F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 240 You Need Power to Get By

As the only driver using red tires, Shu Long broke the record for the fastest lap almost every time.

He had already tested the dry durability of the red tires in Saturday's second practice session, and they were even struggling to complete the 21-lap sprint race. That's why Shu Long, who started from pole position yesterday, chose the yellow tires as a precaution.

Verstappen's attempt to secure P1 starting position in the sprint race ended as everyone saw: he not only failed to overtake his teammate, but was also outmaneuvered by Leclerc due to tire management issues.

The race consisted of 63 laps. Shu Long pitted on lap 15 and entered lap 16 after exiting the pits.

Even if the track is not completely dry and the load on the tires is not that high, a set of red tires would definitely not be able to last for the remaining 47 laps.

Therefore, Shulong's goal became quite clear after he dropped to P12 at the start of the game: the concept of "preserving the tire" did not exist in his dictionary during this game. He would use the open-ended two-stop tactic to rush as fast as possible!

He overtook Russell on lap 21, and then quickly closed in at a rate of almost one second per lap, catching up to Norris on lap 26.

Actually, the yellow tires were already warm by now, and Leclerc and Verstappen's lap times were less than 0.3 seconds slower than Shulong's.

However, on dry conditions, McLaren and Red Bull are simply not in the same class of racing, so much so that Norris had almost no chance against the Dragon.

With his exceptional exit quality from Turn 18 on lap 26, Shulong barely absorbed Norris's slipstream and overtook him just as he crossed the line into lap 27, leaving Leclerc 9.3 seconds behind.

How were your lap times so far?

"Leclerc has been consistently maintaining a time of around 1:21.3. Max is trying to increase his pace, but he was slightly slower than Leclerc on that last lap."

Shu Long lowered his gaze slightly and took a look at his lap time on the steering wheel during the short straight after Turn 13.

1: 20.974.

In the previous lap, he had just overtaken Norris by discharging his battery, and he took a defensive stance on a few corners to manage his battery level. Currently, the battery level displayed on the screen is around 70%.

At his current pace, the window for finishing the second stint on red tires is expected to be around laps 41-43.

To close the gap with the car in front as much as possible during this period, considering the lap time loss due to tire performance wear, this amount of battery power is unlikely to be retained at all.

On lap 28, he slowed down a bit, and on lap 29, Shu Long switched the car to Mode 6 and pushed it halfway for one lap. Then he checked the lap time data on the steering wheel.

1:20.649
Um.
"So, how are their lap times now?"

"Ferrari 1:21.216, Max just did a lap 1:21.074."

不过维斯塔潘的下一圈又掉回了1：21.3接近1：21.4左右的圈速，反而勒克莱尔表现得非常稳定，稳步提升到了1：21.182。

The track is getting drier and drier.

The next two to three laps should allow the tires on his race car to reach peak performance, but as the tire temperature rises, continuing the pace will likely cause the tires to quickly become grainy on the cold track.

The next period will be the period when the performance advantage of yellow tires will be realized, and at the same time, it will be around the time when Shulong's third red tire stint will begin.

Imola's normal pit stop time is usually between 25 and 26 seconds. Even if the dragon can catch up to Leclerc before the pit stop, after switching to the new red and exiting the pit, he will need to catch up for at least 1.3 seconds per lap to have any chance of improving his ranking.

That sounds a bit extreme.

However, one point should not be overlooked: the lifespan of yellow tires on this track to maintain normal competitiveness is actually only around 32-36 laps. As the tires wear down, it is possible that Shulong could close the gap by more than 1.6 seconds per lap in the later stages.

This is also a problem that Verstappen urgently needs to consider.

His rain-based training is now in big trouble. Not only does he have to deal with Leclerc's attacks, but he also has to keep an eye on how close Shulong is to him.

If it really comes to the test, Verstappen might even need to strategically abandon P1 and opt for a second stop to retain his P2 position.

So far, the tactics implemented by Shulong have been impulsive and willful. According to the team's internal competition rules, the strategy group's focus in this race has been almost entirely on serving Verstappen.

As for which option will ultimately be implemented, it will likely depend on the lap times of Shulong and Verstappen in the remaining laps.

Because after lap 34.
"DRS is now available."

"Thank you! But I don't think I need this information for now. How far am I from Xia Er?"

"5.1 seconds, 7.2 seconds behind Max. Also, Max is now starting to make contact with the lapped car."

Oh? !

This is good news. It's hard to say how much it will help Shulong catch up with the cars ahead, since the two cars in front can also benefit from the slipstream and DRS of the lapping cars.

However, this should save a significant amount of battery power for the race car before it enters the pits.

Taking a quick break from his busy schedule, Shu Long glanced at the large screen by the roadside to see which unlucky individuals were about to suffer the humiliation of being forced to play the ring toss game.

The first car to be lapped was Mick's Haas, but strictly speaking, Mick was not the last car on the track excluding the Spanish duo who retired. Ricciardo was actually in P18.

After colliding with Sainz on the first lap, Ricciardo was forced to go off-road on gravel. Although the damaged front wing was replaced, the car's floor should still have suffered some damage.

After the first pit stop and switching to yellow, my lap time couldn't improve. Just recently, on lap 30, I made a pit stop and switched to white. After exiting the pit, I dropped to about 6 seconds behind Shulong.

About 5 seconds ahead of Mick is Hamilton, who was having a very tough time in this race.

The old man is really in a mess. Last year, he was a top contender for the title, going from one against two Verstappen to the very end, to now being lapped by the title contenders.
Further ahead are Gasly and Ocon, with a gap of about 1.3 seconds. The next two Williams are both more than 7 or 8 seconds away, which is obviously not a problem that needs to be considered by the end of the Stint.

However, with the leading group holding a lap lead of more than two seconds over the lapped cars, DRS might be able to catch all the way from Mick to Ocon.

On lap 37, Shu Long spotted Haas's rear end, slightly adjusted his pace to recharge, and waited to get a DRS before overtaking Mick, who was letting Lanqi pass.

As a result, he only caught up with Hamilton, who had started to accelerate, on lap 41.

After being humiliated by the youngsters, even Hamilton, who felt like he was about to break from being bounced around by the dolphins, couldn't help but get a little angry.

After Shulong finally caught up with the slipstream, the old man started to give way to the car before even reaching turn 14.

The entire Imola circuit only had one DRS and one DRS checkpoint. This awkward location meant that Shu Long neither caught Hamilton's DRS nor caught Gasly ahead, making it seem like Hamilton was deliberately causing trouble.

The lifespan of the Shulong's red tires was almost exhausted three laps ago. In the last two laps, the granular surface was deliberately worn down a bit to regain some performance.

Normally, entering the station every night would be a waste of time, but with the two cars ahead of us both receiving four DRS (Driving Speed ​​Reduction) errors, entering the station now would actually result in even greater losses for Shulong.

Thinking that the tires could be squeezed a little more, Shulong bit into the wake of Garis and took another lap.

As for Ocon, let's just forget about him; Verstappen's experience in his first F1 race in Shulong is still fresh in our minds.

The worst-case scenario is that Aokang might not learn its lesson in Hamilton, and instead use the blue flag to let Shulong pass through the DRS testing point in advance, and then use the advantage of yellow tires over old red tires to get out of the predicament and go ahead to cause trouble.

The old man lacked the fighting spirit to counterattack due to his serious dolphin jump problem, and given O'Connor's aggressive nature on the track, it's hard to say.

In fact, they didn't even need to learn from Hamilton. Not long ago, Ocon did almost the exact same thing to Verstappen, which resulted in Leclerc now closing in within a second of Verstappen.

Can't be bothered.

On lap 43, Shu Long pitted to change to a new red car slightly later than his pre-set window.

Due to some unexpected circumstances, he fell nearly 30 seconds behind Leclerc again during one pit stop, making the next twenty laps a challenging task.

Oh, wait, that's not right.
"Max is 29.3 seconds ahead of you. Now go all out. We should still have a chance."

"Yeah—copy!"

In fact, even without Reni's notification, Shu Longguang already had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on based on the reactions from the spectators on the sidelines.

As one of Ferrari's home races in Italy, the stands were bound to be packed with fans dressed in red. Just moments ago, these enthusiastic fans, much like Verstappen's fans at the Dutch Grand Prix, lit up clusters of red smoke.

Currently, the only Ferrari left on the field is the Leclerc; anyone with a brain can guess what happened.

Now the difficult decision-making process has been handed over to Verstappen.

Should they try to counter-attack by sticking to Leclerc's trail, or take advantage of the fact that Shulong hasn't made it into the penalty window to adopt a two-stop tactic and follow up with the defense?
For the first two laps, Shulong was still raising the tire temperature. Apart from the exit lap, there were no valid times for reference. The lap time he set on the 45th lap was only 1:19.8.

It's 0.7 seconds faster than the current Red Bull No. 1 car, but this advantage is clearly not enough to make Shulong a significant threat in the final stages of the race.

However, after two laps, Shulong improved his lap time to 1:19.3, which was more than a second faster than Verstappen, who was also steadily improving his lap time due to reduced fuel. The time difference between Shulong and Verstappen was 26.8 seconds.

This is already the edge of a normal entry window.

Hesitating for too long will only make the strategy more and more difficult. Red Bull team has handed the decision-making power to Verstappen himself, or rather, it is equivalent to handing the choice to his father.

This could be a crucial choice that determines the final outcome of the match; you can make the decision yourselves.

The speed must be fast; after this lap, even if Verstappen wants to go in, he will only fall behind Shulong.

Then we won't go in!
Verstappen is currently managing to keep up with Leclerc's DRS, and soon they will be entering a large number of lapping races, meaning they will have a steady stream of DRS resources to draw upon.

On the other hand, Shulong's pit stop puts him behind Norris at P4, while Norris is still far from being among the first cars to lap. Even if Shulong is fast, he has to get past Norris first.

Judging from the expression on Pao's father's face, he probably didn't have any objections to it.

Whether he pits or not, he will be caught in a close battle with Shulong. Verstappen's rain setup for Friday's qualifying session was clearly not as advantageous as his teammate's.

Since that's the case, why not drag the decisive moment to the end of the race? At least by then, Shulong's red tires will be nearing the end of their lifespan again, and the difference in grip between the two sides won't be so significant.

As for the final outcome, it remains an unknown for both sides.

Excluding the possibility that Norris would hinder the dragon's shunting.

束龙进站后落在诺里斯身后11秒左右的位置，可他目前已经快进入到1：18秒领域的圈速，在单圈上就比诺里斯的1：21.1快了两秒有余。    第51圈的5号弯前束龙便追到了诺里斯身后的1秒范围内。

Instead of waiting for a DRS (Driving Speed ​​Reduction) before Turn 17, Shulong, relying on its absolute advantage in tire grip, directly overwhelmed Norris on the outside of the hairpin turn 7.

It felt just as easy as the Blue Flag lap car.

Joss Verstappen, sitting in the dressing room, started getting restless and began anxiously biting his thumbnail on camera.

"Haha, that's right! The camera should be focused on here right now!"

Something must have tickled Bing Ge's funny bone. Even though the current competition situation is still unclear, it didn't stop a series of strange, gloating noises from the five-star studio.

After Bingge had finished having his fun and saw that Shulong had started his long pursuit, and there was nothing to explain about the race situation, Feige began to fill in the background stories he had collected from his intensive online surfing and his previous offline interactions with Shulong.

"It is said on the internet that someone claiming to be a Red Bull employee revealed that after the first few races, Joss often publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the team, believing that the team was giving too many resources to Shulong."

"Of course, we don't know if this is true or not. Red Bull has indeed made a lot of moves around Shulong recently. What I remember is that the person who guided Shulong when he first entered the European karting scene was Joss."

As soon as Fei Ge finished speaking, Bing Ge was even happier.

"Yes, yes, yes! Strictly speaking, he should be considered half. I heard that after watching Shu Long run a few laps, he left Shu Long's family there in unfamiliar territory with a dark face. I suspect he wakes up every night in a fright, wishing he could go back in time and slap himself a few times, haha~"

This wasn't actually something Shu Long said himself. After all, he and Verstappen had always had a good relationship, and he would always be more reserved when it came to talking about Verstappen's father. Even when chatting with close friends like Teng Weifeng, he didn't reveal any specific details.

It was actually Georg, the owner of the Reca Tech Club at the time, who made this past event public.

Originally just a small, second-rate go-karting club, after acquiring Shulong, it enjoyed a period of comfortable life sponsored by Red Bull.

Unfortunately, even with the resources they had, they could no longer find a benefactor of Shu Long's caliber. Now, the club is still in a mediocre, low-to-mid-tier state, relying on telling short stories to attract traffic every day.

After giving the audience a brief overview of Shulong's glorious past, Ran Ge suddenly noticed Leclerc's car preparing to lap Zhou Guanyu, who seemed to have somehow managed to flip to P9 thanks to his early pit stop. This finally brought the topic back to the race.

The race has reached lap 59.

A new purple banner appeared at the top of the screen announcing the fastest lap in the race. Then it went back to where it came from, turning into a small purple clock that landed next to Shu Long's name.

1:18.172
More than two seconds faster than Verstappen's 1:20.331, after a long chase, the gap between them and Verstappen was less than 4 seconds.

After this lap, there were only four laps left in the race, and Shulong's constant pushing had almost depleted the battery.

Leclerc, who was leading the pack, had already pulled ahead of Verstappen by 5 seconds. The remaining time was clearly not enough for Shulong to complete the comeback to P1, so at René's suggestion, he slowed down and began to recharge the car in preparation for the final decisive victory.

The news spread almost simultaneously within the team, and Verstappen, who had just lapped Magnussen, also slowed down his pace.

According to Lambias, there were no cars ahead of Arro two seconds ahead, and Vettel in P8 was 14 seconds ahead.

In other words, if Verstappen rashly passes Aro now, he will no longer have DRS provided by the car in front to defend.

Although Imola's DRS area is only one section, it is long enough to extend from before the false turn 19 to the braking area of ​​turn 2. Facing the aggressive Shulong, not having enough trump cards in hand is tantamount to surrendering directly.

On lap 60, Shu Long passed Magnussen, who had been shown a blue flag. This old teammate, who had gone through thick and thin with Shu Long for a year, did not want to cause any trouble for Shu Long. He cooperated by crossing the DRS detection line before Turn 17 first and then moved into the inside line to let Shu Long pass.

The extra large DRS chasing area, which could be locked at full throttle, not only allowed Shulong to close the gap by 2 seconds again on lap 61, but also gave it ample headroom to charge the battery to 17%.
It's because Shulong's lap time is fast enough, and it's also because Verstappen deliberately slowed down his pace.

Verstappen also needs to recharge, and he doesn't want Alfa Romeo to get the blue flag prematurely. A trump card can only be revealed at the last moment to unleash its full destructive power.

On lap 62, Verstappen also began to accelerate, and facing Arro's nearly one-second advantage over the car in front, he quickly closed the gap to within about 1.5 seconds of the car in front.

In the rearview mirror, the Red Bull No. 2 car, carrying a yellow T-frame, was also aggressively closing in. Verstappen's finger hovered over the overtaking button for a while, but he finally managed to suppress his impatience.

It's not the right time yet!
Finally, the decisive final lap arrived. Verstappen began to close the gap with Arro, using the drag reduction effect from Arro's slipstream to delay Shulong's chance to catch up.

But in his haste, he seemed to have forgotten one thing: the driver in the yellow T-shirt Aro race car in front of him was named Zhou Guanyu.

"Zhou, Verstappen is within one second behind you. Pay attention to the blue flag signal from the sidelines."

"Copy! Uh... By the way, are there two Red Bulls behind me?"

"That's right, let them pass safely, and we'll prioritize bringing them back safely."

P9 brings back two points, and in this year's fierce competition among mid-tier teams, every point is crucial.

But the opportunity to suppress two Red Bulls isn't always available, and once the desire to cause trouble arises, it's hard to suppress.

Seeing that he still had more than 60% of the battery stored due to the safety cruise control, Zhou Guanyu adjusted the car's discharge setting to SOC 3, and then pressed the overtaking button to start discharging at full power every time he exited a corner.

Now is not the time to give way to the car.
Verstappen couldn't quite figure out what the car in front of him was thinking.

Why are you pushing yourself so hard when you're almost past the finish line? Are you afraid I'll get a DRS and overtake you?

However, to avoid being eliminated by his teammates at the last corner, he could only increase his power and catch up quickly.

Zhou Guanyu's tires were, after all, very old and had entered the station around the same time as Tuo Long, and had been in the polluted air for a long time. At this point, his tire wear was much worse than Verstappen's.

Earlier braking and a gentler entry into the curve meant he could not escape Red Bull's clutches and was finally caught by Verstappen in the 14-15 combination chicane, within a second.

"Blue flag! Watch out for other cars and don't interfere with the race behind you."

"Understood."

This is an internal dispute within a large racing team. Aro's fan base is less than one-tenth of that of others, and the public opinion that would arise if he rashly got involved is something that most people cannot afford to handle.

Zhou Guanyu naturally complied in the TR.

With reduced power output, the Alfa Romeo experienced noticeable power deficiency as it climbed the steep hill after Turn 15.

Why are you so slow?!

Verstappen, who had a short temper, immediately became impatient. He had originally planned to use the DRS to defend the last corner, but if he continued to dawdle like this, he might get swept by Shulong in one go. What was the point of all that buildup?
Just as he was about to pull back towards the inside to get past the slow car, Zhou Guanyu, responding to the signal, simultaneously released more than 70% of the throttle and moved towards the inside to make way for the fast car.

“What the”

Verstappen nearly ground his back teeth to dust before quickly swerving back onto the right track.

But at this moment, Shu Long was grinning from ear to ear. In the hunting grounds, not only talent and speed are needed, but connections are also a crucial element!
Taking advantage of Zhou Guanyu's blocking and yielding maneuver, he quickly squeezed forward, sucking in Aro's and his teammates' slipstreams, then used a series of serpentine maneuvers to turn back towards the inside, feigning a late brake at Turn 17.

A late-night stop where someone took food and drinks.

The DRS detection line placed before Turn 17 was too close to the apex of the corner. It was so close that drivers had already started to release their brakes and track into the corner by the time they crossed the line.

If this move succeeds, Shulong can not only squeeze in front of his teammates in one fell swoop, but also use DRS to charge happily and completely end the suspense.

Realizing this quickly, Verstappen made a swift decision and slammed on the brakes with a powerful slam that sent plumes of white smoke billowing out.

Shu Long did not follow.

The moment he saw Max begin to soar through the air, he nearly bit his lip until it bled. In the end, he simply chose a braking point slightly later than usual and methodically crossed the line into the corner first.

The wear and tear on the red tires after 20 laps and the yellow tires after 44 laps was roughly the same, and Shu Long could roughly guess where his teammate's tires were at their limit.

DRS game theory, right?

Judging from his performance in the second stop in Saudi Arabia, Max seems to have learned his lesson this year, but sometimes the old Chinese saying applies – "too clever by half."

DRS is indeed very important on the subsequent all-asphalt road sections, but what's the use of having ten more DRS if you can't ensure traction efficiency when exiting a corner?
The terrain before Turn 17 was a steep downhill slope, and the load on the tires from locking up the car once far exceeded Verstappen's expectations. It took him a lot of effort to regain grip and steer the car into the corner.

By the time they realized they'd been tricked, Shu Long had already disappeared!
Turning around, all you could see was a pitiful-looking Zhou Guanyu squeezed at the apex of the bend, not daring to move forward. He wasn't sure if now was the best time to overtake and get out of the predicament, so he obediently followed behind the Red Bull No. 1 car, crossing the finish line one after the other.

As the first car to cross the finish line among the lapped cars, Zhou Guanyu reached the checkered flag before his teammate Bottas, who was already on lap 63, and ultimately finished in P9.

He looked genuinely innocent, and his every move exuded the air of a newcomer trying to follow the rules but being somewhat unfamiliar with the business, a stark contrast to Aokang, who had clearly been deliberately causing trouble.

The outcome of the match is already decided.

Rather than holding a rookie who had only played three games responsible, Verstappen seemed to find his own blunders at crucial moments even more unforgivable, and just sat in his car sulking to himself.

For suspected violations that are open to both punishment and non-punishment, the FIA ​​has always based its rulings solely on the outcome.

In the absence of a direct collision, there will generally be no further investigation unless the other party's team chooses to pursue the matter.

The problem is that Shu Long belongs to Red Bull, and Verstappen belongs to Red Bull.

If we choose to pursue this matter now, it might not just be a matter between Red Bull and Arro, but rather a signal from the team to Shulong that they are taking sides in a way that is difficult to understand.

The 2022 season has been going on for exactly one month, with four rounds already concluded.

Shulong currently has a total of 102 points, with Leclerc closely following behind with 85 points.

In other words, the race car was coaxed and driven by Shulong. Although it had a lot of problems, its performance was still commendable. Otherwise, if any of them had retired from the race, the current championship landscape would definitely not be what it is today.

On the contrary, Verstappen is currently ranked fourth with only 40 points. Apart from the fact that the veteran Verstappen is quite upset about the illegal teaming and cheating on the track, the team as a whole is more inclined to keep the peace.

Even if they were to take sides, it's unlikely anyone would choose to stand against the current key player in the team's championship race.

Perhaps some members of the team are more inclined to side with Verstappen emotionally, but their reactions are limited to the team's customary Red Bull spraying celebration after races, with most of the criticism directed at Shu.

I wonder if Verstappen, while grabbing four cans of Red Bull and pouring them down his collar, suddenly felt a pang of empathy for Ricciardo.
(End of this chapter)