F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 215 Laying the Foundation for the Future

Perhaps because half of his soul was still lingering in his dream, Shu Long glanced at the intact ceiling and then peacefully closed his eyes again.

Seeing that there was no response after calling for a long time, Gan Mengning had a small "#" on her forehead. The next second, she used a long-lost footwork technique that descended from the sky.

"Wake up, wake up!"

Shu Long quickly grabbed the small foot that was trampling on him, pulled his girlfriend down onto the bed, and was almost blinded by the holy light emanating from her.

"Oh dear, why don't you go put your clothes on first?"

"This isn't about the clothes! Look!"

The bright screen was so dazzling that it was hard to open one's eyes. Frowning, Gan Mengning first turned down the brightness of her phone by half before she could see the title of the video.

A 10,000-word analysis, in-depth exploration: Shu Long, China's first Formula 1 racing driver.

"What's wrong with that? Once it gains popularity, there will probably be plenty of people making this kind of content, right?"

"No, you'll know if you start watching from the 12th minute!"

Seeing that Gan Mengning was about to jump up again, Shu Long grabbed the blanket and tied his girlfriend up like a sushi roll, curling her up in his arms like a plush toy. Only then did he rebelliously pull the video progress bar back to the beginning.

It's hard not to be curious, isn't it?
With such a professional and serious title, I always want to see how they brag about themselves.

The overall structure of the video is as follows: it begins by showcasing Shu Long's achievements over the past few years, and then compares and analyzes his strengths and weaknesses compared to other top drivers.

He spoke quite logically, but ultimately he was speaking from the perspective of an amateur viewer outside the circle. Many of his analyses are just for fun.

In short, after listing a whole host of examples, the other side concluded that as long as the car wasn't too weak, Shulong was fully capable of competing for the championship.

Okay, I won't nitpick about that.

But the video progress bar is only halfway through, and there are still nearly 25 minutes of content left. What can they possibly talk about?

"So many viewers may be wondering, what exactly does it take to become a driver like Shu Long?"

"In fact, quite a few content creators have researched Shulong's career before, but the content is relatively specific and scattered."

"To this end, I conducted extensive research and compiled the most detailed content report on the entire internet. In consideration of the hard work I've put in, I hope you won't hesitate to give me some coins, remember to like, comment, and subscribe. I will continue to bring you F1-related content that you are interested in!"

How else can we investigate this?

Most of what can be shared has already been done by Teng Weifeng and the Speedy Partners, hasn't it?
Shu Long underestimated the power of the modern internet, as well as the breadth of his past information dissemination after he became famous.

Previously, Teng Weifeng had worked with Chen Tingya, Yu Mujie, and Shen Qian on a series about their student days in Shulong, but after considering various factors, they blurred out all the information about the school and class.

However, through searching and screening various online forums and message boards, this person found some comments that might have been left by Shu Long's former classmates. After filtering out a large amount of nonsense and boastful false information, they arrived at a clear direction.

Finally, following the ownership of the go-kart track in Haigeng, they used Tianyancha (a Chinese business information platform) to uncover all the companies behind the Shu Long family.

This is
Seeing this, Shu Long already felt that things were a bit bad, because his family had always been relatively low-key, not wanting to give the public any openings to attack him.

Is it possible to conduct such a detailed investigation in such a short time?
I checked the release date after logging out; it was November 20th. This means that the program wasn't created to capitalize on the popularity of the New Year's Eve gala.

However, the number of views back then was probably not as exaggerated as it is now. It reached nearly 800 million in just one night, with 1.3 people watching online at the same time.

Doesn't this seem a bit like opening the box?
If you really want to say it, maybe it doesn't count?

After all, many things are already public on the internet, but few people have the patience and ability to connect the information from this vast sea of ​​information.

Moreover, this content creator known as "Village Chief" also knows when to stop.

Mentioning Shu Long's family background is only to illustrate that becoming an F1 racing driver is not simply a matter of having money. The overall point is to highlight that Shu Long, with less than 500 million RMB invested by his family, has relied on his own hard work to get to where he is today.

Overall, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly noteworthy, except that the village chief somehow found out the time when Shulong took his driver's license test, and also dug up some off-screen gossip that the audience might be interested in.

He said, almost in a joking tone, "Young girls probably don't have that chance anymore."

They also released a few photos of Gan Mengning taken in the paddock, including one of the two embracing on the sidelines after the Hungarian match.

"Is it alright? They didn't directly reveal your identity. Should I have my PR contact them to have the video deleted?"

Generally speaking, it is best to obtain the person's consent before creating such a profile, because if the video blogger puts up some false or inaccurate information, it may affect the person's personal image.

However, considering that F1's influence in China urgently needed to be expanded, Shu Long made a semi-public statement through Teng Weifeng's video, meaning that as long as they did not cause any trouble, he would continue to give them the green light.

Strictly speaking, the village chief didn't say anything out of line in the video, but with nearly 900 million views, it's indeed a bit hard to keep quiet.

Gan Mengning didn't offer any explanation, but simply told Shu Long to leave and check what was trending on Bilibili.

Alright
Most of the content is self-explanatory from the title, and it was precisely because of the viral success of yesterday night's broadcast that content created by the village chief and Teng Weifeng in the past was pushed back to the top of the trending searches.

But the third one on the list is none other than Shu Long's mysterious girlfriend. He knew the problem as soon as he saw the cover—the necklace!
The internet is full of cybernetics, and yesterday's New Year's Eve gala was the starting point, the village chief's video was the search directory, and the final piece of evidence was the short clip of Gan Mengning singing last night.

Perhaps the plush mask covering the upper half of her face provided too much security, causing Gan Mengning to lose her usual caution when choosing clothes for recording at home.

The small tai chi symbol hanging from her chest was clearly a matching pair with the one Shu Long flaunted in front of the camera after the Abu Dhabi competition.

What's the situation now?
Once the conclusion that the two people are in a relationship is established, the process of finding evidence becomes much simpler; you could say the more you dig, the more evidence you find.

There are more than just one or two similar comparison videos. From 1 a.m. until now, similar content has been flooding out wave after wave, as if it were being sold wholesale, and many people are trying to grab the first wave of popularity.

The first piece of crucial information that allowed people to grasp the key was the timeline that the village chief had uncovered regarding Shulong's return to China to take his driver's license test.

Then, archaeologists unearthed a clip of Gan Mengning's live stream at the same time, complaining that she encountered her childhood sweetheart in the same car who didn't recognize her at all.

It was from then on that Douke, who originally had nothing to do with racing, suddenly became a racing fan. He not only went to the scene to support the car several times, but also frequently managed to get P-room tickets that most automotive media would only dream of.

Including last year in Bahrain, when photos of someone resembling Shu Long's girlfriend with her face covered were taken in a P-room, Dou Ke made excuses during a live voice broadcast, claiming that she was away on a business trip.

At the time, it was speculated that she had a voice-over assignment, but the problem was that it was a special period, and everyone was working online, so why would she go on a business trip?

Those old fans who used to frantically try to cover it up suddenly feel like they've become clowns. Once or twice can be said to be a coincidence, but hiding it again is really impolite!

These are not the worst things. At worst, Dou Ke was exposed to the public. What really made Gan Mengning despair was that her face could not be hidden either!
Just before Shu Long was woken up by Gan Mengning, a photo unearthed from Xiamen University's campus forum quickly spread.

It appears to be a photo taken in the school cafeteria, approximately 7 or 8 meters diagonally in front of Shu Long and his classmates' seats.

Caption: Ran into the cafeteria, guess who I met? — I couldn't help but take a second look when I passed by, and I remembered that he had red markings on his neck. I ended up seeing him on Bilibili the next day.

The image itself isn't very clear, but the facial features are very distinct, making it difficult to deny.
After sitting on the bed scrolling through his phone for half an hour, Shu Long turned to look at his girlfriend, who looked utterly dejected and listless, as if she had been completely ruined. The process of revealing secrets is like a deadly, alluring poison; the more mysterious it is, the more it arouses the curiosity and desire to explore of netizens.

In such a short time, her name, major, and student ID have all been dug up, and the overlap of her IP addresses has completely sealed her identity as the person behind Dou Ke Zhong.

We're doomed!
Shu Long first called his mother to ask how to handle the public relations situation, since public figures have to be very careful about their words and actions online.

Zhang Xin was much calmer. In fact, while the young couple was still sleeping in, they had already noticed the situation online.

No group is more sensitive to celebrity news than fan groups. The overt and covert agents they planted in various fan groups in the past to guide public opinion gathered group members at 3 a.m. this morning to try to steer the topic, but they could not erase the traces left on the Internet despite the overwhelming evidence.

The best course of action in this situation right now seems to be to do nothing, wait for the hype to die down, and then openly acknowledge it. People will naturally stop caring about it.

Besides, which driver in the paddock doesn't have a girlfriend?
Even Norris, who used to sleep with his game console, has a boyfriend. There's nothing shameful about dating a normal person. Many girls would love to tell the whole world about their relationship with an F1 driver.

Of course, the main reason is to take Gan Mengning's thoughts into consideration, since the identity of Dou Ke that she represents is not that of an ordinary small UP.

It features characters in both of the currently popular MiGames, and it enjoys considerable popularity, especially on the A-B platform, which is currently in a honeymoon period with MiGames and was once jokingly referred to as the MiGames website.

In the long run, this exposure might actually be a good thing for the two of them.

After such a big situation, Shu Long and Gan Mengning stopped being cheeky and didn't dare to go out for several days.

Fortunately, Gan Mengning only has four courses that require exams this semester, which will allow her to complete her credits. Next semester, she will not have many classes and will only need to focus on her graduation thesis. She will not even need to come to school much, so the impact on her is not as serious as she imagined.

Shu Long stayed in the hotel for a week, waiting for his girlfriend to finish dealing with things at school before picking her up and returning home.

Some things had been discussed before he went home. His winter break wasn't as leisurely as he had imagined. There were many projects that needed to be discussed and finalized before the Chinese New Year.

The smallest thing is that the family is preparing to create a go-kart brand that belongs to Shulong.

The first step is to create a chassis with the most distinctive brand characteristics. Once a good reputation is established, we will consider venturing into engine development.

This seemingly insignificant matter is actually connected to another major issue.

Shulong's own factory production chain can barely meet the manufacturing needs of go-karts, but the resulting products do not have a significant advantage compared to other similar products on the market, so it is meaningless except for using the Shulong name.

The reason why the project had been in the preparation stage was because it required them to invest a large portion of their capital to upgrade the equipment. The initial investment was substantial, and the family did not want to place too much burden on Shulong.

We have enough money now, but the technical aspects are a problem.

However, Geely stated that they can provide corresponding technical and economic support, as well as, most importantly, supply channels and business networks, to jointly create a brand new domestic go-kart brand.

Looking further ahead, they could even establish their own youth training system within the Chinese racing environment.

The Shu Long family actually connected with Geely back in 19. The reason why they are putting the cooperation on the agenda again now is mainly because Geely wants Shu Long to become one of the spokespersons for the Lynk & Co 03+.

Previously, the cooperation between Aston Martin and Honda was hindered due to their relationship.

However, now that Aston Martin has formed its own independent team, Honda has withdrawn from the F1 market, and Red Bull, a sugar water conglomerate, doesn't have any competing racing brands, negotiations should go much more smoothly.

Shu Long himself appreciates Geely's spirit of still insisting on building high-performance gasoline cars, so he is not opposed to such cooperation.

Moreover, he prefers muscular designs that give a strong sense of power when it comes to the appearance of racing cars, such as the Ford Mustang series and GTR series. He likes the Lynk & Co 03+ at least from an appearance perspective.

The only drawback is that it's a front-wheel-drive performance car. Shu Long has always felt that front-wheel drive offers very little freedom of driving, which, while raising the lower limit, restricts the upper limit of his speed.

Most Honda performance cars have this problem, which is why Shu Long declined to participate in many Hot Laps events after Aston Martin withdrew from Red Bull sponsorship, feeling that driving them was not interesting at all.

However, Geely's offer seems quite sincere, and Shulong has also shown a willingness to cooperate. As for the specific details, Geely still needs to negotiate with Red Bull.

There was no other way; Shu Long still had a large portion of his commercial obligations to fulfill under his contract with Red Bull, and he couldn't just do whatever he wanted.

The problem is that Red Bull is currently on holiday, so negotiations can only be held after the winter break ends. Therefore, there's no rush.

Of course, Uncle Shufu also generously stated that even if the cooperation does not go smoothly, it will not prevent them from cooperating in other areas.

The implication is that the karting project won't fall through, youth training is indeed something they've always wanted to do, and for Geely, it's really just a minor matter.

Not to mention that Shu Long, as an F1 champion driver, is the best spokesperson, and the karting competition that starts from childhood can further expand Geely's influence in motorsports.

Speaking of this, I couldn't help but ask out of curiosity whether Geely had any plans to enter the F1 paddock. After all, the once-renowned Black Gold Lotus is now under Geely's umbrella, so it's not like they're completely without a foundation.

However, this circle is clearly not one that can be entered at will.

Despite the Lynk & Co 03+ having dominated the World Touring Car Championship for a long time, the technology of its suspension and transmission has been severely hampered. In addition, the power unit, aerodynamic design, and chassis tuning are all things that Geely currently lacks.

Putting aside whether the paddock left any survivors for the 11th team, the newly appointed FIA president has been quite open-minded.

However, the opinions of the other ten teams in the paddock cannot be ignored. After all, a new team is taking a slice of the pie that originally belonged to them, and no one would be so generous when it comes to their own interests.

For Geely, simply having a customer fleet make an appearance is not very valuable. However, if the factory fleet cannot guarantee competitiveness, it would be a gamble that would result in a huge loss. These are real problems that must be faced, and at least in the short term, there seems to be little hope.

Fortunately, the fact that Geely competed with Stroll for the Racing Point team at the end of 2019 shows that Uncle Shufu is also quite determined to enter F1, and he may make another move when the opportunity arises.

The series of social engagements and negotiations made Shu Long put the previous incident of tearing off his vest out of his mind for a while, but Gan Mengning was having a headache with worry during this period.

With so many people, biodiversity becomes apparent. Aside from some comments that are just normal well wishes or casual observations, Gan Mengning has been subjected to a lot of attacks from extreme, fanatical people lately.

Some of them claimed to be her fans, some claimed to be fans of Shulong who felt she was unworthy, and of course, a large number of unknown creatures from the Void Seekers had been targeting her in private messages ever since the Liyue storyline.

She has actually learned to ignore this part. Since she started being a content creator as a hobby in junior high school, she has learned how to adjust her mindset. Moreover, she has also received a lot of advice from industry veterans.

What's giving Gan Mengning the biggest headache right now are these well-meaning seniors in the industry. They keep pestering her to share her experiences of meeting and getting along with Shu Long, and she's getting teased so much that she could fry an egg on her face every day.

Three days later, Lao Mi's boss, Dawei, added Gan Mengning through the studio, and Gan Mengning then presented the invitation to Shu Long.

"Annual meeting activities?"

“I’ve never been before. I heard from seniors who have been there that it’s like a small internal comic convention for a company. Lately, everyone has been asking me to get to know you.”

"Won't that be a little awkward?"

“I can refuse if I don’t go! They said it was just a normal invitation and they wouldn’t force me to go.”

"Go for it! Why wouldn't you?! Ask if you can give me a few figurines."

(End of this chapter)