F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 231 Truly, Fortune Turns Around

Perez, who triggered the yellow flag, was not seriously injured, just a little dazed from the impact.

Williams' car this year has a rather poor balance. While it's not as extreme as Mercedes' "0 sidepods" this year, it still adopts a design approach similar to Mercedes' previous mini sidepods.

I thought following my older brother would be the right thing to do, but who would have thought that even he would one day fall into a mud pit?

The problem still stems from the lack of a windbreak structure. This extreme design, which only considers drag reduction and aerodynamic efficiency without taking into account the ability to handle dirty air and turbulence, has been severely hampered by the new ground effect regulations.

Perez likely inhaled a lot of polluted air during a close chase, and then encountered a sudden change in the wind direction, which directly caused an imbalance in the overall downforce of the car.

Even with substantial sponsorships supporting both Perez and Albon, it seems unlikely they'll be able to climb out of this mess anytime soon.

Of course, this is a problem that Williams needs to deal with himself. Shu Long only has one question in his mind right now—"Why is it always me?"

The feng shui of this racetrack in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, seems to be somewhat incompatible with his birth chart. He encountered almost the exact same situation in the first Saudi Grand Prix 112 days ago, the only difference being that the yellow flag doesn't seem to turn into a red flag today.

Perhaps many other drivers would prefer yellow flags to red flags, because the probability of losing position at the start is very low when starting in yellow flags. If they start in red flags, they will face another battle for the start, and if they are not careful, they can easily fall back and lose position.

Zhou Guanyu said he was very qualified to speak on this matter.

But to be honest, Shulong would rather the competition had a red flag right now!
Anyway, it's a foregone conclusion that he's already lost two positions, and he's never been afraid of anyone when it comes to competing on starting response.

A dynamic start effectively wiped out most of his advantage. If he had decided to restart the race with a static start, he might have been able to regain the lead before Turn 1.

However, the team tells you to stop daydreaming; a red flag is impossible, and you'll even have to hand over the position to Sainz after the yellow flag is up.

"For what?!"

"Because Sainz's car was in front of you when he exited the pits and crossed the safety line, theoretically the condition that overtaking was not allowed under the yellow flag had been met, so we need to return the position as soon as the race resumes with the green flag."

"You must be joking with me! What would happen if I didn't?"

"Then we will most likely face a 5-10 second penalty and points deducted from our super license. By the way, Zhou was just penalized 5 seconds for not handing over the seat."

Hey!
Enraged, Shu Long tore off a piece of the helmet's visor film, glanced at Sainz's position in the rearview mirror, aimed, and threw the piece of trash out of the car window.

Block his air intake. Block his air intake.
Tch! You're a good-for-nothing too!

The reason we were able to squeeze in front of Sainz was thanks to Verstappen blocking Leclerc. Due to Ferrari's safety rules, Leclerc had to wait in the parking space, which blocked Sainz, who was waiting for both cars to enter the pits.

Actually, when Shulong started on the main straight, his car was already ahead of Sainz. The problem was that the pit area of ​​the Jeddah circuit was located on the left side of the track, and the pit exit was right on Turn 1, which gave Sainz the advantage of the inside shortcut.

The safety car drove for five laps before its top lights went out on lap 20, signaling the race would resume with the green flag.

Instead of thinking about how to quickly improve one's position, one is forced to restart the cycle of letting others take advantage of one's kindness.

Damn, I've never seen anything like this before. Every time I come to this kind of desert track, I run into bad luck. It's really because my name doesn't match my destiny. Without water, the dragon's spiritual energy is almost gone!

But we can't refuse this position.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the race organizers haven't launched an investigation into his illegal overtaking incident yet. Once an exclamation mark appears next to his name, it will be too late.

This year, there was a ridiculous change in the rules implementation details. All judgments regarding whether a position needs to be returned due to a violation are now left to the teams and drivers. If you are supposed to give way but don't, then you can expect to be penalized.

And there's absolutely no room for negotiation.

Zhou Guanyu just encountered such a situation. After he cut the watermelon at Turn 2, he asked the team if they wanted to switch positions, but Aro's answer was no.

From the team's perspective, Zhou Guanyu had already overtaken Albon in terms of position before the lock-up incident, and only made a mistake after overtaking.

However, the FIA ​​clearly did not think so. They believed that Zhou Guanyu gained a positional advantage by using an unreasonable and uncontrollable late braking, which was essentially an ineffective overtaking maneuver.

Then, if you then try to maintain your position by cutting corners, it's essentially about gaining an advantage outside the track and establishing a sustained lead. Giving you a 5-second penalty is logically and legally justifiable.

As for why there were such changes to the implementation details, it all comes down to Horner and Toto.

In last year's Abu Dhabi final race, which decided the overall champion, Hamilton also adopted a similar cornering strategy to maintain his position. Red Bull and Mercedes had a heated 20-minute argument with the race stewards over whether Hamilton should relinquish his position.

Michael Massey was in a real bind. No matter what decision he made, he would be accused of influencing the championship race. He had no choice but to come up with a compromise: Hamilton would not have to give up his position, but he would have to give up Hamilton's ability to gain a significant time advantage by cutting corners.

To prevent teams from repeatedly obstructing and interfering with race stewards' decisions this year, the FIA ​​has directly banned teams from communicating with race stewards during the race.

And didn't you complain that the decisions made by the event organizers were not objective?

Then we won't make the decision for you. You can decide for yourselves, and we will only judge whether your decision is right or wrong.

But this is essentially the FIA ​​and the event organizers shirking their responsibilities; even if there are controversial rulings, the blame won't fall on them.

You can imagine how Shu Long felt after being hit on the head by a boomerang that he hadn't thrown himself.

Fortunately, Red Bull's strategy team was at least a bit more reliable than Arro's, and they didn't end up with a penalty without any real understanding of what was going on.

Sometimes, it's just that I'm afraid of comparisons.

Shu Long was initially very dissatisfied with Red Bull's decision to make him pit, but after hearing that Aro's makeshift team had failed to accurately convey instructions to the crew during the pit stop penalty, resulting in the front jack mechanic lifting Zhou Guanyu prematurely, he suddenly felt that his own team was not so bad after all.

Adjacent to Turn 27, Verstappen couldn't wait to start nudging Leclerc closer, while Shu Long could only watch them cuddling together with a heavy heart.

Accelerate as you exit the corner.

Leclerc's start was fairly standard and didn't surprise anyone, but it was indeed the most suitable time for Ferrari to start.

Ferrari's current gear ratios, which are extremely biased towards cornering, have made their acceleration and top speed performance in seventh and eighth gear far inferior to Red Bull's. Coupled with the strong headwind on the straightaway at the start, no one would be so foolish as to put the race on the straightaway.

Moreover, Ferrari's current tuning is characterized by stronger acceleration when exiting low-speed corners, and choosing to accelerate here can quickly establish his advantage over Verstappen behind him.

When the race restarted, Shu Long didn't try to compete with the two cars in front of him, but he also didn't immediately give the position back to Sainz. Instead, he grabbed Verstappen's slipstream and surged ahead for a while.

Besides having to give way to Sainz, Russell is also watching closely from behind. If he slows down too much and gets two seats stolen, who can he complain to?

Because there was a wall on the inside of Turn 4, based on Reni's advice, Shulong held back a bit at the combination of Turns 4 and 5, letting Sainz pass on the inside of Turn 5. Then he was forced to cooperate with Sainz, and the two of them completely blocked Russell's line from the left and right.

This brief period of friendship ends here.

In the first few laps, with Leclerc and Verstappen pulling ahead, Shulong actually trailed Sainz slightly behind for a while, out of consideration for tire and engine protection.

地效车对于脏气流下跟车能力提升的主要区间就在于0-0.5秒以及1-3秒，0-0.5这个区间的提升幅度最大，但不代表着前车尾部排出来的滚烫热屁不会对后车的胎温以及引擎散热产生影响。

Tire protection is manageable, but the engine is the key concern.

So far, only the engine of Red Bull's four race cars has not had any problems. However, they are all products from the same batch, so even Honda itself probably wouldn't believe that there are no hidden dangers.

Red Bull has only addressed the obvious problems so far. The fact that Kakuta retired before even starting the race at Toro Rosso undoubtedly confirms that there are other defects in these Honda engines that other teams have not yet resolved.

The team didn't even need to repeatedly remind them to avoid aggressive driving during the race, and Shu Long himself didn't dare to go overboard with the Lego bricks.

I stayed in that safe position, about 1.7 seconds ahead, until lap 27.

During this time, Zhou Guanyu received another penalty for passing through the pit lane because the team touched the car illegally before completing the penalty time, which immediately brought back the spirit of Kimi, who had already retired.

This news is basically unrelated to the match in Shulong, and I don't know why Reni is so eager to relay it.

What, do you want me to say a few more words of praise?

However, what René said next immediately perked up Shulong.

"Sainz just reported that his car inexplicably shifted gears once, and the gap between him and Verstappen has now reached 2.3 seconds." "Where did it shift?"

"He didn't elaborate, but based on the analysis team's observations of the vehicle's interior, it should be in the mid-to-high range."

"understood!"

Starting from lap 28, he accelerated, and on lap 30, Shulong officially entered Sainz's DRS range, quickly closing the gap in two consecutive stretches before ruthlessly turning around on the starting straight.

That's just how unreasonable muscle cars are.

Moreover, based on Shulong's assessment of Sainz's acceleration dynamics and engine noise when overtaking, the other vehicle likely shifted up gears early for some protective purpose, without pushing the engine speed too far to its limit.

Even without this factor, Shulong would only waste one or two more laps if he wanted to overtake.

In fact, according to the data provided by Reni, even Leclerc, who was leading the race, only had an advantage over Red Bull in the section from Turn 5 to Turn 9 of the first timeout. Red Bull had a significant speed advantage in the second and third timeouts.

The key areas that provide DRS and overtaking opportunities are mainly concentrated in the second and third timing slots.

The reason why Shu Long was able to take pole position from Leclerc yesterday was not only because of his more extreme and precise cornering, but also because Red Bull's car was able to make up for the disadvantage of Ferrari. The main reason was the higher speed limit of Red Bull's car in the higher gear.

Just as Shulong launched an attack on Sainz, Verstappen was also rapidly closing the gap with Leclerc.

There are now more than 3 seconds of space in front of Shulong to advance. As long as Verstappen can fight Leclerc, it won't be long before he can get involved in the battle for the title.

Therefore, the exact words that Reni told Shulong were: "Go all out to push forward."

No sooner had those words been spoken than a yellow flag appeared on the track, instantly catching Leclerc and Verstappen off guard as they entered the second timing period, reducing the gap between Shulong and the car in front to 1.5 seconds.

"Yellow flag! Yellow flag! Virtual safety vehicle!"

"who is it?"

“Riccardo and Alonso, they’ve lost their motivation.”

"Shall we go into the station?"

"You can't get in! Ricciardo just rolled to the pit lane entrance, the passage is closed, and Alonso is slowly rolling back in fourth gear. Your chance has come."

This might be the only slightly encouraging piece of news Shulong has heard so far in this match. However, given that Alonso is also among the unlucky ones, he managed to cut off "High Ape Roar" outside of TR in time.

Unable to pit, which means that the white tires that have already run 20 laps will have to endure another 15 laps.

However, there are still 5 laps out of 20 that are water laps led by the safety car. Shu Long and his team saw Alonso slowly crawling along near Turn 16. At this rate, the virtual safety car might lead him for several more laps, and he should be able to keep up with tire wear until the end of the race.

Honestly, who could have imagined this?

Since the opening race, Honda's engines have had the most problems at Red Bull's side. The commentators and fans outside the stadium were on tenterhooks, fearing that something unexpected might happen at Shulong. As it turned out, Mercedes' engine and Renault's engine were the first to break down.

Oh, and it wasn't just Mercedes and Renault; almost at the same time, Bottas, driving a Ferrari engine, also pitted and retired from the race.

That's it?!

The Jeddah Marina Bay Circuit has a long lap time and a high percentage of full throttle usage, which theoretically puts a considerable load on the engine.

Compared to this, Honda's engine is actually quite robust.

The virtual safety car ran for five laps, and the drivers only received notification that the race would restart on lap 40. The green flag was officially reinstated on lap 41.

The timing of this race restart was rather unfortunate, coinciding with Leclerc's entry into Turn 4.

Turns 4 and 5 together form a chicane, but it's a relatively high-speed chicane. Verstappen quickly closed the gap to within a second after the start, followed closely by Red Bull's number two car.

The series of victories gave Shu Long a lot more confidence in the race cars under his back, and Verstappen's eager desire to attack made him instantly simulate seven or eight overtaking plans in his mind.

Leclerc is having a tough time.

With only 10 laps left in the race, Verstappen, who had been relatively restrained in the earlier stages, was now at his peak, as if he could fit an old lady into his car.

Using the second DRS on lap 42, Verstappen successfully pulled ahead of Leclerc before Turn 27. However, because he crossed the detection line first, Leclerc overtook him using the third DRS on the starting straight.

Verstappen, sitting in the racing cockpit, shrugged in frustration, ultimately realizing he had been a bit too confident in Red Bull's top speed.

I almost forgot in my excitement that they were using a high downforce tail fin kit in this race. Going head-on with a parachute would be just plain stupid.

So on lap 43, Verstappen learned his lesson and changed his attacking strategy after turn 25.

He drove with DRS but didn't suck in the slipstream. He used the large left-hand curve created by the two corners 25 and 26 to quickly close the gap between his front wheels and Leclerc's rear wheels, but he didn't give it enough power to complete the overtake.

Simply using the starting straight to P1 isn't very valuable, because the entire first stage is basically Ferrari's advantageous area, and it's difficult for them to establish a sufficient lead after overtaking.

If three consecutive DRS attacks catch up, it will be caught in an endless entanglement.

If Verstappen's only opponent was Leclerc, he wouldn't mind playing around like this. The problem is that he also has Shulong sticking close behind him, and he might get ambushed at any time.

Therefore, Verstappen's plan was to use the car body to block Leclerc's line when he took the apex of the corner.

First, let the opponent knock down the DRS detection line, then he can just squeeze into the inside and take everything – it's incredibly easy.

This was practically a blatant display of cunning. As a long-time rival of Verstappen, Leclerc could roughly guess whether someone's stool was dry or runny just by looking at their backside.

So before entering the braking zone, Leclerc slightly relaxed his defensive stance and instead loosened his grip, veering slightly to the outside.
wrong!

Verstappen was immediately alarmed; he seemed to have seen this scene before, right here on the same track last year!
After he let his teammates pass, he witnessed firsthand the desperate struggle between Shu Long and Hamilton for DRS rights.

The moment the brain realized it, the body reacted. The spectacle of last year's Jeddah circuit was repeated just 112 days later, with four plumes of choking white smoke shooting out of the front wheels of the two players.

The opportunity is coming!

If Verstappen could notice the anomaly, how could Shu Long, as the founder of the same approach at the Jeddah circuit, not see it?

Just as the two were locked in a battle of attrition, the dragon that had been closely following behind suddenly pulled its head into the narrow gap in the inner line.

You're nothing but... right?

I passed!

Shulong was originally ranked P3. Even if the DRS couldn't hold up in the next segment, he would at most drop back to P2. Moreover, he had been led around 5 times by the virtual safety car, so he had no pressure to attack and his car was now fully charged!

The narrow entry angle of the inside line made him feel very uncomfortable. Fortunately, the exit of Turn 27 at the Jeddah circuit was widened this year, which made up for some of the disadvantage in cornering speed.

Moreover, Leclerc and Verstappen braked too hard in their attempt to outmaneuver each other, causing them to lose track of gear and speed, resulting in a complete mess of their cornering rhythm.

There was no sign of Shulong desperately trying to defend his position on the starting straight. Shulong, who had been tricked by the strategy, regained his lead with almost no effort after two laps.

With only four laps remaining in the race, Verstappen and Leclerc were locked in another fierce battle.

However, the previous battles had left Leclerc feeling somewhat out of options. Red Bull's lap record this week was indeed a little lower, but their long-distance performance was consistently better than Ferrari's in terms of statistics.

When his tactics ran out, and facing the Red Bull team with unbeatable top speed, Leclerc was finally mercilessly overtaken by Verstappen on the starting straight of lap 48.

The rest of the match was almost a foregone conclusion.

The moment Verstappen completed the overtake, the team asked Shulong to slow down slightly and pull up the DRS train to fix the current position.

(End of this chapter)