F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 235 Repaying the Resentment

If it were just a yellow flag, then Leclerc would undoubtedly have made a huge profit from his late entry into the station.

The pit stop was originally a normal one, and the Leclerc had a nearly 7-second advantage over the two Red Bulls. The yellow flag pit stop could extend the time difference to about 14 seconds for free.

If the competition really develops like this, then Shulong, who is behind, can pretty much give up the idea of ​​competing for the championship in this leg.

Thankfully, it wasn't.

If you were to ask who was the least willing to see the safety car deployed in this game, it would undoubtedly be Leclerc.

A safety car wiped out all the advantage he had built up over the previous 22 laps. On the contrary, McLaren, which also insisted on pitting late, benefited greatly, and both cars overturned the Mercedes duo, moving up to P5 and P7 respectively.
As for why there's an extra one in the middle, you'd have to ask Alonso, the unluckiest driver in the paddock.

He adopted a reverse strategy today, starting with a set of white tires and pitting after only 22 laps, which was clearly not in line with the tactics the team had planned for him.

Otherwise, Alonso would either have to tough it out on yellow tires for 36 laps, or he would have to pit once more than the others.

Either way, it would only result in a significant loss of speed and time. Now, Alonso can only silently pray that another yellow flag will appear later in the race, or better yet, that a safety car will be deployed.

Before that, Alonso could only curse silently in his heart.

The best strategy for the race is to stop in yellow and white, which makes sense. Even if there was a crash in Q3 yesterday, at least you can start in P10. If you can keep your original position and finish the race, you can at least get points, right?

Why do you have to say that the strategy is bad? How far do you expect this Alpine bike to go?
Ocon didn't crash yesterday, but he still only got a P9 time. His lap time wasn't even as fast as Alonso's in Q2, and he was less than 0.1 seconds ahead of Gasly, who was eliminated in Q2.

What do you mean by trying differentiating strategies? You guys are just discriminating against each other when it comes to testing compliance!
Conflicts accumulate little by little like this.

In the opening match in Bahrain, Alonso helped Alpine reach Q3, and while finishing in P8 wasn't the best result, it was still a points-earning position.

However, because of the team's chaotic and disorganized actions, Alonso was overtaken by Ocon, losing three positions and missing out on the points.

Okay.

You said that Bahrain's battle situation and strategic design are quite complex, and even the best team can't be completely foolproof. Alonso even endured McLaren a few years ago, so he won't be any different from you.

But who could have imagined that this was only the beginning of a nightmare?

The second race was affected by a problem with the engine, so they replaced it with a new one. However, the new engine failed miserably during the race. It's only the third race of the season, and Alonso has already used up all three of his season's limited power units.

Then that awful thing happened again in Q3.
It's clearly not Alonso's fault every time, and Alonso can still consistently perform faster than Ocon, yet now I have a feeling that the team's resources are starting to shift towards Ocon.

The safety car stayed with Alonso from lap 23 to lap 28, and Alonso's anger simmered until lap 28.

Finally, a very crucial conclusion was reached—if there were any other positions available in the paddock, this lousy team could be left to whoever wanted to stay!

On the other hand, Shu Long's mood and that of his agent were at opposite ends of the spectrum.

As he watched the Ferrari's red rear end swaying back and forth in front of him, the first word that popped into his mind was... slutty?!

"The race organizers have announced that the race will restart on the next lap."

“Yeah yeah yeah, I saw it.”

Leclerc was still twisting and turning forcefully, trying to get the hard white tire into the right operating temperature window.

In contrast, the dragon behind it charged straight ahead with its head down, forming a stark contrast with the dragon-shaped formation of vehicles ahead and behind.

Normally, the dirty air produced by the car in front would cause considerable trouble for the tire maintenance work of the car behind. However, during the restart of the safety car, the hot exhaust released by the rear of the Ferrari in front actually helped the tire coil to complete a significant part of the heat preservation work.

It doesn't mean that the tire temperature in Shulong has fully entered the working window.

In fact, he continues to apply the brakes intermittently, controlling the temperature of the brake discs to raise the temperature of the outer rubber layer from inside the wheel hub.

The effect of doing so is actually quite limited, but Shulong obviously has other considerations.

He had already pitted two laps earlier than Leclerc, and if possible, Shu Long didn't want to create extra tire wear during the warm-up process.
Compared to the slight advantage in tire temperature at the moment the race restarts, given the layout of the Albert Park circuit this year, Shu Long believes that seizing the opportunity at the start of the race might be more important.

After all, the rule change that prohibits following cars from being parallel to the leading car in any way has a significant impact, essentially putting the lead car in control of the entire starting process.

You can't ignore the car in front when it accelerates, and you can't ignore the car in front when it slows down; all actions must be taken from behind.

Shu Long hated this feeling of being at someone else's mercy.

In particular, Ferrari's acceleration performance in low gears is already more rapid, so if you really want to grind the tires in a step-by-step manner, then you'll have wasted your time waiting for this yellow flag!
"By the way—doesn't this scene look familiar to you guys?"

"Raikkonen, right? I was just about to say something, but we suddenly changed the subject?"

It seems like it was a dolphin jump, but the fact that I've forgotten about it means it wasn't particularly important. Right now, there are clearly more worthwhile topics to discuss than what's been forgotten.

Two races have already passed in the season, and the three infamous milk bottles of the Five Stars have finally gathered together. Shu Long seems to have already experienced their prowess firsthand.

It's just unknown what new instructions their causal weapon will give now that they've spoken.
"Last week? Or the week before last? I don't know if you guys have seen some of the comments online after the match, saying that even though Kimi has retired, it seems like Kimi is everywhere in the paddock."

"Oh, you mean the 'For what' the convoy said when they asked Shulong to give way, right?"

"Not only that, but Xiao Zhou also mentioned it when he was notified that he would be punished for passing through the repair area."

“Oh right, I remember now! When it was confirmed last year that Zhou Guanyu would replace Kimi’s crew, we were still guessing. It turns out that this year Zhou Guanyu has really shown some potential as a war correspondent.”

Gasly's fire in Bahrain, Perez's loss of control in Saudi Arabia, and even today's Vettel's fall from the wall—Zhou Guanyu happened to be nearby and witnessed everything.

I don't know whether to call it lucky or unlucky.

The face-hitting accident will inevitably affect the pace of the game to some extent, but it also inadvertently earned Zhou Guanyu, a rookie, a lot of extra screen time, which indirectly improved his public image and commercial value.

Even because Kimi, a senior figure, paved the way ahead, the "war correspondent" attribute now naturally carries a favorable filter in the eyes of car enthusiasts.

I am great!

"Actually, I remember that Raikkonen used to wear down his tires a long time ago. He stopped wearing down his tires after he had been racing rallies for two years."

"Because you've gotten used to driving low-grip race cars, right? Haha~ It's true that I haven't seen him doing much tire grinding in Ferrari and Arro since then."

"That dragon thing! Leclerc started accelerating right at Turn 15!"

"But the dragon coils behind are holding on very tightly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Leclerc moved from the inside to the outside of Turn 16.

The sudden turbulence struck the front wing of the car like a heavy punch, causing the front wheels to slip at around 3 degrees, and the car's dynamics to suddenly shift from a delicate balance of neutral steering to understeer.

Shu Long had won many times in the past by using the unconventional tactic of pushing the head forward, but now is clearly not the time to show off such tricks that bring no positive benefits.

He quickly reversed course, turning about 20 degrees to the left, and simultaneously increased the throttle opening with his right foot.

In a mere instant, Shulong completed the adjustment of tightening the front wheel slip angle and increasing the rear wheel slip angle, instantly pulling the race car back to a neutral steering dynamic.

The front and rear slip angles are synchronized at around 8 degrees, resulting in a slightly exaggerated neutral steering dynamic.

The race car slid precariously all the way to the guardrail before coming to an abrupt stop. Even a relatively smooth high-acceleration corner was given the feel of a traditional street race by Shulong.

"Ouch! That was close! I almost fell into the grass!"

"Fortunately, the dragon should be able to catch up with Leclerc's starting rhythm! Now there's a slipstream to suck in, is there a chance?!"

The commentators in the studio unconsciously straightened their backs, but what happened next almost turned that straight posture into a stiff one. "You weren't moving when it was time to warm up the tires, but now that you're slipping, you're starting to twist again?"
Shulong slowly moved forward, pulling on the taillights, but showed no intention of turning back. Instead, he wandered back and forth behind the Ferrari, swaying left and right.

What the hell is this?
Sword Shark Cruise?

Even Leclerc was a bit confused by Shulong. Even without DRS on the first lap after the race restarted, Shulong should have been able to pull ahead and run alongside based on his close-range speed.

Also because there is no DRS, the headspeed margin that this straight section can provide seems to be the limit for driving side by side. Whether an overtaking can be completed depends on how the car behind attacks at Turn 1 and how the car in front defends.

But now that Shu Long is roaming around here, Leclerc doesn't know whether he should go to the outside or block inside.

We're almost at the braking point, and we only have one chance to choose.

You idiot, think it over!
If we follow Shu Long's style, then the next bend, Turn 2, is a left turn.

Then let's go inside!

Almost simultaneously with Leclerc's action of pulling the line inward, Shulong took advantage of the slingshot that the other party had voluntarily given up and pulled its head outward in sync.

Actually, the combination of Turns 1 and 2 is more like a variant of Chicane. This year, with the corners widened and extended, the driving style has naturally changed to some extent compared to the year before last.

For example, an earlier entry point into the corner, after entering the corner, quickly straighten the steering wheel to grip the apex of Turn 2, then slowly move to the outside of the corner, using the straightest line to sprint down the DRS straight after Turn 2.

However, this is a clean single-lap running style for qualifying. Naturally, such a simple approach cannot be used in the close battle of the main race.

Unable to decipher Shu Long's thought process, Leclerc could only solve the problem based on his understanding of the track.

Regardless of which side the opponent intends to attack from, Leclerc only leaves the outside as the only route for Shulong.

The outer line is indeed the optimal way to drive on a curve, but only if the apex of the inner line is unobstructed.

Forcing your way in from the outside is a dead end from the start, as it will result in a very narrow angle when entering Turn 2, directly affecting the acceleration speed on the subsequent long straight.

Therefore, for Shulong, there is only one option to overtake here: try to swerve around the intersection at Turn 1 and take full advantage of the longer curve to accelerate, so as to gain enough advantage for himself on the subsequent long straight.

Leclerc's choice of the inside line is a common solution, even though it will result in a significant loss of cornering speed, it will allow him to completely control the priority of line selection for the subsequent Turn 2.

This is the underlying logic of motorsports.

The saying "Anyone can step on the gas on a straight road, but speed is real speed on a curve!" is just something to fool immature teenagers.

In fact, drivers try every means to improve their cornering quality, but ultimately their goal is to serve the subsequent straightaways. They may even sacrifice their choice of cornering line to some extent in order to accelerate on the straightaways.

The inside line was also the offensive route that Shu Long had initially envisioned in his mind, and his unusual practice of following Leclerc and drawing dragons was also for this purpose.

The inside offense requires a late stop, because he needs to block the opponent's possibility of going around the cross lines, which is also what Leclerc is doing to Shu Long now.

The current situation can be traced back to Leclerc's lane change at Turn 16.

Actually, the acceleration at Turn 15 was within Shu Long's expectations. Turn 15 is a low-speed corner, and it is indeed the part where Ferrari has the most obvious advantage over Red Bull.

Shulong stopped grinding tires early precisely to prevent this.

In fact, judging from the result of the dragon quickly closing in at the moment of launch, it did make up for the Red Bull car's lack of traction on this type of corner to a considerable extent.

However, Shu Long also underestimated the impact of that missing tire temperature on the race car's ability to resist dirty air.

Although he had made the correction in a near-perfect manner, it also foreshadowed his subsequent loss of offensive initiative.

However, this does not mean that Shulong intends to give up.

There is no DRS during the restart of the race, at least not on this lap and the next lap.

Shulong would be best able to overtake Shulong during this gap and quickly establish its advantage; otherwise, even if it manages to overtake Shulong later, it will only face an endless DRS counterattack.

While Leclerc's defensive strategy was highly advantageous, it wasn't entirely without its costs.

The price of establishing priority at Turn 2 was that Leclerc's cornering speed at Turn 1 was outrageously slow, while Shu Long's last-minute tire-scratching wasn't entirely useless.

The dragon, positioned on the outside, slowed its entry into the corner by braking slightly earlier. After slightly shifting the line blocked by Leclerc, it prioritized ensuring its own acceleration path was not obstructed, even if it meant letting the opponent go further ahead.

You can defend a straight with DRS, but even without a real DRS, try blocking two sections of Red Bull's top speed.
It's also a straight road.

One is a low-to-medium speed turn 16 that requires downshifting to third gear, and the other is a mid-to-high speed full-throttle turn that requires shifting from fifth to sixth gear. The balance of power in terms of racing characteristics has slowly shifted from Ferrari to Red Bull.

With its tailpipe fully engaged and its discharge at full power, the Shulong's approach speed against the Ferrari was completely different this time.

Leclerc clearly noticed this in his rearview mirror as well. The next turn, Turn 3, was another right turn similar to Turn 1. With the experience he had gained earlier, he moved into the inside defense before even entering the braking zone.

However, the situations in the two attacks were fundamentally different.

3号弯虽然也有着内部弯角的拓宽，可3号弯和4号弯的组合弯衔接与1、2号弯完全是两个类型。

Firstly, the outer lane area of ​​Turn 3 is larger, so the speed loss from competing for the outer lane will be lower.

Secondly, the section connecting Turn 3 and Turn 4 is a short straight, which will not immediately affect the angle at which you enter Turn 4.

Without the slightest hesitation, this time Shulong decisively took the initiative to cut inside from the outside, making a late stop and directly gaining a 3/4 advantage in the car's weight.

However, Leclerc, taking advantage of his shorter inside line, once again found himself alongside Shulong after turning turn 3.

This time, however, the initiative to enter Turn 4 fell into Shulong's hands.

You want to go into the turn, right?

I do not want!
Shulong just kept a close eye on Leclerc all the way, neither accelerating nor decelerating, and slowing down as well.

Shu Long only braked suddenly and quickly entered the turn after missing half of the apex of Turn 4.

However, there was no longer any space in the bend that the massive F1 car could accommodate under the ground effect rules. After the fierce battle that had caused so much damage to both sides, Verstappen of P3 had already closed in.

What to do now?
Letting your opponent pass by is an outcome no driver can afford to choose.

Leclerc made a very tough choice at this point, directly crossing the shoulder and rushing into the parking lot in the buffer zone. After circling around, he squeezed back in front of Verstappen, turned around, and started complaining.

"He didn't save me a seat!"

"Let's stabilize the pace first, and we'll report it."

This is Ferrari's response to Leclerc; they did indeed report the earlier struggle to the race stewards for review.

The problem is that, in the eyes of the race stewards, Shu Long's actions just now did not completely constitute the prerequisite of not leaving the opponent any track space, since there is still plenty of space in the corner of Turn 4.

As opponents, you clearly had many options to adapt, such as switching to attacking the cross lines, but you chose to force your way through. Who can you blame for that?

Leclerc felt utterly speechless. He wanted to find a way around the intersection, but that bastard seemed to have mind-reading abilities and wouldn't give him a chance at all!
With the race stewards giving a negative response, another question was placed in front of Ferrari.

“Charles, we are considering having you return your position to Vestapan.”

"What?!"

(End of this chapter)