F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 237 When you're on the road to the championship, do you still love the rain?
"You can't do this! We absolutely cannot accept discrimination within the team!"

“We didn’t discriminate! Joss! You can look at Long’s vehicle inspection report. In fact, the problems with car number two are no less serious than your son’s!”

"Are you sure that's car number two? I think this one is car number two!"

Old Tapan roared furiously, his face turning completely pink, and the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows of Horner's office seemed to vibrate and hum.

Upon hearing this, Horner promptly shut his mouth, slumped back in his executive chair, and began examining the number of specks of dust on the ceiling.

The different colors of the T-frames are just for easy differentiation. Strictly speaking, Red Bull did not make any special distinction between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams this year. The tactical status of the two cars is almost identical.

The reason I say "almost" is because Max is more familiar with the team's crew members. In fact, the team subconsciously shows more favoritism and care towards Max in many subtle ways.

To be honest, it should be Shu Long who led Alonso to cause trouble in this office, but people are used to the kind of work where resources are not allocated, so as long as the team doesn't secretly sabotage things, Shu Long doesn't care too much.

As for the person in question, who is the focus of all the discussions?
Verstappen sat helplessly in the corner, staring intently at the can of Red Bull in his hand, as if he wanted to memorize every single word on the ingredient list.

Withdrawing from two out of three matches would make anyone feel bad.

But now their focus shouldn't be on acting like a child and throwing a tantrum, but on figuring out how to complete a competition normally.

Horner was right, and the post-match medical report clearly showed that.

From the opening round to now, Shulong has encountered various problems with the car at every race. This is probably because Shulong has too much experience from his time in the lower-level teams. It is their skill to carry this mess and win three consecutive championships.

But just because some emotions are suppressed doesn't mean they don't exist. Max came along this time to put pressure on the team together.

It's not about trying to gain strategic or resource advantages, but rather about whether this race car is even viable. We can't expect to drive in fear and anxiety in every race from now on, can we?
If even something as simple as welding the throttle shut requires careful consideration, then this competition is simply impossible!
Shu Long and Verstappen share the same attitude: having luck in one race doesn't mean you can rely on luck every time. If the problems with the car aren't resolved, Ferrari will eventually overtake them.

I just don't know why, but the topic of conversation has somehow veered off to completely different topics.
That bag is crooked!
Five hours ago, Horner invited everyone to discuss the team's improvement plan. When Shulong heard that Pao's dad was also coming, he promptly declined, saying that he had something to do, and went to go for a walk with Marco.

The old man has recently become quite obsessed with revamping the Red Bull system, and for some reason, he keeps asking Shu Long for his ideas.

Perhaps because Alonso, who was at the key point of the substitution, had a close relationship with Shu Long, or perhaps because the old man didn't want Shu Long to overthink his actions, a lot of information was quite transparent to Shu Long.

Horner shares a similar view; Shu Long is now Red Bull's darling, with both Thai and Australian bulls placing heavy bets on him.

Not to mention that they have delivered such a dominant performance at the very beginning of the year. The team's top priority is to find a way to keep the contract with Shulong, rather than cooperating with Jos to find ways to get Shulong Palace away.

Verstappen seems to want to recreate the scene from his time at Toro Rosso where he and Sainz competed to see who could cry the loudest. Toro Rosso was a custom training facility, so it was fine to cause trouble there, but Horner can't let Joss run wild in the Red Bull team.

Joss did make a valid point.

With a gap of 56 points, if Red Bull didn't value Verstappen so much, judging from the current points standings, Max should have already started to assume the role of the number two driver, based on past trends.

Fortunately, Horner had previous experience managing players like Vettel and Mark Webber, otherwise he would be in a panic and unsure how to handle the situation.

Of course, Red Bull's handling of the relationship between Vettel and Webber was also heavily criticized back then, and this was exactly what gave Marco the biggest headache, because this Mark Webber happens to be Piastri's current agent.
Logically speaking, given how badly Webber was hurt by Red Bull back then, there's no way he would push his own drivers into the fire again.

The reason they are now willing to make contact is not only because Alpine's attitude makes them see no hope of obtaining a seat, but also because of their connection with Shulong.

Red Bull's operating mechanism has many flaws, but its underlying logic of "ability first" has ultimately given many ordinary drivers the opportunity to climb the ranks.

Shu Long's ability to transform himself from a disadvantaged position where he was almost ousted several times to his current status at Red Bull has made him a typical example in the eyes of many young drivers, and Piastri is no exception.

Geniuses are always arrogant. There's no reason why Piastrelli would think he couldn't do what others can, but no one wants to suffer without trying.

Therefore, Red Bull's attitude toward the Shulong issue may greatly influence Piastrie's willingness to engage in in-depth discussions and cooperation with the Red Bull system.

There's no need for Shu Long to go to Horner's office and make a scene. He can just accompany Marco for a few laps around the neighborhood, and the old man will naturally go and put pressure on the team for Horner.

After much coaxing and persuasion, Verstappen was finally calmed down. The next key task is to solve the current predicament facing the car.

Fortunately, there are two weeks between the Australian Grand Prix and Imola, and the teams have already started working intensively on the cause of the engine problems in the previous two races, so this period of time should be enough for them to resolve the issue.

Based on the comparative analysis of samples from Shu Long and Verstappen, Honda can basically confirm that the problem lies in the fuel line of the power unit, which is closely related to the dolphin jump phenomenon in the race car this year. However, it is highly likely that the issue can be resolved before Imola.

Since this is an internal statement, it's likely that there really isn't a problem this time.

Honda has designed a completely new fuel pipeline structure specifically for this purpose, unlike the previous two races where only key parts were temporarily reinforced. This should fundamentally solve the current reliability problem of the race car.

Of course, with good news comes bad news.

The team originally planned to introduce a 10 kg weight reduction upgrade in Imola, but it has now been reduced to less than 4 kg. Some of the weight reduction was even achieved by cutting back on the dark blue paint on some parts of the car.

Of course, Red Bull isn't the only team doing this. Williams' cars have gone from being the little blue cars used in winter testing to almost being the little black cars with blue patterns on them.

As for the other weight reduction measures that Red Bull has temporarily suspended, it appears that they may cause a decrease in the structural strength of the car body.

Previously, Marco had been loudly and publicly proclaiming in the media that Ferrari would no longer be a match for them after the Red Bull car was upgraded.

At the pre-race press conference, Horner was busy cleaning up Marko's previous comments and trying to downplay the effectiveness of the team's upgrades this round.

This season's Imola includes a sprint session, which means that each team only has one practice session before qualifying to get a feel for the upgraded car.

Not to mention, according to the weather forecast, there is a high probability of rain on Friday and Saturday of this competition week, while Sunday, when the main competition is to be held, should be a rainless and cloudy day.

"Shu, what are your thoughts on the upgrades the team made this weekend?"

"I don't know yet, I won't know how the new car drives until an hour later."

"Ferrari canceled the floor upgrade they planned to introduce at this race due to rain. After hearing this news, do you feel more confident about this race week?"

"I suggest you ask Ferrari about this."

The weekend of the competition was already extremely tight due to the addition of the sprint race, and having to deal with these stupid questions from reporters before the competition made Shu Long feel like he was becoming more and more like Lai Hua.

Who came up with this terrible idea?
To compress the media day work into early Friday morning, what a genius!

Fortunately, due to the tighter schedule, the time allotted for each driver to ask questions was also much shorter. Soon, the host, who was in charge of controlling the pace of the press conference, gave the last question to a reporter with a full beard.

“We noticed that you seemed to have a different understanding of warm-up tires in the last race, and your past results also show that you seem to have excellent control over the car under low grip conditions. Do you think that the rain outside is an advantage for you right now?”

That's a good question, and Shu Long was momentarily lost in thought.

Fighting in the rain?
"I do enjoy driving in the rain and the unique atmosphere, but if you ask me if I would consider rainy days an advantage, my answer is 'No!'"

Two years ago, Shu Long's answer would probably have been "Yes!"

Because when the competition in racing is not strong, only a wet track can bring everyone to the same starting line, allowing Shulong to find a rare opportunity to win.

However, now that Shulong is leading in points, the rainy battle also means uncertainty for him.

The media interrogation of Shu Long finally came to an end. He, Ocon, and Norris left the track to prepare for another group of drivers, one of whom was wearing a Ferrari red suit.

"Congratulations, Carlos! I just saw the news this morning."

"It's alright, at least no one will suddenly tell me I'm unemployed mid-season! Waaah!"

Sainz had just exchanged fistfights with Shu Long and was about to say a few polite words when Norris suddenly launched a sneak attack from the side with his classic "bird-stealing" greeting.

Perhaps you're too careless?
Shu Long, standing to the side, leaned back and stuck out his buttocks, feeling a sense of empathy. If he hadn't reacted quickly when they first met, he might have gotten hit too.

Sainz's words always sounded a bit pathetic.

He was ousted by Verstappen at Toro Rosso, by Ricciardo at Renault, and by Ricciardo again at McLaren. It felt like these Red Bull drivers were deliberately targeting him, as if they had a grudge against him from a past life. Every time, they would suddenly inform him mid-season that his team seat for the following year was gone, forcing him to scramble to find another team.

Fortunately, it seems that he has finally found a home. Ferrari just officially announced that he has renewed his contract with Sainz for another year. This week is also one of Ferrari's home races. Since Sainz appeared on Thursday, he seems to be glowing with health and vitality because of his clothes.

However, Leclerc didn't seem to be so lucky. Just two days ago, he had his Richard Mille watch, worth 32 yuan, stolen from him at his home stadium, and as a result, he received a small gold trophy as a Golden Tapir Award before the match.

This thing is usually awarded to those who have been the most unlucky and disappointed recently.

But from Shu Long's perspective, awarding this prize to Max might have been more appropriate.
Cough!

That's a bit of dark humor!

The total duration of a press conference is now generally no more than an hour and a half, and it officially ends before 9 o'clock. However, it wasn't until 1:30 pm that F1's first practice session reluctantly started.

The rain is too heavy!

At first, all the race cars could only use full wet tires, and it wasn't until ten minutes before the clock stopped that they were able to switch to partial wet tires.

In this light, Ferrari's decision to postpone the upgrade was truly wise. Under these circumstances, it was impossible to determine the effectiveness of the car upgrade. After trying for a long time, they couldn't obtain any useful data, and they couldn't even figure out where the limits of the new car were.

The team can only hope that it rains during the next qualifying session, so that Red Bull's wet setup can still be used to some extent. If the track dries out, they'll really have to close their eyes and go for it.

However, Ferrari's home ground seemed to be giving Red Bull a hard time.

The stop of the clock during the first practice session seemed to have cut off the momentum of the rain. Later, the F2 cars used their tires to drain most of the water, and by the time the qualifying session started, the racing line was almost completely dry and light gray.

What should I do?
We temporarily adjusted the car's settings to be more suited to dry tracks, and decided to give it our all with the new red car. What else can we say?
The most troublesome thing about this semi-dry and semi-wet track is that the track conditions can change to a considerable extent every lap. Anyway, getting into Q2 shouldn't be a problem. Shu Long's idea is to take advantage of the dry ground to drive a few more laps on the track to get a feel for it.

Instead, Verstappen unusually stayed in the pit room for a while, and finally persisted with the wetland training he had developed in practice. He didn't make his first appearance with a new red outfit until there were 8 minutes left in Q1.

Shu Long pushed his lap time to second in the entire race in the third push lap, and then made no plans to pit for a tire change. He simply continued to charge up his old tires for one lap and then find a clean window to do another lap.

To be honest, this clean window wasn't easy to find, because at least 16 cars on the track had the same idea as Shulong, making the traffic incredibly congested.

Verstappen was under a lot of pressure, hovering around P15 and P16 in the first lap, before finally reaching P5 in the last 3 minutes. Zhou Guanyu was ahead of him in P4.

This feels really bad, doesn't it?

If Verstappen continues on this trajectory in Q2 and Q3, he will essentially be out of contention for the championship in this race.

Given the team's previous statement in Milton Keynes, normally Verstappen, even if he didn't actually cause a scene in the pit lane, shouldn't have had a particularly pleasant expression.

However, when Shulong sneaked out to relieve himself and lose weight during his break, he always felt that the expression on Old Tapan's face seemed to have a deeper meaning.

What's going on here? You look like you've tampered with someone else's race car.
Shulong's doubts didn't last long. As he zipped up his jacket and got back into the race car, René's TR quickly provided the answer.

"Hey, buddy?"

"Why are you stammering? Don't tell me someone secretly let air out of my tires."

"No, according to the weather forecast, there may be precipitation on the track in a few minutes."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No."

"No, no, no, I just said a declarative sentence. You're joking with me!"

Reni's silence replaced his answer, and Shulong snapped his goggles shut, becoming withdrawn and indicating that he didn't want to talk.

The good news is that Red Bull's wet-field conditioning is definitely more advantageous than haphazardly experimenting with dry-field conditioning.

The bad news is that Shulong just switched to a purely empirical, dry-ground training method!

The moment his Q1 hits the track, it automatically enters the PARC FREMES state, which is the vehicle inspection rule state, and no major modifications can be made to the car's settings thereafter.

Using dry-ground conditioning to climb the wet-ground rankings? That's truly hilarious.

But Shu Long couldn't say anything. No one can guarantee that the weather forecast is 100% accurate. Even if René said so now, it was still unknown whether it would rain on the track later.

To put it bluntly, Verstappen was also gambling.

He was betting that the strategic difference between himself and Shulong would give him an advantage, and even betting that Sunday, which was not expected to rain, would turn into a rainy day.

However, judging from the light drizzle in the sky at the start of Q2, Verstappen's first step seems to have been a gamble that paid off.
Although this year's Imola is a race week with sprints, and the starting grid for the main race will be determined by the results of the sprints, it cannot be said that qualifying is unimportant.

First, the scoring rules for the sprint race have been partially modified. Now, the top eight finishers will all receive points, and the points awarded to the first-place finisher have been increased to 8. The points awarded to the remaining finishers will decrease for each place they drop in the rankings.

Secondly, Imola Circuit, as an old-style circuit, was originally built to accommodate smaller F1 cars.

However, for F1, which is now in the hybrid era and whose car bodies have been further enlarged due to ground effect regulations, this track is still a bit too narrow. The entire track only has one section of DRS, making it quite difficult to overtake.

In addition, the ground effect racing car also revealed a drawback in the previous practice session: the water mist kicked up by the diffuser on the underbody in wet conditions was a bit excessive, and once there was a situation where the car was following another car in the race, the visibility was basically zero.

Let alone trying to overtake precisely on the already narrow track, if there's even a little bit of water on the ground, you can't even see the taillights of the car in front.

Therefore, the final ranking achieved in the qualifying rounds remains crucial.

Fortunately, considering the track characteristics of Imola this week, Red Bull brought a kit with relatively high downforce, otherwise Shu Long's mentality might have collapsed from Chenghua Avenue to Erxianqiao by now!
Taking advantage of the fact that the rain had just started to fall on the track, Red Bull quickly gave Shulong a lap with its new red.

It's incredibly slippery, but thankfully it's not completely impossible to run.

After advancing to Phase 2 in the first round, I was slowly pushed down to Phase 5 by Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris, so I was basically guaranteed to advance.

As the light rain gradually intensifies, the decrease in tire grip makes it difficult to achieve faster lap times on the track.

Of course, it's not entirely impossible. Perhaps there's a critical point where the lap times of the brand-new semi-wet tires can have a slight advantage over the red tires.
Shu Long, who was the first to finish the first round of the push, was also the first driver to pit and change to semi-wet tires. However, he didn't even finish the warm-up lap before a red flag appeared on the track.

Sainz lost control and crashed into the wall at Turn 18.

Some people tried using semi-weather tires, while others were skeptical and thought that red tires could further improve performance.

Ferrari called for Leclerc to pit while instructing Sainz to make another lap.

See how everyone sees the consequences of being clueless?

Thankfully, there were no audience seats set up here. If they had pulled this stunt right under the noses of the Iron Buddha Temple, which had just renewed their contract, the Prancing Horse Circus would probably have had to send another unlucky guy out to be sacrificed on the spot.

Ferrari's race car finally got to enjoy the benefits of being serviced by a crane, and the chassis structure was clearly captured on camera. Fortunately, they didn't bring out any new chassis upgrades this week, so it's okay to just watch.

Moreover, without Ferrari's oddly designed bathtub side cases this year, simply copying this chassis would be like thinking the race cars weren't bumpy enough this year.

I'm talking to you, Mercedes!
The Imola circuit is indeed a bit old, the road conditions are indeed a bit worse, and the cars are indeed bouncing a bit more. But isn't it a bit too funny that the metal support rod of the chassis was broken by the dolphin jump?
Russell and Hamilton even had to ease off the throttle on the straights and were completely unable to keep the tires within their normal operating temperature range. If they failed to achieve a good time in the first flight lap, it was basically a guaranteed failure.

This marks the first time since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix that neither Mercedes car has made it into Q3, ending a streak of 187 qualifying sessions where at least one driver made it into Q3.

Bottas, who made a significant contribution to this record, advanced smoothly in P10.

What is this? So Bottas is the true Mercedes legend?

(End of this chapter)