But the driver's emotions needed to be calmed down a bit, so Horner gave René a few winks, signaling him to say a few nice words first. "Sorry, buddy, we'll find a solution as soon as possible."

"No need to deal with it, friends, guess what? Damn it, my pants are wet! Water is running down my legs and into my shoes!"

"Uh—maybe the connecting pipe got loose?"

"Hehe~ Thanks, knowing this makes me feel much better. The Lego cars we built are damn sturdy!"

Really served!

One race weekend and the rear wing was damaged, the water pipe was knocked off, will all four tires run away together later?

The race is only on the 8th lap, and there are still 48 laps to go. Shu Long looked up at the sky, felt a pang of bitterness in his heart, and then burst out laughing under his helmet.

It's so hot today!

The weather forecast predicted cloudy skies, and there were indeed quite a few clouds in the sky, but there just happened to be a hole in the track.

More than 9% of the entire track is exposed to direct sunlight, with track temperatures exceeding 40°C and air temperatures reaching 32°C. The actual outdoor temperature would be even higher.

I really don't know what to say.
The lead car naturally didn't have the right to use DRS, but after entering the DRS area after Turn 11 and the DRS area on the starting straight, Shu Long still secretly manually turned on the "DRS" on his helmet to cool his head through the gap in the goggles.

However, after only a few laps of his relatively comfortable lead, the team started causing trouble for Shu Long again.

The first yellow tire stint, which was originally expected to last at least 15 laps, was suddenly pitted by Red Bull on lap 10, with Verstappen making an early pit attempt to undercut Hamilton.

The wear and tear on the yellow tires in the dirty air during the race seemed to be far greater than many teams had predicted before the race, with as many as nine cars choosing to pit early 10 laps in advance.

This suddenly freed up a lot of clean windows for the teams in the front to enter the pits, and also gave Red Bull an opportunity to try out tactical variations.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"It's nothing, just keep up the current pace."

The polluted air generated by the current lead is already causing Hamilton a lot of trouble. Excessive pressure on the car will not only increase the risk of being overtaken, but may also prompt Mercedes to follow Red Bull's pit stop strategy. In that case, there would be no point in them trying the undercut tactic early.

So Red Bull doesn't really have any plans to ask Shulong to do anything for the time being. The current distance is just right, which can affect the tire protection of the car behind without providing DRS to the other car.

However, based on Verstappen's lap times after pitting, it is very likely that it will affect Shulong's original long-distance rhythm.

On lap 12, Verstappen's new white lap time was revealed: 1:40.102.

Very bad!

The yellow tires showed similar long-distance degradation here to the red tires on other tracks. Shulong's lap time in clean air was only around 1:41.5, while Hamilton's was even slower at 1:41.8.

At the beginning of the competition, the gap between the players was not very large, basically within two seconds.

As a result, the new white tires suddenly became more than a second faster per lap. If they really continue to stick with the yellow tires for more than 17 laps, even the Stanfords might be threatened by Verstappen's undercut.

So on lap 13, Red Bull and Mercedes immediately notified Shulung and Hamilton to pit.

That was really close!

Shu Long pitted for a 2.1-second tire change, and came out alongside Verstappen, who had entered the braking zone. The two immediately engaged in a wheel-to-wheel battle at Turn 1.

Hamilton fared even worse, falling 3.4 seconds behind Verstappen.

Fortunately, Shulong had the upper hand, deliberately waiting until he missed the apex of the corner before entering it, forcing Verstappen to go straight off the outside of Turn 1.

Although he has temporarily lost his position, since he benefited from the off-track advantage at Verstappen, he is essentially still in P1.
However, Verstappen did not rush to return to his position. Instead, he stayed in the clean air and completed the dense, high-speed section from Turn 3 to Turn 10.

Taking advantage of the tires not being warm enough when leaving the pits, he widened the gap with Hamilton to 3.9 seconds, and then in the next DRS zone, he let Shulong pass and turned around to suck in the wake of the car in front.

"Has he calmed down? He seems much smarter now."

“We’ll discuss this after the race. If you don’t want to give the car a break, push hard for a few laps now. Max’s pit stop was too early. We need to give him enough space to maintain the tire.”

"This needs to be added."

Before Shu Long could finish speaking, Horner suddenly interrupted and chimed in.

"Is this one of those small requests you wanted me to fulfill?"

"Uh—no!"

Shu Long decisively shook his head. Trying to bait out his ultimate with a basic attack, huh? He knew perfectly well which was more valuable: a favor or a bonus!

He didn't want to say much more. The weather in the ditch was so hot that his mouth was dry. In any case, it would be beneficial for him to win the game, so he silently adjusted the discharge strategy to SOC 5.

The race then entered a long and tedious cruising and maintenance phase.

At least for the top three cars currently, if they are deliberately keeping a distance and controlling tire wear, Shu Long is about two seconds ahead of Verstappen, and Verstappen is about five seconds ahead of Hamilton.

The battle in the rear points zone was quite fierce, while in contrast, the area around Shu Long and his group was peaceful.

There was no intent to kill, no fighting; everyone was doing their best to keep the car moving.

However, after lap 25, Verstappen, who pitted earlier and endured more polluted air, was the first to show his weakness, with his lap time almost 0.6 seconds behind Hamilton's. The gap was quickly reduced to about 3 seconds.

Left with no other choice, Red Bull had to take advantage of a clear window at the back and call him in early on lap 29.

Shu Long wasn't in a hurry; his lap time was still stable at 1:40.3 for the time being. He just asked the team to keep an eye on Verstappen's lap time after he left the pits.

Verstappen pushed hard on his outing lap, even managing a lap time of 1:39 on lap 31. However, considering he still had 25 laps to go, GP quickly curbed Verstappen's renewed urge to undercut his teammate.

There's no room left for Verstappen to act impulsively. The driver can get carried away, but the team must be clear about who their real rivals are now in the title race.

These things were no longer relevant to Shu Long. He was only called in for his second pit stop on lap 36, and the gap between him and Verstappen had basically stabilized at around 4 seconds.

All he knows right now is that his throat is incredibly dry, and there are only 20 laps left in the race. He really doesn't want to say another word.

It wasn't until lap 49 that TR finally gave him a new task.

"Can we compete for the fastest lap? Max's tires are worn out."

"Sure, but can anyone tell me what lap the race is on now? How many laps do we have left?"

"Six laps left in the race, keep going, buddy, just hang in there and it'll be over!"

"Let's get to the point. Who has the fastest lap time right now, and what is it?"

"It's Hamilton, with a best time of 1:38.485, just 1.7 seconds away from the Max."

So fast? It seems the tire wear on Verstappen's side is indeed not very optimistic.

Shu Long glanced at his previous lap time, 1:38.6, and then quickly disconnected the team's TR.

Finding clean air wasn't difficult. I quickly planned out a few corners on the track where I could speed up, and after a few laps, I finally managed to get the purple clock next to my name.

He deliberately dragged it out a bit, keeping the first two laps on the edge of the fastest lap time, and only setting a new best time on the fourth lap.

The true essence of being a working person is to pretend you're very busy, otherwise who knows if the team might change their minds halfway through and make him slipstream for Verstappen.
With only two laps left in the race, the priority was to cross the finish line and secure the championship.

After finishing the race, the person hurriedly picked up the fecal matter, without even having time to celebrate with the team. The first thing he did after stopping the car was to look around for water and drink it.

(End of this chapter)