F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 217 Returning to Work, New Year, New Look
Despite it being winter break, Shu Long inexplicably accumulated a huge pile of to-do items. He originally planned to stay comfortably until after the New Year before returning to work, but he had no choice but to take a plane back to Milton Keynes on the 20th.

This was a fairly formal negotiation, which not only involved the family's brokerage team but also brought along representatives from Geely and Apple, including the head of the company and the newly integrated A14.

Even David himself was among Old Mi's group, because he heard that it was a rare opportunity to visit an F1 team factory up close, and he insisted on coming along.

While the holiday hasn't started in China yet, for foreigners, the winter break for racing teams has officially ended, so Red Bull's factories have now officially resumed operations.

Drivers' vacations can be a little longer, depending on the team and the driver's own arrangements.

Leclerc even returned to Italy on the 14th to prepare for the new season. Ferrari also arranged for many old cars to be tested at the Fiorano circuit to help the drivers get into form in advance.

Others like Albon, Perez, Russell, and Zhou Guanyu also returned to the factory between the 17th and 19th to begin adapting to the new team.

Red Bull didn't push them too hard. Both are veteran employees, and they weren't stopped from coming to practice the simulator early because they were so willing. But now that they're back at the factory, there's really nothing for the drivers to do.

Verstappen is expected to return to work at the end of January, where he will first complete the virtual 24-hour Le Mans race online from home.

Because of the Spring Festival, Horner gave them a few extra days off out of respect for cultural traditions, but reminded them not to slack off on physical training.

Upon arriving at the base, there was no dawdling; everyone was in a hurry, so we got straight to the point.

The first thing discussed was the sponsorship and promotion from Lao Mi. The project went very smoothly, since it was a personal sponsorship. He came to Red Bull mainly to make sure there would be no conflict with other sponsors.

The sponsorship deal also seems to have a hidden benefit: the helmet paint job for Shulong in 2022 can be designed by Lao Mi's art team, which saves him a lot of trouble.

On the contrary, the Lynk & Co endorsement deal with Geely was stalled.

Horner has recently been in talks with Porsche about a paddock partnership, with the team lineup being a bargaining chip between the two sides.

Unfortunately, Shu Long is a driver that Porsche values ​​highly. It would be a bit awkward if their star driver went to be a spokesperson for another car company. So, they had to regretfully put the project on hold for the time being.

Furthermore, last year's championship win seems to have made Honda reluctant to leave. Earlier, they took back the engine patent technology from Red Bull and will continue to provide engine services to Red Bull until the end of 2025 before the next new regulations.

In other words, the engine will still be supplied by Honda's Japanese factories, while Red Bull's new powertrain company will focus on developing a new engine for 2026.

Since we're already here, why not take this opportunity to discuss the driver's contract?

But things are still far from settled. Verstappen's contract renewal and Porsche's negotiations are both focused on Shu Long's movements. After discussing with Alonso, they are preparing to renew his contract for 1+1 years.

There are too many unstable factors now, so Honda's decision to stay is a good thing for the time being. Otherwise, who knows if the power units produced by the newly established powertrain company will have quality problems.

Furthermore, I've heard that Mateschitz's health condition is not very good.

Several years ago, the founder of Aoniu rarely appeared in public. Due to health reasons, he did not want the outside world to know his specific condition. However, it is said that the old man has gone from being unable to move to being bedridden, and it is estimated that he will pass away soon.
Once the old man passes away, there might be another period of internal political turmoil like the last two years, and the fate of the motorcade will be uncertain.

If the team continues to perform well, then Shulong's contract with Red Bull will essentially extend to 2024, making it easier for Shulong to jump ship in advance should any unforeseen circumstances arise.

Horner seemed to want to try again, but he also understood that without this opportunity, it was unlikely that better terms could be negotiated.

After a meeting with the team's board members and Marco to discuss the matter, they agreed to the so-called 1+1 contract, only raising the corresponding exit threshold a bit.

This roughly means that Red Bull has the right to renew the contract under the original terms or slightly higher terms unless a rival team offers 35% more.

It neither completely restricts Shulong's freedom, nor does it prevent the team from having the initiative in intelligence gathering, thus locking in core assets without getting caught in an endless price war.

The two sides then discussed the details of the contract. Shu Long then spent two days playing simulators before returning to China with the rest of the group for the Chinese New Year.

Geely's trip may seem like they didn't gain anything, but they did obtain a lot of very crucial intelligence.

Following Andretti's unsuccessful attempt to become a new engine supplier in the paddock, and his subsequent shift of plans to establish a brand new F1 team, Audi is also rumored to be considering entering the F1 paddock.

Audi and Porsche are both brands under Volkswagen. Although they are independently operated brands, their simultaneous preparations to enter F1 at this time seem somewhat like a clash of opposing ideas.

Horner is trying to disrupt Red Bull's current ownership structure by bringing in Porsche, hoping to gain a stake in the team amidst the chaos. He is eager to facilitate the cooperation between the two parties and naturally does not want anyone to interfere at this time.

He even suspected at one point that Audi and Porsche were helping each other lower prices!
What if Audi makes a deal, and then Porsche backs out? Wouldn't that make them look like complete clowns?

So when Horner saw the Geely representative, some other thoughts popped into his head.

After all, there have been previous bidding wars for Racing Point teams and battles with Stroll for Aston Martin shares. It's no secret in the F1 world that Geely, which acquired Lotus, has ambitions to enter the paddock.

Of course, Horner also has concerns about the presence of Chinese teams, which means there will be another highly attractive option for Shulong in the paddock.

However, considering that building a fleet is not something that can be accomplished overnight, no one can say for sure what the situation will be like a few years from now.

Since someone wanted to stir things up, Horner thought it best to muddy the waters completely. Bringing Geely in to fight off the rivals seemed like a good idea.
So, during the contract discussion with Shulong's team, Horner casually revealed a lot of insider information that only insiders could find out in advance.

There are some secrets that are actually semi-public and unwritten.

Audi's willingness to announce its entry into the F1 paddock suggests that they have already negotiated with some teams and have likely made some progress.

Of the ten F1 teams currently in the paddock, based on an analysis of competitiveness and operational status, only four seem to have the potential to sell team ownership at present.

One of them is the Aston Martin team that was reorganized by Stroll last year.

Although he came out looking ambitious, Martin's performance last year went from fourth place in the 2020 season (pink Mercedes legend) to fourth from last place in the 2021 season (green tractor).

The reason they still managed to finish fourth from the bottom isn't because their car is particularly good; it's just that last year there were even worse teams like Williams, Haas, and Arroy. It's possible that old Stroll might have given up and didn't want to continue playing.

Of course, the only ones left who might be considering selling the team are these three unfortunate brothers.

Williams can be ruled out for now, as they were only acquired by Dorilton Capital in 2020 and have reintroduced two heavyweight drivers for the new season.

Perez – a skilled driver himself, and also a dog with a lot of super sponsors.

Albon – in terms of performance for Red Bull alone, he was no weaker than Perez in the first half of 2021. Moreover, even after leaving the Red Bull team system, he remained highly tied to the Red Bull sponsorship system, and his helmet for the 2022 season will still retain the Red Bull logo and lettering.

It's quite abstract, but roughly speaking, there will be six Red Bull drivers on the track this year.

If you include Vettel and others, out of the only 20 F1 drivers in the world, you can count a maximum of 9 Red Bull drivers!
The current situation is that the Westbrook team has neither a lack of strong drivers nor a lack of funds to operate the team, so it is hard to imagine why they would be in such dire straits that they need to sell the team.

The two most likely suspects left are Haas and Aro.

Haas had been trying to sell the team since the end of 19, and later, through a shady move involving borrowing a dragon, he managed to sell the team to Ferrari.

But precisely because of this, Haas is now more closely tied to Ferrari than Sauber was before. Ferrari has even set up a "Haas Center" next to its factory headquarters in Maranello and transferred many of Ferrari's engineers there.

This can no longer be called Ferrari Team 2, it's practically Ferrari Team 1.5!
Just as Red Bull couldn't abandon its Toro Rosso, Ferrari can't abandon Haas now. Anyone with a bit of inside information and a sharp mind can basically come to the conclusion that Arro is the team most likely to sell its ownership.

This was originally the most illogical answer.

After all, Andreti had initially been rebuffed by Arro, but after eliminating all the impossibilities, there was only one truth!
Everyone present was intelligent, and it was clear that Gilly had grasped Horner's implied meaning.

The problem now is...
With the failed acquisition of Andretti and the direct bidding from Audi, how much determination can Geely muster, and how much budget can support their all-out effort? That's a battle between the big players; Shu Long is just a driver, and he has no say in these matters.

Just before boarding the plane to return home for the New Year's Eve dinner, Shu Long sent a message to Uncle Shu Fu out of politeness.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Shufu, you've made a wasted trip."

"No way! This situation was exactly what we expected. It's just that you're struggling in someone else's circle on your own."

you do not say
So why can't we turn other people's circles into our own? Although China has become a latecomer due to its late start, there has never been a shortage of stories of latecomers surpassing their predecessors.

After chatting for a few minutes, Shu Long couldn't resist asking Geely about its future plans.

However, this is clearly not something that can be explained in a few words. Acquiring a racing team and bringing them into the paddock is not a simple transaction where you pay money and I deliver goods. In addition to the price, there are many other conditions that require mutual compromise and negotiation.

Geely currently has a budget of around $7-8 million, which should be enough to build a team. Back then, Stroll didn't have to pay such a high price to win Racing Point.

Of course, the situation was quite special back then.

The owner of Force India has gotten into trouble and urgently needs to sell the team. In addition, the lack of a budget cap has led to excessively high operating costs for the team, so normally no one would be willing to take over a mess.

With the budget cap now in place, even the bottom-ranked teams can guarantee an annual profit, which will naturally drive up team prices.

This is just the cost of purchasing the fleet; competing directly with Audi would undoubtedly be even more expensive.

Moreover, from a deeper perspective, the acquisition of Arro is not actually in line with Geely's development plan. Their entry into Weichang is definitely aimed at developing it into a factory team.

Arro itself has decent conditions, and even has one of the most advanced wind-powered facilities in the paddock.

In terms of aerodynamics, Geely has the foundation of Lotus, but as the most traditional customer team, Sauber Arro, it lacks the most important engine research and development and technical reserves, which is exactly what Geely needs most. Rebuilding it would mean an investment that is like a bottomless pit.

Moreover, Sauber's headquarters are located in Hinville, Switzerland, which is far from the UK, a center of motorsport technology. The high labor costs also mean that operating costs are not low.

So, aside from teams like Force India that were being sold off cheaply at the time, Geely was actually more interested in acquiring teams like Alpine, which had average performance and already had an existing engine technology department.

If you add it all up, the $8 million they can come up with is probably not enough.

Thinking of this, Shu Long secretly glanced at Brother Dawei sitting not far away, and saw that he was chatting with the people from Geely's side with great interest.

Judging from the few words heard, it seems to be related to hybrid engines and biofuels.

But! If!
There exists a super-free capital group with extremely high autonomy, so wealthy that it continuously generates profits simply by sitting there, and completely unaffected by its shareholders or the stock market.
Does that mean that most problems can be easily solved?
The most valuable aspect of this trip might not be Shu Long's personal business issues, but rather that these two industry giants, who were originally unrelated, were brought together by some inexplicable fate. Who knows if we will ever see a perfect match emerge in the future?

Feeling like he was worrying about a bunch of things that weren't even his concern, Shu Long wondered if he had aged two years in the past few days.

After finally putting everything behind me, I was able to have a peaceful New Year and finally boarded a plane back to the team's base on February 3rd.

We got new seats customized, familiarized ourselves with some minor changes to the steering wheel, and then everyone got together for intensive training to try and lose the weight we gained during the holidays.

Several familiar faces were missing compared to previous years. Even Duhan, who was promoted to F2 and should have made an appearance at headquarters, went to Alpine's youth training program.

Shu Long had a good impression of the young driver who had sought his advice last year, but he couldn't say whether this choice was good or bad for him. Red Bull was indeed overcrowded, but Alpine had a big prince, Piastri, waiting for him, so it wasn't easy to get resources.

Let's not dwell on these melancholy thoughts. After not seeing each other for a while, we'll have endless things to talk about when we meet again.

Among the people who appeared at the training base, Max had probably fattened up the most. It was obvious that he had spent a lot of time showing off chocolate during the holidays, and he had become quite plump and healthy.

As for Kakuta, he's only 159cm tall, so it doesn't matter how much weight he gains as long as he can fit in the cockpit.

Gasly is probably the one whose physique has changed the least besides Shulong. Only the lines on his abs have become a little blurry. On the other hand, Shulong ate and drank a lot of meat and fish during the Chinese New Year, but he hardly changed at all. This is the physique that Max envies the most.

What they envied even more was Shulong's performance in physical training. Apart from a slight sweat, he seemed completely unaffected, unlike them who were so tired that their tongues were almost getting in their mouths and hindering their breathing.

Especially that high-torque steering wheel training device.

The others were all shouting "Hey! Hey! Hey!", but when it came to Shu Long, the style changed to "Hey! Hey! Hey!", making it seem like they weren't playing the same game as him.

What Ultraman Overlord?

Of course, race car drivers don't care about that. They value sufficiency more than brute force. The key is their sensitivity to speed and the car itself. Speed ​​is their focus.

However, this did not stop little Kakuta from idolizing Tsukasa to the extreme.

From character design and abilities to appearance, anyone with the dragon-themed theme in a standalone shonen manga would easily be considered the second male lead. As for why he's not the male lead? Because the male lead is a role that Kakuta (the author) reserved for himself.

The second male lead is mainly responsible for showing off in the early stages. He is the most common character type for the male lead, who is just a nobody in the team. It's unknown whether he will get a classic, hot-blooded, and triumphant comeback story later on.

Hopefully.
Kakuta has become quite laid-back lately. With two big names like Kakuta sitting in the fold at Red Bull, he probably won't see any hope of promotion in his career.

Originally, it seemed a bit precarious for him to take over Honda's position, but now that Honda isn't leaving, the pressure on him at Toro Rosso doesn't seem so great before 2026.

Duhan, who had shown some promise, went to Alpine. Lawson, the only other player, didn't pose much of a threat. The others were either too old or not good enough. It's rare to find such a stable atmosphere in Red Bull's youth training system.

A stable situation is often a sign that a decline is beginning.

Of course, not now. Judging from the signals Red Bull is sending to the outside world, they are clearly still in a booming phase.

Before Red Bull officially announced the livery for the new RB18 season, they had already announced several significant sponsorship deals:
Oracle甲骨文公司以5年5亿美元的价格成为红牛F1车队全新的冠名赞助商，另外霍纳还谈成了一笔与新加坡加密货币公司Bybit价值3年1.5亿美元的赞助，与之相比大疆两年3500万美元都显得有些小case。

Before the race car livery is revealed, it's natural to release some other news to whet people's appetites.

First, there's Verstappen's new season helmet paint job. Aside from retaining the roaring lion head on top, designed by his sister and very much in Max's style, the overall design adopts a gold main color, symbolizing his championship status.

Of course, the biggest change is that Max gave up the number 33 he used when he debuted this year and instead used number 1, which is only available to the previous year's world champion, as his driver number.

Shulong also received a helmet paint scheme from Lao Mi.

It also retains the coiled dragon pattern that has become his signature and the "dragon" in Mr. Shu's handwritten script. The overall look is more street punk, with many paint and graffiti elements.

Additionally, the word "mihoyo" was prominently displayed on the cheek below the goggles, and a symbol consisting of three three-dimensional capital "Z"s was added to the back of the head.

The new game from the old team, which is full of personal touches and tributes, is of course not called "Project X". That was just a temporary codename to prevent commercial leaks.

Now that we've decided to step into the spotlight, we naturally need an official name—Zenless Zone Zero, or "绝区零" in China.

To coincide with the official announcement of Shulong's helmet paint scheme, Lao Mi's production team worked overtime to complete their first reveal PV ahead of schedule and released them simultaneously.

Although there was no direct mention of Shulong, as long as you don't just skim through the video and leave, you can basically find that there was a little Easter egg left at the end of the PV.

On the bookshelf next to the television in the living room of the two main siblings, there is a racing helmet that Shu Long plans to use in 2022.

(End of this chapter)